Category: Personal Interest

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3

Little kids love the idea of a special trip. If a favorite uncle promised them a day trip to the zoo, beach, or other long desired destination, they can hardly sleep the night before. On the day, they are up early and dressed long before the appointed hour. Then they stand by a front window waiting for the familiar car to pull in the driveway.

No wonder Jesus said that those entering the kingdom of God ought to enter like children – with the same wide-eyed anticipation of a child being transported from the ordinary to the extraordinary (Matthew 18:3). The Bible says Jesus has promised to come and “pick us up” and take us to a place He is now preparing for us (John 14: 1-3).   

And not for just a day of fun, but for all eternity. The question is, “What is our level of anticipation?” As adults, are we so attached to things of this world that we have lost our sense of anticipation? Get ready! He is coming again to gather those who want to spend an eternal day with Him.

David Jeremiah Destination: Your Journey With God June 12

FYI: Recently while in MA I made a new friend six years younger than I from Colombia S.A. who too was visiting his son and grandchildren in the UMass complex next door to my son and grandson. We really hit it off, he’d gotten his Master’s from Auburn, his PhD in Japan, and spent a lifetime in the science of raising fish for meat commercially, etc.

We explored many bunny trails all leading repeatedly to our shared concern for the fragile state of our world’s well-being, and especially the handicaps the younger generations are now inheriting. We each entered the conversation from our experiential spiritual perspectives, Anabaptist & Catholicism, but the commonality of being bonded in faith and mental community transcended country of origin or education. I personally sensed a real sadness in that we’d likely never meet again, perhaps sorta like those divine seatmate encounters on airplanes, but this time I didn’t have work needing done!

I remember well thinking to myself as I left the encounter, why can’t we just be honest and say, “Well so long for now, but I’ll see you later in heaven, when we can really get acquainted.” Fast forward in time depending on our schedules and God’s, will determine whether we’ll then be concerned about our kids and grand-kids, but at least, he and I will be ultimately restored!

Ever since that revelation nearly two weeks ago, I’ve been thinking how I’m going to implement that conversational openness when publicly appropriate about we meeting up in eternity, when we’re in our next similar earthly encounter, and are about to part when it is very likely our paths will never ever cross again. And just why is this?

Why are we so crazily inhibited about publicly referencing professionally our eternal home? Just think about how much of our yak time is driven by trivia, perhaps significant at the moment of impact, if your AC or car just died, or your dog had to be put down, etc.. but really now, note how easily we are effectively shut down and rendered totally ineffective.

Yes indeed, I agree, life does happens! But still, where is our eagerness like a child as expressed above? Get the picture? Remember when you as a child had a trip the next day and you couldn’t sleep? I suggest we all go lay out in the grass like I remember doing once as a first grader during summer vacation contemplating how I was ever going to survive until school started again, but then, miraculously my legs finally reached the tractor’s clutch and brake pedals, and I never again lacked for engaging opportunities! I remember while looking up yonder back then, either watching those MN cumulus clouds by day, or at night, the stars, and now, I’m trying to remember what I was thinking back then and what was going on in the world. I well remember while getting ready for church Sunday morning Oct 6 1957 hearing on Christian radio that the Sputnik mission was successful, but that was 28 months after I was first deemed fit to drive the tractor.

Now if getting into this heaven frame of mind doesn’t come easy or natural, I highly recommend “Imagine Heaven” by John Burke, formerly an agnostic engineer whom God repurposed to prime the flow of our understanding and appreciation for heaven.  I’ve mentioned that book frequently prior. Sorta reminds me when as a kid I primed the pump outside the one room schoolhouse to secure a vibrant flow of water, but you might not get that either.

Bottom Line: First, we gotta get in the flow! Utmost For His Highest today tells us “The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual source of original life. The Spirit of God is a well that is springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently, there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus.

(And this is so key-perhaps even today’s second bottom line):

Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He has been with you!!!” Go For It, No excuses!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

No matter how dear your friends are, they can fail. No matter how much money you have, you can go broke. No matter how diligently you exercise, you can get sick. Even your most trusted walking stick can break. Your dearest dream can die. Life is as uncertain as the clouds that gather and scatter, and as fickle as the waves on a beach.

That being said, we oldsters today are experiencing losses that are not easy for us to verbalize among our peers and especially, our genetic down-line. We, who were birthed during the 30-40 year period from just prior WWII until our nation’s 200th birthday, largely experienced the cultural dimensions of hope and prosperity as communicated to us by our parents, family, close-knit communities and the relevant stable institutions, etc., providing us in the USA, at least on the surface, a mostly invigorating world view, even though we usually knew much of the world’s populations were struggling for adequate water, sustenance, shelter, and especially, physical and emotional health and its subsequent well being.

Fact is today, the hopelessness formerly experienced in either third world or strife or war-torn countries during our first 30-40 years of life has now come home to roost in Europe and North America, and more than a few of us are increasingly, viewing our current culture and living conditions at their best, kindly spoken, simply as “senseless!” The evidence is now in plain sight even with the switch & bait games, with such as the Covid fiasco & lock-down (who knows, perhaps to be repeated again by the Moderna bird flu jab and it’s subsequent lock-down), the Ukraine War, Trump trial, Israel Gaza conflict, the disintegration of our inner-connected global economies, fragmented dysfunctional homes & families, evil now called good & good now called evil, rampant impairing addictions cutting across all segments of populations, etc., etc.

And we of the group birthed in that 30-40 year window, are now being smartingly irritated from this descending & prevailing cloud of senselessness. So, often we simply choose not to meaningfully communicate with those born since the eighties including now too often even those labeled progressive oldsters because the conversations between all of these media purposely polarized generations just doesn’t seem to go so well, or for sure, not end well. 

And so, we oldsters too often simply withdraw, at the very moment in our personal history of destiny, that we are most needed to be lovingly engaged with the younger crowd, to come alongside them while they are being pawned or hawked by media outlets, so as to draw out their questions, concerns, frustrations, conclusions, as well as their dreams, goals and aspirations during these darker senseless days that are oppressing them relentlessly without evidential access to His hope from us, virtually to their fatal demise, that being, of course, the bottom line for Satan and his crew. Seriously, think this through!

Some of you may well recall your emotional darkness during the Berlin wall going up, the Cuban missile crisis, the three assassinations (Kennedy’s & King, Vietnam atrocities, Cambodian bombings, etc. And, as traumatic as these events were for us, I now consider everything we experienced in our first forty years of life as rather trivial and insignificant compared to the cultural, moral, emotional, spiritual and physical nuclear blasts figuratively speaking being unleashed on the younger generations today. And to think we oldsters are off busying ourselves elsewhere thereby avoiding our responsibilities rather than even directly refusing to engage with them (ignorance is bliss?) during these horrific world and cultural events for whatever be our excuses; shame on us!

For example, just observe how pervasive the mothering instincts is in nature with its young; thus serving or confirming the biological basis for that truth. Fact is physically and emotionally, our infants and children, even youth, are the most vulnerable of all God’s creation while in their preparation to achieve their life’s destinies; and are we content to just sit back and watch them struggle without the benefit of our experience, hopefully wisdom, and His love, within a Cultivating Anchored Community?

Isn’t it sad for us with such a rich spiritual heritage that we are actually allowing ourselves to be held hostage now in this senseless world since we are literally ignoring our changeless God? Especially so, when we actually do have a God with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning. He doesn’t have shifting moods, bad days, “oops” moments, momentary breakdowns, or changes of mind or heart. He’s as consistent as a plumb line, as steady as a rock, and as unchanging as eternity. He is as He has always been and always will be. Forever He is enthroned in the highest, and forever His Word is fixed in the heavens.

BOTTOM LINE: Even though our culture’s actions, sights, sounds & smells may at times overwhelm us, take strength in the fact our forefathers chose to walk with God the best they could, and so can we, and most assuredly, so can our children. God’s provisions for us are the same in every generation. His promises cannot fail, His presence cannot dim, His power cannot wane. We can trust Him completely.

“False christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.” Mark 13:22-23.

It is not wise to be overly confident dogmatic as we try to interpret current events. The twists and turns of history are under God’s providential control, and it’s best to watch prayerfully so we can take advantage of open doors for evangelism while awaiting our Lord’s return. We must live every day with confidence and excitement that no matter how dark or senseless the news reports, our sovereign Lord is in control.

This quickie admonition I tweaked from David Jeremiah’s Discovery April 21 several paragraphs is much too long, but you are well aware by now, if I’m inspired, brevity is not one of my virtues. And adding insult to injury, I’d be remiss if I’d not share yet, for those of you with more time and interest, the nugget I found in today’s, June 6, dailylightdevotional.org in it’s Evening’s 8^th innocuous verse from Ephesians 2:14, “He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” Since that was unclear to me, I read it in the Message and that really opened up the gates! So simple, so plain! And yes, FYI, I am aware today’s theme of we oldster’s stepping up to the plate that was was also hit on earlier in the conclusion of the Eat Move Sleep Finale post. Perhaps there is a reason. Be aware though, my scribblings are written first to me.

In fact, I suggest at some point you all read the whole chapter to get a vision for God’s big picture. Such will serve you well considering the senselessness all about us! Here it is from The Message Version, for your ready comprehension. The scholarly translations have their place BUT hopefully not to complicate Truth for the masses. I include the verses here because too many readers are yet without a copy. Most thrift stores in our area have copies for cheap. Better, keep a supply yourself to give away when appropriate.

NEXT UP: Since this turned out to be something of a weekend edition, the next post will be short & sweet.

Ephesians 2:1-22 (MSG) 

1. It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin.
   2. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.
   3. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.
   4. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love,
   5. he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!
   6. Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
   7. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.
   8. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!
   9. We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!
   10. No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
   11. But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways
   12. had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large.
   13. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
   14. The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.
   15. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
   16. Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility.
   17. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders.
   18. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
   19. That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building.
   20. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone
   21. that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God,
   22. all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. 

Last Sunday Pastor Carl effectively captured our attention with the children’s SS song This Little Light of Mine and drove home his four points on marriage to insure our marital joy thrives recognizing its: 1.) Source…God’s plan is in His manual (not to be confused with civil unions), 2.) Sanctity (what God has joined let not man…, 3.) Sabotage … forces that damage/destroy bonds, & 4.) Solution … miracle working God, abide within His boundaries, Church community offer hope, get help early on…

Today (May 27) Pastor Carl drew from the Dr Seuss 1940 book Horton Hatches the Egg with its famous line “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant is faithful 100 percent!” with the Biblical text taken from The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:33-37 concerning oaths; 33.) Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord all thy oaths,” concluding 37.) “But let your communication be yeah and nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” I am presuming Pastor Carl was suggesting we apply and remember the essence of this text by his PJR triggers of 1.) the Principle Jesus is Referencing not being a commandment, but rather our appeal to God by means of some sacred object; 2.) the Problem Jesus Revealed, we making oaths that we have no intention of keeping; & 3.) the Practice Jesus Recommends, that our being completely honest, truthful, transparent and righteous, is assured not by an oath, but stems from His Spirit residing within and directing us, such as calling off sick when we’re not, or fudging car title sale prices to lower either their, or our tax liabilities, or by telling someone when they request my time, that I already have plans, which are only not to do whatever they have for me…. Oh yes, we are so easily deceived…

Visit the kidronmennonite.com, click on Livestream, then select the desired date, or search Kidron Mennoite on YouTubes for the May 19 & 27^th sermons.

Now, I said all the above just as a lead into my conversation with Jim & Doris Miller as Daniel Gerber and I were walking to our cars after SS. Jim informed me of a popular article by A.W. Tozer titled Five Vows to Make and Keep, which he recited to us briefly inferring he’d lived by it since hearing it, picking up on the morning’s sermon. Later Daniel sent me a copy of the Tozer’s Five Vows that I’ve slashed to half size below, but still, 1800 words. If desiring the full-length article, type in this address: /2016/12/five-vows-to-make-and-keep/

Five Vows to Make and Keep / Tozer

A.W. Tozer Five Vows to Make, AND THEN, Keep!

Some people object to taking vows, but in the Bible you will find many great men of God directed by covenants, promises, vows, and pledges. The psalmist was not averse to the taking of vows. He said, “Thy vows are upon me, 0 God, I will render my praises unto thee” (Psalm 56:12).

My counsel in this matter is that if you are really concerned about spiritual improvement – the gaining of new power, new life, new joy, and new personal revival within your heart -you will do well to make certain vows and proceed to keep them. if you should fail, go down in humility and repent and start over. But always keep these vows before you. They will help harmonize your heart with the vast powers that flow out and down from the throne where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

A carnal man refuses the discipline of such commitments. He says, “I want to be free. I don’t want to lay any vows upon myself; I don’t believe in it; it is legalism.” Well, let me paint a picture of two men.

One of them will not take vows. He will not accept any responsibility. He wants to be free. And he is free – in a measure – just as a tramp is free. The tramp is free to sit on a park bench by day, sleep on a newspaper by night, get chased out of town on Thursday morning, and find his way up a set of creaky stairs in some flophouse on Thursday night. Such a man is free, but he is also useless. He clutters up the world whose air he breathes.

Let’s look at another man – maybe a president or prime minister or any great man who carries upon himself the weight of government. Such men are not free. But in the sacrifice of their freedom they step up their power. if they insist upon being free, they can be free, just like the tramp. But they choose rather to be bound.

There are many religious tramps in the world who will not be bound by anything. They have turned the grace of God into personal license. But the great souls are the ones who have gone reverently to God with the understanding that in their flesh dwells no good thing. And they knew that without God’s enablement any vows taken would be broken before sundown. Nevertheless, believing in God, reverently they took certain sacred vows. This is the way to spiritual power. There are five vows I have in mind which we do well to make and to keep.

1. DEAL THOROUGHLY WITH SIN

Sin has been driven underground these days and has come up with a new name and face. You may be subjected to this phenomenon in the schools. Sin is being called by various fancy names – anything but what it really is. For example, men don’t get under conviction any more; they get a guilt complex.

Instead of confessing their guilt to God and getting rid of it, they sit on a couch and try and tell a man who ought to know better all about themselves. it comes out after a while that they were deeply disappointed when they were two years old or some such thing. That’s supposed to make them better.

The whole thing is ridiculous, because sin is still the ancient enemy of the soul. it has never changed. We’ve got to deal firmly with sin in our lives. Let’s remember that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Righteousness lies at the door of the kingdom of God. The soul that sins, it shall die.

This is not to preach sinless perfection. This is to say that every known sin is to be named, identified, and repudiated and that we must trust God for deliverance from it so that there is no conscious, deliberate sin anywhere in our lives. It is absolutely necessary that we deal thus, because God is a holy God and sin is on the throne of the world.

So don’t call your sins by some other name. if you’re jealous, call it jealousy. If you tend to pity yourself and feel that you are not appreciated, call it what it is – self-pity.

2. NEVER OWN ANYTHING (perhaps better said, OWN YOU!

I do not mean by this that you cannot have things. I mean that you ought to get delivered from the sense of possessing them. This sense of possessing is what hinders us. All babies are born with their fists clenched, and it seems to me it means, “This is mine!” One of the first things they say when they begin to speak, is “mine” in an angry voice. That sense of “This is mine” ‘is a very injurious thing to the spirit. If you can get rid of it so that you have no feeling of possessing anything, there will come a great sense of freedom and liberty into your life.

Now don’t think that you must sell all that you have and give it to charity. No. God will let you have your car and your business, your practice and your position, whatever it may be – provided you understand that it is not yours at all, but His, and all you are doing is just working for Him. You can be restful about it then, because we never need to worry about losing anything that belongs to someone else. If it is yours, you are always looking in your hand to see if it is still there. If it is God’s, you no longer need to worry about it.

3. NEVER DEFEND YOURSELF

We are all born with a desire to defend ourselves. And if you insist upon defending yourself, God will let you do it But if on turn the defense of yourself over to God, He will defend you. He told Moses in Exodus 23: “I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary to thine adversaries.”

What do we defend? Well, we defend our talents; we defend our service; and particularly, we defend our reputation. Your reputation is what people think you are, and if a story gets out about you, the big temptation is to try to run it down.

4. GUARD YOUR WORDS ABOUT OTHERS

Never pass anything on – about anybody else that will hurt him. “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). The talebearer has no place in God’s favor. if you know something that would hinder or hurt the reputation of one of God’s children, bury it forever. Find a little garden out back – a little spot somewhere – and when somebody comes around with an evil story, take it out and bury it and say, “Here lies in peace the story about my brother.” God will take care of it. “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.”

if you want God to be good to you, you are going to have to be good to His children. You say, “But that’s not grace.” Well, grace gets you into the kingdom of God. That is unmerited favor. But after you are seated at the Father’s table, He expects to teach you table manners. And He won’t let you eat unless you obey the etiquette of the table. And what is that? The etiquette of the table is that you don’t tell stories about the brother who is sitting at the table with you – no matter what his denomination, or nationality, or background.

5. NEVER ACCEPT ANY GLORY

God is jealous of His glory and He will not give His glory to another. He will not even share His glory with another. It is quite natural, I should say, for people to hope that maybe their Christian service will give them a chance to display their talents. True, they want to serve the Lord. But they also want other people to know they are serving the Lord. They want to have a reputation among the saints. That is very dangerous ground – seeking a reputation among the saints. It’s bad enough to seek a reputation in the world, but it’s worse to seek a reputation among the people of God. Our Lord gave up His reputation, and so must we.

I go along with this. If you are serving the Lord, and yet slyly -perhaps scarcely known to you – you are hoping to get just a little five percent commission, then look out! it will chill the power of God in your spirit. You must determine that you will never take any glory, but see that God gets it all.

BOTTOM LINE:

These vows cut against the old human nature. They introduce the cross into your life, and nobody ever walks back from carrying his cross. When you make these vows, remember, they strike at the heart of your self-life and there is never a place to go back to. And I say, “Woe unto the triflers!”

Now, if you happen to be one of those on whom God has laid His hand for a deeper life, a more powerful life, a fuller life -then I wonder if you would be willing to pray this kind of prayer: –

0 God, glorify Thyself at my expense. Send me the bill – anything, Lord. I set no price. I will not dicker or bargain. Glorify Thyself. I’ll take the consequences.

This kind of praying is simple, but it’s deep and wonderful and powerful. I believe that if you can pray a prayer like that, it will be the ramp from which you can take off into higher heights and bluer skies in the things of the Spirit.

NEXT UP: Time for a break from the intensive! How about encouragement and wisdom from Einstein in less than 300 words?

I thought because we have several flower beds to work and plant before the showers arrive. At least, that was what I thought until I read the first three verses from dailylightdevotional.org which led me to all of I Cor 2… And last evening after attending and being greatly blessed by the first of Daniel Gerber’s Abiding worship services, all from seeds planted at the Pittsburg youth convention when he was a high school senior. I came home for a late supper and while scanning some new for me but old devotional books, I found this unique one that intensely resonated with my spirit as I’m been researching personal spiritual disciplines, this one titled “Joy in the Morning based on Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” in David Jeremiah’s “Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God.” 2002 Jan 25 quoting,  

“It’s interesting that David follows a pattern of looking at the day that was begun in the creation account in Genesis. He says that weeping comes in the night, but joy comes in the morning. If you remember, when God created the heavens and the earth, He said, “the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:5). We think just the opposite, don’t we? We think of a day as the morning followed by the evening.

I think there are wonderful truths embedded in God’s perspective on life. If you will look at your day as the evening and the morning instead of of the morning and the evening, you will begin your day in the evening by meditating on what you need to accomplish the next day, and asking God’s blessing on it. Then He is free to work in your heart and mind as you sleep to prepare for accomplishing those things. When Christ returns, there will be no more weeping. Weeping is ours during the night, but eternal joy is coming in the morning of Christ’s return.”

mle … These italicized words from above will no doubt cause me to evaluate and rethink the way I schedule my life. It appears I’ve been blindsided/broadsided! Perhaps this is why the Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset Friday evening and ends at sunset Saturday evening? Interesting!

Now for the dailylightdevotional.org scriptures before I Corinthians 2:

May 25 MORNING

How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! Psa. 31:19

Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Isa. 64:4

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. I Cor. 2:9, 10

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 (MSG) 

1 You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy.

2 I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.

3 I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—

4 and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it,

5 which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.

6 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so.

7 God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene.

8 The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross.

9 That’s why we have this Scripture text: No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it— What God has arranged for those who love him.

10 But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you. The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along.

11 Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking,

12 but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us.

13 We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

14 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion.

15 Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics.

16 Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.

Blessings to you and your plans for this ’24 Memorial Day Weekend!

Before I sat down to write this conclusion, I had the opportunity to visit an elderly pastor, formerly an acquaintance, now becoming a dear friend, who is struggling with Parkinson’s. After catching up on the past week, I was explaining the Tony Reinke phone article and just ended up reading it to him, noticing when I began the avoidance motives, he was dozing. With lunch time approaching, I thought it best for me to move on allowing him a quick nap prior lunch saying perhaps we’d continue from there next time.

I mention this encounter for while reading this article again, I was reminded how vulnerable we as Christ Followers are today to the nuances and functional intricacies of this pocket sized idol that has been catapulted virtually into functioning as a living organism with its intrinsic addictive programed capabilities that we lazily elevate above our God endowed gifts diminishing and ultimately mothballing them as we shift our trust from Almighty God to merely one of many latest & greatest new & shiny objects, as we become the proverbial “cooked” frog when initially only seeking its comforting functional warmth.

Note these captivating devices once given free-reign in our daily treadmill of life are soon quietly unobtrusively under-girding our thought processes, and our subsequent actions & decisions, such that we are not even aware of the shift. These phones literally can think, recall, perform, store, capture and transmit data around the world and cloud, either electronically or even by its own voice, and now with AI, to even heal itself and continually diagnose and monitor the state of our health and make its dire or life-saving predictions. The list is endless; and all this occurs without fleshly eyeballs, blood, bone, heart, or brain. Just imagine! Even reproduction is in process, be it 3 D printers or cloning.

Remember how we chuckled as children during SS or Bible School at the foreign god idols during Bible days, being merely wood, stone or cast metal; “whatever were those heathen people thinking”? And then, we were even more judgmental when the children of Israel left the True God and worshipped their neighbor’s gods!

So, what about our situation now? It seems regardless of the date in history, without Christ, our hearts continue to gravitate toward some form of idolatry, be it identity or significance; all of which nudges out our love and adoration for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; be it a spouse, children, work, trinkets, toys, heroes, castles, social media, sexual fulfillment, kingdoms, sports, hobbies, land, humanitarian causes, fame, recognition, unique skills, etc. The list is endless, and we may snicker at the obviousness of those listed, but all that really matters in the end, is that we know without a doubt exactly what is crowding out God and His Righteousness from being front and center in our lives right now!

 I’m suggesting by using this simple 9-year-old phone idolatry article that we just ponder, really ponder the significance of that one technological development, and the hundreds of generations of phones since Alexander G Bell in 1844 sent the phrase from Numbers 23:23, originally recorded as spoken from Balam to Balak “What hath God wrought?” by telegraph, the precursor of the telephone.

I remember well having the power line installed along our county road 120 in ’51 so we all had electricity, thanks to the REA, the Rural Electrification Association; a party line rotary dial phone installed in ’55, water piped into our home with a faucet in the hallway in ’56, and indoor plumbing with a kitchen sink and a bathroom in’59, but the TV got skipped until the next generation. All of these developments since the Industrial Revolution were of significance in the doors they opened and the lives they changed, but none quite compare to the impact of phones on us individually spiritually, especially when intertwined with video.

We can’t undo it or ignore it, as my father tried with daylight savings time when it was introduced. Monday thru Saturday night except for Wednesday night prayer meeting, we operated and lived on old time, standard time, not the new, or Daylight time. Both the mailman & the milkman just came an hour early and our few appointments were adjusted. Seems funny now, but I think we did it 2 or 3 summers, being normal duration then.

I also remember well our old Zenith tube radio taller than me then with its AM/short wave bands arriving several years after the electric poles were set, providing Christian radio programming such as “Songs in the Night” from the historic Moody Church, Bill Collins and the Sugarcreek Creek Gang series, Unshackled, and with three short wave bands to cruise, (surfing came later with internet), with programming all the way from Quito Ecuador, one of the few in English, and of course, our government’s Voice of America broadcasting the positive attributes of democracy around planet earth, which interestingly enough now, I have no recollections of content.

Although for some reason, I am reminded of the five words “How the mighty have fallen! It seems I am using those five words more frequently of late when pondering the current trending perspectives being floated out & about, in & around. Perhaps it’s because I just came across that phrase twice in my One Year NIV Bible reading on Wednesday May 22 in I Samuel 1: 19 in David’s lament quoting from verse 17, “David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the book Jashar): 19.) Your glory O Israel, lies slain on your height. How the mighty have fallen!” True then, true now.

 For some weeks my copy of the book “A Church Dismantled: A Kingdom Restored” has been in plain sight on the top of several books, the bottom being my grandfather Gingerich’s very tattered Thompson’s The New Chain Reference Bible. A Church Dismantled was written by another acquaintance afflicted with Parkinsons, Conrad L Kanagy, whom I imagine would also echo these five words today, as he set the stage already in 2007 with his book “Road Signs For the Journey: A Study of Denominational Decline – and the Discovery of Hope in the Spirit’s Dismantling of the Church.” Isn’t that a novel perspective when the chatter today is confusingly more along the lines of “God Save the Queen?”

I mention all the above history only for perspective to awaken us to the lateness of the hour and how we of my generation are being lulled into spiritual oblivion, possibly even to our demise in our quest for “peace and safety” as espoused by our government and culture’s prior standard sources or benchmarks, which are already functionally dismantled, much as Kanagy has ascribed to the Church nearly 20 years ago.

I am very concerned for my generation, for even though we yet possess a knowledge and obedience toward the real and true God, we are fast becoming aware that individually and corporately we must up our game and demonstrate to all those in the cloud around or behind us, how exactly does our faith sometimes visibly sustain us and is witnessed by all those in our sphere of influence pleasantly exuding a NT freshness and an honesty unfortunately seldom intimately observed in & around our spiritually cultivated & anchored communities, let alone, be they ever personally encountered.

Our generation have & are witnessing historically the evolving of these intimate invasions into even how we communicate with God, and soon may have communication curtailed in our spiritual enclaves, or even more broadly, what we can communicate in or through any media at all anywhere.

Now, for those who graduated from high school in the past 20-30 years, their spiritual futures are suspect. Too many have been seriously handicapped being raised in the shadows of a glib shallow cultural institutional Christianity model sub-consciously characterized as authoritarian power based that I’ve been chief of the guilty promoting, “do as I say, & not necessarily as I do,” vividly juxtaposed with the invitational forgiveness love grace and mercy model, pervading & exemplified by Jesus as recorded in the gospels and vividly demonstrated in Acts of the Apostles and the following epistles.  

Bottom Line: We are out of time! And our phones are not the problem. We are. More to come. Until then. Read. Pray. Listen. Obey. More perhaps Sun evening. Or not. Blessings on your journey through the these inner disciplines….

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….