Daring to be Restless

“Then Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted through my God.   My mouth is enlarged against my foes; because I rejoice in thy salvation.” -           1 Samuel 2:1, JM Powis Smith translation Having just read Charles Capps’ book, The Tongue: a Creative Force , about the power of speaking the Word of God and aligning our confessions with what He says, I was struck by this verse this week.   Hannah said that her mouth was enlarged against her enemies as she rejoiced in the Lord.   The New Berkeley translation says it this way, “In the Lord my heart is joyful; in the Lord my strength is heightened.   Against my enemies my mouth is freely opened because of my enjoyment of Thy deliverance.”   And I found myself wondering – if I’m truly rejoicing in the Lord and His deliverance, if I’m living in the power of Psalm 103 which tells me in verse 2 to bless Him and not forget all the ...

Heroes – we’re looking for them everywhere.  In children’s movies, the hero rides in on a white horse and battles bravely to save the Princess.  In more “realistic” movies, the hero defends the girl of his dreams from people who would belittle her existence, protects her from wounds of a far more personal nature.  Something in our hearts thrives on this kind of heroic activity, thrills to see the fearlessness, the bravery, the chivalry, the happily-ever-afters that can only come after a battle has been fought and won – and we long to be a part of the adventure, long to meet a hero ourselves, or better yet, to become the hero.  But do we really know what a hero is?  According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, a “hero” is, “a man of distinguished valor, intrepidity or enterprise in danger; a great illustrious or extraordinary person.”  Though we all, on some level, want to be a hero in our own right, how many of us are willing to face danger to prove we have w...

Happy March 1 st , everyone!   I hope the month has treated you well!   And for those of you joining us on our book challenge, I hope that you were as blessed and challenged by John Bevere’s book Bait of Satan as I was.   Oh my goodness!   I have been so stretched, had so many opportunities to become offended with people (i.e. be tested in the new knowledge I have been acquiring, some of which I handled better than others) … Oh my goodness.   My older sister wrote an excellent blog   about the book already, which I encourage you to read.   The only problem with that is: she took some of the quotes I wanted to talk about and did such a good job discussing the meaty content of the book that I’m a little at a loss what to share!   Ahahaha!   :D There was so much good information, though, so much really challenging material, that I’m more at a loss about where to start than anything.   One of the things near the beginning of the book...

“The adventure of faith begins with faithfulness.   Being faithful is taking responsibility for the good we know to do .” – Erwin Raphael McManus, Chasing Daylight , p. 81 I’ve always loved how the military names major tactical adventures “Operations;” after all, they’re bloody, dangerous, a matter of life and death, like most surgeries are.   And I have to admit, as I read the quote above, thinking about all the good things we know to do and imagining what it would be like if we would all actively do them – my spirit stirs with the same imagery.   To intentionally do good works as Christ did requires adventurous tactical organization by the Holy Spirit, a healthy covering in the blood of Christ, and is very much a matter of life or death to those we will potentially share the Gospel with as we obediently serve.   So, I’m writing to challenge you to just that – to a battlefield, to a dangerous and life-threatening wonder known as serving God.   Lately, God...