Category: Book Reviews

Yesterday while seeking additional scriptural perspective from dailylightdevotional.org, I found these inspiring verses from Romans 6:19-23 (MSG)

“I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different it is now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter.

But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”

Well said Eugene Peterson! Thank you for your gift of communication.

Since our recent firestorm, I now immediately after waking up offer verbal praise for the morning’s blessings and begin my spiritual devotional routine with two phone apps every morning, the first being dailylightdevotional. org, whose 12-16 selected KJV verses each day acts as a springboard to my phone app of The Message Version (MSG) for clarity and often reading whole chapters to satisfy a perspective thirst. Devotionals and blogs are ok, but personally, I much prefer pure scripture, with no one’s spin, twist, or slant. Dailylight does that superbly well. In fact, the scriptures above are the result of this morning’s dailylight verse from Romans 6:21 KJV “What fruit had ye then in those things where of ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” Understand why I use MSG frequently?

Next, I tackle My Utmost for His Highest which is emailed me daily after midnight, that sometimes requires me to give it several passes before I’m fully able to grasp its bottom line, which you’d think after at least 20 annual trips thru, I’d be proficient. Truth be told though, I still have 4 or 5 readings I encounter each year, that leave me clueless of their bottom line, but I don’t sweat it, I just close the app and move on, but I do keep threatening to give Dr Jim Miller my clueless list for his explanations, since he gave me my very first copy of Utmost, which is still impacting my life profoundly.

Please understand though, I’m still not ready to proceed to the “layout & watch” maneuver mentioned in Tony Reinke’s phone article Step One. And please hear my heart loud and clear here folks, for I’m compelled to take you on this journey to greater devotional health and vitality for that very reason, so that you know such is permissible, possible, even desirable, and especially so, if you’re just a normal person seeking to grow as His Ambassador, not being a weird blogger or a fanatic who enjoys writing, or are not yet retired with too much time and desire.

Back then Pastor Bill inspired me to read the One Year Bible for 13 years continuously before taking a 6-year vacation, and though it was a step in the right direction, I’m sorry to say, the act was driven more by checking off the box than a desire to personally experience God, but nevertheless, God still honored the effort, even though the motive was suspect, for I was even then, laying up a future foundation.

During that period, I began listening to the Bible, especially the NT on my phone while working in the lab and barns and did the NT at least 20 times thru. In addition, I listened to well over two hundred of our 300 Audible wisdom books, nearly all selected and purchased by Loretta in hopes I’d absorb their truths and be spiritually revitalized. I also read a Kindle version of Martyrs Mirror twice, during my 5-minute interval breaks in milking parlors which has exerted a monumental peaceful influence over me while preparing for the inevitable prophesied tougher times and persecution ahead.

After I’ve satisfied my scriptural thirst from the dailylightdevotional.org verses for however long it takes, as I demonstrated above with the Romans 5 verses, and have read the Utmost reading, I then pray thru my prayer list. That completed, I then briefly consider each name to determine what is my next step with them, whether to visit, call, text, email, and/or, continue praying. Next, I proceed to my prior days unfinished “To Do List” reviewing its priorities and praying for God’s guidance and clarity as I rest in the Spirit in the “lay out and watch” mode of Psalm 5:3.

 While contemplating in this restful reflective creative state waiting on God to “stir the waters,” I’m led to begin meshing my “prayer contact to do list” with yesterday’s left over TO DO tasks, into a roughly “practical sequence of events” for today. I find this is an exciting way to live in the moment and momentum of His Divine presence, although it certainly doesn’t always flow that smoothly.

But this is where I am currently with such morning or evening spiritual disciplines, continually refining and retooling, and at the day’s end, we rejoice and give thanks for His continued faithfulness, guidance, and protection.  And we do enjoy our days, our spirits being fulfilled witnessing God’s nuances, miracles, & interventions, not forgetting our glorious tranquil sleep while anticipating His ever new opportunities for tomorrow.  

NEXT UP:

We’ll attempt to conclude the significance of the Psalm selections and move you toward putting wheels under your “Better Way Forward” replacing this ever-consuming phenomenal phone hijacking we’re experiencing…. but only by the empowering of His Holy Spirit, and whatever else we’ve gleaned while being open, and candidly honest about what works for us, or not, both during and after, our “laying out and watching.”

Earlier the idea of spending more time on the last post seemed like a novel & worthy idea, but Monday after spending six hours on a proposal I’ve been orally contemplating in my head for two months, no notes anywhere, when within 30 minutes of completing the final draft on my notebook, it all suddenly vanished. Checking my phone, the script had vanished there too. At first, I was simply devastated, but not angry, because I know I’m sufficiently challenged techie-wise to realize most of my difficulties are self-generated, and in time perhaps with proper help, my impending doom & gloom will vanish when the lost is found.

So, I did the wise thing deciding to hang it all up and head to the gym, discovering the Aultman Wellness Center is virtually deserted after 2 pm and their AC works well prompting me to think perhaps for the summer months, I should do my physical stuff after I’m mentally spent, which is the way I’m discovering I’m wired anyway. So, being only three trips in with Wellness, I have much to learn about the maneuvers that Wellness thought best for me, so with only 3 visible patrons, Aleah, the staff person, had ample opportunity to give me all the help I needed to lock in these routines. Soon my positive mental perspective was restored and I hadn’t even pulled out my buds or tuned in my current read in Audible, Imagine God by John Burke.

Enough peripherals, let’s focus quick on the last post, mainly centering on our abuse and ignorance of our stewardship of His gifts, whether we were genetically endowed, perhaps just outright gifted later, or more recently, Spirit empowered as we stepped out in faith. The three Psalm passages Tony Reinke identified, out of hundreds I’m sure, were key and I’ll give you the first from the Message Version (MSG) for a paraphrased perspective:

“Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for the fire to descend.” Psalm 5:3.

Personally, during my recent 6-month firestorm transitioning from our properties of 41 years to an apartment, I’ve learned even before I do this “laying out & watching” routine, I’m best served by launching my praise words and reflections God-ward first. I am going to quickly share how our recent firestorm impacted what Christ Followers seldom talk about; their morning-devotional routines. Understand, the daily regiment I’m about to describe here may be a bit bizarre, but how would I or you really know? I don’t ever recall having shared this with anyone prior, nor am I accustomed to having others walk up to me and display their morning or evening spiritual vitamins for me either. Neither am I likely to ask anyone, unless perhaps, in a counseling or an intimate time of sharing.

But I am just about to do so very specifically and intentionally below, passing over the nefarious tipping point. I don’t ever recall having a personal conversation with anyone or reading anything written for public consumption prior, which really doesn’t account for much, because of my limited scope, although I’m thinking now the two author’s I’d research first for their possible devotional communication perspective would be Shane J Wood or John Eldredge.  

Since I’m just a weird blogger and not having done any due diligence research, I’ll admit I enjoy going “off the road” writing about the ordinary but profound stuff, hopefully not profanely, but mostly, just because God Himself came down to earth and turned the axis of this world from our way, in which everyone gets what they deserve, to Jesus’s way, in which everyone gets way better than they deserve! In fact, we get the perfection He deserves, while He gets the death we deserve…. A real deal epiphany, or a sudden revelation. Hope you got it, because it’s been my life line, hopefully yours too! (It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News. May 19)

So, I am suggesting perhaps it is past time we break our unholy silence about how we communicate with Almighty God, both to Him, and then, from Him. First off, you must know that my track record communicating TO God, was very poor considering my abundant opportunities. God certainly spoke loud and clear to me during the many unique and varied circumstances of my life. That indeed could be a riveting read, but not so at all, at least for me, as it would be replicating a NDE Life Review as vividly detailed frequently in “Imagine Heaven.”

The bottom line for any of this discussion however, is that whatever words I do share here with you, it is paramount that they do actually provide worthy insights or encouragement to those of us struggling not only with our unholy alliances with our phones, but also with our at times non-existent communication with Almighty God; and just exactly, why is this occurring, and where can we get help, be it written or spoken?

Now being retired, I have both more time and desire to get my spiritual house in order, which I certainly ignored during my earlier years. Now also possessing a degree of experiential wisdom, I realize my earlier actions of depriving my wife, kids, and myself, was actually solely my choice, and not at all merely circumstances, and certainly not God’s plan for any of us.

The real question to be answered here is what exactly was my devotional regiment while working those 60-70 hours week and raising three sons? Truth One, it did not exist and everyone suffered, wife, kids, even me, but I was literally too tired and broken financially and spiritually from my chaos and confusion to know from whence it came, let alone, the real Truth. And even worse, I was so deceived then I was even teaching a SS class and serving as an elder. Only Loretta knew the truth but several in congregational leadership I do believe discerned my realities, but remained silent, for whatever reason…. And so, the games continued. Get the picture?

Time for a break. We’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.

…regardless of how good whatever was scheduled, and especially so since yesterday we with Ozzie’s help centered on “we taking the initiative to be practically obedient where we are now, and not in some future theoretical venue where we’ve not even been yet.

The Habits of Enjoying Adversity

 …..that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:10

I know we have to develop godly habits to express, better yet demonstrate, what God’s grace has done in us. It’s not just a question of fire insurance, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh.

Is my life today exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or at best, just a basic irritation of “myself” that I demonstrate when apart from Him? Ouch! Listen, the only thing that will enable us to enjoy adversity ( such as all these transitions I keep telling you to prepare for) is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to give evidence of itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.” Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.

We must not debate. The moment we obey the light of God, His Son shines through us in that very adversity; but if we debate with God, we grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). We must keep ourselves in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in us, and in no way can we keep ourselves fit if we give way to self-pity.

Our very daily circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose, or even allow adversity, but quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts us into such circumstances of adversity, He assuredly is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).

BOTTOM LINE:

Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.

PS. If you desire more real deal inspiration about keeping your soul properly conditioned, or why it isn’t, I suggest you take a few minutes to read or view this clip from Christianity.com Daily Inspirations May 14 Running Through Rebellion – iBelieve Truth. Remember the song Carl reminded of us Sunday? “Be careful little eyes what you see; or feet – go, hands – touch, ears – hear, etc. A powerful story by this young lady who saw too much.

NEXT UP: I give up. Third try the Charm? Perhaps. It’s been a great day… I prefer living in the moment more than….

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the Righteous”. Proverbs 15:29. Prompted by and adapted from David Jeremiah’s devotional Destinations: Your Journey With God, Jan 19

In developing a stronger prayer life, it’s often helpful to read books about prayer, and the older ones are usually the best. For example, more than a hundred years ago, Samuel D Gordon published Quiet Talks on Prayer, which is still in print today. He opened his book by reminding us, “You can do more through your praying than through your personality.”

Most of us try to do things through the force of our personalities. We persuade. We cajole. We brownnose. We maneuver. We make exotic promises. We compromise. We bait. We push. We sweet-talk. We urge. We hint. We arm-twist. But you know, too often we just forget, or are too preoccupied to remember that the foundation of our faith, such that, we need to be reminded once more, that we are Spirit Empowered to do so much more through prayer than we ever could through our puny too often mis-directed quirky personalities.

Dr. Gordon goes on to say, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

BOTTOM LINE:

I’m curious. Do you have any issues today in your life you’ve been trying to resolve but which, on reflection right now, you better realize that you must ask the Lord to intervene? So why not try the force of prayer where your forces of personality has failed?

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:3-32

If anyone should have been able to help Peter with good counseling or teaching, it would have been almighty Jesus. Yet His solution was to pray. Just meditate on that for a moment, better a week or two!

PS: I ordered Dr Gordon’s book yesterday after adding my twist to the above devotional, which as usual, I write first to myself, before offering it to you. I next opened my favorite book by a former mega church pastor, Francis Chan, titled “Letters to the Church” detailing his journey from leaving his mega creation and called to go to Asia with his growing family to build house fellowships and then five years later,was called to return to the Tenderloin subculture of San Francisco to further develop that church growth model in the states. I’d be remiss not share his prayer insights here.

In Chapter Six Francis identifies eight pastoral identities and speaks these inspiring words in the Praying Pastor portion, saying “I once told my staff to let me know if they were not praying at least an hour a day. This way I could replace them with someone else who would. I would much rather hire someone who prayed and did nothing else than someone who worked tirelessly without praying. That may sound harsh, but prayer is that critical. Prayer is not merely a task of ministry; it is a gauge that exposes our hearts’ condition…. Regardless of position: whether in the pulpit or the pew! It unveils our pride, showing us whether or not we believe we are powerless apart from God. When we pray, it is an expression of surrender to God and reliance on His infinite wisdom and sovereignty. Even Jesus Himself would not take matters into His own hands when His disciple Peter was being attacked by Satan.

Prayer is the mark of a lover. Those who deeply love Jesus can’t help but pray often. To love God with our entire being is the greatest command in Scripture. Pastors who are not drawn to prayer should not be pastors. It is in prayer we seek the Lord and the welfare of our people. I have joining my elders to pray Ephesians 3:14-19 over our people, begging God that they would long for Jesus as we do.

A pastor from India once told me he was researching movements and noticed a common thread: movements of God always start with a leader who knows God deeply and they always end when the followers only know their leader deeply. Pastors, we must know Him deeply and make disciples whose primary attachment is to Christ himself.”

NEXT UP!

Possibly the script of a unique Mother’s Day sermon delivered here in Wayne Co this morning.

“The righteous man walks in his integrity: His children are blessed after him.” Proverbs 20:7

One night around a campfire Dr. Robert Brandt (“A Heritage of Honesty” in Decision Magazine, July-August 1991, 8-9), told his sons about a workman injured by a sliding boulder. He was dirt poor, and he feared losing his job. Because he couldn’t afford a horse, he walked everywhere; so his injured foot was a constant trial. When payday came, he limped to the general store for groceries. Back home, he discovered the he’d been given too much change. Despite the searing pain, he limped back to the store to return the change.

“What do you think, guys? Asked Dr. Brandt. “Did he do the right thing?

The boys discussed it, then Brandt finished the story. “Before he died, (the young father) had passed his values in honesty to his children and his grandchildren. Even his great-grandchildren still hear about his honesty… He was my grandfather and your great-grandfather!”

As parents and as people, we model our integrity after that of our heavenly Father. Indeed, “The righteous walk in their integrity, and their children will be blessed after them.”

Merlin from here on:

With Mother’s Day in the wings, I suggest we each reflect on our mother’s if possible, considering perhaps one or several events of your choosing that your memory over the years as flagged and pretty much now has direct access whenever so triggered. Have you ever contemplated its significance and why it’s now a default recall? Significant yet today?

Perhaps it is an event in your family tree as the story above. Perhaps it is yet as vivid as I remembering the summer day in ’54 or ’55 when my mother packed up my sis and I up in our recently acquired ’49 Dodge pickup and drove 5-6 miles to the location of her birth home farm in a MN wilderness. Although the buildings were gone and the 35 acre opening in the woods, much of which Grandpa had cleared, reminds me of Laura Ingalls Wilder book The Little House in the Big Woods but not in Wisconsin, but rather, in Height of Land township of Becker Co. in west central MN. Strange, but my fifth grade one room teacher read us at least three from that series to restore order amongst the 25 of us after the chaos of lunch and recess.

Sorry for the digression. The field was indeed becoming smaller, not that mother told me, but that within a few years I myself had witnessed how the prolific ever reproducing sapling popular trees could in 10 years move 100 feet into a field if it were not under cultivation or pastured hard to keep the new growth at bay. We entered the woods and soon came upon a one room schoolhouse, in the middle of no where so it seemed. No playground remained as the trees had proven victorious; its windows mostly broken, door open, but some of the desks were still there. But what I remember most was the blackboard, the alphabet letters across its top tier, and above that, the maps that you could pull down, though I certainly couldn’t reach them, and the pole with a hook for such maneuvers was long gone, perhaps repurposed as a fishing pole by one of the neighboring Hansen boys whom I later rode the bus with when in seventh grade when we all went to school in town, necessitating an 11 mile 25 minute commute.

Next on our outing, mother took us to the Height of Land Lake and its puny little dam, which is the source of the Ottertail River, all of which is within 65 miles from the source of the mighty Mississippi River where it flows from Lake Itasca, which now reminds me to encourage you all to read Holmes Co. author Paul Stutzman’s book “Stuck in the Weeds: Pilgrim Stories from the Camino De Santiago and the Mississippi River,” a most delightful encouraging adventure read with his bonus spiritual insights.

We and other relatives returned to the site of that schoolhouse in the years following but by then basically only a few stones of the foundation remained. Not being on a township road, it couldn’t survive for back then, it was just located between likely 4-5 small subsistence farms connected by logging or farm trails accessible then best by horses.

Yes, I remember mother well, as do many of my cousins, as my siblings and I are now frequently told. She possessed integrity, rooted in love, expressed in quiet kindly compassion in her small sphere of influence, always faithful to encourage, ever following Him. Following Him, not to get or accumulate, but only to give, to share; all from His warehouse and dispensed to her recipients with the understanding that He was the Source of all good gifts…

FYI, in hindsight now, I realize how remote and emotionally unavailable I was during the passing my mother. What was the deal with me anyway? Mother passed Labor Day weekend ’72 after Dad and Mom earlier that June had celebrated their 25th anniversary. Labor Day Monday was a beautiful day with the service at 2 pm, and by 4:30 pm, Dad was baling and I was on the wagon stacking bales, trying to get done before the 5 PM milking, and you know, back then, I always considered we were a functional normal family. After all, the hay was ready, and the cows did indeed need to be milked, all of which provided more than enough fertile ground to produce a a long term dysfunctional workaholic son.

Fortunately, we did have 18 months to prepare from the diagnosis, and she did spent most of her last months viewing the farm’s activities from her bed in front of the picture window, where she did physically transition to her new Home, finally free of all her pain, years before hospice was available. Understand though, her eldest son, for whom she had sacrificed so much, was off battling his own battles, solely created by me. They were not inherited, or given me by any luck of the draw, but, entirely by my choices. I was clueless and oblivious to the emotional needs and wishes of my prematurely dying mother and grieving father. I hope only a few of you can relate to this stark narrative of my experiences. If you’re familiar and need a listening ear, contact me by personal email. Perhaps that is why I was so attracted to the Dr. Brandt story above….

BOTTOM LINE:

Again as I said yesterday, I say to myself as well, WAKE UP! Life is passing us by. I just remembered the biggest disappointment for mother after that wonderful day exploring her childhood schoolhouse with us in tow, occurred was some weeks later when the film was processed, and it had somehow been double exposed so we had nothing as proof. Perhaps that is our bottom line for today. Though we’re totally surrounded and immersed in digitalized sights & sounds, be advised all such proofs may someday just go “poof and be gone,” whereas the relationships that we enjoyed in times past, or are now, or will be in the future, will grant you safe passage seeing you through all of life’s hurdles preparing you for transitioning into eternity. So invest well today!

NEXT UP: No idea yet. I only have a dozen such as today’s clip prepared to choose from, which often opens the door for the creative juices to begin flowing. If you are enjoying this blog, a gift from my three sons after an accident forced my retirement in ’18, please invite your friends to read it, and if they desire more of the same, to subscribe. The more the merrier. Yes, I know. It depends.

I am certainly not here to entertain you or write books. I believe I’m only here to get us ready to transition to whatever is next for each of us. Continual transitioning is the way we grow, whether physically, mentally, and especially, spiritually. Perhaps being a blog writer is not the most honorable pursuit, certainly not rewarding financially, but it’s mine for now, at least, until I’m transitioned to whatever is next. For example, after 41 years at the same address, the past 8 months of transitioning has been a brutal firestorm, but we survived, and are now even beginning to thrive as never before! Perhaps I am finally able to connect the dots on the MM header; Retooled & Thriving. Now it is perhaps exhibiting a smidgen of truth! You should know God gave me that banner back in ’18, and until very recently, I often considered the banner to be a hypocrisy to be so used .

Also, FYI, you should know last week while in Panama we were given our permanent visas, so now we can come and go as we choose.

Blessings on your life journey ever building your personal integrity’s visible latticework that indeed supports your internal silent repose drawing those persons and their unique personalities into your sphere of influence as you emulate The Master, especially now as we go toward Sunday, first to Worship, then to honor the Mothers we’ve been blessed to experience. Now simply decompress. Write. Share. Communicate as prompted.