The Sword of the LORD

"And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And I answered, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do." (Paul's account of his conversion in Acts 22:6-10). What an extraordinary conversion St. Paul had! To have a light shine on him from above, and to have the Lord speak to him directly from heaven is incredible; but what really intrigues me is how violent this religious man had become toward the followers of Christ. Before h...

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." (Mark 11:22-26). We all have mountains in our lives. They are those seemingly immoveable obstacles that keep us from pursuing the will of God fully. Lusts of the flesh, besetting sins, financial difficulties, or even physical afflictions - all of these can appear as unscalable as a mighty mountain to us....

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20). So. I woke up one morning with a desire to revitalize my prayer life. I have never been the greatest conversationalist; I usually am a better listener, and this has translated to my prayer life as well. I spend a lot of time waiting to hear what the Lord wants to say to me, but not as much time expressing my wishes. On the surface that may seem like a good thing, a less selfish thing, but not when it comes to praying for others. I also have a tendency to pray in my heart, and not out loud. This isn't really an important issue, but I wanted to force myself to talk to God as if He were in the room with me (which He is, of course), rather than someone who is far off whom I was communicating with telepathically. So I had this thought to invite God to tea. I got out two porcelain mugs, and chose my favorite one for the Lord (it's my Ohio State mug), I selec...