Links & Quotes

April 6, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Romans 8:28 tells us that God uses ALL things to accomplish His purpose for our lives. Too many times I tried to rush through things without getting anything out of it. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

He is 98 years old and he’s still busy serving other people! I pray we can all be as selfless and vibrant in ministering to others until the day God calls us home.

“When with an eye of faith we behold Christ crucified we ought to weep, not for Him, but for ourselves. We must not be affected with the death of Christ as with the death of a common person whose calamity we pity, or of a common friend whom we are likely to part with. The death of Christ was a thing peculiar; it was His victory and triumph over His enemies; it was our deliverance, and the purchase of eternal life for us. And therefore let us weep, not for Him, but for our own sins, and the sins of our children, that were the cause of His death; and weep for fear (such were the tears here prescribed) of the miseries we shall bring upon ourselves, if we slight His love, and reject His grace, as the Jewish nation did, which brought upon them the ruin here foretold.” —Matthew Henry, on Jesus’ word, “Do not weep for Me” in Luke 23:28

J. Warner Wallace shares three responses Christians can give to those who make the claim that Jesus didn’t think He was God. In this video, Detective Wallace talks about a section of his website that gives further evidence. You can find that section here.

The Institute for Creation Research is a group of scientists explaining how science points to a Creator. What does Creation have to do with Easter? “Any view of Christianity that incorporates long ages of death and suffering before Adam makes a sham of the Cross. This Easter season, as we remember our salvation made possible by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross and His triumphant resurrection from the grave, let us understand it within the ‘big picture’ of a ‘very good’ creation that was ruined by our rebellion but restored by the willing sacrifice of our great Creator-Savior.”

“One measure of the greatness of a man is not only that he practices what he preaches, but also that he doesn’t consider himself above the ordinary means of grace that all Christians need.” —John Piper

“Beware of idleness—satan sows most of his seed in fallow ground.” —Thomas Watson

He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
Hath made and loveth all. —Samuel T. Coleridge
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The Pitfalls Of Prayerlessness

March 27, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

As the Israelites moved into the Promised Land, the Book of Joshua records how God helped them achieve victory after victory. 

  • God gave instructions for crossing the Jordan River—the Israelites crossed over on dry ground (3:7-8, 17) 
  • God gave instructions for conquering Jericho—the walls of the city collapsed and Israel was victorious (6:2-5, 20) 
  • God gave Joshua the battle plan for attacking Ai—the Israelite army was victorious (8:1-2, 18-22) 
  • God directed the Israelites to come to the aid of the Gibeonites—they defeated five Canaanite kings (10:7-10) 
  • Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still so the Israelites could complete their victory—the sun stood still (10:12-14) 
  • God blessed Joshua’s attack against the southern kings—the Israelites were successful in battle (10:29-30, 42) 
  • God directed Joshua to fight the Canaanite kings of the north—again they were victorious (11:1-15)

(Check out all of the above Scriptures by clicking here.) 

But we also read that twice Joshua acted without consulting God or receiving directions from Him, and the results were not good at all!

(1) The initial attack on the city of Ai. 

If Joshua had sought God first, I believe God would have revealed Achan’s treachery before 36 men were killed in battle (7:1-5). 

(2) Making a treaty with the Gibeonites. 

These clever people deceived the Israelites into making a treaty of peace with them. ”And [the Gibeonites] went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, ‘We have come from a far country; now then, make a covenant with us.’ … So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them” (9:6, 14-15). 

Presumption is a tricky thing. Just because something was successful in the past—even something directed by God Himself—that doesn’t mean we can simply repeat it again without consulting God again. 

Paul wrote, “In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). I looked up the word “everything” in the Greek language, and it means: Each and every thing! 

God doesn’t want us to seek Him for just the big things—but for everything. 

It’s definitely not true that God helps those who help themselves. Actually, God helps those who admit that they cannot help themselves! 

Beware of prayerlessness. Never simply assume you know what to do next, but pray about everything. God loves to give wise counsel to those who ask Him for it. 

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Unusually Usual

March 12, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

If you want to experience something usually powerful in your life, you may need to add something usual to your life.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

Some resources from this episode:

The Scriptures I reference: Luke 22:39-43; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; Daniel 6:1-23; John 18:1-2, 12:49, 5:19; Luke 4:1-12

Here are a couple of blog posts about how Jesus prayed: 4 Practical Prayer Tips from Jesus and Pray Like Jesus.

My new book When Sheep Bite is available for pre-order!

Here are a bunch of ways to get in touch with me and follow along with other projects on which I am involved

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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The Words Of Jesus

February 14, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

After Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple, He began to teach those who gathered around Him. Luke records that “all the people hung on His words” (Luke 19:48). 

I believe that one of the main reasons His words had such authority and power to capture people’s attention was because He was so immersed in Scripture. As Jesus cleared the temple, He quoted from two Old Testament prophets. As He told a parable to the crowd in the temple—a parable that the religious leaders knew “He had spoken…against them”—He made a passage from Psalm 118 the foundational piece of His story. 

The words of Jesus are…

  • Scriptural 
  • authoritative 
  • loving
  • unswervingly truthful
  • practical
  • challenging 
  • unconventional (according to human standards) 
  • God-glorifying 
  • paradigm challenging
  • life changing

I want others to say of me what Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, “Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.” 

Wouldn’t you want that said of your life too? I sure would!

Our first step is to read the Word of God. Next, we need to allow the God of the Word to transform our minds. And then we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us apply the Bible to everything we say and do. 

Heavenly Father, I pray that people may hear the words of Jesus in all the words I speak. Holy Spirit, bring all of the Word I have read back to my mind (John 14:26; Mark 13:11) so that it is not my words that I am speaking but Yours. In the name of Jesus I ask this. Amen! 

(To go a little deeper on this topic, check out Whose Words Have Weight? and The Timeliest of Words.) 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Faith To Forgive

February 12, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I shared this in my forthcoming book When Sheep Bite—

In January 1647, Oliver Cromwell captured King Charles I during the British Revolution. Within just a few months, Charles escaped and was able to raise another army. A year later, in August 1648, Cromwell’s forces once again defeated the army Charles had raised, and once again Charles was taken prisoner. 

Oliver Cromwell put Charles on trial for his crimes, and after the guilty verdict was pronounced, Charles I was executed. A total of 59 people signed the former king’s death warrant. 

Fast forward eleven years and Oliver Cromwell had died and his son Richard had taken his place as Lord Protector of England. Unlike his father, there was great discontent with Richard’s leadership. As a result, the Loyalists were able to sweep Charles II into power. 

After assuming the throne of England, Charles II wanted the 59 death warrant signers put on trial, but fifteen of them had already died. That little fact didn’t stop King Charles II. He ordered that their bodies be exhumed, placed on trial, convicted of their crimes, and then hung. 

I’m no psychologist, but I think it’s safe to say that Charles II might have had a slight problem with unforgiveness!  

This is from a chapter I entitled “The ties that no longer bind.” The insidious nature of unforgiveness is that it ties us to the one who injured or offended us. 

Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). The word He uses for “debts” means something justly or legally due, or an offense or sin that has been committed. So a debtor is one who morally or legally owes another for the wrong committed. 

So for these debts, we are taught to ask for forgiveness of God and to give that same forgiveness to others. Jesus uses the same root word for both “forgive” and “forgiven,” but there are nuances that make the picture quite clear. 

  • When we ask God to forgive our debts, it is the active voice (I have to ask for it) and it is stated in the second person (I have to receive it). When I ask my Heavenly Father for this, my offense has been paid-in-full because the legal and moral requirements aren’t due any longer. I couldn’t pay this debt on my own, but Jesus paid it for me (2 Corinthians 5:21).  
  • When I forgive someone who has wronged me, it is again the active voice (I have to give it), but it is now in the first person (I don’t wait around for the other person to ask for forgiveness). I let it go. I don’t hinder the other person or myself with waiting for the penalty to be paid any longer. 

This is the only part of this model prayer for which Jesus gives a commentary afterwards (in Matthew 6:14-15). With this, Jesus is teaching us that to say, “I’m forgiven” is also to say, “I’m forgiving.” 

Unlike Charles II, when we are forgiven and forgiving, the inevitable result is freedom for both ourselves and our offenders. 

If we practice this relentlessly, we are both freed ourselves and freeing others! 

When we ask God to forgive us, He forgives us immediately and completely (Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 1:18). We are to forgive our debtors just as quickly. 

When we pray, “Forgive as we also have forgiven,” we are both acknowledging His power to forgive us and requesting the faith need to be forgiving people. As C.S. Lewis noted, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” 

The Bible describes satan’s activity as stealing, killing, and destroying. He’s called the father of lies, so he uses slander to try to steal, kill, and destroy. His slander is: “God can’t forgive that” and “You shouldn’t let them off the hook for what they did to you.” 

These two thoughts are linked, just as “I’m forgiven” and “I’m forgiving” are linked. If I begin to  think that what someone did to me was too big for me to forgive, then I can also believe that there is a sin I have committed that is too big for God to forgive. But when I live both receiving and giving forgiveness, I can tune out this lie from hell. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series called Kingdom Praying, you can find all of them here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

February 10, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Our anxiety is usually tied to our insecurity about our needs being met. Philippians 4:6-7 counsels us to turn those anxieties into prayer. It’s not what we can provide for ourselves, but trusting what our Heavenly Father has already provided for us. Check out this amazing series on prayer. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

A recent post at the Institute for Creation Research says, “despite popular perception, the impact theory of dinosaur extinction has problems and is still a source of contention among even conventional scientists.” In fact, “Despite uniformitarian claims to the contrary, these rocks and fossils are best explained by the Genesis Flood that covered the earth about 4,500 years ago. All the air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures outside the Ark perished. However, the representatives of these animals that God brought on board the Ark, including dinosaurs, survived, reproduced, and spread across the Earth after the Flood. Many ancient peoples wrote about and described what appear to be dinosaurs, even though they called them by other names, e.g., dragons. In the creation Flood model, impacts may have hit the earth during the Flood, but none of them caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.” This article is a good overview of the geological and paleontological evidence that supports the biblical account of the Flood.

“Scripture teaches us that there are two points of view from which we may regard Christ’s death upon the Cross. The one is the redemption of the Cross: Christ dying for us as our complete deliverance from the curse of sin. The other, the fellowship of the Cross: Christ taking us up to die with Him and making us partakers of the fellowship of His death in our own experience. … O Christian, when the world crucified Christ, it crucified you with Him, when Christ overcame the world on the Cross, He made you an overcomer too. He calls you now, at whatever cost of self-denial, to regard the world, in its hostility to God and His kingdom, as a crucified enemy over whom the Cross can ever keep you conqueror. What a different relationship to the pleasures and attractions of the world the Christian has who by the Holy Spirit has learned to say: ‘I have been crucified with Christ;…[the crucified] Christ lives in me!’ (Galatians 2:20).” —Andrew Murray

Sullivan and Addie Chainey were both deaf, but that didn’t stop them from becoming premier missionaries in the Assembly of God fellowship. Their work with other deaf people was amazing! I love this concluding thought in this short biography of their ministry work: “The Chaineys’ story testifies that God can empower those who are marginalized in society to do redemptive work in their own communities and beyond.”

“Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Great Divorce

Years later, Boaz was obeying this commandment in Leviticus 19:9. That allowed Ruth to be in his field, which led to a marriage that began the family line of King David, which traces all the way to Jesus! Obedience matters. Just imagine if Boaz had been disobedient in this. The Messiah still would have come, but Boaz and Ruth (and their children and grandchildren) would have missed out on this blessing.

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The Danger In Plenty

February 5, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Jesus is teaching us to pray as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and each phrase of this prayer is a reminder of how we interact with the King of Heaven—Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  

We all have a desire to feel secure—to feel our needs are going to be met. In fact, our anxiety level is usually tied directly to how insecure we may feel. The problem for many of us, however, is that we have mistaken wants for needs, and when those aren’t met as we think they should be, we again experience increasing levels of anxiety. 

We see this on full display in Luke 12. First, Jesus addresses a man who is greedily desiring his share of his father’s inheritance. Jesus says, “Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 

To illustrate this point, Jesus tells a parable of a rich landowner who harvested more crops than he knew what to do with—a harvest which he calls “plenty.” His solution was to build bigger barns for his abundant harvest, to which God announced, “You fool” (Luke 12:13-21). 

This man was not called a fool because he was successful. He was not called a fool because he had plenty. Rather, he was called a fool because his “plenty” caused him to forget his heavenly Father.   

This is an invaluable lesson. Sadly, we tend to be a very forgetful people! 

After God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt, and they almost immediately start worrying and then complaining about whether their needs will be supplied. God tells them that He will supply every day exactly what they need (Exodus 16:1-35). 

This provision of manna every single morning when they got up was intended to keep them reliant on God and thankful for His provision. But after a while they thought they deserved more—they wanted plenty (Numbers 11:4-6). Later on, Asaph would pinpoints the main culprit of the Israelites’ stumbled throughout their history: forgetfulness (Psalm 78:11, 22-25). 

Jesus taught us to come to God in prayer as Our Father. Just as Jesus was daily dependent on His Father, so He teaches us to have that same level of daily abiding. 

Jesus reminds us what the daily supply of manna really signified; namely, that He would be our Bread from Heaven for all of eternity (John 6:28-40)! 

So that’s why we pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Once again, this is an acknowledgement that no one else can provide for us, and it is a request that we would stay daily dependent on Him. It’s not, “Give us today our weekly bread.” Or, “Give us today our daily wants.” Or even, “Give us today plenty of things.” 

We need our Father for daily bread so that we never, ever forget or vital, indispensable connection to Him!  

Even when we don’t have plenty, we are told not to worry but instead to look to our Heavenly Father for His daily supply (Luke 12:22; Philippians 4:6-7).

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series on prayer, you can check them all out here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. Like some exclusive quotes from a book I just reviewed. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

February 3, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Stop praying to yourself! God isn’t impressed with your “powerful” prayer! Jesus tells an interesting story about two men: one thought very highly of his spiritual status and the only could barely lift his eyes. Jesus said that the proud man’s prayer received no help from God, but only the humble man’s prayer was heard. This is a short clip from my series called Kingdom Praying. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“If the fetus gets in the way, ditch it. If the old person gets in the way, ditch it. If you get in the way…” —Francis Schaeffer

“The god of convenience, ruling capriciously in the hearts of men and women, and supported by worshipers of the god of wealth—greedy, self-interested profit-takers in the guise of abortionists and abortion-rights advocates—is the putative lord of life and death where children in the womb are concerned. … Christians must insist that all political candidates seeking their support, at whatever level of government, be firm in their commitment to resist the present abortion regime and expose the lie of the pro-choice agenda by every available means. …The Law of God is holy and righteous and good. Abortion is unholy, unrighteous, and evil. If we want a just and loving society, we will worship God and obey His Law, and we will work to dethrone the god of convenience and to expose the folly and self-interest of all its followers. And we will look to God to explain the nature, meaning, and value of all lives.” —T.M. Moore

Elihu is angry at Job “because he justified himself before God.” Better stated: “Job was more concerned about justifying himself—making himself look good—than he was about making God look good.” Elihu is angry at Job’s three friends because they acted like God and pronounced a guilty verdict against Job. Elihu is righteously provoked. After holding his tongue for 31 chapters, he cannot remain silent any longer!  I conclude that Elihu is righteous in his response because God doesn’t have anything negative to say to or about Elihu (as He does with the three friends) at the end of the Book of Job. 

Long before the term “fake news” made it into our lexicon, Charles E. Robinson wrote an article in 1934 “as a solemn warning to all Christians” about the rising tide of anti-Semitism. He was especially upset about a book that made an erroneous case blaming Jews for global economic and political turmoil. I am thrilled with the strong spiritual and intellectual legacy in the Assembly of God fellowship!

“There’s a lot of blood, sweat and guts between dreams and success.” —Paul Bear Bryant

Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh looks at the rare friendship between one of my favorite authors and a gifted poet whose work I also admire: John Newton and William Cowper.

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Becoming Childlike

January 29, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I hope you’ve noticed so far that the parts of Christ’s model prayer that we’ve looked at so far are both an acknowledgement of the holiness of God and the greatness of His Kingdom, and also a request for us to be empowered to live in a way that makes those things known to Earthlings. 

One of the ways we live to make these things seen is found in the next phrase: Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). 

In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens shows us a scene where the Ghost of Christmas Present has taken Scrooge to his nephew’s home. After dinner, these young adults begin playing games. Dickens says, “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” 

Jesus loved children! Being around “the littles” lately at on our school campus, I have a whole new appreciation for this. Because Jesus loved children, their parents wanted them around Him, and He wanted them around too (see Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:14-16; Luke 18:15-17).

Children are loud, busy, adventurous, and easily distracted. But they are also loving, trusting, curious, innocent, and easily comforted. And Jesus loved to bless them!   

What does this have to do with “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”? Jesus taught us to address our praying to “Our Father.” That means we are to interact with Him as His children.  

Jesus wants us to be childlike not childish. 

  • trusting not posturing—Matthew 6:7-8 
  • honest not hypocritical—Luke 18:9-14 
  • persistent not whining—Luke 11:9-13 
  • humbly dependent not scheming—Matthew 18:1-4 

[Check out these passages here] 

Children love to do the will of their parents. They’re not trying to earn their approval, but joyfully obeying out of innocence. When we obey God as loving children, we are doing His will on earth as it is done in Heaven! 

So once again, this is both an acknowledgement and a request. 

In Psalm 131, David uses this same picture of a contented child for us. 

Childlike is lovingly dependent. Childish is selfishly independent. Childlike is trusting someone wiser. Childish is believing I know best. 

Our prayer request should always be, “Father, may I trust You and obey You as an innocent child.” 

This is part 4 of our series on prayer called Kingdom Praying. You can check out all of the other messages in this series here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. Like some exclusive quotes from a book I just reviewed. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

January 27, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Peter described the ministry of Jesus as “doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil.” Historical records tell us the first Christians lived this exact same way! This clip is from our current series of sermons on prayer. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

John Piper has some great advice for finding the main point of a chapter in the Book of Psalms.

Belshazzar was unknown outside the Bible for quite awhile, prompting one biblical skeptic to say, “the whole story [in the Book of Daniel] is disfigured and falsified by the author, who was neither an eye-witness of the occurrences, nor accurately acquainted with the history of them.” Once again, archeology has confirmed the historicity of both Belshazzar and Daniel.

On YouVersion I shared this on Job 1:20-22. The Old English spelling of worship is “worthship.” We worship God because He has infinitely greater worth than any other person or thing. It’s not that Job wasn’t sad about his losses, but He saw Jehovah as the One of greatest worth in spite of his earthly losses.

“Leaders are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models—that is, they are responsible for learning.” —Peter M. Senge, in The Fifth Discipline

Never stopping praying for your loved ones. It could be that with their very last breath they will call on Jesus as their Savior!

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