Amos 7:14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah: ‘I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore-trees; and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said unto me: Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. {JPS}

Amos was a man who was comfortable and successful at being who and what he was, an owner of sycamore groves and a sheep farmer. His daily life was settled and predictable; he was good at doing what he had chosen to do with his life and was content with going about the daily routine of being Amos. Then the Lord invaded his life with opportunities and a ministry that was light years outside his comfort zone. Read the rest of this entry »

Lev 20:24 “But I said to you, “you will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Have you ever found yourself short of getting G-d’s inheritance for lack of faith in Him? Have you ever found yourself, for lack of faith in G-d, decrying Him, denigrating Him, disparaging Him, discrediting Him, misrepresenting Him and impugning Him by distorting the situation? Read the rest of this entry »

Amos 7:14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah: ‘I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore-trees; and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said unto me: Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. {JPS}

Amos was a man who was comfortable and successful at being who and what he was, an owner of sycamore groves and a sheep farmer. His daily life was settled and predictable; he was good at doing what he had chosen to do with his life and was content with going about the daily routine of being Amos. Then the Lord invaded his life with opportunities and a ministry that was light years outside his comfort zone. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past 50 years there have been many things that happened that have caused me to seek and pursue the Lord to a deeper level of understanding in this Christian walk. As he showed me, each time, how He had been turning what seemed to be so bad, even almost unbearable, to good … how He would “other it”… for His purpose each time I would trust Him, I began to personalize the truth He had been speaking to me since my youth. Read the rest of this entry »

When I was growing up, I thought a person was rich if they had a paved driveway and clothes from the GAP. Or if they had been on an airplane. When I visited an Olive Garden with a friend in sixth grade, it was the fanciest place I had eaten at in my life. When someone gave me a $35 ring for my eighteenth birthday, I cherished it with my life, as it was the most expensive thing I owned.

Now I have a paved driveway and a fairly new car parked in it. I shop at any store I want and have dinned at five-star restaurants. I’ve traveled to 12 countries on three continents and own several diamonds.

But more often than not, I still feel poor. Read the rest of this entry »

Lev 20:24 “But I said to you, “you will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Have you ever found yourself short of getting G-d’s inheritance for lack of faith in Him? Have you ever found yourself, for lack of faith in G-d, decrying Him, denigrating Him, disparaging Him, discrediting Him, misrepresenting Him and impugning Him by distorting the situation? Read the rest of this entry »

“No, you will never wash my feet!” said Peter when Jesus knelt at his feet to wash the dirt from his feet. The thought that the Messiah would serve Peter as a slave would serve his master was repugnant to him. It was inappropriate; it was outrageous; it was unthinkable. Yet, Yeshua said, “If I do not wash you, you have no inheritance in me.” (see John 13:6-10) Read the rest of this entry »

“The man’s a sissy,” I thought. His words and demeanor seemed too sweet, artificial, affected. I didn’t like him from the first moment he opened his mouth to talk to me. You know how some people seem to be putting on piety and it shows? Well, that’s how Ken Maurer affected me. I just didn’t like him.

Yet, the Lord was going to use this man to help shape my life from that first encounter onward. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year was no different.

I guess I should have expected that.

It was October, and I had spent the past several months in limbo about a major decision in my life. I had battled for months and I was begging God for some much needed clarity. “I want answers,” I told Him. “Even if it’s not what I want to hear, just tell me already.” Read the rest of this entry »

January, the month named for the Roman God, Janus, is so named because the month looks back over the previous year and forward to the coming year. In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions. Thus, he observes past and present, passing and coming. This morning, I am a little like Janus because I, too, am looking back and forward as I sit at the end of 2009 and the emergence of 2010. Read the rest of this entry »