I have begun reading Tommy Tenney's latest book
"The Ultimate Comeback: How to Turn a Bad Night into a Good Day".
I am being thoroughly blessed by the Word and thoughts he shares in this book.
The central theme of his third chapter "I feel Stripped, Bare and Dry: Is there a way back?" is that the genesis of being restored starts in God's presence.
In this chapter he also makes some interesting comments about invoking the name of Jesus, worship, prayer and even a quip about standards. Considering his heritage
and some of the discussions we've had here lately I thought I'd share some excerpts and quotes from this chapter.
Lastly, please do not mistake these excerpts to be the basis or tenor of the book ... it would be unfair to mischaracterize a book that is mainly written to encourage the believer by showing us how to comeback from life's curveballs and failures ...
they are simply quotes I selected to share from a portion of one chapter.
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Page 32,33
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"When all seems lost, find yourself in the presence of God.
The genesis of your restoration is an encounter with the presence of God. The maintenance of your restoration is
connected to continued exposure to the presence of God"
Avoid Rigid Man-made Ritual and Mechanical Mantras
"Let me warn you that our discussion about God's presence is more than mere words or rigid man-made ritual. Don't
expect to lean on some mechanical mantra of deeper Christian experience, thinking in it you will find the secret
of God. People have made this mistake for untold generations. It is not about and equation or fleshly formula- it's about relationship.
In the apostle Paul's day,people who should have known better mistook the act of "invoking the name of Jesus" for the
reality of KNOWING JESUS. They had no relationship with Jesus.
Seven sons of one Israel's highest ranking leaders fancied themselves to being the ancient "ghost busters" and demon
exorcists.
Quote:
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We[a] exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered[b] them, and prevailed against them,[c] so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. Acts 19:13-17 NKJV
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The name of Jesus isn't some magical equation- there is a presence attached to it. You cannot disconnect the Lord's presence from His name and expect that name to retain restorative powers. It is powerless to invoke the name of Jesus to do the will of man."
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