The Pastor's Pocket

We’ve all experienced desperate moments. Those moments, sudden moments, when crying out to God is all we can do.   You remember when Peter walked on the water.  He did fine for a while.  Then the wind and waves kicked up.  Peter was afraid.  He lost his focus. He looked at the trouble and took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. The Bible says he cried, Lord, save me. It was a prayer of desperation. Immediately, the Lord stretched out his hand and caught him.  Jonah had a similar experience.  His desperate moment came from inside the belly of the whale. Jonah 2:2, “…I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” God responded to Jonah’s cry for help and was delivered.   Just as we who are fathers would respond to our child in serious trouble, God responds to our desperate cries. When we cry out to Him, we exhibit our faith in Him. Faith always stirs the heart of God. If you are feeling helpless, cry out

Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”   You cannot live the Christian life in your own strength, your own wisdom. It requires the power of Christ, a supernatural work of grace and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. When you study scriptures like the above verse in Galatians, you realize that It’s not you really, it’s Jesus living through you that results in a positive day to day manifestation of Christian attitudes and actions.   When you stop trying and start trusting, it changes everything. You must learn to trust Christ to do the work in you that makes you more like Him. The sooner you realize you can’t, but He can, the sooner you will rest your soul from the frustration of trying to live out the Christian life in your own strength. Memorize Galatians 2:20. Meditate on its meaning. You will

  We’re living in tough times, but we all have a choice; surrender to defeat or stand and fight back. James 4:7 instructs us to resist the devil. Resist means to offer resistance, to fight back, to stand against, to withstand.   The devil is the chief adversary of every Christian. He is our number one enemy. He is a liar, a murderer, a thief, and a deceiver. He is a loser and he’s going down. Do you want this enemy to succeed against you? Do you want to stand idly by while he ruins your world? Do want to see the devil discourage and defeat you? Do you want the adversary to rob you of what is rightfully yours? Friend, you must fight back.   Satan will use four distinct steps to take you out. (1) Desire: he will identify a sinful desire within you and will try to get you to fulfill it. (2) Doubt: he tries to get you to doubt the promises of God. (3) Deception: remember the devil is a liar. He places the thought in your head that it’s only a little sin, go ahead. A little sin is like

Most people worry too much. As I have said many times, why worry when you can pray.  The best thing we can do when something has us all tied up in knots is to give the problem to God.  He is much bigger, stronger, and wiser than we will ever be, and He can handle our fears.   King Hezekiah faced a tough situation.   The Assyrians were threatening God’s people, telling lies about him, and trying to convince the people that Hezekiah could not stand up to an impending invasion. When Hezekiah received the threatening letter, he went to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. (2 Kings 19:14)   God heard the King’s prayer. 2 Kings 19:35 tells us the angel of the Lord wiped out 185,000 of the enemy, defended the city and the Lord’s honor. What can we learn from this? Here are some wisdom tips to help you with your worries:   1.     Define your situation honestly and clearly.  A simple solution may present itself if you take the time to clearly define what it is you’re worried ab

Scripture references: Matthew 4:18-19 and Luke 5:4   When Jesus called His first disciples by the sea of Galilee, they were fishermen. The scripture says that Jesus saw two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew, casting their nets into the sea. He said to them “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus was saying to them, follow me and I will teach you how to win souls.   Nothing is more important to the Lord than winning the lost to Christ. Fishermen by the sea of Galilee used large nets to catch fish. Let’s talk about the net for a moment. I borrowed a few thoughts from Dr. Adrian Rogers who is in glory now. He was a prince of a preacher. Pastored a great soul-winning church in Memphis, Tennessee.   First: “Cast the net diligently.”  We can’t lead anyone to the Lord if we don’t try – again and again.   Second: “Repair the net quickly.” As those men had learned years prior, if the net developed a breakage, the fish would break through and not be caught. The devil loves to cause

I John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” These are the same avenues of temptation that Satan has used successfully against mankind for as long as men and women have been on the earth.  We must memorize them, recognize them, and realize that the devil attacks us through these same three areas.  Notice the verse says clearly that these are not “of the Father”.   The devil always attacks us from the outside, through our flesh, our senses, taste, touch, sight, or hearing. He tries to mess with our mind and our emotions which are part of our soul, leading us into sin. He used these avenues to entice Eve, in the garden. Genesis 3:6 says, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat , and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.”  

I n I Kings 18, we read about a famine during King Ahab’s reign.   For three and a half years, no rain fell upon the parched ground.   Cattle were dying. Crops wouldn’t grow. Wells dried up. It was a hard time for all living things to say the least. But God honored the prayers of Elijah, the prophet.   A miracle was on the way.   In our verses 41-45, Elijah told Ahab to get up, have a good meal, and prepare for a downpour.   After crying out to God on top of Mount Carmel, Elijah told his servant to go and look out over the sea.   The servant did as he was told, came back to Elijah and said, “There is nothing” (vs. 43).   Elijah said, “Go again seven times”.   Finally, after the seventh time of going and looking out over the sea, the servant returned and said he saw a little cloud about the size of “a man’s hand”.   Before you know it, there was a mighty rainstorm on the way (vs. 45).   I heard the story of an Olympic athlete named Beth.   She had to complete a 26 mile marathon in l