Friendship

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 11:19 says, “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”

     I recall one of my friends from school was George Hill, and his nickname was “Bunker.”  Hence he was known as “Bunker Hill.”  We were friends in grade school and all the way through high school and later on in life until he died a n number of years ago.  Every time I would pull into La Porte, Indiana, I would go to the car dealership where he was in charge of the parts department and spend some time talking over old times and even visiting him and his wife at their home.  He came to the funerals of both my Mom and Dad.  He was a close friend.  As life goes on you suddenly realize that you have some close friends, although few in number and a lot of not so close friends which you hope will become close friends but oftentimes don’t.  I have always enjoyed making new friends and also hate it when I lose a friend.  I recently had two people “unfriend” me on Facebook and it hurt a lot to be the truth, even on a simple thing like social media. Friendships are important.

     The above passage is interesting and challenging in that Christ was  considered to be a friend of publicans and sinners.  Of course He was.  Those are the people who need to hear the Gospel and probably the most likely to be affected by knowing the Savior.  It is so easy to become isolated in your church and Christ ian community by seminars, retreats, church meetings, fellowship dinners and such that we don’t have time for the sinners and the publicans of our day.  We might know our doctrine and the P’s and Q’s of Christianity very well and forget the message to the lost of the world.  They quite often don’t look like us, smell like us, behave like us and have the same goals that we do.  When I would go to a hospital to make a call and the room was a semi private room, I would always speak to the other person in the room and include them in my prayers.  It  was just a small thing to remind them that they were important to God also.  Your  light for  God may shine in church but it needs also to shine in the dark areas where there are no believers present such as with publicans and sinners.  We are in the world but not “of” the world.   We need to exhibit the Christian walk, or life, in the areas of darkness where there is no light present.  Praise God today for His sending His Son into the world to save sinners.

Trust

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 37:3-5 says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.  Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.   Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” 

     In whom can you trust in the present culture in which we live?

     When I go to the VA in Salem, Virginia, I usually have lunch with a friend and as my daughter pushes my wheelchair down to the “canteen” we pass by a bulletin board that has been advertising a class in “Ethics.”  I am finding  that there now needs to be classes in such a subject as the nation has done away with ethics and morals.  You can save turles, whales, puppies and trees, but you can’t allow a child to be born that isn’t wanted.  The Bible clearly states how God knew certain people even when they were in the womb.  That, obviously, is before birth but the American and indeed even the world, thinks it is okay to abort a living creation of God.  Something is amiss in the world today where the life of a sea creature is more valuable than a living child in the womb.  Same sex marriage is also another abomination that is clearly condemned in the scripture yet people today think it is right.  So, whom do you trust?  Can  you trust your own congress?  Can you trust your senators and representatives that theta re speaking for you?  Can you trust your local police officer?  When I was a child, the police and firemen were looked up to by every kid on the block.  It’s not so today.

      The above passage speaks about ultimate trust and where it should be.  The only One you can completely trust is the Lord Himself.  WE ae also to delight ourselves in the Lord and tgo Commit our ways unto Him.  If no one can supply ethics, then go back to the original source, which is God Himself.  Sometimes, the moral fiber of our people is off base such as it is now when you can read of babies being found in trash cans, sexual activity that is beyohd description, murders and violence in communities because the is no value on human life anymore.  It seems that people assume life is like a video game in which you can blow up anything you want until it says, “Game Over.’  At some point, God is going to say, “Game Over” for the world, the rapture will occur, tribulation will come and then the millennium and finally a new heaven and a new earth.  Every knee will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and judgment will take place.  Our morals and our ethics will be made known to the universe and our rewards will follow and in many cases, it will be an eternity without God.  Praise God today that you can trust Him with your life and your soul for all eternity.

Red Letter Words

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Hebrews 4:12 says, “ For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

     I have come to the conclusion that in my later years especially, I talk too much.  I have also realized that, for the most part, I don’t have too many people to speak to and as a result when the opportunity arises, I talk and talk and talk, perhaps to the dismay of others.  My daughter picks me up for the VA appointments and as we drive the half hour trip, my mouth is going continually.  I used to think it was the hydrocodone but now I think it is just not having people to speak to.  The odd thing, is that I don’t have a lot of important things to say and much of it is probably repeated quite often.

     Some people have important things to communicate through their speech such as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  You can purchase a Bible that is “red letter” version which has all of His words in red and stands out compared to the rest of the narrative.  We do regard every word that the Lord spoke as important.  We make note of what part of speech it is, what voice it is written in, who was present when it was spoken and what happened as a result of what He said.  It is all important and no stone is left unturned.  The writer of Hebrews compares the Words of God as quick, powerful and dhap.  That is quite a description and the comparison to a sword speaks volumes about the effect of the Word of God.  No words are wasted  and just a few words can often convey the meaning without having a lot of extra comments about them.  The Word of God is powerful and cannot even be compared to such as Shakespeare or ancient Greek philosophers.  The Word of God can change lives in an instant and far exceeds the works of all of the poets combined in the world.  It is also sharp and cuts going in and out at the same time being two edged.  The Word also performs heart surgery as it knows even the thoughts and intents of the heart.  The Word of God gets right down to the nitty gritty of life, so to speak and you know quite well when it speaks to you in a very personal way.  Therefore, it behooves us to spend a lot more time in God’s Word than we do.  I dare say that not one of us has reached  the full capacity of His Word and it should be of the highest priority in our lives.  Praise God today for the fact that He has spoken and every word is important.

Loneliness

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

     Loneliness can be a terrible thing.  When we arrived in Spain, we did not know the language sufficiently enough to communicate with people.  We had two Spanish people, head of the mission in Spain, who could speak English and they were our only source of companionship.  It  soon ended as the husband, Carlos, was the head of the evangelistic work in Spain and needed to get about his business, so we were left with communicating with his wife when necessary.  We were in the middle of 150,000 people, yet alone as far as outside communication.  We are now in the middle of about 55 residents, and most of those cannot carry on a good conversation for one reason or another.   Again, with the exception of a nurse or so that will take the time to talk to you, we are alone.  We talk to each other of course and I do some texting around the world and so have some interesting people I have me in London, Northern Italy , America and a few other places.  

     This is where the above passage is so important.  It is packed with theology and very practical in comfort.  After the admonition of be without covetousness in our daily walk as a believer, comes the promise of Divine companionship., if you want to call it that.  As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are assured that God will never leave us.  That means that He is always with us.  God’s presence in our lives is not only referred to here, but also in the Corinthian epistles where we are admonished to know that the Holy Spirit dwells with us and in us every moment and will, henceforth, never leave us.  Where we go and what we do is always accompanied by God Himself especially in the third person of the Trinity.  How wonderful is that.  The writer of Hebrews began this passage with the words, “Let your conversation….”  That is your Christian walk.  Because of the presence of God in our lives, our walk, our daily life, should reflect the fact that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ  This is the practical part of this passage, knowing God’s presence is continually with us in how business dealings, in our recreation, in our thought  life, in our speech and even in our direction each and every day.  You can’t put God aside in the closet when you intentionally set about to sin  and we usually know when that is going to take place.  As we go about our lives this day, may we fully realize that we are never alone as God is always, and I mean always, with us.  Praise God for His presence today.

The Church

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Acts 28:30-31 says, “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,  Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

     Our particular mission agency required us to send a letter to our supporters at least four times a year.  We would often insert a picture of the group of missionaries in that region, sort of waving to those that were supporting us by sending their money every month.  The Apostle Paul would do somewhat the same thing only not with a camera. Romans 16 is a good example as the Apostle goes through a long list of those that he wants others to know.  Most of the epistles are that way.

     It is only the book of Acts that does things differently even though it ends with some of the events that are going on in the life of Paul. The book ends abruptly with no closing.  I was reminded that it is this way because it is the  history of the church and the history is not completed yet.  The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is still being spread abroad and new churches are being  established.  Bible translation is still being done in many areas of the world as new languages are found, then written down, then taught to the people and finally the writing down of the Word of God for that group.  Several agencies are still at work in the business of primarily translating God’s Word so someone can have it in their own language.  What  is remarkable in all of this is the fact that we have the Bible and have had it for years and quite often, neglect it.  We have had it so long that we have family Bibles tha may date back well over 100 years or more.  We often also have a variety of bibles at our fingertips.  Digital devices now make it easy to have 25 or more Bibles on one device in which we can carry around in our pocket. My Bible program on this very computer has over 200 books in it including commentaries, dictionaries, Greek and Hebrew translations and a set of over 100 maps.  Possessing such a wealth of knowledge however, is not putting it into your head and into  your heart.  You have to read it, hear it, study it, meditate on it and memorize it.  Then, you need to live it out in your life.  Someday soon, the last person will be added to the church, baptized into the body of Christ as in First Corinthians 12:13, and with t hat last soul added, the final chapter of acts will be complete and the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised and we which are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.  What a day that will be when my Savior I shall see.  Praise God today for the fact that He is still building His church.

A Sinner Saved by Grace

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
    There are some things in life that tend to draw you closer to God more than others.  I have heard of what is called “foxhole religion” where when the bombs are falling all around you, there is a natural tendance to cry out to God for help.  The same thing can happen today but in the course of natural events of which we have no control.  Hurricane Agnes swept through the Washington, D.C. area and dropped a lot of rain.  Our little sump pump was doing he best it could and I was trying to bail out the water and put it into the wash top next to the washing machine. Then, a hole blew out in the wall near the drain pipe and water began rushing in.  I abandoned the bailing idea and we went up to the living room and began to get on our knees and pray.  The water was rising in the street and if necessary we could crawl out on the roof from the second floor.  We prayed that the house was the Lord’s and that His will would be done.  We just asked for safety for the family.  The rain stopped and we ended up with about two and a half feet of water in the basement, but the house was sound and safe.

     The above passage reminds me of that situation as I was not a Christian at that time, but was going to church  and thought  I was okay.  I thought I was getting my life together to please God, but it wasn’t happening.  It didn’t take place until April of 1972, the 29th, at around midnight.  I remember it well.  My life was not a complete mess, but I knew I wasn’t right with God at that time.  When salvation comes, you don’t have time to fix up your life first whether you are in a foxhole, in the middle of a flood, or a hurricane, or floating in a storm in the South Atlantic ocean.  The repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus didn’t have time to get his life in order, but was accepted as he was, a sinner saved by grace.  The above passage illuminates the fact that “while we were yet sinners”  Christ died for us.  He didn’t require a cleaned up soul, but just one that was willing and obedient to the heavenly call.  The changes can then come later, one by one as God chips away at our life everything that doesn’t look like Christ.  So, praise God that He is still working on us day by day and someday our standing and our state will be together as we stand face to face with Christ our Savior.

Crossing the Line

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Luke 8:2 says, “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,”

     I have found myself again in the middle of controversy because of some of my “pastoral” endeavors where I caused certain employees to “cross the line.”  While I am being protected because of senile old age, or so they say, I have ended up causing people to “cross the line.” so to speak resulting in the possibility of them losing their license.  I just can’t seem to stay out of trouble with a capital “T” so the music man says,

     As I thought about my predicament and the one in which I have forced others to be, I have heard constantly that “they crossed the line.”  My thought is, who hasn’t crossed the line.  The Lord Jesus Christ seemed to spend much of His ministry to people with those who had crossed the line.  Mary Magdalene crossed the line.  The woman at the well crossed the line,  John the apostle crossed the line as well as Peter .  Levi was a tax collector who had crossed the line.  When you come down to it, we can all say that we have crossed the line.  I crossed the line.  Now that we have established that, what are we to do about it?  That is why we need a Savior who can get us back on the other side of the line.  Romans 3:23 says that virtually everyone has sinned and therefore are guilty of crossing the line.  It only takes about five minutes or less to be guilty of crossing the line of righteousness and deserving the full wrath of God and so we find that He knew it was going to happen and therefore sent us a Savior.  Unfortunately in the business world, there is no forgiveness or consideration but merely to condemn the guilty party for crossing the line of the handbook or “corporate.”    I thank God daily for the fact that He has forgiven me for crossing the line so many times you can’t count them.  It  is that way with every sinner who repents truly in their hearts.  It’s also called, “Chrsitian growth.”  We seem to always want sinners to look like us, to talk like us, to smell like us and to behave like us.  Well, it doesn't happen that way.  I recall one time in church that my friend Jeff Noland disguised himself as a homeless person and sat down in the church to prepare for a children's message at the appointed time in the morning service.  People looked at him almost in disgust and wouldn’t sit near him and they did not recognize who he was.  He did a good job on that disguise.  The point is, we often are too critical of the outward appearance of all th ose who have crossed their lines and we can’t see our own dilemma. Praise God that someday we will ALL be dressed in robes of white and have a new name, written down in GLORY.

How Many Sins Does it Take?

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

     I use a little acronym for certain prayers, called CATS.  It begins with confession, then adoration, then thanksgiving and finally supplication.  I used to start with Adoration and had t he acronym, ACTS, but then changed it after one of my friends pointed out that the confession needed to be first before you went on to any other part of the prayer.  I like to use little acronyms to help me remember things, like PUFPTAT, helps me remember the feasts of Israel, passover, unleavened bread, first fruits,pentecost, tabernacle, atonement and trumpet.  Well, it helps me anyway.

     In thinking about the CATS. formula, I was also thinking of how many sins does it take to be guilty?  The above passage denotes that it takes only one.  With any one sin, you become guilty of the whole law.  Some may think that it isn’t fair to be charged with the whole law being broken, when you did only one sin, but that’s God’s standard.  If I think one evil thought about another person, I am guilty.  Of course, there are the sins of commission, in other words bad things that I do that are against God’s standards.  If I don’t love one another, or pray for one another, or bear one another’s burdens, I am guilty.  If I have evil thoughts about praying for fire to come down and consume my antagonizer, I have sinned.  If I am proud of things then I have sinned.  Sins of commission rightly condemn us but there are also the sins of omission.  These are things that God has commanded to do and we fail to do them.  How about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, 24/7?    When It comes down to it, I need not be concerned about the injustice of being convicted by only one sin, because I have already heaped a bunch of them on my account before breakfast, let alone the rest of the day.  We often begin our prayers with, “Forgive me for my sins…”  We think that is enough and will include a bucket full of sins.  We commit the sins one by one and should therefore ask forgiveness one by one.  I have found that the best thing to do is immediate prayer for forgiveness at the time the sin is committed rather than waiting for any opportunity for the bucket load later.  In any case, James has pointed out why we need to have a Savior who has paid the price for all of our sins.  We can undoubtedly praise God for His forgiveness and that we can cast all of our cares upon Him any time of the day or night .

Suffering Leads to Glory

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Peter 5:7-11 says, “ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.   Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.   To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

     Things were going great a couple of days ago and it was a good time, good expectations, happiness was in the air and then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out at about 4 in the afternoon.  Happiness went to sorrow in 3 seconds.  It was a lot to deal with and is not done yet but a lot of Biblical lessons were learned quickly and dependence upon God was in the forefront.

     The above passage is more lengthy than I normally use, but is necessary.  The lessons learned is first of all, to bring all of our cares to God and the reason is that He cares for us .  We are not left alone in this world to suffer without help.  He is always there.   Then, we see that Satan is alive and well upon Planet Earth as Hal Lindsey wrote about fifty years ago.  Satan wants to trip us up but we are to resist him by being steadfast in the faith.  Then we learn more about God’s amazing grace in that after we go through the suffering, God makes us perfect, or mature.  Our faith often gets tested and once we make it through to the other side, we are stamped as “approved” and go on to the  next trial.  That’s Christian growth.  It is often a tad painful but necessary to strengthen us for what is coming down the pike, so to speak.  It  then says that it “settles us.”  Do we need settling?  I would certainly say, ‘yes.”  When I have been in fits of crying or weeping uncontrollably, someone will often say, “settle down.”  What they mean is for me to stop with the tears and to think of what is at my disposal.  First of all, as a believer, I am a child of God and sometimes need to be reminded of that.  Then, I need to remember that God is not surprised about my circumstances and that He knows exactly what is go0ing on and that He certainly is the Almighty Resource that I need in order to settle down.  Then, I reflect on the fact that this world can do nothing to me to stand in the way of eternal glory with God, even if I were to be burned at the stake or beheaded, God forbid!  His resources are beyond description and what takes place in each day that turns us into putty is merely a small trial and someday, suffering will turn to glory.  Praise God today for the fact that He holds us in His hands at all times.

Vengeance

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Romans 12:19 says, “ Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” 

     I don’t like bugs, snakes, flies, mosquitos or spiders.  My idea of camping is in an RV wit h TV, air conditioning, a comfortable bed and not a sleeping bag.  I can watch the bugs through the windshield as they go flying by.  A bee in my car would cause me to look for the most convenient place to pull over, roll down all the windows and get out while beating the air furiously in an attempt to get away.  I will give them the car.  I have also tried rolling down all the windows and driving as fast as I could with hopes of the bee being stuck on the real window..

     The people of God, believers, often find themselves the subject of some type of wrath in which they hope that the person responsible would get beat up by a very big angel with a sharp sword.  We might even try to “get even” by our sharp tongue or perhaps to swing a punch in their direction.  We look at the above verse and see that any kind of vengeance needs to come from God and not from us.  God has His purpose and His timing and it is all in His hand.  What is amazing is some of the methods that He chooses in order to show His power.  Egypt is a good example when God commanded flies, locusts and frogs.  Who would have thought that a nice frog would end up being a plague.  It was the number of them that was a surprise to the Egyptians.  Frogs were everywhere, even in the cooking pots.  At one point, God even used hornets to attack an army and they fled in the face of the hornets.  Hornets are not dumb.  I had a hornet nest and bought one of those long reaching spray cans and went out at night with a flashlight to get the nest.  I shot at them with the spray can and all of a sudden, the hornets were traveling down the beam of light which led to me.  I dropped everything and ran inside and tlet the hornets be.  God also commanded the quail to commit bird suicide by flying low into the hands of the Israelites to give them meat to eat along with the manna.  Vengeance may be coming to one of your antagonizers in a way that you don’t expect.  It could be anything from a bolt of lightning to ants.  Two men were found dead in Canada after they escaped from prison and the cause of death was deer flies.   God commands the creatures of the sea, the birds of the air and everything else that was created so don’t be surprised.  Praise God today for such a wonderful creation and it is all HIS!

Flesh, Eyes and Pride

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First John 2:15-17 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 

     You would think that a retired pastor would be able to recognize the pitfalls of life as he has studied and preached about it for the past forty years.  Well, not the case for yours truly.  I violated one of my own principles and fell prey to the “pride of life.”  Well, I can look on it this way, at least it gives me something to write about in my daily devotions but it is a bitter pill today and probably for a long time.  I won’t go into the details here except to say that I thought I could replace God by assuming I could help in a situation that was out of my realm.

     As I mentioned, I have looked at this passage above a number of times because the principle that is mentioned here is also seen in a very practical way in Genesis 3, Matthew 4 and in Luke 4.  Satan used the above practice in Genesis when  he tempted the woman in the Garden of Eden.  you can see all three actions, the lust of the eyes, (the fruit looked good) the lust of the flesh (it was good for food) and the pride of life, (it would make you healthy and wise). The same three principles were used in the New Testament in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness.  When Satan has a good thing going, he keeps on using it.  John wrote in the above epistle that the same tactics are being used in the world today and we can all fall victim of any one of the three in a moment's notice.  The world especially uses the lust of the eyes in its advertising programs to promote a new product.  Men are specifically targeted with some new product by advertising it with a beautiful young lady in the picture which has nothing to do with the product itself, but men especially fall victim to it because they are triggered so much by what they see.  The pride of life is also a big one as we feel that we can take care of anything ourselves and not let God even get involved.  After all, He needs to be working on world peace and the energy crisis so we think that we can take care of all of the small things.  The lust of the flesh is also a motivator to sin by making it a craving of the flesh.  Our actions need to be guided by the Word of God and certainly not of the body in which we live.  Well, praise God today for His principles.  May we learn to follow Him instead of the world system.

Inward Motives

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Samuel 16:5 says, “ But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 

     We hear a lot these days of some who use the method of profiling people in order to find a criminal.  If they fit various characteristics, then they are assumed to be a possible suspect in a crime.  In many ways, we do the same thing if we pull into a certain neighborhood, you lock the car doors for fear of being hijacked.  One time I was in Washington, D.C. and did not have enough money to ride the bus from the capitol to our base in Anacostia,D.C.  So, I walked the long trek to the base through a bad neighborhood in which a man came staggering out of a bar with a beer bottle in his hand who grabbed my arm and said he was going to kill me.  I was in uniform and he said he was a former marine and insisted that I take him to the guard at the gate, which I thought was a brilliant idea.  You can see I am still alive so it all turned out well.

     I am now wary of any man staggering out of a bar with any kind of object in his hand.  I am sure he is out to kill me based upon my past experiences.  I have stereotyped a lot of people as suspected trouble makers because of their looks, their dress, their manner of speech and so on.  God however, doesn’t look on those characteristics but on something else.  God looks on the heart.  In the above passage, Samuel is to pick out the one to be king over Israel  and goes past each likely looking candidate and God says “no” to each one of them.  Finally, the bring in the most unlikely one, a man that doesn’t look like he would make a good king, a sheep herder, young and strong who plays a harp.  We know of course that he is the guy that God wants and King David was anointed.  We all have intentions of trying to be good, but God knows everything about us and sees our heart and what our inward parts are saying which may not be the same as what we are saying with our mouth.  My friend, Pam Enoch, had a button once that said, “We can talk the walk, but can we walk the talk.”   The believer should not be saying with his or her life,”Do as I say, not as I do.”  Our lives need to be an example of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ both inward and outward.  Praise God today for His examination of our inner most being.  May we live the Word in our daily lives.

Faith, Hope and Love

 Greeting toyou all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First tCorinthians 13:8 says, “ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 

     I am often intrigued by words and why certain words are used and how new ones ae een coming to be placed in the dictionary such as “selfie.”  It  was unheard of a few years back but now has found its place in the dictionary.  Some people like to take “selfies” time and time again to show a new hairdo or a new friend or to be seen in a certain spot.  We couldn’t do that with film years ago.  I remember that My dad was in the back row on the street as the funeral procession of John F. Kennedy passed by in Washington, D.C.  He held his camera up to take some pictures but when they were developed, all he had were pictures of the feet of the horses pulling the caisson that bore the body of the president.  Selfies are easy and if you don’t like the result, you can instantly take another one without waiting for several weeks for the prints to arrive.  Words can sometimes portray an action that is being taken.

     The above verse mentions three things that abide, faith, hope, and charity.  In The KJV, the word charily is A25 in the Greek dictionary which is “agape” or the word we commonly use for “love.”  Paul exhorts the Corinthians that “love’ or “charity” is the greatest of the three.  Adam Clarke spends a lot of time on this verse with too many words to include here except for the last paragraph which says,”I conclude, therefore, from these and a multitude of other reasonings which might be brought to bear on this subject, that faith and hope will exist in the eternal world as well as love; and that there, as well as here, it may endlessly be said, the greatest of these is love. With great propriety therefore does the apostle exhort, Follow after love, it being so essential to our comfort and happiness here, and to our beatification in the eternal world; and how necessary faith and hope are to the same end we have already seen.”   As Pastor Randy would often say that this type of love could be defined as “righteous deeds to meet the need of another.”  Some are simple deeds and others are more complex, but they effectively meet the needs of the others to whom we are addressing.  There are words that express anger and resentment and other words that convey kindness and understanding, so even our expressions can either built up or tear down as the result of saying them.   Some will even say after a terrible blast of words, “I was only kidding.” but I found this to usually be the opposite of what was intended.  They said what the wanted first and tried to soften the blow afterwards.  Will our words be words of love or words of wrath?  Will our words build up or tear down?  Praise God today  for His Words of love towards us.  May we do likewise to those we meet today.

The Book of Belief

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     John 20:30-31 says, “ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;   but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” 

      If I were to write another book, I would have the title all picked out.  It would be, “Don’t eat the Applesauce.”  It would be a story or a narrative about life in assisted living and eventually in the nursing home.  The applesauce comes from the fact that quite often, pills are crushed and then crushed and placed  into a small container of applesauce and then fed to the resident who needs them.  The applesauce makes it go down easier and gives it a more pleasant taste. Many books have already been written on perhaps most topics in the world today.  While working in a bookstore, we had a set of two volumes, the Bowker Books, which contained the publisher and information of every published book that existed in that particular year.  It was quite handy to find out the publisher of a title that you never heard of.

     The Gospel of John ends with the purpose statement for the book itself in chapter twenty and the final two verses.   I know I have mentioned this before but it is worthy to mention again because of the key word,”believe” which is used some 54 times just in this gospel.  Slso, the statement says that if every miracle was recorded in this book, it wouldn’t be able to hold them all.  There are only 7 miracles mentioned that Christ did in the book itself and if you include the resurrection, there are eight.  The seven miracles are events that took place before the resurrection that gave evidence of Christs power overy different areas such as quality, quantity, time, distance and so forth.  The final verse in this chapter, verse 31, details the reason or purpose for the gospel, that we might  believe that Jesus is the Christ.  How important is that?  You need to recall the Philippian jailor and his question to Paul on how to be saved and Paul answered for him to simply believe in Christ.  The simplicity of the gospel has become the stumbling block for many as they feel it is too simple and so therefore seek other ways that would seem practical to them such as baptism, or a certain quantity of works or self punishment in order to merit such a thing as this great salvation.  Some will say, “you mean that  if I believe that Jesus is the Christ,” I Will be saved.”  That’s what it says,  The statement is then clarified in the final words, “that ye might have life in His name.”  For some reason, simplicity seems to confuse some people so much that they skip it and try to form another more logical way, which there is not.  John 14:6 plainly says, “I am the Way….”  Praise

Singing Happy Songs

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Proverbs 25:20 says, “ As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.”

     I like music and probably always have  as far back as I can think.  I started out with the tonette in the fourth grade and soon I began playing the clarinet, and then a trumpet, and then a bassoon and then a Euphonium, and then a saxophone.  All the time I was doing that I was also singing in the “glee club” and doing a few solos here and there for some weddings.  My Fatgher once stated after a solo, “Well, it was loud.”   There have been, however, a few times in my life when I just didn’t feel like singing.  One such time took place about a month ago here as I was getting ready to preach the morning devotional.  I received some information that irritated me and I just didn’t feel like singing anymore.  An elderly lady, most of them are elderly here, came up and I prayed with her and afterwards she kissed my hand.  That began the transformation, but not quite.   At 50 minutes before the preaching time, I began to sing and for the first  20 minutes, I didn’t have the right spirit in me to sing but as I sang hymn after hymn, it began to take effect with me and soon my heart was in it and it was singing also.

     A song to a heavy heart is not always the best thing to do.  Solomon here compares the two to mixing vinegar with soda, or as it says here, nitre.  The two just don’t mix.  There will be an instant fizzing which will consume the soda and soon will be flat again.  A song  of merriment is not the thing to do when a person is suffering.  I was at a funeral home preparing for the funeral of one of my relatives and the funeral before me was going on and I heard a polka being played over the speaker in the parlor where the funeral was being held.  I went to the sound man and asked him why he was playing the “Beer ‘Barrel Polka.”  He said the deceased requested it because of the phrase, “The gang’s all here.”  It just didn’t seem to fit in my estimation and it seemed to be out of place.  There is a time to sing and there is a time not to sing. Even the Israelites once hung their harps on the willows and would not sing as they were being led into captivity.  I need to be more discerning as to when to sing and when not to sing.  If I was a poet, which I am not, today would be a day to write a poem expressing other feeling that are going on and maybe not a song of merriment.  I do, however, look forward to singing in heaven with a multitude of angels which is more in number than I can imagine and the songs will be beautiful and glorifying God.  Praise Him today for the songs that we will be singing in g lory.

God or Man

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Acts 5:29-30 says, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.   The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” 

     There are some phrases that occur in life that we seem to hear over and over.  They are like little catch phrases that develop into a common response to almost any question.  The new word for today is, “game changer.”  Many people say it at the end of something new and reply, “Well, that’s a game changer.”  The one I hear so often at nursing homes and assisted living is this, “It is against corporate policy.”  Rules are made by a group of people that are sitting in an office somewhere and afraid they are going to be sued by someone, so they develop protective measures that will protect them in court.  As a result, when you want to do something outside of the rules, you hear, “It’s against corporate.”  Corporate doesn’t even have a name, does not eat, does not breathe, it is just a set of guidelines made up by the owners to protect them.  I find myself bucking against “corporate” most of the time as it does not allow you to help or to even know people who are hurting and need help. 

     Peter had a time when he had to choose whether to obey God or to obey the government of the period in which he found himself.  The above statement shows that he chose to obey God rather than man.  Of course, he knew there would be consequences for his decision.  In fact all of the apostles died a martyrs death, Peter being crucified upside down.  James was beheaded and all the rest of them died in one way or another for their faith.  Foxes Book of Martyrs records for us other believers who stood firm for their faith and died as a result from being burned alive or even thrown into boiling oil, or to be drawn asunder by four horses.  They all stood firm for their faith.  We have been fortunate so far in America with our religious freedom but it is slowly being chipped away and soon we will have to answer the above question.  Whom will we obey?  It will be required for us to answer and hopefully the answer will be to obey God rather than men.  It  will cost us our lives if we choose to do so.  There was a report of a group of VietNamese Christians who were being gunned down as they sang, “It is Well With My Soul.”  When Corporate violates God’s commands, then I choose God over Corporate.  Whom will y ou choose?  Praise God that He will never leave nor forsake us.

Purpose in Life

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Deuteronomy 6:4-6 says, “ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:”

     My Father was a truck driver and retired as one.  I once asked my mother what she thought I should be when I grew up. She told me, “You can be anything you want to be except a truck driver.”   Dad’s schedule was always flexible and we never knew exactly when he would be home.  It was all local driving but it would depend on how many stops he had to make to drop of loads or pick up a new load and take it back to the terminal.  Dad’s brother, Harry, would do long trips and would often be gone for weeks before returning to his home.  Mom wanted me to do something else in life.  When we think about it, what is our main purpose in this life?

     We often train our children to pursue a career based upon their test scores in high school.  Some are funneled towards a college and some professional route while others are guided towards a specific vocation in industry.  We had groups in high school such as FFA and FHA which guided boys and girls to farming or home making.  We even had FTA which was for future teachers of America.  Still, our main purpose is not expressed in high school planning for a career but should be focused on the “Shema” as we see in the passage above.  Our main purpose in life is to “know God and to enjoy His presence forever.”  That is achieved by actually doing what the passage above exhorts us to do.  The Lord Jesus Christ repeats this exhortation in the New Testament.  Look closely at it as we are to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, soul, might and these words shall be in your heart. That means that you have to have them memorized.  The above phrase was important to the early Israelites and is still used today but it has become a mere formality  of kissing the Scripture as they go into a home as it is in a little container on the doorpost of every Jewish home.  Some don’t even know what the passage says.  We fall far short of actually doing it ourselves.  Imagine, if you will, actually loving God with all of your hear, mind and strength.  You will need to be meditating on Him in all that you day, every moment adn to commune with Him through prayer and to recall His Word in our hearts with every fiber of our being.   Then, you will know Him and slowly but surely, begin to enjoy His presence forever.  Praise God that we can know Him by looking daily, hour by hour, into His Word.

Dressed for Battle

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Ephesians 6:1-12 says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”. 

     When I joined the U. S. Navy, I had to take all of my clothes off and stand naked with a piece of paper hanging out of my mouth with my sizes written on it and a large mattress cover.  As I moved through the line, shoes, socks, uniforms of navy blue, white and dungarees, neckerchief, hats, and underwear were all thrown into the mattress cover, even a winter sweater and P-coat.  I would now dress the navy way after I had washed every stitch of new clothing and tied it up on a clothesline with neat little square knots.  The clothing was attractive and functional, whether on land or on the sea.

     During the first war with Iraq, I noticed a news clip of some soldiers from Iraq that had been captured and noticed that they were wearing what I called “penny loafers” on their feet.  They were not dressed for battle nor for walking or running.  It is important to have the right  equipment on if you expect to do battle with the enemy.  Paul reminds us that our battle is not with flesh and blood like we would normally think, but against the powers and rulers of the darkness of this world.  Who is that?  That  is the forces of evil under the  command of Sat an himself who controls about one third of t he angels.  Now, we don’t know the exact count of angels but there are a lot of them and those fallen angels, or demons as we might refer to them today, are all at work and our battle is with them on a daily basis.  The apostle goes on to describe each piece that we must have in order to wage war with them.  We see the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the gospel, the belt of truth and the shield of faith.  Then, there is the sword, which in this case is the Word of God.  It is also necessary for us to make sure the armor is on each morning and not piled in a heap on the front porch.  The fight is going to be the strongest when you ae are trying to dos something to further the preaching of the gospel or reaching someone to lead them to Christ.  Satanic forces will use all kinds of subtle tricks to try to keep you from testifying of Christ or trying to lead someone to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It might be a TV that is too loud, or a therapist that comes in to do their job, or a phone that is turned off when it should have been on or vice versa.  When Satan hinders progress, he “chops up the roadway” so to speak  and tries everything he can to prevent you from doing your mission or at least  to slow you down.  Praise God today for the fact that He has given to us His armor to use in battle.  Make sure you have it on.

But God....

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Romans 5:6-8 says, “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

     Every now and then something takes place that is a complete surprise.  I opened the door a couple of years ago when there was a knock and found a man holding up a bag of frozen fruit.  I inquired as to what he wanted and he replied that he was my neighbor and that he had too much of this fruit and wanted to give me a bag of it.  I took it and soon made a couple glasses of frozen fruit in the blender.  Not too long afterwards, I baked a fresh loaf of wheat bread and took it down to my new neighbor who had given us the fruit.  Since that time, that neighbor had become one of our closest  friends  and has helped us out many times with surprise after surprise.  He was the only one to get me off the floor after sliding out of the bed when I was sick and that was two o’clock in the morning.  

     Life is filled with “but God” phrases in it such as the one that is in the above passage from the Word of God.  It is one of those surprises that we wouldn’t have expected had we not seen it in the Word of God.  People often think they have to get  their lives in order before they can come to God.  They might want to quit smoking, or quit drinking or get off drugs or whatever else they are doing before they can come to God.  Unfortunately, that will never happen.  As the hymn says that Billy Graham used so much, “Just  as I Am.”  I am surprised and marvel at the phrase, “even while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us.”  Time is of the essence when it comes to the call of God for salvation.  There should be no delay in getting peace with God as soon as possible so there is no time to clean up your life and you come as you are and as the man said in the Scripture, ,”God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  That ‘s what we are and before we come to God, we are not allowed to enter heaven but after we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, we are ready to go to glory and what t a time that will be. You may be going down the road of life thinking you are doing okay, and then you come across the words, “but God…”  God will intervene with circumstances that force you to turn to Him.  God will be your only resource.  Don’t delay and when you come across a person who needs to turn to Christ,  be ready to point Him to the Only One Who can save, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God for such a wonderful salvation.

Coming Events

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.   Wherefore comfort one another with these words”

     I recall purchasing gasoline on the base in Anacostia, D.C. for about a quarter a gallon.  That meant you got four gallons for a dollar.  Well, things have changed a little since then and now it is flipped and you get one gallon for four dollars and change.  Some places are higher than that.  Not only that, prices are going up on all kinds of things as inflation runs out of control.  Wars are still being fought around the world with some real big ones going on at present and the threat of nuclear catastrophe on the horizon.  Almost everyone is wondering what is taking place  and what hope is there for the people of this planet.  The answer to all of these questions and problems that exist  in the world today is the Lord Jesus Christ.  People say, “Oh, you always say that.”  Yes I do because that is the only hope for each and every soul that  has ever existed or will exist.  The promises and prophecies of the Word of God are sure and have been guaranteed by the seal of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave.  He conquered death and His promises are sure as were spoken in Acts 1:11, John 141-6 and the above passages among many others.

     When the time comes, when it is the exact and precise moment that God the Father has planned, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ  will return in a series of events that will shock t he world beyond understanding.  The trumpet will sound, the voice of the archangel will be heard and then the dead in Christ will be raised and we who are alive at that moment, as believers in Christ , will be joining them in the air.  The Body of Christ, the Church, will be raised in waht we commonly refer to as the rapture.  The word rapture is not found in the English text of the Scripture but it is in the Latin text for “caught up.”  It  will occur in an instant, as it says, like the twinkling of an eye which I have been told is about one ten thousandth of a second.  I always say that each day we live is one day closer to this fantastic and great event.   How close are we?  Only the Father knows the time, but we can look around us and see the pre signs as Paul wrote to Timothy in the second epistle in chapter three verses one through 5.  The chance for salvation is now not waiting to see if it really happens.  Then, it will be too late.  Praise God today for that blessed hope of His Second Coming.

Preach the Word

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Second Timothy 4:2-3 says, “ Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

     What do you do when you are hungry?  Most of us start looking for something to eat. When I would travel home from the East back to Indiana while my Mother was alive, she would have a number of things already prepared for our arrival.  One of them was home made noodles cooked with a pot roast and then served over mashed potatoes.  She would also prepare a large dish of macaroni and cheese as well as some fried chicken.  Now, she didn’t eat that much but she knew some of my favorites and I think she prepared them all.  When you know that hungry folks are on the way, you get the food ready.  

     As I look back over my ministry for the past forty or so years, I can think that in every church where we served there was at least one person or more that was hungry for the Word of God.  Well, what do you do when you find someone hungry for the word?  For me, it was like saying “sick em” to a dog.  You think of how you can proclaim the Word of God to those who are interested.  Now, it is also true that not everyone was interested but there were also those who were.  We had home Bible Studies and private times of sharing the Word of God with them.  In the above passage, Paul exhorted young Timothy to preach the Word and to be ready at all times, maybe when it was scheduled or when it was not scheduled.  It  goes on to say that there is a time coming when people will not want to hear the message of the Gospel.  Well, we preach it anyway in hopes of finding that one person who wants to hear it.  I have shared the gospel on a paper napkin at Cracker Barrel or in home Bible studies and even now at a senior living facility where we now reside.  There are at least two people who are interested in hearing the message of the Gospel and so I proclaim everything that I can to those two people.  There are many here that can’t understand due to dementia but I preach it anyway looking for the window of opportunity that sometimes comes upon their face.  Who knows how much they understand or when it becomes clear to them.  I have one lady that  has frowned at me for the last six months and the other day, finally smiled, so there is hope and we keep on proclaiming the Word of God wherever and whenever we can.  The same is true in your lives.  The above exhortation is not just for preachers but for everyone even as Peter proclaimed, Be ready always to give an answer to those who are seeking the truth.  Praise God for the ministries that He has given to all of us.  Proclaim the Word!

Unity of the Spirit

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Ephesians 4:1-3 says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” 

     A church can be filled with all kinds of people with no two being alike.  We have rich and poor, southerner and northerners, republicans and democrats, black and white, citizens and foreigners and any other kind of believer that you might think of.  As a result, one often gets different opinions on how things should be done in a local church.  Quite often, disputes arise in church business meetings when different factions clash over this or that item in the church.   I remember one time an elder stood up and began with, “Brethren, we got a problem.”  The pastor and I  suddenly developed a cold chill as to what was wrong.  It turned out that someone had donated an open bag of dried beans to the food pantry and we breathed a sigh of relief.

     The opening three chapters of Ephesians lists many of the blessings that we have as a result of being in Christ.  Our spiritual bank account is filled with heavenly treasures and so we come to chapter four where we now learn that because of all of these wonderful blessings, we should take a look at how we are living out our Christian life.  Of all the attributes of the church, one of the most difficult to maintain is the unity of the Spirit.  Different factions can soon exist as it had apparently taken place at Ephesus.  Paul spent four months debating in the synagogue  over things pertaining to the Christian life.  We also know that there were many Gentiles in the area who had been worshiping the goddess Diana of the Ephesians.  The two groups, Jew and Gentile, were now coming together to meet as the Body of Christ in Ephesus and apparently was lacking in the unity of the spirit and they were evidently lacking peace in the assembly of believers/  In heaven,  there is only going to be one group and not 400 different groups, with the Lutherans over here, the presbyterians over there, the methodist in this part and the baptist in that part and so on.  As Paul goes on, he emphasizes that there is only One Body and that is the Body of Christ.  In 1978 Montgomery County, where we are now, had about forty different churches of which, twenty were preaching the gospel, but had left this church or that church over some minor issue and sometimes a major doctrinal difference.  I know Baptists who are saved as well as Methodists, Catholics , Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, and so on.  The criteria for salvation is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Paul told the Philippian Jailor.    The plea of the Apostle Paul is just as needed today as it was almost 2000 years ago.  Praise God today for the One Body of Christ.

     

Shepherds

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 23:1 says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

     I have seen a few sheep in my life but have not been around too many shepherds.  I recall reading a book by Philip Keller on the twenty-third Psalm and since he was a shepherd at one time, he enlightened many of the statements made in the Psalm that has become so popular.  I was in Spain for a couple of years and one time saw about five shepherds bringing in their sheep for the night into one group.  They were all secure for the night .  What was astounding was the morning when each shepherd called his sheep and they all separated and went to their own shepherd.  It  was amazing to see but each lamb knew their master’s voice.

     The Psalm above, or at least the one verse, speaks of the LORD as being the Shepherd of the Psalmist and He is our Shepherd also.  The Psalm has become a very popular part of many funeral services because it speaks of passing through the valley of the shadow of death.  It is a short, quick walk  when the Shepherd is there to holy you by the hand and to guide you along the way.  When we look at the Psalm, we notice that we have protection, guidance, provision and love.  I heard of one young  girl who quoted the first verse this way,”The Lord is my Shepherd, what else do I need?”  That's a good summation of the Psalm.  We look at the Lord Jesus Christ as the Great Shepherd and call our “pastors” undershepherds.  They are the direct command of the Chief Shepherd, the LORD Himself.  We all may find ourselves in that position in one way or another even as parents, or friends, or bosses or leaders or church members, as Sunday School teachers, and the lsit goes on and on.  We all become shepherds to someone as we are not on a deserted island in the middle of an ocean like Robinson Crusoe.  Wherever you find yourself, you soon discover that you have all kinds of sheep. Some are continually cast down, some are disobedient and going off the beaten path, some are too fat and some are just a tad stubborn, some are sick , some are young and some are old and feeble.  They all need a shepherd and many times you are going to be that shepherd.  Your sheep may be scattered and going in every direction possible but as you continue to be there and continue to speak to them in loving words, you soon find that the sheep begin to come to the sound of your voice and mill around at your feet especially when you are giving them the food of life.  We need not look too far as they are right  around you now.  Praise God today that He is our Great Shepherd and that He has given us a flock of our own to guide from day to day.

The Holy of Holies

 Greetings to you all in the name of he Lord Jesus Christ,

     Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” 

     In the early years of ministry we used to go weekly to a place called “Heritage Hall.”  It was a nursing facility and we would hold a weekly service there and our ladies would come and provide cool aid and cookies to those in attendance.  There was one lady who had a great prayer ministry and I often left my personal requests with her as I knew she would pray for them.  She had a hard time sleeping so would stand up in back of her recliner against the wall in case she did fall asleep she would just slump over the back of the chair.  She was a prayer warrior.  I have never been classed as a warrior in prayer until recently.  Maybe I am still not a prayer warrior as such but I do know that my prayer list is getting longer and longer each day with added people and situations to bring before the Lord.

     It is comforting to know the above passage and to see that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross made it possible for us to come boldly to the throne of grace in order to get both mercy and grace in times of need.  We ae also reminded of what took place on that infamous day when the curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies was rent in two, from top to bottom.  The Holy of Holies was then visible when it  had not been before that event.  In the past, only the High Priest was allowed to enter in only once a year on the Day of Atonement.  Now, through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have access to the throne of grace.  That ought to have you shaking in your boots, so to speak, to imagine that you are in the presence of God because of Chris, our High Priest.  What is sad is the limited amount of time that many take in that spot which the LORD has supplied for us.  Like many things, we have become accustomed to it and therefore often neglect it even though it is still there and always available.  What would happen if the veil was replaced and we no longer had that access.  Then, surely we would miss it.  The moment that we utter the words, “Dear Lord,” we are ushered into His presence no matter where we are on this earth and we can bring our petitions to Him.  All of our requests are before Him with thanksgiving for what He is going to do.  Praise God for the privilege we have in praying to Him.

Invisible Protection

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

      While serving on a destroyer in the South Atlantic ocean, I stood in front of the ship's compass.  It was large and stood in the middle of the ship on what was called the torpedo deck.  On either side of the compass were two steel balls about the size of small bowling balls.  They were exactly the same distance on either side of the compass.  The steel balls compensated for the steel that was in the ship and kept the compass accurate.  The magnetic lines of force, while invisible, were there all the time.  Jesus used another invisible force to describe to Nicodemus the work of the Holy Spirit in the process of the new birth.  John 3:7-9 says, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?"   

        There are some things in life that we can't see with our physical eyes but we know that they are there because we see the result of what they are doing.  Wind is one thing that we can't see but we certainly see the effects of the wind as it moves branches of trees and sometimes takes the roof off of a building.  The evidence of the wind is all around us but we never see the wind itself.  The same is true in the Christian life.  We never see the Holy Spirit working, but we certainly see the effects of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.  We can call to mind the verse that describes our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Now, we don't see Him but we have been given the assurance that He is in the life of every believer.  Again, the proof is in the pudding, in that we see the effects that the Holy Spirit causes in our lives.  All of this to say that as you go out into the world today, you can have the confidence that there is nothing that you are going to do by yourself.  Oh, it may appear that you are alone, but, if you are a believer, you are always traveling with a companion and He is the Holy Spirit.  So, do you have some tough things to do today?  Be assured that you are not alone.  God is with you as we see in First Corinthians 6:19-20.  Praise God today that He will never leave you nor forsake you. “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  Heb. 13:5