Whew!

My summary of the last few days, beginning around 6:30 PM on Monday, would be one word: Whew!

We knew Micah was listed to receive a new liver, but we never knew when.

We knew having a transplant comes with many challenges, but we never can tell what they will be.

We knew that God has always shown Himself mighty, but we hoped it wouldn't have to occur as it did.

On Monday evening around 6:30 PM, I received a call from Sarah who was in Virginia visiting family with all our boys (minus me who was still in Raleigh). Her first words were: "So Dave just called from Duke." Dave is the transplant coordinator for pediatrics. There was no guesswork to figure out why Dave from Duke had called. But she continued, "They have a liver for Micah." 

Immediately Sarah began to journey back to North Carolina and to Duke Hospital. I began preparing to get everything together on my end to meet them at the hospital.

We all arrived at the hospital at around 10:00 PM Monday evening. Micah was admitted and work began to prepare him for the transplant that didn't begin until 6:00 AM on Tuesday morning. The surgery ended in the late afternoon.

An ultrasound would be done of the liver each day for at least the first few days. The Tuesday night ultrasound reading came back showing no flow in the portal vein. Micah's previous portal vein clotted off in the first year of his last transplant. This is really what started us down the road to where we are today with a second transplant. A CT Scan confirmed a clot had obstructed the portal vein.

I had traveled home to get some sleep when Sarah called at around 2:00 AM to tell me. One of the longest drives I've ever had back to Duke took place early Wednesday morning. Micah was heading into emergency surgery to hopefully remove the clot. Clotting was removed and flow restored. The bile duct was also repaired that showed some leakage. Steps were taken to try to fix what may have caused the clotting.

Two follow-up ultrasounds showed a small clot still in the portal vein though blood was flowing through it. A decision was made to go back to the operating room again to remove this clotting. This was done successfully and the vein has continued to remain open as of right now.

In the meantime, our oldest son Isaac celebrated the entrance into double digits on Wednesday. In the middle of having Micah operated on twice, our family gathered in the PICU waiting room for pizza and cake to celebrate his birthday.

Today Micah has rested most of the day, getting his breathing tube out this morning. We continue to pray for the portal vein to remain open and healing to occur timely and well. 

We cannot express enough our grateful we are for your encouraging words shared, prayers offered on our behalf, and visits with us and our family. Please also take time to give thanks on our behalf for God's favor that He has poured out in answering our prayers. May we be like the one beggar who returned to give thanks to Jesus for the healing Christ had given. My heart is overwhelmed by His goodness and grace. I give Him thanks.

My Confidence

Individuals take confidence in many different things including money, jobs, relationships, and more. All of these things can and often do change. The money we make is not the same. The job we have changes. Some relationship begin while others end, some grow while others go stagnant.

King Hezekiah who reigned in Judah rebelled against the Assyrians. As a result, the king of Assyria sent his commander and other officials to Jerusalem to intimidate or attack Hezekiah.

Encamped against Jerusalem, one official called out to Hezekiah asking, "On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have the counsel and the might for war--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?"

Hezekiah was a bright spot in the line of kings. He chose obedience to God rather than rebellion. He did what pleased God rather than what incited His wrath. Like David the revered king of Israel, Hezekiah sought to live righteously, removing all place of idolatrous worship. As a result, God was with him and he was successful in his leadership.

What the official of the Assyrian army didn't know was that Hezekiah's confidence was not in the power of his army, the force of his weapons, or the support of his allies but in the might of the great and mighty God. And rightly so!

After many taunts and endless threats of the Assyrians, including their declaration that the God of Israel had told them to attack, Hezekiah's confidence proved true. In one night, the angel of the Lord put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. The next morning when the people woke up they found all the dead bodies. Dead bodies were strewn everywhere.

The right place to put our confidence is never in the ability, logic, power, or devices of men. It is always to put our confidence in the might and power of God. Only He is able to what no man or army can do. What is impossible for us is completely possible for Him.

We could not rescue ourselves from our sin. But God was able. We could not make a sufficient sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. But God was able.

This week we celebrate Christ's final entry into Jerusalem to endure the cross that was set before Him by the will of God the Father. Through the cross, God would pay for every sin and punish every act of disobedience by putting His own Son to death. Three days later, that same Son came back to life by the same incredible power of God, giving life to all who believe and opening the door to heaven for all who follow Him.

Now we take confidence not in our flesh and blood but in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like Hezekiah, we face an enemy and hardship in this world that we should look past in order to see the God in whom our confidence has been placed.

Where does your confidence stand today?

Hope of the World

Billy Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, said, "The Church is the hope of the world."

The Church is the hope of the world because the message of hope has been entrusted to the Church. As Jesus prepared His disciples for His return to the Father in heaven, He gave them this sacred trust of displaying and declaring the good news.

Only the gospel has the awesome power to radically, fully, and eternally change lives. The gospel alone provides forgiveness for disobedience, mercy for the rebel, and grace for the undeserving. And only the Church has been given the great task and inexpressible joy of displaying and declaring to the nations this gospel of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

God's plan is always best and perfect. He never makes a Plan B. Plan A has always been that His followers, ever-faithful, would make disciples of all nations, advancing His kingdom into all the world and increasing His kingdom by increasing the number of worshipping followers of Jesus.

If the Church, you and me as the followers of Jesus Christ, are the hope of the world because of the good news we have to give, then every day the Church is either the world's hope or the world's doom.

We will be the hope of the world because we are faithful to carry the light of the gospel into all dark places.

We will be the doom of the world because we find it more convenient to stay than to go and choose to keep the hope we've received to ourselves rather than share with a world in need.

Are you living to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom as a hope-giver to the world?

The Air We Breathe

We owe an incredible debt of gratitude to Martin Luther whom God used in what we call the Reformation. Luther became convinced that Christ is the ultimate mediator between God and humanity rather than an earthly priest, pope, or king. 

He challenged people to see Christ's work as the only means of salvation, which could not be bought or sold. Luther desired to lead individuals into the intimate love-relationship with Jesus Christ for which we were made.

Every follower of Jesus, whether man or woman, should live in constant dependence on God through prayer. Not doing so is to in essence cut off one's oxygen supply. God wants relationship with us and communication (prayer) is essential to any relationship, even ours with God. Whether with my wife, kids, coworkers, neighbors, or friends, good and regular communication is essential to a good and regular relationship.

Once Luther wrote, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." He believed this and lived this often spending hours in prayer. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, urging him to lead the church in prayer. In 1 Timothy 2, Paul wrote that God's people should be lift up in prayer all people, including those in authority of them, whether believer or not. But I love even more that Paul wrote in verse 8 of that chapter to men specifically. He wrote, "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, liftingholy hands without anger or quarreling…"

The truth of the matter is that there are far more things for which I can pray in a day than I have the time.  Yet this should only drive me to pray more passionately and regularly.

And there is far more things for which I have to do in a day that I often see prayer as the impediment to accomplish those things. Yet again, praying focuses my priorities and connects me with the divine power from above for these things. Or as Thomas Brooks says, "You can do more than pray after you've prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."

What stands before you today for which you need to first stand before God in prayer?

The Joy of One Year

What a joy yesterday was to remember all that God has done in the last year among His people at Refuge Church and to look forward to what He can and will do! 

Over one year ago, Refuge existed only in the mind and heart of God who began placing the vision for a new church on the hearts of others. You have been part of that team on whose hearts God has impressed this work.

I pray we will each take heart and encouragement in the words of Paul to the Philippians. Paul knew of his life and the lives of the Christians in Philippi that they were not who they used to be but they were not yet who they were going to be. Jesus Christ had called them out of darkness and into the light of His kingdom by the gospel. They were disciples under construction. So Paul encourages them with these words: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). 

We are individually as followers, and together as Refuge Church, a work of God that is under construction in Jesus Christ. We are "like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…" (1 Peter 2:5). The house may not be finished, but there is joy because the Master Carpenter, Jesus Christ, is at work in us.

Finally, let me ask you to reflect on the previous 12 months of what God has done and what God is doing. But let me also ask you to pray, today, for the next 12 months. God desires to do a work greater than all we could ask or imagine. What are we asking and trusting Him for in these next 12 months? 

Will you pray that we display the gospel in tangible ways?

Will you pray that we declare the gospel for lives to be changed?

Will you pray for the areas of need at Refuge to be met in God's time by God's resources?

What would God have you to pray for Refuge Church?

It has been and continues to be my joy to be in this work and service with you.

In Every Facet

A nation divided because of a failure to worship properly, not a disagreement over politics, national security, or taxes.

Solomon inherited a united kingdom from his father David. Israel was a nation of 12 tribes united together. God had stated plainly that if Israel did not worship Him alone then the kingdom would be divided. When Solomon died that promise rang true.

Like his father, Solomon had difficulty controlling his lust for other women taking many women from other nations to be his own. These women did not come alone. With them came their pagan worship practices and foreign gods who robbed God of His proper worship as people worshipped those who are not gods at all.

At the moment of Solomon's death, the kingdom divided. As we often do, the division could be seen as the result of heavy taxes or political differences. But the Scriptures state clearly that the reason the kingdom split was due to a worship issue.

Today in our own nation, we often make the issues about taxes, deficits, political differences, political issues, red and blue states, and more. Today in our churches, we often make the issues about the music, preaching style, attire, building aesthetics, and more. Rarely, if ever, do we frame the discussion as an issue of worship.

Israel failed as a nation and a people because worship drifted from God into an eclectic, polytheistic enterprise. The people didn't stop worshipping. Instead, they worshipped more as they multiplied their gods. Sometimes bigger and larger isn't better, especially when there is One God and Him alone should we worship. The failure and division over worship led to the division in everything else.

Worship is still the most important issue for we were made as human beings to be worshipping beings who worship God alone. Only through the door Jesus opened by His death and resurrection can we access God's throne to worship Him properly and as we were created. Are we making worship central to our lives, our family, our work, and our churches? Are we accurately seeing worship as more than the music, preaching, and place of our worship and more about our response of all that we are in light of the revelation by Christ and the Scriptures of all that God is?

Take a Daniel moment:
1.  Worship God for all that He is with all that you are.
2.  Pray that worship (responding to all He is with all we are) will be central in every facet of our lives.

Grant Me Wisdom

The Bible teaches we often go without because we often fail to ask. More than this, however, is that we can often be asking for the wrong things or asking amiss.

What are we asking God to give to us?

Solomon inherited the throne of his father. David had been beloved and good (though imperfect) king. As Solomon took the throne, he felt inadequate to lead God's people. What an incredible undertaking to exercise authority over God's people and lead them in the way everlasting!  I can identify. Not with being a king or the son of a king, but the awesome task of leading God's people.

When God, therefore, asked Solomon what he would request, Solomon asked for discernment and wisdom. He petitioned God for a discerning heart to govern the people, distinguishing between right and wrong. He didn't want to be in power. He wanted to be a good leader.

This request pleased the Lord who granted him both wisdom and the things he could have asked for but didn't. God gave Solomon wisdom to lead the people. Wisdom is not synonymous with knowledge. Wisdom is the application of knowledge and the ability to discern among people and situations. The kind of wisdom we need comes from above, from the God who sees all things perfectly.

Knowledge may tell you what, but it is wisdom that guides you in how. Knowledge may give you the answer, but wisdom will give you the application.

Regardless of your need, ask God to supply. If your need is to know how God would have you to act or move, pray for the wisdom from God above.

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Praise God for His infinite wisdom and counsel.

2.  Ask God to supply for your specific need today.

3.  Pray for wisdom in how God would have you to live, move, and have your being.

Take Time, Make Time

We live in a busy world and the chances are you are living quite the busy life. You are trying to juggle all the different hats of husband/wife, father/mother, employee/boss, student/teacher, caregiver, and friend. Throw in some extracurricular activities and hobbies and the list will grow once again.

The danger comes when our lists are so filled and our lives are so busy that we have not taken or made the time for what is most important. Beyond all the hats I wear and responsibilities I have is my relationship to the God who has rescued me by His own glory and goodness through Jesus Christ. My greatest achievement in life is when I find where my story fits into the greater story of God. I was made on purpose for a purpose. Sadly, I often fail to take or make the time to cultivate the relationship that I was made to have and fulfill the purpose of God in my life in my generation.

How do we do it then? Here's a couple suggestions.

First, start with the big rocks. Set your priorities from the beginning. Someone or something is always going to want you time. Someone or something is always going to be screaming as though it is the most important person or thing in your life. It could be. But then again, maybe not. Place the big rocks in your life first. If you are not sure whether something qualifies or not, ask God's wisdom. Above all, God first.

Second, make a plan. We usually fail to accomplish what we fail to plan. Planning is not wasted time. Praying is not wasted time. These are essential in the preparation for your life to be ordered well.

Third, watch the clock. I once heard it stated, "He who steals my purse steals my money. He who steals my time steals my life." Know what is most important (big rocks). Know how you will make those a priority in your life (plan). Guard your time and don't let the time needed for the priorities be eaten away by lesser things. Notice, I didn't say the lesser things were "bad" things. They just aren't priority.

Now I write all this not as one who has mastered it. Far from it! I write it because every week and most days I am fighting to do these three things.

I have found that often when I have protested that I don't have the time for something, what I am really saying is that it isn't a priority. I find it is often true that what is important will be done. If not, it won't. This isn't always true as there are cases when there simply isn't the time for a certain thing. However, when it is a priority to read what God has written to me, talk with the God who loves me, gather with brothers and sisters united in Christ, and serve others to display and declare the gospel, then I not only take the time, but I make the time.

The time may not always seem readily available to take. Therefore, if it is important, I will make the time by letting go of a lesser thing.

Take a Daniel moment:
1.  Praise God for the day and time He has given you today.
2.  Ask God to arrange your priorities according to His kingdom.
3.  Pray for Jesus Christ to lead you to take and make the time you need in order to accomplish what is most important.

The Only Way to Please Him

There is only one way to please God the Father. Spending time in Hebrews makes this one way abundantly clear. The write says that faith is the only way to please God. Whoever draws near to God must believe the He is and that He rewards those who seek after Him.

Faith is the unwavering, unflinching, unreserved trust in God. It is a trust built on the confidence of God's character and God's track record of deeds. 

Faith that pleases God chooses Christ's sacrifice for our sin over my feeble attempts to earn salvation.

Faith that pleases God leads us to obey His perfect will rather than follow our own wisdom.

Faith that pleases God spurs us on to seek Him daily instead of seeking Him at our convenience.

Faith that pleases God focuses our eyes on the reward stored in heaven as opposed to earthly treasures.

Faith that pleases God dares to live a life of impact for God's glory over living for safety and my glory.

How will we live today? 

It is by faith that the people of old have received their commendation. Noah, Moses, Rahab, David, Joseph, Joshua, Seth, Enoch, Samson, and more have all received their commendation because of a faith fixed upon the unchanging, unmovable, unstoppable God of heaven.

How should we expect to receive the commendation of Christ our Savior and King any other way?

We either live by faith in the One who sees all things perfectly or we live by the sight of what we can see, grasp, and figure out.

Will we live today a life of faith that pleases God? Will we live today pursuing hard after a God who has rescued us from darkness into His marvelous light.

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Celebrate God seeking after us that we would be found in Him.

2.  Thank God for giving us faith to believe in Jesus Christ.

3.  Ask God to enlarge your faith in Him.

4.  Pray for strength to live every moment, every situation, every decision, and every day by faith.

Re-Transplant

You read the title of this blog post right. Our son, Micah, is facing in the coming weeks (or months) a re-transplant.

The back story, in case you're not familiar, is that Micah was born with a rare liver disease that required him at 7 months of age to undergo a liver transplant. In the first two years that followed, Micah had several complications, not limited to, bile duct blockages, blood clots, and the cancer of transplant patients (PTLD).

At that time there were complications that occurred that we knew would one day have an impact that would have to be addressed. Over the last two years Micah has experienced further issues as a result. Primarily, the clotting of his portal vein years ago has now lead to issues with his lungs, spleen, and more.

In the words of the transplant surgeon, the only "medical option we have to address these issues is a re-transplant."

On Friday of last week we finished all our tests and labs. This week Micah is to be presented to the team at Duke for approval for a transplant at Duke. Insurance will then be contacted for approval. Then, probably after our fifth son arrives (any day now), Micah will be listed on the UNOS Donor Recipient list. From there, we will wait for what could be days, weeks, or months (but hopefully not years).

This blog actually began as a result of Micah's first transplant. Therefore, I am sure that I will be posting here along the way. You can sign up to follow by email, receiving notification when there is any new post, by using the Follow By Email function to the right.

We have been blessed from the very beginning of Micah's life with such love, support, encouragement, and assistance. Most of all, we have seen God's power displayed and largely a result of your prayers.

Again, we simply ask for you to pray for Micah, his brothers, his parents, and his family as we prepare for the days to come. Even in this, we know and we pray that God will be glorified.

Blow, Spirit, Blow

At the very least, I have been ignorant of the Holy Spirit. I dare say I have been fearful of the Holy Spirit. This may also describe you as well.

I grew up in churches, like perhaps you did, where the Holy Spirit was referred to as the Holy Ghost (thank you King Jimmy) and there was silence or a downplaying of His nature and work as God.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. Jesus even said that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the trinity. He is God and One with the Father and the Son. And His work in this world is both needful and powerful.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come to comfort His followers, to dwell within them, to guide them into all truth, to convict the world of sin, and to empower them to be His faithful witnesses. The Spirit also, as Paul teaches, prays for us. He hears our prayers and intercedes to the Father on our behalf for at least two reasons. First, because He knows the language of the Father. Paul says the Spirit's utterances are speech we do not understand or know. Second, because we don't often know what to pray and the Spirit prays not just for what we ask but for what we truly need.

Tragically we have forgotten the Holy Spirit and His power and work in the mission of God. We have tried in our own power to advance the gospel. We have sought to muster the strength to accomplish His will. But in all of this our power cord was plugged into ourselves and not into God.

In Zechariah 4:6 we are told that the word of the Lord declares, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." Jesus likewise told His followers to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit to  be given into the world, to be placed within them, to empower them for the mission of displaying and declaring the gospel, and to send them into the world for God's glory. The Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) came down and rested upon each one.

What I pray for Refuge Church, for the individuals in particular and for my own life as well, is for the Holy Spirit to blow. In the words of Jim Cymbala, I'm asking God to blow a Fresh Wind and a Fresh Fire across our hearts. For some this creates anxiety because this kind of talk seems like things will get out of control. I pray things get out of control--out of my control and into His.

Rest assured, though, that the Holy Spirit doesn't blow to create disorder and chaos. The Holy Spirit was hovering over the earth at creation and He was active in creation, which was a very orderly and perfect work.

Take a Daniel moment:
1.  Give thanks for the Holy Spirit.
2.  Celebrate the Holy Spirit as God and His work in the world.
3.  Ask the Spirit to guide you into truth, convict you of sin, empower you to fulfill God's mission.
4.  Pray for the Spirit to blow fresh and new, giving you and Refuge a renewed fire and passion.
5.  Let go of the reins and let things get out of control--out of yours and into His.

Wisdom for Living

We live with limited sight. I cannot see the motivation with which another individual performs a certain action. I do not know all the circumstances in a given situation ( regardless of how much I do know). I am unable to see the past completely or know the future.

I need a wisdom that is far above me. I am desperate for One who sees all things outside of time limitations. Hearing from One who knows the hearts of all men, seeing their motivation and perceiving their thoughts rather than just knowing what they do, is of great value. 

God sits high above the heavens. He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. He perceives our words before they cross our lips. God sees our rising and lying down before they even occur. And not just for us, but of all the world. He knows all things from before they began. He has determined the end of all things and the path that leads to that point.

God is not just a God of knowledge. He is the God of all wisdom. He knows the exact word to speak and deed to perform by knowing all things. 

James warned that living by the wisdom of this earth leads to strife, bitterness, lust, and murder (and that's just among believers - James 3:13-4:2). Joshua found that when he did not consult God regarding the men who claimed to come from afar that he entered into a peace treaty with men from a nation God intended the Israelites to remove from the land of Canaan.

Every decision of our lives should be governed by the wisdom that comes from above. God has expressed this wisdom and His will through His words in Scripture. He also gives to His followers the Spirit of God to convict us of sin (because we lived by our own wisdom and desires) and guide us into all truth (to know and live by the wisdom of God).

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Praise God that He is the all-wise God.

2.  Ask for the wisdom from above--pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

3.  Pray for God to lead you to live your life in every way by the wisdom of God.

A Choice Will Be Made

Today a choice will be made. You and I, along with every one in the world, will make that choice. It is the choice of who or what we will worship and serve.

Our land is flooded with idols. Hindus may erect idols in their homes and shops with the heavy aroma of incense burned to these gods. Dare we judge and criticize them and others without scrutinizing our own lives and culture.

We may have fashioned our gods of other materials, but they are gods no less. Whether the god of money, sex, pleasure, power, position, relationships or some other, we live with countless gods we have created by our own hands. These we worship and serve as if they are suitable substitutes for the True God. That is by definition an idol—a God substitute.

 God is jealous for His own glory. He permits no substitutes or rivals. He expects complete surrender and whole-hearted devotion.

Joshua came to the end of his days and he implored the people to make the choice.  He said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

There is a choice to follow Jesus that comes as a conscious act of the will decision in which we place our faith and trust in Him alone to be rescued from sin and restored in relationship to God. Yet every day there must be the decision to worship and serve Him alone. Every day idols must be identified and torn down. Every day my own desires must be put to death so they do not obstruct the path to follow Jesus.

Jesus told every would-be follower the cost was high. “You must deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”  The choice will be made today and every day. You will make the choice whether purposefully or by default. You will worship and serve Him or you will worship and serve another.

What will you choose today?

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that He alone is worthy to be worshiped and served.
2. Celebrate that God is the all-wise and only true God.
3. Ask for God to identify the idols in your own heart.
4. Pray for yourself to be nailed to the cross with Christ that nothing in you would hinder your following Jesus or get in the way of God’s work and mission.
5. Surrender yourself to worship and serve Jesus today.
6. Repeat tomorrow.

Big God

I have been humbled in my life to see God do great things. Not because of me, but in spite of me. Many, but not all, of those moments of witnessing and experiencing God's power came in the midst of dark and difficult times.

Shortly after Micah's liver transplant surgery the liver was not functioning as needed. Many friends and strangers called on the name of the Lord on behalf of Micah. Many carried him in prayer, ripping off the roof, and lowering him to the feet of Jesus. I remember praying, "Lord, reach down with Your mighty hand and massage his liver that it would work." In less than 12 hours the lab results showed a liver working as it should. And the doctor was unable to explain it.

I have also experienced the bigness of God in placing our fourth son, Malachi, into our family. We spent two years working on adoption paperwork. We finished it in May of 2013 and found out we were expecting again in June 2013. In August of 2013, we received a phone call about a mom who courageously wanted to place her baby in our family and on Friday he was born. Two days later we traveled home with him. The social worker actually said to us, "Every time I would go to meet with a potential birth mom who was seeking to make a placement plan for her child, I would take your profile book along. I would think to myself, 'Why do I keep taking their book? They already have three boys and a fourth on the way. No mom is going to choose their family.'"

God is bigger!

Reading today in the story of Israel taking the land of Canaan that God has promised, I see a big God. When Joshua and his army fought with the men five kings of the Amorites and their armies, the enemy armies began to flee. Was the enemy really going to get away? Not with a big God who always keeps His promises.

The Bible says that the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them. What was the result? God killed more with hailstones than Israel did with the sword. Surprised? We shouldn't be but we often are.

As if this wasn't enough, while Israel fought its enemies in the land that very day, God caused the sun to stand still in the sky. So the sun stopped int he middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. The Bible says that all of this reveals a powerful truth: Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

God has and does fight for us. At the cross, He fought out bitterest and worst enemy. Sin and death held humanity in fear and slavery. But God fought for us and won that battle that in Him we would have our sin forgiven and death wouldn't be the gate to destruction but the door to eternal life.

I've been privileged to see and experience God's power. But I'm just not content. While God's greatest act and mightiest battle in the cross cannot and never will or need to be repeated, He's still at work. The God who hurled hailstones, stopped the sun, and beat our enemy is still just as big and working in big ways.

I want to see God move and I want to witness His power.

I need God to move and I need to witness His power.

Where do you need God to aid you against your enemy, extend your time and work, or enable you to have victory one the desires of your flesh and the sin of your heart? Where do you need God to show up big today?

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that He alone is God and there is none like Him.
2. Celebrate the great character and mighty deeds of God.
3. Ask God to be big in the places you are weak, uncertain, pain-filled, sinful, or needy.
4. Watch God be big and don't forget to give thanks for what He will do (before He does it) and for what He did (after He does it).