...Plain Upon Tablets

  American biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin*, through her extensive study of leadership, found that there were common traits and behavioral patterns that existed among distinctively different leaders, among those traits being "humility, empathy, resilience, courage; the ability to replenish energy, listen to diverse opinions, control negative impulses, connect with all manner of people, communicate through stories, and keep one's word." As I read through these traits, there is a word that resonates within me--and it's not found within this list but within each trait: LOVE. In Matthew 22:37-40, NASB, when Jesus is asked which commandment of the Law is the greatest, Jesus replied with two: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole La...

In last week's post , I mentioned the booklet Holy Boldness that I received from Great Aunt Blanche. This week, I'm focusing on the short (1-1/3 pages) introduction. Despite its brevity, the reader learns quickly that there is no time to be wimpy in your boldness and that you will be doing BIG things with this boldness. Image by Steve Harvey at Unsplash Let me state that this text was created by the American Bible Society and published in 1995. It was prepared for The Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. Because there is no expiration date on God or the Word, I'm diving into these words 25 years later still expecting to learn a thing or three. Now, let's jump in... Essentially, the introduction, written by the late Bishop Felton Edwin May, states that there are two prerequisites to Holy Boldness. "First, we need to know what we believe." We need to know and believe that Christ was both crucified and resurrected, and because we know ...

I was blessed to have a grandmother with six beautiful sisters--women who were bold, funny, kind, encouraging, and faithful among so many other wonderful things. Let's get BOLD! In picture: back row l-r: Aunt Caroline, Aunt Lee, Grandma Audrey; front row l-r: Aunt Margie, Aunt Blanche, and Aunt Ethel; missing from pic: Aunt Edna When my grandmother Audrey passed in 1998, one of these awesome women stepped up to encourage me along my journey: my aunt Blanche. My Grandma Audrey and me at my B.A. graduation My grandmother was a fervent believer of God. Never knew anyone who believed more or loved him more (though my mom is close behind her and Aunt Blanche is tied). She was the one who constantly kept me in the faith, and she was the one left heartbroken when I had my moment of disbelief in God. She wouldn't know that losing her and then my grandfather four months later would only deepen that disbelief. My great-aunt Blanche About a year after Grandma passed, Aunt Blanche began w...

Are you ready to be an intercessor? Are you ready to up your game as an intercessor? In Isaiah 59:16, it is written: And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor . In this chapter of The Secret of Intercession , Murray talks of God's desire to have intercessors to have those that love "the people enough or who had sufficient faith in His power to deliver, to intercede on their behalf" (21). God is looking for those people, those who love others enough and believe in him enough to prayer for others. It's not an easy position. It was the  position of Christ before he took his place on the throne. When Christ took the throne, man was given the obligation to extend God's kingdom. As Murray writes, "He [Jesus] ever lives to pray. Prayer is the highest exercise of His royal prerogative as Priest-King upon the throne. All that Christ was to do in heaven was to be in fellowship with His people on earth" (22). He also ...

The very last paragraph of Day 4 in Andrew Murray's The Secret of Intercession  moves me: Christian warriors are pleading with God for the power of heaven to be sent down into the hearts of men. Oh, that God might burn into our hearts this one thought: intercession in its power is according to His will and is most certainly effectual!  (19) As Murray states in this chapter, God sees intercession as the  strongest power of man. It is "the highest expression of His people's readiness to receive and to yield themselves wholly to the working of His almighty power" (18). This chapter provides a general narrative of our receiving of this power. We all know of Adam and his role in God's narrative to do as all that was with and through God. We know of the sin, and we know of the world falling under this sin. But God gave us Jesus, and through Jesus, who interceded for man as man, that we are giving this wonderful, empowering, life-changing power to intercede, to ha...

In Day 3 of Andrew Murray's The Secret of Intercession , Murray talks about man's place in God's plan. He starts with this passage: The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men. - Psalm 115:16 Murray goes on to talk about the perfect goodness, holiness of God's place, heaven, but also how we are to make sure His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10). It, like the other days of the book, are very brief, but in this day, his message is makes a powerful impact just like the first two: God has supplied us with an earth full for hidden potential and possibility and that God has instill man with the ability to uncover these hidden treasures and make the earth a better place for God's people. Intercession is one way in which we can begin to uncover these treasures. The more we conduct the "unceasing intercession of God's people" (15), the faster we will realize earth as it is in hea...

Intercession ~  prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another In Andrew Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession , day one focuses on intercession--its meaning and its importance in our lives. It's a rather short chapter, but there is a vitality to it, a read this now and act  feeling to it. At the end of the day one section, a question is posed: How are those who pray for others blessed themselves? When I think on this question, two verses instantly come to mind. 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. Praying for others is the epitome of that love we are to give to others, share with the world. So often, it is easy to turn our cameras on ourselves, to get so focused on self that we forget...

When I first arrived in Lubbock, TX, I started buying several books on prayer and on spiritual warfare (that comes with its own long story). One of the books on prayer I bought was The Secret of Intercession by Andrew Murray [ buy! ]. It's a small book, less than 150 pages, but within it, you find 31 days of lessons that aid you in becoming the great prayer warrior you are destined to become. Around 2003, prayer became a very integral part of my life. Not so much for the praying I did for myself but for the praying I did for others. Many times, at three or four in the morning, I would be pinched out of my sleep with the need to pray. As hard as it is sometimes for me to move with my back and knees, without effort, I would slip from the bed to the floor, hands clasped together, to pray fervently. Sometimes I wept. Sometimes I ended up pacing my home, speaking in tongues and unleashing whatever it was that weighed my chest. But it was never for me. God would just put in my spi...

Actually, you always  have to go off on the devil. That fool is ignorant, sneaky, unfaithful, uncaring, always looking for a way to sneak up deep inside your mind, your heart, your soul, your very essence and being to destroy anything beautiful that has  gone on in your life, that is  going on in your life, and that will  go on in your life. It's just how he operates, and he's not changing. Ever. So what does that mean? That means that we  have to do the changing. We have to stand in the mess of a situation we are in, stand with a firm, straight back, a determined mind, a strong voice and declare what  our life will be and what it is  because we are kicking the devil fully to the curb. But sometimes, we let situations and feelings collect as the days go on, and we don't acknowledge what the devil is doing. We don't let him know that we know he's up to no good. We don't tell that fool to keep on stepping because we are not the ones to be messed with...

They say that behind every great man there is a great woman. I really think that saying is beside every great woman is a great sister who always comes with the straight, no chaser advice, warm hugs, and a ready-to-take-on-all-challengers stance when things get a little sticky. Every woman can recall at least that one sister—from birth or from another mother—who has been there to listen to her frustrations over a relationship, her aggravation over a job, her devastation over a loss, and her infuriation over being done wrong. And she can recall that sister railing with her over her man and then getting real to show her where she went wrong. She can recall the friend telling her to look for another job, to find something that will make her happy and keep her living well. She can recall sistergirl sharing tissues with her as they both cry over the emptiness she feels at having lost someone. She can recall sistergirl saying, “OK, where’s my Vaseline and sneakers?” when it time to crack ...

We know her. On the outside, she is a woman that most men want and most women envy. She's the "everything's great, but..." woman. You know. She's beautiful. She has a great job. She has great friends. She has a great family. She has a great home. She has a great car. Her future is so blindingly bright your retinas can sear just trying to imagine what her future looks like. And when she smiles that toothpaste-commercial smile, it makes her whole universe that much brighter. But the smile is fake. A woman like this can't afford to let everyone know what's really going on in her world. Because everything's great, but... ...she's not happy. And she's usually not happy because of some man. Sometimes, she has everything BUT the man, and she goes home to all her wonderful things and feels empty and lonely. And sometimes, she has everything AND the man, and when the two are together, people are that much more jealous of her because she appears to have ...