Category: Prayer Intention

“Is a lamp acquired to be put under a bushel basket or hidden under a bed? Is it not meant to be put on a stand?” —Mark 4:21 The above Scripture verse instantly transformed my life. While attending a retreat forty-two years ago, a friend wrote an encouraging note to me (see Heb 10:24-25) and concluded it with the above passage. I was intensely shy, attending the retreat only to gain solitude for prayer. My friend observed that God had given me spiritual gifts and a calling to share those gifts with a hurting world. The letter touched me, but...

“What the sower is sowing is the word.” –Mark 4:14 In His parable of the sower, Jesus doesn’t mention anything about the farmer except that he “went out sowing” (Mk 4:3). However, we can conclude the following about the sower from Jesus’ parable: “God’s word is living and effective” (Heb 4:12). The seed, that is, the Word of God (Mk 4:14), grew regardless of the skill and holiness of the farmer. God’s Word is far greater than those who sow it. The only skill the farmer needed was to get out there in the field and put the seed out...

“Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to Me.” –Mark 3:35 God is Love (1 Jn 4:8, 16). He made us in His image, in the image of Love (Gn 1:27). Therefore, we are made for love and are automatically looking for love. So we are happy if we know we are loved, but are brokenhearted and depressed if we think we are not loved. Because of His love for us, the Lord wants us to abide in Love and in Him (1 Jn 4:16). Therefore, He became a man, died on the cross for...

Jesus “entered heaven itself that He might appear before God now on our behalf.” –Hebrews 9:24 If we had sinned only once, and if that lone sin was the most seemingly innocuous sin, we are still guilty of breaking God’s entire law (Jas 2:10). How could we then, with all our sins, ever get back into God’s good graces? Nothing we could do would ever satisfy, make up for, atone, or expiate that one sin, let alone all our sins. We have all sinned and are deprived of the glory of God (Rm 3:23). In our sinfulness, we are filthy...

“…entering the synagogue on the sabbath as He was in the habit of doing…” –Luke 4:16 For nearly thirty years, Jesus had habitually entered the synagogue on the sabbath to worship God (Lk 4:16). Then, on one special sabbath day, the time “of favor” came (Lk 4:19). On that day, the Holy Spirit anointed and sent Jesus out, Scriptures were fulfilled, Jesus prophesied in power, and was nearly killed (Lk 4:23ff). Since Jesus is the same today as He was then (Heb 13:8), He is working in power today, His day, the Lord’s Day. Therefore, we should never be comfortable...