Knowledge; August 29, 2025

Posted on August 30, 2025 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

This is an absolutely amazing offer from our omniscient Creator. Expressed a little differently, He’s saying, “You want to know something wild? Just ask me.” Today we tend to look back on people of past generations and think, “They were so ignorant.” The thing is, we are still so ignorant! Some items of information have made a major difference, such as the awareness of germs causing disease, but there is still far more that we don’t know than we do know. God never has that problem! The question becomes, what do we need to know? On the eternal scale, what is most important is that we have a Creator who is perfectly holy and so cannot abide sin, but who is perfectly loving, and so sent His Son to take the penalty for our sin and enable salvation by grace through faith. Everything else is strictly icing on the cake, but some of it is important to our quality of life on this planet – the awareness of germs being a good example. As the following verses make clear, what God was referring to here was future events that Jeremiah couldn’t have imagined on his own. That was important, because Jeremiah’s writings were what gave the Jews hope during their time in Babylon, preparing them to return to the land when God used Cyrus the Persian to accomplish it. At this point, God has given us knowledge of future events through Ezekiel and Daniel in the Old Testament and John in the New, but we tend to get confused by it all, trying to draw timelines and such. The far wiser course is to ask God to show us whatever we need to know, and not worry about the rest. Daily faithfulness is the key. The devil is quite an expert at distracting us with all sorts of things that might be true in themselves, but they are strictly temporal and don’t mean anything in the long run. Our focus needs to be on our Lord, listening to Him and following through with whatever He tells us. It’s important to remember that God sometimes shows us “hidden, unsearchable” things. The Japanese expresses that as “things beyond human understanding.” We may sometimes have no idea what to do with what He has shown us, but we have James’ reassurance: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5) Wisdom is ultimately more important than knowledge.

I have always been something of a knowledge junkie, delighting to collect information, so learning to value wisdom over knowledge hasn’t been an easy road for me. As has been said, knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. That’s a silly, humorous example, but I need to keep my focus on my Lord, and not on all the information that so delights me. The Internet is a blessing and a curse to me, because it certainly feeds my knowledge addiction, while at the same time distracting me from what God is saying to me. I’m not to reject information, but always keep it in perspective. Virtually all of it will be totally insignificant when I stand before God’s throne! I need to keep remembering that God’s smart and I’m not, and be at peace with that.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the intelligence You’ve given me. May I always use it in submission and obedience to You, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!

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Fear and Happiness; August 28, 2025

Posted on August 29, 2025 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 32:39-40 “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.  I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.”

This promise of God combines two things that we tend to think of as antithetical to each other: fear and happiness. Actually, English translations don’t use “happiness,” but that is the most common translation for the word used in the Japanese. It carries strong overtones of blessing and good, and those words are used in English for this passage. This shows one of the chief benefits of reading the Bible in multiple languages, because translation is very seldom  a matter of direct equivalence, and I doubt that anyone today understands perfectly the nuances of all the words used when the Bible was written, in whatever language. Whatever language we’re using, we need to remember that God’s Word is deeper and higher than any merely human language, or even human thought. (Isaiah 55:8-9) It’s one of His many miracles that He expresses His thoughts to us in ways we can grasp. To get back to this passage, it actually expresses something that is repeated in various ways throughout the Bible: God’s plans for us are for our good. We tend to doubt that and rebel any time His plans differ from ours, but that’s just human stupidity. It we fail to fear Him, we aren’t likely to obey Him! I’m reminded of something Dennis Prager has said. In his many years of being a radio talk show host, he asked countless people who had never used drugs, why they hadn’t. The answer was consistent: “My mother would have killed me.” That’s precisely the kind of fear we’re talking about here. If children don’t fear their parents’ discipline, they’re very likely to go astray, and bear the consequences of that. This is no excuse for child abuse, but these days, almost any kind of discipline is labeled as abuse, and that’s a lie of the devil. It sounds contradictory, but we need to fear our parents, and God, in order to love them and receive the good they desire for us.

My parents weren’t perfect, but they did a pretty good job. Neither I nor any of my siblings got into drugs, though we did stray in some other ways. My wife and I likewise didn’t do a perfect job by any means, but our daughters turned out OK. Human parenting pales in comparison to Father God, naturally enough. I was taught about God from infancy, but I don’t think I feared Him enough. However, God has been faithful to guide as well as guard me over the years, and I think I fear Him far more now than I ever did in my youth. The interesting thing is, I also love Him far more than I did! I have learned that you can’t separate love and devotion for Him from deep respect and awe. My awareness of Him should scare the sin out of me! When I fear Him properly, there is absolutely nothing else I need to fear, and I’m grateful.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your continuing, overflowing grace toward me. It’s a very minor thing, but thank You for arranging my schedule so that I was able to watch the 10th Starship test launch live yesterday. That really blessed me! Thank You for all the big and small things You do for and through me. May I be fully yielded to You in active obedience, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Prophecy; August 27, 2025

Posted on August 28, 2025 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 31:14 “I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
    and my people will be filled with my bounty,”
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah is known as a prophet of “doom and gloom,” to the point that “jeremiad” refers to a very negative rant about something. However, he also prophesied some very encouraging things indeed. This chapter is glorious, and deeply comforting. After all, it was Jeremiah’s prophecies that enabled the exiles in Babylon to know that after 70 years they would be returned to the land of Israel. Various parts of this chapter have been set to music, and are running through my mind and heart even now. Honest prophecy may seem severe in the moment, but it will always reflect the character of God. He is indeed holy and righteous and just, and He is also kind and loving and gracious. Some people focus on the severe stuff, and they are scared witless of Him, and some people imagine Him as a soft, fluffy Santa Claus, indulgent in the extreme. Both of those are terrible misconceptions, fostered and encouraged by the devil. God is indeed 100% righteous and holy, so our sins and rebellions have consequences, but He is also love itself, as John so famously pointed out. (1 John 4:8) Prophecy that is from Him will reflect both of those poles, as opposite as they might seem. Going back to yesterday’s reading, if Jeremiah had only prophesied doom and gloom, hearing God speak would hardly have been a joy to him! When God nudges our heart to indicate He wants to say something through us, we should not fear, but rejoice to be fully available to Him for whatever He wants to say.

I have been used in prophecy, and I have heard various prophecies. I certainly like this one! Since I would fit in the category of “priests,” it certainly sounds good to me! It is interesting that where English translations say “bounty,” or “goodness,” in the last part of the verse, the Japanese says “grace.” That term in Japanese indeed means more than we usually mean by grace, having a strong feeling of blessings. However, God told Paul that His grace was sufficient for him, at a point when that wasn’t really what Paul wanted to hear. I need to remember to feast my soul of God’s abundance, and know that His grace is sufficient for me, regardless of whatever I’m going through.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the youth missions team that came yesterday, and for the yard work they did for us. Thank You even more for the privilege of sharing Your heart with them. May they, may we, open up to You more and more, to be more and more effective as Your agents, in word and in deed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Jeremiah; August 26, 2025

Posted on August 27, 2025 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them;
    they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
    Lord God Almighty.

Being called and used by God can be a mixed bag! Jeremiah is recognized as one of the great prophets of history, but his personal life was very far from being a picnic. In verse 10 he laments having been born, because his obedience to God stirs up society, and he suffers the consequences. On that score, in the last part of this chapter God assures him that his enemies will be unable to conquer him, so he needs to be at peace with that. He finally was stoned to death in Egypt by his own people, who had fled to Egypt in direct violation of what Jeremiah had told them from God, but by that point, I’m sure he was more than ready to leave this life. The pain of the rocks was no fun, but the glory of what came after than more than compensated! All that said, this verse tells us what sustained Jeremiah throughout his ministry. He loved hearing from God, and his relationship with God was more personal than most people can dream of. The turn of phrase here is interesting: eating God’s Word. That seems odd to us, but when we eat something we take it in, absorb the nutrients in it, and it becomes part of us. That was Jeremiah’s experience with what God said to him, either through the Torah or directly to his heart. We can have the same experience, actually, because we have much more Bible than Jeremiah had available to him. And even today, God isn’t limited to speaking through the printed Word, but speaks to us in many ways. If we recognize His voice and take in His words, as Jeremiah did, then it will be a joy and pleasure to us just as it was to Jeremiah. However, there is a precondition to that: we have to be committed to do whatever God says to us, just as Jeremiah did. If we aren’t going to obey God, why would He speak to us? The world’s reaction to us probably won’t be as severe as it was to Jeremiah, but it could be. We need to be decided ahead of time that intimacy with God is more than worth it, and be as committed to Him as Jeremiah was.

I haven’t been involved in as much turmoil as Jeremiah was, but I can certainly identify with this verse! What is most exciting is that the sister who spoke this past Sunday obviously feels the same way. She has my spiritual DNA! Every believer needs to fall more and more in love with God, and that includes taking in what He says to us, digesting it, and making it part of us. I am to be a man of the Word, just as I am a man of words, and I need to be an open channel for God to speak through. I’m no Jeremiah, but if my speaking God’s words causes conflict, so be it. I can’t claim to love Jesus if I don’t do what He says to me! (John 14:15) However, I have tasted the joy Jeremiah spoke of, and I am totally addicted. It is a blessed addiction indeed!

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the joy of taking in Your Word. May I recognize what You are saying whenever You speak to me, however You do it, so that I may be fully useful in Your hands, accomplishing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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God’s Care for His Children; August 25, 2025

Posted on August 26, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
    and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy!’
    Yet they will be put to shame.”

God never forgets those who genuinely honor Him, those who “tremble at His word,” as it says here. The image presented in this verse is all too familiar, with people who don’t honor God ridiculing those who do. God is reassuring His people that it is those who oppose them who will ultimately be ashamed. Immediately after this verse, through verse 9, we have the specific prophecy that was fulfilled in 1948 when Israel very abruptly was reborn as a nation, after almost 1900 years without that status. And that took place immediately after the holocaust, when Hitler explicitly sought to exterminate the Jewish race! Those who don’t love God, and sadly, even many who do, have no grasp, no expectation, of all He can and will do for His people. Because His actions often don’t fit our expectations, we may not recognize them. Particularly in the case of martyrdom, we see it as unmitigated tragedy, but for the faithful martyr, it is glory beyond our words to express it! Going back to this verse, probably everyone who is devoted to the Lord has experienced ridicule, at least, from those around them. Frankly, our righteousness makes them uncomfortable, so they cover it over with attacks on us. Like the early Church, we should rejoice at the honor of being treated that way! (Acts 5:41)

My experience of this hasn’t been severe, and sometimes I wonder at my own level of commitment, that it hasn’t provoked more opposition. However, God is my judge, and I leave it in His hands. I did have a cousin attack me verbally for putting my entire inheritance into building this church building, but he shut up after I said that I could think of no better investment than the Kingdom of God. He was raised by devoted parents and was at least a nominal Christian, but the idea that someone would let their faith govern their “real world” actions like that threw him for a loop. At this point I don’t think I care what anybody thinks, so long as my Lord is pleased with me. I certainly don’t follow Him perfectly, but that is at least my desire, and He is continuing to grow me as His child.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and this encouragement. Thank You for the good service yesterday, and for the evidence of the health of this church. Thank You for the Word you gave through the sister who spoke. I had never thought of David’s response to Absalom as being analogous to Your response to us. It was beautiful, and touched many. May we continue to grow in every way that You desire and intend, so that all of Your purposes for us may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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End Times; August 24, 2025

Posted on August 25, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 65:24 “Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.”

There are various, seemingly conflicting, narratives of the “end times” in the Bible. Some focus on the destruction coming upon those who are in rebellion against God, some, like this, focus on the “millennial kingdom” of perfection on this earth, some focus on believers being “snatched away” from all the destruction, and some focus on eternity with God. I think the confusion comes from our perspective. All of these things will happen, but God sees them all at once, whereas we see them sequentially – or would like to, to keep it all straight. I believe we need to recognize that we don’t have the mental “horsepower” to grasp it all, and so rest in the assurance that God’s got it all sorted out, trusting Him to bring it to pass in the right way at the right time. Charisma Magazine just had an article on the difference between the “Rapture” and the “2nd Coming.” To be honest, I didn’t bother to read it, though I’m sure it will be helpful to many. I’ve seen too many people who were so obsessed with this sort of thing that they could hardly be bothered with what God wanted them to do for and with their neighbors right now. Verses like this one, speaking of a level of intimacy with our Creator that few have yet tasted, strike me as far more “practical,” if that’s the right word. Jesus said repeatedly that we are to be ready for the end when it comes, but for the vast majority of people throughout history, that will be at the end of their physical life on this earth. None of us knows when that will come, but it is certainly a more immediate time frame than “someday.” We are to be focused on “What does God want me doing now.” If we will do that, then we will receive the ultimate accolade when the time comes: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

This is a position I have come into more and more strongly over the years. Right now many are feeling that the world is indeed in “end times.” They are probably right, but the question for me is, what am I to do about it? I think I’ve already answered that. Sharing the Gospel with as many as possible seems to be the only thing that might affect the timing, (Matthew 24:14) but that’s something I want to do anyway. As far as my own “appointment with destiny” goes, I’ve already outlived my father by 13 years. My health is good, and I enjoy life, but I would be delighted to be fully with my Lord. I am fully in agreement with Paul. (Philippians 1:21-25) I would be absolutely thrilled for the Lord to do something that would bring Cathy and me simultaneously before Him, but I can’t dictate that and I’m not about to try. In the meantime, I’m to be about the business He sets before me and rest, relax, and rejoice in His all-sufficient grace, just as He has told me to do, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. Thank You for the service we’ll be having this morning, and that I’m just interpreting, not being the speaker. May my joy in You draw others likewise into Your presence, so that together we may worship You in spirit and in truth, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Consequences; August 23, 2025

Posted on August 24, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 65:11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord
    and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny…”

This is a hard section to write on, because from here on God is contrasting the fate of those who forsake Him to that of those who are faithful to Him, in verse after verse. The contrast is pretty stark, and He doesn’t even get into the eternal consequences! The problem is, so many people are blinded, or are willfully blind, to consequences of all sorts. Otherwise, why would anyone ever take the first hit of cocaine, or of any other narcotic? The devil does blind us, as Paul said, (2 Corinthians 4:4) but I think willful blindness is the bigger issue. We tend to downgrade the reality of free will, blaming our many faults on anyone but ourselves. The devil does all he can to foster a victim mentality, because once he has that, he gets full control of a person. The problem is, we can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to it, and that’s where accountability comes in. God does all sorts of things to warn us of the consequences of sin, but too often we choose to sin anyway. In this passage He spoke through Isaiah, He lays it out very clearly, and it’s clearly not pretty. We need to understand that, whereas we can’t earn our way into heaven, there are consequences to sin and rewards for obedience. None of us could ever get it perfectly, so He provided a way through His Son for us to be saved by grace through faith, but there is a lot more to the Christian life than just a “ticket to heaven!” We need to understand the consequences of sin, and of obedience, and choose obedience.

As a part of my duties as a pastor, I am to warn people of the consequences of sin. However, I’ve seen very few good results to “hellfire and brimstone” preaching. I am to speak the truth in love, unequivocally and unapologetically, but I’m not to do it in a condemnatory manner. That’s not “in love!” I have a friend who just recently entered into a same-sex marriage. My heart is broken, but I don’t know anything to do but pray. Both people have been “active Christians” for a long time, and all I can do is surrender them to God, for Him to be as merciful as possible. There have been many places in my own life that I could easily have taken the wrong fork in the road, but God has been more than gracious. I can’t save anyone, but I need to keep myself available to God for however He might want to use me to draw others to Himself, away from the pit.

Father, as much as my own heart breaks for some people, I know that Your heart breaks more. You told me Yourself that there is much that is not as You would like it to be. Help me stay yielded to You, so that I may be as useful as possible to You in making things right, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Choice to Rejoice; August 22, 2025

Posted on August 23, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 61:10 I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Verse 3 has been memorably arranged to music, and that arrangement agrees perfectly with this verse. The thrust of that is that God has done all these things for us, but it is our choice to accept and apply them. There are few things the devil rejoices in more than when we indulge in pity parties. When we allow ourselves to be distracted by temporal things from the eternal glories God has prepared for us, no one benefits. Even if your life is a bed of roses, roses have thorns! Jesus said it very clearly: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) It is frankly difficult to rejoice under a whole host of circumstances we are likely to experience in this world, but we can still make the choice to rejoice. This statement by Isaiah should be ours, because the Lord has indeed clothed us with salvation and righteousness. Those aren’t our own, but are those of the Son of God, who loved us so much as to die for us. (1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21) When we have our focus on that, everything in this life fades into insignificance.

This is a lesson I’m still learning! Just as I was typing this, the computer suddenly decided not to hyphenate anything in the first paragraph, when it had been beautifully hyphenated up to that point. That greatly grates on my personality, but even I can see that it has no real ultimate significance. It didn’t change the words, just how they appeared on the page. It’s things like that that I allow to steal my joy, and it’s stupid! As a pastor, I seek to lead the flock in keeping their focus on Christ, (Hebrews 12:2) but I’ve got to lead the way by doing so myself. I do look forward to heaven, where all the junk will be behind us, but I’m not to be “so heavenly minded as to be no earthly good.” Life happens, as Jesus said it would, but I can and should choose to rejoice in my Lord and Savior whatever is going on.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You enabled me to get done yesterday. Today’s tasks are different, but no less important. Help me do each thing in turn, resting, relaxing, and rejoicing in You, just as You have told me to do, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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God’s Timing; August 21, 2025

Posted on August 22, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 60:22 “The least of you will become a thousand,
    the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord;
    in its time I will do this swiftly.”

One of the biggest problems we have in relating to God is timing. That’s no surprise, because we are in the flow of time and He is outside of it. There have been many occasions throughout history when it seemed like nothing was happening, and then suddenly, everything happened at once. That’s true even on the geologic scale. Scientists speak of things like “the Cambrian explosion,” when the fossil record shows that the number of species on earth suddenly multiplied, in violation of every tenet of “evolution.” God isn’t limited to our human intellect or understanding! That’s certainly true in relation to Israel, which was indeed “created in a day” in 1948. (Isaiah 66:8) It likewise seems to be true in relation to the Trump administration, where things are happening at a pace that the news, not to mention his opposition, has trouble keeping up. And of course, we need to remember that the greatest coming event, Christ’s return, will happen when most of the world will be totally unsuspecting. We are to be aware of things spiritually, staying in touch with the Lord through regular devotions and listening to Him throughout each day, but not be anxious about times or schedules. His plans are eternal, and we can certainly trust Him with them.

I have had all sorts of “sudden” events in my life, the most dramatic and consequential of which being meeting Cathy in November of 1968, having our first date in February of 1969, and getting married in May of 1969. Simple math says that was over 56 years ago! In 1981, when we saw no way we could return to Japan, after I surrendered it all to God, the seminary in Fukuoka asked my mother to do something about the things she had stored for us there, and I was sent to do the job. A missionary in Nagasaki City arranged a meeting for me with the Chairman of the Board of the Koyo Schools here in Omura, and after a 20 minute conversation, he said he would hire me. I called Cathy, and we’ve been here ever since. My decision to retire from the Koyo Schools last year was likewise sudden, from my standpoint, but I can see that it was God’s timing. By now, I should certainly have learned not to be anxious about God’s timing! I am to seek Him for His schedule each day, each minute, actually, and be faithful to do as He directs, whether it feels like I’m just spinning my wheels, or charging off into the unknown.

Father, thank You for the incredible privilege of knowing You, of having Your Spirit. I’ve still got plenty of room to grow in terms of being fully controlled by Your Spirit, but that’s my heart’s desire. May I spend each day as You desire, following Your plans on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Spiritual Alertness; August 20, 2025

Posted on August 21, 2025 by jgarrott

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

It strikes me that everything in this well-loved and glorious chapter is about things God does for His people, not things we have to do. The one thing it tells us to do is right here: wake up and shine! To be quite honest, that’s appropriate at this moment, because I still feel half asleep! However, the things God wants to do for us are so wonderful as to make us think we’re dreaming! That said, spiritual alertness is important. Jesus tells us to be awake and alert for His return. That said, much of the Church could be said to be spiritually asleep, paying attention only to the material world around them. The thing is, we aren’t material beings who happen to have spirits, we are spiritual beings who inhabit, for a time, material bodies. We forget that most of the time, if we have ever realized it in the first place. It’s not that the material is unimportant, but that it is secondary to the spiritual. We can have perfect health and financial abundance, but if we are spiritually dead, it ultimately does us no good. Spiritual alertness is vital for our protection, because our enemy the devil is always out to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) We aren’t to be in terror of him, but rather confirm that we are submitted to God, so that we can indeed resist the devil to the point that he flees from us. (James 4:7) Those who have been to war know the importance of situational awareness. That is what this is about. Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly in spiritual warfare. However, if we are indeed alert, we have nothing to be afraid of, because the One who is in us is far greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

There are times when I am spiritually sleepy, just as I am physically sleepy now. I need to be aware of that, and let the Holy Spirit perk me up! This morning we have an interdenominational prayer meeting here from 7, which is why I’m up earlier than usual – even though my normal hours are shockingly early to some of my friends. I need to ask and allow the Holy Spirit to keep me fully alert to all He wants to do here, whether or not it directly involves me. I am the host, in more ways than one, and we need to have a welcoming environment for children of God, and particularly for the Spirit of God. However, the Bible and past experience tell me that He will enable it, if that is my heart, and I believe it is. God has plans for today, and I need to participate in them joyfully!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the privilege of hosting this prayer meeting once a month. May today’s session indeed accomplish everything You intend for it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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