Pastor JD

Day 1 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8 “Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:20 Over the next 21 days I will be doing a Daniel fast and asking God to move in a powerful way in my life.  I day I will share the scripture I am meditating upon, a…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 I rang the doorbell and stood there with a tub of ice cream in my hands when she opened the door.  You could tell she had been crying, but the offering of Rocky Road made her smile.  She invited me in where her husband was sitting in the lounge chair.  He too bore the signs…

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1 Paul has special and unique relationship with Timothy.  Paul views him as his son in the ministry, and the letters Paul writes give us an insight into the mentoring relationship he has with this young pastor.  It does not seem out of place for Paul to refer to Timothy as “my child” or “my son”.  However, the word for child reflects a relationship.  It is a relationship for someone who is the responsibility of another, especially in an instructional sort of way.  Paul is leveraging that relationship to encourage Timothy to learn something.…

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 I love making to-do lists.  It is how I get done what I want to get done.  Many people are list-making people.  Children make Christmas lists for the toys they want to receive.  People make shopping lists of what to buy at the store or supermarket. Wives make honey-do lists for husbands. Maybe you have a prayer list.  However, it is usually a list we fail to develop or construct with short-sighted vision.  Who are we making our prayer list for, is it for us, or God?  What is the purpose of our prayer…

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 One of the great and godly mentors of my life was Bro. Bob Mowery, the pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville TN.  His life verse was Matthew 6:33. He put it at the bottom of his letters, in church promotional pieces, and it was featured in other documents.  He was a man who sought first the Kingdom of God above all else as a soul winner, a Biblical preacher, and a spiritual leader. As Jesus delivers His Sermon on the Mount, what He said years ago to…

I have written several blogs focused on living in the Spirit, spiritual prayer and engaging in Spiritual warfare.  A primary passage in scripture which guides us in the realm of spiritual warfare is found in Ephesians 6.  Here is what Paul writes, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore,…

I have written a blog about submission to the spiritual authority of the Holy Spirit and how that can lead to great spiritual victories.  It involved an account in the life of David.  And the men of David said to him, here is the day of which the LORD has said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’  Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  And afterwards David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  He said to his men, ‘The LORD…

I have written blogs about spiritual prayer and developing spiritual vision.  Now I want to address what I believe to be the key element to the spiritual life, spiritual submission.  Your greatest spiritual victories are tied to developing the ability to submit to spiritual authority.  The focal passage for this study features an amazing encounter between David and Saul.  “And the men of David said to him, here is the day of which the LORD has said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’  Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner…

I want to close out a study on developing spiritual sight and the role of the Spirit in setting our vision.  The focal passage has been, “So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.  A previous blog established the principles of a real unseen…

In a previous blog, I wrote about spiritual sight and the role of the Spirit in setting our vision.  The focal passage for that blog was from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, “So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.  Two…