Christian Life

Prayer is so critical to the Christian life. And we believers know that there is so much more to a godly prayer life than simply supplication (requests) BUT…regarding prayer requests: I believe most of us would admit that we have no idea how to organize the many prayer requests that come our way each week.

We have to decide if we are going to pray for them once. Or weekly. Or daily. Sometimes we forget to pray for a request at all, despite our best intentions. I have to admit that I find it hard sometimes to keep track of all the many requests that come my way. We want to pray for our families, friends, and co-workers; for those we know who are lost; for the situations that come to our ears every day through friends or church or emails.

And then there are our families and many other loved ones. How do we pray for them intentionally and in a way that doesn’t sound like a broken record? How do we remember the many answered prayers that come our way each year? Or do we take the time to intentionally thank God for His work in our lives or for a particular blessing?

I’ve been thinking about all of these things. Prayer has been challenging for me. I have struggled to be organized in how I approach prayer, often just praying for things as they come to mind. But the problem with this is that then there are so many things that are forgotten. Things I should be praying for–that I want to pray for–that simply slip my mind during prayer time.

It is with this in mind that I decided to create a prayer journal for my own use. As I was creating it, I had the thought that perhaps some of you might appreciate it, as well, and so I made it available on Amazon.

This journal will not work miracles. If you don’t make time for prayer it will not be helpful. But it is my hope that, for anyone who truly desires to have a stronger prayer life, this little book might be helpful in making that happen.

The book itself is broken into five different sections and is designed to be used for a year, although you could start at any point during the year to use it. You can click HERE for sample pages.

You can purchase the journal at THIS LINK. Thanks for your support. I surely do hope it is a blessing to some of you!

Years ago, we used to sing choruses at church on Sunday evenings using an overhead projector. The song leader would shuffle through the transparencies to find the song we would be singing and then lay it on the modern machine (at the time) that made it possible for us all to see the words on the screen in front of us.

One of the choruses we would often sing had this line in it—

God will make a way where there seems to be no way

That line has come to me often throughout my life. Can God make a way where there seems to be no way? Does He do this?

We believers know He most certainly does.

I was listening to a sermon the other day that my brother (Pastor Dean) had preached many years ago. In this sermon, he used an example I’ve been thinking about ever since. He said that as he was traveling one time, a mountain range suddenly rose ahead of him that looked quite impassable. From a distance, no road or way through or over it could be seen. But as he got closer, he saw the narrow road that led right through it. He reminded us that we can’t always see the way ahead of us but we know God will make one.

And then last night, of all things, I read a similar thing in a missionary biography I am currently reading.

The *story tells of three women who undertook the difficult task to get the Gospel out to northwest China and beyond. Their home base was the most inhabited town furthest west in China. But for eight months of the year they would travel, using the centuries old trade routes, to the villages and Gobi desert oases, in which resided hundreds of thousands who had never heard the Gospel.

As they traveled, they once came upon a mountain range that looked entirely impassable. But I’d rather share the author’s words (who is actually one of the women traveling)—

Suddenly, the road had turned up and led up to a towering range through which no outlet could be seen. They had trodden the rough stones of the foot-hills and nearly lost their way among the defiles [meaning: narrow passes or gorges], before the narrow opening of the mountain pass had come into sight. Now they suddenly emerged and saw all that lay behind in true perspective. The clearly marked road, which close at hand had been so hard to trace, was now quite unmistakable. Ahead, too, there was a way, though they could not quite see where it led. That matter nothing; the fiery, cloudy pillar had guided thus far and it was easy to rest in confidence for the future. *

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As I have been reflecting on these very similar accounts of facing what looks to be an impassable mountain, I’ve been thinking about three things especially.

First, from a distance, we so often can’t see the “way”. To our dim eyes, we cannot see how we could possibly get through the trial that looms in front of us. Or that issue that has no solution. And yet, we just take the next step. We do the next right thing. And, eventually, God reveals the path we couldn’t see from a distance.

Sometimes, we get to the other side and we look back, not even knowing each single step was slowly leading us through. We thought we were still on the other side and here we had traversed through the mountain to the other side.

Other times, every step we take is hard and laborious. It feels like it will never end. But we cannot look forward to what life will be like a hundred steps down the road but, rather, need to keep taking the single step that is right in front of us.

Life becomes overwhelming when we look too far down the road. As the author wrote: God had guided thus far and that gives us confidence for the future.

I can think of things like that in my life. I really wondered how I would get through. And yet I did get through. Thanks to the Lord, I did walk through some very deep valleys and difficult trials, one step at a time.

You have had your own deep valleys and difficult trials. I’d rather guess many of you have had harder days than I can even imagine. But, even then, God is faithful to comfort and guide. It is the testimony I hear over and over again from those who, in faith and in submission to His will, have turned to God in their troubles.

Second, we can tend to make the mountains ranges about US. If we aren’t careful, we become self-centered as we traverse through our trials and troubles, And while there will always be something for us to learn in any trial, we must remember that God’s purposes are so intertwined and interwoven that He will have purposes and plans for our trial that far exceed it’s impact on just our life.

It is hard to imagine how many souls will be in heaven because of the testimony of a dying Christian. Or how much spiritual growth has taken place because of a believer watching another believer humbly and faithfully walk with God through an unimaginable trial.

It is only when we can think outside ourselves, that we can move beyond the doubt and the discouragement that threatens to overwhelm us.

And, third, and finally, is the goodness of God. Can God possibly be good—even in our grief and pain? Our natural, fleshly response is to base our belief of His goodness on our experience. If things are going well, we will proclaim His goodness. But it is in loss, disappointment, betrayal, grief, and pain where this is so much harder.

And yet…

If we respond in trust and faith, it is in these difficult circumstances that we comprehend a goodness of God that goes beyond our circumstances. We begin to understand His promises in a way not possible before the trial. We experience the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ in a way that wasn’t possible or necessary before the trial.

**But if not, He is still good
But if not, He is still kind
Though I may not understand Your purpose or Your plan
I will trust You, my Savior and my Friend

These lyrics, written by a heartbroken woman who longs to be a mama, are profound in their declaration.

Some treks through the mountain range last a long time and do not end in the way we hoped. Some trials seem to go on forever and when we get to the other side, another one looms right in front of us.

And yet, through it all, God is good.

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Life can be so hard. But God is good. For God’s dear redeemed child, His grace and mercy abound.

This life is not all there is. We have a hope that supersedes our earthly fears and worries. We have strength for today that comes from the One, True God. And we have the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us.

These aren’t pie-in-the-sky beliefs based on a helpless, manmade god. These are beliefs based on the only TRUE GOD who has given us the TRUTH, found in His inerrant, inspired Word.

*Something Happened by Mildred Cable and Francesca French. (Please note that this book has been out of print for years and the only place I could find to read it was on Internet Archive. Not the most convenient way to read a book, but I can attest to the fact that it is possible!)

**This beautiful song can be found here.

As I was reading Ezra 9 this morning, I was struck by the similarity of our Christian culture to the culture Ezra found himself in. Oh, perhaps the fruit of the compromise looks different all these years later, but compromise is compromise.

If we back up to the beginning of the Old Testament, we will remember that God wanted Israel to say separate from the idolatrous nations that surrounded them. They were not to have anything to do with them. Israel was to stand as a separated nation that looked different and stood out in their worship of the One, True God alone.

If we move to the New Testament, we will see that this is also the same desire God has for the Church. Many verses encourage us to purity, holiness, and separation from the world. God still wants this same thing for His people today.

But you will rarely hear this message.

And, in fact, many of those who are platformed rarely use the Bible. If they do, they often pull verses out of context. Generally, I have seen the Bible become something “unknowable”. So many have believed the lie that you cannot stand on scripture, because there is no one interpretation of any passage, often with the only exception being “the Gospel”.  

One has to wonder how the Gospel can have one single interpretation. Who gets to pick and choose what is true and what is up for any old interpration?

If we look back over recent history, we will see that this was the earnest goal of those who would take the church towards mysticism and a one world religion. And so step by step they have undermined the Bible and the historical belief that there is one interpretation and that we can know what that is.

You simply cannot have a people who believe the Bible is the authority for all of life and godliness if you want to succeed in moving a large group of people towards a one world religion. Not when it clearly opposes so much that would be in that movement.  

The plan to undermine scripture has succeeded gloriously. They have deceived so many Christians into believing that we can’t know the Bible with certainty and no one can speak with authority on what scripture says.

I find it fascinating that two thousand years of the true church believing some very basic doctrines found in scripture literally means nothing. Every scripture is up for grabs to many who would proclaim Christ…except the Gospel.

And if someone proclaims the Gospel, then they are given a pass. No matter what else they say, do or believe, as long as they have “preached the Gospel” all is okay. Apparently, it is ONLY the Gospel that matters now.

It is so important that we remember that ALL of scripture is God’s Word. We don’t get to pick and choose what is open to interpretation and what isn’t.

When I write a letter I have one meaning for each sentence. There are not multiple meanings. God’s Word is no different.

The problem probably comes down to this: we just do not always like the clear meaning of what is written.

I have been thinking a lot about 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 these past few weeks. It says in these verses that people will be deceived by the antichrist because they did not love the truth.

This would appear to be a key to discerning in these difficult days.

Loving the truth will help us avoid being deceived. We need to cast our own likes and desires aside as we search for the truth in the Bible.

Of course, we all struggle with this, don’t we? We all have our idols. We have the things that mean more to us than the truth. So what do we do?

I have no suggestion other than to pray to God to remove our blinders. That He will help us desire the truth of His Word more than anything else. And to spend time in God’s Word, believing in its literal, inerrant, inspired truth.

Once again, I just want to go on record saying my opinion means less than nothing. I am a sinner, just like you. I am prone to deception, just like you. Let’s keep our hearts and minds on the Word of God.

We need to be careful not to follow celebrities. So many are deceived and some are purposely deceiving. Scripture tells us that there will be many false teachers in the last days and that they will look like sheep! We are told to keep watch and be on guard, testing all things by God’s Word. This is not a popular message and yet, here again, we must obey scripture over what is popular.

Ezra called Israel to put away their compromise and turn back to God. I have just a teeny tiny platform in this world, but I would call us all (myself included) to the same thing. May we cast off our compromise with the world and turn our whole hearts back to God.

 

 

 

Before you roll your eyes at the title, let me explain…

Yes, we are living in unprecedented times politically, medically, financially, and in so many other ways. And, yes, these are crazy times. But that’s not what I am referring to here…

As believers in the era we find ourselves living, we have some other unprecedented challenges that no other believers have ever faced before us.

Let’s think about how life has changed over the past 100 years or so.

If we go back to 1925, we have a culture that is only starting to step outside an agricultural lifestyle. The Industrial Revolution was only 50 years or so ago. The civil war is still clearly in the memory of the older generation—some were probably children when it all happened. They were still handwashing their clothing, making their bread, butchering their pigs and cows for meat, and churning their own butter.

Cars were just beginning to be the norm and airplanes had just been invented. Trains had been around for a while and, if anyone was going to travel a long distance, this was generally how they would go.

The telephone was a fairly recent invention as was the radio, which was only beginning to enter the average person’s home at this time. The TV wouldn’t be a commonplace addition to the family living room for some years to come.

Children in rural areas helped their parents to survive by working long hours on the family farm or perhaps a neighbor’s farm. They didn’t get to keep their income to spend on their own desires and pleasure, but gave half or more of it towards the family budget.

If you wanted to buy something, you paged through a mail order catalog, such as Sears, and would place an order and then wait many days for it to come. If you needed to get a message to someone fast, you had to send a telegram.

Let’s keep in mind that this is how the whole world lived for thousands of years. If we go back even a bit further than the 1850s, we find no phones, no radios, no cars, no trains, no tv, no movies, no refrigerator, no supermarkets, no clothing stores, no washing machines, no music at the touch of a button, no microwaves, no Amazon, no…well, you get the idea.

It is safe to say that life was different. Different is really an inadequate word to express just how different it was.

As life began to change, believers began to change…perhaps without realizing it.

Worldliness and sin went unrecognized, as we were immersed—rather like a frog in water over a fire—in a culture that was changing drastically. We changed with it and many ended up straying away from the faith in the midst of it. This continues as the culture continues to shift.

“They went out from us because they weren’t of us” (I John 2:19) Professing Christians leave biblical faith, many even leaving basic morality. It’s happening at an astounding rate now. It is the fruit of generations before paying no attention to what was going on in the culture and how it was affecting their walk with Christ.

So what are some of these sins and challenges that we face that never really had to be faced before by believers of past times?

I think we need to recognize the challenges we face and the sin that can so easily ensnare because of these unprecedented times we live in.

Here are just a few (this list is not exhaustive, by any means)—

1) Worldliness— worldliness not only crouches at our door but it has entered our homes through our phones, our iPads, and our tvs. It is there to tempt and beguile us at every moment of every day (if we allow it) concerning how we look, what we wear, what we value, who we admire, how we think. Satan wants to steal our hearts and affections. He wants to move it from God to the things of this world. Don’t forget he is a lion, seeking to devour. I believe entertainment and social media have been some of his greatest tools. (I Peter 5:8; James 4:4)

2) Wasting time—We have more free time to decide how we will spend it than any other time in history. As our world was filled with modern day conveniences, suddenly time became available that was never available before when surviving was simply the goal. How do we spend it? Playing games (video and iPad), scrolling social media, watching YouTube, online shopping—they can potentially gobble up hours and hours of our precious time. How we spend our time is a question we really need to ponder as a believer (Psalm 90:12; Ephesians 5:15-16).

3) Envy and Ingratitude—Never before have we been more tempted to envy and covet our neighbor. Never before has there been such wealth and yet such discontentment. As we watch reels and videos and posts on social media and the internet by people we know or by people we have never met (nor will ever meet), we are drawn into wishing our lives would be more like theirs. We envy their looks, their big houses, their cars, their money, their health, their families, their lifestyles, their travel… everyone seems to have a better life than what we are living.

Oh, how important it is to remember that reels, videos, and posts are so very one-dimensional. They allow the person to show only what they want shown. But even if that wouldn’t be true, how important it is to choose a thankful heart for our blessings rather than discontentment at what we don’t have (Proverbs 14:30; Colossians 3:15).

4) Wrong Priorities—We will absorb this culture’s priorities if we aren’t careful. Priorities that could never exist before because, let’s face it, there was NO time. Few people in bygone eras had time to worry about their dreams and being fulfilled. They were too busy making sure their families had food and shelter. But as the times changed and necessities became a given for most rather than a challenge to be faced, the culture’s priorities shifted. In the midst of that, believers faced a crossroad. Would they follow after the world’s priorities or follow the path of godly living with God-centered priorities? We were not helped by many who called themselves Christians and promoted a self-centered, self-absorbed lifestyle (many still do this) (Mark 12:30-31; I Corinthians 10:31 & 13).

5) Filling Our Minds with Unrighteousness—It’s hard to comprehend how accessible entertainment is now. When I was a kid I had to walk into my family room to watch a show or movie. I could only watch what was on the handful of channels at that moment. There was no recording, no streaming, no access to anything at any time. For music, I had to actually go to the record player in my living room and put on a record. It was a happy day when I had a cassette player in my room. But even then, you had to listen to the whole tape. No playlists with favorite songs. Although, I did figure out a way to record cassette tapes from the radio that would have my favorite songs all on one playlist!

Now we have access to anything at any time. I can take the iPhone sitting beside me right now and pull up any tv show, any song, any movie, anything (!) that I wanted right here, right now. I can’t help but think how dangerous this is. Let’s face it, most entertainment of all kinds is not godly. It is pulling us away from God instead of towards Him. It is denigrating the Bible and its principles, rather than commending them. And yet, think how many hours most people spend being entertained? We are filling our mind with anti-God propaganda, we are allowing our children’s minds to be filled with anti-God propaganda, and then we expect to just live a good Christian life or expect our children to follow God.

How silly.

We can’t constantly fill our minds with all that God hates without any consequences (Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8; I John 2:15-16).

6) Fear and Anxiety—In this age of information, stories assail our ears that would have gone unheard of in times past. We hear of every war. Every weather event. None go unannounced. We hear of the little boy bitten by a snake in the back country; of the shooting in a McDonald’s on the other side of the country; of the bizarre accident that happened in a neighboring state, and, of course, we hear of the many and constant threats to our health.

The news outlets and social media channels glory in making sure we know the latest wars, the next pandemic, and the most bizarre stories. The stories regarding our health are often giving opposite information so that our heads end up spinning wildly as we contemplate them. In the midst of all of this, there is a great temptation to give in to fear and anxiety. Instead of trusting the Lord, we worry about what is going to happen to us and to our loved ones. WHAT IFS can plague us if we aren’t careful to keep our eyes on the Lord (Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6-7).

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It’s hard to really grasp the changes in this world over the past 100 years. Those changes have yielded great challenges for us, as believers. BUT GOD…

God’s Word is applicable for every age and every season. One of the most glorious things about scripture is that its principles and guidance carry God’s redeemed children through every era. Even this one. We know that all we need to live is to be found within its pages.

Paul says in 2 Timothy—

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

We can be complete and thoroughly equipped if we trust and obey God’s Word.

Peter reminds us in his second letter that we have been given ALL things which pertain to life and godliness—

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:2-4)

The key to godly living is always at the same place: In the inspired, inerrant Word of God. It’s just as applicable in this crazy time as it has ever been.

May we be cognizant of the special challenges and the sins that tempt us as we live in a time never before seen in history.

Where this will all lead, we can’t really know. It seems like we must be in the last days, when we compare what we are experiencing to how scripture describes them. However, the last days could last a long time. Remember how long it took Noah to build that ark?

May we remain faithful and strive to be holy as we wait and watch for our Lord’s return.