Christ Fellowship Apostolic Pentecostal Church

08/24/2026

Several years ago I heard an elder Sister's story about her son's journey back to God. He enjoyed going to Sunday School and services as a child but as he grew in age and size he also grew cold and indifferent toward God until finally, in his late teens, made the decision to walk away entirely. You can imagine the heartache this caused his mother. In fact, you may know this pain yourself because of the choices someone you love has made in regard to their relationship with God.

It was not just that the young man walked away from God, it was the fact of what he then walked into. Drinking, drugging, sleeping around - the life of the prodigal personified yet again. He developed anger toward his mother. She did not press him about his lifestyle, but she also would not condone it like he thought she should. Something as simple as, "I'm praying for you, son" would throw him into a rage. Finally, he just stopped communicating with his mother altogether.

Though she did not hear from him, she heard about him often. He picked up a criminal record. He became known around town and the region for all the wrong reasons. All the while, his mother was praying:

"Lord, please keep my boy safe and save him."

When this story was passed to me by the elder Sister, it was in the form of a testimony. She spoke of how she prayed this same simple prayer about her son every single day, multiple times a day, for years. Finally, the day came when the Lord had something to say about the prayer:

"Lord, please keep my boy safe and save him," she prayed.

Then, came an immediate response. The Spirit spoke to her in very clear words:

"I CAN SAVE HIM OR KEEP HIM SAFE, BUT I CANNOT DO BOTH!"

With those few words, the entire picture of what was happening developed in the mother's mind. Her prayers for protection for her son were being honored. But as God honored her desire for his protection, she was stopping some of the consequences required to get his attention and turn him back to God. Immediately, her prayer changed:

"Lord, WHATEVER IT TAKES, I just want to see my son saved."

Her son's life changed for the worse almost immediately. Every time the mother thought it couldn't possibly get worse, it did. For about a year, her son's life spiraled out of control. It was not, however, that his actions got worse. It was that he was not getting away with things anymore. Consequences on top of consequences started catching up with him. And while it broke his mother's heart, she did not waver in her prayer of, "Lord, whatever it takes."

Then came one average Sunday. There was nothing special about it. It wasn't Mother's Day or Easter. There wasn't a church dinner that day. No famous evangelist or guest speaker would fill the pulpit. It was just an average Sunday like any other, except that, on this Sunday, a weary and desperate young man would walk through the back doors of the church straight to an altar, falling on his face before God.

Consequences had run their course. A lost son came back to the Father's house. A mother's prayer was answered. God used consequences.

It is human nature to want to rescue someone we love, but it's spiritually inappropriate for us to act like we are someone's saviour. There are people who are never touched by God because we are too busy touching them ourselves. We're delivering them out of the hands of the consequences of their own actions in ways that not only do not help, but hinder their reconciliation with the Father. As much as it may hurt to take our hands off someone we love and let consequences take their course, doing so could be the only hope that person has of salvation.

Feed the hungry, yes. Clothe the naked, yes. Give water to the thirsty, yes. Acts of basic kindness and charity are not what we're addressing here. But we jump to those things as justification for our own overreach when our emotions begin to guide us rather than the heart of God. Maybe it's time you stopped trying to be Jesus the Saviour and start imitating Jesus the Intercessor. Your heart is in the right place, but God has got to be free to work.

Let your faith and confidence in Him drive your prayers toward "Lord, whatever it takes." God uses consequences, and He knows how to do it just the right way.

08/23/2026

08/22/2026

08/20/2026

A Church’s best defense against false prophets:

A love for the Word and holding the pulpit accountable to it.

08/20/2026

We invite you to follow Pastor Hood's new blog at Dr. Jason M. Hood / The Bruised Reed.

It was well over a decade ago when I went through what I thus far call "the trial of my life." I learned what the word "despondency" meant by first hand experience. I was serving as a foreign missionary, buried deeply in the work of God, when life hit me between the eyes in a most terrible way. I found myself alone and sinking deeper into isolation.

I was spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausted. Though I got up every day and worked as hard as I could, I did so only because it was the right thing to do and not because my heart was really in it. My heart lay bleeding on the floor. But I knew obedience to the will of God and faithfulness to His calling would sustain me in the long-run.

For months, I would spend hours on the floor with my arms wrapped around my Bible mopping the floor with my tears. I didn't sleep much. I didn't eat much. I didn't want to die, but I also wasn't all that interested in going on living. I had reached a state where I was convinced beyond dispute of my own worthlessness and inadequacy.

One night before taking up my "usual" spot on the floor, I decided to turn on the shortwave radio. A voice started speaking. It was a preacher ministering on the subject of the Apostle Thomas and how, when he presented his objection regarding the resurrected Christ, Jesus appeared to him at the point of his objection saying, in essence, "You said you had to touch me to believe. Well, I'm here. Touch me."

Jesus could have said, "Believe, but don't touch me!" But think about everything Thomas had been through up until this point. He had left everything behind like the rest of the apostles. He forsook everything and, for a period of years, followed this man named Jesus of Nazareth. All of his hopes were tied up in that man who, just a few days before, he had seen crucified and knew to be buried dead in a borrowed tomb. Thomas' reaction to the other apostles claiming Jesus was alive was a very natural one.

But Thomas' humanity did not offend Christ to the point where He was unwilling to meet Thomas at the point of his struggle. This is logical. Consider the words concerning Christ spoken in Matthew 12:20. There, in quotation of the prophecy recorded in Isaiah 24:3, the Messiah was said to not be willing to break a bruised reed (of grass) nor quench a smoking flax (lamp wick). Jesus had no desire to break that which was already bruised nor to s***f out that which was already down to only a small spark of fire. He was a healer and, with His fan in His hand, read to stir up the fire within any struggling soul.

There, laying on the floor, I heard a message reminding me that Jesus was not interested in destroying me. I was bruised, but He was not going to break me. I would survive. I would heal. He would be my healer and my saviour. I was reminded that the small spark of fire left within me demonstrated through my continued faithful obedience to God's will would not be extinguished by Christ. He would, instead, help fan that ember back into a burning fire.

I am the bruised reed. He is the healer. And I'm whole today because of a Saviour who loved me too much to leave me broken. As He did for Thomas, Jesus Christ met me at the point of my objection, offered His wounded hand and side, and pronounced a blessing upon me for believing.

It is no secret what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you ...

08/18/2026

The modern Church and the ever-changing world need the eternal Christ and His ageless Gospel!

07/30/2026

The church starts losing the battle when keeping people happy starts becoming the focus.

07/27/2026

If Churches were hospitals, how many could be charged with malpractice? Don't be that Church.

07/16/2026

All things are possible.
Only believe.

07/15/2026

Love the truth, especially when you don’t like it. It will make you free.