moving from knocking to dwelling

luke 11 gives us a great passage on prayer. Jesus first gives the "Lord's Prayer" and then illustrates it to his followers. i am so glad he uses an illustration, for i often miss what He is really saying. Jesus gives the illustration of a person knocking and knocking and knocking at on a friends door to get food for an unexpected visitor. he also mentions that the Father's children are in the house with him. i have come to realize that since i am a follower of Christ, i am now living on the inside of the house. when i pray, i pray not from the position of being outside the house having to knock, knock, and knock again. i pray from a position of intimacy-of being with the Father.

tears of sadness

a few recent events have brought me to tears. i know pain is a real part of life, yet from time to time i am overcome with an incredible sadness as i witness God's goodness used for evil.

God gives each person an unlimited amount of influence. this influence is designed to be used to bring blessings to others. yet, so often the power of influence God gives others is used to bring destruction and cursing to others.

take for example the recent video of the teenage girls beating their classmate for over 30 minutes. as i watched the news report on tv, tears were brought out for the victim. i also had the thought pass through my mind, "what if the victim would of been my daughter?"

and now we are witnessing another cult that used religious influence and power in a very destructive manner for 100's of girls.

under these two accounts are emotions that stem from a very real and personal account from a family member that happened last week. she is a single mother and her ex picked up their 6 year old son and spent the next 36 hours at a crack house. the child was left alone in the crack house with no food or water. he witness the destructive power of crack. the child was left to protect himself in a world of adult crack users. his daddy abandoned him.

God gives us power and influence to bring blessings to others.

influence: redeeming the power

as i meditate upon the power God has given each person to influence others, i am humble and amazed. He has entrust each person with an endless supply of influential power. i am amazed that each of us can choose to use our God given influential power to bring life or death to others. i am humbled as i realize how often i use my God given influential power to bring pain and destruction to others.

proverbs 15:4, "gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. when the truth of "a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit" is combined with proverbs 17:22b, "a broken spirit saps a person's strength," it is clear why so many people in our society have little to no strength. their spirits have been crushed by other people, and a crushed spirit saps a person's strength. will you join with me in redeeming your influential power by speaking words that bring life and health to others?