Have you ever said, “This is too hard. I can’t do this anymore!”? Or something similar indicating you were giving up? I have. But what happens when you quit something God has chosen you to do?
I read that when Billy Graham started preaching there were two other young men who had been called about the same time. One of those men was an excellent preacher. I read he could preach up a storm. So what were their names? I don’t remember either. You think Satan didn’t attack Rev. Graham, and do you think he never got discouraged, or thought for a minute, “Why am I doing this?” He kept at it because God called him to do a task, and Rev. Billy Graham was not going to stop until his body did, and he knew what would happen if he did, Satan would win.
Are you in a position or place and you know you were there because God put you there? If so, please don’t stop. Be encouraged, that you are anointed, for what you are doing, for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14) And yes, if you quit, people will get hurt, until God raises up someone else to do what He has already chosen you to do. So put your big boy pants on, and just do it!
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
Do you know the first thing Jesus said, when he exited the tomb? “Ta-Da!” Answered a third grader in a Sunday school class one Easter. He probably didn’t, but should have. Perhaps he said, “I told you!” I don’t really know, but it doesn’t matter. What does count is what he did for you and me by dying, being the perfect sacrifice for our wrong doing, and then defeating death at its own game.
There is nothing like the fear that comes from physical, or emotional darkness. When you can’t see your way, and you have no clue on when and where light will come. Your heart can pound like a concert bass drum.
I would go visit them, and before I knew it, they would be giving me a guided tour of their latest acquisitions. Antiques, what nots, weird things, but things that appealed to them. I would hear the story of where they found it, and why they liked it. The one fact that never went unnoticed was how excited they were over their latest find, and the one thing that always struck me funny was when they would ask, “You want to know how much I paid?”
Confession: I have never been inside a confessional booth. I grew up in a church where doing so was not part of our spiritual practice. I am at a temple where there is one. I am writing this blog post while sitting inside it. Not intended, but in order to see I brought a small, but bright LED light. It is casting such a white glow I think it scared a couple checking out the temple.
I was sitting in a church admiring the grandeur, the architecture. Then, I opened my Bible to a random spot.
they worship me from their soft, warm, living hearts. They feel their good deeds achieve tally marks on a chalk board by my chair. I would rather the receivers of those deeds feel me. They step into a dark, small closet to confess their sins. I say confess them loudly from your roof tops, so you are less likely to repeat them.
HER CHAIR: “Hi. How are you?” I stood, holding open the door to the bank.
A somber event took place in front of me. The reality is this; for a man, using his own reasoning, which is limited, nothing could satisfy him. No proof would be enough. Everything God might do, or has done, to prove his own existence, some men would reason it away, and have. It’s as if they try to make God conform to their rules of existence, and that’s just not going to happen.
Old Testament time: Mankind was given “time” by God. He created light, and separated it from dark. He called the light “day”, and the dark “night”. That was day one. (Gen. 1:3-5) Pastor Robert Morris says, time gives us stability, and rhythm to life. During eternity, there will be no need for time. Jesus operates in a whole different realm than we do. He is not bound by time. He can go back in time, and forward in time, in no time.
brady, mark a. 