Theology of the Fire

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.“Daniel 3: 16-18

I am in awe of the whole story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These were real people facing certain death, but in the midst of their fiery trial listen to what their testimony is before their accuser.

#1. We do not need to defend ourselves – I could spend an hour on this thought alone, they were committing themselves into God hands because they believed God was their deliverer and not themselves. In essence in saying this they were professing before God “Into your hands I commit my spirit”…David said this in psalm 31:5, hiding caves refusing to touch the man who was trying to kill him, choosing rather to let God promote him than to take matters into his own hands and Jesus said this on the cross as the end statement of a life lived fully leaning on the Father (Luke 23:46).

#2.  God is able to deliver us. They didn’t just say this in there prayer to God, they said it to the who was ordering them to worship his gods.  That’s like declaring to the President who has ordered your execution, God is able to deliver me from the firing squad.  What faith!

But what is even more astounding to me is the next thing they said…

Why are you sleeping Lord?

Have you ever heard anyone say, “its safer to be on the water with Jesus than in the boat without him”?  But what about when you are in the boat with Jesus and a great storm comes and hits the boat, but Jesus is SLEEPING!  Well this is exactly what happened to the disciples on their way across the sea of Galilee, Mark records its in his gospel account in chapter 4:38-41.  Growing up on the water, I was forced into sailing as a kid, and I hated it, I especially hated when we had to sail in bad weather, the boat would come so close to tipping, it was cold, windy, wet, and scary!  I’d imagine that the disciples had seen some pretty bad storms in their days as fisherman, but when this storm hit they were especially terrified.  Luke, the detail savvy doctor, recorded in his account that “the boat was filling with water and they were in great danger” (Luke 8:23).  Yet however bad this storm was it only served to reveal a greater storm swarming inside the hearts of Jesus’ frightened young friends.

The disciples asked ” lord do you not care that we are perishing?” in essence its the same question we ask him when the storms in our lives rage: 

Delighting in the Fear of the Lord

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding – Psalm 111:10

I am shocked by the amount of times the fear of the Lord is mentioned in the bible in both old and new testaments, yet how little its talked of today.  The psalms and proverbs are filled with very convincing advertisements for this virtue.  It used to be that when someone described a christian they’d say he or she is “god fearing”, but today those words seem to be sadly absent from the vocabulary of modern secular culture.  Perhaps the reason why this is so is because, the virtue is sadly absent from the modern christian church in the western world?

Most of us, wrestle with the idea of fearing a loving God… and some would argue doesn’t perfect love cast out fear (1 John 4:18)? I’d say yes, perfect love casts out the fear of condemnation (if we’ve actually repented) but the perfect love of God does not cast out the fear of God.

Jesus himself is described as

October – Video Newsletter – Part 1

Heres my first attempt at a video version of my monthly newsletter, I hope you enjoy it I filmed it on my laptop, I hope to get some better footage once Aaron figures out if his camcorder still works.    Blessings! – Colin

Tips for viewing – I recommend pausing it first to let it load then watching it.  Enjoy…part 2 soon to come!

Colin’s song “I get everything I need” click here

Proof I went to Texas – Video Slideshow!

Here it is guys, check out my video newsletter too if you haven’t yet

much love!

Celebrating Ten Years of 24/7 Worship and Prayer in Kansas City

This weekend we are celebrating the Ten Year anniversary of Night and Day prayer in Kansas City, as part of the weekend Mike Bickle is sharing many of the prophetic words God gave about a future movement of young people who would operate in intercession and power evangelism.  Here at the ten year mark we’ve seen God establish a house of prayer in Kansas City, far beyond what anyone could have imagined back in 1983 when God began to download the vision for night and day prayer…but as we gather to hear the stories we long for what God is yet to do in Kansas and around the world, in the release of His power through his Church. Check out some videos from the weekend click here.

September Newsletter Devotional

Weak Flesh, Willing Spirit.
In the garden of Gethsemane the night before Jesus died, Jesus knowing that he was about to be betrayed asked his three closest friends to pray with him.  But every time he looked up from his prayers they were sleeping.  At one point Jesus looked over at his sleepy friends and the future apostles of the church and made a strange statement to Peter, the man who’d deny he even knew Jesus just hours later that night.  “He said to Peter, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”.-Matt 26:41

Do you remember the story of Peter, the want to be hero for Jesus who cowered before a servant girl and denied three times that he knew Jesus?  When he discovered that he wasn’t as strong as he thought he was he all but gave up on following Jesus, until Jesus restored his confidence again.  Jesus showed Peter that although he was weak and stumbled in his faith, he wasn’t a failure (Luke 22:32, John 21).  Even though his love was weak, it was real and he had what it took to follow Jesus: a willing spirit.

September News and Updates

News and Updates

Texas – Ministry Trip!
I’ll be traveling to Texas with a team from IHOP.  I’ll be playing on a worship team and speaking at a Sunday morning service.  The trip is Sept 11-13th. Please pray for us

Support Raising
I am continuing to raise financial support for my time here in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer I would love for you to be a part of my support team.
If you would like to support me monthly or one time, you can do so through the “make a donation” link on right side of my blog page:

Prayer Requests
That I would grow in understanding my identity as one that God loves and one who loves God.
That I would grow in musical excellence  with humility.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Who’s devotion?

As I come back to the prayer room and am surrounded by so many intense people, I naturally start to make comparisons that leave me feeling puffed up with pride or beaten down with shame. Its week one and I can already feel that old familiar taskmaster of my soul trying to beat me into a devotion to God. Ugh.. now don’t get me wrong I want to be devoted to God, heck yeah!.. but I signed up for God not religious exercises that make me feel good about myself compared to some and bad about myself compared to others. After all, what good is being devoted if I don’t know the one I am devoted to! I want to know GOD!!!

However as I find myself wishing I was more intense yet dreading exerting the effort, I find that God keeps sneaking up on me and just telling me that He loves me. Now this, is the source of my devotion.

Back at School Year Three!

Hi friends, I am so excited to back at school and back in the prayer room. Every semester that I am able to come back here, makes me more and more in awe of just how kind God is. A week before I came back to Kansas CIty, I barely had any money for tuition but by the time I made it to Kansas City, I had my tuition paid in full for the first semester! Most of this came through people back in RI who so generously went out of there way to give me money for school! Thank You!
The other chunk of money came from a merit scholarship I was awarded from the International House of Prayer University Scholarship Fund which helped to cover almost half of this semesters tuition.

So doubtless to say I am really EXCITED!! I know that I am in the right place and that God wants me here….I am sure this year is going to be an amazing adventure… so be sure to keep checking my blog for updates.

Duke has moved back to Conneticut...and so has my roomate Ben