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- Written by: Don Goulding
And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him. (1 John 5:14, 15)
I performed a gospel sleight of hand trick before wide-eyed children at an evangelistic day club in Slovakia. An eight-year-old volunteer assisted me to slice a one meter length of rope in half.
“Satan uses sin to cut our innocence in two,” I said. “But Jesus can make us whole again.” We tied the ends back together.
I wound the repaired rope around my hand and reached in a pocket for some invisible Holy Spirit dust.
“When we wrap our life around him, he makes our sin disappear.” I sprinkled on the dust, unwrapped the cord with a flourish, and, voila, it was in one piece without a knot in sight.
Oohs and aahs rippled through the young audience.
I wanted the Slovakians to know I wasn't using magic, so I revealed the secret trick. The loop that was sliced and retied was actually at one end of the cord. I hid that fake end in my pocket as I pretended to retrieve dust. The kids were no longer amazed.
The Bible promises that if we ask and have faith, miracles will be done for us. I read these statements and shake my head. The supernatural seems impossible. But maybe it’s time to reveal the mystery shrouding answered prayer.
I’ve known prayer warriors who regularly ask for, and receive, God’s intervention. They’ve learned the secret that faith to access God’s power must accompany an understanding of his heart. They don’t believe in miracles so much as they believe in the the Father.
That’s what I want from my prayers—to be so entwined with the heart of Father, that I see what he is doing, and I’m used of him to call it into the natural.
Prayer: Father, help me ask for what you want.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper,
but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
I forced the blade of a utility knife through a plastic bucket, slipped, and stabbed my own leg. A friend used duct tape to wrap the wound until we could finish the project.
Later, a nurse prepped for stitches, but she left me to remove the tape from my hairy leg. After twenty minutes, she found me tugging in feeble increments. She grabbed the silver tape and ripped it free in one motion. Her method really didn’t hurt. I’d prolonged the agony by my lack of resolve.
I’m a spiritual Band-Aid baby, too. I expose only tiny bits of my old nature to the light at a time. But Jesus wants to shorten the torment with a ripping campaign.
Sin cuts. It doesn't matter if I slice myself, or if someone else knifes me. Either way, wrong choices cause heart wounds. The Spirit of Christ offers healing, but I cover my pain with Band-Aids—those easy fixes that never address root problems—and I never want to take them off.
Over time, my temporary bandages become a permanent part of my corrupt nature. I fear that if I remove them I’ll lose the attention I receive over my boo-boos, and it will lessen who I am. But I was never meant to assimilate false cures into my character.
True healing can’t happen if I hide. Anger will fester, and habits will rot, until I let Jesus in for surgery. Through meditative prayer, I must allow his touch to reach the depths of my wound. And to do that, my vague acknowledgment Band-Aids have to be torn off.
Prayer: Go ahead, Great Physician, rip away excuses and heal me deeply.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)
Sigmund Marx closed his eyes for the last time. As he labored through his final breaths, a sinister voice spoke to his mind.
“I hate you. You are loved by the One who keeps me in chains, so I hurt him by claiming you. You thought you were in control, but here you are listening to my voice, to the one who could never exist.
“So why reveal myself now? Because you can do nothing from that bed. By not choosing a side, you chose me, and now you’re mine forever, and my pain is yours. My father and I will feed on you through eternity.”
Sigmund understood the words but could only moan.
“Oh, I have so much to tell you. Do you remember that high school teacher who told you about life with God, paradise, and all that rot? You decided it would be nice if it were true, but if it wasn’t, you’d waste your life sacrificing pleasures.
“That was me. I planted that fear of a wasted life. You were so gullible. You exchanged heaven for a few miserable years on earth. People called you learned, but that’s just stupid. And now you join the ranks I’ve outsmarted through history.
“You were loved by God, you had authority over us, and you gave it all away for me. I take particular pleasure that, through all the years you served me, you never guessed I was there. Ha.
“Now I want you to know the name of the one who bested you. My name is Unbelief.”
Prayer: Mighty Jesus, let me never yield to doubt.