Consider this

              In Luke 1, we are introduced to a priest named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth.   It says that “Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old” (verses 6-7).   That last part about them not having a child is significant.   That was a big deal back then.             One day when Zachariah was serving at the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared and said, “Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John” (verse 13).               The part that I find interesting here is that Gabriel says, “Your prayer has been heard”.   When was that prayer prayed?   ...

            I grew up going to stock car races in Moose Jaw, so you can imagine how happy I was, about thirteen years ago, to hear that Estevan was getting a new dirt track.   In fact, I was one of the first people in the grandstands on the first night and I have missed very few races since then.   I have sat in those grandstands in the heat, through torrential downpours and I have frozen out there more times than I care to remember, but it was always fun!             All through those years, I used to think “It would be fun to volunteer out here”, but I never did.   I did not know anyone and I was not sure if I would be welcome, so I did not do anything about it.             This past winter, the speedway president was talking to my wife.   She knew that I enjoyed the races, so she said, “Do you...

            It seemed simple enough.   God’s people were in the wilderness.   They needed water and God gave Moses a solution; “Gather the people and speak to the rock and before their eyes it will pour out its water” (Numbers 20:8).   Now that seems a little strange, but it had worked before (see Exodus 17:1-7), so Moses gathered the people.   Unfortunately, this is where everything falls apart.             Moses is tired!   He has been leading these people for forty years and all they have done is complain and gripe about everything.   In fact, we are told that earlier that day “the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron.   They quarreled with Moses and said… ‘Why did you bring us to this terrible place?   It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates.   And there is no water to drink!’” (Numbers 20:2-5) ...

            When I was a kid, I was taught that the temple in Jerusalem was God’s special dwelling place (see 1 Kings 8).   Over time, God’s people became unfaithful to him, so he allowed Jerusalem to be overrun and the temple was destroyed.   The conclusion to that lesson was that there are now no “special holy places” anymore.   But what if that is not the way to see things?             Consider this:   In Exodus chapter three, Moses is in a desert in the middle of nowhere.   In the distance, he sees a bush that is on fire, but, strangely, it is not burning up.   When he goes to investigate, God says to him, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (verse 5).   Now, why was that ground holy?   Was it because there was something unique and special about that plot of sand?   Of course not! ...

            At the start of the school year, my girls and their friends were discussing their schedules and their conversations went something like this: “Who do you have for English?”   “What is he like?”   “Is he nice?”   “What about math?”   “Does she give a lot of homework?”              I listened for a while and then asked, “Who cares what your friends think of them?   Why don’t you just go and find out for yourselves whether you like your teachers or not?”               Their response was, “We are not asking whether we should like them or not.   We are asking what sort of people they are and how they react to things.   It is always good to know a little about someone’s character before you have to deal with them”.         ...

            Daniel was in trouble.   He and his people had been carried off to a foreign land by an invading army and the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed.   Daniel did not know what to do, so he began to pray.   He confessed the sins of his people and asked God to restore them to their land.             As he was praying, the angel Gabriel came to him and said, “Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding.   As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given” (Daniel 9:22-23).             Did you catch that?   “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given”.   What an amazing  verse!   Think about what that means.               First, it means that prayer is more powerful than what we s...