Do Greater Things - A Book Review

Have just finished the book Do Greater Things by Robby Dawkins  which I received from it's publisher Creation House. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in building up your confidence and faith in praying effectively for the sick and hurting. It reminds me very much of the books I read early in my faith walk over 45 years ago by Charles and Francis Hunter. They made praying for the sick seem so obvious and natural that everyone should be involved in doing it and expecting that God would indeed answer.

This is less a book about the theology of healing prayer and more about examples from the ministry of Mr. Dawkins that demonstrate the practical applications of how praying for the needs of others can be accomplished. Here are a few things that are talked about which resonate with me. And this is how I interpret them.

The first is that God has given us the authority to pray for the needs of others in Jesus name. That means that because we are a representative of Christ we can speak directly to the condition ourselves. Our prayer then does not say something like - Oh God, please heal this person's leg - but instead goes more like - I command that leg to receive divine healing now (in the name of Jesus). The same stance would be used in dealing with evil spirits. We must use the authority we have been given based on what Jesus has already done for us.

The second is that we should be interested first in the person and second in the condition they have. And if we are interested in the person then we engage them in finding out what hurts where. After they identify their level of pain we pray and then check to see if there has been any improvement and to what level. Then we keep at it until complete healing or until it's obvious there is no more that can be done at that time.

And the third thing that stood out to me is that although everyone does not have the gift of healing every Christian does have the authority of Christ in them to pray for others with some success. Many times we do not ask others if we can pray for them because of the fear of being in some way rejected by that person.

This book brings out two things here. One is that almost all people appreciate it when someone asks if they can pray for them. If nothing happens they really don't get upset or think less of God. Two is that although it is our responsibility to pray it is God's responsibility to effect the authority He has given us. Our faith is in who God is, trusting that He loves both us and the person we are praying for.

Again, this is an easy read which is both faith building and action inducing.

Can You Hear The Trumpet Sounding?

I've been working for some time on a post explaining how a Christian can support Donald Trump for and as President. However it's going to stay in my files at least for now. The problem is that to do the subject proper it ended up being quite long and even after editing down I still find other points I want to add.

So instead of getting that you now have a chance to read a poem I wrote about our Prez. It doesn't go into abortion, judges or Israel (my hot button topics). It doesn't discuss foreign or domestic policy. It does though come from the angle about a guy who was not an insider and not a politician but ran because he had a vision of what America could be. It is this person that connects with the average Joe in the streets.

Can You Hear The Trumpet Sounding? 

There once was a builder brought up in Queens
promoted himself as the greatest of things
gold plated fixtures and gambling halls
sold his silk ties at golf courses and malls

Looked for the beauty in women and hair
married again and still had an affair
made deals with TV and never seemed tired
love to tell celebs, hey buddy you're fired

But even his money and fast private jets
wasn't enough for the insider sets
who hated his brashness and thought him quite crude
looking down their thin noses at his attitude

Yet this guy grew up with a love for our land
and saw how the dealers would work underhand
enriching themselves while still talking so polite
with sweet platitudes hiding knifes in the night

They had no respect for religion or creed
talked of the poor man though blinded by greed
the swamp creatures lusted for insider power
and hated a system where man built a tower

For all of his faults but with all of his flair
he offered the people a deal that was fair
I'll wall up the borders, take care of the vets
make better deals with no ifs ands or yets

I'll build up our forces, make friends with the Jews
we'll put in good judges with conservative views
clean coal will get dug and fracked oil will flow
our best days are coming just thought you should know

I'll lower your taxes to bring better jobs
stop losing to others and dry up the sobs
we'll clean up corruption and jail dirty birds
your leaders have dropped you like little bird turds

The prelates and pundents all laughed till they hurt
they howled and yowled while fist throwing dirt
he's racist and sexist, has no chance in hell
we don't know a person who'll buy what he'd sell

Election night came and the party turned glum
it seemed that the nation had chosen someone
who'd shake up the system that everyone loathed
except for the people who weren't as well clothed

It must be the Russians who tampered with votes
collusion with Putin sang thousand of throats
they hammered and bammered for more than a year
with negative news for their fellows to hear

But we in the heartland are not dumb as bricks
we're on to race baiting and media tricks
we cherish our churches and rights to our guns
and thank those who serve us both daughters and sons

And flawed as he is we see courage and truth
with promises kept and a man not aloof
whose smarter than them though they haven't a clue
just thought you should hear what we know to be true

Two Handed Wisdom

I came across a Billy Graham quote this week that went something like - God has given us two hands; one to receive and one to give.  That was the inspiration for the following bits of wisdom.


If you have been forgiven
be quick to forgive

If you have been given mercy
show mercy as well

If you have been blessed
freely share your blessings

If you have been filled with the Spirit
pour it out to others

If you have been encouraged
offer encouragement

If you have been shown wisdom
impart your wisdom

If you have been lifted up in prayer
do the same for others

Remembering Billy Graham

The day Billy Graham died I Googled his name

finding their algorithms favored an article from the

New York Times titled - Billy Graham, lost opportunities

I didn't waste my time reading it because the obvious slant
had nothing to do with hearts and souls and changed lives
but everything to do with the politics of religion in America

My wife and I got married in 1972, just out of college
and at the end of November I surrendered my life to the
Lordship of Jesus and to the infilling of His Holy Spirit

At that moment I went from being an atheist to having an assurance
deep in my heart that Jesus had not only forgiven my sins but He had
revealed Himself so real that I could never doubt what happened

It was our wedding anniversary the next year that I remember
seeing Graham on our little 13" black and white TV, preaching
to over a million people spread out before him in South Korea

His message was pretty much the same then as it was
the dozen of other times I managed to watch him preach
every man, from pauper to king, and in between, is lost without Jesus

Although the world may change, the heart of man has always been the same
the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of God
but the good news is that through Jesus we can be reconciled to God.

And as always Graham told the crowd that it was not an accident
they were there that night. Whether brought by a friend or out of curiosity
the Holy Spirit had called them. Now the decision was theirs

Algorithms know nothing about faith or the presence of God
or the power of a Holy Spirit who can transform the life of any person
and who one day soon will shake this nation, one person at a time

Just as they are, without a plea, but that His blood was shed for thee
millions responded to the simple message presented by Dr. Graham
others, hearing but not responding, I would call  - lost opportunities
    

Baptized In Love

We had a wonderful testimony in church today from a woman who had felt overwhelmed and over powered by everything that had been going on in her life. She said she was addicted to drugs, confused about her sexuality, had lost all connections with family and friends, was always unhappy and had no idea how to make progress in any of those areas.

Two years ago she started taking the van that our church sends to the City Mission so that anyone that wants can attend Sunday morning service. It was during her fifth time that she said she heard God speak directly to her. It was a Sunday where part of the service was devoted to adult baptisms. The pastor said that anyone else who felt led to get baptized could head to the room behind the front stage area (there is a baptism pool set up on the stage). A pastor would talk to them first and there were plenty of towels available. She said she actually heard God tell her that now was her time.

Now I want to pause here for a moment to let you know the truth of the matter. You may have heard this a hundred times before but it becomes so much more real when it's in the context of a testimony. At the time God spoke to her this lady was still in the mire of despair, still overwhelmed by not having the ability to gain control over her sin and rebellion. BUT GOD, because of His great love for her, saw her, even in the midst of her sin, as precious and desirable to be saved.

In obedience our lady went forward, surrendered her life to the Lordship of Jesus, and went to the waters of baptism. From that moment on her life was changed and she was no longer powerless to put aside the sin and wrong behaviours of the past. A big part of it was that she now had this deep desire to be pleasing to the One who reached down to her. She told us that her life is still not perfect but that she knows she is walking on the right path and she is now constantly filled with joy.

BUT GOD. There are 46 times in Scripture where this phrased is used. Today I would like to share five of them with you. May they be an encouragement to you that whatever is going on in your life that just seems too big, no matter what it is, God is able to either change it or to change you, to what is best for you and to what gives Him the glory.

Their beauty shall be consumed in the grave . . . But God will redeem my soul from the powers of the grave, for He will rescue me. (Psalm 49: 14-15)

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

It is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, even the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2: 9-10)

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man, But God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape.  (1 Cor. 10:13)

We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath . . . But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love . . . even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)  Eph. 2: 3-5

Our salvation is not in the works of religion but in the grace freely given us to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. That grace will reveal His love for us and we in turn will strive to be obedient to His will because of our love for Him. We no longer need to live in fear of the unknown because we are learning to trust in His love for us.

And that my friends makes everything so much easier.

A Complex Question

A thought came to me last night while laying in bed an hour after the State of the Union address which went something like this;

If the smallest living things are programmed in their DNA with 3 million bits of information, all of it needed by an organism to form shape, make tiny machines to form proteins, take in energy, dispose waste, move around in it's environment, defend itself and reproduce like from like,

and if each of the trillions of cells in a human body have at least one DNA chain consisting of over 3 billion bits of information,

then the process of evolving from the simple to the more complex would require at each stage an addition of DNA information, possibly millions of links long.

So without tackling the original question of the how and why random phosphates, sugars and nitrates would self organize from nothing into a rather complex double helix shape millions of links long in the right order by chance in the first place to provide the minimum information life needs, I proceed to the second question which is;

What would be the cause of forming another million links of information input into the DNA code of any cell? I mean really, it's not like small links of DNA form by themselves in nature, floating somewhere ready to be picked up.

Mutations may change a small section of the DNA code of any living thing, for better or most likely for worse, but as far as I can determine, mutations do not cause cells to add more information.

Natural selection may activate or deactivate information already contained in DNA but it does not cause the growth of longer DNA containing more information.

This afternoon I checked a bunch of articles on line to see if scientists had any suggestions that might seem reasonable. Apart from their bold affirmations that life did indeed began millions of years ago when materials combined to form a type of algae in the acid bath of the early Earth ocean (no mention of life's need for information) these articles did not address any process or cause of addition of complexity.

I did find out two interesting things though. Science has in the last few decades discounted natural selection as a driving force for the addition of more complex features. They seem to finally realize what God said in Genesis, change in environment can cause species to morph into other like organisms but there isn't any evidence of those organisms becoming more complex in the process.

The second goes along with this. Faced with stress an organism will become less complex in order to better compete for survival. Now isn't that interesting?

Hopefully tonight, having written this down so now stress free, my body can morph into a nice comfortable sleeping position.

  

  

When I Worship

I wrote this as a spoken word piece, much more effective to be heard with a bit of emotion and passion in my voice and with the words flowing the way I think they should. Perhaps someday I will get a chance to record this on a platform such as You Tube and can re-post if it turns out well.

Just a note. I believe that worship should be directed to God and it is all about Him, not us or our needs. So by that standard this is not really a worship poem because it focuses quite a bit on what "I" experience in worship. Yet on the other hand, in the proclaimation it does at the same time exalt "Him", which is what I desire to do in all things.


When I worship

It is not a thing I do with insinuation of obligation to simply
make a declaration of my imagination

When I worship

It is not just words in a book or scrolls on a screen with
melody and harmony to determine my ultimate spiritual destiny

When I worship

Whether it's part of a congregation or in a situation
where I am alone, I am alone

with Him

the Cornerstone who has shone through the contusions of confusions
that come to all because of the world and the flesh and the devil

When I worship

I speak or sing directly to the Father in the name of His Son
and pour out to Him and to the One all that is within

When I worship

I don't condescend to pretend that without Him
I could in any way ascend close to where He
contends for the souls of men

When I worship

I close my eyes to take off the disguise that we all surmise

When I worship

I picture a tapestry of Jesus reigning in all His majesty
with thunderous sounds and golden crowns
the plenitudes of multitudes singing to the Son

Glory, Glory, Glory

and

Holy, Holy, Holy

and

Worthy, Worthy, Worthy is the lamb
who shed his blood for the sins of man
who was and is and is to come

When I worship

I'm not ashamed to feel the churning and burning
of tears while I surrender my fears

When I worship

I may groan and even moan
sometimes in languages I've not known
because He is the One who for me did atone
for all of the rebelling that had been welling inside

When I worship

I am not better than you or more holy than you
but I am being true to what He has called me to do

When I worship

Hands raised and eyes closed and heart open
I am not hoping for some pie in the sky
in the dear bye and the bye with no reason why

When I worship

I am surrendering all that I am
the past and the present and whatever I plan
to the Father and to Jesus Christ the Lamb

And it is in those moments

Submitted before Him in the civility of humility
that I feel His gentleness and experience a love
that can only come from Him and His kingdom above

When you get to the nitty-gritty
my worship may not be that pretty

Whether head in my hands
or fist raised while I stand
declaring to the Great I Am

You have washed away my stain
You have broken every chain
You have both redeemed me and esteemed me
and there is nothing else that remains

When I worship

I am the man He created me to be