Qualifying Love

We hear much today about “unconditional love.” Which to this generation of Christians as a whole means you can say, do, and act anyway you like; and a “I love you,” fixes it all. But Jesus said (He being the world's greatest authority on love), “If ye love love me, keep my commandments”.

Love has to do more with “showin” than speakin.” Interestingly, the scripture records how the Lord Jesus loved people, but not once did He ever tell anyone personally, “I love you.” Why? John tells us in his first little epistle, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

True love is an unselfish giving of your dearest and most prized possession, “For God so loved...He gave His only... Son.” It’s seen in the poor widow who, “...cast in all the living that she had.” It is “...suffering the loss of all things,” for another. It’s saying, “[I] have left all to follow thee.”  And it’s seen in one laying their life on the altar, like the whole burnt offering, keeping nothing back for themselves.

Addendum: dedicated to my blessed wife on this our fifty-fourth year of serving our God together in an equal yoke. Had she never told me once she loved me, I would have known. As they say, “Actions speak louder than words!”  

When You Can't Pray

This article is not for the spiritually elite, meaning the super-saint. That is, the saint who would rather die than be seen by their peers as having a chink in their armour. That would be too humiliating; for others to see they too are altogether human. That they are as vulnerable as the common Christian would be too painful.

But, my beloved, be assured of this, there will be times in a child of God’s life when he or she cannot pray. I did not say, will not, but cannot. Times when both the mouth and heart go mute. At such times, things seem so dark around us, so hopeless, there is not an ounce of ask left in us, leaving us in the silent valley of  despair.     

What is one to do when the “ask” has left us? It is then we are to “adore.” In other words, WHEN YOU CAN’T PRAY, YOU PRAISE! When the only light you have is that from the unbearable flames of your fiery trial, Praise Him! “Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires.” And darling David tells us, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.”

Without question, at such times, praise would be considered a great sacrifice. This is what the writer of Hebrews speaks of, I believe. “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name...for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. O my beloved, no matter your condition, “PRAISE GOD ANYHOW.”

“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Correspondence

Dear Reader: The following is a letter I responded to concerning revival. I sent it to a few, then thought how it might encourage all of you. Remember when reading it, "It is no secret what God can do, what He's done for other's He can do for you!"

Dear brother...your journal has fed me, encouraged me and provoked me to seek my Father more and more.  I eagerly wait for a new truth from you on a daily basis.  My wife and I will read your blog while riding down the highway at times...such clear and sometimes deep truths...I especially enjoy when you mention revivals of old times.  I have often dreamed and prayed to be a part of a great revival someday. Last Monday we began a service in_______.  We've lost count of the souls saved.  We have never experienced this  before.  The whole service seems to be one big altar call without the call.  They just keep coming.

I Pastor a very small church in_____.  I preach very few revivals.  We've been holding services in the mornings at the school and The LORD has moved on students unlike anything I've  ever heard of.  Friday the gym floor was filled with students crying out for God.  It went on for almost 5 hours.  This begins our 2nd week.  Please pray for more souls.  I'm so excited.

Last year was my darkest year ever.  My how the Lord turns things around.

Thank you for your writings...
Bro. ________

My Beloved Brother,

I rejoice with you in God's blessings upon your ministry and His people. I have found our Lord does not bless unblessable saints. That is, you must desire His blessings if you're to receive His blessings. He only pours His heavenly down-pours on the thirsty.

Your letter brought back old memories for my wife and me. Similar experiences as your own, times I like to refer to as, "Times of refreshing." Times hard to believe for many when told, unless they were there or had such-like experiences.

As to Revival, when younger, I studied everything I could get my hands on concerning the subject. Also I had the privilege of getting in on the after-glow of the revivals of the 40's. I was honored to talk with some of the evangelists of that era, knew a few personally, and was called a friend by two or three. One such was my mentor, Dr. Joe Henry Hankins.

My personal thoughts on a spiritual awakening is generally this: 1. It starts with one individual or individuals. 2. It moves into the homes. 3. They take it to church. 4. The city is then infected with it. 5. Finally, it spreads throughout the nation. One thing for sure, if no one ever wants or experiences a true revival, one thirsting, longing soul, can have a perennial revival in their own heart.

It is said that Martyn Lloyd-Jones went to his grave saddened by the fact he had never seen a great revival in his lifetime. This is why it is so important to not set your heart and sights on what you don't have, but rather enjoy what you do have in the present. To constantly major on the former will cause you to lose the latter. 

In closing, let me say you can be assured of our prayers, as the blessed Spirit promps us. Also, I am so pleased that our writings are a help to you both. And as to last year being your darkest, our Lord said, "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." Or as Isiah puts it, "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am [thy] God." And that, my dear brother, was the reason for the darkness, Bless His Holy Name! 

An Old Disciple,

Richard

Living On Ashes

"For I have eaten ashes like bread.” I would like to take this text in its applicational form rather than its interpretational setting. I’d like to spiritualize it, if you’ll permit me. Paul tells us we are justified in doing so, for, says he, all scripture is profitable for not only doctrine , but instruction in righteousness, also.

Ashes remind us of something that once was, but is no more. The ashes on the Old Testament altar represented various offerings to God, but were now past. The offerer could not live on them in the present. One cannot live on yesterday’s ashes. There must be daily sacrifices, fresh ones, if one is to please God.

One of the responsibilities of the priests in the Old Testament was to never let the flame on the altar go out, because the flame represented the presence of God. The flame was to burn day and night. The priest, daily, would remove the ashes from the altar and take them outside the camp. IF NOT REMOVED, THE FIRE WOULD GO OUT.

Some of us, I fear, are living on yesterday’s blessings. It’s time to remove the ashes from the altar of our lives. And if the fire has gone out, to re-kindle it again!

Ezekiel's Four-Faced Creatures

“And every one had four faces.” Years ago, a man many considered “mighty in the scriptures,” asked me a question, and then answered it himself. He said, “Do you know why I’ve never taught on Ezekiel? Because I do not have the slightest idea what some of those things mean.” This is why I only want to use our text as an “instruction in righteousness.” To do any more could bring real embarrassment to this old man. I’ll leave the book to some of my more learned brethren.

Like the creatures in our scripture, I’m afraid many of us have different faces at different times, all because we do not really know who we are. If not that, we certainly show by this multiplicity of faces we are not happy with our own God-given one. William Shakespeare wrote, “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” Carbons are never as good as the original. Its useless trying to be someone else, as Charles Schulz’s, Snoopy, says, “Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”

If you don’t know who you are, you’ll never know who God is! For you’ll invariably view Him through another’s specs. The seven sons of Sceva, who attempted to emulate Paul, had no idea who God was. But by being copies, they opened themselves up to demon possession. Not being comfortable in your own skin is more serious than most realize.

The world doesn’t know who they are and they wish Christians to have the same knowledge. Someone has so aptly said, “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; but never stop fighting.”

Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, to gain applause which he cannot keep. Samuel Johnson

Why I Love C.S. Lewis' Writings

The following quote is one of the great reasons for my love of C.S. Lewis. It is not for the “I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,” crowd. But directed to the, “God be merciful to me…” folks.

"My own experience is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God's grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let Him but sheathe that sword for a moment and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over—I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed. And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless."

Martha and Mary's Mistake-Ours

"Martha [said] unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died...Then...Mary...[said]... Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

Commentators are divided on the meaning of these two saintly sisters words; some say it was showing a confidence, others complaining. I believe it could have been a little of each, a display of faith and frailty. It may have been like the father's case, who cried out, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." One thing is for sure, they evidently had forgotten Jesus' presence is not necessary in tough times; He can take care of difficult things from a distance!

Notice, Martha and Mary said the same things to Jesus, because like us, no doubt, they had often discussed it among themselves. Their stupored minds, again like our own, did not yet understand His delays are not denials. When He doesn't immediately give us the best, it's because He is going to eventually give us the better of the best! In the sisters' case, a miracle. What they thought was their loss was, in reality, their gain. It worked for their good, but more importantly, for God and His Son's glory, "This sickness is...for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby," said the Lord Jesus.

The important lesson I personally learned from this is to seek the glory of God first, in any and all situations, and to leave everything else to Him. 

"HE [DOETH] ALL THINGS WELL!"

The Blessing of Godly Counsel

“Where no council is, the people fall: but in the multitude of councilors there is safety.” Every time in my Christian life I’ve fallen on my face, it has been for one of two reasons: I did not seek godly counsel, or either I did not heed it when given.

We need the input of others. We dare not trust ourselves alone in life’s important decisions, for we are biased toward self. Generally, each of us will take the way of least resistance. You can depend on the flesh to always take the path that benefits itself, even if it is at others’ expense.

They say, “Two heads are better than one,” but that is only true if in seeking counsel the other head is mature and Spiritual. It’s godly counsel that is needed, not the counsel of the ungodly. When we go to the latter we show we’re seeking agreement, not advice. Rehoboam lost everything because he turned his back on the wise council of the old men, and sought that of his sinful young companions.

Both in public and private affairs, wise council makes for good choices. Even the wisest among us are given to blunders. I need not site Solomon, do I? Don’t try to go it alone. Throw your independence and pride out the window and seek out some wise counselors. You’ll be safe in doing so!

In giving advice seek to help, not to please, your friend. Remember, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

Overcoming the Tough Times

Paul, it would seem, went "from victory to victory". What was the main ingredient that took this godly man through all of life's tough times? I believe it was the fact he always kept eternity in view. It was foremost on his mind when dealing with the issues connected with time. That is, he constantly set the one against the other: time and eternity. He lived his life in this world in light of eternity.

Just to give one of many examples of this. In 2 Corinthians four, we read, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Take a moment and meditate on this verse. You'll find a lot of sweetness in this honeycomb!

We're told in scripture that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." For example, Jesus promised His followers He would return to earth; that was some two thousand years ago. But in God's sight, He only made the promise a little over two days ago. It is well to remember, although God visits us in time, "the high and lofty One...inhabiteth eternity." In our eternal home, no less.

"Eternity is a parenthesis in God's eternal sentence".

(rds)

Ride It Through Friend

You Can't Live Without Miracles

"Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of?" In a previous article, I wrote on the subject, "You Can't Live On Miracles." Today I want to balance out the scale, as it were, and write on, "You Cannot Live Without Miracles." It it true we cannot live 'on' miracles, yet at the same time and just as true, we cannot live 'without' miracles in our lives.

Christianity is a miracle religion, the Founder's birth and bodily resurrection, just to name two, prove this to be true. Also, the saints' new life begins with the miracle of the new birth. And every so often thereafter, the miraculous pops up, so to speak, to enable him or her to accomplish God's plan on earth. No one ever got in on a miracle that was looking for one. They come as we are busy doing the Will of God! A.W. Tozer has an article entitled, "Miracles Follow the Plow."

If we, like Gideon, wonder why there are so few miraculous events occurring in the church today the answer is the same as in the dirt farmer's case. It is, like Israel, because of sin and unbelief. And these two are not compatible with the performance of miracles! 
Interestingly, had Gideon remained in his unbelief, he would never have been mentioned in God's "Hall of Faith," as found in Hebrews chapter eleven.

O, how often through these many years I've had to cry out to my God like the burdened father in the book of Mark, "Lord, I Believe; help thou mine unbelief."

 

You Can't Live On Mircles

"And He commanded to give her meat. "Jesus had just preformed a miracle by raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. Immediately thereafter, He charged them to give her something to eat. I searched seven different commentaries for comments on our text, but only two make a brief mention of it. One spiritualized it, applying it to salvation, being raised from from sin and death and feeding on the Word. The second took it literally, saying Jesus was showing her parents she was healthy and completely recovered. If I may, I'd like to add my two-cents, as they say.

I think Jesus was possibly showing us, after He preforms a miracle in our lives we're not to attempt to live on it indefinitely. We are to use everyday means after the miraculous event. That is, after the supernatural has occurred, the natural is to follow. We're to go on with our lives, most certainly with thanksgiving and rejoicing, but living as humans among the sons of men. Just because God does great and mighty things on our behalf, doesn't mean we are great and mighty. Such Divine blessings are not geared to make us strut to God's Throne, but crawl in gratitude to the Mercy Seat of God.

Miracles are the exception in our lives, not the rule. The rule is simply doing our "daily duties," as the priests of the Old Testament.

It Won't Go Away

Most, I’m sure, have experienced trying to remove a stain from

your favorite garment, without success. Neither commercial nor home remedies work. As the prophet tells us, no amount of soap and water will dispose of it. In exasperation we cry out, “It just won’t go away!” No more than putting spot remover on a leopard.

There are some things in our lives we simply need to learn to live with. Wishing, self-helps, and yes, even prayer will not do away with these unwanted indelible marks. After fourteen years of prayer for removable of such, God answers Paul, “You’ll need, by my grace, to learn to live with it.”

Anticipation of  something God has said won’t happen, is like Sisera’s mother continually looking out the window waiting for her son to return home. He was dead; it just wasn’t going to happen!  She, like us, needed to learn to go on with her life along with the hurt. They can co-exist, you know!  

“Sorrow and singing are not incompatible.”

(Oswald Sanders)

Commandments or Consequences

There used to be a program on the “telly” (as the Irish call it) called “Truth or Consequences.” There may be some reruns of it, but, for the most part, it is forgotten. In the Old Testament we have “commandments or consequences,” but these also seem to have passed off the scene, with a possible rerun in a pulpit here and there. The consequence of breaking God’s commandments seems to be of no consequence in the Church today.

It would seem by the way many Christians live, and the preaching that is heard, that God’s moral law is no longer in effect. True, a Christian is no longer under the strict dietary laws and the stringent regulations of the Mosaic Law, but God has never abrogated the Ten Commandments. Are we to believe that the Grace of God has a lower moral standard than the Law? I think not (Tit.2:11-12).

Paul lists each of the Ten Commandments in his grace Epistles (with the exception of the Sabbath, which was replaced by the Lord’s Day). He considers the keeping of them to be the moral marks of a Christian. Let me make it plain; we do not keep them to be saved, or to stay saved, but because we are saved. We are preaching on sins manufactured by man and not plainly spelled out in the Bible. Adultery, lying, dishonoring parents, covetousness, etc, are running rampant in both pulpits and pews, while we concern ourselves with “pseudo-sins”

The Holy Spirit will not convict of a sin that God has not listed as one.

Prolonged Darkness

One of the great paradoxes in scripture is the relationship between God and darkness. For example, we're told He creates darkness (Isa. 45:7); and at the same time says there is no darkness in Him at all (1Jn. 1:5). We generally think of evil when thinking of the dark (Jn. 3:19). Yet the Word tells us there are great treasures and riches to be found in the darkness. Therefore, only by studying the context will it be ascertained which of the two God is speaking.

The Lord is pleased to allow some of His choice children to go through periods of prolonged darkness. Job tells us God set darkness in his paths; and Jeremiah states the Lord had led him into darkness and not into light.The length of time is according to His Sovereign Will. It can last anywhere from long agonizing hours, as in Jesus' case; to days of searching, as in Paul's situation. It can even go into years of waiting, Israel being an example.

There is inestimable profit to be found by God's child when passing through that dark, dark, valley. One of which is hearing the still small voice of our God, "What I tell you in darkness," says He. A second being, what Job describes as, "...discovering the deep things out of  darkness." You'll learn more in the dark times than you ever could when the sun is shining. 

When our children were small, we often played hide-n-seek in the house at night. My greatest thrill was hiding in a walk-in-closet, waiting for one of the little urchins to find me. "And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face...and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs..."   

The Holy Spirit's Power

"Be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"

The essence of the Spirit of God is power, power to witness, to live an overcoming life, to possess a sound mind, etc. Micah testified, "But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD." Any and all saints found in scripture had one predominate characteristic, they were without exception controlled by the Spirit of the Living God. Therefore the question arises, "Am I filled with the Spirit?" 

The assuring personal evidence one is filled with the Spirit is not speaking in tongues! But as Paul tells us in one of his latter letters, a prison epistle; "...but be filled with the Spirit; 
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Do you find yourself quoting the Psalms frequently? Do spiritual songs spring up in your heart regularly? These consistencies are not characteristic of a carnal Christian.

There is much quibbling over the question of how one is filled with the Spirit. Jesus answered this once and for all. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive." 

What do you imagine a Sultan would give, traveling with his vast wealth, for a cup of water after three days without any in Sahara desert? He would give all that he had. And so it is with the Spirit of God. When we desire Him more than all the world, we may have Him. I have a little saying I quote often, "When a person gets serious with God, then He will get serious with that person!" 

"The only hope for a thirsty world is the overflow from our buckets."   

(rds)

Walking With God

"Enoch walked with God...Noah walked with God"

Throughout the Holy Scriptures, we find a great host of God's people who walked with Him, but of only two men is it explicitly said they did so: Enoch and Noah. Their physical temperaments and spiritual experiences may have differed in many ways, but both had two distinct things in common. The first was the day in which they lived. The second, the fact that both walked with God in that day when we're told: "The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually...it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth...the earth [was] filled with violence through them." 

It is no easy thing to walk with God when all around you there is wickedness, violence, corruption and immorality. But it can be done, for we have the Divine record that it has already been done. Micah tells us one of the three things God requires of us is to, "...walk humbly with thy God." Notice there is no qualifying of the day in which we're to do so. 

No matter the time in history, society, or culture, we can walk as God's dear children, with dignity and decency. We can walk the high ground, a plain above and apart from our contemporary world! God has given each of His elect a garment of protection in our plagued environment, to keep us from the evil that surrounds us. It is the Blood of Christ. It makes us overcomers. 

I have found in my fifty-six years of walking with God that He is a wonderful traveling companion. It has been an exciting and exhilarating journey, to say the least. One and all who walk with the King will bear witness to my word.  True, travelling with Him will mean going through some stormy times, but as Paul tells us, "...out of them all the Lord
delivered me." 

A Sunday School teacher taught on Enoch's three-hundred year long walk with God. The following Sunday she asked who among her class of six year old's could recount the story. One little girl stood and said, "Enoch walked with God an awfully long, long, long way. Finally God said to him, 'Enoch, we're closer to my House than yours; why don't you just come home with me?'"

"Oh, who would mind the journey when the road leads Home!" 

Cardiphonia

The title of our present article is derived from two Greek words-one meaning heart and the other, sounds-thus, heart sounds. Cardiphonia was first given to a collection of letters by the Rev. John Newton (1781), intended to mean ‘utterance of the heart.' The book of Job speaks of, "uttering words out of the heart." The context meaning, sincerity, genuine, earnest.

Whether referring to the organ of the body or the whole man, Bible students are, for the most part, in agreement, when scriptures speak of the heart, it's in reference to one's affections, the seat of our emotions. It seems to me we've lost heart when it comes to our religion. Christianity, unlike the religions of the world, is a heart religion. Take the heart out of it, and we have a dead religion; it no longer beats with compassion.  

Our churches are filled with heartless preaching, singing, testimonies. And yes, even we Christian writers have lost heart. Paul said he wrote with many tears. One of the last things my beloved mentor said to me, before the Lord took him Home was, "Sonny-Boy, preach to their heart. When you preach to the head you get half a man, but when to the heart, the whole man." 

Among the many quaint sayings of the Irish, there is one I especially like. When describing an individual who talks to you without their words being heartfelt, they say, "They're speaking from the teeth out."  

A Marvelous Meal From Meager Means

My wife belongs to that elite remnant, but vanishing breed of women, who bear the indelible marks of an old-fashioned country girl. One characteristic is, she can take a few scanty things of this and that's and make a meal for her entire family. I've seen this extraordinary feat preformed on more than one occasion, especially in our younger days; our four grown children can attest to this fact.

Our blessed Lord, in a much greater way, prepared miraculous meals for the multitudes. But He also did it with it with skimpy things available at the time. We're told He took "a few little fishes," and seven loaves and fed four-thousand men, beside women and children. And this was not an isolated case. Most certainly, we can understand the song writer's mind when he wrote, "Little is much, when God is in it."

I doubt whoever caught those "few little fish" and the "few small fish" had any idea what a blessing his or her limited contribution would mean to so many hungry people! I'll just bet you, after Jesus blessed and multiplied their meager gifts, they were glad they didn't throw the little fish back in with the smaller ones. Let none of us be among those, "who hath despised the day of small things."  

Every Which Way

The little idiom, "every which way," can certainly be used properly when applied to the learning process. That is, there are various approaches to the subject. One can learn by instruction, experience, or choose not to learn at all. I refer to them as the easy way, the hard way, and no way. 

It is a popular saying, but an incorrect one, that experience is the best teacher. NO! Instruction is the best educator. Ask the little boy who laid his hand on a red-hot stove after being told what the results would be. Sorry to say, most of us go the little urchin's route, and we have the scars to prove it.

The wise man wrote both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the former being the book of instruction, the latter, the book of experience. This man of wisdom had tried them both and repeatedly tells us in the first book (Proverbs), instruction far outweighs the painful way of the second.

Timothy is a good Bible illustration of learning from instruction. He didn't have to carry any regretful scars through life. Simon Peter, on the other hand, learned the hard way from a rough and tough teacher: experience. And as a result, although freely forgiven, carried a marked-up life to his grave.

I would be amiss in not mentioning the fact, some never learn at all, whether it be instruction or experience. Pharaoh, for example, was both instructed and had humiliating experiences, yet never learned a thing. What a pitiful portrait of a human being!    

That Old Serpent

"And the great dragon...that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world..was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone...and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

When the old-time evangelist, Billy Sunday, was asked if he believed in a literal devil, personified in one person, he answered, "I sure do, I've done business with him." He went on to say, "If there is no devil, who is behind all the devilment in the world?" From Genesis to this last book of the Bible, all Bible Christians believed in a real, literal devil. Like Billy Sunday, many of them had up-close and personal dealings with him. He tempted Jesus face to face and was constantly punching Paul around.

John the Beloved refers to Satan as, "That old serpent," on two different occasions in Revelation. He is the only writer in scripture to use this term. Tradition tells us John was an old man at this writing, in his nineties, no less. Interestingly he calls his, and our, arch enemy, "Old." At this writing the apostle traces the serpent back four-thousand years, to the Garden of Eden and the Fall. We can follow that slimey path of heartache and destruction back over six-thousand years of human history. 

Thank God, we're told there is coming a day, soon I pray, when all evil will be destroyed permanently from the universe! And while Satan and his cronies are suffering the torments of the damned forever and ever, we, the children of God will be experiencing eternal bliss with the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS, and Lover of our souls! They have a place prepared for them and so do we: in the arms of God. 

Some of you might want to try what I do when I am severely
tempted. On the authority of the Word of God I remind Satan and all the evil spirits that may be involved in my sifting at the time, of their future eternal incarceration and suffering, and of my joy, both now and forever, with my Father!  

HOW TO PRAY

On Kindle search, I brought up How to Pray. They listed 575 books on this subject alone. I'm sure most of the authors are well intentioned, like myself. But I'm just as convinced, after one reads each book, they'll find a vast number of ways given in accomplishing this most important feat. Because of this, many of us common Christians can sometimes be more hurt than helped. To the sincere seeker, all these different voices can be confusing. Like on so many other important subjects, our hearts cry out "Who's right?" 

Most certainly, on many important doctrines there is not a multiplicity of ways but one, and one way only, salvation for example. But this does not hold true on other subjects, such as witnessing, giving, administration, etc. There are a number of ways these can be approached and accomplished, each with God's blessing upon them, if done with the right motive. 

And so it is when we come to the subject of how to pray. We need to keep in mind, each of us have different temperaments and come from a variety of religious backgrounds. And also, whether we like it or not, the intellect enters into this equation. All these things flavor how we do many things in our Christian life, and especially is this true of how we pray. For example, the Cornish preacher, Billy Bray, the uncouth and unlearned converted coal-miner, would not pray like the learned and cultured English pastor and theologian, Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Yet both were used of God! 

The bottom line is this: read all the books on how to pray you'd like, not for emulation, but rather for education. After I read books on our subject, I always say to myself at the end, "PRAY AS YOU CAN AND DON"T TRY TO PRAY AS YOU CAN't." (J.I. Packer)     

Do Something!

"And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me...She hath done what she could." So says our Lord of those who attempt to do anything for Him, whether small or great. He defends and commends any and all who do so. Whatever is done for Him, in His name, does not go unnoticed in Heaven. Even the most menial ministries   are not wasted, if done on and for Him.

Through the years there have been some of God's choicest saints who have helped us but, because of the circumstances of life, it was not in the way they would have liked. I always send them a note of thanks with the following scripture quotation:
"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."  

We can all do something. Most of us are called to keep our brethren on the firing line. I just watched the western, "Crossfire Trail" again. At the conclusion there is an exciting showdown. There is a older couple, proprietors  of the town store, who watched from the sidelines. Finally the storekeeper took rifles and ammo to the good guys. In doing so, the old man was wounded in the leg. At the end, as his wife was helping him up, he said, "We did something, Melissa!" To which she answered, "Yes we did."

May God help each of us to remember when doing something for God and His kingdom, "Something is better than nothing."  

The Wonder of the Worm

“Fear not, thou worm Jacob...I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains..” (Isa. 41:14-15). What a way with words the Word has! God takes a delicate worm and makes it into an instrument with teeth. This impotent worm becomes a terror to its terrorist enemies. It is now one that can break, but cannot be broken. Such is the contrast.

God can take the weakest and endow them with Divine strength so that they leave a noble mark upon their generation. Behold the wonder of the worm: so low, so little, so weak, so defenseless, so despised, trampled under the feet of others. When God Almighty picks up this creature of the dust to use as one of His Divine tools, none can withstand this weak worm.

Jacob’s King (Jesus) calls Himself, “a worm and no man.” How we worms should take heart at the thought that our God is the God of the worm.

“Thou shalt thresh the mountains...” No matter how big the circumstances, the highest, strongest, and most stubborn of difficulties will be cut through by this weak instrument of iron.

“Fear not, thou worm..I will help thee, saith the Lord...”

No Excuse For Not Making It

“Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.” Joseph is sending his brethren to his and their father. They are in a strange land, and the journey will be long and difficult. So he gives them ample provisions for the way.

It takes little spiritual insight to apply this to God’s children today. As we travel this foreign land on our way home to the Father, our Elder Brother has provided us with everything we’ll need to make a successful journey. We can make it safely to our Father’s House. There is no excuse arriving home, like the prodigal, undernourished and penniless.

We have the Bible to instruct us (11Tim.3:16); the Holy Spirit to empower us (Zach. 4:6); the Blood of Christ to cleanse us (1Jn.1:70; the Church to ground us (1Tim.3:15); the brethren to encourage us (Acts 28:15); the armour of God to protect us (Eph.6:11-18); and the Grace of God to sustain us (11Cor.12:9). Tell me again the reason you don’t think you can finish your course with joy!

“Who would mind the journey if the road leads home.” 

(Song)

The Judgement Seat of Christ

When I was younger, I could tell you all about God's judgement of His children. But now that I'm an old disciple, and had the air let out of my balloon more times than I 'd like to admit, I'm not so sure on all the particulars. One thing I do firmly believe is that motive will play a great part in this awesome time of our accounting to the Lord. 

God's smile will not go exclusively to those who accomplished much for His Kingdom, but also those of us who would have but could not, (because of God's plan for our lives). You see, God knows what we would have done if we could have done it! Intent plays a  major part in God's judgement of a person!

An example of this is David. He wanted to build the Temple for God, but because he was a man of war, it was given to his son Solomon, a man of peace. Yet God told David, "Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart (motive)."

Had I my own way, I would have lived and died in China as a missionary. I've prayed for that people regularly for 56 long years. I like to think, at the judgement bar, God will summon some people around me, and just maybe, with a little squint to their eyes and a smile on their faces, they will say, "Thank you brother!" 

Or possibly in their tongue, 谢谢哥哥. No matter, one way or the other, IT WILL HAVE BEEN WORTH IT ALL!

Spilt Milk

Note: Seven years ago I wrote this article. It is also the title and part of my first book. For some reason I have a very strong impression to post it today.

rds

"We...are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again." So says the wise woman to King David. How many of us try to undue things that the past has already absorbed. There are two kinds of problems: those we can do something about, and the ones beyond our control. We are to concern ourselves with the first and leave the second alone.

Some spend a lifetime crying over spilt milk, not realizing that in many cases, the milk was spoiled. There are times in our lives when God is responsible for turning over the glass and not we ourselves. Therefore, our disappointments can be, in reality, His-appointments. In God's infinite wisdom and love, rather than letting something sour enter into our lives, He prevents us from tasting of it. We do not know sweet milk from the sour, but He does.

One thing is for sure; whether it is God or we who spills the milk, there is nothing we can do once it's done. The wisest thing is to go on with our lives. After all, there are other glasses of milk that will not be spilled, and we can enjoy them.

Don't cry over spilt milk; your Father will pour you another glass.

THANKS!

Dear Readers,

Just a line to say, "THANKS!" I appreciate so much your prayers and support. But what struck me while praying for you today was your notes of encouragement; sent from time to time. They keep me wanting to feed you full. 

Love in the Lovely Lamb,

rds

"...a word spoken in due season, how good is it!" 

Blame Enough to go Around

"...ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy." 

About 50,000 Jews returned to their homeland from their seventy-year captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had completely destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and all the temple furniture. The first thing the remnant did was rebuild the altar for worship. Then came the laying of the foundation of the new Temple, of which our text speaks. We're told the younger generation, who had not seen the first Temple, "...shouted aloud for joy." And that the older ones who remembered the grandeur and glory of the first, "wept with a loud voice." For in their days, the Temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. And this new Temple fell short of the one in their day.

It is possible to get trapped in the "good old days" of the past and miss what God is doing today. On the other hand, we can get caught up in all trendy modern methods of today and fail to see what great things God did for our fathers in the past, which is for our learning. We can be haunted by the past or haughty in the present. But it is possible for each to learn from the other! The "shouters" and the "weepers" can unite if each will give a little. It is easy to err on either side of the issue. Those who looked back failed to move forward, and the others, excited about what God was doing now, didn't follow through with the work. They left it for some fifteen years. Both squandered the opportunities the Lord had given them. 

The "ancients," like some of us older folks today, evidently forgot it was the sins of their generation that brought about the fall of the Kingdom to begin with. Plus, although the present Temple was not as great as the first, God promises, “The glory of this latter house will be greater than the former.” God fulfilled Haggai's prophecy, for it was in this Temple that our blessed Lord Jesus walked in His day. This should be a lesson to all of us elderly, and a blessing, encouragement, and challenge to a younger generation.

Characteristics Christians Should Cultivate

To my readers: The following is from a sermon series, God in His grace, mightily used over these many years. 

1. Learn to blame yourself.

2. Finish the job.

3. You are either master or mastered.

4. Do right at all times.

5. Take care of little things.

6. Cultivate a spirit of gratitude.

7. Learn to say, "no."

8. Function according to your ability.

9. Do best at what you dislike most

10. Keep getting up.

11. Make your stumbling stones your stepping stones.

12. You can do what you ought to do.