Walking The Walk

A friend of mine reminded me of these wonderful words of Billy Graham.  I thought I'd share them with you today: "There's an empty place.  You have everything except something; you're not quite sure what it is.  There's a hole in your heart and in your life.  You'd like it to be filled, but you don't know what it is.  So you're searching.  You're searching for something that can satisfy that deepest longing that you have.  That something is God. Because God made you in His image, and He loves you.  And He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross, and he took every sin that you've ever committed on that cross.  And if you were the only person in the whole world, He would have died for you. But Christ didn't stay on the cross.  He rose from the dead, and He's alive tonight, and he's willing to come into your heart right now." ~Billy Graham, 2000  ~TEC

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."   ~Mark 11:24   A couple years ago, I was flipping through the channels and I ran across a Billy Graham revival. I love Billy Graham. Always have. He preaches a powerful message, and when I was very young man I had a chance to go and see him.  It was an amazing experience! I decided to watch it. It was obviously recorded in the 80s judging from the hairstyles and clothing of the people in the audience. It was in a big stadium, and there were hundreds, probably thousands there to see Billy Graham.  And as I'm watching it, I was thinking I'd seen the program before, because the message was very familiar.  And then something caught my attention, and I was suddenly grabbing for the remote! When the camera flashed to the crowd, I saw somebody I knew!  I couldn't believe it!  I had to be wrong about that.  I paused it, and ran it back, and sure e...

"As churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife." ~Proverbs 30:33 Every time I read this proverb I remember something that Billy Graham wrote about why God takes anger so seriously. I hope I've remembered it accurately. When we lash out at people, we hurt them.  But this anger also creates all this conflict in our lives as well.  We don't seem to realize that, and that was the point Billy Graham made.  The reason anger is something that God takes so seriously is that He loves the person we're angry with just as much as He loves us, and anger causes harm to two people God loves! Anger serves no useful purpose. It ruins lives by making us bitter and resentful and hateful. It creates chaos. It ruins friendships. It destroys families. There are five words that if applied liberally could transform the world.  The first two words are, "I'm sorry."  The other three are, "please forgiv...