On Azimuth

12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. Zechariah 9:12 English Standard Version This world is a dark and often menacing place. As I tap this out on my computer the trees outside my window toss and sway in wind gusts that reach up to fifty miles an hour. In the Texas Panhandle winds were so fierce that they toppled tractor-trailers spewing cargo across the highway creating multi-car accidents. No matter your political leanings, the current governmental landscape is one of chaos and unrest. Sickness often stalks our families wresting loved ones away. I could go on at great length about the various challenges that wash up on the shores of this life. But that is not how God wants us to think. Consider these words of Jesus. 33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Here, Jesus reminds us that we will face pro...

  15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 English Standard Version “Because your face hurts mine! Now SIT DOWN!”  Chastised, the young man turned around and made his way back to his desk and sat down. But I could tell by the look on his face that a door had closed, one that nothing I said would ever reopen. I had burned a bridge. He’d come to our school as a high school freshman after elementary and junior high school as a home school student. Unused to the structure of a formal classroom, he struggled to fit in. He was a discipline problem in every class. He found the organized approach to the classroom and classwork, foreign and incomprehensible. His mother, who had taken care of his instruction had never set and enforced standards. Consequently, he wanted to run his day by his own schedule. More than once he would suddenly get up and leave a ...

  26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 English Standard Version In the first part on the spiritual discipline of prayer we looked at how to better set the conditions for prayer. We listed five things that we can do to help our prayer life. 1. Turn off all our devices. 2. Go to a place of solitude. 3. Use pen and paper to structure our prayer. 4. Make a list of things we are thankful for. 5. Ask the Lord to reveal Himself and His will to us. So, I’ve taken the plunge and turned off my cellphone. I found a place where I can be alone. I even made an outline of what I want to talk to the Lord about, including a list of things I’m thankful for, and I’ve asked God to speak to me. And th...

24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24 English Standard Version Some years ago, I was chatting with a long-term missionary about his work abroad. He presented me with a question, “If you were discipling new Christians and had time to teach them about reading the Bible or prayer, but not both. Which would you teach them?” As someone who loves reading, I replied, “I would teach them about the importance of reading the Bible.” He replied, “I’d teach them about prayer. If they know how to go to the Lord in prayer, He will guide them into everything they need to know, including reading the Bible. But reading the Bible does not necessarily mean that you will approach the Lord in prayer.” At the time I was a bit scandalized; however, some forty years later, I think he was quite correct in his thinking. After all, for almost two millennia, most Christians did not own their own Bible, and God still moved and worked among His people. I do...