Tag Archives: prayer

Quail and Manna, September 21, 2020

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

About five years ago, I thought extending our porch into a patio and covering it with a cedar pergola a great idea. Although I hadn’t meant to start the project in the middle of July in San Antonio, my brother-in-law came to visit and cut down a couple of trees that were in the way of the patio my wife and I envisioned someday. Then he built a frame for the concrete. 

Only one problem. He left. The form wasn’t strong enough to hold the fill dirt and ten yards of concrete needed, and it was still July in San Antonio. 

For anyone who hasn’t been to San Antonio in July, let me share that July and August are our hottest months, with most of those days in triple digits. Unlike West Texas, San Antonio humidity stays relatively high compared to all but the east and coastal regions. We don’t have that much rain but have many streams and rivers that converge in the city to keep the humidity enough to make outside feel like a sauna.

So, at the end of July and through August, I started extending the patio and building my cedar pergola. After shoveling twenty yards of fill (that’s four dump trucks of dirt and gravel) into the forms I had to rebuild, I did get smart and hired experts to pour the concrete and set the twelve-foot tall, six-inch thick cedar posts in place that would support the pergola. What I wasn’t smart enough to do was hire someone to build the rest of it. 

Because I wanted to get it done and out of the way and most of my friends worked full-time jobs, I figured I could tackle the job on my own. It sounded simple enough. Attach the frame to the house and the upright posts embedded in the porch, then attach the slats on the frame, and it’s done. Only I didn’t consider the weight of those six by two by twelve- and fourteen-foot pieces of cedar. I didn’t think about what a chore it was to lift them into position in the first place, then hold them there steady enough to attach them to the frame. 

I’m not sure how many times I screamed out to myself, “Why did I start this? This is stupid! I’m going to kill myself or at least break something trying to put this stupid thing together, and it’s so hot out here, no one will use it anyway! What was wrong with the way it was in the first place?”

My wife, Carole, would come out occasionally and encourage me, telling me what a good job I was doing. Maybe I should wait and call someone to help. But I ignored her advice, and I carried on, grumbling all the while.

I started sounding a lot like the Israelites in Exodus. We hear them complaining to Moses and Aaron again in chapter 16:

2 There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron 3 and said to them, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”

4 The Lord said to Moses, “Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it.”

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. 7 In the morning you will see the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence. He has heard your complaints against him—yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions.” 8 Then Moses said, “It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord.”

9 Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints.” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud. (Exodus 16:2-10 GNT)

The Israelites met Moses and Aaron and complained about everything. No water, no meat, no bread, no house, no bed. You name it, they complained about it. Moses led them out of slavery, but that wasn’t enough. They wanted him to provide all their needs. Give me, give me, give me. And if you don’t, expect to hear about it. 

Ouch. That gets too close to home for too many of us when we think about how we approach God. Hey, God, give me the job I want. Hey, God, fix my finances after I’ve ruined them with my poor money management. Hey, God, heal me after I’ve failed to do the things that I should have done to take care of my body. Hey, God, do something with that boss that doesn’t seem to like me. Hey, God,…

We come to him with our complaints, our want list, our petitions of what we expect him to do for us, without thinking about who we’re talking to. Could you imagine walking up to the President and saying those things? Well, maybe in this country, since we failed to teach each other to respect authority over the last few generations. But if you did that in North Korea or Russia or China or most other countries around the world, you would at least find yourself in prison if not six feet underground in your permanent resting place. 

But we do that with the maker of the universe and think nothing of it because we forget who he is. We don’t stop to consider the creator of all things allows us into his presence, and cares enough about us to hear our prayers and act on them. Sometimes he doesn’t answer the way we would like, but he answers in the way that best fulfills his plans. And that is always best for us in the end, too. We may not see it now. We may not see it in this life, but I can assure you that God has our best in mind when he answers our prayers. We just need to consider who we ask those questions when we pray. It would make a huge difference in how we pray, I think. 

So what happened to the complaining Israelites? 

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God.” (Exodus 16:11-12 GNT)

God answered their prayer. In fact, he answered it the way they asked, which is sometimes dangerous. God gave them quail that night for supper. And the next night. And the next night. And the next night. Until it was coming through their teeth is how later verses describe it. If you think about that a minute, the only way quail comes back through your teeth is in liquid form, already chewed and mostly digested. I’ll let you figure out how that quail returned through their teeth, then. Exodus tells us many died with the quail between their teeth.

The morning after God answered their prayers; they received manna for the first time. They could use it in a lot of different ways. They could make bread with it. They could boil it and make a kind of mush. They could mold it and roast it, I guess, but it all tasted like manna. It looked like coriander seed and tasted like honey. I don’t know about you, but after a couple of tablespoons of honey, I’m done. The overwhelmingly sweet taste means I can’t handle much more than that. But the Israelites got to enjoy manna from heaven every day, at every meal, for the next forty years. 

Sometimes it’s better to let God figure out what’s best for us instead of telling him what we need, don’t you think? You might just get what you asked for like the Israelites did. God provided, just like they asked. Many died eating the quail, and I’m sure many would like to die on a steady diet of manna. I wonder what kind of cookbook was passed to the next generation after eating manna for forty years. 

In case you’re interested, the pergola turned out well. Days of hard work and fewer complaints let me finish, and we get to enjoy the extended patio during the months with an “R” in them. The rest are still too hot to handle until just before the sun comes up. 

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Pray for Wisdom, July 27, 2020

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

As many of you who have listened to my podcasts for a while know, I often use a scripture from the lectionary for the focus of my thoughts. I’m amazed how often the scriptures seem to point to the very things I need to hear. And as I hear from others of you, it seems the scripture often relates to something going on in your life at the time as well. It is uncanny the way God works, but he is God after all.

Well, this week’s Old Testament focus was no different. It comes to us from 1 Kings 3 as Solomon takes the throne succeeding his father David. You’ll remember David became the model against whom every other king was measured. He wasn’t perfect by any means. We know about his adultery, his attempts to hide it, and ultimately his plot to murder his mistress’ husband to cover his sin. David’s life wasn’t one spent in dark, hooded robes mumbling prayers in the sanctuary. He was king. A battle-hardened warrior. He expanded Israel’s territory and rooted out it’s enemies from its cities. But God called David a man after his own heart.

Now Solomon has gained the crown. God comes to him and we pick up the story from there as Eugene Peterson describes it in The Message:

4-5 The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”

6 Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.

7-8 “And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.

9 “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”

10-14 God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:4-14 TM)

What maturity Solomon showed as he expressed his wish. Give me wisdom to judge these people. Help me to know the difference between good and evil. If you want me to lead, then give me a listening heart.

Don’t you wish more of our leaders would pray for a listening heart to know the difference between good and evil? It seems we live in a time more like the beginning of the book of Judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This “cancel culture” that sprang up from somewhere that decided if I don’t like what you say or what you do, you become invisible. We make you disappear from the world. What you stand for doesn’t count. What you believe doesn’t matter. You are hereby cancelled. 

How does that fit into what God wants for us? Do we think we can add him to part of the “cancel culture?” I know there are those trying – pulling down statues of Jesus, desecrating churches, synagogues, temples, and other houses of worship. We see an “I believe in me” culture rising. But God cannot be cancelled. Nations tried before to their destruction. We can try to rewrite the past. We can try to remake a belief system. We can declare we will rise on our own strength. Many tried. Many failed. 

A relatively small group decided they want a different government here. I’ve heard too many times, “We’ll burn it down if we don’t get what we want.” How does that help anyone? If everything has been burnt to down, who will rebuild? Who will expend the energy to watch it come tumbling down again? Who wants to risk the threat of careless vandals destroying a life’s work again? And who will have the funds to do so? When the government changes, so does the money. The meaningless coins and paper that we pass to one another in exchange for something. We think money has value, but it doesn’t. 

If you think money has value, ask the Argentinians who went through month after month of triple digit inflation when prices became so high the last three zeros on every price tag were removed. But salaries didn’t change. Income didn’t rise with the same inflation. Ask the Venezuelans who experienced triple digit inflation not so long ago. Money didn’t mean anything anymore. Did the government help? No. Did the change in leadership make things better? No. 

It seems to me we have an awful lot of people trying to get into this country for it to be such a terrible place to live, work, and raise a family. I see millions trying to come in every year, but I don’t see millions trying to leave to go to some other country. Why is that? Maybe it’s because in the past we thought about more than ourselves. Maybe in the past our elected officials remembered their office wasn’t about making money or becoming popular or even getting reelected. Their office was to pray Solomon’s prayer and ask for discernment so they might have a listening heart. 

As I watch most votes in the House and Senate, it seems no one has a listening heart anymore. Most votes split across party lines. Why? Because no one listens. Is every Democrat good? No. Is every Republican bad? No. We will find good and evil among every party, every race, every economic stratum. We will find racism in the same places. No section is exempt. I will say, or write, or do something that I’m sure someone will think is racist. So will you. Why? Because we are. We think in the culture in which we live and work and play. And whenever we come in contact with another culture, it doesn’t matter what color their skin or what language they speak, we will do something someone in that culture could take as offensive. 

But when do we act like Solomon and stop and listen with a discerning heart? When do ask the question, “What do I have to think about the person I know to believe he or she said or did whatever it was to intentionally hurt me?” 

When we ask that question before we blurt out a response, most of the time, we know the answer will be they didn’t intend harm. I took something wrong. I didn’t understand. There is miscommunication between us. How can we learn from each other so we can avoid bitter feelings? Then talk to each other and listen to each other – but not on Facebook. Pick up the phone. Go to lunch. Really communicate. Don’t scream that you know what the other person thinks. You don’t. 

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived knew he needed a listening heart to discern the good from the bad. How much more do we need to pray for such a thing in this day? How much different would the streets of our city be tomorrow if all of us sincerely asked for a discerning, listening heart, then sat down with those not like us and heard their story. Maybe we would learn something. Maybe we would care. Maybe we would find some directions to take that would ease the growing tension in a country where millions come to find freedom from oppressive governments. 

Is our nation perfect? Not by any means. Is it terrible? Talk to those who escape from those nations led by dictators and politburos. Can we make improvements? Not until we stop and listen to each other and decide we want to do what is right, not what is politically advantageous. As we begin to approach elections in the fall, I encourage you to get information about the candidates. Don’t listen to the news or social media or the campaign adds. Find out about their character. How did they vote on critical issues and why? What do they say they believe and do their actions support it? 

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked TM are taken from the THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Seek Silence, February 24, 2020

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We live in a noisy world. And we’ve become so accustomed to the noise that we have a hard time with silence. We often say we want to get away from the noise and the clamor that surrounds us, but many of us get home, and the first thing we do is turn on some sound machine. Whether it’s a radio or the television or some other device, we have a problem with silence. 

I think that’s one of the reasons we have a hard time finding God today. You don’t discover God in the noise and business of the day. You meet him in quiet places. We picture him in his throne room surrounded by singing angels, but I think when he comes to us, he wants our full attention away from the distractions that the business and clamor of the world cause. 

We aren’t the first generation to experience the problem of noise getting in the way of finding God. It happens to every generation. Remember, Elijah looked for God in the thunder and lightning and the earthquake. He expected to find God in the noise, the clamor, and excitement. But Elijah discovered God in the whisper of the gentle breeze that passed by the mountain. 

God wants to meet with us but wants our undivided attention. As I sit in my study preparing this podcast, I’m aware of the dryer tumbling clothes in the room next to me. The HVAC system activated, and I hear air moving through the vents. Next door, contractors are putting the finishing touches on the fence my neighbor put up for his new puppies. A truck just passed by that needs a muffler repair. I hear a mower a few yards down the street. An airplane just flew overhead on its last turn before getting into the landing pattern in San Antonio. And even the clicking of the keys on my keyboard as I take notes can distract me from listening to what God has to tell me. 

With all the noise, can we find silence? And do we want to? That’s an important question because when we find stillness and let God start to talk to us, two things begin to happen. One we desire, fellowship with the Father, letting him pour into us his love as only he can. The second, we don’t particularly like as he points to things in our life we need to change or actions we need to take on his behalf. 

But do we really need that quiet time to hear God, you might ask? Jesus did. Look at the many times the gospels record that he went alone to pray. Moses did. He waited six days on the mountain before God called him into the cloud to give him the laws for the new Israelite nation. David did. Read his psalms and see how many times he admonishes us to wait on the Lord. Those 120 who met together in the upper room did as they prayed together for ten days waiting for something they did not understand to happen. 

All of them emptied themselves and found that quiet place to commune with God. They found a place away from the business of life, apart from the noise that distracts us, away from everything except their attention focused on God. Then they listened. It’s when we get into the silence of our heart that we can begin to hear his voice. 

Jesus told us to go into our closet to pray, and what we say to the Father in private, he will answer and bless us publicly. The implication is we need to get away from the noise. We need to follow his example and get alone in a place away from all those distractions so we can listen, not just talk. Prayer is more about listening to God than talking to God. He is so much smarter than we are, after all. If we will stop and get away from the noise, and listen to what God tells us, we might find out he has a pretty good path laid out for us. We might make fewer blunders along the way if we stop to listen in those quiet times. We might find listening to God a better use of our time than talking to God as we become his pupil for life.

How do we find quiet places? It’s not easy anymore. As you heard a few minutes ago, as I try to find calm in my study, noise still surrounds me. The decibel levels are low, but there nonetheless. If I’m not careful, I can let them take me away from what I should be doing. It becomes more difficult every day to find times and places to find silence in our world. 

So what do we do? Ask God for help. Find as quiet a place as possible and ask him to help you train yourself to shut out the rest. Ask him to assist you in focusing your mind on him and him only. Ask him to help you recognize when your thoughts slip off onto something apart from him and immediately bring your focus back to him. 

Is it easy to find that inner focus on God and him alone? No, it’s not easy. It takes discipline, a dirty word in today’s society, but one that God expects of those that follow him. 

Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.

He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees and the statutes that he gave them.

O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Extol the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD, our God is holy. (Psalms 99:5-9 NIV)

God is worthy of our worship and our time. He is worthy of our attention. The invisible God will come to us when we invite Him into the temple of our hearts. But God comes only when he is the center of attention. We must discipline ourselves to push away all the distractions around us. The best way I’ve found is to find that place of solitude and seek silence as best you can. Then focus on the Holy One and let Him speak.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Don’t give up, July 29, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I read the headlines and was appalled. A mother drowns her kids. Another reads, “Father kills mother while children watch, then shoots three children. And another, “Parents cage two children for three years before discovered.”

How does this happen? What kind of people can perform these atrocities to innocent children? 

This morning I read the lectionary readings that will be associated with this week’s podcast and heard Jesus’ words regarding prayer. His disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Luke recorded a version of that now famous prayer that many rattle off their tongues without even thinking about it. We often refer to it as the Lord’s prayer, but it is really the disciples’ prayer. It’s the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. 

But after that prayer, Jesus told about the necessity to maintain our vigilance in prayer. When we want something from God, we need to continue to ask. Be persistent, he says. In Luke chapter 11, verses 9 and 10, he says, “So listen: Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened for you. All who keep asking will receive, all who keep seeking will find, and doors will open to those who keep knocking.”

That tells me we should not give up on our prayers. God’s word gives us plenty of examples of godly men and women who prayed for long periods of time before they received answers to their requests. Abraham’s peers were great-grandfathers before he had his promised son. Joseph languished in prison before he became the second highest authority in Egypt. Paul prayed for an unknown thorn in his flesh to be removed, something we’re not sure what that thorn was, and God never removed it, but only told him after long supplication that he would receive grace to bear it. 

Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. 

There is another point of wisdom in these words that wanes in our society today. We give up on almost everything. My grandkids really excel in many areas. I have to brag on them. But once in a while, they will grab a new project, struggle with it a while and want to quit because it’s hard. Fortunately, they have a mom and dad that won’t let them quit something just because it’s hard. 

If it’s something that is well beyond their capability, that is different. If it’s dangerous or could cause significant damage, that’s different. But often, they will just give a tiny bit of guidance and let their kids learn how to handle hard things. Sometimes they fail the first few times at a task. But they get better through those early failures and learn to become very good through the tutelage of their parents and other adults. It might be hard, but they grow because of it. 

When we stop because it’s hard or it didn’t happen the first time, we miss great opportunities. We lose because we fail to recognize the success in learning from mistakes. It’s the problem many young people face when “helicopter” parent bail kids out of every failure and make everything right regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes, it’s good for us to feel the consequences of our failure. We learn from those instances. We figure out how to succeed when we must endure the pain and suffering that comes from our mistakes. 

You’ve probably heard the quote from Thomas Edison’s interview about his first failures in creating his electric lightbulb. He said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

I also find his observation, “We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.” 

How much could we accomplish if we just got at it and didn’t give up? What could we do if we just stuck to it and continued to try until we did something. Instead we get tired, feel bad about ourselves for not becoming the next Rockafeller at the age of 20, and just sit on the couch playing video games instead. I sometimes wonder how we became known as the land of opportunity unless it’s now because we give up on everything and anyone who joins us has the opportunity to do all the things we give up trying.

Life is hard. Life is filled with failure and disappointment. We cannot nor should not win every time. Everyone should not get a trophy. We don’t learn as much through winning as we do through losing. In failing is really where we build our character. 

We learn grace. We learn how to pick ourselves back up and how to start over. We learn that not being at the top is okay. We learn we can survive, begin again, lean on a friend. We learn we are not alone because no one wins every time. 

Jesus says don’t stop. Don’t quit. Keep at it. Don’t give up. It’s a lesson we need to learn today.

He goes on to indict us as a society in what I mentioned as I began this podcast. Do you remember those headlines? In the next verses, Jesus asks what should have been some rhetorical questions. In verses 11 through 13 he says, “Some of you are fathers, so ask yourselves this: if your son comes up to you and asks for a fish for dinner, will you give him a snake instead? If your boy wants an egg to eat, will you give him a scorpion? Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask!”

Today, however, too many of our children grow up in fatherless homes. They don’t know what a father should be. They don’t have any idea how a loving father acts. Our kids are abandoned physically or emotionally as fathers relinquish their responsibilities as the head of the house and act like kids themselves without thought of what they do to the next generation. And the problem in the United States is that this has now gone on for two or three generations, so often, kids can’t find role models from grandfathers or even great-grandfathers in their families.

What are we to do to fix the problem? How are we to help this newest generation understand what it means to be a loving father or mother? How do we demonstrate solid family relationships when almost every family across the country feels the pain of broken homes? The only source for a solid role model is God. Our heavenly Father is the only perfect father. Scripture uses our earthly father as a model to help describe him, but the tables have turned.

I think for us to now understand who we should be as fathers and mothers, we must look to scripture and examine the life of Jesus and how he describes his Father in heaven to understand how we should build our relationships within our families and with those around us. We have so warped our roles as parents through neglecting what parenthood should be through generations of misguided relationships, that we no longer know what it means to be families. 

It’s time we look to the source of relationships and marriage and families to find what these institutions should look like. We need to go to God who created us and the foundation of the family by putting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the command to populate the world, instituting what we know as a marriage relationship. 

It’s time we look at the good and bad fathers and mothers in scripture. We should see the consequences of the bad behavior and try our best to avoid repeating those mistakes. We should learn from the good behavior and try our best to emulate it. 

God will help us learn what we should know as good fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, if we will listen to him. He will also help us recover from our failures if we will not give up, but will pick ourselves up, ask forgiveness for our failures and our sins, and try again. He will help us through those rough places. He will give us the strength to endure. 

God can and will give us the courage to journey through this life as the people he would have us be. But we must put our trust in him if we hope to succeed. That doesn’t mean we will be wealthy. It does mean we will be rich. Our riches will come from the legacy of peace he promised as we follow his commands, do his will, learn his ways, and keep them. 

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the ene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Does God Answer Prayer? May 13, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Saul became Paul after a miraculous conversion. Last week we talked about how that conversion came about. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I read about how it happened instead of participating in that particular mode of inspiration first hand. I’m glad Jesus gives us enough examples and heroes of faith in our lives to let us believe in him without having to go through what those early believers went through. But some of their experiences do raise some questions for us today.

We know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word tells us that and we know he is truth. He does not lie, so we know he doesn’t change. Jesus also told those that followed him that they would do more than they saw him do when he walked this earth. He healed the sick. He made the lame to walk and the blind to see. He healed lepers and all kinds of illnesses. He even raised the dead to life. Then we see some glimpses of what he told his disciples.

Peter and John headed toward the temple and saw a beggar who had been lame since birth. The man asked for alms, but instead they gave him new legs. He stood on his two feet and followed them into the temple praising God for his healing. And today’s lesson from the scripture gets even better. Luke in his letter to Theopolis writes these words found in Acts chapter 9.

9:36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.”

So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.  Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Jesus told his disciples they would do more than he would. Now here is Peter raising Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead, just as Jesus raised the Centurion’s daughter from the dead or Peter’s mother-in-law, or the widow’s son in Cana, or Lazarus. Can you imagine what that must have been like to be in that house when Peter ushered everyone out of the room, prayed for her life to be restored and then walked out of the room with her?

Can you imagine the uproar in the city when the news spread that one of those followers of that rebel, Jesus was doing the same things he did? Can you imagine what the religious leaders were thinking in those back rooms of the temple when they heard the news? They thought it was over. They figured with Jesus dead and gone, the miracles would stop. They figured that even if the claims they heard about the man were true, at least it was over now. He was gone and only his followers were left. The miracles were over and only words were left behind. These guys knew how to debate. They could win the arguments.

But then… The lame started walking. The blind started seeing. The deaf started hearing. The lepers came to these followers. Now Tabitha who every claimed was dead, was walking around saying Peter claimed the Holy Spirit raised her in the name of Jesus, the man they crucified. What were they to do now? It wasn’t over after all. It looked like this might just be the beginning.

We know the rest of the story. The church grew from the eleven gathered in the upper room the night of the resurrection to the 120 gathered in a room together on Pentecost to 3,000 the next morning after the Holy Spirit settled on the people in that room and set their hearts on fire. Then within less than a decade, the church had grown to more than 100,000 across an empire that was out to destroy them because they were “atheists” believing in only one God, not the pantheon of Roman or Greek gods the major religions of the world believed.

The small band of disciples were God’s plan to spread the message. It’s unbelievable that God would use such a crazy plan to get his message across to the rest of the world. But 2000 years later, it appears he had no backup plan. This was it. Come to earth in human flesh. Gather a dozen uneducated men from various backgrounds around him. Teach them for about three years. Leave it in their hands after giving them a spirit of power if they accepted him as their only means of salvation.

What a weird, ridiculous, sure to fail from a human perspective plan. But it worked. The men and women God touches change the world. They are never the same. The men and women God uses to carry his message are transformed and empowered by the same resurrection power that brought life back to the dead cells in that broken body that lay in the tomb Joseph lent to Jesus for three days. That power that enables men and women to do the impossible not because of their ability, but because of God using them as an instrument of his will.

When we allow God to do whatever he wants to do through us, God-things happen. The unexplainable takes place. Things that impossible when viewed from the perspective of human knowledge and human ingenuity happen when God powers the task instead of us. Jesus’ declaration that we will do more than he did comes true when an army of believers allow themselves to be catapulted into the community empowered by his spirit breathing his love into the world.

So where do we see these miracles taking place, you ask. My answer is everywhere. We too often go the doctors and give all the credit to science when someone is healed. But take a look at some of the statistics for the healing processes. Why are some healed and some not? Why do medications work for some and not for others? Why do some come back from the brink of death and some slip away without recovery? Are miracles happening? Yes.

But does that mean God is answering prayers for some and not for others? Not necessarily. First, remember that God answers the prayers of believers. Always. He answers the request for forgiveness of the truly repentant. Always. But does that mean he answers our requests the way we want? Not always. Sometimes. I expect Peter had prayers answered in ways he didn’t really want at times. I expect he didn’t want to go to Cornelius’ house and eat pork. But he did. I expect he didn’t really want to associate with many of the people he learned to love later as he prayed alongside Jesus.

Many of his prayers were not answered the way he wanted as he saw his fellow disciples tortured and crucified. Peter was changed at Pentecost and in his writings we know he learned to accept and understand suffering and the way of the cross in this world, but that doesn’t mean he enjoyed it. It doesn’t mean he, like us, didn’t pray for release from some of the pain the way of the cross brought he and his fellow believers. Even Jesus asked for another way. But the Father didn’t answer Jesus’ request the way he wanted either.

We don’t understand why God answers prayer the way he does. Does that mean prayer isn’t effective? No. It means we don’t see the way God sees. It means we don’t have infinite wisdom. It means we can’t see beyond the bend in the road. Last week, another school shooting in Colorado took the life of one and injured eight more. Did God do that? No. Did God not answer prayers to keep our children safe? He answered them, but perhaps not in the way we expect. I think we sometimes use prayer as a wish list and think we can demand God to do what we want because we are his children.

I seldom did what my kids “demanded.” I hope you didn’t either. We need to learn at an early age we don’t control most of what happens in this world. Demanding what we want usually only causes trouble. Good parents know that and don’t give in to their kids demands. I sometimes did what my kids asked of me, but as a parent, I most often did what I thought was best for them. If what they asked didn’t fit that category, I often said no. They didn’t understand then, but as parents themselves, I see them doing the same with their children. Why? Because we want what is best for our children.

So why does God think some good thing like keeping shooters out of school is bad? I’m sure he does. I’m sure he would love to have Adam and Eve back in the garden having never touched the tree in the middle he told them not to touch. But Adam and Eve were given the ability to choose for themselves the path they would take. And they chose to disobey. They could not choose the consequences, though. Their act disrupted the cosmos. Not just their lives, but the entire universe. God’s highest creation disobeyed and that act rippled through the heavens.

Now we live in a world in which God does not isolate us from evil. He doesn’t put us in a bubble and protect us from everything bad that could happen to us. Instead, when we choose to follow him, he puts his spirit in us and asks us to let his power in us help us live like he did when he was living in the flesh. Still bruised, broken, misunderstood, hated, even crucified. But empowered to love the unlovable. Empowered to share hope to the hopeless. Empowered to forgive when the world thinks there should be no forgiveness.

Does God answer prayer? Yes. Does it change circumstances? Sometimes. But more often it changes me and you. Keep praying that God will use you and make you more like him. That’s the right prayer and he always answers.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

What Sennacherib teaches us, January 8, 2018

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 16; You Version Bible app Engaging God’s Story Reading Plan Days 106 through 112

We are back to the study of The Story, God’s plan to restore us to a face-to-face relationship with Him as He had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He wants desperately to have that kind of intimate relationship with each of us. And He would and did die that He might have it. But relationships are always a two way street. God wants it, but we must want it too. We have a choice and The Story, His word, the Bible shows us His plan to guide us back to Him if we choose to do so.

This week’s readings tell us the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrian army’s plan to conquer Judah. The taunts of Sennacherib’s field commander remind me of just how devious Satan can be with us. Remember some of the words he used?

“The gods of the nations we conquered didn’t save them, why do you think your God will save you?”

“Hezekiah tore down all the altars to your god and is making you worship him only in Jerusalem’s temple. Won’t your god be angry with Hezekiah for destroying his places of worship?”

“Surrender and live, we will give you homes, places to work, your sons and daughters can marry and have children in the new land we will take you to. Or you can stay here and starve to death.”

Hezekiah’s subjects heard all those words from the walls as they stood inside Jerusalem and the Assyrian army stood just outside the gates. I expect many of them more than toyed with the idea of passing the guards on the gates and doing exactly what the field commander asked. I expect many of their growling bellies made them long for those gardens promised by their enemy.

Satan works much the same way with us as Sennacherib did in his taunting of those hidden behind the walls of Jerusalem. He tells us half truths and twists the circumstances to make us think he has power to make things happen. He twists phrases to make his lies sound like truth but when you really examine his words, they are empty promises that don’t hold up to reality.

For instance, Satan told Adam and Eve they wouldn’t die if they ate the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. Partly tree, but only a half truth. They didn’t die physically right away, but we don’t know if they were eternal when created. We know they lived almost a thousand years before they died and death was one of the curses placed on them. We also know they died spiritually immediately. They lost their spiritual innocence as soon as they ate of the forbidden fruit as they disobeyed God’s command.

We hear half truths all the time and Satan tries his best to lure us into the way the world thinks and acts and tells us it’s okey. He wants us to absorb the world’s philosophy. He wants us to accept his moral values. He wants us to think God’s ways are too restrictive and arcane. He wants us, like those behind Jerusalem’s walls to long for the promises he makes to us instead of what God has to offer.

But Hezekiah, his prophets and priests, and the strength of his guard force kept the people loyal to him and to God. They stayed in the city and prayed to the God of the universe. The only one at this point who could possibly do anything about the tragedy that was about to befall them. They had no hope except in God. Surrender to this army really wasn’t an option anymore.

Sure they heard the rhetoric, but they also knew the stories about the brutality of this army and these were the last holdouts that kept these warriors from returning home to their wives and children. These were the last of the rebellious nations that caused them to risk their lives and suffer the harsh environment of a soldier’s life. These people would receive no mercy whether defeated or if they surrendered. The rest of the world would understand the power of Assyria and the consequences of rebellion against her. Yes, only God could save Jerusalem.

The people prayed. God listened. A miracle happened. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers didn’t wake up one morning. We don’t know how they died. We don’t know if God sent some viral disease or something poisoned their food or God sent an angel to kill them. The Bible doesn’t tell us how God performed this miraculous act. We only know that Sennacherib’s invincible army was decimated in a single night without a single arrow fired from the walls of Jerusalem or a single sword swung by a Judean soldier. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers just died. The rest slithered home…as fast as they could go.

Then God executed the rest of His plan against Sennacherib and his two sons assassinated him. Assyria soon feel to Babylonia and became a vassal nation to Assyria just as all the other nations of the world had been to her. Sin has its consequences. They will come back to bite you and there is not much you can do about reaping the harvest you sow.

Hezekiah is one of five kings of the thirty-nine who ruled Israel noted as being a good king. All the rest are described as in God’s word. I don’t think any of our presidents have been described as evil in our press, but God tell us 34 of His chosen people’s kings were evil. What an indictment against those who were supposed to be showing us how to have an intimate relationship with God.

But don’t point fingers too fast. The Israelites are still God’s chosen people. It is still the nation He will bless and use to point us to Him and sue to bring us back into a face-to-face relationship with Him. So says His Story, His plan to redeem us from our sins. We’re getting close to those events in His word. The ones that will change the course of history and give each of us the opportunity to live with Him forever.

For now, be careful who you listen to and how you react to those half truths the world yells out to you over the wall. Satan wants desperately to have you open the gates of your heart and mind to him. He wants desperately for you to let him in and let him take charge of your life. You have a choice as to how sits on the throne of your life. It will either be God or Satan. Jesus told us you cannot serve two masters. You must choose one or the other.

Who will it be? God or Satan? It really is your choice. Make sure it’s the right one. Today.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Amen (Revelation 3:14), June 14, 2017

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. God, the faithful and true witness, the Amen.
  3. Scripture
    1. Revelation 3:14
    2. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

  1. Devotional
    1. God, the Amen, the faithful and true witness.
    2. The word amen (“So be it; truly”) is a declaration of affirmation found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. It is found in Jewish, Christian, and some Muslim worship as a concluding word or response to prayers. Common English translations of the word amen include “verily” and “truly”. It can also be used colloquially to express strong agreement, as in, for instance, amen to that.
    3. Go anywhere that is even slightly religious and you’ll hear the word. AMEN.
      1. Not limited to Jews or Christians
      2. Almost every religion around the world uses the term or something akin to it.
      3. A declaration of affirmation of something someone has said or done
      4. Agreement to words spoken or actions taken
      5. God calls Himself the Amen
    4. We see the word 30 times in the Old Testament; 52 times in the New Testament
    5. Jesus uses the word in a way no one else does
      1. Jesus uses amen before He speaks affirming what He is about to say, not what someone else has said
      2. Only time it’s used this way in all of scripture. Every other time amen is used initially, it is used to affirm someone else’s words
      3. Some translations render it, truly I say; in truth I say; verily I say
      4. He affirms His own statements, a huge faux pas in Jewish culture unless you are God because then who can test you or fault you
      5. He affirms His statements because He can, He is the Amen
    6. We hear the word a lot in our churches, to end prayers, after supplications, even in what some might call the “amen corner” of the congregation
      1. Do we then go out and live what we have just affirmed, though
      2. When we use the word amen and affirm the words spoken and declare with the speaker, “So be it,” do we follow with our action or just mouth the words and let that suffice?
      3. God is the Amen, the faithful and true witness
      4. What He says, He will do
      5. His “So be it!” means something. We can count on Him to carry out His promises
    7. Today, you might have an occasion to speak that commonly used word, Amen. God called Himself the Amen. When you use that word, remember you in essence take a vow before Him that you will take action affirming the words just spoken. Worship the Amen today, the faithful and true witness.
  2. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Make an appointment (John 16:23-28), April 13, 2017

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

 

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. You can have an appointment with the creator of the cosmos. All you have to do is call His name and He will make time on His calendar for you.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 16:23-28
    2. Jesus: When all this transpires, you will finally have the answers you have been seeking. I tell you the truth, anything you ask of the Father in My name, He will give to you.  Until this moment, you have not sought after anything in My name. Ask and you will receive so that you will be filled with joy.

I have been teaching you all of these truths through stories and metaphors, but the time is coming for Me to speak openly and directly of the Father.

The day is coming when you will make a request in My name, but I will not represent you before the Father.  You will be heard directly by the Father. The Father loves you because you love Me and know that I come from the Father.  I came from the Father into the cosmos, but soon I will leave it and return to the Father.

  1. Devotional
    1. I’m not sure we understand the implications of Jesus’ words to the disciples most of the time or we would do things a lot differently
    2. You will be heard directly by the Father
      1. Think about who He is
        1. Creator of the cosmos
        2. Billions of galaxies, farthest one we can see is 32 billion light years away
        3. Each galaxy has billions of stars
        4. 960,000 earths in our star, the sun, not even mid-sized, more on the small size
      2. If our solar system was the size of the United States, earth would be the size of a quarter
      3. God spoke and it came into being
    3. God keeps everything running smoothly just for His pleasure
      1. Created this earth with just the right amount of air and water and all the elements necessary for life
      2. Created you
      3. Miracle of birth, life started, you took a breath, an impossibility when you count the odds
    4. Think of how insignificant we are in comparison
      1. What have you created lately?
      2. Anything you created came from ingredients that already existed
      3. God made everything out of nothing, He provided the raw materials you might use for your creative bent
    5. Yet He calls us to talk with Him and ask for His help, to ask for things that will bring glory to Him
    6. He opens His appointment book for us
      1. We don’t understand just who He is
      2. We become too familiar and fail to stand in awe of the Creator of all things
      3. We don’t take advantage of His open invitation to come into His presence
    7. Balance between the two.
      1. Creator
      2. Father
      3. Talk with Him today
  2. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town (John 14:13-14), March 29, 2017

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

 

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. Topic Introduction with headline.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 14:13-14
    2. Jesus: Whatever you ask for in My name, I will do it so that the Father will get glory from the Son.  Let Me say it again: if you ask for anything in My name, I will do it.
  4. Devotional
    1. When I was growing up, there was a show in which a multimillionaire went around the country and just arbitrarily wrote a check to people for several thousand dollars.
      1. Not worth quite as much today, but a lot of money then
      2. Never showed the millionaire’s face or mentioned his name
      3. Show focused on what the recipients did with the money
      4. Some squandered the money on frivolous junk
      5. Some spent it on things that seemed like good investments, but only on themselves
      6. Some did charitable things for other people
    2. Sometimes we read these verses with that kind of thought in mind
      1. Santa is coming
      2. Get whatever we want
      3. Just ask and it will appear
      4. All we have to do is tag on His name at the end and it will happen the way we want
    3. Twisted view of these verses
      1. About His name, not ours
      2. About His ministry, not ours
      3. About His plans, not ours
      4. About His wants, not ours
    4. Jesus wants to answer our prayers to bring glory to Him which gives glory to the Father
      1. Goes back, then, to what is the Father’s desires and plans for this world
      2. Desires that all will know His saving grace and follow Him
      3. That all will recognize Him as God and serve Him as God
      4. That all will come to a saving relationship with Him
      5. That all will worship Him
    5. Do our prayers reflect that attitude, that request, that outcome as an end result?
      1. He will answer
      2. He wants the glory
      3. First commandment, He is a jealous God, He will not share our devotion with anyone or anything
      4. He alone deserves our worship
      5. He wants His name untarnished
      6. Ask in His name
  5. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Effective prayer (John 11:39-42), March 14, 2017

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

 

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. Is silent prayer effective? Yep. Is vocal prayer effective? Yep. Is prayer effective? Yep. When it’s for the right reason.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 11:39-42
    2. Jesus:  Remove the stone.

Martha: Lord, he has been dead four days; the stench will be unbearable.

Jesus:  Remember, I told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.

They removed the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven.

Jesus: Father, I am grateful that You have heard Me.  I know that You are always listening, but I proclaim it loudly so that everyone here will believe You have sent Me.

  1. Devotional
    1. I know people that are scared to death to pray out loud.
      1. They are afraid they’ll say the wrong thing.
      2. They think someone might think poorly of them because of the words they say.
      3. They get their tongues tied and nothing seems to come out right
      4. They’re afraid they’ll forget something they really want to say
    2. I know others who think you really need to pray out loud to keep focused during prayer
      1. It’s too easy to let your mind wander
      2. It’s easier to gather your thoughts
      3. It helps you articulate your praise to God
      4. It helps you focus on others instead of yourself
      5. It forces you to think more clearly about what you’re doing
    3. Jesus shows us that prayer is effective no matter how we pray as long as it’s for the right reason.
      1. “Father, I’m grateful You have heard Me.”
      2. But He hasn’t said anything out loud yet. He has obviously prayed, but communicated silently with His Father.
      3. “I know You are always listening”
      4. “I proclaim it loudly so that everyone here will believe You have sent Me.”
      5. His vocal prayer is heard so others will know His specific prayer to the Father for Lazarus’ resurrection
    4. What was all of this about?
      1. Everything Jesus did was to bring glory to God
      2. He stated before He left for Bethany that His delay and actions would bring glory to His Father
      3. All His prayer requests sought direction to give the most glory to God
      4. His actions aimed glory to God and not Himself
    5. Jesus came to Bethany to bring glory to His Father
      1. He would raise Lazarus from the dead
      2. He would show He was one with the Father since only God had the power to give life
      3. He would point all of those action toward one purpose and one cause
      4. Bringing glory to His Father
  2. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.