The Plumbline

"One of the greatest attacks of the enemy is to make you busy, to make you hurried, to make you noisy, to make you distracted, to fill the people of God and the Church of God with so much noise and activity that there is no room for prayer. There is no room for being alone with God. There is no room for silence. There is no room for meditation." (Reverand Paul Washer) Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT) Prayer is more than us connecting with God, sharing our hearts with him. It is the very thing that unleashes the powers of heaven on our behalf! It opens the floodgates of God's defenses, driving our enemy to his knees, and pushing back the forces of darkness that seek to bring us to ours! Whenever we become too busy or preoccupied with the events of life to take time to be alone with Jesus, we are inviting chaos into our lives. Our spiritual enemy i...

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16 NLT) I grew up in a denomination that encouraged weekly 'confession' in a confessional with specific 'penance' being assigned based upon the thing confessed. I don't believe that is what this passage, though. The term 'confess' carries the meaning 'to agree with' or 'to admit'. When one confesses their sin, they are really saying they agree with God's perspective on their actions or behaviors. In other words, we admit we haven't lived according to his standards. We do this simply by acknowledging our wrong behavior with a penitent heart and a willingness to change.  Sometimes our battle with a particular sin is kind of ongoing. We struggle to break free from the wrong behavior. For example, if you have been a gossip all your life, relishing all the juic...