God’s Supply; August 3, 2021

Posted on August 5, 2021 by jgarrott

Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds.
He gives showers of rain to men,
and plants of the field to everyone.

I think many modern readers completely miss the significance of this verse. We are so urbanized that we associate water only with a faucet or a swimming pool. We have lost sight of the reality that for us to have fresh water, it has to evaporate from the seas and the ground, condense into clouds, and then precipitate as rain or snow. On top of that, back when this was written, many cultures thought of Baal as “the storm god.” Zechariah is telling the people to stop praying to Baal if they need rain. That’s why the next verse refers to idols. He’s telling the people to ask for what they need, but to be sure they don’t ask the wrong god. Jesus put it in terms that apply to every age and culture: “Give us today the food we need for today.” (Matthew 6:11) Asking for needs to be met is one of the fundamental elements of prayer. (I would say that the others are praise, thanks, and intercession.) We needn’t feel guilty about asking! Whereas it is certainly true that God knows our needs before we ask Him, (Matthew 6:8) asking Him helps us understand that everything we have comes from Him. Because that factor is so important, often we don’t have because we don’t ask! (James 4:2) When things are abundant, we almost universally fall into taking them for granted, and that can be very dangerous. It is likewise dangerous to think that we somehow control the supply. We are expected to be industrious, but the supply is ultimately, and always, from God.

This of course applies to me just as it does to everyone. Growing up in a Southern Baptist missionary household, I wasn’t aware of a direct connection between my parents’ activities and our family income. Thankfully, we didn’t have to beg people for money, as many missionaries are required to do, but I did grow up with the rather amorphous feeling that God was our supply. Right now, collecting both minimum Social Security as well as the minimum Japanese public pension, I have the risk of feeling that the government is my supply! Actually, there are those in the US who are actively working to promote that thinking, but it is dangerous on many levels, as well as being idolatrous. We have a self-employed house painter in the church, and he is well aware that unless God supplies customers, he has no income. Frankly, that’s not an enviable position. I need to ask God for His supply not only for my own needs but also for the needs of those around me, and be willing to be a channel of that supply as I do so.

Father, thank You for Your gracious supply. Help me be the steward You want me to be of all that You supply, so that in everything Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Faith; August 2, 2021

Posted on August 4, 2021 by jgarrott

Habakkuk 3:18-19 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

I have long had a warm spot in my heart for Habakkuk, not only for this beautiful prayer but also for 2:1-3, which has been given to us and to this church on three separate occasions by three different people who didn’t know each other. And of course, 2:4 contains the famous line that sparked the Reformation: “The righteous shall live by faith.” All of that is to say that the “Minor Prophets” are called that strictly because of the length of their books, and not as a reference to their importance. These closing verses of Habakkuk’s brief book are a moving and powerful encouragement to any believer. We all tend to get caught up in our circumstances, rejoicing in physical peace and plenty and being distressed at turmoil and lack. Habakkuk was writing in a time of war and famine, which have killed hundreds of millions of people down through the centuries. Verse 16 indicates that he was very reasonably scared witless, and then we come to this powerful declaration of faith: “Yet.” He doesn’t deny his circumstances, but he declares that in spite of them he will rejoice in the Lord. I want to be that kind of “yeti!” (Not a brand name, but what is also called “the abominable snowman.) That is the opposite of what are called “snowflakes,” people who melt at the slightest hint of difficulty or opposition. Snowflakes have no idea what it is to rejoice in the Lord! This is the purest form of faith, agreeing with Paul: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is certainly applicable to me! I have certainly had some tight times, and some tumultuous ones as well. I have indeed learned that God is the very definition of faithfulness. However, my faith is still far from perfect. I need to learn better to rejoice before I see God’s deliverance! I need to remember the story of the Bible smuggler in the days of the Soviet Union who was very anxious going into customs inspection, knowing he could be arrested and jailed indefinitely for all the Bibles in his bag. However, the customs inspector seemed completely blind to the Bibles that were in plain sight, and the man rejoiced as he crossed to the exit area. However, the Lord said to him, “You’re rejoicing on the wrong side of the room.” He should have rejoiced in faith before he saw what God would do! That story has come back to me many times since I first read it. I know that I won’t enter into the full joy of my Lord (Matthew 25:21) until I do so in faith, regardless of what my senses and my intellect tell me. Thinking about it, I know that the day of my physical death will be the day of my greatest joy, because I will go to meet with my Lord! With that assurance, I need to rejoice at every lesser hurdle as well, in growing faith.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Help me indeed walk in anticipatory joy, knowing that Your plans are indeed for my good, (Jeremiah 29:11) whatever I am going through at any given moment. May I be so assured of You and Your goodness that I am totally obedient to You in every detail, for Your will to be done in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Anger; August 1, 2021

Posted on August 4, 2021 by jgarrott

Jonah 4:9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

Jonah is probably the most famous of the group called “the minor prophets” (because the books with their names are short). However, he is also probably the least admirable of all the genuine prophets! In the first place, he did his utmost to run away from God’s commission on his life, and in verse two of this chapter he gives a very ignoble reason for his actions, as though it were an excuse. God doesn’t let him get away unanswered, though. We don’t know how this particular interchange came to be recorded, but that seems like a small issue compared to the whole matter of Jonah being in the whale for three days! That said, the whole thing about Jonah was how very human he was. He wasn’t very dedicated and he certainly wasn’t compassionate. That makes it all the more significant that God used him in spite of all that, and even used him as a direct foreshadowing of Jesus’ time in death. (Matthew 16:4) We don’t have to worry whether our vaults and failures are too big for God to use us! Among Jonah’s many faults was his conviction that he had a “right” to be angry. Anger is a very natural emotion, and rightly used it can be a powerful motivator for good, but when we start thinking of it as a right, as Jonah did, we are valuing it for its own sake, and that is very destructive. Jonah himself said, “I am angry enough to die.” Anger does the most damage to the one who is angry! Right now there are an almost unlimited number of things in the world to make us angry, from fraud and injustice in government all the way down to people cutting us off in traffic. We need to be very careful what we allow to make us angry. Outer-directed, the ultimate expression of anger is murder. Inner-directed, it is suicide. Anger nursed is always destructive, regardless of the justification. That’s why God tells us so clearly, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) (Older translations say, “Vengeance is mine,” which somehow seems meatier and more satisfying.) There is much to make us angry, even rightly so, but if we hang onto that anger, we and others will suffer needlessly. We need to release it into God’s hands.

Recently my wife made a joke based on something the Lord spoke directly to me several years ago, which I quote frequently. She said, “What was that three-r saying? Rest, relax, revenge?” (It’s actually, rest, relax, rejoice.) I have learned the hard way that the longer I hang onto anger, the worse things get. I actually really dislike getting angry, so when it happens, I get angry that I’m angry! That’s certainly a self-defeating cycle. If I were never to get angry, that would not be following the example of Jesus, who drove the merchants out of the Court of the Gentiles with a whip! (John 2:15) However, I must be very careful to let the Lord direct my anger where it rightly belongs, and not be like Jonah. I think anger is analogous to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is extremely valuable in some cases of surgery and injury but is easily fatal in overdose. Being “angry that I’m angry” doesn’t solve anything either! I need to be an instrument of God’s grace, mercy, and love, even toward those who provoke me to anger – including myself!

Father, thank You for this clear Word. I don’t think there’s anything in it You haven’t said to me before, though. Help me apply it fully! May everything about me be fully submitted to You, to accomplish that for which You intend it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Jonah; July 31, 2021

Posted on August 2, 2021 by jgarrott

Jonah 2:8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”

Just recently there was a news item from the US that greatly illuminated the story of Jonah. A swimmer was indeed taken into the mouth of a baleen whale and, when the whale realized what it had done, spit out, essentially none the worse for wear. That should put the stop to the people who have claimed that the whole story of Jonah was preposterous! The news item was interesting to me because I had always assumed it had to have been a toothed whale, and the sperm whale is the only one big enough to fit the bill. However, there are any number of baleen whales that are physically large enough, and the blue whale, being largest, would have the best probability for survival. That said, the whole point of the incident was to teach Jonah not to run from God. The way this chapter is written it seems to claim this is the content of Jonah’s prayer from inside the “fish,” but it reads much more like something he wrote after he got out. I don’t doubt that verse one is entirely accurate. I’d bet Jonah prayed a LOT while he was in there! Whenever it was composed, this particular line really strikes me. I’ve written numerous times about how we make idols of any of a number of things, but committing ourselves to anything other than our Creator is indeed worthless. This one verse expresses the sad reality we see taking place all the time: people rejecting the grace God has prepared for them by choosing something else instead. We’re back to the fundamental reality that all of God’s rules and instructions to us are for our good, and not to hem us in or deprive us of anything good. Fail to follow His instructions and you miss out, period. Ultimately, failing to believe in and follow Jesus Christ sets us up for eternal destruction. (John 3:16-18)

I have always believed the Bible was true, but it was still very interesting to encounter that recent news story. I’ve never gone through anything that externally dramatic, but the internal shock when God tapped me on the shoulder and showed me a mirror to see the blackness of my soul, way back in 1972, was certainly life-changing. That said, I’ve still been distracted by various worthless things over the years. Jonah himself apparently had trouble remembering the depth of God’s grace toward him, if you read the rest of the book. I need to do better than Jonah, remembering God’s grace and focusing on Him to receive all that He has for me, and at the same time allowing that grace to flow through me to those around me, building them up and pointing them toward Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the privilege I will have this morning of performing the wedding of two former students. Thank You that they chose the wedding chapel where I work so that they could have me officiate. I pray that I would be an open channel of Your grace toward them, their families, and their guests, drawing them all to repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Answers to Prayer; July 30, 2021

Posted on August 2, 2021 by jgarrott

Daniel 9:23 “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.”

God is not slow to act, but we are often slow in recognizing what He is saying and doing. The whole matter of time gets complicated, because God is outside of time and we are in the flow of it. That is actually a logical requirement, because as physicists tell us, time is a function of the physical universe, so time did not exist until God spoke the universe into existence. We don’t really have good words to talk about it! Peter had the right idea when he said, “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) We experience time in a linear fashion, but God sees it all at once. We experience Him as “was” and “will be,” but He is the eternal “I AM.” And all that brings us back to this verse. God is aware of our prayers and He responds appropriately, because He knows our heart and He knows what needs to happen. Gabriel spoke to Daniel using words and concepts Daniel could perhaps grasp, but they were an imperfect reflection of God’s timeless reality. That’s why God has spoken so many times in dreams and visions: normal terminology just doesn’t stretch that far. We aren’t to “trip out” over all of this, being “so heavenly minded we’re no earthly good,” but rather accept that our grasp of things is at best toned down several orders of magnitude from God’s reality. As David recognized, “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) The amazing thing is that God loves His little “dust balls!” When we pray, we are to remember His love and love Him in return, trusting that His answers are already provided, whether we see them, or whether they are what we expect, or not.

God seldom uses dreams and visions to speak to me, but He has done so many times with Cathy. This morning she couldn’t stop talking about a unique and detailed dream she had just had that included a number of physically and temporally impossible features. If she needs to understand it, God will give her the revelation just as He did for Daniel. I need to remember that even as I read the Bible, knowing that my words, and even my mind, aren’t big enough to grasp natively all that God is saying. I am to pray with boldness and faith, and at the same time not try to dictate to God how He is to answer my prayers. I am currently in the flow of time, but by the grace of God I too am an eternal being, united with Him in Christ. That tension is at times uncomfortable, but I am to be at peace with it and rejoice in the overwhelming grace of my Lord.

Father, thank You for this Word. As much as You have made me a man of words, sometimes Your truth is so big that it makes a mockery of my attempts to describe it. Thank You. I don’t want to follow a small God! Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told me to do, so that Your will may be manifested in and through me on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Repentance; July 29, 2021

Posted on August 1, 2021 by jgarrott

Daniel 9:9-10 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.

This chapter is perhaps the most magnificent example of substitutionary repentance in the whole Bible. Daniel was personally righteous, to the point of becoming a proverbial example of righteousness. (Ezekiel 14:14) However, he didn’t rest in that righteousness but took on the sins of the nation, thus becoming a forerunner of Christ. Nowhere in this prayer does he say, “They did all these things.” All his pronouns are 1st person, we. America has been in need of national repentance for quite a while, but how many of the people praying for her have prayed in the 1st person like this? Christians in America are tempted to be disgusted at many of the things in society which have really come out into the open in the past year, but how much do we recognize and repent of the fact that our own inaction over the years has greatly contributed to the situation? We certainly aren’t as righteous as Daniel. He was taken into captivity as a teenager and had no voice whatsoever in the mounting sins of the nation. However, America being a democracy, every citizen has a voice, and each individual impacts society. One area that is hopeful at the moment is the way that parents are finally standing up to the forces that have hijacked the schools, recalling and/or running for school boards, or taking their children out of public schools and homeschooling them, in order to counter the junk that is being taught to children today. It will take a few years for that cohort of students to make a significant impact on “higher” education, but it has been our inaction that has allowed the situation to get so rotten in the first place. As Andrew Breitbart famously said, politics is downstream from culture. I would add, culture is made up of the attitudes and actions of individuals. If we are horrified and/or disgusted at what is going on, (and we should be) then we need to look at ourselves first. Without personal repentance, national repentance won’t happen.

Having lived most of my life in Japan I have always felt at somewhat of a remove from American culture, but I have still participated in it. I have lived in the US a total of around 18 years, and for a significant portion of that I was hardly a “beacon of righteousness.” I wasn’t involved in anything that would have interested the police, but my spiritual pride blinded me to how I was flowing with, even delighting in, the schemes of the devil to pollute society. I have far more reason to use the 1st person in repentance than Daniel did! Here I am mercifully free of American “mainstream media,” and so get a much more balanced view of what is happening in the US, so I have no excuse not to pray! I need to let the Holy Spirit show me not only how to pray for the nation, but also how to repent of my own involvement in things being as they are. I am to speak the truth in love, not holding back for fear of offending, but not offending needlessly either. I am to place my hope not in politicians, certainly, but in God who is Lord of all. Seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness has very broad application in the world today!

Father, thank You for this clear Word. Help me indeed pray as Daniel did, in all honesty and humility, so that my prayers may be useful to You in working Your will, so that it may be done as perfectly on earth as it is in heaven, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Faithfulness; July 28, 2021

Posted on July 31, 2021 by jgarrott

Daniel 6:20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

We often don’t realize how closely we are being watched. Naturally there are individual differences, but people who consistently follow God and are true to Him get noticed. Other people admire them, even if from afar, and they often feel they couldn’t live like that. What they want to know, however, is whether God rewards such faithfulness. That Daniel would choose a horrible death rather than fail to pray to God was certainly impressive, and the king wanted to know the outcome. I can’t help but feel that this incident had an impact on the later decision to return the Jews to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Otherwise, why would Cyrus have made his decree in the name of “Yahweh, the God of heaven?” (Ezra 1:2) Daniel’s absolute faithfulness to God made him be completely trusted by the human rulers he served. In American government today, conspicuous faithfulness to God tends to make you suspect, because those currently in positions of authority know you won’t go along with their agenda. However, that situation cannot and will not continue, but God Himself will never change, so faithfulness to Him is still the order of the day. We are seldom presented with such dramatic choices as Daniel was, but martyrs down through the centuries have made the right choice. It’s hardly coincidental that the Greek word, martyr, actually means “witness.” When we choose loss over denying our Lord, as Daniel did, we are presenting a powerful witness to the world.

I’ve certainly never been presented with as dramatic a choice as Daniel was, but people are watching me nonetheless. I know that following Christ certainly doesn’t guarantee me a trouble-free existence. After all, Jesus Himself said, “In this world you will have trouble!” (John 16:33) However, it’s how I respond to that trouble that people are watching. If I gripe and moan, people will think that following Christ isn’t worth much. If I am “joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances,” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) people will want to know what I have that they don’t, and sharing the Gospel with them will be easy, delightful, and fruitful. This is why my wife, Cathy, is so dearly loved by so many. Many people are aware of her physical challenges, and others are amazed when they find out about them, because she rarely complains, but rather is concerned for others. That’s why people at her rehabilitation facility often say, “Your God is strong!” We frankly don’t know when the harvest will come, but as long as the Lord leaves us here, we are to be faithful.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Daniel was another one like John, who went through a great deal to be faithful to You. May I learn from their example so that others may learn from mine, and many be brought into the discipleship of faith, for a great harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Politics of Envy; July 27, 2021

Posted on July 31, 2021 by jgarrott

Daniel 6:5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

Politics and envy haven’t changed throughout human history. This story is certainly famous, being taught to Jewish and Christian children, but we see echoes of it all the time around us. I don’t know of any politicians today who are as upright as Daniel was, but the tactic of attacking good men on the basis of the foundation of their goodness, that is, their faith, is constantly in evidence. I just read that the high school football coach who was fired for insisting on praying, quietly and personally, on the 50-yard-line after every game is going all the way to the Supreme Court. His “crime” was that he was influencing his students to join him, thus “polluting” them with religion! Thankfully, the probability that the current court will uphold his 1st Amendment right to free expression of his faith is high, but the fact that the issue arose at all is an indication of how low the nation has sunk. Of course the prime current example is Donald Trump, who didn’t even come to active faith until shortly before the 2016 election, but who instituted policies based on that faith with remarkable consistency, and so stirred up a world-class hornets’ nest! He is no Daniel, but the lions’ den is very real, even if metaphorical. We need to remember that the God who protected Daniel hasn’t changed, and His righteousness and justice will prevail.

I certainly wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump before 2016, and it wasn’t until after I started seeing changes in his behavior that I started hearing rumors of his conversion. His very name is still a flash-point for argument, but I have believed for many years that a good way to judge someone’s character is to look at their enemies. That certainly influences me to support Donald Trump! We had a case here in Omura where a Christian mayor who refused to bend to the will of some unscrupulous “power brokers” was accused of accepting bribes – the very thing he was refusing to do – and was actually convicted, though given a suspended sentence. He was naturally removed from office on that conviction, but as soon as the statute of limitations ran out, he ran for mayor again and was elected by the populace that realized he had been framed. His actual “crime” was refusing to go along with “politics as usual,” just as was the case with Trump. I’ve never been into politics personally, and Daniel’s moral fiber is a challenge to me, but I know that God has not changed, and I am not only to walk in personal obedience to Him, I am to pray for those around me who are trying to do so. The battle is real, and will continue to be so until the final victory described in Revelation, so I’m not to let down my guard but be alert and active for the sake of God’s children, His kingdom, and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed walk in step with Your Spirit at all times, whether that means prayer, ministry, or anything else, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Obeying God; July 26, 2021

Posted on July 28, 2021 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 42:20 “You made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.'”

It’s dangerous to ask for God’s guidance if you have no intention of following it! As I wrote yesterday, those who asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord were just looking for a divine rubber stamp on what they had already decided to do. After all, since it was such a good plan, God couldn’t help but approve, right? We do that far more often than we like to admit. God is often incredibly gracious, but what really bit on this occasion was the people’s explicit statement that they would do whatever the Lord said, “whether it is favorable or unfavorable.” (verse six) We dig ourselves more holes than we realize! If Jeremiah had come to them unsolicited and they hadn’t listened that would have been bad enough, but they absolutely compounded their sin by their insistence that they would obey God when they had already decided what they would do regardless. The next chapter tells us that they took Jeremiah with them to Egypt in defiance of the Lord, and he continued to speak the Word of the Lord to them there. Tradition tells us that they got so fed up with him that they eventually stoned him to death, probably after what he said to them in chapter 44. I can imagine the glorious reception Jeremiah got before the throne of God! I frankly don’t want to imagine the fate of those who treated him that way.

I am well aware that I have acted in defiance of God more times than I could count, but I don’t think I’ve been quite as blatant about it as these people were. However, that’s hardly to say that I’m innocent, worthy only of God’s commendation! To me, the whole story, as tragic as it is, is a lesson not to trust in religion. As the Lord had me say yesterday in my remarks in the afternoon program, religion is man’s attempt to please God, generally to get something out of Him. That never works! As the Bible says many times throughout, God is seeking hearts that are tender and obedient toward Him, who will “worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24) rather than just go through rituals. I know that well, and at the same time I have patterns of church services that I’m used to, and the patterns themselves become comforting. I don’t know that that’s bad, exactly, but I’ve got to be careful that my heart is always in it, with a fundamental commitment to obedience. Yesterday’s activities went very well, but we didn’t have the kind of attendance I had been hoping for, not in numbers but in who came. I’ve got to release that to the Lord and work with those He brings me, because He knows whose heart is ready. I must never refuse to minister to someone because they aren’t Japanese! God knows what He is doing here, and I’m to be at peace with that.

Father, I do thank You for getting us through the very full day yesterday, and for the many blessings You poured out on us in the process. I have a pretty full schedule today as well, though not as hectic. Thank You for the assurance that You will get me through today as well. I do ask Your guidance and anointing on my words as I speak in the online seminar, that I may speak only Your truth, building people up for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Sincerity; July 25, 2021

Posted on July 27, 2021 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 42:6 “Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.”

It is amazing how sometimes we can say the perfect thing and then turn around and do the opposite. I can’t read this without being painfully aware that “the rest of the story” is entirely different, but that’s tomorrow’s reading. By this point it was widely recognized, by both the Jews and the Babylonians, that Jeremiah heard accurately from the Lord, and that’s the backdrop to the Jews’ request to him. However, the Jews were still wanting a rubber stamp on what they wanted to do; their protestations of “listening obediently” to the Lord were just posturing. We see a great deal of that with politicians today. If all the fine-sounding pronouncements were genuinely sincere, we would live in a paradise on earth! In this particular instance, the Lord promised them the best possible outcome if they would follow His instructions. It’s interesting to think about how it might have changed history had they actually done so! The sad thing is, they probably thought they were being sincere in what they said to Jeremiah, but as James pointed out hundreds of years later, we can be remarkably adept at deceiving ourselves. (James 1:22) Noble words aren’t bad, but as the Bible makes abundantly clear, God sees through them all to our hearts, and He knows what we will do and why. We have a stubborn tendency to want to be in control, when we have neither the wisdom nor the ability to do it right. “Listening obediently” has got to be more than window dressing.

I am in the middle of another training session in this. We have what is for this church a major event planned for today. For some churches it would be minor, but we’re not used to such things. Cathy and I are quite stressed out about how it’s all going to go down, and we’ve got to release it into God’s hands. That’s a lot easier said than done! I am finding that less-appealing places in my heart are being exposed, and whereas that’s ultimately a good thing, it’s certainly not comfortable. I honestly do not know what the outcome of today will be, and I’ve got to be at peace with that. I know that if I will flow with the Holy Spirit on His schedule that the outcome will be blessed indeed, but there is something in me that keeps trying to grab the wheel (or the joystick or whatever). I feel like I have been obedient to do what I have been shown to this point, but there are many unknowns. I’ve got to choose faith and obedience at every turn, so that God’s plans may unfold on His schedule for His glory.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Thank You for all You did enable us to get done yesterday. Thank You for every detail of Your plans for today. Help us rest and relax enough to really rejoice in You, as You desire, for the sake of Your kingdom and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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