Growing in Faith

Worth Waiting For

Posted on September 8, 2012 by mcalmond

I emailed this to a Pastor friend in the Okanogan.

“A few weeks ago, I was in prayer when I saw a vision of a dam at the border of the Okanogan river valley (in Washington State) and Canada. That dam was holding back the blessings and a fresh outpouring of the Lord for the Okanogan river Valley. Hear this: this dam is about to break and there will be an overcoming of the whole of the Okanogan river Valley with the power, blessing and richness of the grace and wonder of God. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!”

This day has been a long time coming, eights years to be exact. No, not the word above, but the how of this and other recent words of the Lord.

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Categories: A Simple Faith, Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Anointing, Authenticity, Awakening, Changes, Dependency, Divine Encounters, Dying to Self Will, Genuineness, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Grace, Growing in Faith, Pentecostal Theology, Prophecy, Prophetic Ministry, Spiritual Barreness, Waiting on the Lord, Word of God | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Few Thoughts About Our Pastors

Posted on August 25, 2012 by mcalmond

This is another post by my daughter Dana who has begun to write for her own blog. If you are interested, you can find it here. While this same post is on her own blog, I asked her if I could post it here also.

I read a poll a while ago that asked the readers to share whether or not they had ever been hurt by their pastor.  Of course the comments were full of stories of pastors who were reportedly abusive mean, harsh, had too high of expectations, etc. I do understand that there are a few pastors who should be in a different profession rather than ministry and sometimes people genuinely do get hurt.  But I have always been protective of pastors because I have seen the other side.  I have seen pastor’s being hurt, attacked, criticized, lied about, etc.  I believe that you should err on the side of caution when it comes to criticizing a pastor and jumping on the “bad pastor” bandwagon.  In my experience, there is always more to the story.

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Categories: Being a PK, Believer, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Character, Church, Churches, Discipleship, Finding the Right Church, Following Through, God's Faithfulness, Growing in Faith, Hearing The Lord, Ministry, Ministry Motivation, Pastor, Vulnerability | Leave a comment

Getting Ready, To Begin!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by mcalmond

In so many ways I feel like I am being called back to studying like when I was first starting out in the ministry so many years ago. This is very surprising at 61 and counting. There is so very much floating around within me that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, it is quite difficult for me to sort it all out, but I love what He is doing in me right now. For weeks now there has been a very real spiritual awakening taking place within me.

Yes, it is all quite exciting, stimulating and invigorating. It is just like being awakened out of a deep sleep. I am so thirsty and hungry for more of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Holy Word, His presence, for He who is my very life and breath. I find that I want to study, pray and prayerfully read more than my eyes and time will allow me. I want to pour through so much material all at once, devouring it and by the grace of God processing it through and through, that the sheer scope of it seems ever so unrealistic, to say the least. But I am pressing on, for I deeply want to and truly know not what else to do but go with Him to His end and for His greater glory, honor and praise.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Absolute Dependency, Authenticity, Awakening, Being Built Up, Benefits, Calling, Core Values, Covering, Edification, Empowerment, Encouragement, Genuineness, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, God's Faithfulness, Grace, Growing in Faith, illumination, Obedience, Open Ears, Readiness, Timing | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

A Dam, A Loch and His Victory

Posted on February 2, 2012 by mcalmond

While ministering in beautiful Scotland, there were a couple of days wherein an American couple (Richard and Susan) and I went to the Highlands. After spending the night in a B&B, we arose to a new a beautiful new day, setting ourselves to go forth and face the day that the Lord had prepared for us. As for myself, I was excited to get on with it and wondered what awesomeness of the Lord Jesus Christ I would be blessed and privileged to partake of. Finally, after breakfast and some pictures, we were off. We headed out to find a road, we were told would, take us further up into the Highlands.

We had, had an urging that we believed to be from the Lord Jesus. We felt Him setting our agenda. So, off we went. It wasn’t long before we found the side road we were looking for and immediately began our assent further up, ever up, into the Highlands of beautiful Scotland.

This terrain was simply awesome. I was so excited to see more of this nation that I had been coming to for so long now. After a brief stop at a park like area, we discerned that we were to continue along the road we had begun. So, we no sooner got out of the car than we were back into it headed along the road and across the Highlands.

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Categories: Abiding, Angels, Anointing, Celebration, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, God Faith, Growing in Faith, His Praise, His Worship, Holy Spirit Seeing, Obedience, Open Eyes, Prayer Walks, Prophetic Revelation, Spiritual Warfare, Standing in Faith, Training, Transcendence, Victory, Waiting on the Lord, Work of God | Leave a comment

Crossing A Point of No Return

Posted on December 10, 2011 by mcalmond

How does one cross a point of no return? First of all, one would need to know that there was such a point and where that point was. I was confronted with just this reality for myself on a Saturday evening, May 5th, 2007, when I was fellowshipping with other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, while in Scotland. The Lord had spoken so clearly to me about the weeks of ministry ahead in Scotland prior to my coming and shortly after my arrival. Right after I had  arrived in this wonderful nation, the Lord Jesus revealed to me my first insight for which I was to be ready for. It was simply this: He showed me that I would come to a point, a line, in which I would have to make a decision, a decision that carried the weight of crossing over a point of no return.

I had no clear idea when, where, how or at what point this moment of decision would come across my path. All I knew was that this would in deed take place, that it was important. Therefore I needed to be ready for it. Immediately I began praying into this forth coming event in my life.

In His timing, this point of decision did come to pass. The Lord Jesus, in a way I could not have imagined, brought things together, with such clarity, power and yet such subtly, that I knew I was at His specific place, time and moment, the moment of my decision. Would I cross over, or would I choose to play it safe, staying where I already was?

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Categories: Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Angels, Anointing, Being Built Up, Boundaries, Breaking Forth, Calling, Changes, Confidence, Divine Encounters, Following Through, Genuineness, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, God's Love, Grace, Growing in Faith, New Beginnings | Leave a comment

Who’s Reflection Are We?

Posted on November 29, 2011 by mcalmond

Ecc 7:14 ESV In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

Life is full of both good and bad. Life will always, this side of eternity, be filled with good days and bad days, of good seasons and bad seasons. Good or bad, up or down, the Lord God Almighty remains in their midst. He is in the bad times as well as in the good times. It is here that we must realize that just because there are bad times, this in no way means the Lord has left us to fend for ourselves, or that we are somehow less in his eyes or even that he is always the source of these bad times.

These seasons of good and bad are to keep us in a place of dependency upon the Lord God.  We’re to always look to the Lord, even in the good times and not just in the bad times. He is to be our very breath, our very focus, our very heart and soul. He is one who loves us and remains faithful, in richer or poorer, in good times and bad, in sickness and health. The problem isn’t the faithfulness of God, for as his word tells us, he is faithful even when we are not, for he cannot deny himself, he cannot deny who he is, he cannot deny his righteous and holy character.

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Categories: Authenticity, Being Built Up, Believer, Calling, Christian Maturity, Exhortation, Following Through, Genuineness, Growing in Faith, His Chosen, Mentoring/Discipleship, Ministry Motivation, Profession, Questions, Word | 2 Comments

What Really Matters

Posted on November 13, 2011 by mcalmond

There is within the verse found in Ecclesiastes 4:8 a question that is posed. It is a question that has nagged me positively over and throughout the years; “For whom am I toiling…?” It is an important question. It is a question that helps me look beyond myself or situation and discover my genuine heart and motives in any given circumstance. I find that when this question arises in me, I must be careful to not answer it hastily or presumptuously. It is a question that the Lord Jesus is using to probe and expose what is going on inside of me, truly.

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Categories: Abiding, Absolute Dependency, Authenticity, Belief System, Breaking Forth, Calling, Christian Maturity, Dependency, Growing in Faith, Humility, Intimacy, Obedience, Pastor, Prayer, Presumptions, Priorities, Reflections | 2 Comments

The Great Falling Away

Posted on October 29, 2011 by mcalmond

The Lord Jesus Christ one day while he was teaching asked a vitally important question. This question is almost too easily overlooked because of the way that it came forth. His question arose at the end of his teaching. He was telling a parable of the importance of persevering in faith, in earnest prayer, of how we need to be those who learn the power of and value of our praying through until we have what we are seeking the Lord.  For in Spirit and Truth, He is willing, just and ready to answer our prayers. As the Lord was finished sharing his brief parable, suddenly, almost as a passing thought Jesus says, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 ESV)

Will we as believers persevere in faithful prayer, in genuine faith, while waiting for the Lord’s return? Or will we give up and walk away, throwing in the towel, turning around and no longer walking in the faith, hope and love of the Lord Jesus Christ?

We live in crucial times with rapidly accelerating darkness and sin all around us. We live in a time that all too quickly approaches, what the Word of God refers to as the time of The Rebellion, The Apostasy, The Great Falling Away.

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Categories: Anointing, Apostasy, Awakening, Being Built Up, Belief System, Believer, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Breaking Forth, Calling, Darkness, Dependency, Disobedience, Dying to Self Will, Edification, Empowerment, Encouragement, Exhortation, Faith, Fear of God, Flesh, Following Through, Genuineness, God Faith, God's Faithfulness, Grace, Growing in Faith, His Chosen, Holy Spirit, Hope, Knowledge, Last Days, Mercy, Ministry, Noise and Distractions, Now Word, Obedience, Open Ears, Open Eyes, Openness, Paradigm Shift, Persecution, Perseverance, Prayer, Presumptions, Priorities, Process, Profession, Promises, Readiness, Relationship, Rest, Righteousness, Rock, Salvation, Saving Faith, Seeking The Lord Jesus, Source, Spirit, Spirit of Truth, Spiritual Warfare, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Teacher, Teaching, Tenaciousness, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, The Lord Jesus, Victory, Vulnerability, Waiting on the Lord, Witness, Word, Word of God, Work, Worship | Leave a comment

Who’s Word Is It?

Posted on September 24, 2011 by mcalmond

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It seems that in the last 100 years or so, Bible Translators have radically changed their approach and philosophy concerning this revered and all too often under valued work, Bible Translation. We have moved from the all too common, word for word or essentially literal translation approach to Bible Translation, to what is currently referred to as the “functional equivalency (FE) or dynamic equivalency (DE)” approach. Another description for this latter approach is “thought for thought” or “meaning for meaning” translation philosophy.

In general, dynamic equivalency claims that it isn’t the original words that we need to capture in translation but the thoughts or ideas of the original writers, what they meant by what they said. It is also believed that what is needed is for the translator to recapture the impact for today’s reader that was intended by the original writer’s words, ideas, or thoughts, as they impacted their original audiences. This has only increased in scope and breadth until we have bibles such as the Message being promoted as a translation when in truth it most certainly is not.

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, Abiding, Authenticity, Awakening, Bible Translations, Bibles, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Calling, Character, Church, Church History, Churches, Commands, Communion, Confidence, Darkness, Death, Dying to Self Will, Exhortation, Fear of God, Fields of Ministry, Foundations, Genuineness, Growing in Faith, Hermeneutics, History, Holy Spirit, Homiletics, Hope, illumination, Inspiration, Intellectualism, Isolation, Light, Ministry, Obedience, Pastor, Post Modern, Presumptions, Priorities, Process, Prophetic, Question, religious idolatry, Repentance, Simplicity, Spiritual Warfare, Steadfastness, Teaching, Theology, True Love, Unrighteous Ambition, Vulnerability, Word, Word of God, Work of God | Leave a comment

Bring It On World!

Posted on September 18, 2011 by mcalmond

It wasn’t all that long ago when I was reading an article on the World Magazine web site titled “R is for Religion[1]”, written by Gene Edward Veith. He was making us aware of the very real possibility of a day sometime soon when we will find ourselves as Christians rated in the same way that sex, nudity and violence is rated, with a warning, “you are entering a strongly religious zone in which the messages are from one religion and therefore might indeed be offensive to those of other faiths or even those with no faith at all.”

Within this article the question is asked, “Why are references to Christ so offensive?” and then he goes on to explain, “In today’s climate, religion is relative. According to the conventional wisdom, no one religion is true for everyone, and all religions are equally valid. Mention of a generic “God” is acceptable, as long as He is not defined. So is invocation of other concepts common to various religions, such as prayer, spirituality, mystical experiences, and salvation by good works.

But Jesus Christ is too specific. God in the flesh is too tangible. And He says, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). That Jesus—despite His goodness and love—offends people is simply more evidence that the Bible is true. He is “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:8). That He died on the cross for our sins is especially offensive (Galatians 5:11).

So no one should be surprised when secularists react to Jesus with shock and outrage. But “blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:6).”

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Categories: A Genuine Heart Cry, A Simple Reminder, Absolute Dependency, Authenticity, Awakening, Baptist Theology, Believer, Body of Christ, Boundaries, Breaking Forth, Calling, Character, Christian Maturity, Church, Commands, Confidence, Covering, Encouragement, Following Through, Genuineness, God Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Love, Grace, Growing in Faith, His Chosen, His Gift of Love, History, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, In Spirit and In Truth, No Other Name, Noise and Distractions, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Political Correctness, Process, Profession, Promises, Prophetic, Protection, Readiness, Relationship, religious idolatry, Resurrection Life, Sacrifice, Salvation, Saving Faith, Separatism, Spirit of Truth, Standing in Faith, Steadfastness, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, The Lord Jesus, The Power of God, Transformation, Truth, Victory, Waiting on the Lord, Word of God, Work of God | Leave a comment

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