MINGLED ANOINTINGS “Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?’ Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’” 2 Kings 2:9 Elijah’s God-encounter in the cave which followed his exploits against the prophets of baal and asherah began a transition […]
The Secret Places For as long as I can remember, phoniness and pretense have turned me off. On the other hand, trust and being real in relationships is something I value highly. My wife has long noted the caliber of the long-term relationships I consider myself blessed to having. Hers is one of my […]
BITTER ROOT ALLIANCES Several years ago I was witness to a sequence of interpersonal interactions in a ministry setting that never should have happened among believers. It involved offenses. These offenses became the catalyst to setting in motion one of the most devilish compoundings of the flesh I have ever witnessed. Although repeated apologies […]
THE WEALTH TRANSFER REVISITED The wealth transfer has hit the charts, now a regular part of pop Christian culture chatter. Companies are being birthed with the vision of creating vast amounts of money destined to build the church, with a crescendo to advance the final harvest. Committed business owners are tapping opportunities with unusual […]
WELLSPRING OF AUTHORITY From the beginning, Christians have had a tendency to be spiritually blindsided. Of notable consequence has been majoring in minors, while minoring in the essentials. In addressing this issue, Paul insightfully encouraged applying an essential foundation: to bear one another’s burdens. Applied as it should, this foundation nurtures the wellspring of authority […]
THE SOUND MIND Jesus linked spiritual maturity to a person’s thinking. Such was His rebuke of Peter at the Mount of Transfiguration, for jumping to short-sighted, religious conclusions. Clearly, there was more required of the mantle Peter was destined to wield. It was a mantle requiring not only the wisdom of maturity, but the wholeness […]
WITHOUT PRETENSE He honored me with his trust. These words summed up my relationship with my 21 year-old grandson, who was killed in late 2006. In his short life, he had been exposed to an inordinate level of hypocrisy and deceit, within a “churchianity” context. His heart-cry was for reality and truth, which he did […]
Dangerous and Relevant Dangerous and relevant was how a close friend recently summed up the season we’ve just entered. I’ve described it as toxic, but he’s right. It goes beyond toxic and has indeed become dangerous. It’s the spiritual atmosphere. It is the culture. It impacts our very thinking. In facing this reality, our task […]
IS THERE TIME? As an author, with a key segment of my readers among seasoned Christian leaders and intercessors, I once questioned whether the crunch of everyday living and the demands of regularly speed-reading vast amounts of information didn’t result in a plague of spiritual A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder), even among such an elite […]
ENTANGLEMENT SOLUTIONS This is Part II of this timely message on Spiritual Entanglements. Be sure to pray the prayer that concludes this message. Laced with hidden, layered deceptions and deceit, spiritual entanglements demand spiritual solutions. More of the same harder is no longer enough. There was a time when determination, genuine talent, coupled with the […]
