Speaking Truth; February 2, 2023

Posted on February 3, 2023 by jgarrott

Gal 4:16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

This jumped out at me because it is such a common problem these days. People lose their jobs from stating simple truths of biology! Jesus said of the devil that “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8:44-45) It might be some comfort to realize that Jesus too had the problem of not being believed because He was telling the truth! However, that’s no reason to bow to the lies. We are always to speak in love, (Ephesians 4:15) but that doesn’t mean we are to speak the devil’s lies after him the way some are demanding we do these days. For example, it is not love to tell an addict they don’t have a problem, or that their problem is the fault of someone else. Some branches of Psychology seem to have turned into full-time lie-generating machines! The answers to problems are never found in lies. Thankfully there seems to be a groundswell of reaction against all the lies, particularly as more and more lies are being exposed, but we must be careful to always speak the truth in love, and not vindictively. That said, we must also remember another thing Jesus said: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:19-21) “Light” here is synonymous with truth, and some people are never going to like it. Regardless, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light [truth]; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7) Truth is not an option for Christians.

This naturally applies as much to me as it does to anyone else. I was thankfully raised by a father who held Absolute Honesty as one of his guiding principles, and I think it stuck. That’s certainly not to say that I’ve never lied, not to mention all the times I’ve been mistaken, but it does mean that I’ve never been comfortable with less than the truth. That raises the danger of spiritual pride, and that’s a tool of the devil too! I’ve got to remember that I don’t have a monopoly on the truth, and also that something doesn’t become true just because I say it. I’ve got to keep seeking more of God, which means seeking more truth, but I have the comfort of His promise: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Father, thank You for this reminder and encouragement. Help me indeed walk in Your truth all the time in every way, expressing it in Your love for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Generosity; February 1, 2023

Posted on February 2, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 8:2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

I have heard reports of this sort of thing countless times. Even my own daughters experienced it on short-term mission trips to Southeast Asia in high school, when the people to whom they were ministering were shockingly generous in their hospitality. The thing is, generosity is a matter of the heart, not the resources. Paul makes that clear in verse 12: “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” One of the many ironies of politics is that the people who are most in favor of the government taxing “the rich” in order to “take care of the poor” are least generous with their personal resources. Study after statistical study has shown that conservatives are the most generous personally, in direct contrast to what they are accused of by the Left. Even within churches, sometimes the “great benefactors” give less proportionately than some who are barely getting by, as Jesus pointed out to His disciples while watching people at the temple offering box. (Luke 21:1-4) God is never in trouble for resources, financial or otherwise. His children sometimes are, so He delights to pour blessings through one to another, and everyone in the process is blessed.

We have been on the receiving end of this recently. Since Sunday, each day people have showed up at our door with food, in one form or another. Today we are being taken out to lunch, and who knows what will happen in the days to come? It almost feels like they want us to get fat! However, seeing the joy on their faces is a real blessing to us, and we don’t want to squelch that joy. God is indeed our Provider and participating in His provision is a blessing, whatever our specific role might be.

Father, thank You for Your overwhelming generosity that Paul referred to in verse nine. Thank You for indeed meeting all our needs as we seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) Help us all delight to be part of the flow of Your provision, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Christian Living; January 31, 2023

Posted on February 2, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

This isn’t a condemnation, but rather a strong encouragement. At the same time, it should bring conviction to a lot of Christians today, because there is so much in current society to contaminate our body and spirit. We aren’t to be legalistic, but we are to be careful. In a sense, this is another way of saying what James said so famously: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Right after that James went on to say, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10) Pride is always a major snare for us. When we think we can live holy lives on our own, we quickly lose sight of what holiness is. It is only in Christ that we are truly holy, but thankfully, He wants us to abide in Him even more than we want to do so. If people in the world see no difference in our lives and theirs, they will have no impetus to change. And frankly, various studies have shown that there really is very little difference in the lifestyles of professed Christians in the US and professed non-Christians. That’s tragic. We need to take this admonition of Paul to heart, and indeed live as children of God.

I am preaching to myself here. People think I live this perfectly holy lifestyle, but I had a bit of a check on that recently. While I was in the hospital I was using my wife’s tablet computer, and I noticed that YouTube was giving me different suggestions than I was used to. Then it dawned on me that the algorithm weights to what you click on, and I realized “that looks interesting” isn’t sufficient justification by itself to click on something. That’s why it’s called “click bait!” The devil is the expert at bait, and I need to be both alert and submitted to the Holy Spirit, or I’m all too likely to take the bait.

Father, thank You for this important reminder. Help me live fully in all that You have provided for me, holiness and everything else, so that I may be pleasing to You and attractive to those who need to draw close to You. Thank You. Praise God! Thank You also that I was able to get out of the hospital yesterday, earlier than expected. May I not need such drastic “interventions” in the future!

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Living Testimony; January 30, 2023

Posted on February 1, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 6:3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

In one sense Christians are not to care what people think of them, because we live for the approval of God, not of man. However, we are to be careful to live so as not to discredit the message we proclaim. Paul touches on this in several of his letters, dealing particularly with eating meat that might have been bought at a market outside a pagan temple. In this chapter he gets into things that are much closer to home for most people today. Are we willing to endure beatings and the like for the sake of the Gospel? Such are common in places like India and Nigeria, progressing all the way to martyrdom. The thing is, we need to be demonstrating the truth of what we say, that Jesus is supreme and His love is better than life itself. (Psalm 63:3) When our heads are on straight – when our faith is on straight – then our lives will shine brightly (Matthew 5:16) and people will want to know why. (1 Peter 3:15) Failure to do so will make people think that all religions are equally meaningless.

My wife and I haven’t encountered persecution exactly, but we have had our share of difficulties of one sort and another. How we respond to those is being watched carefully. Cathy has been an inspiration to many because of her response to back surgeries and Parkinson’s Disease, and several people have commented on how I have been a support to her. Right now, I’m in the hospital with a fractured wrist, and she doesn’t have that level of support. This is very much a time for us both to recognize that God’s grace is all we really need, and allow Him to guide us in appropriating that grace. Yesterday I watched a video of Mark Lowry, and was really blessed. He quoted Gloria Gaither, who once said, “God shows up in the interruptions of life, and not so often in our plans.” That is true indeed! My current hospitalization was certainly unexpected, but it came at a point when my schedule is unusually open, demonstrating God’s grace. We’ve got to open our hearts to receive all that God wants to teach us, to give us in this time, not just for ourselves but also for all the people who are watching us.

Father, thank You for this reminder. It’s something I’ve known in theory for a long time, but I keep needing help in practical application. I ask You to enable both Cathy and me to keep our eyes on Jesus, and rest, relax, and rejoice in You, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Forgiveness; January 29, 2023

Posted on February 1, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 2:10-11 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven–if there was anything to forgive–I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

We tend to take the whole matter of forgiveness far too lightly. Jesus said that if we fail to forgive others, we won’t be forgiven by God, (Matthew 6:14-15) and after His resurrection He gave us authority to forgive on a heavenly scale. (John 20:21) That deserves a lot more thought than we give it! As Paul recognized, the devil knows all about that, and he works overtime to trip us up, to get us to nurse unforgiveness or to overlook things that need to be corrected. We need to be alert as Paul was. I couldn’t begin to count up all the train wrecks I’ve seen in this area. As I’ve written before, Japanese have a linguistic problem in this, because they have two characters that are read the same way, but the one that is used commonly actually means permission. The average person on the street doesn’t even know the character that means Biblical forgiveness. I find that very significant, because the two halves of that character indicate “blood document.” You can’t get more Biblical than that! And that is compounded by the word/character for sin being most commonly used for crime, so people who haven’t broken human laws don’t understand how they have broken God’s laws.

And that is the culture in which I live and minister. My own spiritual warfare is very involved with forgiveness! One incident a couple of years ago caused a Japanese pastor to say that I had more faith than he did, because of a situation in which I forgave. However, I’m never to take my ability to forgive as a done deal. I am to seek the Spirit’s guidance in every situation, not permitting evil but not failing to forgive. I don’t want to be deceived by the devil, and I don’t want those to whom I minister to be deceived either.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You also for enabling me to type it one-handed! Help me release everything into Your more than capable hands, particularly while one of mine isn’t really available. Thank You. Praise God!

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Equality in Christ; January 28, 2023

Posted on January 31, 2023 by jgarrott

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

The thing that strikes me most about this is how Paul is placing himself in exactly the same place as those to whom he is writing. Actually, he does that in several of his letters. He was aware that he was an apostle sent by God, but that was just a job description. The thing is, we often evaluate people on the basis of their jobs, or even of their job titles. That’s why some people put Bishop or Prophet or Apostle on their business cards, without any part of the Body of Christ having recognized them as operating in those ministries. It is generally wise to steer clear of such people. Jesus said clearly that we will recognize people by the fruit they bear. The second thing that stands out to me in this passage is that it is the Holy Spirit who marks us as God’s property, a foretaste of all the glory that awaits us in heaven. In some denominations the Holy Spirit is presented almost as an option, whereas in others, spiritual gifts are seen as merit badges. Both are sadly mistaken, and they have fostered some bitter disputes between brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Spirit is an essential part of salvation, but His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) is a far better indicator of His presence than any “spiritual gift.” Those two things together form a clear guide as to how we should live as believers.

Naturally this applies as much to me as it does to anyone else. People consider me a missionary, and I do call myself one at times, but missionaries today generally have a sending body: a denomination, a para-church organization, or even a local congregation. We don’t have any of those things, so I often say I’m just a Caucasian pastor in Japan. I am aware that God has given me responsibility and spiritual authority in various areas, but those aren’t things to trumpet, but rather to discharge with the faithfulness that can only come from Him. I am just as much in need of the grace and mercy of God as anyone else, if not more so. (James 3:1) My current hospital stay is one more reminder of that.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for enabling me to type despite the condition of my left hand. Thank you for the care I have received and that the pain is gradually diminishing. I pray that Your healing would proceed on Your schedule and that everyone affected by my injury would learn and gain from it exactly what You intend, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Parts of the Body; January 26, 2023

Posted on January 31, 2023 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

I think the biggest issue for most American Christians, at any rate, is recognizing that they are part of other believers, and vice versa. Some other cultures are far more group oriented, so this chapter seems to almost go without saying, but America has always been very individualistic. That’s good for liberty, which is one of the bedrocks of the nation, and indeed, we are individually accountable to God, but it’s not without its risks. Far too many sincere believers are focused on I-my-me-mine, and can hardly see anyone or anything outside of their immediate circle. Paul is trying to combat that sort of myopia, using graphic, personal language. If we will lift our eyes off of ourselves to fix them on Christ, we will discover that we can see the people around us as well, perhaps better than we ever have before, because we will start to see them with the eyes of Christ.

I laughed when I saw today’s reading, because I’m in the middle of rather intense training in this area. Yesterday on my way home from taking pictures in the snow I slipped as I was crossing the icy street not 50 meters from our front door, reached back to catch myself, and snapped my left wrist. Since my wife cannot currently drive, I drove myself to the doctor and back, to their amazement, and now have an appointment in a couple of hours at the National Medical Center close to here to be evaluated for probable surgery. My wrist is a small part of my body, and it’s not on my dominant hand, but it’s certainly demanding my full attention! I need to receive this as a lesson in how important all parts of the Body of Christ are, and treat them accordingly. In all of this I am thankful that the first words out of my mouth after I fell were “Thank You, Lord.” I’m a little surprised I’m that spiritually healthy!

Father, I do thank You for this experience, painful though it is. It gives me more empathy with Cathy’s pains! I do pray that the right decisions will be made this morning, and that there will be full cooperation with Your healing for me. I pray also that this will strengthen this church, as others will have to step in to do various things I am currently unable to do. I’ve not been very good at releasing things to others, and now You’re forcing me to. Thank You. Praise God!

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Time; January 25, 2023

Posted on January 26, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

As even physicists are starting to realize, time is relative, even subjective. The word “soon” here perhaps seemed like a joke or even a lie even to the people who read this letter first, and it certainly has to many people in the centuries since then. However, two things counter that response. The first is of course the fact that Peter famously pointed out about God’s perception of time: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9) Because God is outside of time, everything is NOW to Him. The second thing that strikes me here is that God will use our feet to crush Satan (as the Japanese makes clear). That doesn’t necessarily mean his ultimate defeat, as expressed in Revelation, but it does mean victory over him on a personal level. James famously expressed it as, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) It’s no use trying to resist the devil if we aren’t submitted to God, but it’s also foolish to expect victory if we aren’t willing to apply ourselves to resist him. Of course we can’t do that in our own strength, but as God later told Paul, His grace is sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:9) That’s why the blessing of grace in the 2nd half of this verse is very appropriate in this context. We don’t know the form our victory will take, whether in this life or the next, but our victory is nonetheless sure.

Of course this applies as much to me as it does to anyone else. At 74, I have experienced things that seemed to happen almost instantly and things that seemed to take forever. I’ve had to learn that it’s all the same to God! Submitting my perception of time to God has been a difficult lesson, frankly, and the lessons continue. Right now my wife is recovering from major back surgery in October, complicated by Parkinson’s Disease. She herself can’t remember how very bad off she was before the surgery, so patience with her recovery is difficult for her. Likewise, I would like freedom of movement and freedom from pain for her, but at least I can see how much better off she is now than she was four months ago. The flip side of that is that she is the one experiencing the pain! On a broader scale, we have now been in Omura over 41 years, and we haven’t seen the major harvest we have desired. However, we have seen individual lives transformed, and we have sent disciples of Christ across the world. We don’t see the whole picture! We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and keep stepping on the devil, so that those oppressed by him may be set free, for their salvation and God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I shouldn’t need it quite so often! Help me indeed trust You fully and obey You faithfully, so that Your will may be done in and through me on Your schedule, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Prayer; January 24, 2023

Posted on January 25, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 15:30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

This verse has been used by countless missionaries seeking to raise support in their sending countries, and rightly so. One of the mysteries of prayer is how we really can support one another through prayer. How or even why it works is something only God knows, but the fact that it does had been demonstrated down through the centuries. It may be something like “quantum entanglement,” where doing something to a particle in one place affects another particle in another place with no physical connection between them at all. Research is being done in such areas as instant communication that isn’t limited by such niceties as the speed of light. Be that as it may, the fact remains that prayer makes a difference. The power is God’s, but we are somehow involved. That’s part of the mystery! There is no demonstrable ratio of effort to effect, but where the NIV says “join me in my struggle,” the Japanese expresses it as “apply your full strength.” That said, it’s certainly not physical strength. There have been countless examples of people who were physically very weak but spiritually very powerful. “Applying your full strength” doesn’t mean lifting barbells! As in so many areas of life, success comes from taking our eyes off of ourselves and fixing them on the One who is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving. The better we do that, the more Jesus’ words will be fulfilled through us: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:7) That is true power in prayer.

I have experienced this very clearly from the receiving end. When we came to Omura in 1981 we had no sending church or agency, but there was a church that prayed for us regularly. However, the pastor got mired in the devil’s lies and eventually the church dissolved. As the problems were escalating we were aware that something was wrong even without being told. We learned some of the details only much later, but we could tell there was “a disturbance in the force,” as Star Wars put it. After the church dissolved we were still here, but it was like I had forgotten why we were here, and the church became almost a hobby, peripheral to my life. God was still supporting and providing for us, but it seemed almost meaningless. God used one of His servants to rebuke me rather strongly, just at the time we were heading for the US in support of our younger daughter entering college. In the US we were led to attend a church that had a number of “home groups” that met regularly, and one of those took us in with great warmth, and we were nurtured spiritually. After four months we returned to Omura, but that group kept praying for us faithfully, and we prospered spiritually. That group has since “aged out,” with most of the members now in heaven, but in the interval the Internet sprang up, and now we have people across the world who pray for us. We couldn’t be more grateful! Having been on the receiving end I try to pray for others, but feel I could do much more.

Father, thank You for the mystery of prayer. Thank You that it works, and also that we don’t know how it works, because if we did, we’d try to manipulate You. (I think we often try to, anyway). Help me be more faithful in prayer, allowing Your gracious blessings to flow through me just as I have received so many, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Bible; January 23, 2023

Posted on January 24, 2023 by jgarrott

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Some Christians, sadly enough, ignore the Old Testament, when there are incalculable riches in it. On the other hand, most Jews ignore the New Testament, when it is the culmination of the prophecies of the Old and expresses clearly God’s plan of salvation. From our standpoint, Paul wrote longer ago than the Old Testament prophets wrote from the standpoint of people in Paul’s day, so “what was written in the past” applies to all of the Bible. Genuinely inspired things have been written in the centuries since then, and continue to be written today, but it is of immense value to us to have the whole canon of Scripture, agreed on by many and chosen through rigorous tests. We tend to respond individually to different parts of the Bible, with some being more touched by one book than another. Martin Luther called James “a book of straw,” and my mother would have happily left out Leviticus, but God can and does use every bit of it for the purposes Paul mentions here. Some people love the stories in the Bible and some are bored by all the history, but as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” (1 Corinthians 10:11) Instructing his spiritual son Timothy, he wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) And that was written when Paul was facing his imminent martyrdom, and would no longer be able to teach Timothy directly. God knew what He was doing when He caused the Bible to be written and the canon settled, and we do well to take full advantage of it.

As I have written before, I first read all the way through the Bible by the time I was 10, and at least for the past 50 years I have been reading it every day. I still get new insights out of it, or at least things I don’t remember the Lord saying to me in the past. God speaks to His children in many ways, and a couple of times I have heard Him in what seemed to be an audible voice, though I don’t think others could have heard it. However, I hear Him most consistently when I read the Bible every morning. I certainly need endurance (the Japanese says “patience”) and encouragement, and God is faithful to supply them through the Bible. Sometimes He tells me things that aren’t explicitly written in that form, but I never have trouble confirming those things through what is written. A good example is His instructions to me to “Rest. Relax. Rejoice.” I had no trouble at all finding Scriptures to back that up when I preached it as a message! I am to be listening constantly, but also be aware that the devil is a liar and he is always trying to trip me up, so when something comes into my mind I’ve got to confirm it with the Bible before I go living it out. It is no accident that John, the “beloved disciple,” (John 21:20) started out his Gospel by saying that Christ is the Word of God. There are reasons both in the Greek language and in the philosophy of the day for him to have done that, but the longer I live and the more I read the Bible, the truer I know that is.

Father, thank You that I grew up in a home that knew and revered the Bible. Thank You that I can never exhaust the Bible. Help me make it more and more an essential part of me so that I may do Your will and bear Your fruit, (John 15:7-8) for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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