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- Written by: Don Goulding
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and it is the glory of a king to search out a matter. (Proverbs 25:2)
When they were introduced, I was skeptical of the space telescopes. Scientists wanted to find out how the universe began. I felt the question was already resolved by the Bible, and the money was sorely needed elsewhere.
I’m glad no one called me before they pushed the launch buttons, because now I look at the data sent back and I go limp. New images of the Sombrero Galaxy reveal millions of stars like our sun, spread as white grains of flour over black velvet. My veneration of God jumps.
In the 1800’s we thought our Milky Way Galaxy was the whole universe. In the 1920’s we realized the number of galaxies was tens of thousands. In 1999 it went to 125 billion, and a current estimate is two trillion and growing (thanks to the telescopes). My awe of our Maker keeps stretching.
God doesn’t need me to protect his existence by naysaying scientific endeavor. Rather, I need science to carry me past my undersized notions of God.
There are untold numbers of celestial bodies and subatomic structures that God is anxious for us to discover. In the reflection of his vast creation is the wonder of him. It is his joy that we reach into both the macro and the micro to explore the breadth of his power.
Science can carry me toward God, but, because it only addresses the physical, it leaves me outside his doorstep. I cannot resolve my greatest need with science alone. I need a supernatural removal of sin, and that is only accomplished through faith in the cross of Jesus. Nevertheless, as an increasing number of scientists are discovering, their trade expands my understanding of our breathtaking Creator Savior.
Prayer: Mighty God, oh the depths of the wonder of you I see about me.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
“But he doesn't have anything on," a child announced in Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Charlatans had convinced the emperor and townspeople that the cloth of the royal suit was invisible to those who were foolish. No one, not even the emperor, wanted to admit they couldn’t see the clothes. It required the innocence of a child to expose the scandal.
We need a child to expose the con perpetrated today concerning doctrinal knowledge.
When I train foreign pastors they ask many questions. Should we give Christian burial to unbaptized believers? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Was Jesus made divine at birth or at his baptism?
Honesty constrains me to admit intellectual nakedness on nearly every topic, except salvation in Jesus. In essentials—like the deity of Christ, the power of his blood, and the indwelling Spirit—we must have unity. In the hundreds of nonessentials, grace prevails. Paul calls these nonessentials disputable matters. (Romans 14:1)
Can we be childlike, drop the pretense, and admit that none of us is equipped to sort out noncore doctrine? There, I’ve said it—the emperor has no clothes on. We are all intellectually unclothed. On the issues that divide most Christian denominations, no human has the acumen or contextual background to stand inerrant. The only recourse is to risk everything on Jesus. That leaves us free to love instead of arguing, and laugh at ourselves instead of pretending we’re all grown up.
Prayer: Gracious Jesus, thank you for covering my ineptitude.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
“Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ʻDry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath into you and you will live.’” (Ezekiel 37:4-5)
Several African pastors prayed with me to cordon off a meeting area in the middle of a village suffering from demonic attacks. We challenged the tribals, “Burn your implements of witchcraft and see what God will do inside of one week.”
As we preached from the Bible against charms and fetishes, I spied the chief slipping off his amulet. We then cleaned the village through prayer.
Within a day, God answered. The attacks ceased.
We could have made silent prayers from the safety of the mission station, but God took Ezekiel to the valley and told him to prophesy so the bones would come to life. Just so, we needed to go and speak the words of God inside that village. Our Father in heaven waits to work through the humble prayer warrior.
I get the false idea that prophecy is for guys with wild hair, who foretell the future. In reality, to prophesy simply means to proclaim the truth of God against the dysfunction of the world. Every babe in Christ is called to that ministry.
Where there is pain, we are to lay hands on dry bones and pray for life. Where there is bitterness, we are to proclaim the opportunity for repentance, forgiveness, and peace. We are the prophets who call into existence the eternal healing that Jesus died to give.
God could do this work alone—after all, it’s his power that’s needed. Instead, by a great mystery, he waits for us to extend a hand, raise our voice, and proclaim, “Hear the word of the LORD. I am about to infuse breath into you, and you will live.”
Prayer: Holy Spirit, show me to whom I am to prophesy today.