If you didn’t read and listen yet to yesterdays post, I strongly suggest you do so before you tackle this one. I need say no more as Oswald’s March 2 reading here provides the frosting on the cake to yesterday’s message of Hope from God’s Three Assurances to His Followers;
Oh, that we too like Peter would respond in amazement and simply say, “Lord, you know all things….” and then just rest and bask in His presence, I pray we’re each prepared for that rare moment. Oswald states our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Even if it is the perfect time for Him and us, we may still duck and run since we’re frail humans, for whatever be the excuse. Assuredly, after we’ve matured and in another perfect moment, he’ll back us into a corner where once again, He will hurt us with His piercing questions, that always reveal the true me to myself, for He already knows. But do I know?
I prefer to think the test is not a pass/fail exam, but rather, a pass/repeat situation. God does not grade on the curve ever; it’s always a pass/repeat exam, meshing perfectly with His grace and mercy motif, at least, until Judgement Day! So go forth in abundant joy realizing you do love Him more than mere words can ever express.
Folks, this is the most exquisite practical teaching I can recall about “Putting Your Past Behind You!” Undoubtedly, this is the Number One debilitating affliction, if not curse, that the world’s humanity is suffering from today, and sadly, the church is not exempt. I can confidently state this 30 minute clip will rock your world.
For me, during this Lent season, considering the scars Jesus suffered and endured for me as proof of the job well done, but in his case, “by Him Who knew no sin…” whereas for me and you, our scars are the proof we’ve encountered His needed surgery so that our open festering wounds that we’ve either chosen, or been given by others, were indeed gloriously healed. Our scars are now the visible and verbal evidence to those in our spheres of influence, also suffering from their secrecy, hostility, dishonesty and the unforgiveness of their own unresolved, open and festering wounds! How timely to consider such healing as we approach the celebration of his resurrecting power and its ultimate healing for each of us.
Realize this clip is the first in a series of nine from Erwin Lutzer’s book so titled. His text is I Corinthians 10:12-13 “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Bask in these words today. We’ve read them hundreds of times, but after listening to this clip three times this morning, I’ve been exquisitely warmed anew.
And I was so taken with it, now in Lent, I read the whole chapter. Then I got hung up on verse 21 about “coming down too hard on your children or you’ll crush their spirits.” And that ended with quoting three paragraphs from “Dreamland,” a 2016 book many grandparents should read since they now possess both motive and time. First, though, just absorb this blog. Quite unique!
Colossians 3:1-25 MSG
[1-2] He Is Your Life
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ— that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.
[3-4] Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life-even though invisible to spectators-is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too-the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
[5-8] And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
[9-11] Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
[12-14] So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
[15-17] Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ-the Message-have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives-words, actions, whatever-be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
[18] Wives, understand and support your husbands by submitting to them in ways that honor the Master.
[19] Husbands, go all out in love for your wives. Don’t take advantage of them. [20] Children, do what your parents tell you. This delights the Master no end.
[21] Parents, don’t come down too hard on your children or you’ll crush their spirits.
merlin commenting now: Ever think how the prodigal’s son father exhibited his “tough love?” Scripture states immediately after the request that “so he divided to them his livelihood.” It evidently was not after his accountant jockeyed his resources, or by shaming him by guilt trips, or threats of any kind. Having just read Sam Quinones “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” the point is continually made throughout the book’s 353 pages that what fueled the advance of the Mexican cheap black tar heroin distribution system amongst the white privileged middle and upper classes during the last three decades, was primarily the failure of their parents, even once aware of the problem, to effectively facilitate and dispense tough love to their children, even years before the heroin finally showed up. It could be argued big pharma started it; parents just aided and abetted…
So the youth actually were set up by their parents removing them from the normal usual and customary age appropriate responsibilities, existing in a vacuum doomed for failure, especially when the predominate communication, is “what do you want or need?” And when the parents first encountered either their child’s addiction and the subsequent demands were forthcoming, there was no equity in their relational communication bank to facilitate either reason and/or, a cooperative spirit. The book reveals most parents refused to act on the evidence their child had a problem in their bedroom sanctuary, resulting in many “quiet” unknown deaths for the first decade.
Or consider the other extreme, shaming and threats that were enacted rather than admitting their worst nightmare was now just down the hall, requiring all the love they could muster, and a willingness to be transparent with their pain in order to learn from the many now vocal parents telling all crisscrossing America speaking to everyone who would listen to their experiential wisdom; and indeed, there was abundant hope, and that love was stronger than hate and fear.
I am including the following three paragraphs from page 323 as proof of how well- meaning churches and parents can get it all wrong. Perhaps, according to the prodigal son parable, it is first about how you have loved them, and then, if such events would ever dictate you sending them off as in the prodigal, first consider how much you are a loved parent in God’s care. Next, realize you too must be able to release your children from your care, if they so choose, but rest assured, they will always be in His care and protection while are learning their own life’s lessons, as difficult as that may be for you, since you’ll not be in control. You too, must live in hope for the day they choose to return and you’ll be ready for their embrace and as in the parable, their words of repentance will be lost in the ecstasy of the moment.
Bottom line, we are to love our children even before their conception, always displaying during these hard moments that demand tough love, that we may do so with all due diligence, complete and unreserved Godly obedience, His forgiveness, His transformation, His empowerment and especially, our zeal for discipling anyone living without His hope! That dictum is alive and well in this home, actually it is flourishing! Jewish tradition had it right with their Big Four Shares, remember the doorposts?
Pg. 323
” Russian Pentecostal junkie named John Tkach had started a rehabilitation clinic in the Portland suburb of Boring. Tkach saw the Russian Pentecostal churches trying to hide the sight of hundreds of addicted kids. Parents who asked a pastor’s help with their addicted child were shamed for running a sinful house. Tkach sold his trucking business, took out a second mortgage on his house, and opened a rehabilitation center. A church formed around it, the first to make the rampant opiate addiction of the Russian Pentecostal kids the focus of its ministry. God Will Provide, as the new church was called, rested on Jesus’s message of love, forgiveness, and transformation. Traditional Russian pastors called it blasphemy and sinful. Russian Pentecostal kids called it the Rehab Church. But soon God Will Provide had spread its church/rehab center to Sacramento, Seattle, and elsewhere.
There, Ella met Vitaliy Mulyar. Vitaliy had crashed since those heady days when he was one of the first Russians to sell OxyContin in Portland. In 2010, Vitaliy faces a two-year prison term if he failed another probation drug test. Terrified, he turned to God Will Provide, where he felt warmth in church for the first time. He kicked heroin, became a Bible teacher, and, with a judge’s permission, went on to a mission to the Ukraine and Austria as the church, fired by the new energy of its recovering-addict congregants, opened a school for missionaries.
A year into his recovery, Vitaliy encountered Elina at the center. He told her his story. She mistrusted her own capacity to change. But it struck her, the way he had risen from the street. A chaste romance followed, in keeping with the Russian Pentecostal tradition, though with a modern American twist. They grew acquainted via hundreds of texts while he was on mission. Vitaliy came home and asked Elina to marry him before they ever kissed.
Two years later, their daughter was born. They named her Grace.”
You catch the vision that God really intended here. And to think, it really wasn’t about the prodigal at all, it was about the brother that stayed home, and was in the pew every Sunday, maybe even taught Sunday school once, or twice! I’m done! It has been a good day. And you don’t know half of it. Praise God for His faithfulness.
Robert Rogers, shares recent continuing unplanned home going events in his family during the past weeks. Founder of Mighty in the Land Ministry, featured in the Sept ’22 Plain Values magazine from Winesburg, OH. Author of Into the Deep: one man’s story of how tragedy took his family but could not take his faith;7 Steps to No Regrets: How to find peace with God, others, and yourself;Rise Above:How to Heal the Hurts and Overcome the Worst.
Here’s current inspiration from my friend Robert.
…for everything serves Yourplans. If Your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. I will never forget Your commandments, for by them You give me life.” (Psalm 119:91-93)
On January 28th, on an unusually warm and sunny day in the Louisville, Kentucky area, my brothers and I carried the coffin of our eldest brother – Dr. Paul Joseph Rogers – to his grave at Grove Hill Cemetery in Shelbyville, Kentucky where his earthly body was laid to rest until Jesus comes again. Lifting my brother’s casket from the hearse to the burial site felt so strangely surreal, somewhat like a dream, as if I was viewing a dreaded, unimaginable nightmare. I gently set my boutonniere atop Paul’s coffin, forming a cross with those flowers of the other six pallbearers. After placing mine, I kissed the top of the casket and traced a cross across the wood grains with my thumb, fighting back my tears as I genuflected alongside his crypt.
After the committal prayer by the pastor, the cemetery workers promptly began the ghastly process of interring the coffin into the ground. I had never witnessed this before at any other burial, including that of my own previous wife and our four children in 2003 after their untimely drowning deaths in Kansas from the August 30th flash flood. Entombing the coffin was usually left for another time after the family and friends had departed the cemetery.
But, today was different. The interment began immediately after the committal. None of us viewing this sacred moment could move. It was as if all of us were frozen in time like statues, entranced by this solemn and somber occasion, wishing we could stop time, pause the moment, or somehow rewind life a few months before Paul’s epic battle against pancreatic cancer had ensued. Siblings, parents, children, grandchildren, friends, and patients alike were all entranced in the instant, fixated on the abrupt brevity of such a vibrant young life. With each clinking sound of the entombment ratchet-lowering mechanisms, every inch of my brother’s coffin descended into his grave – until it was no longer visible from my view. As my heart sank within me, my knees instinctively hit the ground, my hands reverently made the sign of the cross over my body, and the irrevocability of Paul’s passing from this earth became more and more final.
As the youngest of eight children (five boys and three girls), Paul is our first sibling to pass. Paul is survived by us 7 siblings, our mother, his bride (of 39 years), 6 children and their 7 grandchildren. The death of any and every loved one is uniquely excruciating. I still feel out of balance, as though one of the limbs in our family body is gone.
As a family, and as the body of Christ, we are bonded by unseen ligaments of love. When someone passes from this planet, those of us who remain strive to regain our equilibrium after such a difficult loss, realizing that life will never return to “normal” again. The depth of our grief is a testament to the depth of our love for each other. The pain is excruciating because our love for those who passed was so passionate. Our hearts hurt so much because we love and miss them so much.
Just 11 months prior (February 2022), some cancerous cells were detected in Paul’s gall bladder. We covered him in prayers and scriptures, believing God for the best as Paul received treatments at Mayo Clinic and at the University of Louisville Hospital. His closest friend, Danny, said, “Paul, God has this. You have God, and we have you.” As Paul – with his bride and his extended family – waged a formidable assault against the diagnosis on all spiritual and medical fronts, the cancer later spread to his spine. Yet, Paul was still upbeat and active, even vigorously riding his bike just a few months before his passing, determined to kick it. When cancer cells were later found in his pancreas, his condition changed dramatically and quickly.
Just four days before he passed, my wife and I visited him in the Louisville Hospital ICU on January 19-20, 2023. As one brother described it, Paul looked akin to a “holocaust survivor,” just skin and bones. Yet, Paul’s spirit remained strong, even then. He seemed resolute to recover, and he truly embodied faith in action.
Upon entering his room, Paul’s first words to us were, “How is Cora?” He was asking about Inga’s mother who was just abruptly widowed only a few weeks prior on December 23rd after 45 years of marriage to Dr. Doug Fisher (a horse veterinary doctor) following a lengthy hospital stay for a pacemaker insertion and ensuing stroke complications. (Our immediate family is all still reeling from the grief of Inga’s Dad’s passing. I was a pallbearer twice in 3 weeks – both in the same month of January 2023. Tough times.)
When I shared with Paul about Cora’s difficulty answering people who ask, “How are you doing?” after the death of a loved-one, Paul’s immediate response was, “I am blessed of the Lord!” Amazing. Fighting for his life, my brother still declared the goodness of the Lord and bore witness to the fact that he was indeed blessed by Almighty God.
On our next visit to Paul the following day in the ICU, his first question was, “How are the kids?” He wanted to know about our 5 children. I was floored! Here is my big brother, battling the effects of cancer, and he’s still focused on others. Paul maintained his ever-present outward focus, never inward.
Paul was a humble, brilliant cardiologist with degrees from Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins, and a residency and fellowship in cardiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He had a remarkable ability to make every patient, every individual, and every family member feel as though they were the most important person in the room (or on the planet for that matter).
Paul worked diligently to remember people’s names and occupations, and he made a point to display a genuine, vested interest in each person’s health, progress, family, and general well-being. He intentionally remembered and used people’s names, because he felt that the sweetest sound to someone’s ears is hearing their own name. He also encouraged others to never judge anyone – anytime – for anything.
By no means was Paul a physician for the prestige or the paycheck. He became a doctor so that he could minister to others. Paul loved to serve God by serving the body of Christ. He truly cherished the chance to help patients daily as he practiced cardiology for 10 years in Columbus, Ohio, 7 years in Cincinnati, and 15 years in Louisville.
One of the excruciating aspects of being treated for cancer for Paul was that he was unable to practice as a cardiologist daily. He deeply longed to give and serve others again, not just receive medical treatments for himself.
Paul was incessantly outwardly focused. He had boundless energy and was typically up every night until 1am, and then awoke at 5am to exercise and spend time in prayer and God’s Word before early hospital rounds. He blended his heart for Christ and his skill as a doctor on multiple medical mission trips to Honduras from 2012-2019 where, along with his wife and children, he taught residents and even improved cardiology facilities. His heart of compassion and love for working with Spanish-speaking people in Honduras inspired him to work at the free clinic in Shelbyville, Kentucky as well.
As my wife and I visited with him for those precious final, brief minutes in the Louisville ICU only days before his death, we prayed, sang hymns (“Great is Thy Faithfulness”, “Be Thou My Vision”, “Numbers 6 Blessing Lullaby”), and fought back tears as I lay my hand on his head and kissed his forehead. I asked my brother what he thought God’s purpose was through all this pain and difficult life season. He responded with one word, “Closer.” God was drawing us closer to Himself and our family closer to one another. Beautiful. Selfless.
As the medical staff abruptly entered the room, my bride and I knew we had to depart. Inga and I also sensed that it might very well be the last time we would see Paul on this planet alive, short of a divine miracle. Paul and I locked eyes and he gave me a glance that I shall never forget, as if to say, “I love you, brother. It’s almost time for me to go. I’ll see you on the other side – in Heaven.” He even gave us a hearty thumbs-up as we left the room. My wife and I collapsed into each other’s arms, embracing and weeping in the waiting room as we strived to process the enormity of what we had just experienced, and ever so thankful for the gift of time with which God had just graced us.
Thank God we were there. Thank God Paul was lucid enough to communicate with us. Thank God we saw him just days before he passed from this life. No regrets.
A few days later, with his bride and his children encircling him in the ICU, my brother’s spirit passed from this earth on January 24th. Moments before, they played this song which I had composed in 2003 shortly before my previous family passed away. I believe God’s Holy Spirit divinely inspired it for such a time as this. Even now, There Is Peace. https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/fvqze6/ThereIsPeace.mp3 A few days later, I was honored to sing and play it at Paul’s funeral service in Louisville.
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” (Isaiah 26:3)
My wife’s father never said, “goodbye.” He always said, “See you tomorrow.” Similarly and ironically, my brother also never said, “goodbye.” He would always say, “See you later.” We are deeply saddened and we grieve heavily over both of their recent and untimely deaths. Yet, we grieve with hope that we will “See you (both) later” because of “Christ in [us], the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
Do you have that hope? Have you put your faith alone in Christ alone? The worst regret of all would be dying and not going to Heaven to be with the Lord and with your loved ones.
Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:1-6)
Every death and every funeral starkly remind us of just how fragile life is, and of how thin the veil is between this world and the next. Every day is a gift from God to be cherished. That is why it is called the “present.”
Savor every moment with your loved-ones, and strive to KNOW GOD more, and make Him more known daily.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
In the timeless words of missionary C.T. Studd, “Only one life,’ twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Amen. KNOW GOD personally, and Live a Life of No Regrets.
I would be honored to come and share our family’s story near you in 2023, bringing the Hope of God’s Good News. I share at churches of alldenominations, parish missions, revivals, schools, organizations, prayer breakfasts, conventions, banquets, and conferences (men’s, women’s, home-school, pro-life, purity, etc.).
Mighty in the Land Ministry thrives on word of mouth. Every time you tell someone about the impact of this Ministry, you play a vital part in helping us share God’s Good News through our family’s story. Please help spread the word.
Over 310,000 people have personally encountered the Gospel as I’ve freely shared at least 1,389 times since 2003 – all by invitation. Although my testimony has cost me everything, I still charge NOTHING. (No agent. No “fees.” Pure God.)
Thank you for prayerfully and materially supporting this Ministry in 2022. I am deeply thankful. Would you please consider investing in the Kingdom mission of Mighty in the Land Ministry to help others experience the Good News of Jesus in 2023 and beyond? I would be grateful for your support to help me continue to share the hope of Christ with others through Mighty in the Land Ministry. Your gracious contributions help to continue the mission of this Mighty Ministry – to teach others to KNOW GOD and Live a Life of NO REGRETS. I humbly thank you for giving as God leads.
Please pray for us. Thank you for praying. I am immensely grateful to you.
Gratefully and faithfully,
-Robert Rogers
Teaching others to KNOW GOD and Live a Life of No Regrets
PS – We trust God for your contributions to help further the mission of this Ministry to which I believe God has called me. If God prompts you to support the ongoing work of Mighty in the Land Ministry with a tax-deductible contribution, I would be deeply grateful to you. Here’s how:
Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. James 1: 19
Perhaps today in this age of email, we should add “slow to send” to this verse.
God in His great wisdom created mankind with two ears and only one mouth. Perhaps that was because He wanted us to listen twice as much as we speak. Most of us are really poor listeners. Bob and I rate this skill as one of the top priorities in having a good relationship. I guarantee if couples would take the time to become better listens, their relationships would be improved through better understanding and increased patience.
It’s important to remember, though, that women tend to be better listeners than men, probably because most men immediately want to fix what is broken and listening is considered a waste of time. To them, the solution is what’s important; they want to go directly to the bottom line.
So be brave and ask several of your trusted friends soon how they would rate you on your listening skills.Be prepared to take their honest answers and act upon the information constructively. Don’t get into the trap of thinking you are so much better at listening than so-and-so. Almost everyone is below par in this skill.
We will become better listeners when we realize how people value being heard. It gives people an awareness that we care for what they have to say and that we truly love them. Our own spirits are lifted up when those around us know we care for them.
Listening is truly an art form that can be mastered if we practice. Observe yourself in a crowd, or even one-on-one, to see how you do. Change comes when you know and act on Spirit revealed truth.
This morning I was reminded again, that James 1:19 compels us in our hearing, to not only distinguish truth from narrative chatter, but then in our “provoked human response,” be slow to speak and slow to anger. And as I alluded to above, perhaps we need also to be slow in our temptation of the moment, to “hit the SEND button.” Perhaps, like waiting a few hours, or even, to sleep on it! Just saying.
Inspired by and adapted from Minute Meditations For Women by Emilie Barnes
Prayer:
Father God, I know I frequently get into trouble with my relationships when I stop listening and start to open my mouth. Or, even hit the send button too soon. Please forgive me for the words that I have said or SENT OUT foolishly over the years. Heal the wounds I have left behind. I must improve my relationships. Let such begin with me TODAY. Amen.
Action:
Seek out a few friends and have them reflect on what kind of a listener you are to them. Be brave, loving, and willing to hear and act on what they have to say. Practice patience and above all, due diligence before SENDING and/or SPEAKING, especially when provoked!
This chapter spoke volumes to me this morning on the threshold of possibly being another historical pivotal week considering global events. How about you? Are we offering our required due diligence when prompted by Holy Spirit?
Proverbs 10 The Message Version
1] … Wise son, glad father; stupid son, sad mother.
[2] Ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere; an honest life is immortal.
[3] GOD won’t starve an honest soul, but he frustrates the appetites of the wicked.
[4] Sloth makes you poor; diligence brings wealth. [
5] Make hay while the sun shines-that’s smart; go fishing during harvest-that’s stupid.
[6] Blessings accrue on a good and honest life, but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.
[7] A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench.
[8] A wise heart takes orders; an empty head will come unglued.
[9] Honesty lives confident and carefree, but Shifty is sure to be exposed.
[10] An evasive eye is a sign of trouble ahead, but an open, face-to-face meeting results in peace.
[11] The mouth of a good person is a deep, life-giving well, but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.
12] Hatred starts fights, but love pulls a quilt over the bickering.
[13] You’ll find wisdom on the lips of a person of insight, but the shortsighted needs a slap in the face.
[14] The wise accumulate knowledge-a true treasure; know-it-alls talk too much-a sheer waste.
[15] The wealth of the rich is their bastion; the poverty of the indigent is their ruin.
[16] The wage of a good person is exuberant life; an evil person ends up with nothing but sin.
[17] The road to life is a disciplined life; ignore correction and you’re lost for good.
[19] The more talk, the less truth; the wise measure their words.
[20] The speech of a good person is worth waiting for; the blabber of the wicked is worthless.
[21] The talk of a good person is rich fare for many, but chatterboxes die of an empty heart.
[22] GOD’s blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God.
[23] An empty-head thinks mischief is fun, but a mindful person relishes wisdom.
[24] The nightmares of the wicked come true; what the good people desire, they get.
[25] When the storm is over, there’s nothing left of the wicked; good people, firm on their rock foundation, aren’t even fazed.
[26] A lazy employee will give you nothing but trouble; it’s vinegar in the mouth, smoke in the eyes.
[27] The Fear-of-GOD expands your life; a wicked life is a puny life.
[28] The aspirations of good people end in celebration; the ambitions of bad people crash.
[29] GOD is solid backing to a well-lived life, but he calls into question a shabby performance.
[30] Good people last-they can’t be moved; the wicked are here today, gone tomorrow.
[31] A good person’s mouth is a clear fountain of wisdom; a foul mouth is a stagnant swamp.
[32] The speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it. …
We reading a chapter from Proverbs daily for several months may improve our perspective a bunch! Send me a note describing your adventures while doing that during prior years.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. ISAIAH 26:3
Strategic Life Planning 101.0
Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by our neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).
You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5 ). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.
“We have sinned with our fathers…[and]…did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6‘7 ). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. from My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
The wounds inflicted by an “unsafe” person can cut deep. If you’ve ever been in a relationship where you were used, abused, or abandoned, then SAFE PEOPLE is for you. It will help you make wise choices in relationships from friendship to romance. You’ll discover why good people can get tangled in bad relationships. And you’ll learn how to avoid your own mistakes and how to pick safe, healthy people for the friends you make and the company you keep.
Cloud and Townsend share expert insights that will help you:
Correct things within you that jeopardize your relational security
Learn the 20 traits of unsafe people
Recognize what makes people trustworthy
Avoid unhealthy relationships
Form positive relationships
Become a safe person yourself.
Safe People will help you restructure your approach to relationships. Put an end to getting burned – and start enjoying the healthy, balanced relationships everyone wants and needs.
Contents
Part One: Unsafe People
Chapter One: What is an Unsafe Person?
Chapter Two: Personal Traits of Unsafe People
Chapter Three: Interpersonal Traits of Unsafe People
Chapter Four: How We Lost Our Safety
Part Two: Do I Attract Unsafe People
Chapter Five: Do I Have a “Safety Deficit?”
Chapter Six: Why Do I Choose Unsafe Relationships?
Chapter Seven: False Solutions
Chapter Eight: Why Do I Isolate Myself from People?
Part Three: Safe People
Chapter Nine: What Are Safe People
Chapter Ten: Why Do We Need Safe People?
Chapter Eleven: Where Are the Safe People?
Chapter Twelve. Learning How to Be Safe
Chapter Thirteen: Should I Repair or Replace?
Next time I will transplant you into the heart of Chapter Twelve, “Learning How to Be Safe.” Authors Cloud and Townsend, in their numerous books based on scripture and the shed blood on the cross of our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, providing us the redeeming insights to dispel/destroy, even decades of accumulated unresolved baggage that annihilates us spiritually. Walk into His Light TODAY!
You’re a major exception if this book will not bolster, or even, supercharge, the effectiveness of your current and future relationships! FYI, tonight ThriftBooks has 50+ used paperbacks of Safe People available for $4.99 each.
By Robert Morris, Author of “THE BLESSED LIFE” & “THE GOD I NEVER KNEW”
Although difficult to locate used copies of this 2015 book, I found Truly Free a helpful worthy read written by a transparent pastor geared to pointing men with prior baggage such as myself, to breaking the snares that may continue to so easily entangle us. Our beacon passage is from from Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Now, listen to the same passage in today’s conversational paraphrased English from The Message:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Introduction(verbatim)
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NIV
Their forgetfulness began in earnest on the fifteenth day of their second month of their new calendar. Out in the desert, however, most folks didn’t bother to keep of what day it was.
Mostly, everybody just noticed their sweat—how everybody stank the same bad way. They noticed the sand as it wedged its way into their sandals and between their toes and drifted into their eyes and nostrils with each step they took. They noticed the heat—how breath after breath, the desert air burned in their lungs.
The Israelites were hitting the wall of desert reality.
Already the cool water and palm trees of the oasis of Elim lay far behind them. The relief of shade from Mount Sinai lay in the shadowy distance. The promised land seemed so far ahead of them, they wondered if they’d ever arrive.
All that stench and heat and dust and desert grime mixed together proved the perfect climate to birth forgetfulness. As recorded in Exodus 16, the grumblings on that fifteenth day of the second month since coming out of Egypt started out something like this:
“Hey.” An Israelite wiped the sweat off his forehead. “What I wouldn’t give right now to be back sitting in the shade of my old house.”
“Yeah,” said another, a faraway look in her eyes. “We really had it good back there, didn’t we?”
A third chimed in. “Back in Egypt we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. Remember all those fresh onions and garlic and leeks? So tasty!”
They felt their mouths water, even in the arid heat.
And from there the grumbling erupted.
How Bad It Really Was
Did you catch what important truth the Israelites had forgotten?
They’d been slaves!
The Israelites had escaped bondage in Egypt through the power of God, but in the wilderness they were still imprisoned by their selective memory of life in Egypt
Back in Egypt they might have eaten fresh onions and garlic and leeks on rare occasions. But they had also labored from dawn to dusk every day under the unbending orders that they make bricks without straw. Egypt came complete with cruel taskmasters and whips and chains and shackles and wrenching poverty. All their baby boys had once been thrown into the Nile River.
Repeatedly—desperately—the Israelites had cried out to God for a deliverer.
Now they’d forgotten they had been in bondage.
They’d also forgotten that God had answered their cry. God had sent a deliverer to lead them out of slavery.
But hold on a moment. Before we come down too hard on the Israelites, have you ever considered how susceptible we are today to do or at least lean toward the same thing?
This Present Egypt
If we’re Christians, then the Lord has delivered us out of slavery. Through Christ’s work on the cross, Jesus has removed our despair and darkness and put in its place victory, strength, and freedom. The old is gone. The new has come. We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5: 17). We never need to return to Egypt.
And yet . . .
A life of slavery still beckons to us. We find that our old, harmful thoughts are hard to shake. Our former, unhealthy habits are hard to break. Long-embedded patterns of shameful living continue to entangle us—day after day, month after month, even year after year.
Some days we feel weighed down by those shackles. We long for the freedom to respond to God fully as the people He has created and redeemed us to be. But fear and heaviness and darkness surround us. We wonder where to turn.
We need to recognize the reality and presence of the spiritual realm. We need to step fully into God’s plan to heal our broken world. We need to move into life and healing, purity, liberty, holiness, and truth.
But how?
Finally Free
In the pages ahead, I want to explore with you a glorious truth—that the promise of being delivered from our slavery is a promise to be set free completely. Forget Egypt. You don’t ever want to return to your personal Egypt.
The reality of being truly free is one you may not have explored fully before. A big problem for us is that evil still exists in the world today. Christ has conquered sin and death, yes, but in His infinite wisdom—for reasons that are often difficult for us to understand—the effects of evil are still permitted to exist. We can still be influenced by evil. We can still be oppressed by evil. We can even be controlled by evil. Even if we’re saved.
In the chapters to come we are going to surface a need you may not have known you had. At this very moment there is scriptural evidence that you and I can be negatively influenced by evil. That same evil can entrap us and harm us, oppress us and hurt us, and generally make our lives difficult, even enslave us to harmful patterns of living we thought we had left behind.
But we don’t want to dwell on evil in this book. You won’t hear prolonged stories of the bizarre, the cruel and unusual, or the weird. I won’t tell any stories that keep you awake at night or stories that sound as though they’re pulled from the tabloids.
Instead, I want to dwell on the goodness and power and truth of Jesus Christ. That’s what this book is all about: how God sets us free. All authority has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28: 18). He has conquered death, hell, and evil (1 Corinthians 15: 54–56). He now reigns at God’s right hand and will reign forevermore (Acts 2: 33).
The good news is that regardless of what difficulty you’re struggling with today, there is always hope. Sure, the temptation never quite goes away in this life. There is always a pull toward thoughts and actions that could cause us to become burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5: 1 NASB). But you need to know—and live out fully—that you never need to return to Egypt. With Jesus Christ, you can be free at last, free forever, truly and finally free.
If that sounds like something you long for, I invite you to keep reading. Robert Morris Dallas, Texas”
Contents
Introduction: Free At Last
Chapter One: Greater Is He
Two: Three Big Warning Signs:
Three: Beware the Chaldeans
Four: Breaking the Snare of Pride
Five: Breaking the Snare of Bitterness
Six: Breaking the Snare of Greed
Seven: Breaking the Snare of Lust
Eight: Breaking the Snares in Your Mind
The Mind Is a Battlefield:
Strategy #1: Renewing Minds by Memorizing Scripture
Strategy # 2: Using God’s Word as a Spiritual Weapon
Strategy # 3: Meditating on the Word of God
Nine: Breaking the Snares of Past Wounds
Ten: A Prayer For Freedom
Appendix:
Resources for You to Use
Making Sure You’re Born Again: Forgiven, Transformed, Empowered & Living in Daily Obedience as His Ambassadors Until Death Permits Retirement.
FAQ’s About Deliverance
Ministry of Deliverance and Corresponding Infilling of Holy Spirit
… redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16
When Katie Davis graduated from high school in America and volunteered to teach kindergarten in Uganda, she didn’t know she would one day become mother to 13 orphaned girls and teacher and provider for hundreds more. In her book Kisses from Katie, she describes what seems at times to be an overwhelming task – and her solution” “I began each day saying, ‘Okay Lord, what would you have me do today? . . . I was walking through life one moment at a time, blown away by what God could do through me if I simply said yes.”
God has given us an eternal perspective so that we can look beyond the routines of life. Nevertheless, God has not revealed all of life’s mysteries. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, Solomon writes, “God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in our hearts, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” Perhaps to prevent us from becoming discouraged if we viewed too much too soon, so that we develop trust in His GPS to deliver exactly the resources we need just-in-time from His supply chains to accomplish His purposes.
Now getting older with limited energy, while considering the tasks of the day, to be honest, there are days I want to forget it all and crawl back into bed, but a small voice inside me says, “Merlin, you don’t have to do it all at once. Just put your feet on the floor and take the first step.” Usually the evening before, I’d already determined the most efficient order in which to tackle the tasks listed on my 3×5 card. So, all I have to do is execute the plan. First step though, even before checking the card, is always a time of alignment, communion and calibrating my spiritual GPS. Then I’m ready to hit the drive button!
Ideally, the best way to make the most of a life given as a gift from God is to make the most of today. God doesn’t expect us to plan for the entire future – just today. Consider how much good can be accomplished in just one day in the lives of the people God puts in our path TODAY!
When Paul wrote, “. . . redeeming the time,” he was talking about today, tomorrow, the day after – one day at a time. Why the focus on today? Because a day not redeemed is a day gone forever. And because a life is nothing more but a collection of days! Really!
Inspired and adapted from David Jeremiah’s devotional “Destinations: Your Journey with God” and Emilie Barnes “Minute Meditations For Women.”
