You Think So, Huh?

“But Naaman was wroth…and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely…” God did not do things according to this man’s pre-existing ideas. And as a result, like the Irish say, he became “out of sorts.” His mistake is one we still make today. We fancy ourselves imagining how the Lord will pull off certain things for us in our lives.

When we have big expectations of the way God will do certain things, we are in danger of being miffed with God when He voids them. To have such a mindset is to set oneself up for a let down. Naaman said, “I thought,” but God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.”

A popular advertisement says, “Take the bus, and leave the driving to us.’ Let’s make our requests and leave all the details and intricacies to Him.

When we ask God to do something for us, it is well to remember, beggars can’t be choosers.

When the Kingdom Comes

The Old Testament priest was first and foremost a go-between. He was an intermediary, the middle man, an intercessor if you please. But he, like all others of his kind, had an infirmity that kept him from unbroken intercession; he had to sleep. Isn’t it wonderful that we now have a High Priest that neither sleeps nor slumbers?

The priests’ of old carried the names of God’s people upon their shoulders (strength); and upon their breast (affection). But unlike the Aaronic priesthood, our Lord remains in God’s presence continually. Therefore, day or night we can be assured He is standing in the gap for us. He is our heavenly representative to God, pleading on our behalf. And what a comfort to know the Father always grants His risen Son His desire.

Now we understand why Jesus told the disciples that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine until He drank it new with them in the Kingdom. The Old Testament priest could not drink wine while he was ministering in the priest’s office, but could afterward. Our Lord is saying His intercessory work is to continue throughout this age, unbroken and undisturbed. But after His work is accomplished, we will all sit with Him at His heavenly table, and sip from His eternal cup, filled with everlasting joy.

Poor Substitutes

I am not necessarily opposed to family councilors, Alcoholic Anonymous, psychiatry, and a host of other things used as legitimate means to get people back on their moral feet. I’d be inconsistent if I were, for I believe medicines can be used to cure physical ills. What I am against is total dependence on the means, even to the extent of glorying in them.

Everything good comes from God; therefore, whether it is Divine healing, or the use of means, behind it all is God. Whatever or whoever is used to get the job done, God, and God alone is to get all the glory, not individuals or institutions. To be grateful for them is one thing, to glory in them is another. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” “My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise…”

I’ve often wondered why it is today we do not hear more of instant and permanent deliverance in Christian’s lives. Such as drunkards, druggies, perverts, demon possessed, and such like. Have we limited the Holy One? Do we no longer believe He came to set the captive free? That nothing is too hard for God? Have we become so familiar with Him like His home townsmen that it can be said of us also, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief?”

It may not be your fault if you’re physically handicapped, but you have no one to blame if you are a Spiritual cripple.

A Legible Prescription

“…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” The great Physician left His patients a personal prescription when facing pain. And this prescription He legibly wrote out in His Word: We are to look past pain. His example was to keep one’s eyes on the joy of the afterward, not the pain of the present.

When the soul is sorrowful, the spirit in agony, and the body wracked with pain, faith in a future joy enables us to endure the unpleasantness of life’s discomforts. I cannot help but believe this is what kept Job going. In the midst of all his sufferings, he knew there was a future day in which he would see God. What a joy to anticipate

Who cares about a long night, if an eternal day awaits.

A TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND

On Nov.17th my good friend, Rev. Bill Riddick of Ocean Springs, Ms., went to be with the Lord.

Bill Riddick was my friend in the true Biblical sense of the word. You will not find many men today with the caliber of character he possessed. As the western writer, Louis L'Amour, describes a man you can depend on, "He is one you can ride the river with." Bill was such a man. I'm saddened for young men who will no longer have such manliness as Bill's to emulate. May God in his mercy raise up some young Bill Riddicks! America is in desperate need of them.

Richard D. Sandlin
San Andreas, CA.

*Hindsight Faith

"Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he” (John 13:19;14:29). This is particularly true of prophecy. Many passages of Scripture that promise and foretell our Lord’s return have a certain element of obscurity connected with them. Our text certainly teaches that the interpretation of some prophecies will only be understood after their fulfillment. Only then will we grasp their significance. You might say, belief after the fact.

May this truth humble and deliver us from prophetic dogmatism. The fact of His coming ought to be our first and foremost concern. Good and godly men throughout Church history have differed on the minor aspects of prophecy. Prophetic interpretation should never be a basis of fellowship. Only the fact that He is coming a second time should be. Because of many prophetic students’ dogmatism, they have lost the blessedness of the “blessed hope.”
The early Church didn’t debate the Second Coming; they looked for it.

*Personal Attention

Writing to the Corinthian Christians, Paul tells them that God had comforted him in all his troubles so that he might comfort others with the comfort wherewith God comforted him. Herein lies a tremendous truth, which is, God deals with some directly and others in an indirect way. God comes to certain ones who are hurting, pours in the oil of healing, then bids them go and do likewise.

Many of us make the mistake Naaman made. He thought Elisha would deal with him personally; but, instead, he sent another in his place. Because of this, at first, he mistakenly turned away from the provided means wherein lay his help. When God sends His personal emissary to us, it does not mean He is any less concerned or involved in our personal lives.

Jesus said whoever received the one He sent to them received Him. Let us be careful that we do not turn away God’s chosen and end up comfortless.

The Will of God Is Always…

Someone said, “The Will of God is always bigger than we bargained for.” This is true in more ways than one; for God’s will, to the surprise of many, affects not just us, but others. As Oswald Chambers writes, “If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us.” We cannot prevent the suffering of others if we are going to do God’s Will. To attempt to relieve their grief will only grieve the Lord. Allow Him to deal with all the consequences resulting in our obeying Him.

When the wise men followed God’s plan for their lives, the result was that untold numbers of children, under the age of two, were killed by Herod. How do you suppose the parents, grandparents, and siblings of those little ones felt toward the three men’s brand of Christianity? And what about James and John who left their old father sitting in a boat, leaving him alone with a business he had built-up for his sons to take? The two had left all to follow the Galilean, of whom there was such controversy that people were divided everywhere He went.

In the movie entitled, The Untouchables, there is a great scene that illustrates my point. Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, wants to bring down Al Capone. He asks a regular cop on the beat named Malone, played by Sean Connery, how to do this. to which the seasoned cop answers by asking the question, “What are you prepared to do?” “Are you willing to go all the way?” What about us, what is our answer?

God’s Will is about God, not about us and others!

Perfect: Only in Christ

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect…” Paul would not have fit in with the mysticism and perfectionism groups of our day. The great Bible teacher, Harry Ironside, had a nervous breakdown trying to attain a state of Spiritual perfection. And the gifted Canadian scholar, J.I. Packer, testifies that he came close to the same experience in his early Christian life. People have gone insane trying to achieve the unachievable. Working toward a goal and reaching it are two entirely different things. Complete perfection is achieved only in Heaven.

There is a mild teaching of this doctrine found in both Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism today. You will find flavors of it in their preaching, writings, and testimonies. It characterizes itself by centering on the individual. There is a constant introspection which never allows them to ever have a sweet relationship with God. And yet the advocates of this teaching would have you to believe that this is what it is all about. They seem to always display a miserable and sad spirit. And who wouldn’t, scraping your insides constantly for any and all defects?

God accepts and blesses us where we are during any particular time in our Christian life. He knows our emotional, moral, physical, and spiritual state. God looks at the whole of a person; He does not look for isolated blemishes. Hebrews eleven proves this out. The people listed there all had their shortcomings and sins of the flesh. Of Abraham, for example, the New Testament says, “He staggered not at the promise of God…” but as you read the Old Testament account of this, you find he staggered like a drunken man. We find from this that it is possible for a saint to have a strong faith, but a weak flesh.

Until we are realistic about ourselves we will never lose our spirit of Phariseeism.

The Thing at Hand

I read the little quip many quote, “Jack of all trades; master of none.” But originally, I understand, it was, “Jack of all trades; master of one.” Though I am sure the former is true in some lives. Paul said, “…this one thing I do…” Not that it was the only thing he did, but at that time, all other things were subservient to the one thing. It’s the same principle as when Jesus remarked to Martha that “…one thing is needful.” That was, at that particular moment. I doubt many of us can do two things well at the same time. Usually you will sacrifice one for the other.

It can be dangerous in certain situations to try and attempt two things in unison. Crossing a busy intersection, no one would argue, you can chew gum and walk at the same time. But I would strongly advise keeping your mind on the latter! I asked an old Irish evangelist once if a person could have more than one gift. His reply was in the affirmative. But he added; only one will be functional at a time. For example, you don’t preach and play the piano at the same time. If you do, one gift will suffer, and so will the people listening.

Let us give our complete attention to what’s at hand. Whether it be playing with our children, studying, fellowship, work, etc. Any butcher knows this truth. Some have sacrificed their fingers, because they didn’t pay attention to that which was at hand. May God help us not to lose something precious because we did not give it proper attention.

*His Eminence

“That in all things he might have the preeminence.” At the heading of each book in my Bible, I have put a brief definition of what I believe that particular book’s overall teaching is. In the book of Colossians I have written “Christ, the Colossus of Colossians.” Some of the meanings of the word “colossus” are, “extra-ordinarily great; gigantic; huge; very powerful.” These are certainly good descriptive terms for our blessed Lord.

I heard an old preacher say once, “Jesus is the only Person you can brag on and never be guilty of over exaggeration.” You can always tell what kind of church you’re in by the place they give Jesus. There is an interesting text in Job that says, “How little a portion is heard of him.” In the Church, He is to be the center of our preaching, teaching, singing, testimonies, fellowship, praying, giving, and all business transactions. He is to tower over everything and everyone else.

I am fearful that too many ministers and people have the stamp of Diotrephes upon their foreheads (lll Jno.9).

*Our Only Hope

One of our modern-day sayings that really annoys me is, “Well, all we can do now is pray.” This may sound spiritual to the carnal hearer, but any Spirit-filled believer realizes immediately they’re listening to someone who knows little or nothing of God.

Prayer is not the last thing on the agenda, it’s first and foremost. Prayer is always to be our top priority, without exception.

Our problem in times of crises is attempting to find help horizontally, but the scriptures tell us, “Vain is the help of man.” Our only hope is to be found vertically. David knew this: “My help commeth from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” And so you can see the cause of our dilemma is a directional one.

We came into this world in a fetal position, and leave it in a fetal position. You would think we’d take the hint!

*Blessed by a Billboard

Years ago, as a young Evangelist, my wife and I were traveling to a revival meeting. As we came upon a giant-like billboard, I said to her, “There is the secret to the Christian life! In large, colorful letters was just one word, “Available.”

It is possible to be so busy “serving Him,” that one is not “available” to Him. As the prophet of old, we too must confess, “Thy servant was busy here and there.” We should never be so taken up with our “Daily Duties,” we would not welcome a “Divine Interruption.”

Philip, was in the midst of a Spiritual atmosphere where the blessings of God were being poured out abundantly. Yet, when the Lord asked him to suspend his activities, he obeyed immediately. And for what purpose: an obscure, behind the scene task, which few would have chosen. But there was one who was glad Philip made himself available.
God considers availability greater than ability!

Knowing is Believing

I can believe you have a father without ever knowing him. Knowing him would be prerequisite to an intimate, personal relationship. To pride oneself in telling others, that you believe in God, is really not that impressive, “…the devils also believe and tremble.” It could be asked, “What doest thou more than these?”

The Apostle John wrote extensively about belief. But when he qualifies true Biblical belief he writes, “…we have known and believed…” Paul said, “I know whom I have believed.” That is, he had a personal knowledge of the “whom” he believed in. To believe in a God you do not know is fantasy; to believe in a God you do know, is true faith.

George McDonald writes, “To say Thou art God, without knowing what the Thou means- of what use is it?” God is a name only, except we know God. Is it any wonder then that David impressed upon Solomon, “…my son, know thou the God of thy father.”

You will never know the God of the Bible apart from Jesus Christ! (Matt.11:27,b)

Charity Begins at Home

I like little quips such as the above title. I think another good one would be Faith Begins Within. God’s way is to work from the inside out. It seems to me we are concerned more with external faith, than internal faith.

Samson had a show of faith without, but was sadly lacking it within. He could overcome the outward, but couldn’t conqueror the inward. I doubt he realized the most important part of his life was that part that only God saw.

David killed a lion and a bear privately, before slaying the giant publicly. The greatest achievements in a Christian’s life are generally accomplished behind closed doors, with only God looking on. “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God.”

A faith that subdues fleshly desires on the inside, to me, is better than a faith that can remove mountains on the outside.

Perfection

My homespun definition of perfection is, “Completeness at stages.” A good example would be a carpenter building a table. There is the time of completion when putting together the rough materials; then come the sanding, staining, and the final shellacking. At each of these stages we would say to the professional, “That’s perfect.” Meaning, at that particular stage.

The Christian life is like this, we are all at various junctures in our lives at any given time. No one moves immediately from the first point to the last, without experiencing those in-between. Some, whom the “Master Builder” has moved to another stage, are in danger of looking back critically on those who are now where they were at one time. It would be wise to listen to the song that falls from the lips of these who are treading the path to the Celestial City; those following the more advanced saints. Part of the lyrics goes something like this: “He’s still working on me.” It is well for all of us to remember this.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Powerless Pretenders

“We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth...And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” Here we have some amateur actors assuming authority over one of Satan’s emissaries. But they lacked one important ingredient: authentic authority. Satan’s evil spirits are only subservient to God’s Holy Spirit.

There are still spiritual pretenders trying to perform like Paul. But the apostle tells us emulations are a work of the flesh, and always unprofitable. Satan sees through religious masks, for he is a master of disguise himself. He is always trying to be someone else. That’s what caused his fall. “I will be like the most high God.”

Only those yielded to God are on Satan’s watch list of potential threats. To all the rest he says, “...but who are ye?” To every Spirit-filled child of God, Jesus has personally relegated authority, for it is the Spiritual person who will not misuse God’s power for his own gratification, but only for good. It is to the latter of these that Jesus promised, “Behold, I give unto you power...over all the power of the enemy.”

When David stripped himself of another’s armor, and armed himself with the authority of God, his enemy fell before him.

The Secret of God’s Use of Me

Over the years I’ve been asked on occasions both by young preachers, as well as laymen, if there was any secret of God’s use of me. To deny God’s unusual use of this marred vessel through-out these many long years, for me would be the worst kind of false humility. As I look back over my life and ministry, I stand in awe, as do those who know a little of my past circumstances.

I was brought up in a home where the norm was infidelity, cursing, arguing, lies, drunkenness, and hurt. I was molested at the early age of five, and it continued for the next few years. God and religion were never mentioned, unless in a slang way. My schooling ended at the ninth grade, when I joined the U.S.A.F. as a seventeen year old boy, and went shortly thereafter to Korea.

And so, why is it God would use such a one as me? Contrary to many, I do not believe it was in spite of these handicaps, but because of the very fact of them, so that, “No flesh should glory in His presence.”

Apart from God’s Sovereignty, I believe there are seven things from the human standpoint that went into His use of this “wash pot.” (Psl.60:8, a)

Firsst, I gave everything to Jesus Christ from the first. All, then, now, and forever was to be His.

Second, I sought the anointing of the Spirit, and He graciously poured His Holy Ghost upon this dry, thirsty soul.

Third, The King James Bible was, and is, “The Book.” No kitchen knives, as the new translations, but only God’s sharp two-edged sword.

Fourth, To the best of my ability, God’s Glory was to always be first and foremost.

Fifth, I determined to go-it-alone, if need be, whatever the cost.

Six, I knew there would be a lot of knock-downs, so I decided I’d always get up one more time.

Seven, I made it a reality that if I were to ever sin and give it all up, I’d regret it, every day, and the rest of my life.

“God can hit an awful hard lick with a crooked stick, if the stick belongs to Him.” (Dr. Joe Henry Hankins)

The Devil’s Dollar

It’s purported that an old drunk on skid row offered the Evangelist D.L. Moody a dollar bill, which he readily accepted. When asked why he received such a gift from such a person, his reply was simply, “The devil has used it long enough; it’s time to put it into God’s service.”

David took the world’s means and used them in a way contrary to them. The smooth stones he used to slay Goliath (1Sam.17:17:40), were used by the heathen in their worship (Isa.57:6). And don’t forget the youngster took the giant’s own sword and used it against him to sever his head from his body (1Sam.17:50-51)

I remember in the early 50’s how Billy Graham was criticized for using television in getting out the gospel. Now most, if not the entire world has heard it. If you have not yet begun to take the world’s technical knowledge and turnit against them, it is time to start. As Moody said, “The devil has used it long enough.”Moody was right!

In John 9, the blind man was made to see, when Deity from Heaven used the cursed dirt of this world.

Looking Is Not Enough

Paul, writing to his young protégé Timothy, warned him of “doctrines of devils.” Under the guise of spiritual leadership, authoritarian spirits would both “forbid” and “command.” The former having to do with marriage; the latter being related to meats. But the Bible teaches “Marriage is honourable in all,” and that meats are to be “received with thanksgiving.” Yet some had departed from the faith and had given heed to these “seducing spirits.”

Paul is addressing professing Believers in this instance. The safeguard he tells them from not going away from the truth is in both believing and knowing it. Not just in believing the truth, but knowing it. The fact that they were Believers tells us they believed the truth. The problem lay in the fact that they did not know the truth. Belief of the truth is not good enough; you must know it. Many of God’s children believe the Bible is true, yet their lives are in shambles for lack of knowledge of it.

In other words, just looking at the scale doesn’t take off weight. I hope you get my meaning!

Snubbing Good Advice

Ahab, like many today, turned his nose up at good advice. The reason was that the one giving it didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear. He was looking for agreement, not advice. He said of Micaiah, “…he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil.” It was for this reason Micaiah earned Ahab’s hatred.

Some people don’t seem to understand, you can’t prophecy good things to bad people. They criticize their advisor for rubbing the cat the wrong way, while all the time refusing of turn the cat around themselves. If one wants to hear good, he or she must of necessity be willing to do good.

It is always a wise thing to seek the counsel of the wise. Only a fool rejects the advice of a person who has already been down the road they’re to travel. Know-it-alls end up finding out they knew nothing at all. They incessantly run into ditches and wonder why they can’t get anywhere on the road of life.

On my way to a speaking engagement, I once went a hundred miles the wrong way, simply because I would not ask for directions. You’ll never get where you want to go by going the wrong way. The sooner you stop and ask the right way the sooner you will arrive at your desired destination.

Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns! ~Allison Gappa Bottke

*Precious Memories

When Paul admonishes “Forgetting those things which are behind,” he is not speaking of the pleasantries of the past, but rather, only those things that would bring us down or puff us up. Throughout the Scriptures, God encourages His children by reminding them of the prized blessings He bestowed upon them in the past. He only deviates from this when we are in danger of straying, and a warning is needed. He never brings up anything that was unpleasant in our past to discourage us. That is the ministry of Satan.

It is good to sit down now and then and think back of all the wonderful and good things He has done for us. There is nothing that will produce courage to go on, and faith to face the future, like the precious memories of the past. Take a little time this very moment and “…consider how great things he hath done for you.”

God gave us memories that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922

*Narcissistic Christians

I go along with A.W. Tozer who detested contemporary words that were in vogue. One such word at present is “narcissist.” Though I do not care for its worn-out over-use, I am, nevertheless, fascinated by its derivation. It comes from the Greek word “narke,” (narcotic) meaning numbness or stupor. In Greek mythology, we are told there was a young man named Narcissus, who pined his life away by falling in love with his own reflection.

It is difficult for many who pass as “sacrificial Christians” to believe they would fit into this category. But Paul tells us, in no uncertain terms, such creatures exist. The old saint told the proud Corinthians that it was possible for him to, “Bestow all [his] goods to feed the poor, and…give [his] body to be burned,” yet it profit him nothing. Why? Because he could be doing it with the wrong motive, for self. In other words, he would be a “Narcissistic Christian,” if you please. We Christians who live sacrificial lives need to be careful using the word “narcissist” of others; it might just boomerang on us!

“God sends no one away empty, except those who are full of themselves.” (D.L. Moody)

Tarry at the Promise

“…men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” It is supposed all God’s people are praying people. In spite of all the mysteries involved, the followers of Christ should pray without ceasing. It should be as natural as breathing. It’s not something you think about or talk about; you just do it.

But why the shortness of breath? Why the weariness? Why the loss of heart in our prayer petitions? Simple. Because of the time lapse involved. God is not on our time table. He goes by Heavenly Standard Time. Concerning the woman’s plea in our story, it says of the judge, “…he would not for a while: but afterward…” God’s delays are not denials.

Persevering prayer is the prescription for getting our petitions granted. We need patience in prayer. We can be assured “…though he bear long with [us]…” yet he will answer His own elect that cry unto Him day and night. The prophet knew this when he penned, “…though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

God’s “afterwards” is worth waiting for.

Does Your Bible Have Bite?

The Word preached by the prophets, apostles, and preachers in the Holy Scriptures had a bite to it. It had two-edges, both equally razor-sharp. Today’s modern translations have left the healing side, but filed to a dull edge the wounding side. We are told when Peter, that unlearned and ignorant fisherman, preached, the people were “pricked” and “cut” to the heart. The Word he preached had teeth. Today’s ministers seem to be “gummin it,” if you’ll pardon the expression.

I notice in the contemporary books of our day that we are made to believe such men as A.W. Tozer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and A.W. Pink used watered-down translations. Certainly these men did not believe the Authorized Version as this writer does, but it was their main source in reading, studying, writing, and preaching. Tozer, in referring to an anemic translation of his day, said it was like “shaving with a banana.”

In referring to the Authorized Version Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Still, there are certain few differences that remain, but it is significant that they are never with respect to doctrine or historical facts. It is a matter of figures or something which is comparatively unimportant and which can be explained quite readily - the mistake, perhaps, of a copyist, or of some translator. There is nothing which in any way interferes with vital, essential doctrine. So what we affirm and state is this: The original documents, as originally written, are inerrant and infallible. We say even of this Authorized Version that apart from a mere handful of minor discrepancies, which hitherto have not been explained and which are completely unimportant, this is the Word of God and the only infallible rule for faith and conduct.”

“Other translations will doubtless jostle for place in the nation’s bookstores in the twenty-first century. Yet the King James Bible retains its place as a literary and religious classic, by which all others continue to be judged.” (Alister Mc Grath)

FEAR.

Someone has said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” I’m so grateful that early in my Christian life, I was shown that courage is not necessarily the absence of fear—that they can run side by side, and generally do. Courage is simply going on by faith in spite of fear. We are told in the Scriptures “by faith they feared not.” I have been plagued by fear since I was a small boy. Learning the above truth, after my conversion, has helped me tremendously.

How often we fear the intangible—a nameless dread grips and numbs our spirits. We seem to be afraid of anything and everything. We fear people, the past, and the future. We are fearful of the unknown, of undertaking responsibilities, and making decisions. If not careful, we can live a lifetime of fear. The writer of Hebrews describes such people. He says, “Through fear...were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”


Fear paralyzes. And John tells us, “Fear hath torments.” But, thank God, we no longer have to be held in this vice of fearfulness. God promises, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say...I will not fear.” A consciousness of His presence will do away with this dreaded plague, Jesus said, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Remember, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

"Courage is being scared to death- but saddling up anyway." (John Wayne)

“Missed-understanding”

One of the effects of the Fall is having a carnal confidence in our own understanding. I emphasize “our own.” Since that notable but tragic day in the Garden, man’s understanding has been darkened. Only by Divine light shining upon his clouded intellect will he be enlightened. To trust our own understanding is to lean, as it were, upon a broken reed; it just won’t hold one up. It is difficult for most to admit “…there is none that understandest.” It is not figgerin’ or finagelin’ but “…by faith we understand…”

David had difficulty trying to understand one of life’s great mysteries. Speaking of this agonizing experience, he writes, “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went unto the sanctuary of God; then I understood…” David got it, once his understanding was sanctified.

We all need a humble spirit, as the Ethiopian eunuch. When asked by Philip “understandest thou…” his reply was “…How can I except…” Until we go to God for life’s answers, nothing will make sense to us; we’ll never understand!

God’s a Good Listener

“O thou that hearest prayer...” Hearing prayer is a part of God’s nature. It is one of His attributes. He is a generational God—the same yesterday, today and forever. He heard earnest prayers before the flood as well as after it. He heard the prayers of His people when they were in the land of Canaan and in Babylonian captivity. He heard the prayer of a Canaanitish woman and those of the chiefest apostle. God eagerly waits to hear our prayers, no matter what the condition or our position in life.

But how many of us are like Job of old, who, in his dark hour cried, “If I had called...yet would I not believe that he had harkened unto my voice.” The persecuted, primitive Church had the same problem. Praying for Peter’s deliverance from prison, and told by the maid, Rhoda, that God had heard their prayer, they answered, “Thou art mad.”

O why are we so slow to believe He will hear us? In spite of scores of great prayer promises, we still refuse to believe. Listen to one such promise given to Jeremiah while he was shut up in prison: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

If He hears the young ravens that cry to Him for food, “are ye not much better than they?”

Total Depravity

God tells us through His prophet Isaiah that man is depraved, “From the sole of the foot even unto the head.” J.I. Packer defines depravity as a, “universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person.” It is total in its degree of corruption, both in our moral and spiritual makeup. No part of us is left untouched by sin. Therefore, total depravity necessitates total inability. We need God’s divine intervention in our lives from start to finish.

We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners, and it’s our nature to do so. The external life may look healthy, but the inward is eaten up with cancerous sin. As C.S. Lewis states, “Of all created beings the wickedest is one who originally stood in the immediate presence of God.” Dress a corpse with all the niceties you will, but it is still putrefying within. Cosmetics can’t change that.

We see horrible things happening all around us today, and invariably someone will say, “If I know my heart, I could never do such a thing.” The truth is we do not know our hearts. The Bible tells us that it’s, “… deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” We are like Peter when the Lord told him the hideous thing he was about to do; he believed others could do such a thing, but never himself. My friend, we are capable of the vilest acts; therefore, let us humble ourselves, bowing in the dust before our God, trusting Him to keep us.

All of mankind has black hearts hiding behind white vests!

First Steps

If you’ve been saved any length of time, then you are probably familiar with the Bible story of the Pharisee and the Publican. We find from this account, that after all is said and done, each of us has one of two choices in our approach to God. We come before Him with religious pride or a humble spirit. And need I mention which of the two our Lord commended?

An old Puritan wrote, “Humility is the repentance of pride.” I am fearful that far too many of us come into Gods presence with our spiritual “credentials”, hoping to impress Him. But He cares not for our “rags of righteousness”.

If we are to see things happen in our homes, churches, ministries, and personal lives, then we need to realize the first step toward God is a humble heart. And how does one acquire this? C. S. Lewis tells us, “If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed”.

“Our father was Adam, our grandfather dust, our great-grand-father nothing.” (Puritan Saying)

The Divine Alphabet

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book.” It’s been said of the writings of C.S. Lewis that his first sentence always had the last in view. This should be especially true in our Christian lives. We began with God, and we are to keep in mind, that is how we are to end. Though, sad to say, like some books, many of us start out good but end up bad.

To live life without God is like an incomplete sentence. But, on the other hand, those whose every thought and endeavor in this life originates with “In the beginning God” will find at its conclusion the main subject of their sentence—God.

A heathen philosopher once asked: “Where is God?” The Christian answered: “Let me first ask you, where is He not?”

The Perpetual List

If there is any practical lesson to be learned from Creation, it is this: The Lord didn’t do it all in one day. So why must we? Our frustration comes from refusing to follow this Divine example. We are constantly trying to tie-up all the loose ends by the end of one day. It might be well for us to remember that there will always be untied shoes awaiting us.

Life doesn’t stand still while we get it all together; it’s an ongoing thing. We must learn to go with the flow. Because of this, the only thing left for us is to prioritize our lives, putting the most important things at the top. And what you don’t get done today, transfer to tomorrow’s list, always keeping in mind, you’ll never catch-up. Or, as someone has so apply said: “When you die, your in-basket won’t be empty

A good philosophy to live by is to do what comes next; that is, “Do the next thing.”

Seeing the Invisible God

“...what likeness will ye compare unto him?” The teacher asked the little boy, “What are you drawing?” To which the little fellow answered, “A picture of God.” “But no one knows what God looks like,” said the teacher. Smiling, the young artist replied, “They will when I get through!”

I’m afraid many of us, also, are guilty of this attempt. We conjure up in our minds a mental picture of God. To paint His image on the canvass of our minds is just as wrong as drawing it on paper or chiseling it in stone. To do so is to break the second commandment.

It is impossible to please God until you, by faith, simply believe “that he is.” God is eternally invisible. Yet, we, like Moses, can see the Invisible, by faith. You can see God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only Son Who is the true “spittin’ image” of His Father!

Affliction’s Advantage

“Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word…It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes…I know, O Lord…that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” David, in retrospect, could say affliction was good for him. And each of us, in hindsight, should be able to see affliction was to our advantage. Sometimes, we do not know what is good for us, but God always does. Affliction is one of those “all things” that works together for our good. Is it any wonder then that Paul rejoiced in them?

Plenty does not always mean richer; sometimes it leaves us poorer. In prosperity, Israel was prone to forget God. But, in affliction, she could say, “Yet have we not forgotten thee.” More times than one, sickness teaches us more than a sermon. Whatever the form or design, affliction benefits us. The Psalmist tells us the result is that we will keep God’s Word, as well as learn it. And, as an old saint said, “Who cares if the file is rough, if there’s less rust?”

Whoever brings affliction, it is God that sends it. (Thomas Watson, Puritan)

Carried By My Father

In Isaiah chapter forty-six, God says of His elect that they were, “...borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age, I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” What a promise! He will not only carry us in our infancy, but down to old age. As someone has rightly said, “From the womb to the tomb.”

Now we can understand David’s words in the twenty-second Psalm: “I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.” This was not only prophetically true of our Lord Jesus, but we read it was so with such men as David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, etc.

What a wonderful, secure place to be—wrapped in the Everlasting Arms, with our heads resting against the loving heart of our Heavenly Father.

O, the joy I found in carrying my own children in their infancy! And there was just as much pleasure in carrying my little frail mother of ninety-four in her closing days. If this be so with man, how much more with God?

Just to think of it—we’re safe in the arms of God!

At the Bottom of the List

The last sin to be acknowledged or confessed in our lives is that of prayerlessness; even if we admit to it then. Samuel says to the Lord’s people, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” If it’s a sin not to pray for others, how much more is it not to pray at all? And notice, to not pray is a “sin against the Lord."

If we were honest with ourselves we would say with Job, “If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had harkened unto my voice.” It is during those long intervals when God has us wait that we loose our faith. And when this happens, we also lose face. Like the old suffering patriarch, we impulsively say, “…what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?”

Jesus said, “…men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” If you have fainted during a long night of silence form God, try praying. Its a good smelling salts.

"Set no time to the Lord the creator of time, for His time is always best." (Samuel Rutherford)

In Lucifer’s Likeness

C.S. Lewis points out, “No one is proud because he is rich or clever, or good looking. He is proud because he is richer, or more clever, or better looking than someone else. It involves a comparison which always goes in the favor of the one who makes it.” How we love to exalt ourselves at another’s expense. This caused Lucifer’s downfall.

God hates pride, and we harbor it. How can we condone what God condemns? William Law wrote: “Pride must die in you or nothing of Heaven can live in you…Look not at pride only as an unbecoming temper, nor at humility only as a decent virtue…one is all hell and the other all Heaven.”

If a person is not embarrassed when you speak to them of their humility, they are proud.

Taking up the Apologist Cloak

Please allow me to attire myself in the garb of an “apologist” for just a little while. I use the word as the dictionary defines it: “A person who argues in defense or justification of something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.” I’d like to use the latter of these three meanings and plead the case for Fundamentalist Churches.

These Bible assemblies have gotten a bad rap from the world. And what makes it worse, many of the respect seeking Evangelical churches and those associated with the Reformed movement, to name just two, have piled on. To be sure, the Fundamentalist are known for often “doing the right thing, in the wrong way.” But in the end, they are doing right! It is much better than doing “the wrong thing in the right way,” like so many of their pious critics are known for.

This belittled band of Believer’s give more to missions; have more young men surrender to go into the ministry; preach on clean living; win more souls; preach on hell, sin, death and judgment; start more churches; oppose apostasy; keep Christ’s coming constantly before their people; pass out tracts; preach on street corners; are unashamed to shout, raise their hands, and, yes, dance for Jesus; and last, but not least, they are the workingest people you’ll ever meet!

So remember the next time you hear one of these uninformed, dry branches criticize one of these stalwart saints, who are getting the job done, you’re listening to a person with no more substance than cotton candy. Hot Air!

It’s one thing to say, “We need more John the Baptists; it’s quite another to be one!”

Sad Saints

I agree with C.S. Lewis who says there are only two times a Christian is justified in being sad: when it has to do with his or her own sins, or when seeing other peoples’ sufferings. The Corinthians, I believe, would fit under the heading of the first and Nehemiah the second.

I wonder if Joseph’s question to the butler and baker couldn’t be applied to many of us, “Wherefore look ye so sadly today?” Or better yet, Jesus query to the two disciples on the Emmaus road, as they walked with the risen Saviour and were sad.

I find when I’m in such a sad condition, like Hannah of old; it is a good thing to have a talk with my High Priest. After her chat with hers we are told, “[She]…was no more sad.” And neither will we be!

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The High and Mighty

“...the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut.7:6). Special—not meaning better than, but, rather, different from. Unique from others of its own kind. Chosen to be a pattern, not a pet (1Tim.1:16). Christians sometimes flaunt themselves before the unregenerate of the world, giving the impression of superiority, forgetting they are what they are by the grace of God (1Cor.15:10).

We need to constantly remind ourselves when observing the non-Christian community around us, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” We are warned to “...be not high minded but fear.” “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were...” better, holier, more intelligent, stronger, or greater than others. “But because the Lord loved you...” He loved us simply because He loved us (Deut.7:7-8).

May God help some of us to come down from our high and mighty perch, and “...walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 7:8); and to “...condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits...” (Rom.12:16).

He who thinks he’s better than all sinners is the greatest sinner of all.

Esther’s Secret

When Esther’s time came to appear before the king we are told that, “…she required nothing.” The other women who came before him loaded themselves with precious ornaments of various kinds; such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, and the like. But there was nothing artificial about this woman. What you saw was what you got. She was not out to impress the king with who she was not, but was willing for him to see her as she really was.

Such godly Christian women today come into their King’s presence singing, “Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.” There is no attempt, like Jacob of old; to pass themselves off as someone they’re not. Nor do they try to merit anything before their Royal Sovereign. Their testimony to Him is simply, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” In other words, they never take extras when appearing before the King of Kings.

It is interesting to note that, “The king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight…” It goes on to say. “He set the royal crown upon her head.” If Jacob was a prince with God, then Esther’s clan is princesses. The woman who sat next to the king, and was closest to him, was the one who dared to be herself before him.

"The king's daughter is all glorious within." (Psl.45:13, a)

All That Glitters Isn’t Gold

The old-time Nazarene preacher, Uncle Buddy Robinson, after touring the sights of New York said, “I’ve seen it all, and there ain’t nothin’ I want.” This is how I feel about the brand of Christianity on display today. Both in the pulpit and pew there is giddiness whenever a politician, athlete, or actor professes to be a Christian. Once it was the walk, not the talk that characterized a person as belonging to Him. Nowadays it seems to have reversed.

These wide-gate professors are great ones for name dropping, their favorite word being “Lord.” But Jesus said, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Lordship, then, has to do with doing! We are explicitly told to keep His commandments. Not in order to be saved, but because of the fact we are saved. These “cosmetic Christians” believe their God commands nothing of them, thus He expects nothing from them. Sure is convenient, huh? No commands, no demands.

A grace that does not deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, is a disgrace! Jude tells us, it is this sort that has turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. It seems to be the in thing today among the younger set of Christians to accept lying, fornication, thievery, and all the other sins of this filthy flesh as the norm. They believe its vogue, but God still says it is vile. Their one authority for this dogmatic ignorance is an embarrassing, yet emphatic, “I think.”

Years ago, the old Baptist preacher Vance Havner said, “The time is coming when the man picking your pocket, when caught by you will say, “It’s okay, I’m a Christian, too.” I believe that time is upon us!

A Ruined Reputation

“But made of himself no reputation.” I heard an old preacher years ago say, “Most of us spend a lifetime trying to get a reputation; while our Lord tried to get rid of one.” A reputation can be a good or a bad thing. If it keeps one from change, it falls under the latter of these.

Your reputation is to never come before God’s revelation. As we grow in the Lord, only pride will keep us from changing our past views, and rejecting a present, fuller, enlightenment. It seems we’d rather seem consistent before the brethren than Biblically correct before God.

A marvelously used missionary once told me, “The first pre-requisite of being used of God, is a ruined reputation.” Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, “Reputation is what people think you to be, character is who God knows you to be.”

Light rejected brings greater darkness.

Missing What Life is All About

In one of his many books, a well known Dispensational Bible teacher says that the theme of the Bible is the Kingdom. How sad that so-called scholarship should be so shallow. The central theme of the Bible is Jesus Christ. Theologians refer to it as, “Christocentric.” Eliminate Christ from the two Testaments and the Bible disintegrates into fragments. If He is subtracted you are left with unexplained ceremonies, unachieved purposes, unappeased longings, and unfulfilled prophecies.

In a well meaning attempt today, I’m sure, many, in trying to bring about a moral change are majoring on the political, psychological, and philosophical aspects of life. But all such attempts apart from Christ are immoral. “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”

We are told, “…that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.” Anything or anyone who is put in His place throws our lives completely off kilter. Nothing in this life is of any value unless directly related to Him. He is to be the center-piece on the mantle of our hearts, all else is to be moved to the sides.

“The crown of all the saints’ victories must be set upon the head of Christ.” (Thomas Watson)

God Wondered

“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.” God’s people had deteriorated to the level of the nations around them. They had corrupted their manners by lying, worshipping idols, indulging in sexual sins, sacrificing their children, and mocking that little weak remnant who were trying to live Godly. Seems contemporary, doesn’t it?

In the midst of all this, God searched for one person to intercede for His people, but found none. No man would do anything for the support of the bleeding cause of God’s elect. No doubt there were those who complained of the evil of the times, but they did not have the faith or courage to do anything about it.

God was looking for someone to stand in the gap as a prayer warrior in opposition to the wickedness of the day, but His search was futile (Ezek.22:30). “He wondered that there was no intercessor.” He could not find an Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Esther, Daniel, Paul, or Epaphras.

John tells us, “As he is, so are we in the world.” Jesus' main ministry since returning to Heaven has been that of an intercessor!

Coming and Going

“The [devil] came to him…Then the devil leaveth him.” The devil, as in the life of our Lord, comes and goes in ours also. But he never comes to stay. After he ended his time of tempting we are told, “… he departed.” We also see this from examples such as Job in the Old Testament, and Peter in the New.

And what resulted in the above mentioned men’s lives, once the enemy of their souls left them? “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit”; of Job we are told, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning”; and what of Peter? We see him preaching his great Pentecostal sermon, with God’s blessings poured out in abundance.

O, dear child of God, let me encourage you to resist this “Evil One” just a little bit longer. I assure you, you will find, as Jesus did, that when all was ended, “Angels came and ministered unto him. C.S. Lewis reminds us, “In scripture the visitation of an angel…begins by saying, “Fear not.”

Temporal or Perpetual

“And he felt him, and said the voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Because Isaac went by feeling, rather than the spoken word, he was deceived. Feelings are always inferior to faith. They cannot be a part of a Christian’s regular diet. We must never gauge our spiritual life by this type of thermometer.

Feelings are like a roller-coaster; they have their extreme highs and their lowest lows. But faith is a straight, steady road. It may not have the excitement of the former, but it will get you to where you’re going quicker. Crisis feelings of any sort are essentially transitory. Feelings come and go. They never stay for long, “but the word of God abideth forever.” We may choose between the two—the temporal or the perpetual.

The woman with the issue of blood felt she was healed on the spot, but Jesus’ word gave her lasting assurance for the future.

Variety: the Spice of Life

“For who maketh thee to differ from another?” God is for individualism; most all will agree to this. Yet, when we come to the feminine gender, we have a double standard. A man can be a rugged individualist, but a woman is to fit into the “cookie-cutter” category. In some Christian circles, women (and little girls) are expected to look, act, and think alike. This is proven by the statement, “Why can’t you be more like her?” Yet everyone knows a variety of flowers is more beautiful than just one kind alone. If the latter were true, you’d soon tire and lose your enjoyment of life.

This rigid regimentation of Christian women comes from emphasizing the importance of externals in her life over her inward qualities. For example, we tell our daughters and wives they are to be meek and quiet, referring to the outward. But the Bible says this has to do with her inward spirit (1Pet.3:4). It’s the “hidden man of the heart” that God is mainly interested in. Jesus was meek and lowly, but, “in heart” (Matt.11:29). Meekness is not a physical, but a spiritual trait (1Cor.4:21b). God promises to bless, not the poor, but the poor “in spirit” (Matt.5:3).

Fella’s, let’s give the girls elbow room to be themselves. After all, that’s what we want.

If the woman is weak, protect her; if equal, share with her; if superior, learn from her.

*Missing From the Menu

“...there came a lion...and took a lamb out of the flock...And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth.” David was guarding his father’s flock, and he had no intention of losing even one lamb to that lion. His father had given him those sheep, and they were in his care. He was responsible to keep each of them.

And so it was (and is) with the greater Son of David. In His High Priestly prayer to His Father, Jesus says concerning the sheep God had given him, “I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.”

Therefore, because of this, our testimony can be that of the Apostle Paul: “I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
The devil will never know what lamb chops taste like!

Tortoise Christians

“Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran Cushi” (Read 2 Sam. 18:19-33). Being “…first in his own cause,” does not qualify one before the Judge of all the earth. The king may say to such, “Turn aside and stand here”; while the Sovereign recognizes the one that the overachiever considered to be second best. Our Lord said, “[Many] that are first shall be last.” The same Authority went on to say it is possible that “…the last shall be first.”

John and Peter ran to the tomb with the former arriving first, and “…looking in.” But, though Peter was “runner-up,” he “…went in.” It may seem others are pulling out ahead of you and getting somewhere, only to find when they stand before the King, they got nowhere. Jacob got further with God limping than he ever did running. It’s “the lame,” that take the prey. And then shall come to pass, “The lame shall leap as an hart.”

The hare can outrun the tortoise all the time, but the tortoise can outlast the hare every time.

It's No Big Deal

Deism teaches that God exists and created the world, but has no part in the functioning of it thereafter. I am not a deist. I hold to the belief that God is interested and active in world conditions and the daily affairs of men. But I think some saints have gone to seed with this truth.

Someone said, “You can get so sweet you’re sticky,” and I’d like to add, it is possible to act so spiritual it’s sickening. There’s people who think there is a spiritual significance in every little thing that happens in their lives. I doubt seriously there is any divine design attached to many of the things we do, and that happen to us.

For example, when Isaac was up in years, his eyes got dim (possibly cataracts). This was not because God was chastening him, or he was not taking care of his eyes, nor was it a test to teach him some deep spiritual truth; it was simply part of getting old.

A.W. Tozer likens our journey to Heaven as being on a cruise ship. There are certain restrictions and daily commonsense functions, but much of the activity and movements are up to one’s own discretion. For example, what you’ll wear, what time you get up, what kind of food you eat that day, etc.

Let’s stop trying to analyze every little thing that happens in our lives. Don’t read more into situations than is actually there. And remember, all those little non-consequential happenings, they’re not that big a deal.

Bible Biographies

At the conclusion of most biographies I have read, I find myself saying, “This is too high for me: I cannot attain unto it.” Rather than going away encouraged, on many occasions it has produced the opposite effect. Why is this? Well, I have noticed most peoples’ enemies do not write about them. It is their admirers, friends, and loved ones, who write their biographies. If an adversary does write, you realize at once there is bias to be found in the book. But this is just as true if the former writes about them. The one emphasizes the bad; the other, the good, in the individual’s life. And both are generally blown out of proportion.

But this is not true in Bible biographies. Here we see the Author is the first to bring out anything commendable, even in the lives of those He has no respect for. On the other hand, He does not put cosmetics over the blemishes of the ones He dearly loves. There is no “sugar-coating,” even for the elect’s sake. This is one proof of inspiration. Bad men wouldn’t have written such things about themselves. Good men couldn’t have written it, for embarrassment. It’s God’s writings.

How I thank God for recording for me the lives of these saints, and not hiding their sins, faults, and short-comings. And how appreciative each of us should be of these people whose lives are laid bare, so that the entire world can read about them. How would I like for my life to be displayed in its rawest form? I have been so blessed and helped by reading the paradoxical stories of the lives of these sinning and shining saints. Only God could work these evils for their good and His glory. “Now all these things happened unto them for our ensamples: and they are written for our admonition...” (1 Cor. 10:11)

Can you Keep a Secret?

“He charged them that they should tell no man…” I have found Spiritual secrets are the hardest to keep quiet about, especially personal victories behind closed doors with that old lion-like devil. The youthful David never mentioned killing a lion to anyone until it was absolutely necessary, and then only to one man: Saul.

People need not hear our report, but rather enjoy the results that come from such experiences in our lives. You’ll remember Samson did not tell his parents of killing a lion with his bare hands, but they shared the sweet pleasure in the benefits of his personal victory. It is noticeable that soon after, when he told the world his secret, things started downhill.

It is written, after Jesus’ mighty triumph over Satan in the Wilderness, the devil left Him for a season. Then it says, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit.” This conquest is recorded, but nowhere does Jesus recount it to others. The outcome from this event was “and He taught (fed them the honey of the Word) in their synagogues.”

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;Each vict’ry will help you some other to win;Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue;Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

For Ministering Saints

“Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Though I do not believe it to be true in Peter’s case, there are many of us who minister to others who don’t necessarily cherish the thought of being ministered to by someone else, especially if that someone is inferior and lowly in our appraisal. We’d rather choose the one who is to minister to us, that is, if we choose at all. Balaam would never have chosen the instrument to minister and speak the truth to him that God did (2Pet.2:16).

There is something humbling in being ministered to. We do not always like being the recipients. Because of our pride, many of us would rather be the givers. This way, we feel we are no man’s debtor. With our independent spirits, we enjoy giving the impression that we have need of nothing (Rev.3:17). Oh, that more of us were like Apollos! (Acts 18:24-28).

“Every man knows something I do not; therefore every man is my teacher." (Plato)

A Personal Physician

“Jesus…said…They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” The “goody-goody-two-shoes” Christian of our day has missed out on a great blessing, a spiritual intimacy with the Divine Doctor. Just as Dr. Luke “the beloved physician” was the constant companion of ailing Paul, so it can be with our Great Physician and us. But only when we get rid of our Laodacean attitude of “I have need of nothing.” Physicians are not found among the healthy, but the hurting. Their place is among the sick.

John Owen said, “The whole may give the physician a good word, but the sick alone know how to prize him.” He went on to say, “The more we are convinced of our depravity and inability from first to last, the more excellent Jesus will appear.” I have found among believers who give the appearance of being whole, boast of their health. While the sick boast of Him.

While on earth, Christians need daily transfusions from their Great Physician.

The Boomerang Effect

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Showing mercy to others has a boomerang effect to the one who displays it. The world knows little or nothing of this virtue. Mercy is distinctively a Christian attribute. Mercy is something shown to those who have no claim on it, and mercy knows no retaliation.

The merciful person does good to his soul. Not to show mercy, can be disastrous to one’s life. “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shown no mercy.” We all might remember if we got our just deserts it would be anything but sweet! “Never forget, what goes around comes around.”

To show mercy to those who have failed builds up a reservoir for us when we do so, and, be assured, we will do so. To make allowances for others in their misery is doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. The Bible’s admonition is to consider ourselves. For someday, we may be sitting on the other side of the table from them.

A visitor (seeking to console the dying Thomas Hooker): Sir, you are going to receive the reward of your labour. Thomas Hooker: Brother, I am going to receive mercy!

Proof of God

I personally do not know of a greater proof that “there is a God in heaven” than answered prayer. I think Elijah would be inclined to agree with me. You’ll remember, when challenging the unbelieving religious apostates of his day, he said, “the God that answereth…let him be God.” God did, and the result was “when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.”

Concerning the existence of God, old Dr. Bob Jones used to give a homespun illustration I thought good. He said if he were in a dark room with all the windows and doors shut from the inside, and he asked for a hamburger, then one suddenly was in his hand, he would be a fool not to admit someone or something was present in that room with him. Christian, He is not only a prayer hearing God, but an answering God!

The book of Hebrews tells us it is impossible to please God unless we believe, not just in His existence, but that He answers prayer (Heb. 11:6). When shut-up in prison God told Jeremiah to “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Elijah believed a God who could not answer prayer was a laughable God.

George Muller recorded 50,000 answers to prayers that not one living soul knew of except God and him.

Sure, You Can

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” This is not an idle boast but a stated fact. Various experiences throughout this old man’s life helped him form this conclusion. He had a firm confidence that Christ would enable him to perform his daily duties both toward God and man. He believed he could bear any trial, perform any task, subdue any evil in his nature, shoulder any burden, and meet any and all temptations, with the strength he derived from the indwelling Christ.

Paul believed he could do what he ought to do. This was not self-confidence, but God-confidence. There was no doubt in his mind that as long as he abode in the vine, he could draw from its life-giving strength, thereby enabling him to meet life’s responsibilities. He did not look at outward circumstances; he looked inward to Christ.

I’ve known some among the so-called learned, who thought of some others as being “a brick short on top.” Yet I’ve seen these same underdogs excel spiritually over their analysts. It has little to do with our intellect, but it has everything to do with the One who indwells. As one teenager said, “I’ve learned that my “I can” is more important than my “I.Q.”

Christ's commandments are His ennoblements!

It's No Trouble

Have you ever called or approached a busy person you wanted help from in a crisis? And have you said to them apologetically, “I hate to trouble you?” Have you noticed those with giant souls always answer, “It’s no trouble at all.”

Jairus’ daughter was at the point of death when her father came to Jesus seeking His help. On the way to Jairus’ home, the Lord stopped temporarily to help another in great need. It was at this interval Jairus’ servants showed up with the discouraging news of his daughter’s demise. And so they added, “…why troublest thou the Master any further?” To which Jesus replied, “Be not afraid, only believe.”

From this story we learn that delays are not denials. Whenever Jesus helps another before us, it is well to remember we never lose by the gain of others. Another important lesson is that our Lord waits in crucial times to show us, man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. When we come to the end of ourselves, it is then we find God. When all hope is taken away, it is then the Lord says unto us, “Only Believe.”

But the central theme of the story is that we are no trouble at all to Christ. Never hesitate to call upon Him at any time and for any thing. If at such times you feel you are a trouble to Him, I assure you, you’ll hear a still, small voice say, “My child, you’re no trouble at all to Me.”

If you’re no trouble to Jesus, then you ought not be troubled!

*The Claims of Christ

I always get a good chuckle when I read an advertisement claiming, “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” Temporal, maybe; permanent, never. If the latter were true, why then would it be necessary to keep going back? “What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring” (C.S. Lewis).

My wife sings a song, “Only Jesus Can Satisfy Your Soul.” That, my friend, is the only true claim to permanent satisfaction. And what He promises, He is well able to fulfill. As the old preacher used to say, “He saves, He sanctifies, and He satisfies.”

Isaiah posed a question to the elect of his day that we must also answer in ours. Please allow me to paraphrase a little without doing any injustice to the text. “Why spend your life on things which will never satisfy you?” King David, who had everything imaginable to make one happy said, “For [He] satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
If “Christ is all,” then He is all you need.

Only God Can Please God.

My dearest friend, Marvin Clanton, now with the Lord, used to say, “Only God can please God.” This statement went over the heads of most Christians. It was so profound; they didn’t realize the depth of it. They simply passed it off as another one of this strange country preacher’s sayings.

But Marv was only echoing what Paul said to the Hebrews in the Book by that name. In the thirteenth chapter, verse twenty-one, he tells them that God is “working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight.” We see this truth exemplified in faith. Without it, we cannot please God; but we are told it is a gift from God. Hence, only God can please God.

Why then is God not more pleased through our lives by the things He gives us? A good illustration of this is found in Hannah. She was barren, and asked the Lord for a child. She promised to give him back to God if He would only answer her prayer. So the Lord gave this woman something, who had nothing, and she offered it back to Him in appreciation. Thus, God was pleased. In the case of most of us, we keep our “Samuels.”

God’s gifts and blessings are conceived in Heaven, given birth on earth, and are to be presented back to Him in thanksgiving. It is a re-cycling process. David knew this. Speaking to the Lord, he says, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given them” Mary, the mother of our Lord, said “Amen” to this statement, in the temple, after the birth of Jesus.

All our darling “Isaacs” are from God, therefore, they are to be offered back to Him.

Slain in the Sun

Our Lord had just performed the miracle of feeding the multitude. They come now to make Him King. What does He do? He goes immediately into seclusion. He flees alone unto a mountain to pray, realizing the danger that exists after great spiritual feats. It is at these times the devil lifts us up with pride, that we might fall into his snare. But our Lord was not “ignorant of his devices.” He shut Himself up alone with His Father.

I find we all are given to prayer up to our successes. But there seems to be a cessation while enjoying our victories. We have a way of remembering God in our battles, but forgetting Him in times of peace. There is sweet communion with Him as we travel, but a parting from His company after we arrive. It is easy for Christians at such times to become “practical atheists.” Our only security after personal achievements is to go alone to our mountain to pray. I must see God at noonday as well as in the night.

After our Lord’s return from His private communion with God, He performs even greater miracles. He had satisfied the hungry; now He stills the storm. If we, like Jesus, remain humble and dependent on God during our triumphs, then it can truly be said of us, “Greater works than these shall ye do.”

It would be well for all to remember, when basking in the sunshine of victory, that destruction can come at noonday, and that the arrow “flieth by day.”

Spiritual Muscle

When Paul says, “…bodily exercise profiteth little,” he is not saying it is of no value. The context is in comparison to godliness. In this respect its worth decreases. For we are told “…godliness…is great gain.” Its spiritual muscle we are to be concerned with first and foremost, not physical.

Spiritual Atlas’s are a result of “…exercis[ing] thyself rather unto godliness.” I’ve seen those who proudly flex their manly muscles, but who are constantly penned to the mat by their sins. Samson would be a good example of this.

Not one of us would be impressed with the “little” (the meaning of his name) Apostle Paul’s appearance. For it is said of him that “…his bodily presence [was] weak.” I doubt the 195 stripes on his back, and the scars left from being beaten with rods, and stoned with rocks, left anything to be desired in that blessed body. But Oh, the power that dwelt in that broken, earthen vessel!

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2Cor.4:7)

Indwelling Sin

Three times in Romans chapter seven the Apostle tells us sin dwells in us. The emphasis today is on the outward results of sin, not the inward reality of it. It is only that person who understands indwelling sin who is useful to and fruitful for God.

Our very nature is opposed to God. Every act of sin shows the old nature being antagonistic toward God. No area of our life is secured without a struggle. When we would do good, evil is always there to fight against it. There is a continual civil war going on within each of us, and it will remain so “till death do us part.” This is why we are to, “put no confidence in the flesh.” We are to have a habitual distrust in ourselves.

In our modern day we no longer blame sinfulness, but replace it with “sickness.” We want external reformation, without the Spirit’s internal regeneration. Outward cosmetic surgery will not change the inward condition of the heart. The Puritan, John Owen, dreamed for “a commonwealth of godliness,” but saw it all collapse. The political aspiration he had for his beloved nation burst like soap bubbles. He saw clearly, in the latter part of his life, that the reality of it all was indwelling sin.

“What shall it profit a man if he [change] the world, and lose his own soul?”

*Stay Connected

“For without me ye can do nothing.” That is, separate from me—the expression implies dependence. John Newton writes, “We are never safer, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without Him.”

King David, on four different occasions in Psalms said, “I am poor and needy.” The king, before the King of Kings, saw himself a pauper. Such a poverty of spirit will never be denied before the throne of grace. It is when strong Paul acknowledged his weakness and insufficiency before God that he found the Lord’s all-sufficient strength.

When a Christian lives his life independent of God, he loses his fellowship with God.

*Born Procrastinators

“And Moses said unto Pharaoh...when shall I intreat for thee…to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, [that] they may remain in the river only? And he said, To morrow.”
A preacher I knew many years ago had a sermon on this text entitled, “One More Night With the Frogs.” I am sure many of you who are familiar with this story, like me, have wondered about Pharaoh’s choice. Why one more night of misery, when it could have been taken care of then and there? As the old saying goes, “Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” When serving as pastor, I used to tell my people, “I’m gonna never did nothin.”

I do not know Pharaoh’s reason for waiting, but I have observed most of us are born procrastinators. Diets started, jobs to be done, apologies needed, sins righted, old debts settled, along with an innumerable list, are generally put off until tomorrow. The little quip, “Tomorrow never comes,” seems to fit our particular situation every time. In spite of Bible admonitions such as, “Now is the time,” and, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow.”

Procrastination is opportunity's assassin. ~Victor Kiam

*Scars

Scars are generally a reminder of an unpleasant or painful experience. We hear much today about emotional scars. In this psychological age that overemphasizes particularly ugly incidents in one’s life, it is easy to major on a minor. It would be well for us to remember, a scar is only a part of the whole, not the whole itself.

One of Webster’s definitions for the word “scar” is “a mark left by a healed wound, sore, or burn.” By this you can see a scar could be seen as something good also. It is a sign that one has been healed from whatever affliction they have suffered. It is important for we who have emotional and psychological scars to realize the hurt is over, and the unpleasantness is behind us. I might add a scar leaves one tougher. A scar can take more than the sensitive skin around it.

We who bear unsightly scars need not worry about the world around us gawking, with their self-righteous pity, for God has arranged for such things. You see, the Lord is a very good cosmetologist. When He gets through with His procedure, even loved ones lose consciousness of the hideous scars we bear.

What deep wounds ever closed without a scar? ~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Child Harold's Pilgrimage

*A Wonderful Word: "Friend"

It has been said, “A friend is someone coming in, when others are going out.” To our dismay, many of us have found this to be true from personal experience. It is these types that are known as fair-weather friends. How we need to hold to and cherish that small circle of genuine friends, of whom it is said stick closer than a brother and love us at all times.

I heard an old preacher once say, “If, when you die, you can count your true friends on one hand, consider yourself blessed.” As I get older, I find myself agreeing with this more and more. As you pass through the fiery trials of life, you’ll find few supposed friends indeed will be in your company on the other side of the furnace. But what a treasure those are who are there to greet you!

David and Jonathan give us a picture of an authentic friendship. In this knitted relationship we see that David needed Jonathan more than Jonathan did David. That is the way I feel toward my few friends. O how much I need them, more than they will ever know!

I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world. ~Thomas A. Edison

*Reasoning with Jesus

“Lord, help me. Then he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great [is] thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour”.

In the Old Testament it says, “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons.” The woman in our text did just this, and it impressed Jesus so must that He granted her request. She showed no disrespect in doing so. After all, God invites His people to do this very thing, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.”

Certainly, our Lord knows what we’re going to say before we say it (Psl.139:4), but He still wants to converse with us. This is clearly seen in the story of Him walking along the Emmaus road with two of His disciples. They were discussing His crucifixion; and Jesus, who had disguised Himself as a stranger asked “what things” they were talking of, as if He didn’t know. He wanted to hear their side. And He wants to hear ours, as well.

Never fear to present your arguments to Jesus. Don’t forget, He’s the human side of God; He understands us. Our reasoning is no threat to Him. Let us come before Him as Moses, when God and he spoke face to face, and as friend to friend. If you feel you have a strong case, present it to Him. Who knows? You may win out! The woman in our story did.

He that cannot reason is a fool.He that will not is a bigot.He that dare not is a slave. ~Andrew Carnegie

*The Young'uns are Comin'

The young’uns are comin! And I don’t mean the children or grandchildren showing up for a visit. I mean by this statement that a new crop of young’uns is waiting in the wings to make up the gap that we old’uns are going to leave. At the end of our generation (and it will end) is the beginning of the next. Solomon puts it this way: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.” In spite of this divine truth, in each generation there seems to be some who think everything will end with them.. As Job said of his friends, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.”

Because of this, we who are passing off the scene need to help the next crop of God’s children along. This is not done by shutting them out, but by taking them in. In spite of presenting our generation as being superior to the previous ones, it remains a fact that we are pretty much alike. The costumes and sets may change, but the actors and scripts stay about the same.

It’s true; David served his own generation, but equally true is that he prepared the Temple for the next. The argument that this generation will not listen sounds like what the generation before said of us. We often use the excuse for not guiding these youngsters that you can lead a horse to water, by you can’t make him drink. I say, true; but you can give him a little salt and make him thirsty!

The one best thing a younger generation could say of the previous one is, “They helped us on to God.”

*God's Intention

“God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you.” To be blessed is also to be happy (Gen.30:13). This was Jesus’ primary mission—to bless, not to curse. The latter is only true when we refuse the former. Our Lord came blessing His people, and, as He ascended back to Heaven, he blessed them. Now that He is in Heaven, we are blessed “...with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

God is intent on blessing us, and it is a serious thing to resist it. The qualifying condition for being blessed of God is “turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” God blesses no one in sin, only those who turn from sin. Sin is the source of all our woes. No one can be happy in sin. God sets before each of us a blessing and a curse. It’s our choice. But if, perchance, you have foolishly chosen the latter in the past, be of good cheer! He can turn the “...curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loveth thee.”

Sin shuts up Heaven, and that’s where all our bountiful blessings are stored.

*Successful Failures

“And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” This has been my life-long text these past fifty years. He is not an explanation of Christianity, HE IS CHRISTIANITY!

O the simplicity of Jesus! Many have put so much clutter around Christ today that His blessed face is hid from them. They can no longer see the beauty of the One on “The Tree,” for all the religious ornaments hung on Him, thus concealing the “altogether lovely[ one].” He needs not our tripe trappings to make Him more attractive.

We confuse our pious loyalty to our convictions for devotion to Him. We serve our causes, movements, and institutions to the extent of worshiping them, thereby becoming idolaters! It is easy to be consecrated to a creed and lose sight of Christ. What is the ruling passion of your life? If the mainspring is not “Jesus Only,” although you are successful, you’re a failure at best.

Jesus was a common man, preaching a common gospel, to common people, who possessed a common faith!

Either He Is or He Isn't

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man commeth unto the Father, but by me.” What an emphatic, dogmatic statement. Not one of many ways, but the only way! In this brief twenty-one word sentence, He answers mankind’s never-ending quest for answers to three of life’s most important questions.

He states He is the way, which answers the question about the heathen’s salvation, as well as the good intentions of the world’s religions. He is the truth; this answers all the great philosophers who spent their lives looking for truth in every place, but the right place. And He being the life, answers the baffled scientists who are still looking for life’s origin.

You choose: Jesus Christ is a good man, a bad man, or The God Man. He couldn’t be the first for He said He was God, thus making himself a liar if He were not. As to the second, what bad man would preach against the sins of his own kind? No, either He is or He isn’t what He said He was! Other ways may seem right, but their end is the way of death; so say the scriptures.

The bodies of all the false religious leaders of the past, every one of them self-appointed gurus, are in the grave, while their everlasting souls inhabit the city of the damned. But the risen Christ now sits in His glorified body at His Father’s right hand, awaiting the day when every knee shall bow, and every tongue, both in heaven and in earth and under the earth, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

*Phase One, Two, or Three?

The Christian life is in phases. You start out soaring in the Heavenlies with the wings of an eagle. Then you gracefully glide down to earth, where you hit the ground running, so to speak. And after a well run race, you find your pace slackening to a slow, steady walk.

Going from one of these phases to the other is transitory. It’s not done abruptly. You ease into each, many times, unconscious of the fact, until you have been there awhile. No one phase is superior in itself. It is God’s goal that His children pass through each phase on their pilgrim journey.

At any given time in Church History you will find new born babes, spreading their wings and taking their flight into the Heavenlies, where they enjoy the celestial air. But you will also see those mid-life Christians, who have settled down, scurrying past you, believing (and rightly so) that the King’s business requires haste. Then, of course, there is the senior saint, who has learned to walk with God. And who has come to realize there is still a place for him or her in God’s plan; that being, to mend broken wings and to get those who fell while running back on their feet again.

But no matter what phase any of us are in today, whether it be flying, running, or walking, we can all look forward to resting in God when this life is over.

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Heb.4:9)

*Goliath vs. God

All knowledgeable Christians are familiar with the story of David and Goliath, but, in reality, the issue was between God and Goliath. David was only the means—the instrument God used to bring to pass Goliath’s downfall. God was more than qualified to do his own fighting had He wished to. David, like us, was given the wonderful privilege of standing publicly with God against the, seemingly, impossible human odds. As my wife Salle brought to my attention, God has a sling, also (1 Sam. 25:29; Jer. 10:18), and He is very capable of using it.

On that momentous day, there were only two kinds of people present: those who trusted Goliath, and those who put their trust in God. It is so easy to fall into the trap of trusting in the giants of our day. Goliath had the physical appeal as well as the natural means to win. These, in themselves, are enough to gain the confidence of people. The only thing this giant lacked was God; but this always makes the difference. Without Him, we are leaning on a broken reed.

May God grant us the ability to not trust in the impressive giants of our generation, for protection or provision, but in God alone. It is not to the giant Goliath, but to the great God of Heaven that we are to look.

“But the Lord said…Look not on…the height of his stature.” (1 Sam. 16:7)

*Transference of Good

“The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.” Yesterday we wrote on “The Transference of Evil”; today is the flip-side, “The Transference of Good.” Elisha hung out with godly Elijah, and as a result it was apparent to all that he had picked up some of his friend’s characteristics. Proverbs tells us, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” You spend enough time in a rose garden and you’ll acquire some of the aroma.

Is it any wonder then that Paul exhorted young Titus to be “…a lover of good men.” The aged saint knew his “preacher boy” would be a good man, if he constantly kept company with good men. The apostle had learned this from first hand experience. When just a young convert, Paul was taken under the wing of one called Barnabas, of whom we are told, “He was a good man.” And thus also was his product!

If at end of my life they can say, “He was a good man,” that will be good enough!

Transference of Evil

“And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them…” Many years ago when I was a young pastor, my wife brought something interesting to my attention. Whenever dealing with the unregenerate or professing Christians who had strong demonic influences in their lives, my characteristics would sometimes change for the worse.

I believe there is such a thing as demonic transference (in possession or influence). And as in Acts chapter nineteen verses thirteen through sixteen, it is always in a religious setting. The devil is looking for “spiritual” people who are “passive” people. Generally, those people who are not satisfied with themselves, who constantly try to emulate others. He seems to pass by those who are “comfortable in their own skin,” so to speak.

The cause of Lucifer’s fall was in wanting to be like someone else (Isa.14:14). Whenever we try to disguise ourselves, for example in another’s dress, hair style, actions, or speech, we are attempting to hide who we really are, saying in essence, “I don’t like the way I am!” But in reality we are actually telling God we do not like the way He made us (Ro. 9:20-21). Thus, agreeing with the devil’s assessment.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~William Shakespeare

Never Say Never

“Peter answered and said unto him, Though all [men] shall be offended because of thee, [yet] will I never be offended.” Peter’s problem is ours: he thought himself a notch above his brethren. It takes God a long time to wean us of our pseudo spirituality.

Though we do not say with our lips, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,” yet we think it in our hearts. As difficult as it is for some to admit, we are all cut from the same cloth. We’re “[men] subject to like passions as [they are]."

Paul tells us when we see a fault in a brother we are to “[consider] thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” You’ll remember it was Paul who rebuked Peter for his compromise, but who later was guilty of the same. Elijah had to find out the hard way, as many of us do, “for I [am] not better than my fathers."

To be sure, whenever we say, “I’ll never,” is when doing it is close at hand.

*Equity in Judgment

“Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee...” An old Irish scrub woman who was known for giving due credit to her worst enemies, when taunted by others to apply her unusual trait to the devil, said, “Well, at least he’s consistent!” And so it is with God. He takes note of anything praiseworthy in our lives. He does not let things that He is displeased with blind him to those good qualities we may possess. He seeks out the good, be it ever so little.

We could take a lesson from the Lord Jesus in this coveted virtue. Addressing Christians in each of the seven churches of Asia Minor, He made a point of addressing their good characteristics before proceeding to those less desirable ones. First, commendation; then follows the condemnation. Both in family, church, school, work, and life in general, one is apt to take a rebuke better if this order is followed. And those who observe us will take notice of our fairness and unbiased principles.

Fairness to a person’s good qualities does not mean we excuse the bad.

*A Lion is Loose

“...the devil, as a...lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” He doesn’t run about. He knows you can’t get anything done by doing this. Only we frantic believers, “run to and fro.” He patiently walks about, seeking his prey, while we hurry around; too busy to notice we’re in grave danger. I wonder how cautious we would be if a circus nearby announced a lion had gotten loose and was in our neighborhood.

I was watching the Animal Channel on TV some years ago and received some interesting information about lions. First, they have padded feet. They’re so quiet they can walk up and sit next to you before you are conscious of it (Rev.2:13). Secondly, they blend in with their surroundings. The camera scanned the edge of a forest several times and the lion sitting there went unnoticed until they zoomed in on him (2Cor.11:14). Third, he does not roar unless he has his prey; then it is too late (Amos 3:4). Fourthly, they have retractable claws, holding their prey in a vice-like grip (Isa.5:29). And last, they, as the bear, eat the heart of their victims first (Hos.13:8). He wants what God wants (Prov.23:26).

Walk circumspectly, Christian; you’re in lion country.

*The Right Smelling Salts

“…as we have received mercy, we faint not.” The “machoism” of today’s world, like many of its humanistic trends, has crept into the Church, putting the creature on the pedestal, and thus, removing the Creator. It used to be, “If I make it, it’s because of God and not me.” Now it’s just the opposite. The teaching in some circles is that the feeble faint and the strong persevere. But I’d like to remind some that strong Samson’s have their fainting spells also.

Steadfast faithfulness is due, first and foremost, to the mercy of God. The best would melt like a snail, if not for His mercy. Paul had that one attribute believed to keep a man going. It’s known by various names: backbone, intestinal fortitude, and, if it’s not too coarse, old-fashioned guts. But it is not to this that Paul attributes his ability to “keep on keeping on.” It was simply and profoundly the Mercy of God.

The reason “mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” is because it is a pick-me-up when I fall.