Sorry that Food for Lambs has not been updated the last 2 days. I was actually keeping it up to date, but I deleted something very important that caused you not to see the updates. It's been fixed now. To catch up, just go into iTunes and click the refresh button in the Podcast section. Then you'll see a GET button next to each of the previous days podcasts. Just click that button and they will be added to iTunes for you. Sync with your iPod, and away you go. Sorry for slip up.


Food for Lambs is a daily Bible-in-a-year program in audio. It is completely free, and you do not need an iPod to listen to it. Go ahead and get it now.

(I met Francis Frangipane a few months back, and I guess he added me to his newsletter today. This is the first one I have received from him, and it was so pertinent to what I am going through, I decided to share it with you all here. It actually feels like he wrote it just for me. Weird. There is a subscribe page for this newsletter here.)


There are two conditions of the heart no one can hide: one is when the heart is filled with love and the other when we are infected with bitterness. Either condition can take over our thoughts and both can filter our entire view of life. As followers of Jesus Christ, we must make our highest quest to possess hearts full of God’s love. Indeed, how successful we are at revealing Christ’s love is the true measure of our spirituality.

Thus, love cannot long exist as an unexpressed or hidden secret. If love is real, it will be seen in a thousand manifestations reaching to the heart of its beloved. Love, which is in truth passion for oneness, is too powerful to be contained by mere discipline or self-control. Indeed, is not love boldly displayed in its unrequited gifts, and is it not heard in its many encouragements and expressions of concern? Is it not tangible in its unabashed enjoyment of time spent with those it loves?

Bitterness, too, cannot be hidden. A bitter soul is not seeking oneness, but justice. It is driven by the unresolved theft of its peace, personhood or possessions. Bitterness is not just a wound seeking healing, it is a prosecuting attorney building a case against the guilty. Because a bitter soul is conjoined to the injustice committed against it, it perpetually is listening to the voice of its heartache and, thus, perpetually wounded by the unforgiven offense.

Dear friends, Jesus said He came to give us life in abundance. He said He was anointed and sent to proclaim release to prisoners and freedom to captives (John 10:10; Luke 4:18). If we feel we have been spiritually incarcerated by a bitter experience or an injustice, God is not seeking to condemn us for it, but to save us from it. Even now, His Spirit is reaching to release us from this unbearable burden of the past.

How Do We Become Free?
In my thirty-seven years of walking with the Lord, there have been times that I have been slandered, defrauded or unfairly attacked. I have had plenty of opportunities to be embittered by injustice. Not every wound was healed instantly nor each injustice swiftly remedied. Jesus said, “By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:19). The Message translation renders this: “Staying with it - that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.” In the final analysis, being wounded or suffering loss is not the issue – Paul said he “suffered the loss of all things.” The real issue is that we “may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

Let me also say, I know people whom the Lord simply touched and healed. Yes, often the Lord will simply remedy the offending situation itself, thus bringing healing. Let us make room for the vastness of God’s grace. Indeed, Hebrews 2:18 reveals that since Christ “Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” For no other reason except that He loves us, He will “come to the aid of those” who are embattled. Let us always make room for such grace.

At the same time, I have also recognized that God’s highest goal for me is my conformity to Christ. (See Rom. 8:28-29). God heals me so He can conform me to Christ, and sometimes He reverses that process: He conforms me to Christ so He can heal me. In other words, my deliverance came as I appropriated Christ’s love and learned to entrust myself to God even when I was wounded by injustice.

Consider this issue of trusting God. Peter tells us, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;” (1 Pet. 2:21-23).

Sometimes my healing from wounding and possible bitterness came, not because restitution was made to me by the person who hurt me, but because I learned to entrust myself to God who judges righteously. To trust that God will vindicate me in His time and in His way is a sign of spiritual maturity. It’s really the only way we can avoid responding to reviling with reviling and allowing a wound to fester into bitterness.

There are other times when a lingering conflict would become an oppression upon my soul. Again, as an antidote to becoming bitter, Jesus taught, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad (Luke adds, “and leap for joy”), for your reward in heaven is great” (Matt. 5:11-12).

The Waters of Marah
Christ is not our “Savior” in merely a distant or theological sense; He is Immanuel, “God with us.” He dwells within us; He is committed to us. He is fully capable of transforming what was meant to destroy us and using it as a means to perfect us. We must believe that God is fully able to redeem all we go through. If we harbor unbelief about either the Father’s goodness or His abilities, our difficulties will reduce us to bitter, angry people.

Consider also, if Satan is set on destroying us, it must be because God has something powerful waiting for us in the future. The devil does not waste his time attacking insignificant people; he attacks those he fears will be used by God to liberate others. If Satan can set up an attack that causes you to become bitter, your destiny will be sidetracked until that root of bitterness is plucked from your soul.

How is it that bitterness can exist in us? Bitterness is a demonic manipulation of a wound or injustice we suffer in our soul. Jesus, however, said that the only way to save our souls is to lose them to Him (John 12:25). Beloved, I am telling you how I have passed through some of the most difficult battles I faced: I carried the cross.

I believe that my steps are ordered of God. Therefore, if I have faced an injustice, He must have either allowed it or ordered it. In His great omniscience, He knew I would need more love or faith or dependency upon Him, so He arranged my steps so He could work in me His overcoming nature. My battles are not about me and someone else, or even me coming against the devil; ultimately, in every conflict, God is seeking to create Christlikeness in me. As the character, authority and love of Christ become functional in my life, my enemies are subdued and Christ is triumphant through me.

We must, therefore, get over the idea that there is a painless place of existence on earth, and we must learn how to carry the cross of Christ. The cross puts to death our unbelieving, fearful, selfish nature and allows the character of Christ to emerge in our spirits. The cross is the cost we pay so that redemption prevails.

There is a story in Exodus that figuratively reveals the power of the cross. The Israelites went three days without fresh water. When they finally found water,“they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah” (Ex. 15:22-23). Marah, you’ll recall, means bitterness. They finally found water, but they could not drink it. The Lord, however, showed Moses “a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet” (Ex. 15:25).

What Moses did was prophetic. The tree that was applied symbolically to the bitter water was a picture of the cross of Christ when it’s applied to our bitter experiences: it turns the bitter to sweet. I know in the many times the enemy has used people to wound or strike me, as I applied the cross to my life – forgiving, blessing and letting love be perfected – the outcome has always been a greater manifestation of Christ in my life.

This is exactly how Paul handled adversity and injustice. Listen to what he wrote, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:7-11).

Dear one, is this not what you desire most: the life of Jesus Himself manifested in your mortal flesh? Satan has been manipulating your old nature, seeking to work bitterness into your life. The way the Lord has redeemed me from every battle I have faced has been to use that battle to crucify my old nature and release a greater unveiling of Christ in me. This is New Testament Christianity in its greatest glory.

Lord Jesus, forgive me for trying to save my life. I purpose to trust You, to allow love to be perfected within me, to not seek justice, but mercy for myself and others. Help me, Lord. Reveal Your Spirit’s power within me. Even now, uproot every bitter plant in my soul. Let my words be full of grace and truth, not bitterness and evil. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Many have wronged me these last few weeks. I have seen rank hypocrisy and a rejection of God's truth on a greater scale than I have ever witnessed. But honestly, am "I" any better? We have ALL fallen short of God's standards. Yet in our very act of worship, we can become the most reviled in God's eyes. "I thank you God that I am not like that tax collector over there." See Luke 18:9-14. How quickly one who is striving to be close to God, apparently doing the right thing, can show just how much they fail to grasp the Gospel. In an instant, a man who has rejected God all his life can become at once, right with his Creator. Tragically, the reverse, can happen just as fast. We are fallen, we are broken, and we carry that brokenness around with us like dog poo stuck in the grooves of the soles of our shoes. We don't see it, but if we step out of the draft of God's Spirit, we will sure know it's there, as will everyone else.

Today I find myself in a position where I have been wronged, and am being wronged, with such severity, and by people who are NOT outside of our great family of believers, that it is hard to reconcile their deeds, no, it is impossible to reconcile their deeds with what I know, they know, of God and His truth. Yet I keep asking myself, "am I really any different?" How many times have I purposefully gone against God's Word. How many times have I broken God's law. How many times have I told God He has me, when I know He really doesn't. How many times have I said I would follow, when I know I really won't?

For instance. I have never been pulled over for speeding in all my life. Is that because I don't ever speed, or because I am intensely more observant than most people, and spot the radar setup long before it spots me? We just love to hide behind our "successes", our goodness, our "?holiness?". Don't we.

My friend's grandmother is a probation officer. I was at a court the other day, there was man who's case was being heard. He had broken his bond payments, the judge showed no mercy, he was handcuffed and led away. It was actually a really sad thing to watch. I don't know what he had done, they never mentioned that, but the thought came to my mind, how long would we spend in jail if all the laws we had broken, we were actually caught for. My friend's grandmother says the same thing. That we'd all be in jail, except for the fact that most of us just never get caught. But there is the lie of the enemy, because we do get caught. We ARE caught. And one day every single one of us will stand before a judge and have to answer for all the laws of God we have broken. This is why we need to stop judging, and start forgiving. To stop our condemnation, and offer reconciliation. To turn our arrogance into love. Not a single one of us is blameless, and the moment we think we are, is the very moment we no longer are.

There are those around who seem to have it altogether. The truth always exposes us though. One way or another we MUST admit our own brokenness, our own weakness, our own need for deliverance at the foot of a blood stained cross. Each one of us has missed the mark, fallen short of God's standards. We must stop blaming each other for the faults of this fallen cursed world and realize the true enemy of our souls. Because when we apportion blame and become set on revenge and the downfall of another, we simply set a snare that will ultimately trap not just another child of God, but our own selves.

So I offer my apologies. I'm sorry that I let you all down. I'm sorry I miss the mark. I'm sorry that I have not lived up to the required standard. In my defense, I have little to offer. I simply ask for your forgiveness and your prayers that God would not abandon me, but continue to mold me into the man He wants and needs me to be. God knows I did not cause this pain on purpose, I pray you will know this.

And so to you all, I extend forgiveness. For all the ways you have contributed to ripping me to pieces publicly and privately, and sometimes even with a grin on your face, I forgive you. For the gossip and the slander, I forgive you. For the lies and false accusations and twisting of half-truths, I forgive you. For using my public confessions against me, I forgive you. I love you, and I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. I pray for your well-being, your shalom. I really really do.

I have had a few people write me the most condemning, hate-filled slanderous crap imaginable (all in love of course), and I'm pretty confident this post itself will earn me a few more, because some just can't reconcile my words here with their belief of who I really am. But if you don't believe what I write here in full public view, on permanent record, that's ok, I'm not writing it to convince you of anything, but do know that I love you too, and I forgive you too. I forgive you to release you and me from the bondage of unforgiveness, by releasing you from your wrongs against me.

I...
forgive...
you...


May you find the grace to do likewise. In the deepest part of your soul, may you hear the echo of Calvary, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Let us remember His Grace, His mercy, His forgiveness and unconditional love for us, and do likewise to the people that slam nails into our own wrists.

Shalom be with you.

Can we rest in the boat in the midst of a storm?

It's a question that came to mind yesterday. Picture this. Here is Jesus in a large boat with a dozen or more others, crossing a usually placid lake. Suddenly a freakish storm rises up. The boat is rocking, some are throwing up from the motion sickness, and fear grips the heart. The immediate response is that we need rescuing. In this familiar Bible story, we see Jesus did rescue them, but not in the way they might have expected. We don't see a large cruise liner pulling alongside to take them to a safer place. Instead we see Jesus calming the storm, and ironically even then says that they lacked faith. What were they supposed to do? Ride out the storm? Confront their fears and press on regardless?

It seems so contradictory to the messages we hear in so many Churches each Sunday doesn't it. We usually hear of how blissful life is as a Christian. The reality is, life is full of storms. But Jesus wants us to ride out the storm. He see things from an eternal perspective. So while we freak out, He, rests? It seems incredulous, but it's true, and we can have that same rest in the midst of any storm, we just need to have what Jesus said those disciples in the boat lacked. Faith.

Jesus is teaching me to find rest in the boat. Jesus is teaching me to have faith. The waves are terrible, the lighting is striking way too close for comfort, the thunder shakes me. The boat isn't even on a fixed heading, it's just bobbing back and forth, round and around. But I have faith in what God has spoken. We can cry out that we're all going to die in this storm, or we can follow the leading of Jesus, in faith, and find rest in the midst of the darkest storm, let the storm pan out, and come to the other side in one peace (no typo), and fully rested.

Let our confidence be in Him, He can both calm the storm if we ask, or take us safely to the other side of any sized storm.


Jesus’ disciples went with him as he left in a boat. Suddenly, a severe storm came across the sea. The waves were covering the boat. Yet, Jesus was sleeping. So they woke him up, saying, “Lord! Save us! We’re going to die!” Jesus said to them, “Why do you cowards have so little faith?” Then he got up, gave an order to the wind and the sea, and the sea became very calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” Matthew 8:23-27

The power of our words.

This is another post in what will likely become a series on my own sin and struggles in life, and not just past stuff, but present day. As I said in my previous post, it is important that we are broken and open with each other. Events have transpired in my life recently that require me to be born again, again. And again. And again.

Something I am learning a devastating lesson on right now, is the power of our words. Our words reflect WHO we are and HOW we are. A word of praise spoken at the right moment, can lift a person from the ordinary, making them come alive inside. A word of condemnation can cripple a person's soul and bring them death. It seems I have a habit of doing the latter too often. The scriptures speak clearly in the book of James of such a person as I am. "If a person thinks he is religious but can't control his tongue, he is fooling himself. That person religion is useless." James 1:26. James goes on a lot about the power of the tongue and destructiveness of our speech. In James 3:5-6 he says, "A large forrest can be set on fire by a little flame. The tongue is that kind of flame. It is a world of evil among the parts of our bodies, and it completely contaminates our bodies. The tongue sets our lives on fire, and is itself set on fire from hell." Wow. Those scriptures have new meaning to me today, because I have seen first hand in my own life how right James is. Jesus also talks about this. In Matthew 15, He reveals the source of our words as being our very heart. He goes on to say that our words actually defile us and make us unclean.

From my reading of the scripture, it is not merely a persons choice of words that must change if he speaks evil, for it clear that the cause is a much deeper one. This is an issue of the rottenness of a man's heart. That's a deep place. I think my own heart is one that needs surgery, a surgery only the Spirit of God can perform. And I need your prayers and support.

Now I know some of you reading this might be thinking that I am saying this to stir others and I am saying "I" need this surgery because that's how a preacher identifies with his audience. Actually, I really do mean "my" heart requires surgery. This is my issue, my real, real life, issue.

It is easy to get so caught up in "ministry", that we neglect the very most important things. Like the very condition of our own hearts before God. Now, we may think for a time that our heart is ok before God, that we Love Him, we worship, we even take the Sunday school at our local fellowship, we might even have one of the largest Christian podcast ministries on the planet, but what if at the core of your hear lies something so foul, so depraved, so cold, so dead, that it hides itself from all your searching, waiting for the choicest moment it can find in order to do the most possible damage. A tragedy waiting to happen. That's me folks. That's me! I have seen this first hand. For now that it's revealed, it can no longer hide, either from my own attention, nor from those around me that have also been burnt by my tongues flame.

But maybe you have been in a similar situation before. Maybe you would like to share a bit about your story using the "comments" link below. Perhaps you have been living with these same issues and you know you're causing someone pain and you have no idea what to do. You can post here anonymously, so why not share with us. Brokenness and openness are the way of the Wounded Healer. The comments are moderated, so this is a safe place. Let's confess our sins to each other, as I am to you.

Brokenness, openness, brings healing

Brokenness. It's been a recurring theme lately, and something I am obviously experiencing first hand right now. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom. The Kingdom though is not just a place, some future event, but something that we can live and walk in right now. In Matthew 3:2, John the baptiser tells the crowds that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus continually repeated those words, see Matthew 4:17, 9:35. If you do a word search for the use of the word Kingdom in the Bible, you'll see Jesus talks about the Kingdom a lot. Some say Jesus talked about hell more than the kingdom. I am sure you've heard someone make such a claim. Actually, according to my Bible software, it 321 references to 13. The Kingdom is what Jesus came to bring us. What does that Kingdom look like?

To answer that question would take a lot more than the few minutes I plan to spend on this blog, so as is likely obvious from the title, I want to just share my heart about being broken, and about being open.

The kingdom of this world teaches us to react a certain way. Revenge is a primary philosophy of the world. We are taught that if someone does something wrong, we need to make them pay. When someone wrongs you, our natural inclination is payback. When I was recently wronged in a big way, it was almost impossible not to think of how I could reverse that wrong by getting back at the people responsible. I could write something nasty. I could make threats. I could... anything to try and make the other person feel the same pain as you. The desire to retaliate is so strong that for a time, it had me in it's grasp. I've been experiencing it these last 2 days like crazy. It's a cycle that the Kingdom that Jesus brings us, breaks. Jesus shows us a better way, His way, the way of the Kingdom. His way is the way of brokenness. A total surrender of the emotions and desires to His. Oh boy, it's a lot harder to do than it is to write, but once we do, we start to see the beauty of the Kingdom blossom. The heart that was once angry, bitter, resentful, starts finding peace, stillness, and rest in the very midst of a trial. We find shalom. (Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, not some cute zen hippies and crystals thing.) Shalom means more than our English word for peace though, it means being right with God in everything. Shalom is the goal. Shalom is what we discover when we seek first the Kingdom. See Matthew 6.

A heart that is broken, or perhaps another word would be humble or even contrite, is a heart that isn't afraid of openness. Brokenness has no secrets. Brokenness doesn't put up a facade. It lets people in to see what you have. It reaches out to others in pain and allows all our barriers to come collapsing down so that healing can flow. When people find brokenness and openness together, healing is unleashed like a torrent. Suddenly we are set free from putting on the happy-joy-luck-club smile on Sunday morning. When our friends ask us how we are doing, we find the freedom to answer that we're not doing so well. We reach out for help and we find others who have suffered like we now are. We discover that we're really not that different from our friends and together, in brokenness and openness, we have the courage to walk through anything, no matter what the enemy throws at us. Matthew 18:3-4.

Jesus will help you remove the walls you've built and allow you to shine. Maybe you've got a grudge against a friend. Will your friendship dissolve or improve if you ask them to forgive you?There's the way of this world, and then there's His way. Often it's not easy to travel His way, and He warned us that it wouldn't be, but the reward is healing for our hurts, forgiveness of our wrongs, and redemption of our dreams.

May you find His way, the way of life, the way of Shalom, the way of the Kingdom of God brought near to us by his grace, and may you find that the Kingdom of God is as close as you want it to be. Luke 17:20-21.

Shalom.