Eternal Life

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

     Philippians 1:21-23 says, “ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.   For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”

     Everyone probably has their own set of acronyms for their job.  On my last job, I soon learned that ADL means “activities for Daily Living” and ROM mean t, “Range of Motion” and that DNR meant  “Do Not Resuscitate.”  I said, “Okay, I am the POC, “Pastor on Call.”  Many of the residents have the DNR on the back of their doors indicating their preference should they be found with no heartbeat.  I had one home health nurse say, “I don’t care if you are blue and have been dead for three hours, with no DNT, I’m going to jump on  you and do CPR.”  Well, both  my wife and I now have our DNR’s on the back of the door in our room.

     Some people are just tired of living and are looking for a way out and don’t care to think about the future.. Perhaps those same people have not thought about the future of what takes place after death.  I know of some who think it is just an absolute destruction of everything that is you including your body and also that personality that you possessed while you were living.  Many can believe what they choose in regard to “after death” theories but that does not make them correct.  As for me, I have chosen the “Biblical” understanding and doct rine in connection with deat h and what occurs afterward.  Job, the oldest text of the Bible, made the declarat ion in chapter 19:25-27, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”  Ecclesiastes 12:7 reminds us that the body, goes back to dust, but the Spirit, goes back to God which gave it.  Then, there are the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Kingdom of Heaven, the Book of Revelation, and John 14:1-6, and First Thessalonians 4 that provide the hope that has been guaranteed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave.  One t thought  that is populare now and I have seen it numerous times is that “There are 4,200 religions in the world, but only one empty tomb.”  When God is finished with me on this earth, He will call me home to glory, so don’t try and resuscitate me to bring me back.  People may look at me and wonder why I would believe such a thing and it is because I choose to believe the Word of God than the writings of men of the world..  I will believe the words of the One Person who was raised to live eternally rather then the thoughts and phony ideas of people with high I Q’s.  So, Praise God today for His  Promises!

The Witness

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

     First John 1:1-3 says, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

     A group of men from my dormitory at Indiana University decided to go Spelunking.  Some my be wondering wha that is while others know that it is going into and exploring caves.  There are active caves, which have water dropping and forming the stalactites and stalagmites.  The cave we went into was active, which meant it was wet in many places, causing us to be quite muddy when we came out of the cave.  I was muddy from top to bottom and upon entering the dorm, some would ask, “What happened to you?”  Then I would tell my story.

     Why had the Apostle John left his father’s business along with his brother?  What had he been doing the past three years?  What happened to the disciples?  At times, John and the others would be asked those questions  adn he would give account of what had happened to him.  His life had been changed along with many other “disciples” in the area.  They had been changed b the Lord Jesus Christ.  John begins his first epistle with the statement of a witness to a great event.  He was going to tell just head happened and he could do so because it had happened to him.  He wanted everyone to have the same fellowship  twitch God as he was enjoying at that moment.  When something life changing takes place in your life, you want to tell someone about it.  That is the way the gospel is spread in the world.  Sure, God could change everyone with just a word, but He chose to have the message of salvation to be shared from person to person.  Someone told you and now it is up to you tell someone else. Who will then go and tell yet another person.  A witness in a court of law shares what they know about the case that is being tried.  A witness in the Christian faith also shares what happened to them as a result of meeting the Savior.  John was there and he knew what had happened to him.  No one can refute what takes place in your life and no one can refute what happened in John’s life.  John was there and I was not.  I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee when i heard the familiar gospel message again and again and finally gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and believed that He had died for my sins.  I was there on top of Missionary Ridge in the King’s Inn motel when it happened.  Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?  If you do, you must have met Him  somewhere, somehow in y our pas and this is your testimony of what happened.  Someone may ask you, “What happened to you?”  You then tell them,  “That which took place in my life was great and I have fellowship now with God the Father and I want you to have that same fellowship with me.”  Praise God for the testimony of each and every beli

All Sufficient Grace

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

     Second Corinthians 12:7-9 says, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

     Things in life don’t always go the way we want them to go.  We would prefer the easy path with all of its fluff instead of the thorny path with rocks and unknown pitfalls.  I have painted the inside of probably twelve different houses.  We rented a lot of different places in our moves from one place to another and usually we had to paint the inside of the place.  I soon got tired of painting as I am not a good painter, but had to do it anyway.  One house had tomato seeds all over the kitchen walls and ceiling from what I guessed to be an explosion of a pressure cooker full of tomatoes.  There have also been times when i simply screamed at the top of my voice in frustration.  Yes, it was not appropriate and probably irritated those that heard it.

     I feel that the passage above shows the apostle Paul with just a tad of frustrat ion in h is life.  He had the thorn in the flesh, that no one knows exactly what it was, but it was irritating him so much that he prayed to God three times for it to be taken from him.. I feel it may have frust rated him because he ws a man of God that had prayed over others and they were cured of diseases and even eutychus was brought back to life after falling out of the third story window.  Our faith gets tried day after day.  We come to God with our heart aches and our problems and find relief by giving them to the Lord only to find more coming the next day and the next and the next.  We often wonder just how much we can bare with the load.  We don’t see what’s taking place.  Our faith is growing day by day as God works in our lives.  Each time we get to that really hard bump in the road, we ask, “How much more can I bear?”  God answers, “My grace is sufficient for thee, ford my stgrength is made perfect in weakness…”  Get the perspective right.  It is God’s grace and it is God’s strength and it is my weakness.   We should never lose hope in the Lord meeting our needs.  What we often do not see, is the growth of our faith from day to day and we can’t always answer why things are the way they are but someday we will know the reason when we stand face to face with Christ our Savior.  Praise God for His sufficient grace.

Foolish Decisions

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

     Psalm 14:1-3 says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.   They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

     I have done a lot of foolish things in my life, especially when I was younger but not only during that time in my life.  I still tend to say things that can be misconstrued or taken the wrong way.  I jumped off the garage with an umbrella and discovered that the umbrella did no good.  I tried to make a raft of old boards like Tom Sawyer, and that didn’t work.  I tried to get the cows out of the woods by driving a Ford tractor into the woods and almost got it stuck between two trees, just because I didn’t want to get off the tractor and walk into the woods to get them out.  These were only some of the experiences that could be classified as foolish things.

     There is one foolish thing that I never did and that was to doubt that there was a God.  I was taught a little prayer as a child which began, “Now I lay me down to sleep….”   The poetical books of the Bible paint a dim picture of the fool, or the person who tends to do foolish things.Psalm 14 opens up with the statement that it is a fool who claims in his or her heart that there is no God.  One should not have to look too far to see the evidence of the Divine Creator, i.e., God Himself.  It is evident in the thumb print, that is uniques andit is also evident in the iris of the eye which is also unique in every human being.   Then branch out to the things around us such as snow, hail, the earth’s distance from the sun and it’s wobbly orbit.  Think of elements.  One can also go the other way down to minute things of our planet in seeds and insects.  The most dangerous item for the fool is the coming judgment which will call every soul to bow before God in judgment.  Then, it will be too late to change your mind.  The fools of the world will have had a lifetime to bear witness to those things around them.  I may do some foolish things, bu may I never be so foolish as the person in Psalm 14:1.  Mankind in general is not drawn to seek for God.  it is just the opposite.  Mankind seeks pleasure in the things of the world.  They would rather have a rocker in front of a fire with a good book and an irish setter curled up near the fireplace than to admit that there is God Who is in control of everything that takes place in the universe.  Praise God that He is!

Wealth

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

     Psalm 50:10 says, “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”

     How much am I worth?  I once looked at the total of my earnings up that day on my social security report and I am not a billionaire, nor a millionaire, but a thousandaire.  I guess they don’t use that word because everyone is probably in that category.  There are a lot of people who are now famous for the amount of money that they have accumulated over their short lifetime so far.  People like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have become more prominent and now are trying to figure out what to do with their money.  Wealth is not always measured by the amount of currency that you have in your possession.

     The above passage reminds us of God’s wealth which is obviously the greatest of all ass the passage above describes it.  Every beast in the forest are His along with all the cattle that are on a thousand hills.  It is one way of God declaring that everything that is on the earth, in the earth, in the sea and in the heavens is His in the final analysis.  George Mueller and Hudson Taylor were men in England who were themselves poor, and were missionaries, yet they knew how to get the funds they needed and it was from God, the Ruler of the Universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all that there is.  Both Muller and Taylor would simply go to the God of the universe in prayer and lay their request before Him.  it is interesting to not that Mueller neve let his needs be known to men, but only to God and God never failed Him and the orphans had food on their table at all meals.  What does that mean to us?  There are those times in our lves when we come up short and perhaps there was a good reason such as was the case of the Philippinas who had given much to the ministry of the Apostle Paul .  Paul then reminded them that God would supply all of their need.  He may just move one of the cows from one h ill to another in order to help someone with their needs.  We may look at our bank account and boast of how big it is, but in reality, it is all God’s and we are but stewards of what He has given us.  The question is how are we going to use what He has entrusted to us?  God knows our needs even before we do.  We then express them to Him through prayer and we may not know how God is going to do it, but He does.  Your social security log may have a number on it but in reality, your are more wealthy than you may realize.  Your  final proof wil be in your inheritance when you arrive in Glory!  Praise God today as being the Provider for all of our needs.

Kindness

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

     First Peter 1:5-8 says, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.   For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

     We have about fifty residents here where we are living and it is very difficult to please everyone and for the most part it is peaceful, but tempers seem to flare especially when everyone gathers to eat.  There are two serving, the first is for the people that can do things for themselves and the second is for those who need assistance.  The beginning of our stay resulted in a lot of people shouting at each others, lour remarks and food that was not quite hot enough.  I chose to make my own food in my room with my microwave.  One staff member asked me why I didn’t go to the dining room, and I said, “Too much drama.”  He replied, “You got that right.”  I would rather eat in peace than to be around bickering all the time.  One of the prayer request that often comes from some of the residents is that people here would be kind to each other.

     The above passage from First Pete gives us a whole list of traits that need to be exhibited in our Christian life.  The list of seven different things includes one called, “brotherly kindness.”  I always disliked going to the monthly church business meeting, as many times it resulted in an argument over one thing or another.  One such meeting, one of the elders, Jim Kerns, st ood up and said, “Brethren!  We have a problem.”  The pastor and I were sitting next to each other and our hearts sank as we were about to hear about a serious problem.  Jim was always very exact in his speech and everyone was glued to hear his next statement.  Jim ws the overseer of the food pantry and someone had donated a bag of dried beans that had been opened.  That was the problem.  We breathed a sigh of relief  and, I believe, cooked the beans ourself instead of giving them away.  Not  all problems are that simple, but the trait that needs to be displayed is that of kindness.   Peter listed it as “brotherly kindness.”  Who is your brother?  It is referring to those that are believers in the Lord Jesus Chrsit.  We are the “brethren.”  You  need to notice that the list in  “charity” or “love” as we would say it today.  We need, and it includes all of us, to express our love by doing righteous deeds to meet the needs of another{“ in other words, to be kind at all times, not just on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening.  Praise God that we have His Word for our instruction in our Christian lives.

Our Purpose in Life

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

     Psalm 86:9-11 says, “ Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.  All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.  For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.  Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”

     There are those times when a person might ask, “Why am I here?”    Things seem to go  on an on and nothing seems to change .Society seems to be getting worse, I am getting older and older each day and my bones hurt, and th eprice of gas is going higher and higher and bananas are more expensive than ever before.  People are hurting and some regard themselves as failures in whatever they are doing in life.  My foot hurts, I am in an assisted living facility for a couple of years as tha is all the funds I have and everything looks like it is gray and dark and nothing more than a big mess.  That is the picture that many have of their life and the reason is that they have forgotten or neer knew in the first place what their purpose was in life.

     One famous catechism begins with the following question.  “What is the chief purpose of man?  Just imagine how the people of this planet would feel if they knew the answer to that question.  The question is one that perhaps all have at one point or another and it is the answer by which we learn our purpose which turns out to be a comfort to our souls.  If we only knew the answer we would be satisfied, or at least we would know what to do to be content while living on this earth.  The above passage is one that underscores the chief purpose of man.  The answer, according to the catechism is, “To know God and to enjoy His presence forever.”  Now, i thought  I should be the best bassoon player in the world, or the best pastor, or a good husband, or a good father and now I find out that my purpose is to know God and to enjoy His presence in my life forever.   You know of course, t hat if I know God and am enjoying His presence in my life every moment, then I will be a good bassoon player, or a good pasor or a good husband, or a good father.  Doing the first point, accomplishes the rest of the points.  When it says that all nations will bow down and worship God, that means all nations, which also means, all people, which also means you and me.  That is and will be our main purpose in life.  Simplicity seems to annoy people.  Something valuable must cost a great deal, or require a lot of work in order to achieve it.  Not so with God.  To know Christ is to know God and that is the first step and then to follow His teaching in all of our lives, i.e., to be His disciples.  Praise God that He gives us purpose.

Be Quiet and Listen To Me

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

     Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

     There are perhaps many times when we should be listening instead of talking.  I find that in my later years that I don’t have too many people to talk to so I text strangers or talk to a nurse that happens to drop by my room or anyone that can carry on a conversation in the hallway.   While working with American Telephone and Telegraph Company, they gave us a course in “How to Listen.”  It included eye contact, sitting forward, looking at the speaker, not yawning or answering a phone call.  You needed to give the speaker full attention and show them that you were interested in what they were saying.  We often are just waiting for the other person to stop talking so we can start and give our opinion of the matter at hand.  My wife can tell me to “shut up” in two languages, which she often does.

     Obviously, there are those times when we should be quiet and listen.  It is especially important to do so when God is speaking.  The simple two word introduction from today’s passage is, “Be still…”  When God says, “Be still” it is one of the most important exhortations from Him, and it means to be still, to cease from talking and take in what God is saying.  Righ tat the beginning we see the words, “..;.know that I am God…”  It is God saying, “Be quiet!  I am talking now.”  God told Job in Job 38:3, “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.”  Job and his three friends had been saying many words, and finally, God spoke and in the following chapters,  God spoke and disclosed many things to Job showing that He was indeed God and responsible for the creation.  He is omnipotent, that is all powerful and omniscient, that is all knowing, and omni present, that is everywhere and nothing is hid from Him.  We sometimes regard God as a cafeteria worker, offering bits and pieces of this or that so we might be comfortable.  We speak to Him as if He were a mere servant, set on giving us any thing we want.  I once pleaded with my Mother to do something to get me home and she replied, “Take it like a man.”  In other words, “It’s time to grow up.”    I often hear someone praying, with a rapid tongue, just to get the words out quickly and to tack on a “In Jesus name, amen.”  They have not  realized where they have been.  They have not grasped the majesty and the awesomeness of God.  Who is God to you?  Is God just a heavenly grocery clerk, or a white haired banker, or a doctor who never sleeps?  God is the One Who spoke the universe into existence by just His Word.  May we praise God for His majesty today and may we be  quiet and listening to His Voice.

Faithfulness

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

     Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

     I have lead a lot of singing in my ministry over the years and one song we often sang was “Standing on the Promises.”  There were times on Sunday evening that we would stop after every verse and chorus and shout out one of the promises that was special to a member of the congregation.  Some of them that were mentioned were “Jesus is coming again,” “God will never leave us nor forsake us,”  “God would supply all of our needs.”  

     There are those times when we need to recall the promises that we find in God’s Word.  Life is filled with difficult times.  You find that out even more as you age and are not able to do what  you would like to do.  The promises that God makes are more sure and guarant eed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the tomb.  Living in an assisted living facility marks you aware of the frailty of life as residents pass away.  There have been about seven who have passed away out of our total of fifty residents in less than a year.  God, however , is continually faithful to His family, to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Chrsit.  The Book of Lamentations is rightly named as it reflects the condition of Jerusalem and indeed all of Israel after the capture by King Nebuchadnezzar . The walls were knocked down, the temple was totally destroyed and ransacked of anything of value.  There was no food nor wate and the best of the people were taken to Babylon for a period of about seventy years.  Lamentations is filled with sorrow and tears, yet right in the middle of the five chapters, comes a sweet promise from God and that it is that He is faithful no matter what is going on in the lives of His children.  God is always faithful.  We have a song, “Great is they Faithfulness” that has its roots in this passage of scripture. We can thank God for His faithfulness, even when we are not faithful.  How many times to fail in this area, then come to God for forgiveness and then move on trying to be faithful in the commandments that He has given to us.  The holy men of God wrote under the inspirat ion of the Holy jSpirit, the Word of God which is often filled with “imperative” commands.  They are not suggestions, but rather exhortatons on h ow to live the Christian life.  You can spend your life in Ephesians, or Philippians, or Colossians or all of the epistles, maturing in your Christian life.  From the above passage, we know that God is faithful and so we should be endeavoring to be faithful also.  Praise God for His faithfulness.  May we endeavor to be more faithful everyday.

Good Words of Praise

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

     Psa,  100:1-5 says, “ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations”

     I was probably about ten years old, riding in the back of the car  and for some reason, unknown to me, I said a cuss word that I had heard in school.  I didn’t think too much about it, but  you would have thought I had done the worst  possible thing in the whole world as my Mother reacted in such a way as if she was going to pass out by the casual use of my profanity.  We were driving to one of my aunts, which then got the full report of my misbehavior.  I was doomed to say the least.  I had to vow never to say that word again.

     I use social media, but not for much.  I use it for putting my devotions on line as it increases the spreading of the message farther than I could do on my own email.  I have acquaintances t hat  have become “friends and as a result, I see their “posts” on my page.  What is shocking about all of this is the use of profanity by so many people and some of the leaders of this type of foul language are women.  It seems as if foul language has become popular especially with this new generation.  It is no wonder that I find relief and peace in the reading of the Scriptures.  We need to be reminded that the Ten Commandments includes, not taking the Lord's name in vain.  That is perhaps one of the worst part of foul language and the one most used by even a casual person.  The above passage of Scripture has beautiful words that describe our worship of God.  It tells us how to do it if we have forgotten.  It reminds us of where we are when we pray.  It is a solemn reminder that everything we have is from God and not from Mother Nature or an idol made of gold, stone, wood or plastic.  I also like this Psalm because it  is appropriate for reading before your Thanksgiving dinner.”...Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise…”  Every day should be a day of thanksgiving from the moment we get up from bed to the moment we lay down again, and even our protection during the night.  Everything is of God and nothing is left to chance.  Remember to praise God for what He is doing in your life every day and every moment.  May your words always be sweet and lifting up those around you.

Jesus had a little lamb...

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

     Matthew 18:13-14 says, “ And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

     How much am I worth?  I remember in chemistry class in 1957 that I was t old my body cont ained about $1.87 worth of chemicals.  I think it is over five dollars now.  I was a music teacher during the VietNam war for nine years at the Navy School of Music.I taught bassoon, clrinet, saxophone and flute.  I am now sitting in a power chair that retqails for over seven thousand dollars.  My nurse informed me that the new bandage application is one hundred dollars a sheet.  The previous one was also about one hundred dollars a sheet and they went me nine sheets with 3 refills on the prescription.  I wasn’t the best sailor in the world bud just simply did what I was ordered to do and did it with a cheerful attitude.  AI didn’t have a lot of medals, only three, one of which is good conduct with one star on it for over eight years of being good.  I am 84 years old and the Veteran’s hospital is treting me like I was someone important.  Everyone at the hospital always says, “Thank you for your service.”  I am overwhelmed.:

     I may not be worth much here on earth, or at least I don’t think I am worth much, the Scriptures take a different approach.  The above narrative describes a Shepherd that  has a hundred sheep and one of them goes missing.  What does he do?  In some churches, if one member goes missing, they might say, “Oh, I still have 99 and maybe that other one is just wandering in the woods and he will come back sooner or later.  The Chief Shepherd never says that but goes out and searches for that one lost sheep even though he still has ninety-nine back in the flock.  Every lamb is important and every human being is even more important to God.  He is not willing that any one of them should perish and so is pleading time and time again t o each and everyone to be saved before it is too late.  Of all the animals in creation, God chose  to compare us to sheep.  We are not lions, or tigers, or panthers, or elephants.  No, we are compared to sheep and if you are a shepherd, you know why.  Sheep get cast down, they can’t fight, they are not aggressive, they have to be lead to a good pasture, they have to have their head anointed with oil to keep flies from burrowing in.  So how much are we worth? While our present body is worth but a few bucks in monetary standards, our souls are worth a lot more.  They are priceless and as Ecclesiastes twelve says, at death it goes back to God which gave it in the first place.  You are priceless so praise God today because you are valuable to Him.

     

Silence

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

     Acts 1:7-8 says, “ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

     Silence doesn’t mean that no one is at home.  Most of the time there is a lot of noise in ones life.  My Mom would always have t he JTV on either the food channel or the Chicago Cubs. That didn’t mean she was watching it, but that it was just on.  It seems as if noise, no matter what it was, would provide satisfaction for her.   There are times with some people, where they say very little and when the time is appropriate, they speak. 

     There are some times in the Bible when God is silent. One of those periods was from the Book of Malachi to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem.  The years from Malachi to Christ, number about 400 years.A lot was going on in the world during those times.  The Greeks had come into power and then the mighty Roman army marched in and conquered the world.  Galatians 4:4 reminds us that Christ was born int he fulness of times and it was in exactly the right  moment as prophesied by Daniel.  The testimony of the Wise men gave evidence of that.  Of course the greatest event in the history of the church was about to take place in the resurrection of Christ from the tomb.  It is because of that empty tomb and only because of it, that the church exist, or that Christianity exists , or that we have a New Testament, or song books, or churches on every street corner.  The Lord Jesus Christ walked around after the resurrection for a total of forty days.  His last words are the passage above.  “But ye shall receive power…”  That power would come ten days later at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, the Other Comforter would come into the lives of every believer.  The words of above are a record of God’s last words that He has spoken.  He later  spoke to us by moving holy men to write the Word of God in what we call the New Testament.  That is how He speaks to us today.  Does that mean that God is not here because we do no hear His voice audibly?  Certainly not.  The existence of our planet is evidence of God Himself.  God has not spoken audibly, but He has given us His Word.  The next sound that we will hear coming from heaven is the sound of a trumpet announcing the calling up of the believers as in First Thessalonians chapter four.  The signs are gathering all around us  and prophecies are almost complete.  Some say t ht  silence is golden but I say the sound of the trumpet  in t he coming  day will be golden.  Praise God today for His soon coming.

Don't Waste Your Time.

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

     Ephesians 5:15-16 days, “ See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,   Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” 

     People that grew up in the depression don’t want to waste anything.   My Father saved a lot of stuff in old coffee cans.  Nails that were taken out of boards, were straightened and put in a can to be used again.  Even string was kept on a ball that would get larger and larger.  You never knew when you were going to need a piece of string. The same was true with rubber bands.  About the only thing that got thrown away was an opened tin can.  My Father also gave me instructions on how to peel a potato, using the tip of the peeler or a paring knife to take the eyes out instead of just cutting them down smooth.  Mom even canned marinated watermelon rinds.  Sad to say, we are now living in a “throw away” society where much of what we have is expendable, that is, don’t save it, or fix it, just get a new one;  We have become a people that  wastes a lot of things.

     One of the things t hat we seem to waste more and more is a simple one.  It is “time.”  For many, our lives have become easy and filled with more free time than we had before.  In the early yers of my life, doing the laundry took a lot more time than it does now.  Wash tubs had to be filled, the ringer washer had to be run which meant that you were going to run clothes through the wringer into the rinse and then wring them out  again before you carried the wet load out to the clothes line to pin each piece up on a rope to dry..  God has blessed us with technical progress whereby we have a lot more free time.  Now, the question is, “What  do I do with the free time that He has given  me?”   When we had “deadlines” to meet in our job, we found out that we can get  a lot done in a small amount of time.    We often met those deadlines, tired and exhausted, but we met them successfully.  Perhaps now we have a lot  of time to get things done but don’t do nearly as much as we did before.  The above passage mentions the circumspectly walk.  You walk carefully as you would walk in a mine field, watching where you place your feet.  Our careful walk is one that involves how we function in the places that God has placed us.  How do I pray for people?  When do I pray for people?  Who needs to hear the message of salvation”  Should i read the Bible?  When?  How much?  My life is filled with more free time now than ever before.  I find that I can now choose to read, hear, study, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word.  I find that I can say that prayer at any moment.  I find that I have tome to greet a person or to say how well they are doing in their work.  Praise God today for the time t hat He has given you.  May you use it wisely.

In The Beginning, God...

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

     Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”

     There are some things in life that are hard to believe.  I recently have had contact wit h several people on the internet who are not what they were suppos3ed to be.  I have been the victim of catfishing, which is not fishing for catfish, but for money from unsuspecting people.  The internet can be doctored up so as to give a person a false identity and how would you know?  I once saw a comic strip from the Sunday Paper in Parkersburg, West Virginia of the strip named, “B.C.”  It was a strip about a cave man who asked if God was real and if He ws to make Himself known to the cave man.  The next series of pictures showed  lightning, sunsets, shooting cars, thunder, while the cave man looked on.  at the end, the cave man walks away after seeing all of the marvels of the universe and says, “I guess He is not real after all.”

     Hebrews 1:1-2 also says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”  Many could probably argue with me over the creation of the universe and also the existence of God.  I, like the cave man, have asked the same quest ion, but my answer is just the opposite.  God’s creation is a witness of His existence.  My Son in law recently was asked by a television show, NCIS, if trees had DNA.  He said that they did and every  tree is unique, just as ever human being past, present and future have different DNA.  T he iris of my eye is also unique from anyone else on this planet.  I look at my Amaryllis and see t he hand of God in the design of each flower.  Six identical blooms have appeared at the top.  So, does God exist?  My answer is that He does exist and while I don’t see Him physically, I seee the results of His work every day.in the place where I live.  I also see what God has done in my own life even to the leading of my wife and I to a conference in 1972 where I met the Lord in a personal way and asked Him to be my Savior and for me to live for Him from that  time on.  Since then, God has never failed me.  I have been in tough times but God always provided in one way or another.  I see the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy that beats the odds of any such thing ever happening.  I have faith in the Word of God.  As a result of this, I have faith in the promises of the Scriptures in regard to my final destination, to heaven itself.  Unlike the comic strip cave man, i see God’s handiwork everywhere.  I don’t attribute it to Mother Nature, but to God Himself.  Praise God today for the very witness in each and every bug, flower and stars of the universe.

Bring the Books, Please.

 Greetings t o you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Second Timothy 4:9:-13 says, “ Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.  Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.  And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.  The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments”

     We often hear the word, “downsizing . “It usually refers to a company that is laying off employees in order to stay in business, but the term can also apply even to people.  Most of my life has been just the opposite.  I was getting more and more stuff until we came to our last house.  I had a lawn edger, two lawn mowers, saws, blowers, hedge trimmers, pruning saws, tools I didn’t know how to work and a lot of electronic “stuff.”  Well, all of a sudden, we were confronted with downsizing.  We now have one room, a bathroom and two closets .  we also have our two beds, one recliner a chest of drawers and two shelves and a stand for the microwave and coffee machine.  We have a lot of little stuff crammed into any space that we could find.

     The Apostle Paul was probably a well to do person due to his status before he was saved.  He had a lot of power and went  about bringing in those who were a part of “The Way.”   All of a sudden, things changed for him on the road t o Damascus.  The Scriptures remind us of the sufferings that took place in his life but all of his past life and things didn’t make any difference anymore.    The above passage is a little sad in some ways as it lists the people t hat had been a part of the ministry and then left.  It says that only Luke was left with him.  The evengelistic team seems to have been “downsized” quite a lot.  It is also interesting to note that he wanted to have his cloak, probably because  he needed it where he was .  He also wanted his parchments and his books.  I notice the residents here at our assisted living facility who were believers before they came here and they all bring their Bibles.  Lawn mowers, cars, boats, furniture may all be gone, but that which is important remains and usually it is their own Bible.  I probably had more than several hundred books, that  I lugged around from ministry to ministry and even to Spain in ten mail bags, a total of thirty boxes of books.  Now, I have a small stack of the most important books , Bible, Greek New Testament, Hans parsing guide and a spanish translation of the Bible.  The accumulation of things in our lives gets less important as we downsize in our later years. Praise God today for those things that you have t hat  are the most important things in your life right  now.

Walking the Talk

 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.”

     Walking while on a ship in the ocean can sometimes be a challenge.  The larger the ship, the more the challenge.  The Atlantic ocean seemed to have more choppy waves causing the ship to go up and down and then to roll to the sides.  I had to adjust how to walk and then to get what was called, “My sea legs.”  The Pacific seemed to be calmer yet the waves were still there and would cause  the ship to roll and t hen to hang  there for a while before it went back.    A large aircraft carrier could hang on one side for five seconds or more before starting to roll back tot he other side.  That meant  you were walking at an angel for that five seconds and then had t o change as the ship rolled to the other side.  The odd thing was that when you go into port and began to walk on solid ground, you felt  as if you were going to fall over.  Your  sea legs had to be replaced with land legs.

     The Apostle Paul spends a lot of time in the last  three chapters of Ephesians, speaking about how we “walk” in our  spiritual lives.  He has just given us  three chapters that describe our deposits in our heavenly bank account.  He t hen comes to the fourth chapter and begins with the big, “Therefore.”    Every time you see that word, it is going to throw you back to the preceding verses.  As a result of all of those blessings we cannot do anything else except walk in a “worthy” manner.  It is to be a walk that is worthy of the blessings that we have.   Paul goes on in the following chapters to speak about four other types of walks that the believer should have in their spiritual lives.  All of them are vital to our Christian demeanor.  If we have forgotten what a worthy walk should be, Paul goes on to define it in verses two and three.  He includes lowliness and meekness with longsuffering and forbearing one another in love. This was a new way of living for the new Christians whether they were formerly Jews or Greeks.  It is just as new in our culture today.  Christianity focus on others while our culture  tends to focus more on self.  It is interesting to note that  new words are added to the dictionary because t hey have become popular in usage.  One of those words is “selfie.”  The high quality camera that comes with most “smart” phones makes it possible to continually t ake pictures of your self and then to post them on social media for all to see, admire and to make comments about how beaut iful you look.  In the sme time, people do not regard others with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.  It is just the opposite and is a sad reflection of life in many churches.  We can talk about sea legs, and land legs, but where are our “spiritual” legs?  Pr aise God for His  showing us how to walk the talk.

Repentance

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

     Matthew 7:21-23 says, “ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

     As we get older, we seem to check the obituaries more and more just to see if some of our acquaintances have passed away.  I had a cousin who was about a month younger than myself.  We grew up together and had a lot of memories.  I had not heard from her for some time and so checked the obituaries of the local newspaper in La Porte, Indiana.  I went back a number of months and then found out that she had passed away and there was no one left to notify me of her passing.  As I read the obituaries, I find that many people have come to the conclusion that their departed loved on has gone to heaven.

     Going to heaven relies on one thing and many are going to find themselves at a judgment shere the Lord Jesus Christ will give them some startling news.  The above passage should be sent to every human being on the planet both church members and non church members.  It describes a scene in which those who assume thtt they are going to heaven will find themselves not  only not going to heaven, but going to eternal separation from God and suffering.  Peter made mention of the willingness of God in regard to salvat ion in First Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  God does not want anyone t o perish and so the plan of salvation has been given to us.   It  is simple and can be achieved by a child, yet many avoid it and endeavor to come up with their own way of salvation.  People live on earth any way they want and pay  no attention to God.  They avoid His instruction.  They ignore His Word.  They ignore His pleading and decide to just live they way they want and when a loved one dies, t hey cry out , “See you in heaven.”   They might also say, “ You will have no more suffering.”  People can come up with all kinds of ideas of what happens after death including reincarnation as someone else, or something else, or going to Nirvana, orgoing to play a harp while sitting on a cloud but they have totally ignored the willingness of God and to accept His way of salvation.  They are not sorry for their sin and have no thought of repentance.  So, the final words will be, “Depart from Me.  I never knew you.”  Praise God today that He is ready to save all who repent of their sin and call upon Him for salvation.

Are You Saved?

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

     John 3:16-17 says, “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

     Evangelism is a vital part of the church ministry but also one that is probably lacking in  many churches.  I got involved in a course in evangelism on how to witness without saying anything.  It seemed easy to me so took the course at the church.  You would wear a button that simply said, “Ask Me”  When someone would say, “Ask you what?”  I would simply hand t hem a track that had the title, “Since You Asked.”   I didn’t have to say a word but simply have the button on and a pocket full of the tracts to pass out to those who did ask.  It was an okay course so to speak and involved several different projects involving evangelism.  Eventually, you will need to say something when the time is appropriate.  Of course, the longer you wait, the more chance you will not have the opportunity since it just slipped through your fingers.

     We often focus on John 3:16 and perhaps don’t say too much about the next verse.  We use terms like, “You need to be saved.”  The question may come up, or at least should come up, “Saved from what?”  I was teaching a group of children and asked the question, “Has anyone been saved?”  One girl raised her hand and said that she was in a swimming pool and a lifeguard saved her. Well, that was a true story and shows how somehow we have not given the “saved from what” part as well as we should have.  Verse seventeen goes on to say that Christ came not to condemn the world but that through Him, they would be saved.  Further investigation reveals that there will be a series of judgments tht will end up sending souls to a Christless eternity.  That is the longest of times.  It is not temporary nor is it a time to work offf your mistakes for a period of time and then be released by a “pardon” by God of the universe.  No, it is forever.  It is eternity just as it says.  Further inviestigation describes the place to which people will arrive who have not been saved.  It is like utter darkness, so it will be loneliness beyond compare.  It will be a place of burning fire that does not consume you but just keeps burning and forcing you to anguish  in that unquenchable fire.  There will be no laughing, or singing, or drinking beer in the corner or speaking with you lost buddies.  God will be absent from that place of torment. There will be no light as the light of the Son of God will be in heaven with those who are saved.  While eternal separation from God is unpleasant to think about, we must still do so so as to create in ourselves a desire to reach the lost before it is too late.  Five minutes from now will be too late for many souls.  Many die every second and the time it took you to read this, thousands of people slipped into eternity.  Praise God for salvation.  Have you been saved?

Profitable Reading

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

     Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

     As a child I enjoyed reading books.  I remember the time that I got my fiSst reader in the first grade.   it was mostly the story about Dick and Jane and  Spot the dog.   After that my parents purchased a set of encyclopedias with two volumes of story books, one of them by Zane Grey which was all Western stories.  When in high school the literature class was one of my favorites.   We had the opportunity to read all kinds of writings from various authors including short stories and poems.  Now as an adult I find I read very little outside of 1 book.  That one book is the Bible.   all other books that I read are about the Bible or the Bible itself.

     We do not have the original parchments that contained the earliest writings of the scriptures.   We do have over 3000 manuscripts that are pages from the Bible.  The manuscripts are dated as far back as the third century and go up as far as the 10th century.   with all of these manuscripts we can be guaranteed that the translations that we have are accurate.   the above verse reminds us that every scripture is God-breathed.  The passage also exhorts us to have confidence in the scriptures because they are profitable in four different areas in our lives.   The scriptures are profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness.  Does that mean that I understand everything in the Bible?   The answer to that is no, I do not understand everything in the Bible.   Those things that I do not understand I put aside and mark them as questions and someday maybe I will understand that particular passage.  I am often reminded about the little song that says I Stand Alone on the word of God the b i b l e.  Thousands of books are being published every day.   whilel we have such a large number of books available we must ask ourselves what is the most profitable thing for us to read?  We could spend time reading William Shakespeare or Mark Twain or any number of other authors such as Charles Dickens and they would be good books to read.   it is only however, the Bible that is profitable for those areas in our lives which guide us in our style of living.  It has been said that there are three basic questions for every human being.   The first question is where did I come from?   The second question is why am I here?   and the third question is where am I going?  The only book that answers those three questions is the Bible, the word of God.  Praise God today for giving us His word the Bible.   May we be diligent in reading his letter to us.

Remember when....

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

     Ecclesiastes 12:1 says, “ Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them”

     A lady goes up and down the hallway almost every day calling out for her “Daddy.”  She was at our door one day and was looking for him and Diane opened the door and said, “He is dead.”  She gasped in shock for a moment and then went on her way, still calling out for her Daddy.  She has no short term memory at all.  Many have to be led to by the hand to the meal time and hen led back to their rooms after they eat or to sit in the living room and watch the large screen TV which seems to go in one ear and out the other.  Such is life at an assisted living facility, and one by one they pass away.

     I received an email recently that requires me to think back over forty years and to remember how things were.  It is a challenge do me but will try ro do my best to fulfill the request.  The above passage is one of my favorites from verse one tro verse eight.  Notice in particular, the words, “...in the days of thy youth.”  The Lord used me to begin certain ministries especially in regard to youth work, one of which was the AWANA program.  Id a child goes through the entire program from Cubbies throughRTeens, they will have memorized over a thousand verses of Scripture.  The memory banks of the youth need o be filled with verses of Scripture as these verses will emain with them when they are old.  The “Preacherr” exhorted us ro remember God when we are young and no rto wait until we get older and moe serious in our lifestyle.  When the memory begins to fade, only those things that have been embedded in our minds will survive.  Music is one of the last things to leave the memory.  Parents need to be a part of the training up of a child in the ways of the Lord.  Grandparents also need to be faithful in living out the Word of God and to be continually teaching the children the Word of God and then also by living it out.  How is your memory when it comes to the Scriptures?  How many verses can you still say after having memorized to many AWANA verses?  Praise od to day for His Word and rhe impact it has on rhe lives of both young and old.

A Penny For Your Thoughts!

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

     Second Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

     Our minds seem to be continually thinking about something.  I was once told in a book that meditation begins with freeing your mind of all thought.  At that point, I gave up on that course of thinking.  After i removed all thought, I was to start moving my tongue in an uncertain direction and let the Spirit take over.  I didn’t want to free  my mind of all thought as I might get something in it that I didn't want.  

     The Bible however, has much to say about our minds in regard to what we are thinking.  Elizabeth Elliott made the following statement, “"[Spiritual strongholds] begin with a thought. One thought becomes a consideration. A consideration develops into an attitude, which leads then to action. Action repeated becomes a habit, and a habit establishes a “power base for the enemy,” that is, a stronghold."  Notice that she begins with the fact that a spiritual stronghold will begin with a thought.  If that thought is unchecked, that is, measured with the Word of God, it will lead to a spiritual stronghold that we will have to battle with in the future.  When we look at the armor of the believer in the book of Ephesians, we notice that the sword is the Word of God. It is the only offensive weapon listed.  The rest of the pieces are all defensive.  As always, our attention needs to be focused on God’s Word with every thught that comes into our minds.  One sin that is quite common among many is covetousness and we find that to covet something is going to begin in the mind.  What are some of the more important things in your life about which you should be thinking?  The world thinks that religion is funny and in particular, Christianiy is funny.  It seems to ease their conscience if they can laugh about God and laugh about eternal punishment in hell.  While we know about God’s love, His grade and His mercy, we also know about His coming judgment when every soul will bow the knee before Him.  What people don’t understand is that you have the choice to meet God now in grace or you will meert Him later in judgment    Second Timothy 3:1-5 is already rampant in society so we know the time is short.  I pray that my thoughts will be how to keep people, souls, from going into a Christless eternity.  Praise God for His Word, the Sword of the Spirit.  A penny for your thoughts!

Tomorrow,, Tomorrow!!

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

     James 4:13-14 says, “ Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

     We live in a wing that has twelve rooms and our room is, number twelve.  We are at the end of the hall and each time I leave the room, I can look up to the left and right and see the names of each resident.  In the past year, some have come for a short stay and left.  Other “old timers” also disappear as they pass away one by one.  Five have died during the past eleven months.  Just when you think you get to know some of them, they are gone.  One lady across the hall in room eleven, was only 58 years old when she passed away.  Another lady, young for such a place, who could not speak, suddenly was transferred to another facility.  She could not say one word to me but just mumbled.  She had things to say, but couldn’t get them out of her head to her mouth.  She would sit for a spell during the service on Sundays.  Other times, she would just walk around as I spoke.  I never will know this side of heaven if she understood or if it made any difference to her life.

     The passage above reminds us of the brevity of life.  The woman mentioned above was a scientist, and nurse and had been involved in cancer research.  Then, in less than a year, she could no longer speak or take care of herself.  James says that we make all kinds of plans as if we have all the time in the world, but in reality, we don’t even know what the next minute will bring to our lives  Vapor doesn’t last very long  You can watch it rise from a boiling pot and then almost instantly disappear less than six inches from the pot.  I have to admit that I spend far less time building relationships these days.  Oh, they are important, but I tend more to get to the point a lot quicker because I may not be here tomorrow nor may the person to whom I am talking, whether young or old.  Most of us hae people for whom we are praying, especially for salvation.  We hope and pray that someone will get to them before it is too late.  We are probably that “someone” that will take the message of salvation to them.  We often wait for the ideal circumstance to make our plea for salvation but it is never quite what we desire, so we hold off for a more convenient time when conditions are perfect, only, they probably will never be perfect.  Praise God for the time He has given to us.  May we use it wisely.

The Pot and the Wooden Spoon

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

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

     Put a two year old on the kitchen floor with a pot and a wooden spoon and you won’t be able to hear anything else going on around you  To them, the louder the noise, the better.  One of  my very first Christmas gifts as a child was a peg board with a wooden hammer and a bag of different colored pegs.  I recall getting out  of bed in the wee hours of the morning and starting to pound the pegs into the peg board, making a lot of noise.  I guess it was too much as soon, my Father came in, took the board away and the hammer, put me in bed and turned out the light.  I assumed you couldn’t make noise when it was dark outside.

     The above passage is one of the most famous and perhaps, most used by the world, even the unsaved.  I have seen it on cross stitches.  In fact, I had one hanging near my bed and could see it every evenin when I went to bed.  This chapter is often referred to as the “love” chapter as it is mentioned in almost every verse.  When you come down to it, only you and God know what’s in your heart as far as motives that you and I have for doing what we do.  The Apostle Paul emphasizes that every work that is done is nothing more than a bunch of noise if there is no love present. There are no selfish motives present in the presence of this type of love.    Thee is just the simple act itself, perhaps done in secret. I am growing, hopefully in this area as I have an elderly lady  That is continually rattling my door knob.  I would often open the door and yell at her and ask her to please leave my doorknob alone.   the other day I just calmly went up open the door and ask her what she needed and she replied,  “ I just wanted to know if you would like to have a pair of tie-dyed tennis shoes.”   I said no thank you to that offer and she said okay and just walked off.  At the age of 84 I am still learning to love bitter here at the Assisted Living.   Praise God today that he is still working in our lives may we all be doing righteous acts to meet the needs of others.

Faith

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

     Hebrews 11:3 says, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”     

     We have been studying the book of Ephesians here at the facility in which Diane and I are currently living.   we are at the point of studying the Christian armor and how we need to put that on.   I reminded the people that the Apostle Paul was writing to the Saints which are at Ephesus so he was writing to Believers not to non-believers.   but then I ask myself “is it necessary to teach about the Christian armor to a group of people that run probably between 80 and 103?”  As odd as it may seem it is necessary as there seems to be a lack of kindness between residents not only at this facility but probably at many facilities.  A frequent prayer request from the people is that the residents would be more happy.   even they recognize a lack of Happiness between residents here because of our actions between one and another.  I can answer yes to my above question as I do think it is necessary in all of our Christian Life to be concerned about the Christian armor that God has given to us in order to live successfully and victoriously here on Earth.

     We often exercise faith in our everyday lives even when we don’t think about it.  I sit in a chair and I have faith it will hold me.  I would start my car and have faith that it would start.  I drove on the right side of the roa and by faith thought that the oncoming drivers would do the same as we passed by each other at 40 mph less than three feet apart.  The above passage is astounding in that it describes for us the creation of the universe.  All matter was framed by the Word of God.  God spoke, and it was there even when it was not made or shaped by existing material.  Romans 1 d  eclares that even the creation itself bears testimony of God and His power and that all things were created by Him as well as Colossians one.  We may ask ourselves, “How powerful is the object of our faith?”  In the case of the believer, the Object of our faith is God Himself Who is all powerful above and beyond all that we even dare to think about.  From the bombardier Beetle to Andromeda, we see the power of God and know that without a doubt, we can have our absolute faith in Him in all things both here and now and the hereafter.  Yes, we will  keep on putting on the armor which sometimes gets laid aside in the corner of our busy lives.  Paul said that in all circumstances or above all, put on the shield of faith.  Praise God for His  daily help in the living of our lives while we wait for glory.

Interruptions

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

     Romans 15:22-25 says, “For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.  But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.  But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.”

     Mark Lowly once did a skit on”interruptions.”  Many times we find that our plans are interrupted and we end up doing something different than we had hoped in the beginning.We find that the plans that we had just turned out to be a lot different the word for hindered up above was the word were saved with chop up the pathway and stop the forward movement.    Last Monday I found myself back at the hospital I didn't plan on that so it's been a few days there came back on Friday and came back to find it my computer was dead and it my phone charger cable is also broken which means I have to type by devotions on my laptop which is really not convenient so my communication to you has been impeded so to speak.  

     The Apostle Paul had a desire to get to Rome and every time he would try to get there something else would come up and you end up going someplace else sometimes the things that occurred in life are not necessarily good things but they do stop us from doing what we intended to do.   There is another passage in 1st Thessalonians where Paul says that Satan hindered him from going to thessalonica.   we often find that true also where the evil one will put a block between us and that which we intended to accomplish this impeding our progress,  However in my case I need to determine what things are of God at what things are of Satan I may have my own plans and they may not necessarily be God's plans.  I looked at the experience of going to the hospital and wondered why I was there and I did have an opportunity to speak to different people make new acquaintances sing a few songs not necessarily having a good time but it wasn't that bad so God had a purpose God has a purpose in doing a lot of things in our lives sometimes it changes the direction that we plan to go it's like we say he opens doors and closes doors and I just go through the open doors that he has put before us.   It would be obvious that the open doors are those doors which actually do the will of God and as we look in the New Testament we realize what God's will is.  For instance he says to give thanks in everything sometimes that's hard to do but that's the will of God.  Praise God today for the interruptions in your life and in my life God has a purpose.