Skip to main content

Sackcloth!

I was reading in Nehemiah 9 just a couple of days ago and was stopped at verse one. The verse mentions "sackcloth". 1Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

I've read that verse I don't know how many times before in my life without stopping to think about "sackclothes" and dirt on the head.

What stopped me this time is that the Lord has been working in my life in the area of prayer recently; gut wrenching, crying, pleading, prayer. I want to see God move in a Penticostal way (3000 saved that is... I already speak in tongues...PORTUGUESE that is!) I want to see Him work in a big way in our neighborhood.

The other reason that I was stopped in my Bible reading tracks is that I am preparing a message for Sunday night on that exact subject, Prayer.

So, I had Dawn pick up some sackcloth while she was in town this morning and I am having her sew me up a sackcloth T shirt! I want to use it in my message and maybe a bit afterwards too. Have you ever put on such a shirt? I believe that it will allow me to be a bit more alert in my prayers. I'll keep you posted!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tottering!

I was watching my one year old grandson, Brandon, today. He had on some baggy little shorts, weird flip-flops over his socks, and he was tottering. It made me think about how I often feel these days. Funny how that when we are little and "innocent" and tottering in our baggy pants, with our little potbelly sticking out from under our t-shirt we look precious. When we are older and tottering in our low slung trousers and the same potbelly, we looks pathetic! I guess that the two drastically opposite points of view are based on the viewer's chronological perspective. Brandon is growing and I'm dying. He is cute because the little guy has a lot to learn and we love to see him progress. The old guy has already had his chance at learning and what he is progressing toward is not quite so much fun to ponder. When I have these weird thoughts I praise my God because He never lets go of my hand whether a tottering little guy or an old one. And I found this verse to prove my po...

What Are You Worth?

What are you Worth?  Have you ever thought about what you are worth? In investing circles there is a term used to gauge this exact question, it's called Net Worth. You take all of your assets, like property owned, funds in your bank account, clothes, jewelry, car, etc.. You total all of these things. You then take everything you owe, like mortgage, car loan, and credit card debt, and you subtract these items from the first total. This gives you your net worth. That number represents where you are financially. Most people never stop to think about this number because they don't understand anything about it. They never have two nickels to rub together. They live from hand to mouth and know (or at least believe) nothing will ever change so, they fall into the "daily grind" mentality. Psalm 49 should be a great encouragement to such as these. The sons of Korah write about them. These sons write about all of us. They call all people everywhere to listen to their wisdom. Bo...

Church Isn't a Place

  Many times we say, I'm going to church on Sunday. What some fail to understand is that "church" isn't a building. I remember our pastor saying, "the church is an organism, not an organization." He was teaching us the Bible truth about the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and the church is his body on earth. Another pastor once said, "God's hands have human fingers." This is a difficult concept for some to grasp, pun intended. However, it is important to understand that God accomplishes his work through human beings. He uses us, the church, to do his will and work. It's not that if we don't do his will that he is stymied. But he does use willing servants. To be in the church, one must be a part of the family. You cannot be in the church if you don't have the Savior. The church is not for the lost; it is for the edification of the saved. The lost can come and hear the message of salvation. But the church is made up of t...