Do you take the Bible literally? Do you insist that everything be interpreted at face value? There are people of good conscience that view some things in the Bible metaphorically. Even I taught in parables. Perhaps this issue isn’t as important as you think. The most important thing is to understand and embrace the underlying transcendent truth that is the point of the story. If you miss that, what advantage is there to insist on the literal truth of it?  If you understand the story and incorporate the lesson into your life, then it isn’t as necessary to defend it as a literal account.

This month my Inbox has filled up with prophetic words for 2020. A prophetic word comes from a prophet who God has spoken through providing inspiration, and sometimes ominous, thoughts from God.  I listened to the 20 prophetic words sent to me by Sid Roth's ministry. Soon after, I received another 20 prophetic points for 2020 from James Goll’s ministry. Then every other day, I received additional prophetic words from Elijah list. All these words challenged me, but frankly, I felt a bit overwhelmed. I started to ignore them because there were just too many words, and I was uncertain about what I could do about them anyway. Then I felt stirred; I pondered what I could do. These prophetic words are all wonderful; how could I contribute to make them happen?   

Do you think of the church as an army? There are Bible verses to support this, and many more references  in hymns and other forms of Christian culture. Yet churches do not go to war in the conventional sense. So what martial aspects are appropriate for a church? Soldiers are trained to commit themselves to and sacrifice for a mission. They are trained to act as one under a unified command. In this way a small group of soldiers can dominate a larger but disorganized opponent. You don’t need a uniform or a rank to function as an army for a common mission. All you need is unity.

Could you endure a one percent loss? Most people would be able to absorb that even if they would not welcome it, but I told a story of a shepherd who had 100 sheep, one of whom was lost. He left the 99 and searched for the lost sheep until he found it, apparently no matter how long it took. Did this make sense in practical and economic terms? Most people would commit to search for a while but be prepared to call it off if it took too long. A shepherd thinking of his own interests would have to be practical, but a shepherd who loves his sheep would not quit.