Month: December 2019

Of the hundreds of articles and posts I have written this is beyond a doubt the most difficult and probably one of the most important. I’m going to share openly with full transparency something about my life only my wife knew. It is not something I want to do, but something the Holy Spirit is very strongly prompting me to do.

I was eleven years old when I accepted Christ as my Savior. At that same time I was beginning to become curious about sex. Satan convinced me that pornography was a way I could satisfy my curiosity without actually sinning. Then he used it to make me feel guilty and ashamed. I believe each of us have a “favorite sin”. Satan can’t separate us from God, but he uses that hot button to get in through the back door of our mind to cause shame and self-doubt so that our Christian testimony is negatively affected. The chains of that addiction were broken for me when I was presented with a perfect opportunity to act out my fantasies and I ran from there like Joseph running from Potiphar’s wife. The Holy Spirit would not let me go through with it and I finally realized then how dangerous pornography is. All of that has been buried in the past for years and forgotten.

I get a joke of the day in my email. Most of them have been cute and funny. I like to share them with my friends. On the morning of Christmas Eve, the joke was sexually explicit and although it was funny, it was not something I would be comfortable sharing with anyone. Laughing at that joke seemed to trigger something in the back of my mind and before I realized what was happening I found myself on a porn website. The images no longer triggered fantasies, but I quickly closed down my laptop and prayed. Have you ever been in a super market and heard a voice on the loud speaker say, “Clean up in aisle seven”? They don’t look for someone to blame; they just clean up the mess and restock the shelf. I basically asked God for a cleanup in an aisle of my mind. I asked Him to remove the mess and restock the shelves with wholesome thoughts of Him and my Christian brothers and sisters along with precious memories of my wife. He immediately answered my prayer, but then the Holy Spirit strongly prompted me to immediately begin work on this blog post.

Christians are ashamed to share these kinds of embarrassing battles taking place in our lives. That is sad and unfortunate. Our secrecy causes other Christians to feel isolated and alone in their battle with the guilt and shame of their own “favorite sin”. We are reborn into a new spiritual creation as a child of God, but we still inhabit a natural body in a natural world. As a result, God continues to work on us and in us. I recently heard a handicapped gentleman say, “If you don’t like the way I am now, just hold on! I’m still in the oven and God is still in the kitchen. One day soon He will open the oven door, pull me out and say, ‘Well done!’”

Don’t ever feel alone or allow Satan to make you feel so guilty and ashamed that you try to hide from God like Adam and Eve. Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are an eternal child of God and His Spirit within you will help you overcome all obstacles the enemy tries to put in your way. You will be victorious! You have the promise and the unconditional love of your heavenly Father!   

I can’t believe today is already the Sunday before Christmas. This year has literally flown by. We are nearing the beginning of a new decade of 2020, but first we pause to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God’s eternal gift to us. Our children and teenagers at CLC will present a special Christmas musical at all three services today. That is always a great time of worship and celebration; filled with the hope of a new generation of believers.

As always, this year has presented me with blessings and trials. As I get older, it seems the blessings far outnumber the hardships and challenges. I think that might be because I appreciate the blessings, large and small, more than ever and my attention is focused on them instead of my pain and limitations. I miss my sweet wife of five decades and I will every day until I join her in heaven, but I am not at all alone or depressed. God’s Spirit within me and the thoughts and prayers of those I love will not allow it.

Christmas isn’t until Wednesday this year, but I have already received cards and presents in the mail, which I ripped open immediately like a child on Christmas morning. At my age, I love to receive gift cards. I have $100 worth of them for my favorite store and restaurant so far with another one on its way in the mail. I also received a very generous amount of cash that was transferred to my PayPal account. All of that will be put to good use, but a present I am looking forward to opening on Christmas day is a quart of BarBQ pork from my home town of Evansville, Indiana, where they know how to do BarBQ you all! That is a Christmas dinner I am really looking forward to.   

My caregiver and sister in Christ will be here for six hours on Christmas Eve to make sure I am comfortable and prepared for the holiday. I look forward to her visits and all that she does for me. God is good and He has been so good to me. I just wanted to share what is happening in my life in this blog post and wish everyone reading this a blessed Merry Christmas with family and friends. Cherish every precious moment with them as you remember the gift from God of that baby in a manger; the son of God who became a man so that we might become God’s children too. Bless you all.

To call me old school would be a vast understatement. I have to admit that not every worship song grabs me the way hymns and gospel songs usually do. This is one that does. “Our God is the lion, the lion of Judah. He’s roaring with power and fighting our battles and every knee will bow before you. Our God is the lamb, the lamb that was slain for the sins of the world, his blood breaks the chains and every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb. Oh every knee will bow before him.”

That song points out two very different aspects of God while confirming with that last word that they are one in the same person. I write a lot individually about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of the Trinity. I don’t pretend to be a theologian, but I think we sometimes overlook or forget the fact they are one in the same God. The God I worship and serve is not a committee; He is the master Designer and Creator of all things; He is our loving heavenly Father (Abba – Daddy); He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world – our Savior; He is the Spirit that takes up residence in the heart of every believer; He is the Lion of Judah who fights our battles and much more. God was multi-tasking long before there was a human to give that concept a name.

At the very beginning of the Gospel of John we are told that Jesus and the God of Creation are one.  In the fourteenth chapter Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death, burial and resurrection. “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I been with you all of this time, Philip, and you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!’”

It is difficult for our finite minds to wrap around the idea of the infinite power and scope of our God. He is unlimited by time, space or anything else. Isn’t it comforting to know that He not only loves and cares about us, but He is able to remove the “im” from impossible and put the “super” in supernatural?        

A young boy asked his dad, “How big is God?” His father pointed to a plane high in the sky and asked, “How big is that airplane?” His son replied, “It is tiny. I can cover it with my little finger.” Then he drove the boy to the airport and showed him a plane on the runway. “How big is that airplane?” “It is huge” the boy replied. “So it is with God. The closer we get to Him the bigger He becomes.” That is a great description of our perspective of God, but does it really answer the original question? How big is God?

I hope you aren’t expecting me to answer that question. In military terms; it is above my pay grade and it is certainly beyond my ability as a writer. Frederick Martin Lehman stretched his imagination and writing skill to the limit when he wrote these powerful lyrics describing just the size of God’s love. “Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God so rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall evermore endure – the saints’ and angels’ song.”

This is what I do know. God is big enough to have created everything on Earth including us. He is big enough to implant a genetic code in every cell of every living creature.  He is big enough to create a Universe that stretches beyond the reach of our most powerful telescopes. He is big enough for His Spirit to dwell in the heart of everyone who believes in Him and accepts the sacrifice of His Son for their sins. He is big enough to hear and answer the prayers of His children around the world simultaneously. He is big enough to provide me with everything I need in this life and much more. He is big enough to prepare a place for me and for every one of His children when our tour of duty here on Earth is over. He is big enough to stand with me and walk with me every step of my way. In the words of His beloved Son, “Humanly speaking it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

I have written much about the Holy Spirit and how He prompts us to action; how He stays with us every step of the way. But there are also times in our life when our words and action are not required and may actually defeat our purpose. Being still isn’t easy to do, especially for men. It seems that our nature is to want to do things for ourselves and for those we love. If something is wrong we think it is our job to fix it. One of the hardest things I had to learn as a husband was that not every problem needed my solution. At the end of the day, Carol would share with me a problem she ran into at work with a customer or coworker. My automatic reaction would be to let her know how I would have handled that situation. She had already handled it her way and all she needed was a sympathetic ear, not a well-meaning mouth. I finally became a good listener with God’s help.

I have learned over the years that there are other situations when my presence is all that is needed to show my love and concern. I have mentioned several times before that when Carol was in the nursing home she had trouble sleeping in that strange place, so I spent most of my time with her each day just holding her hand while she slept knowing I was there. It gave her the comfort and assurance of my love more than any other act or encouraging, cheery words I could have uttered. When someone close to me is ill or suffers a loss, often words fail me as I simply hug them and silently share their pain or grief. I’m sure Job wished his friends had learned that lesson.  

There is a time to praise and worship God; to bring our petitions and needs to Him. But there is also a time during our prayers when we must quietly await His loving response and guidance. One of my favorite sayings is “If you really want God to open that door for you, take your hand off of the handle.” The Isaacs family gospel singing group always touch me with the song “Stand still and let God move.” As the song says, it isn’t easy to do. It takes intent and practice, but it is so worth it!

“Be still and know that I am God!” (Psalms 46:10)

I have found as I get older small things irritate me. One example; for years I have worked with my laptop on my lap and my wireless mouse on the arm of my lazy boy (a name for that chair I find more appropriate every day). Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the mouse has begun to slide off the arm of the chair and bounce away from me so I have to strain to get it back. Talk about irritating! I asked God to help me and He replied, “How many times does it have to happen before you adjust and put it somewhere else when your hands are on the keyboard?” Problem solved; moving on to the next irritation.

Do you find yourself irritated by something or someone? We have all felt that way at one time or another, but what can be done about it? Does God offer us a solution to those irritations? Maybe we can find the answer by taking a close look at nature; another word for that tiny portion of God’s creation around us (no mother involved).

Oysters are one of the simplest animals in God’s creation. They are immobile and filter nutrients from the water around them instead of feeding. Inside their hard shell they are very sensitive to irritation. Just one grain of sand causes them great discomfort. So God has provided them a way to convert the minerals they filter from the water into a nacre substance that also forms their hard shell. When irritation is felt, the irritant is coated with nacre until it is perfectly round and smooth and no longer a cause of irritation. The result is, of course, a beautiful pearl. Clams and mussels are also capable of producing pearls, but they don’t do it very often. I’m not sure if that is because they encounter fewer irritations or if they have a higher threshold for discomfort.

We are infinitely more complex than an oyster, so why hasn’t God provided us with a way to handle our irritations? He has! But the solution is only produced by God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We don’t always need a grain of sand from the outside to set us off. Have you ever known someone who seemed to get on their own nerves? Maybe that someone was you. That is when the source of the irritation is internal. It may be the result of guilt, unresolved conflict or some other experience from our past that has embedded itself in our mind and even our spirit causing constant discomfort. The same substance that creates our protective armor, the blood of Jesus, can remove the sharp edges that have been a constant source of irritation for us. All we have to do is ask God to do what needs to be done. It may also require ripping off the wound dressing we have been trying to cover it with in order for healing to take place. The result will be comfort and peace not experienced before.

When the source of irritation is external, God’s solution is for us to simply change our perspective to match His; so that grain of sand is coated with His love until it becomes a beautiful pearl of wisdom. We are not created to be immobile like the oyster, so sometimes God places a little source of discomfort within us to spur us to wake up and take action. It is kind of like the way cultured pearls are created. We can avoid that irritation by being aware of His will in our life and being obedient to His still small voice.

When I run across a tragic post on Face Book about man’s inhumanity to man, instead of responding with the anger emoji I always go with sad. Why do I do that? It is because I sincerely feel sadness for the victim and their loved ones and it also saddens me to think that another human being is capable of such a cruel act. Anger is much closer to hate than I am comfortable with. Does that make me soft or weak? I think it takes much more strength and courage to avoid hatred than to embrace it. These are two of my favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” “I choose love because hate is too heavy a burden to bear.” Even though he was the target of others’ hatred, Dr. King refused to fight back with hate in return. That is a Christ-like attitude. Jesus encourages us to love our neighbors and even love our enemies. Then he demonstrated it for us in the most painful, stressful situation when from the cross he asked his heavenly Father to forgive those who were torturing and killing him. He could have called a legion of angels to kill them all and set him free, but it wasn’t their hatred that nailed him to the cross; it was his love for mankind – for us.

You don’t have to look far to find hate in today’s world. As in Jesus’ day, the haters and sinners are quick to blame others for their own sins and evil. They are rightly frightened by the thought of God’s judgement, so they blame Christians for offending them with God’s word and making them uncomfortable. Because I am an old, white, prolife, evangelical Christian man; I have been called a hater of women, a racist, a homophobe, an Islamophobe and other harsher names in hateful rants on social media; none of which are true. The Holy Spirit will not allow me to take the accusations personally or return even a little of that undeserved hatred. They aren’t attacking me, they are rebelling against God. I am instructed to love them as Christ loves me.

Men and women aren’t born with hate in their heart. They are taught to hate by the enemy and by those who stand to gain from inciting hatred. Sadly, once hate for a person or group of people sinks deep in the heart of a man or woman, it is very hard for them to see and accept the truth and real source of evil.

It isn’t always easy to love those who hate and abuse us. Corrie Ten Boom wrote about her struggle to forgive and love some of the German guards at the prison camp where she and her sister awaited execution for aiding Jews. She admitted she could not forgive one of them no matter how hard she tried. Then she asked the Holy Spirit inside of her to forgive him in her place and that set her free from hatred. Hatred sometimes causes harm to those hated (Corrie’s sister died in that prison camp), but it always eats away at the hater and eventually destroys them. So when God tells us not to hate He is protecting us – not them.

The Bible is the infallible, eternal word of God. Satan knows that better than anyone. He even quoted scripture out of context when tempting Jesus. He has tried to destroy it many times by banning it or even burning copies of it. God will not allow His word to pass away (Matthew 24:35); so Satan has resorted to spreading lies about it throughout secular societies to keep people from reading it for themselves and learning the eternal truth that is Jesus Christ.   

Countless atheists and agnostics have begun a study of the Bible to discredit Christianity and encountered its eternal truth; not only becoming Christians themselves but strong defenders of their faith like C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel. Many others read it without recognizing its truth. They even memorize chapter and verse but without knowing the Shepherd of the 23^rd Psalm personally it is just a mental exercise that allows them to pretend to be religious. Their actions eventually betray them.

Personally, it was a single verse that opened my eyes, my mind and my heart to accept God’s gift of eternal life described by Jesus in John 3:16. It was then that God’s Holy Spirit took up residence in my heart and He began to show me how to discern the messages in His word that apply specifically to me. At eleven years of age, the old English of the King James Version suddenly began to make perfect sense to me.

Today we have a variety of modern translations from which to choose, but there are still churches and denominations that use only the King James Version. My first modern translation was the Phillips Version of the New Testament. During the nearly four years I served as a lay preacher in St. Louis, I used that along with the King James Version to prepare messages. My favorite verse in Phillips is Romans 12:2 “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its own mold.” Today, I study and write primarily using the New Living Translation (NLT) because I believe it to be the modern English translation closest to the original Hebrew and Greek. There are several good paraphrase versions (like Phillips) that shed additional light on some passages. Translations into the languages of the nations have for centuries been enabling missionaries to carry out the Great Commission. English vocabulary and usage has changed much even since I was in grammar school (much more so since 1611 England) so why not use a translation that makes sense to this generation instead of teaching new Christians old English as a second language?

To me the bottom line is to read the Bible with an open mind and heart under the guidance of the Holy Spirit no matter which translation you choose. I cannot count the times I have read a very familiar passage and God has shown me a different way of looking at it that is a timely message for me. What brings scripture alive for us is the same Spirit that brought Jesus back to life (Romans 8:11) and gives each of us spiritual rebirth (John 3:3-8).

Today wraps up a long Thanksgiving weekend with worship and praise. I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful holiday. My plans to go out to eat fell through, but thanks to my brothers and sisters in Christ, I had two great meals and many calls and texts checking on me with love. There is nothing like family to brighten a holiday. At a time when I could be alone without family members, God has provided so many blood relatives. It is not DNA that connects us but the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I spent most of Thanksgiving Day in prayer thanking God for putting those beautiful people in my life and for all of the other blessings I have enjoyed this year.

As Christians, we know that all good things come from our Father in heaven and we thank him for all of them. But it is also important that we continually thank those he has placed in our life to help us. Because of my parents’ example and training, appreciation and thanks are always on my lips; not because it is the polite thing to do, but because it is the right way to react when someone offers a helping hand. I learned long ago that appreciation in my heart that is not shared with those for whom I’m grateful is like having a gift for them and not giving it to them. My sincere thankfulness may encourage them, but it always lifts my spirit by reminding me how important they are in my life.

Sadly, there are a lot of people today who are not grateful for anything because they feel they are entitled to everything others do for them. It is the legacy of the “me generation” that became self-centered in their outlook on life. It isn’t until they encounter Jesus Christ that they begin to understand that because God loved us when we were unlovable; we are to love Him and all of those around us. Where love is present – gratitude will surely follow.