Merlin's Mustache

Utmost For His Highest November 19

Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know better only the experience of being disturbed by our sin, because we do know we have done some really bad things. But the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit uniquely blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one – “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of their sin to this magnitude, they know with every bit of their conscience that God does forgive all sin, and that it cost Him the breaking of His heart with grief to witness the death of Jesus Christ ultimately enabling Him to complete his mission, total and complete forgiveness!

The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ that enables the divine nature to forgive and remain true to its itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary – nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.

Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and am made ready for heaven. No one would accept forgiveness on that level, such as possessing the necessary ticket. Rather, forgiveness means that I am also empowered and transformed into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the very nature of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this is a good time to give you some personal history. I was introduced the first time to Oswald Chambers classic devotional Utmost For His Highest by Dr. Jim Miller in early ’97 during our congregation’s LIFE (Living In Faithful Evangelism) process as he gave each member a copy. Next to our Bibles, it has been our daily inspiration for Loretta and I more than any other one book. Frequently during the events of our days, we refer to that morning’s reading amazed at the appropriateness of its comments, or even after being through it repeatedly over the years, the wonder and the freshness of that day’s reading. And even when a reading is recognized, and the supporting events for its processing recalled from prior years, I find a freshness and even a new interpretation forthcoming to add yet another dimension in our Utmost legacy arsenal.

I invite you to consider reading Utmost during 2022 whether from a printed copy or subscribe online. Enhance your legacy arsenal! Blessings as you go forth on this 2021 Thanksgiving Day>>>>> merlin

“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” John 8:36

If there is even a trace of individual conceit left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or  “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual side of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up and absorbs everything around it. Our spirit or personality hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin. However we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so that He may transform it into a spiritual life by our simple obedience.

God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His order runs right across our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments … and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5) – we have to do it. Don’t say “Oh Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts! Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into your amazing spiritual life.

“If the Son makes you free… Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, and this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Gal. 2:20 when he said “I have been crucified with Christ … His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but united and made one with Him..  “… You shall be free indeed” – free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.

This 11/18 Utmost post and the next two Utmost devotionals, also to be posts, from November 19 & 20 are a continuation of the theme, “Winning into Freedom” that actually for me began with the recent post, The Legend of the Social Gospel Jesus. For decades I had quietly struggled before I experienced an intimate relationship with the Son and last evening when I read the final paragraphs in The Serving Leader book by John Stahl-Wert, the dilemma of my former decades was succinctly revealed to me in three points and I’m compelled to share the page with you now through Mike’s eyes.

In the car, I asked Dad one remaining question. Given my own track record, was I fit to be a Serving Leader? He knew exactly what I needed to hear.

“We’ve all made mistakes and wasted lots of time and talent, Mike,” he said, reaching over to lay his hand on my arm.

“But mistakes aren’t the issue here. What we do with them though, is the issue.”

I nodded.

“We’re all faced with three choices in life,” he continued. “First, we can pretend that everything’s always been just fine. If we make this choice, we have to spend all our time putting on a front for people, acting like we have it all together, and making up excuses for our meaningless lives.”

Dad let the point hang in the air. I was thinking back to the years when I had finally quit attending church, mainly to lessen the pain of my hypocrisy.

“We become smaller people when we do this, Mike. We’re justified in our own minds but useless to anyone else.”

Secondly, and just as bad, we can destroy ourselves in lament and self-recrimination. Since we’ve wasted so much of our lives, we figure it’s too late to get back on track now, thinking we don’t really deserve another opportunity and so we slide into a perpetual spiritual oblivion.

This description, actually fit my condition better better than the first one, I realized. Dad had just cut to the quick of my fundamental struggle.

“Again, this is wrong, and just makes us small. What good can a groveling, self-whipped soul be to anyone else?” he asked, the question needing no answer.

“And the third one, Dad?” I asked trying to hide how desperately I needed to hear a better option.

Dad squeezed my arm. “Ask to be forgiven for the past, Mike. And then seize your future with all you’ve got. Join the team! Live empowered!”

It wasn’t clear to me if he was just giving me his third point or if he was giving me a command. I liked it either way. I was ready.

Go Forth gratefully renewed >>>>> merlin

The Bible contains the mind of God,

the state of man,

the way of salvation,

the doom of sinners,

and the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines are holy,

Its precepts are binding,

Its histories are true,

and its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise,

Believe it to be safe,

And practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you,

Food to support you,

And comfort to cheer you.

It’s the traveler’s map,

the pilgrim’s staff,

the pilot’s compass,

the soldier’s sword,

and the Christian’s charter.

Here Paradise is restored,

Heaven opened,

And the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject,

Our good the design,

And the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory,

rule the heart,

and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

It is a mine of wealth,

A paradise of glory,

And a river of pleasure.

It is given you in life,

Will be opened at judgement,

and be remembered forever.

It involves the highest responsibility,

Will reward the greatest labor,

And will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Merely 184 words but worthy of being memorized or read frequently! Consider the perspective of your life at this moment. Is dispensing love to all you meet your dominant theme? Unsure? Perhaps you need to read the above document again. Perhaps you could gain key insights were you to decide to to read scripture daily. Perhaps you are being prompted to join the 2022 FOR LIFE (Living In Faithful Evangelism) movement to read your One Year Bible daily for the rest of your life. Relax! It’s actually not that radical! According to God’s clock, none of us have that much more time left on this planet anyway. Ever figure out how many more Sundays you may have left?

Ken Hawkins of Really Recovered spoke this morning at KMC of his extreme hunger for scripture when he first met Jesus. Even if you were there, I suggest you go to the Kidron Mennonite Church website and listen to his words of encouragement again regardless if you have known Jesus for 7 years as Ken, or as some, for 65 years. A few of his quips: I Cor. 4:20 “For the kingdom of God is not in WORD, but in POWER.” When we experience God’s healing presence, the “before” picture brings value and credibility to whatever the “restoration.” “Do you think God saved (restored) you for you? This is FOR you but not ABOUT you!!”Daily prayer and Bible reading is not an option for the perilous times ahead.

The Stream is doing an outstanding review of vitally strategic misunderstood subjects for Christ Followers that I tend to believe are not sufficiently center stage to effect any meaningful dialogue. My last post, also verbatim from The Stream, What Does the Bible Actually Say about Socialism vs. Capitalism is another such example. Even the seminaries have been infiltrated by these erroneous ideologies undermining the tenants and expressions of our faith and existence.

This time Greg Koukl’s The Legend of the Social Justice Jesus will be in the cross hairs. Though seldom does one engage social justice Jesus proponents in meaningful substantive dialogue, (which is exactly why I’ve dedicated 3900 words to succinctly dissecting the Legend separating fact from fiction) you soon notice eyes glaze and transitions are offered to avoid such confrontation. I do believe this Legend is also alive and flourishing in anabaptist circles and in direct conflict with any efforts we may put forth for congregational renewal/revitalization/revival, etc. This Legend is a devastating encroaching plague in the Kingdom that will far surpass the effects of either covid or the globalists agenda; simply, because it is already within the Body and accepted as gospel. And to think, it began as a mere  legend. God help us. Contact me if you desire a word doc of this Greg Koukl article.

I want to tell you a story of an ancient sage who changed the world.

This wise man fought for justice, championing the cause of the poor, and the oppressed. He rejected organized religion, showing tolerance – not judgement – for the outcast and the socially marginalized. He promoted universal love and the brotherhood of man. His unflinching commitment to speak truth to power cost him his life, but his legacy lives on. He is a model for us today of love, acceptance, and inclusion. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.

That is the story, in sum. It’s a noble tale, to be sure. But it’s a falsehood, a fiction, an urban legend. Though the story is parroted like a mantra by multitudes – even echoed reflexively by otherwise sound spiritual leaders who ought to know better – no such Jesus ever existed. Rather, taken as a whole, this version of Jesus is just another example of another Jesus bringing another gospel like the ones the apostle Paul anathematized to the Galatians. [1]

A Myriad of Myths

This is not the first legend of Jesus, of course. Paul chastised the Corinthians – somewhat sarcastically – for their own cavalier embrace of teachers fabricating a false spirit bringing a false gospel.

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. (II Cor. 11:4).

The Corinthians were being led astray by the serpent’s crafty deceptions, Paul said, just as Eve was (v. 3) – abandoning simple devotion to the genuine Jesus for an alluring invention, an alternate Christ.

The trend would continue in the future. Paul warned, with the church turning their ticklish ears from truth to myths – legends – choosing man – made fictions over doctrinal facts (II Tim. 4:3-4). Jesus himself warned of future interloper, imposters masquerading as imposters as messiahs who would mislead many )Matt. 24:24).

Times have changed, but the trend has not. New “Jesus legends” abound: the legend of Jesus, the (mere) itinerant moral teacher; the legend of Jesus, the prophet of Allah; the socialist Jesus legend; the legend of the Gnostic Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas; the legend of Jesus, the universal Christ; the LDS legend of Jesus, the spirit brother of Lucifer; the New Age Jesus-the Hindu-guru legend. Et cetera, Et cetera.

The remaking of the Jewish Messiah from Nazareth into a progressive advocate of social justice is just the latest example of the tendency people have to fashion Christ into their own social /spiritual/political image.

Of course, in one sense that shouldn’t surprise us. Most folks have a genuine respect for Jesus – as they should. It’s understandable, then, that on weighty matters they’d want Jesus on their side.

Here the tail wags the dog, though. The point is not for any of us to get Jesus on our side, but for us to get on Jesus’ side – hands to the plow, not looking back, fit for the kingdom. [2]

What precisely is “Jesus’ side,” though? Given the mishmash of myths, how do we separate the wheat from the chaff, fact from fiction, legend from history? We cannot follow Jesus if we do not have a clear idea of who the real flesh and blood Jesus of history was and which direction he was heading. But how do we know with any confidence?

Searching for Jesus

 There is a reliable, uncomplicated method I employ to get an accurate, balanced, big-picture take on any topic in any section of scripture, and it’s perfectly suited for the task.

Say for example, I want to know everything about how God supernaturally guided the early church, or what Proverbs teaches on leadership, or what the New Testament instructs on prayer, or how the disciples of Jesus preached the gospel in the book of Acts, etc.[3] I simply read every word of the biblical material I’m interested in, isolate every passage that’s germane to my topic, then collate the passages in an orderly way to create a thorough, complete, precise portrayal of the topic. It’s a simple – though a labor-intensive- technique anyone can use to get the full counsel of any section of Scripture on any topic.

This approach may be problematic for some, though – particularly the more progressive types who favor the social justice Jesus version. They simply do not trust the record. For many of them, Scripture is not authoritative account of what God revealed to man, but simply one version of what certain ancient people believed about God. The Gospels are humanly “inspired,” not divinely inspired – man-made, not God – breathed.

No matter. That distinction makes absolutely no to my assessment. Here’s why. Nothing about my case has anything to do with whether or not the Bible is divinely inspired. Though that is my view, it’s a separate issue for now.

Here’s the real issue. We have one body of detailed information about Jesus; the canonical Gospels. We can accept them as divinely inspired or not. We can accept them (as many scholars do) as non-inspired human documents that are, on the main, historically accurate. We can even accept them as error-ridden musings by primitive people about God and Jesus. What we cannot do, though, is reject the Gospel accounts out of hand and then advance our own personal opinion of the Jesus of the Gospels, since there will be no Jesus left to have a personal opinion about.   

 Reject the record, and you forfeit your opinion of the man of the record. It’s that simple. Of course, if you cherry-pick verses to fashion a Jesus in your own image, then I have nothing to offer you. If that’s your project, you are welcome to your fantasy, but do not mistake the views of your-make-me-up Christ for the views of Jesus of Nazareth. That legend will reflect your opinions, not his.

Jesus and “Social Justice”

One question here is simple: What did Jesus come to do? Preach a socialistic redistribution of wealth? Introduce new Age Hinduism to Torah-observant Jews? Prophesy for Allah? Teach us how to attain personal godhood or accomplish Christ consciousness? Advocate for the poor, the marginal, and the disenfranchised in a campaign for social justice? Let’s see.

To separate the real Jesus from the legendary christs of any sort, I simply employ my system. I carefully read every line of every gospel and located every line of every Gospel and isolated every passage that spoke of Jesus’ purpose – references either from Jesus himself, from clues in the birth narratives, or from Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist. I also isolated every reference to the poor.

My search regarding the poor revealed something surprising, considering the breadth of the record. It turns out that Jesus almost never spoke of the poor. He made only ten specific references to the “poor” of different sorts, [4] not counting parallel passages. Even this small number overstates the issue because of an interesting pattern my search revealed, one I have noted elsewhere:[5]

   In the vast majority of cases where Jesus mentions the poor, he does so not to commend the poor as such, but to make a point about something else – hypocrisy, a widow’s generosity, Zacchaeus’s repentance, the rich young ruler’s confusion, or a lesson about the afterlife.[6]

Jesus did care about the financially destitute, of course, and enjoined charity and compassion for them through kindness and voluntary giving to the disadvantaged (Lk. 12:33, 14: 13-14), a point John the Baptist emphasized as well (Lk. 3:11). Campaigning for the poor , however, was not part of his project.

In one case, Jesus actually was dismissive of the poor when compared to something else that was his greater concern. “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me”(Matt. 26:11. cf. Mk. 14:5-9, Jn. 12:8).[7]

What was it about Jesus himself that defined his mission in a way that completely eclipsed a legitimate and appropriate concern for the financially destitute? Jesus’ remaining references to the poor answer that question.

In only two instances did Jesus identify anything about his mission with those people he considered “poor.” When preaching on the Sabbath at the synagogue in Nazareth he said:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. (Lk. 4:18-19)

When John the Baptist sent word from prison questioning in his dark moments whether or not Jesus was indeed “the Expected One,” Jesus responded to his doubts by reporting the fulfillment of his earlier claim:

Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have gospel preached to them. (Matt. 11:4-5, cf. Lk 7:22

Note two important things about the poor and oppressed from these passages. First, it is clear in both references that foundational to Jesus ministry of mercy – giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead – preaching the gospel to the “poor.”

Second, Jesus’ sermon on that Sabbath in Nazareth is the only place he makes mention of concern for the “oppressed.” Peter, however, gives us the insight into the kind of oppression Jesus had in mind:

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him the Holy Spirit and with power, and how went about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil;, for God was with him….  Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. (Acts 10:38, 43)

Taken together, these passages about the poor paint a clear picture of Jesus’ intent. The poor were to receive the gospel, have their sins forgiven, and be released from the devil’s power – that last point underscored by Jesus’ consistent practice of freeing people from demon possession.  

What kind of “poor” would receive this gospel message of forgiveness and thus be freed from the oppression of the devil? Not the proud, pharisaical self-righteous, but rather those who understand their spiritual poverty – which is precisely the point Jesus makes in his sole remaining reference to the poor: ”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matt. 5:3, cf. Lk. 6:20).

Clearly, contending for the financially destitute as such was not his concern, not was campaigning on behalf of the marginalized, the disenfranchised, or the socially oppressed.

Jesus’ central concern was bringing forth a kingdom in a way that secured liberty for the captives[8] through forgiveness of sin – a fact that everyone of my remaining Gospel passages about Jesus’ mission makes manifestly clear.

On this point, I will simply let the record speak for itself.

In the Beginning

From the outset, the Gospels paint a clear picture of Christ’s purpose.  The earliest reference comes from the prophet Micah:

And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matt. 2:6, cf. Micah 5:2)

Zacharias weighs in next with the prophecies at the birth of his son, John the Baptist:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go on before the lord to prepare his ways; to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Lk 1:76-79)

At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel told Mary not to be afraid, since she had found favor with God and would be given a matchless gift:

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,  and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Lk.1:31-33)

Joseph, grieved and alarmed by the strange turn of events he faced, received counsel from an angel of the Lord in a dream. The angel said:

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son; and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matt. 1:20-21)

At Jesus’ birth, an angel appeared suddenly before shepherds in the field, saying, “Do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord” (LK. 2:1-11)

When Mary and Joseph brought their infant Jesus to the temple soon after his birth, they encountered a righteous and devout man named Simeon and a prophetess named Anna who served continuously in the temple with fastings and prayers.

When Simeon took the infant Jesus into his arms, he said, “Now Lord, you are releasing your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:26, 28-30).

Anna spoke next: At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk. 2:38).

At the outset of Jesus ministry, the forerunner John the Baptist fulfills his father’s prophecy by giving “the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.“ He points to Jesus and says: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin pf the world” (Jn. 1: 29). He also says that this this Jesus would baptize with the Spirit and with fire, with salvation or with judgement. (Matt,3:10-12).

In these initial Gospel passages, a precise profile emerges.

A savior named Jesus, who is Christ the Lord, the Son of the Most High God, will be born in Bethlehem to shepherd Israel. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, he will bring salvation and redemption through the forgiveness of sins, baptizing some with the Holy Spirit and others with the fire of judgement. He will be given the throne of his father David and rule over an everlasting kingdom.

Something seems to be missing here, though. There is nothing in these descriptions of Jesus by any of the various forerunners that suggests a  single element of the social justice Jesus described earlier. As it turns out, there is nothing like that in Jesus’ own claims about himself, either.

Jesus on Jesus

Jesus had much to say about his own mission. He said he came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Lk. 4:43). He made clear, though, that his kingdom was not of this world (Jn. 18: 36), at least initially. It was not a physical kingdom bringing social justice, wealth redistribution, or political and cultural equity. Rather, it was a spiritual kingdom bringing forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Listen:

Luke 19:10 – The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

John 3:17 – For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him[9] (cf. Lk. 9:56).

Luke 5:32 – I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance  (cf. Mk. 2:17, Matt 9: 12-13).

Matthew 20:26 – The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. And to give his life a ransom for many. (cf. Mk. 10:45)

John 6:38-39 – For I have come down from heaven , not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up the last day.  

For Jesus, salvation was not economic prosperity, equal distribution goods, or sexual liberty without judgement or shame. Instead, salvation came through belief in him, bringing forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

John 3: 16-17 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Sin into the world to  judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  

John 3: 36 – He who believes in the Son has eternal life ; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Matthew 9:6 – “But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home” (cf. Mk 2:10-11).

Luke 5:20 – Seeing their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

Luke 7:47-48 – “ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little,” Then he said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Jesus knew what in order to accomplish this mission, he must suffer, die, and be raised again, just as Moses and the prophets had foretold.

Luke 12:51 – Do you suppose I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

Matthew 16: 21 – From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and raised up on the third day.

John 12:27 – Now my soul has become troubled,; and what shall I say, “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Matthew 26:28 – For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (cf. Mk 14:24, Lk. 22:20).

Luke 24: 44-47 – Now he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled…. Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nation, beginning from Jerusalem”(cf. Lk 24:25-27).

There you have it – the complete record of Jesus’ own statements about his purpose and mission. Once again, something is missing – any evidence of any kind that Jesus saw himself as an advocate for social justice. It’s not there. Not a word.

To be clear, there is no question that God in Scripture has a heart for the genuinely oppressed and destitute, and Jesus as God shared that concern as did his church.[10] When Jesus encountered deep human need, he responded with compassionate action – characteristically healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, and in two instances, physically feeding multitudes.[11] Even so, Jesus principal purpose was redressing spiritual poverty, not rectifying social inequities.

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”

Reading through that plethora of Bible passages may have been a bit taxing for you, but there’s a point here.

Near the end of Jesus life, he asked his disciples the most important question anyone can consider: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). The answer any person gives to that question seals his fate with eternity. We dare not be mistaken on this issue.

What I have tried to do here is to put Jesus in his proper place for those who have become confused by the culturally noisy rhetoric. I have done this by letting the record  – the entire record – speak for itself!

Though I isolated every verse in the Gospels identifying Jesus’ purpose, I could not find a single sentence where Jesus championed the cause of the poor, the outsider, of the disenfranchised as such. There is not even a hint of it – in the sense that it’s commonly understood – in the entire historical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Did Jesus care about the poor, the downtrodden, and the marginalized? Yes. He also cared about the rich, the powerful, and the socially advantaged. Jesus cared about everyone, and he helped everyone who came to him – poor beggar or prostitute, wealthy tax collector or Pharisee.

The right answer to Jesus’ question is Jesus’ own answer, one that fits hand in glove with the message of each of his forerunners. He is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, the Lamb of God, the living sacrifice who secures forgiveness of sins and eternal life for anyone who bends his knee and beats his breast in penitence before him.[12]

It is the right answer because no other Jesus saves souls – and that, as it turns out, is what he came to do. Any other Jesus – Jesus the mere moral teacher, Jesus the prophet of Allah, the socialist Jesus, the Gnostic Jesus, the universal Christ Jesus, the spirit brother of Lucifer Jesus, the Hindu guru Jesus, even the social justice Jesus – is a falsehood, a fiction, and indeed, an urban legend.  

[1] Galatians 1:8-9

[2] Luke 9:62

 [3]These are all studies I’ve done. Find “Divine Direction and Decision Making in the book of Acts,” “New testament Prayer,” and the “Preaching God’s Love in Acts?” at str.org.

 [4] Poor in spirit vs. poor financially, for example.

 [5] Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), 114.

[6] Hypocrisy (Matt 6:2-3), a widow’s generosity (Lk.21:1-4), Zaccheus’s repentance (Lk. 19:8), the rich young ruler’s confusion (Matt. 19:21, Mk. 19:17-27), a lesson about the afterlife (Lk 16:20, 22).

[7] Note, by the way, that Deut. 15:7-8, 11 – the passage Jesus may be alluding to here – does enjoin God’s people to care about the poor. In the context, though, this was not Jesus point.       

[8] That Jesus probably had spiritual captives in mind here is clear from his short discourse on freedom and slavery in John 8:31-36.

[9] Judgment would come, as John promised, but later, at the end (Matt.25:31-46; cf. Jn. 9:39).

[10] The New Testament Christian community readily responded to poverty – not as an expression of justice, however, but as voluntarily demonstration of charity (love) and mercy (cf. Acts 11:29, 24:17; Roma.15:26; Gal. 2:10; I Cor 6:1-4).

[11] Notice, though, that Jesus’ largess in feeding the masses became a distraction for them. He had to rebuke them for continuing to seek physical bread from him instead of hungering for Jesus himself, the bread of life (Jn. 6:26 ff.).

[12] Luke 18:9-14.

By Nolan Lewallen Oct 26, 2021

The very last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said that “Jesus was the first socialist.” I wonder if Stalin murdering some 20 million people was on Gorbachev’s “WWJD” list. In 2016, Vladimir Putin said in a speech in Stavropol, Russia, “the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism resembles the Bible a lot.” Hmm. Maybe Psalm 14:1 (if you exclude the first part about a fool): “There is no God.”

But even some evangelical Christians try to squeeze socialism from the Bible. They cite Acts 4:32-35:

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had… There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

In the very next chapter (Acts 5:1-9), there’s even an account of Ananias and Sapphira falling dead because they held back some of the money from the sale of their land. Maybe this is another verse Putin was referencing; it’s probably on his refrigerator.

Were the Romans Forcing Christians to Share Their Wealth?  

Let’s take a closer look. First of all, there’s a huge distinction in that these believers in Jerusalem were doing this of their own free will. The government was not forcing them to do it. It says they brought the money to the apostles, not to the government ( verse 4:35) There was a great famine in Jerusalem and all of Judea at the time, as prophesied by Agabus in Antioch (Acts 11:27-29). Because of this famine, many Gentile believers were sending money to the believers in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26, I Cor.16: 1-3, II Cor. 9:1).

But the key is found in verse 5:4. Peter told Ananias, “The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished, and after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.” Clearly, the offerings of the church in Jerusalem were free-will offerings and not as the result of a mandate. The guilty couple fell dead for lying about it to the Holy Spirit (verse3).

The Goodness of Your Heart, or the Bayonets of the State.

Another verse socialists like to use is Luke 3:11. While preaching by the Jordan River, John the Baptist said, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” Again, John was compelling those who had plenty to help people in need out of the goodness of their hearts, not as a requirement from the government.

And finally, socialists like to pull that “compassion card” with I John 3:17. This verse asks, “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion – how can God’s love be in that person?” But a socialist government is not compassionate; it not only limits the amount its citizens can make, but also robs them of their God – given ability to be innovative. On June 19, 2018 the U.S. Patent Office issued its ten millionth patent. What’s the latest innovative gadget benefiting your life that came from Cuba or Venezuela?

God Doesn’t Reward Slackers. Why Should We?

In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-29 and Luke 19: 12-28), the business owner is clearly a representation of God himself, so this is a pretty good picture of how God’s economy works. Notice in verse 15 that the man gave three different amounts to three different servants, “to each according to his own ability.” This is the very antithesis of socialism (“from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”).

Evidently, the business owner’s perception of their abilities were pretty accurate. The two who were given the most (five and two talents respectively) doubled their investments. By the way, this king of profit would likely create a fourth and a fifth employee and generate greater pay for all.

God Didn’t make A World Where Socialism Works

What if the owner had taken those same eight talents and divided them up equally (or 2.66 talents each)? And what if he told them they would be trusted with the same amount next time….. and the next…. And the next, regardless of their performance?

I guarantee you the productivity of even the two good employees would wane over time. Instead of fifteen talents, he would probably get little more than his original eight talents back. Why should the two productive employees outperform the unproductive employee, with no incentive? With capitalism, everyone races toward the top. Socialism sends everyone slacking toward the bottom.

God Is About Love, Not Politicized “Fairness”

In the parable of the ten virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom (Matt.25:1-9), we see a similar underlying theme that’s incongruent with socialism. Notice that five were wise, and five were foolish, not privileged and underprivileged. And if you continue reading, verses 10-11 reveal that the five wise virgins were rewarded (they got into the wedding feast), and the five foolish virgins were not rewarded (they were locked outside) . Socialists would cry, “Not fair!”

In John 12, we read the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume. In verse 5, Judas said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Fair point, even if it did come from Judas. Jesus said (verse 7), “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” How many of our churches have taken this to heart?

In summary, it’s clear in the Scriptures that God never condoned a socialist type system. It has been contrived by well – intentioned but unrealistic people in the best cases, and by evil, power-hungry demagogues in the worst. God “wired” us to function best in a merit-based system. “He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit” (Prov. 27:18). And that gives us incentives to cultivate the gifts God has placed inside each of us. Moreover, when we cultivate and develop our gifts, they benefit the rest of society.

The Biden administration has abandoned wisdom here, as on so many other issues. It’s trying to buy support with other people’s money, and mortgaging our future. For more on this, see the new video from The Stream’s Jay Richards.

Nolan Lewallen is a retired pilot of a major airline and lives near Stephenville, TX, with his wife Kim. His new book, “The Integration of Church & State: How We Transform “In God We Trust” From Motto to Reality, brings the two together.

Published by The Stream at stream.org, Equipping Christ-Followers to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.

I selected this article to combat the socialism deception within the Anabaptist community. During the past several years, Christ-Followers (CF) now have access to relatively unrestricted websites such as The Stream, brighteon.com, marfoogle.news, rumble, zerohedge, the federalist, x22report.com, Epoch News, etc. disseminating “to the best of their ability” factual worthy news being ignored and boycotted by mainstream media.

Sadly, too many anabaptist CF’s are not even aware of the major deception being leveled against truth in their lives currently. May God grant us discerning spirits in the coming days. The prior blog espousing reading and application of scripture, a continual attitude of prayer, widespread  transparent communication amongst CF living in community, for such will be key to insure spiritual fervor/preparedness amongst our ranks, accentuating our faith and guiding us as the flock was admonished last Sunday by Carl in 1. Our charity, 2.) our choices, 3.) our courage, 4.) our convictions, 5.) our conflicts with evil, 6.) our conquests as dispatched, and 7.) our calling, and perhaps, even our conclusion.

Actually, if you’ve ever read Martyr’s Mirror, you know well the price many CF’s have paid for their spiritual freedom, since the Apostles, through the Reformation, the Enlightenment,  even up until today in such places as Haiti, Africa, India, now even Australia. May the Holy Spirit empower us with grace and mercy for even the eminent skirmishes before the major battles.

Blessings as we Prepare To Go Forth>>>>> merlin

The Bible contains the mind of God,

the state of man,

the way of salvation,

the doom of sinners,

and the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines are holy,

Its precepts are binding,

Its histories are true,

and its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise,

Believe it to be safe,

And practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you,

Food to support you,

And comfort to cheer you.

It’s the traveler’s map,

the pilgrim’s staff,

the pilot’s compass,

the soldier’s sword,

and the Christian’s charter.

Here Paradise is restored,

Heaven opened,

And the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject,

Our good the design,

And the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory,

rule the heart,

and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

It is a mine of wealth,

A paradise of glory,

And a river of pleasure.

It is given you in life,

Will be opened at judgement,

and be remembered forever.

It involves the highest responsibility,

Will reward the greatest labor,

And will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

 

Merely 198 words but worthy of being memorized or read frequently! Taken verbatim from a Gideon’s New Testament, Psalms & Proverbs placed in the reception area at the Raber Optometry & Dental in Kidron OH.

Consider the perspective of your life at this moment. Is dispensing love to all you meet your dominant theme? Read the above document again. Perhaps you need to decide today to read scripture daily. Perhaps you wish to join the 2022 FOR LIFE movement and read your One Year Bible daily for the rest of your life. Relax! It won’t be forever! You likely don’t have that much more time. How many more Sundays do you think you have left to enjoy your life anyway?

Perhaps you do need a new perspective? And such are free for the reading as suggested above…. Your choice!

If you would, consider these words from our Divine Coach through Paul to Timothy taken from I Tim. 6: 6-21 from the Oct 21 NT reading in my One Year Bible.

Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage all to obey them. Some may deny these things, but they are the sound, wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and are the foundation for a godly life. Anyone who says anything different is both proud and stupid. He is quibbling over the meaning of Christ’s words and stirring up arguments ending in jealousy and anger, which only lead to name-calling, accusations, and evil suspicions. These arguers – their mind warped by sin – don’t know how to tell the truth; to them the Good News is just a means of making money. Keep away from them.

Do you want to be truly rich? You already are if you are happy and good. After all, we didn’t bring any money with us when we came into the world and we can’t carry away  single penny when we die. So we should be well satisfied without money if we have enough food and clothing. But people who long to be rich soon begin to do all kinds of wrong things to get money, things that hurt and make them evil-minded and finally send them to hell itself. For the love of money is the first step towards all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it, and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Oh, Timothy, you are God’s man. Run from all these evil things and work instead at what is right and good, learning to trust him and love others, and to be patient and gentle. Fight on for God. Hold tightly to the eternal life which God has given you, and which you have confessed with such a ringing confession before many witnesses.

I command you before God who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a fearless testimony before Pontius Pilate, that you fulfill all that he has told you to do, so that no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. For in due season Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only Almighty God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone can never die, who lives in light so bright that no human beings can approach him. No mere man has ever seen him, nor ever will, Unto him be honor and everlasting power and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven – it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.

Oh, Timothy, don’t fail to do these things that God entrusted to you. Keep out of foolish arguments with those who boast of their “knowledge” and thus prove their lack of it. Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life – they don’t know God. May God’s mercy be upon you.

No further comments . Go forth now enlightened and encouraged. Duplicate prolifically as the descending darkness is both oppressive and suffocating >>>>> merlin

Below Are My Ten Eulogy Words As I Developed Them As Instructed By My Coach. You May Choose Your Own Descriptive Meaningful Words And Then Write Your Personal Focus For Each. I Suggest You Read Them Daily When You Rise. Sharpen Your Focus. Share. Revise Again. Focus Continually!    

1.    I Choose to Be Kind & Considerate.

                My goal is to be like Jesus. I desire to leave everyone I meet better off than when first encountered/intersected.

2.    I Choose to Model Integrity.

                I choose to model the integrity authors Henry Cloud and John Townsend encourage in their three books titled “Boundaries”, “Integrity”, & “How People Grow”; as modeled by Jesus in the four Gospels and as written about throughout both the Old & New Testament.

3.      I Choose to be a Truth Facilitator & when Asked Why I Do Not Value Much of Mainstream Media

                I attempt to respond with proven timeless scriptural and historical wisdom to make sense of our world’s decades of lies and the ensuing “PlanDemic’s chaos.” But please understand, the church has failed historically and even today, we each are guilty of tarnishing Christ’s message in the marketplace of life.

4.    I Choose to be a Faith Facilitator.

                I anticipate and enjoy being approached by persons also struggling to find their life’s purpose and meaning through the forgiveness of their sins by Jesus Christ.

5.    I Choose to be Respectful of Others.

                I understand only God can judge, BUT He has equipped & empowered we as Christ Followers, if we are so invited to evaluate and encourage others, to do so, in a spirit of humility, forgiveness, and loving correction. Healing only comes when the spirit of judgement leaves.

6.    I Choose when Possible to be Practically Inventive.

                I gravitate toward situations where I detect a stalemate in choosing an appropriate decision or action. I depend on the Holy Spirit to interject His perspective into the mix.

7.   I Choose to be a Finisher.

                As in cricket and baseball, each team has members especially skilled for those moments in a game when either the “Finisher” as in cricket; or as the “Closer” in baseball, is summoned to work his “magic” and strategically, win the game! When the chips are down, I choose to dispense hope and the appropriate encouragement from scripture and other wisdom writings to transition well, or to win the game.  

8.    I Choose to Invest my Resources by paying forward.

                I am keenly aware that even before creation, God has plans for his children. I desire to both discover and utilize my accompanying innate and acquired resources whether opportunities, skills, intelligence, money, discretionary time, relationships, etc., ultimately for His good and His glory.

9.    I Choose to be Enthusiastic about Living Out my Allotted Days on Planet Earth.

                Since I now realize enthusiasm is a gift from God and the publicly visible flowering expression on our faces of His love to me and others, I choose to honor his Son Jesus by finishing well enthusiastically. “He who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matt. 10:22, 24:13, and Mark 13:13. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” Heb. 3:14. Christianity is not a sprint but an endurance run. Our finish is determined by the choices we make as they are formed from the patterns we develop in route. Choices or patterns are another of those chicken or the egg situations! Loving enthusiasm is the flag flying high from the castle of my heart when King Jesus is in residence!

10.    I am a Child of God.

                Not only am I created in the image of God, but as a Christ Follower, I am also one of his children with eternal value, an heir, endowed and enabled by the Holy Spirit to be fruitful in kingdom work by assisting others to first discover and then nurturing their satisfaction of worthiness in His kingdom.

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IT IS IMPORTANT TO EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE TO GOD DAILY. MY PERSONAL EXAMPLES FOLLOW BELOW. PERHAPS YOU’LL DESIRE TO WRITE YOUR OWN.

I Daily Express My Gratitude to God For These Blessings and Gifts….

1.) I am especially thankful for the Breath of Life.

2.) I am thankful for the vertical spiritual relationships I enjoy with the Trinity and the gift of salvation .

3.) I am thankful for horizontal spiritual relationships I enjoy with my spouse, close friends, family, church, etc. to perfect my salvation in community relationships.

4.) I am so very thankful in these days and times for the amazing gift of health I do possess.

5.)  I am thankful for the vision of distribution God has given me to both invest and share of my talents and gifts.

6.) I am increasingly thankful as I age for the vast array of resources available to me including:

              A.  Rudimentary intelligence to perform and enhance everything on this page.

B. God’s written Word in all its forms including all the wisdom writings accumulated to date.

C. Satisfying relational opportunities.

              D. Skills (both innate & acquired) to be enjoyed personally and shared by blessing others.

             E . Discretionary time and funds to be enjoyed personally and invested in kingdom endeavors as prompted by the Spirit.

7.) I believe we are about to experience a new level of thankfulness for life’s necessities as we enter a ‘Dark Winter’ wherein some may experience shortages of food, water, and adequate shelter.

8.) I am thankful to have experienced the ‘techie’ advancements even though they may have contributed to our civilization’s ‘undoing’…

Complaining & gossiping is nigh impossible for a Christ Follower

while in worshipful praise & thanksgiving!                 

Summarized from Matthew Kelly’s book The Seven Level’s of Intimacy:

The Art of Loving and the Joy of Being Loved. Pg. 174-185

Knowing the dreams of the people you love and helping them fulfill those dreams brings a certain dynamism to relationships that is both energizing and inspiring. Few things energize an individual like the passionate pursuit of a dream, and few things can infuse a relationship with such energy and enthusiasm as the pursuit of dreams. Whether revealing or chasing your dreams, both can have a very powerful impact on any relationship. Our dreams are the vision that shapes both our lives and our relationships.

When it comes to the pursuit of dreams, the first question to ask yourself is, are you willing to delay gratification? If you answer no, you are not ready for relationships, and any worthwhile dream will evade you. Our present culture proposes that life is all about getting what you want, when you want it, and is propelled forward by a constant need for gratification and a contempt and disdain for anything that would delay gratification. Now even instant gratification isn’t fast enough. As a result, we are now witnessing the rise of entire generations who possess no patience, little self-control and an almost complete inability to discipline themselves.

The reality is that success in any field, whether it is business, career, sports, investing, inventing, health and well-being, spirituality, or relationships, requires delayed gratification. You cannot be successful without delaying gratification – unless your goal is instant gratification. And if this is your goal, you may experience some temporary success but you are doomed to fail sooner or later.

Our ability to delay gratification determines our success in a great many areas of out lives.

Personal finance is a great example, perhaps one many of us will be able to relate to a little more closely! Millions of Americans retire each year with little or no net worth. Having given the best forty years of their life to work, they have frighteningly little to show for it. They will collect their Social Security and they may marginally survive but a great many of them will spend the rest of their lives watching pennies. Is there an alternative?

Absolutely. If you saved $1 a day for 55 years you would have $20,000 in savings. You may say, so what? Well, if you invested your $30 at the end of each month in government bonds at a return of 5 percent, after 55 years you would have $101,000. Still not convinced that you should delay your gratification? Invest your $1 a day at a return of 9 percent, and after fifty-five years you will have $481,795. Is it unreasonable to expect a return of 9 percent? You decide, but the S&P has averaged a return of 12.4 percent since 1925.

Still not convinced? Save an entire $3 a day for fifty-five years and invest at 9 percent and you will walk away with $1,445,385. That’s right, almost $1.5 million in return for a $3 a day delayed gratification. Increase your savings to $5 a day and you will amass $2,408,975. Why do most people retire with little or no net worth? Two reasons. They are unwilling to delay gratification, and they never really took the time to develop a financial dream.

On the other hand, the average household in the US that carries a credit card balance has more than $7,000 of credit card debt. (likely more today!)

Consumer debt is at record levels as is instant gratification. Coincidence? I think not. Is the battle between saving and spending? I don’t think so. The battle more than ever, is in your mind debating instant gratification versus delayed gratification.

I am certainly not suggesting that wealth is the be-all and end-all, but when given a choice between riches and poverty, I would choose wealth every time. And I’d encourage you to do the same. The reality is that most of us in America up until now at least, could be argued, have actually been given the choice between riches and poverty.

Now, may we kick up the stakes a notch and consider our relationships rather than merely money? First think about the people you know who have failing relationships or who cannot keep a relationship together. Are they willing to delay gratification? Do they see relationships simply as a source of pleasure? Do they hold the unreasonable expectation that a good relationship should not have problems? Are they willing to put the relationship ahead of their personal agenda and pleasures?

Every worthwhile dream absolutely demands delayed gratification, and the dream of a great relationship is absolutely no different. The very nature of relationships is strategically giving, continually giving, and seldom if ever, getting; it is helping someone else in their journey to become their best possible version of themselves.

While building such encounters, we must be willing to delay our own personal gratification. There will be times in your primary relationship when you will be required to delay gratification (individually and as a couple) if you wish to live the dream of a great relationship, and if you wish to achieve some of the other dreams you as a couple have identified and are committed to achieving.

So how do people who delay their gratification do it? They keep in mind the future gratification and in relationships, that is so critical! When we love someone, we think about building a life with that person and about all the exciting possibilities the future holds. Dreams extend our time horizon beyond the self centeredness of instant gratification and into a future filled with the love, intimacy, and mutual respect for which we all yearn. Dreams, a common essential purpose, and the willingness to delay gratification will ignite your relationship like no pleasure the world has ever offered or prescribed.

Building future relationship together by knowing what awakens the passion, energy, and enthusiasm in the lives of the people you love is crucial if you are going to develop a deep level of intimacy. The reason it is so important for us to know the dreams of the people we love is that they view their lives in relation to their dreams. In fact, did you realize how our dreams are the lenses through which we view everything.

Let me give you a quick example. Your wife says to you, “I saw a beautiful dress at the store today. I think I’ll go back and buy it tomorrow.” You may ask how much it costs, to which she replies, “Two hundred and fifty dollars.” It is an arbitrary amount and many people could justify the expenditure. But you may become upset because you see this expenditure as frivolous. As you see it, you wife already has fifty dresses she hardly ever wears. But this is not the point; you are not upset because your wife wants a new dress. The real point is that you would rather see this money used for something else – that is, for one of your dreams.

Your dream may be to retire early and travel with your wife while you are still young enough to enjoy it. You may be saving relentlessly to make this dream come true, but you haven’t told your wife about it. You may have alluded to it, but have you sat down together, done the math, and determined what you both need to do to make the dream a reality? Let’s face it: if you gave your wife the choice between a handful of new dresses and traveling together after your early retirement, I think she would pick the latter. If she wouldn’t, you got bigger problems than whether or not she buys the dress.

Dreams do bring clarity and focus to our relationships. If you are going to build a future together, you have to know each other’s dreams. Too often, we live in the miscredited fantasy that one day we will wake up and everything will be exactly as we have always wished it would be. It won’t. Seriously now folks, somewhere deep down inside of you, you know that is pure fictional fantasy, And that dear reader, is precisely the difference between a wish and a dream.

If you want to be intimate with the people you love, you need to know what drives them. In different stages of our lives, we are driven by different things, different values. For example, if you asked your spouse what his or her dreams were when you first started dating and you haven’t spent much time on the subject since, you will likely discover that he or she has a whole new set of dreams now. If this is the case, may I suggest you ask this question first of your spouse or significant other as a starting point for likely the much needed renewal in your relationship: Which of your dreams got lost along the way while I was too busy pursuing my own?

It is never too late to make such corrections! Go forth rejoicing enjoying your needed renewal and your scheduled carefree timelessness, while you can! merlin

How To Pray

By R A Torrey

Summarized by merlin

Ch 1. The Importance of Prayer

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. (note the alls)

But why is this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?

1. Because there is a Devil…. Cunning, mighty, never rests, ever plotting..  “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

2. Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things, and the great secret of all lack in our experience, in our life and in our work is neglect of prayer. James 4:2 “Ye have not because you ask not.”

3. Those men who God set forth as a pattern of what of what He expected Christians to be – the apostles – regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives. Acts 6:2-4.”…it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” We now see and understand better Spirit and wisdom, but we need to absorb the rest of the verse, such as with the book, Start With Why.

4. Prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important part in the earthly life of our Lord.

5. Praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord. Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost, not merely from the uttermost, but unto the uttermost, unto entire completeness, absolute perfection. The purpose for which he now lives is “to make intercession for us,” to pray. Praying is his principal activity he is doing since he returned, for it is by his prayers that he is saving us. Nothing challenges me more to pray than the thought that prayer is the principal occupation of our risen Lord.

6. Prayer is the means that God has appointed for our receiving mercy, and obtaining grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Mercy is what we need and grace is what we must have, or all our life and effort will end in complete failure. Prayer is the only way to get them. Understand there is infinite grace at our disposal, and we make it ours experimentally by prayer. Oh, if we only realized the fullness of God’s grace that is ours for the asking, including its height and depth and length and breadth, we would spend more time in prayer.

7. Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ is the way Jesus Christ Himself has appointed for His disciples to obtain fullness of joy. John 16:24 “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name (shame on us!); ask, and ye shall receive , that your joy may be full.” And when our joy is full, it makes God real, not merely an idea. There is no greater joy on earth or in heaven than communion with God and prayer in the name of Jesus accomplishes that! Do you take enough leisure for prayer to actually get into God’s presence. Do you really give yourself up to prayer in the time in which you do take?

8. Prayer, in every care and anxiety and need of life, with thanksgiving, is the means that God has appointed for our obtaining freedom from all anxiety, and the peace of God which passes all understanding. See Phil 4:6-7. Time spent in prayer is not wasted, but time invested paying compounded interest and even sign-on bonuses!

9. Prayer is the method that God Himself has appointed for our obtaining the Holy Spirit. Doubtless many have received the Holy Spirit at their moment of their surrender to God before there was even time to pray; but how many more are there who know their first definite baptism with the Holy Spirit came while they were on their knees or faces before God, alone or in company of others, and who again and again since then have been filled with the Holy Spirit while in prayer! We must continually spend much time on our knees before God, if we are to continue in the power of the Holy Spirit. Too often a person who ministered unmistakably in the power of the Holy Spirit is now filling the air with their empty shouts, and beating it with their meaningless gestures, because their precious prayer time was simply crowded out and intimacy with the Spirit has departed, only hype remains.

10. Prayer is the means that Christ has appointed whereby our hearts shall not be overcome  or be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day of Christ’s return come on you un-expectantly. Luke 21:34 NKJV Verse 36 continues “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Counted worthy to even escape all the things currently being concocted across this planet surely diminishes the presence of fear among Christ Followers. Consider also Paul’s words in Phil 1:21-29 NKJV.  “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain…… For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you ….. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way be terrified by your adversaries, which is to them proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”… I suggest you may read these verses from The Message if you have access.

The coming of Jesus Christ is awakening much interest and discussion today; but it is one thing to be interested in such, and to talk about it, and quite another thing to be prepared for it. We live in an atmosphere that has a constant tendency to unfit us for Christ’s coming. There is only one way by which we can rise triumphant above these trials and tribulations – solely by constant watching unto prayer, even to loose sleep while preparing.

11. Because what prayer accomplishes!

A. Prayer promotes our spiritual growth as almost nothing else, indeed as nothing else but Bible study; for true prayer and true Bible study go hand in hand. It is through prayer that my sin is brought to light,, my most hidden sin. “Search me O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Ps. 139:23-24.

B. Prayer brings power into our work.

C. Prayer avails for the conversion of others.

D. Prayer brings blessings to the Church

It was so in the days of Wesley and Whitfield, it was so in the days of the great revival of 1857 in this country and of 1859 in Ireland. And it will be so again in your day and mine. Satan has strategized his forces. Many are making great pretensions of apostolic methods, but covering the rankest dishonesty and hypocrisy with these pretensions, speaking even with loud boisterous assurances. Even Christians equally loyal to the great fundamental truths of the Gospel are glowering at one another with a Devil-sent-you suspicion. Our world of contrived chaos, the flesh and its carnality, and the Devil are in full exhibition, celebrating in full bloom. It is now a dark day, But  – now  “it is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law” (PS. 119:126).

And He is getting ready to work, and now He is listening for the voice of prayer, our prayers. Will He hear it? Will He hear it from you? Will He hear it from the Church as a body? I believe he will.

This is only a quick summary of the first chapter of twelve, which spoke loads of encouragement to me this evening considering the journey we are on. I marvel at the appropriateness of the message for today though I did add a few sentences that you’ll easily spot.

RA Torrey lived from (1856-1928), the son of an affluent banker and lawyer, was extremely shy, graduated from Yale in 1875, Yale Divinity in 1878, and his first pastorate was in Garrettsville OH at the Congregational Church. He joined Dwight L Moody in 1889 and in ’94 began as pastor at Moody Church on Chicago Avenue. In 1912, he was persuaded to build another institution like Moody Bible Institute, and from 1912 to 1924, he served as the Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University). He preached around the world and authored more than 40 books.

Copies are abundantly available online. I found this book and another Moody Bible short novel similar actually to Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) Berlin OH book I use as a tract by Gary Miller, How Can Anyone Say God Is Good? Loretta’s mother has several boxes of books in storage in our barn we need to go through yet and this evening while I was moving them and I spotted these two laying on top, so I took them into Eileen and asked if she remembered being given them on Dec 26, 1937 as written on the fly as a Christmas gift from her first cousin and SS teacher at Crown Hill Mennonite, Mrs. Lester Geiser (the former Grace Brenner). She did and so we talked about that era and its significance. I told Loretta later I think I’ll read the short novel to her next week as she enjoys Audible books and see how well at 95 years old she connects with its message.

 In ’66 while at Hesston College, Lester and Graces son Alfred (Al to us) was a year ahead of me but resided in the same mod and we spent Christmas ’66 together as he was a welder at Excel and I worked on campus. We were invited for Christmas dinner to Leo & Dorothy (Aunt Dorothy was my mother’s youngest sister) Miller’s at 440 S Knight St in Wichita KS where Leo served as pastor at the Eureka Gardens congregation just around the corner.

After HC I spent the ’68 summer building silos for Mast-Lepley and the fourth silo I helped build was on the Lester Geiser farm during wheat harvest and the Mennonite conference at Central Christian High School. Even though Al was in Asia on a MCC assignment, I met his younger brother Roland who was 11 or 12 at the time. And of course, the rest is history. Roland and I intersected frequently both of us servicing the dairy industry nearly 40 years, in Ohio and even in Kosova with a dairy mission project and I even helped him teach our SS class. Al and Gladys spent Al’s final years in Afghanistan where he and his business partner were murdered. Before that assignment however, Al installed an Autoclave  in my lab. Mitch Steiner had sales connections and found out the Joel Pomerene Hospital was getting a new one so I bought their old one.

So that folks, is the rest of the story as the mural is continuing to be drawn out on the canvases of our lives, never knowing exactly where opening a little coverless beat up book might take you; perhaps even impact you forever. Time is always of the essence. Invest wisely for eternal joy.