January 2014 Blog Posts (32)

A woman is struggling in the icy waters of the north Atlantic. She is on the last of her strength when she sees a lifeboat from the sunken ship headed her way. When the boat is near enough they throw her a life saver. In wild desperation she grabs it and is saved. That is a parable of faith.

A woman who has had an issue of blood for twelve years sees Jesus and says to…

“The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, vitality and hope.

It enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.”…

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 245 | Wed 29 Jan 2014

by Elizabeth Kendal



Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on

the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the

schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic

powers over this present darkness, against the…

The small south Texas town where I grew up has Spanish

moss drooping from the trees, winding narrow streets, and

stifling humidity that in time I became accustomed to.  The

lazy days of summer brought us a good game of baseball,

fishing at the lake, or swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Children filled the placid streets with bikes, skates and

homemade go-carts. It was a simpler time; and our town—

population 5,000—was a simpler place.



The closeness we…

The person who says "I don't pray because I don't need anything" is naive.

Sooner or later, we all realize our desperate need for God. 

“Life for most of us is full of steep stairs to go puffing up and later, of shaky stairs to totter down;

and very early in the history of stairs must have come the invention of…

One of my new, favorite compliments came this week. I had communicated with a former student and good friend during a difficult time in his life and assured him of my prayer support. He replied with thanks for the prayer and concluded with, “I’ve always thought you and God had each other on speed dial.” For you non-techies, Wikipedia defines speed dial as, “a function available on many telephone systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is…

More than 30 years ago, I received a call from an elderly man named John Hunter. Someone had given him my name, and he said he hoped I might be able to answer some of his questions about the new things God was doing in the church.

I agreed to meet with him, and after that initial meeting John and I got together often. I learned that he had already known the Lord for more than 50 years—much longer than I had even been alive at that point. He didn’t flaunt his credentials, but he also…

"The Holy Spirit is orchestrating a global prayer strategy in these very days. It will far eclipse any other prayer movement in Church history. The Holy Spirit is equipping the Church to partner with Jesus' intercessory prayer ministry at the right hand of the Father. The end result is the great harvest of souls being added to the Kingdom of God. The number of people coming to Jesus at the present hour across the nations is unprecedented in history. I believe this will continue…

Power outages can be very disruptive. But there's an Unlimited Power Source that never fails.

To whatever side you turn, you are forced to acknowledge your own ignorance and the boundless power of the Creator.”

- Voltaire…

What is the need of this hour? What can we do who face the moral, spiritual and intellectual barbarism of the last days? How will we present the gospel to people who have lost all sense of the sacred? How do you argue with people who no longer understand the concept of truth? How do you win those who despise righteousness and hate us who call for repentance? How do we help people hunger for heaven who believe the highest good…

 I n praying Scripture, I have not only find myself in intimate communication with God, but my mind is being renewed to think His thoughts about the situation for which I am praying, instead of my own thoughts. Ultimately, God shrinks the situation that I thought was overwhelming and impossible to a viable possibility. He gives me peace as I wait for His…

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 244 | Wed 22 Jan 2014



SRI LANKA: BUDDHIST NATIONALISTS ATTACK CHURCHES IN SOUTH & WEST



by Elizabeth Kendal



On Saturday 11 January police in the coastal tourist town of Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka's Southern Province, warned Pastor Chinthaka Prasanna that the Buddhist nationalist group 'Hela Bodu Pawura' was planning to protest against the church the following day. As one of three Sri Lankan churches to be attacked…

God has given us gifts called time and prayer that coincide within our lives. Prayer is intended to be an ongoing conversation, personally and/or corporately, with God- at all times and in all places. Yet often, prayer is treated like it functions on a light switch; being turned on, then off, then on again as we have needs. Then off again when things seem under control and we can manage things going forward.

Solomon talks about the matter of time in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,…

“This is the day the LORD has made. Don’t mess it up.”

  - Anonymous

Detouring from the narrow path would mess up today—steadfast…

Today in our nation, and our world we are facing greater moral and spiritual issues than ever in our lifetime. Our grandchildren need their grandparents to intentionally pray and influence them to experience the adventure of a full and fruitful life in Jesus…

In the beginnings of a year we often make plans for what we will do and where we wish to go in a year or a lifetime. But our own plans will not do. We need God’s plans. He alone knows the way of significance for your life. Last week I wrote to you about listening to God. This week I want to talk to you about obeying what God has…

Sometimes, if we're honest, we struggle with faith--especially when life is hard. How can we learn to trust God in the difficult times? I hope the thoughts on my blog help you.

“Only the wearer knows where the…

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 243 | Wed 15 Jan 2014



CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR): CHURCH AND NATION FACE MASSIVE CHALLENGES



by Elizabeth Kendal



On Friday 10 January Michel Djotodia, the former rebel leader and self-proclaimed 'first Muslim president of CAR', conceded to international pressure, resigned his office and left Central African Republic (CAR) for Benin where he has been granted political asylum. Christian celebrations were…

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am only for myself, who am  I?”

- Rabbi Hillel (32 BC – 7 AD)…

Praying into another person’s vision

We live in a highly individualistic society—which carries over into our prayer life—many of us pray alone—and we justify that by showing in the Bible various occasions where Christ went and prayed alone.—We also look at the prayer closet (Matthew 6: 6)—as reason to pray alone.  Even with these times mentioned in the Bible when…