by donfinto | Feb 10, 2016 | The Good Report
If your life is boring, or even ordinary, it may be that you are not listening for that inner, sometimes wild, voice of the Holy Spirit. God can call us to do many ordinary things, but He can also call us to do wild, extravagant, unusual things. For example, giving literally the clothes off our backs, or the watch on our arm, or the diamond on our finger, or the money in our pocket, or even a car or a house.
God called King Jehoshaphat of Judah to send out the choir in front of the army in order to defeat the enemy! It worked because God ordained it.
The Syrian General Naaman went down to the Jordan and baptized himself seven times as a cure for his leprosy. I doubt that would work every time, but it worked for Naaman, because that’s what God, through a prophet, told him to do.
If an army is losing a battle, try sending three men up on a hill overlooking the battleground, and have two of them lift up the hands of the other one. Maybe that will help? Maybe not? It worked for Aaron and Hur who held up Moses’ hands in Israel’s battle against the Amalekites. God’s instructions!
Want to try Isaiah’s prescription for calling a nation back to the Lord? Then go “stripped and barefoot” through the land for three years!
Sometimes God’s words, if they are unusually weird, may need to be tested again and again! But you get the point!
Peter walked on water, Matthew left his tax collector profession, David danced very un-King-like in front of the ark of the covenant, Hosea married an adulteress, both John the Baptist and Samson wore ultra long locks, Paul sent out prayed-over handkerchiefs to heal the sick, Jesus healed a blind man with mud made out of his own saliva and dirt. All of them only following the sometimes unusual call of God!
Let us be willing to be Godly weird, Godly wild, yes Godly wise, in the Holy Spirit!
by donfinto | Feb 3, 2016 | The Good Report
Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13
We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people [those who
are working in the kingdom] so that we may work together for the truth.
3 John 8
We have some of the finest homes in the world, but often use them little. We have well-equipped kitchens and beautiful dining areas, but often end up sitting in a very noisy place trying to visit, instead of around our own tables. Our extra bedrooms are luxurious, but sometimes seldom occupied.
Yes, we live in stressful times, but let’s not allow the stress of our times rob us of the joy of being hospitable.
Remember that time when Abraham was “sitting in the tent door” (Genesis 18:2) and those three men came by? Abraham “ran from the tent door to meet them,” asked if he could refresh them with “a morsel of bread.” Then Abraham “hurried into the tent and asked Sarah quickly to “make cakes.” Later one of those men turned out to be the LORD Himself, who had come to announce to Sarah that “this time next year” she would have a son.
What if Sarah had responded, “Abe, this is not at all a convenient time! Please give me a little more notice before inviting three unknowns for dinner!”
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers
for by so doing some people have sown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
1 Peter 4:9
May the Lord help us to make our homes, our apartments, or even our dorm rooms and automobiles places of fellowship, prayer and joy!
For King Jesus and for His Kingdom!
by donfinto | Jan 20, 2016 | The Good Report
We’ve just past through the strongest giving time of the year. Thank God for all the generosity that we have experienced both in our own hearts and the hearts and lives of those around us.
One of the first “revelations” the Lord gave me when I began to realize that God still speaks to us today, were the words of Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” My translation of that is, “It makes us happier to give, than to receive!”
This morning I happened to be reading Paul’s words to the early Corinthian believers, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully, will also reap bountifully… God is able to make all grace abound to you… you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…”
May the Lord help all of us to live lives of generosity! Not just as special seasons, but always! And not just money, but things. I still remember that beautiful wool rug Martha and I brought back from Germany. We stored it in our basement, since we had no use of it in our first house at the time. It rotted! I should have known! Jesus told me not to do that! “Store up treasures in heaven,” He said, “where moth… cannot destroy” (Matt. 6:20). If we don’t need it, let’s give it to some one who does!
All for the King and His Kingdom!
