Redemption; August 18, 2022

Posted on August 21, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 31:5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.

The first half of this is famous as one of the last things Jesus spoke from the cross, (Luke 23:46) but where the NIV renders the last half as a request, the Japanese gives it as a statement of past fact: “I yield my spirit into Your hands; You have redeemed me.” I kind of like that. It is when we have assurance of Jesus’ redemption that we are able to yield ourselves to Him. I think a lot of people have trouble trusting God for the future because they don’t grasp how much He has already done for them. It’s like Paul said: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) Until we realize how utterly without hope we were without Christ, and then realize that God has given His Son to rescue us from that situation, we will have trouble trusting Him with all the difficulties we encounter in this life. God is incredibly patient with us, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. After all, Jesus chided even His 12 apostles for their lack of faith! (Matthew 8:26 and several more) One of our most important tasks on this earth is learning how much God loves us and how much He has done for us, because when we grasp that, we will be totally fearless.

I have had a fairly high level of assurance of God’s love from my childhood, but I have had some trouble with grasping just how essential that was for me. I am all too prone to take God’s love for granted, not understanding on the deepest level that it is grace indeed, and not anything I deserve. That said, I have very little fear of the future. The devil goes overtime trying to make us afraid, and it doesn’t matter much of what. In the recent pandemic, the fear of it has been much worse than the virus itself. Young people who had virtually zero risk of death from the virus committed suicide because of the social isolation and the pervasive fear-mongering. I am to be strong and at peace in my knowledge of God and seek to share that knowledge with as many as will receive it. My knowledge and my faith certainly aren’t perfect, but they’re growing, and God is faithful. I am to share what I have been given, for the blessing of others and for God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the treasure trove of letters Cathy found yesterday that remind us of how Your plans for us were set long before we were born, and they are good. Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in that assurance, sharing it with all who will receive it, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Praising God; August 17, 2022

Posted on August 20, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 30:11-12 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

The musical setting of the KJV of these two verses was one of the first songs I learned when I was exposed to the Charismatic Movement in 1973, and I have loved it ever since. I literally cannot read the passage without it coming to my mind and heart. It is a powerful testimony of joy and gratitude, a fitting follow-up to verse five, which is actually more famous: “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) The phrase, “joy in the morning,” entered the language from that verse. However, it’s these two verses at the end of the Psalm that tell us how to respond to God’s gracious blessings to us: singing praise and giving thanks. All too often we forget to do that! I really like a refrigerator magnet we had for many years that said, “Happiness is seeing a beautiful sunset and knowing Who to thank.” The greatest source of true joy and happiness is indeed knowing and rightly relating to our Creator. When we fail to be grateful, we lose the majority of the blessings right there. God does good things for us precisely so we can recognize them and through them, recognize Him. He created us for fellowship with Him, and the very fact that He did so is astonishing, when you think about it. We need to get over our astonishment and indeed, praise and thank Him!

As I said, I learned these verses when I was introduced to the Charismatic Movement. One of the greatest benefits of that movement has been the restoration of active praise to the Church. Music has been a part of worship since at least the time of David, but it has gone through many cycles, expanding and deepening with each one. Gregorian chants can be beautiful indeed, but they require a lot of musical ability and training to do properly. Musical performance isn’t bad, but what God wants is for all His people to praise Him. I was raised in a highly musical household, but I am saddened when churches leave the singing mostly up to the “worship team.” I love to praise God in song, and I’ll do it even if I’m the only one, but I want everyone to join me! My aim needs always to praise God in such a way that others are carried along to praise Him too. I don’t want them praising me and not Him!

Father, thank You for the musical gifts You’ve given me, both “nature” and “nurture.” Help me use them not only to praise You myself but to lead others to recognize You and praise You from their own heart, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Turning to God; August 16, 2022

Posted on August 20, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.

In several of his Psalms David starts out pretty depressed, but like here, before the end of the Psalm he’s rejoicing. There is remarkable power in deliberately turning to God and releasing your troubles to Him. A frequent lie of the devil is that we are all alone, we have no one to rescue us, and turning to God is following James’ famous instructions: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) There’s no indication here that David has physically seen the destruction of his foes, but God has given him assurance in his heart that the situation is taken care of. One illustration applies to many areas of life. It we are facing a bright light, what we see is light. If we are facing away from it, we see our own shadow, and if we are close to the light, that shadow can seem all-encompassing. Simply turning to God may not change our immediate circumstances, but it certainly changes our perspective. We are reminded, as David is here, that the Lord is indeed our strength and our shield. That’s important in every situation!

The last time things looked really black for me was about 22 years ago, when our money for constructing this building had run out (for reasons I won’t go into here) and the banks wouldn’t touch us because we hadn’t gone through them to begin with. Frankly, I was even starting to feel suicidal. Then the CEO of the plumbing company that had worked on the building came and suggested that I go around to the different contractors involved and present them with a payment plan, since time payments would be greatly preferrable to default. I did that, and the rest is history. And he wasn’t even a Christian! Simply knowing that God had a plan, even if I couldn’t see it yet, made a huge difference. Since then I have had even more peace and assurance that whatever the immediate situation, God wasn’t in a panic and I had no need to be. As a pastor I deal with a lot of people who find themselves in difficult situations. I may not have any answers, but God does! As Andrae Crouch sang, Jesus is the Answer!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You indeed for being Lord of all, for having Your plans that cover everything. Help me be fully submitted to You so that I may recognize Your guidance and be Your agent for Your will to be done, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Seeking God; August 15, 2022

Posted on August 19, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalms 27:8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.

Once again I see the benefit of reading the Bible in more than one language. Instead of saying, “My heart says of you,” the Japanese here says, “My heart says for You,” or “in Your place.” Our hearts will indeed speak God’s words to us, if we are tender before Him and are listening. David experienced that at times, which is why the first part of this Psalm expresses such glorious assurance. David was a very fallible human being, as are we all, and he didn’t maintain this level of fellowship with God at all times. When he fell with Bathsheba it was certainly drastic, and was an object lesson that we are never to take our relationship with the Lord for granted, but always keep pressing in to Him, just as He was telling David to do here. The moment we think, “I’ve found God, so I don’t need to keep seeking Him,” we are in deep trouble. Since He is infinite, there is always more of Him to find! I am increasingly convinced that my father’s catch phrase, “Give all you know of yourself to all you know of Christ,” is just as important for the seasoned Christian as it is for someone opening their heart to Christ for the first time. We cannot know all of Christ, of God, until we are before the Throne, (1 Corinthians 13:12) and we should be learning more about ourselves each day. We need to keep our commitment up to date on both sides of that equation. That is what God desires of us.

I don’t know how many years ago now that it was, but I wrote “YES!” in my Bible at the time at this verse. God has been calling me closer to Him all my life, really, but my response has been anything but even. At the same time, I agree 100% with the Bill Gaither song, The Longer I Serve Him the Sweeter He Grows. I haven’t been particularly faithful, but He has! Turning 74 next month, I have no idea how much longer the Lord will use me on this earth, but I want every bit of it to be pleasing to Him. The Holy Spirit within me is indeed telling me to keep pressing in for more of my Savior – and that there’s always more to be had! Yesterday showed that God is indeed doing good things in this church, and I look forward to all that He is going to do. At the same time, I am increasingly aware that it’s not my church, it’s His, and what He does through whom is His business. I am to keep equipping the saints to do the work of ministry, (Ephesians 4:12) extending the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth, just as it says in our church vision, for His pleasure and glory.

Father, thank You for this powerful, encouraging reminder. Help me indeed keep growing, in every way You know I need to, so that I may be the servant that You desire, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Focus; August 14, 2022

Posted on August 19, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalms 21:13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength;
we will sing and praise your might.

As came out yesterday, this Psalm seems like one written by a court poet for the benefit of King David, rather than one written by him. Such things as wishing the king live forever (verse 4) were quite conventional in such situations. However, the ultimate focus is on Yahweh, because this is a prayer to Him to bless the king. It starts in verse one by saying that the king rejoices in Yahweh, and it closes with this verse that again turns the focus back to Him. Throughout the Bible we are admonished to keep our focus on God, to remember that He is our Creator, because we owe everything to Him and we exist for His pleasure. Lots of people rebel at that idea, but that’s because they don’t really know God. When we know His love, grace, and mercy, the only logical response is grateful obedience. He is not capricious, even though we often don’t know what He is doing, and He isn’t mean, even when we reap what our actions deserve. The very fact that He is the infinite Creator and we are His very finite creatures necessitates that, as He told Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) Trying to put ourselves in God’s place, as we are very prone to do, is the height of stupid pride, which the Greeks called hubris. When our focus is on God instead of on ourselves, we avoid countless pitfalls and walk in the abundant blessings He intends for us. However, we still have to deal with the effects of other people failing to be obedient to God. As Jesus told us very clearly, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33) However, when our focus is on God and His Son, we can indeed rejoice, as Jesus went on to say.

This is how I was raised, but it has taken many years of often failing to focus on God to get it into my head and heart even to the extent that it is, and I’ve still got plenty of room to grow. A few years ago God told me personally to rest, relax, and rejoice. I can do that only when my focus is on Him, because the situations around me, not to mention my own weaknesses, certainly don’t lend themselves to that. My ministry of calling people to salvation in Christ and teaching them to be His disciples could be expressed as getting people to focus on God. The world is chock full of distractions of all sorts. I need to both remember and teach that the only way to get through it all is indeed to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)


Father, thank You for this reminder. There’s a lot going on right now, but then there’s always a lot going on! Help me indeed fix my eyes on Jesus and do only what You desire of me, for the blessing of all around me and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Reliance; August 13, 2022

Posted on August 16, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

I have liked this verse ever since I learned the little chorus that was made from it, along with verses 6 and 8. The Japanese says “boast,” rather than “trust in,” but I think the meaning is clear. The whole point is the matter of who or what the nation is depending on. (Incidentally, this Psalm, along with some others that are attributed to “of David,” seems much more like it was written for or to David, rather than by him.) This is a matter of major importance for every nation in every age, as it is actually for every individual who has ever lived. The issue comes up fairly frequently throughout the Bible, but we are all too prone to boast of/trust in/depend on what we can see, and all too often that comes up short. Just this year Putin has trusted in his tanks and artillery, and has been shamed by the much less equipped Ukranians. Actually, any nation or any individual that trusts in anything less than the Creator is doomed to eventual disappointment at the very least. Militarily, right now the US is on very thin ice because, despite having the best military technology, the top brass is boasting about “woke” nonsense like Critical Race Theory and gender ideology. I just pray that the military won’t be put to the test before that is straightened out. On a more personal scale, we all tend to rely on physical, temporal things, like our job or our 401K or even our social network following. All of those are ephemeral at best. We can have everything the world teaches us to desire and still come up desperately short when push comes to shove. Knowing God and walking in obedient fellowship with Him is the only true security, and it is eternal!

I was raised to trust in God over material things, but I still have had a persistent tendency to trust in the abilities He has given me, rather than in God Himself. That can be subtle at times, but it is dangerous. Right now by God’s grace we are more comfortable financially than I can remember in our 53 years of marriage, but part of that comes from reduced material ambition: we don’t want so much. That is a blessing, but the core issue is still the matter of what we’re depending on. After all, even government pensions are uncertain, and the value of money itself is sliding. I’ve got to keep my eyes on my Lord, who has been more than generous and dependable. That includes making whatever use He indicates of whatever He places in my hands, be it finances or anything else.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for how things are going with the photo show. We haven’t had the numbers we might have liked, but You have given us some interesting interactions. I continue to pray that those who see the show would go away impressed far more with You and Your creation than with the abilities You’ve given me. Thank You. Praise God!

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Words; August 12, 2022

Posted on August 15, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

It is very difficult to choose just one part of this Psalm to write on, because it is so loaded with glorious truth. The first verse is justly famous, and it would be a fitting label for the images that are coming from the James Webb Space Telescope, or even for some of the sky and cloud pictures I take. Then there’s the section from verse seven and following that has been well set to music, to engrain the truth expressed into people’s hearts and minds. Then the last three verses of the Psalm deal with sin and our capacity for deceiving ourselves into ignoring it. That’s why I finally settled on this last verse, because it is an appropriate prayer not only when reading this Psalm but at all times in every situation. As Jesus pointed out, it’s not what we put into our bodies so much as it is what comes out of them that defiles us – and He wasn’t talking about digestive elimination. (Matthew 15:10-20) David is here talking about words and the thoughts that generate them. Just as God spoke the universe into existence, (Genesis 1) our words have tremendous potential, both for good and for evil. Jesus famously said, “I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37) That doesn’t mean never to speak; language is an essential part of our humanity. It does however mean that we are to submit our words to God even before they come out of our mouth, just as David prays here. Words are a powerful gift from God, and we are to be faithful stewards of them just as we are of all His other gifts.

This is particularly appropriate to me since I am a man of words. I sometimes say that I make my living with words, as a school teacher and as a pastor. I haven’t consciously prayed this verse daily up until now, but I’m feeling it would be a good idea to do so. I’ve just finished a book that popped some bubbles about some well-known saints of the past century whom I had admired – and still admire – greatly. None of us are perfect! When words are such a big part of my life, I have all the more reason to focus on keeping my words submitted to my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. I have quite a track record of hurting people with words carelessly spoken, and as Jesus said, I will have to answer for that. I am seen as an oddity because I preach in Japanese and English together, but that linguistic ability means nothing if the content isn’t from God. I am certainly careful what I say from the pulpit, but I must be more careful what I say in my daily interactions, because they form the vast majority of my influence on other people, and I want to represent Christ and nothing less. My wife Cathy takes the brunt of my careless words, and I need to do better about that. I have shown myself to be very capable of wounding others with my words, and I cannot depend on myself not to do it again. I need to keep growing as an accurate conduit for what God wants to say, so that His perfect will may be accomplished through me for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. It has certainly focused and put a point on what You were already indicating that I was to speak on this coming Sunday. I ask for clear guidance and anointing as I prepare the notes for that message, but more than that I ask for You to enable me to put this truth into consistent practice, not deceiving myself but applying Your truth for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Values and Priorities; August 11, 2022

Posted on August 15, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 16:2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”

This Psalm is special to me because verse six was a favorite of my father and his father before him, verse 10 was referenced by Peter at Pentecost, and verse 11 has been very pleasantly set to music in Japanese. However, in a sense all of those are dependent on the attitude expressed in this verse. This verse is in a very real sense the key to David’s life; he got into trouble only when he forgot it momentarily. Our lives are filled with all sorts of things both good and bad. David, and countless saints before and after him, recognized that, as James said, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) When we get into trouble is when we think we can have anything good apart from Him. Actually, as I mentioned a few days ago, apart from Him we would be nothing more than random atoms, if that! Life is ultimately a matter of priorities and choices; that’s what free will is all about. It is when we recognize that God is Lord, that He has absolute authority over us, and that every genuinely good and desirable thing is bound up in Him that we start fulfilling the purpose for which we were created and so experience the blessings that He has intended for us all along. The devil tries to keep us from that awareness any way he can, convincing some people that God “made us wrong,” or that we were “born into the wrong time,” or something of the sort. There are many things about our life and circumstances that we don’t understand, but everything becomes immeasurably better when we come to the awareness David expresses here.

I was thankfully raised with this as a given assumption about life, but I can’t say I haven’t deviated from it more times than I could count. I too have listened to the devil’s lies about some “good thing” that God was “keeping from me.” That has never ended well! At this point in my life I’m blessed to say that this principle is pretty well worked into me, but I’m still vulnerable to complaining at times, not to mention dragging my feet even when I know God wants me to do something. As James said, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22) I need to apply the truth I know with my whole heart, not entertaining the devil’s lies but walking in God’s truth alone, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Thank You also for the book I’ve been reading that has shown me the humanity and fallibility of some people I had idolized. Help me never condemn myself or anyone else for mistakes, but rather operate fully in Your grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Activities of Fools; August 10, 2022

Posted on August 14, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 14:4 Will evildoers never learn–
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the Lord?

I somewhat stole my own thunder yesterday by quoting the content of verse one, (even though I referenced Psalm 53:1) but that made me look deeper, to see this verse that I hadn’t previously underlined. I find this extremely descriptive of a lot of people who are in the news these days, as they ignore inflation and increase taxes to the detriment of the “little guy” they claim to support. “Devouring people like bread” is a horrible but remarkably apt image. They are acting in willful ignorance, knowing they are doing evil but doing it anyway because they think they will get some personal advantage from it. That certainly fits the adjective of “fool” used in verse one! By inference, the way of wisdom is obviously to do the opposite, to care genuinely for the oppressed and seek to lift them up, to call on the Lord out of an awareness of our dependence on Him. One thing this verse says to me is that human nature hasn’t changed since the Garden of Eden. There will always be short-sighted, self-centered fools like this, just as there will be those who humbly seek and find their Creator the way He desires and intends. The former will ultimately be dealt with in the Last Judgment, and the latter will be comforted and lifted up to glory, just as the Revelation to John expresses so dramatically. The question for us will always be which group to join. The choice might seem vague if we are focused on the material world, but when our spiritual eyes are opened it is very clear-cut.

I have learned over the years that this is a choice that must be made frequently, sometimes several times a day, because the devil is always out to pull us down with him. It is very easy to feel self-righteous when looking at others, all the while ignoring my own sins. I need to live in humble openness to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to show me where I need to repent, what I need to do to be more available to God. Pride is always a trap – even being proud of my own humility! I have proved to be quite adept at deceiving myself, (James 1:22) so I need to depend on the only One who can keep me straight.

Father, thank You for this reminder. The Internet is certainly full of information about the activities of the kind of people described in this verse. Help me respond as You intend, in prayer and not pride, so that Your will and Yours alone may be accomplished in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Depending on God; August 9, 2022

Posted on August 14, 2022 by jgarrott

Psalm 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

The Japanese here gives a slightly different nuance that is worth noting. Where the NIV says “trust in You,” the Japanese says “depend on You,” with the specific implication that God is the “first resort,” rather than the last thing you turn to. We fall down at that all too often! We tend to depend on a lot of things, when the good ones were all provided by God in the first place! Just like animistic religion (of which Shinto is one example) worships things in nature, we tend to depend on things God has provided instead of on God Himself. And often enough, we go one step further and depend on things God has enabled us to make out of the things He has provided. Finances are the prime example here, and the current economic situation should teach us how foolish that is! Of course depending on God requires faith and awareness that He is, and that we are His creation. Sadly, many people try to deny that, and so deprive themselves of countless blessings in this life, and of course the hope of eternal life to follow. In Psalm 14 (actually, tomorrow’s reading) and echoed in Psalm 53 it says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 53:1) Declared atheism is often an attempt not to depend on God, because such dependence includes a moral obligation to obedience, and we want to do what we want to do. That ignores the logical reality that we are only aware of a small subset of the facts about any situation, and often we’re mistaken about those! Intellectual honesty requires acknowledging our ignorance, and too many people don’t want to do that. Claiming to be wise, we display our foolishness! The genuinely wise person will indeed depend on God, making full use of what He has provided but knowing that He is the Source.

This is something I have struggled with over the years. I was raised to know of God, and indeed to know God, but at the same time I was entranced by this mind I had been given. I loved discovering things and knowing things, which wasn’t bad, but then I tended to feel I could decide what to do with it all, rather than inquiring of the One who created it. That was, in a word, hubris, and even the ancient Greeks knew that was a bad thing. One of the advantages of the physical deterioration that comes with age is the awareness that we are indeed dependent and not independent, whatever we like to think. I would certainly enjoy having the physical faculties I had 50 years ago, but from this perspective I realize I was actually just as dependent on the grace of God then as I am now. I often tell people that apart from the grace of God, none of us could take a single breath. (That’s a little easier to relate to than saying that without God’s grace and will we would all be just scattered atoms.) I am in no way to rebel against that dependence, but rather rejoice that God is so gracious and loving as not only to allow me to exist, but to call me into fellowship with Him by His Son and His Spirit. That’s a dependence that’s worth celebrating!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for enabling us to get the photo show set up yesterday, and that it indeed went very smoothly despite my back pain. It starts today, which is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. That makes it a little awkward that I, as an American, will be interviewed by cable TV this morning! I pray that my pictures, and my words about them, will indeed point people to You, who make everything possible. May many come and be touched, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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