"The apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). The men who comprised Christ's close circle were asking something important of their master. They wanted a greater understanding of the meaning and workings of faith. They were saying, in essence, "Lord, what sort of faith do you desire from us? Give us a revelation of the kind that pleases you. We want to grasp faith in its fullest meaning."
Thirty-five years ago, God put it on my heart to start a boys' home in Amityville, New York, on Long Island. I truly sensed the Lord was behind this work. Yet, after just a year and a half, state officials put impossible stringent regulations on the home. They told us we had to have a full-time psychologist on staff, as well as a priest or rabbi if we took in boys who were Catholic or Jewish. We couldn't afford to operate under those restrictions, so we simply shut our doors.
You know the story of King David - how he committed adultery with Bathsheba and secretly arranged for her husband's death. Yet, after the prophet Nathan exposed David's sin, holding it up before his face, the broken king repented of his horrible misdeeds. And he later wrote four psalms expressing the distress and terror he had felt as a result of his sin.
I want to talk to you today about a kind of prayer that is most pleasing to the Lord. You see, not all of our praying blesses the heart of God. Yet, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I trust that what I share with you here will change the way you pray - from now until Jesus comes!
"But the tongue no man can tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8).
In this verse from his epistle, James is talking about the tongues of believers. He is issuing a call to the church to gain control of their tongues — before they are destroyed by them!
How serious is this matter of taming the tongue, you ask? Can an "unruly tongue" really be that sinful?
"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
Beloved, if we did not know God's Word is absolutely true, I believe we would think this verse a mockery!
It is amazing to me how long people can continue living with hidden sin in their hearts. By putting on a good front, they can get away with it for a long time. They can hide their sin from their husband, wife, children, friends and pastor. But the Bible warns: "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).
The children of Israel were in a hopeless predicament!
The Red Sea was before them; the mountains were to the left and right; and Pharaoh and his iron chariots were closing in from the rear. God's people seemed helplessly trapped — like sitting ducks, just waiting to be cut down. Yet believe it or not, God purposely had led them into this precarious spot!
A precious sister came to the microphone to pray at one of our recent meetings at Times Square Church. Tearfully, she prayed, "O God, your people are hurting! Lord, all your children are hurting — real bad! Help us — please!" All over the auditorium you could feel the response from the people, as if to say, "Yes! That's me. I'm hurting — badly!" All the way home that night I wept inside. I prayed, "Lord, it's not just your precious sheep out there in the congregation who are hurting. I'm one of your shepherds and at times I hurt too."
Many Christians avoid the book of Revelation because it seems so mysterious. Yet John wrote, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near..." (Revelation 1:3 NAS).
Though written by John, it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). It is the heart of God revealed to Christ and shared by John.
John was one the three pillars in the church at Jerusalem. Much of what we know about him was recorded by Iraneus, who got it first hand from Polycarp, a student of John.
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a placed for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
