Dirty Bible, Clean Heart

  "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ." -Job 1:20 NIV What is your most painful memory? Think about this. Have you ever found yourself in a desperate place? When you cry out, "W hy, God? Why did you allow this to happen ?" or "Why haven't you changed my circumstances?" Have you been there before? Perhaps for some readers, this is not a distant memory but a present reality! A broken marriage, a financial crisis, or the unexpected death of a loved one are all enough to throw us into our own pit of despair. None of us are exempt from pain. And pain is a topic that the Scriptures do not shy away from discussing. In fact many  (if not all )  of the Biblical "heroes" experienced long dark valleys. Jesus is the foremost example. Of whom the Bible says, " He was despised and rejected by mankind,  a man of suffering, and familiar with pain " (Isaiah 53:3) . Therefore if our Hea...

  "During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears...and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ..." -Hebrews 5:7-8 Last fall, which considering present global circumstances seems like ages ago, I remember having lunch with a friend. We were catching up and began talking about what God was doing in each of our lives. The prayer requests that we had, places God was leading us into, etc. As the conversation progressed, my friend said something to me that really caught my attention. She said, "you know I have this special type of relationship with God that basically anytime I ask Him for something He just does it for me!" As I thought about her statement, my friends words really resonated with me. Although God had not yet answered every single prayer request at that time, I did think that for the most part I pretty much received wh...