Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 18:3 I got a note from my sister several weeks ago, posted to facebook, that said my nephew had prayed and asked Jesus into his heart. He’s 3. My sister figured he wouldn’t remember but later that night while praying before bed he prayed “thank you Jesus for coming into my heart, I love you God”. Several weeks before, I was visiting my brother in law who is going through some deep struggles of his own. Old Dana would have written him off. Angry and bitter, determined to let someone else’s problems be their own, I would have pulled the knowledge card. I know better, I’d never let myself get there, you deal with it. But when it all happened, as each new detail was revealed, I tried to… [Read More]
Posts Tagged ‘desire’
Through a Child’s eyes
April 21st, 2011 
Dana Fisher 
Posted in Mercy, Radical Christianity 
Tags: believer, bible, brother, change, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Community, compassion, desire, God, grace, heart, heaven, Jesus, joy, kingdom, kingdom of God, life, love, Matthew, pray, prayed, praying, radical christian, radical christianity, revenge, struggle, war, weakness 
No Comments »The Sin you Love
November 16th, 2010 Dana Fisher But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. ~James 1:14-15 The sin you hate is the sin you love. Seems a little confusing right? Sin is always enticing, otherwise why do it? Each of us struggles with different things and while one thing may stumble you, it may not weaken me. Those things which stumble us most often are those that we can easily pick out in others. They drive us crazy. It’s impossible to save someone from themselves when you haven’t looked into yourself first. Matthew 7: 3-5 tells us this plainly. Yet for me, I’m constantly in the mode to critique others without first coming before God on my knees for my own struggles and inadeqacy. If you’ve ever played any… [Read More]
Wielding your Knife
November 10th, 2010 Dana Fisher Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ~Genesis 22:10 As I made my way through customs on U.S. soil I knew the attacks would be coming swiftly. No sooner do we come down off the mountain with Jesus then the wave of doubt and destruction and hardships come crashing against us like the ocean hitting the sea wall. Sure enough, I set my bags in the car, sat down in the passenger seat and it began. I would be headed to Denver soon, uprooting my entire life, leaving my friends, family, and church behind. Most of my possessions would be gone and I would be traveling with only what would fit in two cars. It was not an easy decision by any means and one with which I wrestled for a very long time(and even still struggle with even after the fact). It… [Read More]
religion and evil: a random rant
October 25th, 2010 dave is religion the cause of evil and suffering in this world? this is a question i have heard answered in the affirmative by many an atheist. while i can’t say that i blame them for feeling this way in our day, historically speaking, nothing could be further from the truth. in fact, just the opposite seems to be true. throughout history, it has been the powerful and educated in society who have manipulated the misinformed and undereducated in order to co-opt their faith with the ideological and/or political pursuits of the elite (see adolf hitler). even a cursory view of the history of the christian faith will prove that what drove the violence in the first 4 centuries a.d. was that of a pursuit of political power to be attained and/or maintained. early christian history proves that those who did not render full allegiance to the powers that be were… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Community
October 22nd, 2010 Dana Fisher My roommate Dave is one of the videographers here and was able to turn an idea he had into a great short video. I feel it is one of the more powerful pieces to come from the Lausanne Congress, at least for me personally. Take a minute to watch it: When signing up for the Cape Town 2010 Congress I had an option of where to stay and how many people to stay with. There were single, double, and quadruple rooms. For anyone who knows me well I don’t do well staying with people, especially people I don’t know. I knew I was doing this for a reason and so I chose to room in a quadruple room in order to interact with as many people as possible here in Cape Town. I was extremely hesitant about doing this but the Lord is faithful to those who do what He… [Read More]
Posted in Prayers Tags: believer, Cape Town, Cape Town 2010, Christ, Christian, Christianity, christians, Community, desire, faith, faithful, heart, Lausanne, Lausanne Movement, Lord, Lord's Prayer, missions, power, sin Comments OffMisguided Hate
September 2nd, 2010 Dana Fisher On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” ~Matthew 9:12-13 Remember building sand castles on the beach when you were a kid? Big colorful pails, filled with sand and water; You’d dump them over, tap on the top and gently slide it up, hoping it didn’t crumble. I was never really good at it, only being able to build those cylinders from pails and never building anything close to some of those masterpieces you see on tv, but it was still fun to build, sculpt, and play with friends and nearby beach goers. I’d build competitively against my brother or friends, who could build the best, biggest, or coolest castle. Inevitably, as your back was turned taking a… [Read More]
Impassioned Prayer
June 13th, 2010 Dana Fisher He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. ~Psalm 147:3 Lord, I don’t understand. My heart is heavy and my eyes burn. I hear the rain falling outside my window and wonder why it’s falling on everyone. Will it stop? I’ve always known that pruning was painful and I’ve seen some light pruning over my years but nothing like this. Your shears are cutting deep and further back than I’ve ever seen. Many it seems are falling prey to the pleasures of this world. You’ve pruned and they’ve withered and fallen away. Satan has tricked us, each in our weakest point, in to believing there’s nothing better. He’s drawn on our selfishness and brought us to places where our desires are fulfilled. When will You call them back home? Will You call them back home? I’m a broken man, a man who sees no place here for his head…. [Read More]
What drives you?
April 26th, 2010 Dana Fisher Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ~Matthew 19:21 I had to take a bit of a break this past week or so after dislocated and breaking my finger in 3 places in a football game. As I got up after the play I lined up for the next play feeling a little pain in my hand. It was cold and rainy and a brisk breeze was blowing across the field. My initial thought was that my hand was just numb from the cold and wet along with hitting the hard dirt ground. Upon looking down at my hand my ring finger from the top knuckle to the tip was bent up. It looked real bad. Not enjoying the look of my finger I pushed it down and in,… [Read More]
This little light of mine
April 2nd, 2010 Dana Fisher I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ~2 Timothy 1:6 I’m sure most of you have heard the song, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Hide it under a bush, oh no! I’m gonna let it shine…” and I pose this question: Why do we always make it little?” We seem to do just enough to be Christian and just enough to conform to the world and not be labeled weirdos. In a world of black and white we live in shades of grey. Perhaps your grey is lighter than mine, but we fail to pick a side. Because of this our flame never gets any bigger. We keep it small, tend to it on Sundays and forget about it for the next 6 days. Revelation 3:15 says “I know your… [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Social Justice Tags: 2 timothy, change, Christ, Christian, desire, God, heart, Jesus, Jesus Christ, life, light, Lord, peace, pray, prayer, revelation, sin, Spirit, Vance Havner, war No Comments »old and new
March 25th, 2010 dave genesis 4:3-11: “in the course of time cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. and the LORD had regard for abel and his offering, but for cain and his offering he had no regard. so cain was very angry, and his face fell. the LORD said to cain, “why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? if you do well, will you not be accepted? and if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” cain spoke to abel his brother. and when they were in the field, cain rose up against his brother abel and killed him. then the LORD said to cain, “where is abel your brother?” de said,”i do not… [Read More]
