Main Blog – Spring in the Desert Ministries

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days – Luke 4 and 5 – Transforming Your Wilderness Into Your Sanctuary

By LindaGorham on March 15, 2016 / Main Blog

Tags: 40-day, abiding, agents, bread, challenge, commune, communication, desert, devil, God's word, gospels, Jesus, lent, Luke, mark, matthew, obedience, power, prayer, retreat, sanctuary, Satan, spiritual survival, testing, transformation, trials, victory, wild, wilderness

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days – Luke 4 and 5 – Transforming Your Wilderness Into Your Sanctuary

Luke 4:1 (New English Translation) Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he endured temptations from the devil. Luke 5:16 (New English Translation) Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed. I love those God-filled revelations that grab me when I read the scriptures. I had one of those recently when I read Luke’s gospel, chapters 4 and 5. Like most readers who are familiar with the gospel writings, I was aware that the Judean wilderness was the place where, […]

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 4 (Mark 8-9) – Learning Compassion

By LindaGorham on March 4, 2016 / Main Blog

Tags: 40 days, compassion, disciples, feeding, gospels, hunger, Jesus, lent, mark, miracles, prison ministry, resources

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 4 (Mark 8-9) – Learning Compassion

“In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.’ His disciples answered him, ‘Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They replied, ‘Seven.’ Then he directed the crowd […]

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 3 (Mark 6-7) – Examining My Heart

By LindaGorham on February 27, 2016 / Main Blog

Tags: 40-day, authority, challenge, deity, disciples, feeding, gospels, hard-hearted, heart, Jesus, lent, mark, miracle, pharaoh, serve, spiritual blindness, storm, walking on water

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 3 (Mark 6-7) – Examining My Heart

“When they saw him walking on the water they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them: ‘Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.’ Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished, because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:49-52 (NET) Mark’s explanation about WHY the disciples were “completely astonished” by this awesome display of Jesus’ power is disturbing to me. He states that the disciples’ “hearts were […]

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 2 (Mark 3-5) – Persevering Under Pressure

By LindaGorham on February 17, 2016 / Main Blog

Tags: 40-day, demands, disciples, garment, gospel, gospels, hem, Jesus, lent, ministry, pressure, purpose, servant, service, woman

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 2 (Mark 3-5) – Persevering Under Pressure

Jesus’ ministry exposed him to constant pressure. The crowd pressed upon him in public places (3:9-10; 4:1; 5:31). People with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him for healing. When he went to his home, the crowd pressed him so much that he was not even able to eat a meal with his family (3:20). His family pressured him for attention (3:31). The religious people pressured him to conform to their traditions of acceptable behavior (3:2; 3:22). A synagogue ruler pressed him to come immediately to heal his daughter while, at the same time, a hemorrhaging woman pressed […]

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 1 (Mark 1, 2) – Radical Discipleship

By LindaGorham on February 17, 2016 / Main Blog

Tags: 40 days, Andrew, boat, disciples, discipleship, family, follow, gospel, immediately, James, Jesus, John, John the Baptist, kingdom, lent, Peter, radical, servant, service

40-Day Challenge: 4 Gospels in 40 Days: Day 1 (Mark 1, 2) – Radical Discipleship

“As [Jesus] went along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.’ They left their nets immediately and followed him. Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their boat mending nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” Mark 1:14-20 (NET) “Jesus went out again by the sea. The […]

Loss

By LindaGorham on June 18, 2012 / Main Blog

Tags: change, death, faith, grief, Loss, meaning of life, pain, peace, reassurance, redemption, suffering

Loss is loss. Any type of loss can be devastating. I recall that on a return trip to the United States from Zambia in1996, my then ten-year-old son lost a small stuffed toy dog on our layover in Amsterdam. I was surprised at how deeply he grieved. I helped him to process his loss by having him draw a picture of his toy dog while we were on the second leg of our trip and I had him to dictate to me what to write under his picture. While on the plane, his father purchased a small teddy bear dressed […]

Interruptions

By LindaGorham on June 18, 2012 / Main Blog

Tags: change, conversion, expectations, faith, God’s will, Interruptions, pregnancy, purpose

I recall the day in 1986 when I told my twelve-year-old daughter and my ten-year-old son that I was pregnant. I will never forget the expression on their adolescent faces. Both of them looked absolutely stunned. My son eventually managed a smile and said “Cool!” My daughter, however, began to cry—no, she wept. As she wept, she wailed, “But I like things the way they are! I don’t want them to change!” Thank God that her heart was soon converted and she eagerly welcomed her new baby brother into our household. As I recall the day that I shared the […]

Archive for the Main Blog Category