Joel Revalee, ministry blog

There are specific passages in The Word of God that I, a full-time preacher, still wrestle with. I don't believe this is bad. It reveals The Bible has even more to teach me in the years to come. Problem scriptures are, in my opinion, not problematic : they represent future launch points of deeper understanding in His Word.  However, there are certain places in Holy Writ that bother me, and I'm not talking about scriptures I don't understand. Quite the opposite. I understand them, and they shake me to my core. One verse particularly continues for me to be a source of what The Elders would call, "The Fear of God" . That verse is the subject of this post. My biggest fear A few years ago I was reading through Judges chapter 16. The passage is discussing the fall of Samson - his sin, loss of strength, and ultimately his death. In the midst of this story, a terrifying statement is made: "... And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. ...

The hairy scary issue that faces you today has a solution. There is a definitive answer to the most frustrating circumstance you're dealing with. The difficult decision you have to make indeed has a correct choice. I assure you of these. The question is thus HOW to arrive at the right choice. What avenue do I take to arrive there? Which DOOR is the ONE for me to walk through? We've all pondered this. Today I wish to discuss a possible way in which God may help us to ARRIVE at the proper place. Searching for the answer Let us not take the low-hanging-fruit of "just wait" or "pray about it": we've been praying about THAT issue for a while, and waiting is something we do accept - this is not the root of the matter.  What must be done? Proverbially, our culture calls this: "Looking for the NEEDLE in the HAYSTACK" . Such a task appears tedious at best and insurmountable at worst. TO locate the tiniest of objects inside the intractab...

A Doctor fired for botching a surgery. A nurse losing her job for injecting the wrong dosage into a patient. A Pharmacist let go for prescribing the wrong medication. A hospital sued for wrongful death of a patient in the operating room. All of these are examples of what is termed "medical malpractice". While most of us are familiar with this concept in the healthcare industry, I feel there is an analogous phenomenon in the Church: improper conduct perpetrated by those who work in lifelong ministry. Though it is a controversial subject, I would like to broach it in today's blog post. "Oops!" Medical mis-steps have serious consequences. Wrong medications can cause dramatic side effects, even death. Unnecessary surgery could result in damage to healthy body parts. Even a simple procedure like a routine checkup begins with a series of questions in order to identify the most drastic cases and appropriately address them. So I ask, are there occ...