Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
According to a study reported by Bloomberg, Americans can add as many as two years to the nation’s life expectancy if they stand up more often and watch fewer hours of television. What a concept — move around and you’ll live longer!
Watching the report reminded me of an incident which happened during a party that we threw for our daughter Elianna. Her little one-year-old brother Obadiah was playing with a leftover balloon which suddenly popped in his face. Obi was startled, and about to burst into tears.
Thinking fast, I grabbed an uninflated balloon from the table, blew it up real big and then let it go. Boy did he love that! He laughed hysterically as he watched this balloon zipping around the room until it ran out of air and plopped down on the floor. Obi was fine, and as we played this new balloon game, a funny analogy floated into my mind.
I was thinking… we need to be like these balloons, filled to the max with God’s breath, and then….. let go, to experience the ride of our lives! And…equally important, we need to recognize when we’re running out of air — when we’re deflated and depleted of His power and anointing. Then we need to run back to Him for more, because receiving the infilling of the Spirit is not a single event, but a lifetime of repeated refillings, so that we aren’t living or serving in our own strength.
The Lord hasn’t entrusted us with His power to sit around and watch TV — but to activate us for the work of the Gospel, and the blessing of the saints; to do great things for Him in the power of His Spirit wherever He may take us. Let’s be filled again today! Ask, seek, knock, read, worship, meditate on His promises, get FILLED — you don’t want to sit idly watching life pass you by…. do you?
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]My wife and I had the privilege of leading a tour in Israel with over 50 people from all over the world. When tourists come to Israel, and especially to these southern parts where we live, one of the first things they're warned is to make certain they drink enough water. The climate here is very dry -- it fools you into thinking it's not as hot as it really is. You might not even feel thirsty, and before you know it, you can collapse from dehydration.
In one passage in John, Mary and Martha come running to Jesus, asking Him to heal Lazarus, who was critically ill. Since Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, I'm sure they were expecting that Jesus would come immediately to his aid. The scripture says, however, that Jesus stayed two more days in the place where He was. It was in those two days that Lazarus died.
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With everything happening in Israel, I’m often asked what I think will happen with the latest political situation in the holy land. Right now, we're getting ready to have the 5th election in the past 4 years. And, it may very well turn out to be another stalemate, as there appears to be no way to form a coalition according to the latest polls.
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