Category Archives: Opinions
The beauty of being broken before God
Have you ever wondered if God is listening to you? One of His many divine attributes is that He is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere at the same time.
His presence constantly permeates the atmosphere, whether it be on earth, in heaven or throughout the universe. This is how He knows everything that happens and every word that is said. He knows every tree that falls in the forest and every thought that has ever been imagined,
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as well as the motives and intentions of every heart.
I enjoy taking walks so that I can have the privacy to talk to Him. It gives me comfort and peace to know He is there, even though I do not hear Him reply in a literal voice. Like you, I’ve discovered that it’s easy to share with Him, but difficult to hear and comprehend what He is saying. Sometimes I will just stop talking and listen for Him in the quiet.
As Psalm 46:10 talks about being still and knowing that He is God, we are encouraged to stop allowing stress to make us afraid, and to learn how to rest in His presence. A key to developing a strong personal relationship with God is to have a holy reverence for who He is and this begins with being broken before Him.
Since Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” we know that hearing always precedes obedience. Faith can arise when instructions are revealed, however, if we are without the desire to understand, we are without a vision to accomplish His will.
We can obtain libraries of knowledge, but the gift from heaven that changes lives is the passion to hear God’s voice. The next step is deciding just how much of our will we are going to surrender. During the Welsh Revival of the early 1900s, a song that was heard frequently by those who were seeking a closer walk with God was, “Bend me lower, lower, down at the feet of Jesus.”
Yes, spiritual awakenings can become a widespread excitement, but the emphasis is on the individual entering into the holy of holies with God on their own. This spiritual metamorphosis happens through a personal conviction of the Holy Spirit who opens the eyes of the conscience and understand what it means to be saved by grace and become a servant to Christ as Lord and King.
The greatest need in Christendom today is not necessarily more religious seminars, programs, or conferences. It is for men and women to be broken before God and to realize their great need to be focused on His constant presence. Once broken, we will be empowered with divine supernatural energy, wisdom, and the anointing from heaven will be overwhelmingly evident.
The fragrance from Mary’s alabaster box could not be released until it was broken. To accomplish His desires, we will need to allow the Lord to break us so the inner fragrance of His presence can be released. It is then we will have revival in our souls and be able to relay and express His compassion to others.
I heard a story years ago from a minister who said one morning he climbed a mountain and was sitting on a boulder contemplating the majesty of God, when nature revealed a profound message about the Christian life. He noticed something very interesting about the grass with fresh dew on it. The blades that stood tall and extended to the sky had no droplets of refreshing water, but the blades that were bent to the ground had several droplets on them.
The bent grass reminds us that seasons of spiritual refreshing often come when we bow before Him in a state of gratitude and humility. It’s the attitude of descending that enables us to experience the reality of His majesty.
Psalm 51 is one of my favorite chapters, and verses 16-17 declare, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
The life that stands tall and arrogant is not in the spiritual position to bask in the presence of His glorious presence. When the dew drops of heaven fall upon the heart that is calloused and distant, they roll off leaving that soul to remain dry and discontent.
William F. Holland Jr. is a minister, chaplain, psalmist and author. As a freelance faith writer, his books and newspaper and magazine articles are enjoyed around the world. Dr. Holland’s weekly column, “Living On Purpose” is focused on bringing spiritual hope and encouragement through God’s Word. Read more about the Christian life at billyhollandministries.com.
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Weathering the storm, today and tomorrow
Until a couple of weeks ago, the biggest claim to fame for the city of Fort Myers, Fla., was that Thomas Edison and Henry Ford spent their winters there, brainstorming about ways to make a better world.
Actually, the only reason I know that bit of history is because of another important personage who lives in the same neighborhood where those two luminaries had their winter homes — my brother.
I should say “lived” instead of “lives” there, because his house is probably pretty much ruined by
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Courier Letters to the Editor 10-12-22
A response on book bans
Dear Editor,
I want to respond to the recent article titled, “‘Disturbing trend’: Local Dem leader, author react to book ban.”
This article centered around the Pickens County School Board’s 7-0 decision to remove the book “Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism and You”
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If race is obsolete, why is there still racial prejudice?
The idea that we human beings belong to different races is an anachronistic remnant of history; a history of conquest, exploitation, colonization and injustice.
Thinking that humanity is divided into different races is outdated and contrary to what we know to be the fundamental reality of who we are as human beings. Given our current knowledge derived from computational genetics, we know that at the most fundamental level, all humanity
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A final resting place, at last
Two years, seven months and six days.
That’s how long it was between the time my dad passed from this life and when his cremated remains were interred at Woodland Cemetery, on the campus of Clemson University.
Two complications accounted for most of the lag time.
One was the COVID-19 pandemic.
The other was the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves scattered throughout the cemetery, some of which
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Resiliency in facing life’s challenges
I was having a conversation with a good friend the other day, and he was telling me how life is becoming more difficult now that he is in his 80s.
When he was young he loved to jog and walk a couple of miles a day, and now he can hardly make it to the kitchen. I’m about 20 years younger, but I can definitely relate to my body and mind going through some changes.
I’ve always heard the lack of activity does not do us any favors, as it seems the less we do, the less we can do. My mother is 84, and she stays active by going to church, shopping, eating out and walking around Walmart. It’s
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Storing food when there’s no space
During the past two years when I stocked up on grocery staples, I ended up with canned foods and dry goods stored in three different places around the house.
I’d have to check all three places to be sure I grabbed the green beans with the nearest expiration date. Pasta was the same. Worse was when I discovered that I 
wasn’t having spaghetti for dinner after all because I’d used the last of the pasta and only thought I had one
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VA to tackle care for long COVID
The Department of Veterans Affairs has just published “Whole Health System Approach to Long COVID,” a holistic guidebook for the treatment of veterans suffering with long COVID. It’s estimated that 2 percent of the U.S. population will develop long COVID, which equates to 24,000 to 42,000 veterans.
The VA was the first to realize that recovering from COVID didn’t mean it was gone, that a long version was emerging, bringing with it extended illnesses. They opened 20 long COVID programs and dug into research where they looked at those who still had vascular and heart disease a year
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Will the Fed’s plan work or leave us fed up?
Well, according to the newspapers, the Fed went ahead and did it: They raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percent.
What does that mean to you? Hundreds, or probably thousands of dollars down the drain if you’re carrying some credit card debt or have a variable rate mortgage, or if you need to buy a house or get a car loan.
The noble motive behind the Fed’s move — which to me seems to benefit the bankers very nicely and hurt everybody else — was to bring inflation under control.
Inflating the cost of borrowing money is supposedly good because it will cause unemployment to go up (real people to
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
We live in the greatest nation ever. One thing I love is we have the freedom of speech.
Your paper is one of the few whose readers haven’t contributed some biased, narrow-minded rants. It’s good to see a paper whose contributors know how to properly present their opinion or opinions in an adult manner, not acting like angst-filled children.
People who write their opinion sometimes rant and rave over their subject. Use name calling for whatever they’re against. So childish it’s unbelievable! It’s as if
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