USA: A street preacher confronts an apostate “pastor” participating in a pride parade.
Well done.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
Last night, I read the entirety of C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. It's a novel told in the form of letters written by a demon to another demon instructing him on ways to manipulate his "patient" to do evil.
This one quote sounded familiar.
Why you should pray OVER your family 👇
Over the last year or so, my son has had a stretch of “bad dreams” and general fear of being alone in his room (I’ve written about this here).
It was tough at times. Nights of waking up at 3am and jumping in our bed, asking to sleep with the dog etc.
Every time he was feeling scared (minus a few times in the middle of the night when I did not model patience), I would pray over him. I put my hand on his head and audibly call on the name of Jesus to draw near to us, drive out scary thoughts and vanquish any spiritual attacks in our family.
It honestly didn’t seem to help that much at first. The routine stayed more or less the same for a while. I just kept praying over him.
Then, something changed. I started noticing that every night at bedtime, before he had vocalized any fear, he started asking ME: “Daddy, will you pray over me?”
Now, night after night, he makes this request before he goes to sleep. He just asked me a few minutes ago.
And here’s the thing: he’s sleeping great. Not only do I think God answered our prayers, but I believe his subconscious mind is continuing to learn there is only one place to turn when we are overwhelmed by fear.
He also has this verse memorized:
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)
Men, pray over your family. Other than the power of this type of prayer, you also welcome them into WITNESSING God’s answered prayers when they actually happen. They heard the prayer come out of your mouth and they get to see God’s faithfulness vs if you pray only privately for them.
*Disclaimer: Prior to a couple of years ago, I never prayed OVER my family. I prayed for them - but never over them. If I can gently encourage you to start praying over your wife and kids. Put your hand on them and let them hear your heart’s message for them to the Father. It might feel weird at first - but man, i promise you it’s a powerful tool in your tool belt as a dad. Keep fighting for your family, dads 🤝
In everything of the world today, we see abnormality, mental dissipation & vain distraction.
Guard yourself, seek peace, run to Christ & let your soul rest in His love.
The time is coming when they will demand that you enter the madness, or forfeit your life. Be ready.
Here’s a fascinating example of why it’s not only helpful to study the Hebrew Old Testament but also the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint.
The Septuagint heavily influenced New Testament writers, and at times they chose their Greek in such a way as to echo what was happening in the Old Testament. That echo becomes clear when you compare the Greek of the Old Testament with the Greek of the New Testament.
Here’s the example. In Luke 7, Jesus raises the widow’s son at Nain. Afterward, we are told that “he gave him to his mother [ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ]" (Luke 7:15).
Initially, that seems an odd detail, right? His mother is right there, so why would Luke add that Jesus "gave him to his mother"?
The answer is found in the Septuagint in 1 Kings 17:23, which we read today in Bible in One Year. After Elijah raises a dead boy to life again, the prophet “brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother [ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ]."
If you are reading both the Old Testament and the New Testament in Greek, the connection is unmistakable. Luke is intentionally echoing Elijah’s miracle.
The further confirmation of the overlap between the miracle by Elijah and the miracle by Jesus is that the crowds respond, “A great prophet [!] has arisen among us!” (Luke 7:16).
They saw the similarities between what was done, even as we, the readers of the text, see *and* hear the similarities.
What Luke is doing, then, is alerting us that Jesus has performed an Elijah-like miracle. But more than that, he is showing that Jesus is the new and greater Elijah. The ministry of Elijah becomes a kind of pattern or foreshadowing of what Jesus will do.
Jesus is indeed a prophet, but he is more than a prophet. By echoing Elijah in this way, Luke helps us see both the continuity and the escalation: what God once did through his servant, he now does more fully and finally in his Son.
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My pastor preached Matthew 4 last night, and one word has been sitting in my chest since.
If.
Jesus had just come up out of the water. The Father had just spoken over Him. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Then the wilderness. Then hunger. Then the devil.
And the first word out of the devil's mouth was not a curse. It was not open rebellion against God.
It was a question.
"If thou be the Son of God..."
That is how the voice works.
It does not start by telling you to hate God. It starts by asking you to prove what God already said.
If God was with you, would this be happening?
If you were really saved, would your mind still fight you like this?
If the Lord was in your house, would your marriage feel this tired?
If you were really His, would you be this afraid?
Same word the devil used in the wilderness.
Different kitchen. Different phone screen. Different ache in the chest.
Here is what nobody preached me growing up.
Genesis 22 verse one. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham."
Same word. Different mouth.
The Father uses it to prove.
Then Matthew 4. The devil uses it to tempt.
Then Matthew 27. The chief priests walk past the cross. "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."
The same wilderness sentence in religious mouths.
One word.
Three mouths.
God to prove you. The devil to trip you. Religion to gatekeep you.
The Lord answered every one of them the same way.
It is written.
Not I feel. Not I think. Not my mentor said.
It is written.
Most of us wait until the IF arrives to start looking for scripture.
By then the body is loud, the fear is loud, the deadline is loud, the accusation is loud, and the IF has already moved from the ear into the chest.
You do not rise to your intentions in that hour.
You answer with what has been put in you.
The question is not whether the IF will come tonight.
It will.
The question is what comes out of you when it does.
"Understand one thing: it is not good when we return the love of those who love us, yet hate those who hate us. We are not on the right path if we do this. We are the sons of light & love, the sons of God, His children. As such we must have His qualities & His attributes of love, peace, & kindness towards all." - Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica