Tonight at youth group, Nate did a lesson on prayer. It was really good as he examined what it is, what it means, why we do it, etc. What was really cool was how God followed that lesson up with a great example of how He answers prayer. God provided a really neat leading immediately following the group tonight. I love it when you see God's hand move so specifically and clearly in response to our calling. This is another powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit as God continues to lead and guide in the area of church. Praise the Lord!!

Plane kills jogger in SC beach emergency landing

Luke 12:20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'

This is such a sad story. This poor guy couldn't have imagined that jogging on the beach would but him at risk of dying in a plane accident. I pray for the wife and kids who have got to be struggling with such a tragedy. It goes to show that our feelings of safety and security in this world are really illusions. We do not know the day or the hour that our soul will be required. It is so important that we live with our true home in mind, not this temporary dwelling. The only true security is in Christ.

1 Kings 13:18 He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

BARTOW, Fla. -- A 55-year-old woman died alone in a bedroom of her Florida home after telling her husband not to disturb her during a lengthy religious fast, authorities said. Evelyn Boyd locked herself in a room to pray and fast on Feb. 7. Boyd, the wife of a local preacher, had only water to drink and didn't emerge from the room for weeks. Her body was discovered March 5 when family members forced open the bedroom door. Boyd's husband, John, said both he and his wife had fasted before. John Boyd is the pastor at Higher Praise Full Gospel Ministries, a Pentecostal church in Bartow. John Boyd said he didn't check on his wife during the fast because he was trying to respect her request for privacy. "This is our way of just spending time with God," he said. "People don't understand it if you don't do it. She was doing what she loved to do and what she felt God had called her to do." Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/13/1527762/fla-woman-55-dies-during-lengthy.html#ixzz0iLVdMR3z

Now let me say before anyone gets upset with me, that I am not demeaning or accusing this woman who died during her fast. We don't know why she died and if it was even related to the fast. There is also no way to say that she wasn't called by God to do it. After all, who can speak for God? That being said. Throughout the centuries, people have claimed God's instructions led them to do things that really didn't seem to be from God. It is true that there are accounts in Scripture where God asked some of His prophets to do some strange things. Read Jeremiah or Ezekiel to see some of those. However, it is also very easy to be deceived and to do things that are not God's will in the name of God. A few things to consider. God doesn't contradict Himself. In the Chronicles passage above, God had told His prophet not to stay or eat in the land, then the lying prophet told Him that God said the opposite. If it goes against God's revealed Word, it is NOT from God. God tells us to test the spirits. Before being convinced that God told us to do something, let's check with other mature members of the body, let's check God's word, let's make sure that God really said it and not some other source.

Once again I want to share some of the awesome teaching and challenge we received at the CEF pastors conference last week. God really taught me a lot and challenged me a great deal. Today I want to share some of the things that Barry Beebe taught concerning men and their families. "Men reach men. Seldom do women or children reach men. Men motivate men spritually. Women rarely motivate men spiritually. It is often a male pride issue. Men can inspire women, young men, young ladies, children and teens. Men are motivated by men, not women, not children, not programs. When kids, and especially boys, hit the teenage years, they will be motivated by men, not women and without men stepping forward, you loose the teens." This challenged me in one really big area that Barry talked about: Mentoring my wife. I had, I'm sorry to say, never thought about it in exactly those terms. Sarah and I are partners, friends, lovers, parents, etc. She is my best friend. I love to talk with her and spend time with her. We have great communication together. But this was missing. I have not been much of a mentor to her. I didn't think about how it is my role to personally teach and encourage my wife as a mentor. As a friend, sure, but not as a mentor. It has been great to get this challenge of what it means to be spiritual head of my household. The great sadness in me is that it is in my 11th year of marriage that I really start understanding this in a new way. Why has this not been modeled and demonstrated and talked about in church!? Is it because almost no one is doing this? I have known too many pastors (including a former pastor of mine who is now divorced) that have not even come close on this point. Well, its time to make a change. Sarah and I have really been talking about this and she is really happy to hear that I am ready to do more, to add this dynamic, that has been mostly missing, to our relationship. She was excited, relieved, appreciative, to say the least. As Barry shared, as I do this, she will also mentor me back as we encourage each other, but as the man, it is my job to initiate and begin this process. If you go to BCBC, you have not heard the last of this. We are going to talk about this in the coming months and I plan to challenge all our men to make sure that they are not just being nice, supportive, friendly husbands, but mentors of their wives and kids. If the men don't step forward, we lose. I am excited. I hope this challenges you.

The words "if only" are tough words. They are words of mistake or regret. We look back at something that didn't turn out as hoped and say, "if only." Nate, Cliff, and I had a great pastor's conference down at Camp GoodNews this Thursday and Friday. The topic was 'mentoring.' During the conference, the Holy Spirit really spoke to me in a very powerful way through His still small voice, through the speaker (Barry Beebe), and through a older pastor friend (Roger Blundell). I was rebuked and reproved by the Spirit as He showed me a mistake I had made, was still making, and He ground into me the reality of what I had done and needed to do. I was bowled over and humbled. Thankful for such a clear and definitive answer but utterly crushed by the realization of what I should have been doing. Today I met with a person to begin to set right what I needed to. "If Only" Isaiah 48:18 "If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Matthew 23:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. If only Cain had listened to God, if only Eve had believed God, if only Israel had followed God, if only..., if only. We are not called to lives of regret. God forgives us and we move forward, but so often we end up in a place of if-only because we have failed to listen, to heed, to step up and do what we should have known. We are strong-willed, self-willed, stubborn or lazy, prideful or worried, and we hang back from the right. If Only we would listen, do, obey, act, follow. Read this article by Barry Beebe that is part of what he shared on Friday morning that the Lord used to speak so powerfully and clearly to me. Look at those three disciplines and see how they apply to your life. I have already moved away from my 'if only' and onto my 'now, Lord!'