Author: Scott McClelland

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The Crown of Thorns

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While at IHOP Kansas City I was able to join a session in the prayer room. It seemed fairly normal, but the Lord used the time and context to reveal something to me.  The revelation is about suffering and adversity. It came through the presence of the crown of thorns on the communion table I was standing near.

In my mind I could see the thorns as not only entanglements and resistance,  as one would equate with vines, yes these things, but more. The thorns represent resistance & entanglements with the addition of pain and suffering.  If you have ever traversed a briar patch, you know there is a constant evaluation of cost to benefit going through your mind. Thorns are a cost to the one who will not be stopped that is punctuated with every advancing step. Continue reading “The Crown of Thorns”

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Motivation

In the gospel of John, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you…..”.  In some of the older translations, this is worded, “You seek me because….”.

Food in the belly is a powerful motivator, and fear of no food in the belly is also.

Jesus was, here, it seems to me, trying to help this group purify their motivation.  It is good to be near Jesus, no matter the motivation, but if we are taking our cues from our lower nature, how are we to access the higher things that the Lord wants to give to us?

Here He is saying, you are following me around because I took care of your hunger for natural food.  If you read on, you can see that He illuminates a better way to go about this.  He says, spend your energies for seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you.  He is showing them (and us) that we can become too naturally focused and get (even) our motivation to seek the Lord from carnal motivators.  But if we do this, we are going to miss the GREAT opportunity that is present in this setting – eternal life. Continue reading “Motivation”

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This World Is Not Our Home

For the last few years I have used Mondays to fast and pray.  I try to set aside the first part of the day to focus on the Lord, perhaps reading the word, or praying specifically about something that is going on.  Some weeks I have done well to stick closely to my plan, and other weeks I have had to miss it all together due to a travel schedule, something that has come up, or sometimes for a pure lack of discipline.  Overall it has been pretty consistent though.

There are a lot of things that fasting does for us, but most of my early experiences with fasting were unsuccessful, and certainly unenlightened!  A little understanding goes a long way when it comes to things like this, things of a spiritual nature that go against what the body is used to or finds pleasure in. Continue reading “This World Is Not Our Home”

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Things to consider

I am reading the book Bonhoeffer; Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.  Click on the photo to see it on Amazon.  Kathy bought it for me for my birthday.  She is sweet.  It seems at this point to be thorough, and I am sure it will take a while to get through it's 542 pages. It makes me think, already, while only 42 pages in, of those who have gone before us. Continue reading “Things to consider”