30GoodMinutes.org - Thomas Long, "Praying Without Losing Heart"

There's a famous story about a young boy named Frank who was walking along the bank of the Mississippi River and he noticed in the river another boy about his age wrestling with a homemade raft. He said to him, “What are you doing?” He said, “I'm going to take this raft out to that island in the middle of the river. I dare you to go with me!” Well, Frank couldn't resist the dare so he scrambled down the bank and got on the raft. The two boys headed out to the middle of the river but the current was swift and strong. As they approached the island, the raft broke up and sank and they had to swim to the island. And there they were, abandoned on an island, late in the afternoon. Nobody knew where they were. What would they do? Right at that moment, one of those paddle-wheel steamers started coming down the river and Frank ran to the edge of the island and began screaming and waving his hands, “Help! Help!” The other boy said, “Don't waste your breath. They can't hear you and even if they could they wouldn't pay any attention to boys like us.” But just at that moment the paddlewheel steamer turned toward the island. The boy said to Frank, “How did you do that?” And Frank said, “Well, there's something you don't know. The captain of that boat is my father!”

Well, the captain of the universe is our father and how much more will one who has formed us in the womb respond to our every cry. So pray always and don't lose heart.

interplay

When the widow wrung the verdict she sought from the judge, her efforts turned the judge from a man of injustice to a man who does justice. The man who at the story's beginning is identified only as an unjust judge who respects no one, having done justice and listened to the widow, will need a new name, just as Jacob received a new name.

-Dylan

Give me Justice!

How do you preach social justice to Pentecostals?

Faith on the Border

It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee.
Now most Jews don’t do that. They go down to Jerusalem along the Jordan so they don’t have to risk talking to a samaritan and defiling themselves, but not Jesus. Quite remarkable since he must have already know what he was going to Jerusalem for. But I am getting ahead of my story. For now just know Jesus was heading to Jerusalem for a purpose but that didn’t stop him from changing my life.

As he entered our village, ten us, all lepers, met him. We kept their distance but raised our voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" That’s right I’m a lepper. Just listen to what it is like… (Song)
Its not easy being a leper and life in the leper colony is a lonely one, though at least we have each other. My friends are all Jews. Go figure. If it wasn’t for our common affliction we wouldn’t even talk to each other. But leprosy has made us all outcasts more than that, it made us all one.

When we saw a traveler coming we went out to meet him to beg. Have mercy on us! We cried. We understood from the crowd and the things they were talking about that this must be Jesus, but we didn’t ask for anything specific, we said, “Have mercy on us!”

We didn’t dare to come near, though we had heard rumors that this man touches lepers. We

Taking a good look at us, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."
We had heard that he touched lepers, that he could heal with a word, but this time he healed in another way. We turned to go - to obey his command. As we did, our sores closed up, our numb fingers worn down to the nub with out our feeling it grew back, our bodies became whole again. We patted each other on the back and congratulated each-other. We quickened our pace, to show the priest, to return to our families and our lives. Then I stopped. I realized I couldn’t go into the temple and show myself to the preist, I’m no Jew, and worse than that I am a Samaritan! I realized my bond with these friends was over, they were returning to their lives.

You see we lived on a border, Jesus had come to our boundary, a fuzzy zone where Jews and Samaritans could live together because they were outcasts. All of that was about to change. Jesus came to our boundary and came to heal it. He was all I had now.


4.I turned around and came back, shouting my gratitude, glorifying God. I knelt at Jesus' feet, so grateful. I couldn't thank him enough

He placed his hand on my head—and I was a Samaritan!

Do you ever notice that it is the outsider that catches fire more quickly when they meet Jesus? I mean all these Jews knew that they were a special people to God. They kept reminding us Samaritans of it. Maybe they took it for granted when the very Son of God healed them. But when an outsider, someone who doesn’t know the hope in Christ comes and meets him, realizes that there is nothing outside of hope in him, how can he take it for granted? Jesus just met us on the outside of the boundary! How marvelous.

Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."

Are you like the other nine, or do you shout for joy with me today? I know you have seen the power of God working inside your borders just as he worked outside them for me. You have the symbols of it before you in these emblems. You are here together as one body! You have witnessed the power of God first hand. What a miracle you are made one with each other, once strangers now one body one family! Do you shout with joy? Or do you go on your way to do your duty without the shout of thanks to God.


Jesus followed the other 9 to Jerusalem. Like I said before he was on his way there for a purpose. He was there to be striped, like we were stripped, clothed only in rags. He was to be beaten and his flesh hang from his body like ours did. And by his stripes we are healed. I wonder if the nine Jews who went to show themselves at the temple ran into Jesus again. I wonder if they were in the crowd that watched him carry his cross. I wonder if they sang his praises at last in the midst of the jeering crowd. Will you?

If they did, we are one again, regardless of borders, because all we have now is Jesus. You are one with me too if you will shout his praises. Shout for joy with me!