Death and Resurrection; October 4, 2018

Posted on October 9, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 15:49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

To be honest, the whole issue of how we will live after death has never bothered me particularly, but it concerns a lot of people and some of them obsess over it. From verse 35 on Paul lays out a very logical explanation of how it will be, and then summarizes it all in this verse. Thinking about the abilities Jesus demonstrated after His resurrection, I’m looking forward to it! My take on it is the elimination of limitations. I’ve worked with people with a wide variety of handicaps, and the idea of them being liberated from those is very comforting. Specifically, my wife created a support group for families of children with Cockayne Syndrome in Japan. Since rapid aging is one of the many symptoms of that syndrome, we’ve lost a lot of those kids since we started 23 years ago. The idea of them frolicking in heaven without any of their limitations is a very joyful one to me. (And no, I am not bypassing the necessity of salvation in Christ. I do believe the vast majority of those children do not reach the spiritual age of accountability.) One thing I find very interesting about Jesus’ resurrected body is that He could and did eat. (Luke 24:41-43) I don’t think it was necessary for Him, but it was possible, so I presume the same will be true for us. However, all such considerations are completely overshadowed by the glorious reality that we will have nothing in the way of full fellowship with our Lord. That’s certainly worth looking forward to!

This is naturally personal for me, as it is for every human being alive. When my father died, my genuine first reaction was, he won’t have to retire. When my mother died, I was thankful she was released from her cancer. When my wife died (the first time) I didn’t know it, but am very grateful the Lord sent her back for a while, but from what she experienced, I know I shouldn’t be selfish about it when she goes again. For myself, I’ve already lived six years longer than my father did, and I find myself with full empathy for Paul’s position, expressed in Philippians 1:20-26. There are challenges and rewards in this life, but they are certainly no more than a prelude to the next. My wife informs me that we will be able to recognize people in heaven, which is nice, but even that fades in the face of my anticipation of being with my Lord.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace. Thank You for the Bible, to clear up many of the questions we naturally have. Help us all release the things we don’t know, can’t know yet, to You, trusting that Your plans for us are glorious beyond our imagination. Thank You. Praise God!

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Knowing God; October 3, 2018

Posted on October 9, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

This is a very significant statement, and truth. Each age thinks they know many things, but often succeeding generations discover those former “truths” to have been wrong. That is certainly evident in science, which is ironic considering that so many people place their faith in it. The pace of discovery is picking up, so this is operative even in our own lifetimes. The “atomic model” I was taught in school – and I started college as a Chemistry major – is no longer thought to be accurate, and that’s just the beginning. We live in what is reasonably called the Information Age, but we have few if any guarantees as to whether that flood of information is accurate. “Fake news” is quite the buzz word these days, and for good reason. That’s all the more reason to take comfort in this verse. It requires humility, which is why some people reject it, but it also provides hope, which we all need. One reason people reject it is the statement that we are fully known. That references our omniscient Creator, and some people don’t want to acknowledge His existence because that would require accountability. If God knows us fully, we can’t hide anything, and that makes many people very nervous! However, when we believe and trust that God is love and will forgive all who come to Him on the basis of His Son’s blood, then being fully known is a deep comfort, and something to rejoice in.

I don’t think I ever doubted God’s omniscience, but that doesn’t mean I always ordered my life with respect for His laws. I have always enjoyed learning and knowing things, and read the Encyclopedia Britannica for fun as a 4th grader, so the current flood of information is in some ways delightful for me. I can easily get distracted for hours on the Internet, reading about everything from quantum mechanics and string theory to survival techniques. However, I’ve got to keep that all in perspective. I am well aware that much of that information will be useless to me, however much I enjoy it, and much of it is quite probably wrong. Knowing God, however, is a different matter. I can know Him only as He reveals Himself to me, but thankfully He has given us the Bible, and He speaks to me daily through it. A verse in Hosea has been delightfully set to music in Japanese, and I translated it to be able to sing it in English: “Let us press in to know the Lord; Let us dedicate our hearts that we may celebrate His Name, for as surely as the sun rises high up in the sky, our God will come to us.” (Hosea 6:3) In the particular context of the passage, the people were not saying that in sincerity, but that needs to be my attitude in truth. I am never to place intellectual knowledge above knowing my God, face to face.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for making it clear to me that You’re smart and I’m not. Help me indeed hang onto nothing but You, knowing You more and deeper and better than I know anything else, because You are indeed worthy and nothing else is. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Body of Christ; October 2, 2018

Posted on October 8, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

This truth is essential to the Church functioning as God intends. It is perhaps the foundation of the Cell Church Movement, which gave rise to the seminar I am now attending. I’m afraid the average Christian has very little personal awareness of this truth, and that is a major cause of the weakness of the Church today. We use the term, “the Body of Christ,” rather freely, but what gets overlooked is the phrase, “each one of you.” That doesn’t let anybody off the hook! The problem is, we tend to treat church like a club of some sort, joining one at our convenience and leaving at any little irritation, acting as a consumer rather than as an integral part. The whole discussion in this chapter makes it clear that each part, no matter how seemingly insignificant, impacts the whole. You may think your little fingers are unimportant, for example, but just ask someone who has lost theirs! Even if the lack of a particular part doesn’t prevent the operation of the whole, the loss is still felt. Understanding this truth would prevent the majority of casual absences for sure! Along with that is another truth that is proclaimed by these Coaching meetings: “Don’t go to church, be the Church.” That’s one place the “body” analogy breaks down, because the different parts of our physical bodies aren’t detachable, whereas the Church doesn’t cease to exist when the people aren’t assembled in one place. That’s a major problem with our terminology, speaking of the meeting place as “the church,” when actually it is just the place where the church assembles from time to time. Gathering together is important, as it says in Hebrews. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24) However, it is not meeting that makes us the Church, but abiding in Christ by faith.

As a pastor, this is of intense interest to me. I certainly desire good attendance in services; it’s much easier to preach to a full room than an empty one, and corporate worship is a special blessing. However, I am very aware that if the church members aren’t living as parts of the Body of Christ the other six days of the week, it ultimately makes very little difference whether they show up on Sundays. To be sure, it’s easy for me to have that awareness when I live in the church building! The danger is in giving the impression I am calling people to gather to me, rather than to gather to Christ. I want people to understand that they are members – body parts – of the Body of Christ, but I’ve got to see them that way as well. They aren’t going to mature spiritually very well if I see them as adjuncts to me. I’ve got to release them into their various callings, equipping them (Ephesians 4:12) for their various tasks but not trying to control or hang onto them. That can be hard! Over the 34 years we’ve been operating as a church I’ve baptized over 50 people and ministered to a lot more, but our current attendance is less than 10, and we’ve got another one moving away in November. It’s a platitude, but I’ve got to remember that the church belongs to Christ and not to me, and rejoice to do whatever He directs me to do by His Spirit.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank you for this conference, and for enabling me to put into notes what You’re directing me to share this afternoon. I pray that Your words through me would encourage all present, pointing them not to me but to You, so that together we may be the Body of Christ indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Many Parts in One Body; October 1, 2018

Posted on October 8, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Cor 12:12, 18 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

This whole passage (12-20) is extremely important in understanding interpersonal relationships and inter-church relationships. I’m not sure I had ever caught the connection between these two verses before. Not only are people and churches different, it’s because God planned it that way! We have such a strong tendency to seek out people like us. In a way that’s very good, because we need to have unity of faith, but in every other area it’s divisive and malignant. It’s important for us to realize that Paul had to deal with this issue in the 1st Century, so it should come as no shock that we still have to deal with it in the 21st. When we think of our physical bodies, the idea of just an eye rolling around, or an ear (how would it move?) is humorous, but we don’t apply that truth very well on a larger scale. Paul’s point is that individuals are necessary to each other, and differing churches are likewise necessary in God’s scheme of things. We are to rejoice in our diversity while maintaining unity of faith and love. Since we are the Body of Christ, our purpose is to do what He wants, and nothing less.

Since I am gifted over a wide spectrum (I qualified in every area when given aptitude tests by the Army) I have had trouble grasping the reality that I indeed need other people, besides my wife, that is. That has been a major hindrance to my ministry. Simply because I could, it seemed easier to do everything myself than to train others to do each part, and for many years that’s what I did. However, that makes for a very pastor-centered church with immature believers, and that’s exactly what I got. I certainly regret that now! The coaching seminars I’ve been attending for over a year now, with their emphasis on “The 7 Essences of the Church,” have pointed that out very clearly. As a matter of fact, I’ll be speaking on “Jesus-Centered” in the seminar that starts today, specifically from the standpoint of how hard I’ve found it to maintain that. When I’m focused on my abilities I’m not focused on Jesus, and that’s the root problem.

Father, thank You for pointing this out so clearly right now, when I’ve been unsure of exactly what I was to say in the seminar. I pray that everything about the seminar, and not just my session, may go exactly as You desire and intend, to build up the Body of Christ indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Spiritual Gifts; September 30, 2018

Posted on October 1, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 12:1 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.

This is one instance where I feel the Japanese really loses the flavor of what Paul said. In Japanese it says, “I want you to know the following things about spiritual gifts.” To me, the English word, ignorant, carries a much stronger feeling. We have a proverb in English, “Ignorance is bliss,” but Paul is saying that’s not the case. The majority of the Church was indeed ignorant of spiritual gifts for a long period, until God did a mighty work around the turn of the 20th Century. There were excesses, certainly, in the early Pentecostal Movement, but the biggest thing the “mainline churches” had against all of that was the dual issue of pride and control. “What do you mean, that we’re ignorant and you have something we don’t? That’s an insult!” The only issue of human control when it comes to spiritual gifts is whether we will receive and exercise them. Paul tells us to “Eagerly desire spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of prophecy,” (1 Corinthians 14:1) and he also tells us that “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.” (1 Corinthians 14:22) When we try to control the content of a spiritual gift, it immediately stops being genuine and becomes a fleshly, or even demonic, deception. Ignorance can be very dangerous indeed! As Paul stresses throughout this chapter and elsewhere, there is great variety in the work of the Holy Spirit, and each individual tends to respond a little differently on top of that. God loves unity, but not monotony! We need to press into Him to learn more and receive more of Him, but not think it’s going to be exactly the same as for someone else, whether we admire that other person or not.

I was introduced to the whole topic of spiritual gifts in 1973, and I have been learning ever since. At this point I feel my biggest issue is in failing to exercise the manifestation gifts that are mentioned in this chapter, and thus failing to encourage the believers in my care to seek and exercise what the Lord has for them. I honestly don’t know why things are as they are. I do exercise the gift of tongues frequently, but always in private. In the past I have been used fairly powerfully in prophecy, but I hardly ever prophesy overtly in this church. I’m concerned that is because I fear people and their reaction, knowing that “Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” (Mark 6:4) That’s no excuse not to speak out what God is saying! I feel that God does give me words of wisdom and of knowledge from time to time, and I certainly seek to preach prophetically every time I stand to do so, but that’s not the same as allowing God to address specific issues for specific people through me. Actually, I might be more prophetic than I realize, now that I think about it. I’m not to dictate how God speaks through me, but I am to strive to be available to Him at all times for whatever He wants to say or do, to build up the Body of Christ and draw people to Him, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and this encouragement. Help me leave control in Your hands, and be the steward that You want me to be of all that You pour into and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Discipline; September 29, 2018

Posted on October 1, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 11:31-32 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Every language has them, but there are certain elements of God’s truth that are hard to express in Japanese, just as there are elements that come across very clearly. This passage has two such problem points. In the first place, Japanese has trouble with the word, “discipline.” Japanese translations of the Bible render it as “training” or as “punishment,” as it is here. That makes for problems when I’m teaching parenting seminars, because I have to use a lot more words to express the concept. Likewise, “condemned” is translated, “convicted (pronounced guilty) of sin.” That’s in the ballpark, but you can’t say, “The health department condemned the building and it was torn down.” The point of this passage by Paul is that if we accept God’s course corrections, we won’t run off a cliff with the rest of the world. The church in Corinth is an excellent case in point. They had numerous problems, obviously, but they were still a vital, growing body, the kind that endured persecution and overcame the Roman Empire. God uses imperfect vessels, thankfully, but He doesn’t leave us as we are; He disciplines us.

This is something I teach on a great deal, in talking both about human parenting and about God’s parenting of us. The Japanese aren’t alone in failing to recognize discipline as love! As I have said, the very idea is hard to express in Japanese. Rather than parental discipline, Japanese tend to go for societal regimentation, expecting schools to do what the Bible says parents should do. (America is certainly moving that direction as well.) I well remember people telling us we were too hard on our girls, and then the next minute praising our girls for being so polite and well-behaved. We occasionally laughed over that! I am faced with that issue constantly as a pastor, and it is far more tricky than in the home, because the relationships aren’t as automatic. People have a hard time receiving correction as love! Spiritual parenting is called for in a biological family as well, but it is the whole deal when it comes to my dealing with the church. Obviously I can’t do it on my own; I’ve got to have the help of the Holy Spirit. My first response to every issue needs to be prayer, even if it’s just a reflexive “Help!” I need to accept God’s discipline myself even as I seek to communicate it to the flock. Awareness of my weaknesses should give me compassion in dealing with those of others, enabling me to speak the truth in love indeed. I don’t want anyone to run off the cliff!

Father, thank You for this reminder. There’s still so much I need to learn, and even more that I need to put into practice, rather than just deceiving myself. (James 1:22) Help me be both the son and the father You want me to be, toward You and toward all my children, both physical and spiritual, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Temptations and Trials; September 28, 2018

Posted on September 30, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

There is one huge difference between the Japanese and the English here, and that is that where the English says “temptation,” the Japanese says, “trial.” Not being fluent in Greek, I don’t know a reason for that from a strictly linguistic standpoint, but all three of the current Japanese translations render it that way, and English translations are likewise unanimous. It’s not that those two things aren’t related. An old Southern Gospel song starts off, “Tempted and tried, we often may wonder…” However, it seems to me that they aren’t the same thing. God provides a way of escape from temptations, but sometimes we simply have to go through trials. James 1:13 is very clear that God never tempts anyone, but the Bible is full of examples of God allowing trials, and even James, immediately before saying that God never tempts us, says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12) The problem in the Japanese Bible may be in the emotional baggage attached to the word, tempt, but I can’t be sure. I need to bring this up the next time the local pastors get together! As James points out, temptations are effective because of our fallen nature, which is why running like crazy is sometimes the very best response. That’s what Joseph did in Genesis 39, and he was rewarded for it, but he had to go through a trial in the process. If a particular situation is overly tempting, often we simply need to get out of that situation, even if it means quitting a job or otherwise facing financial loss. We need to be clear that trials are always preferable to irresistible temptation!

I have had temptations, certainly, and I have had trials. My response to each has not always been ideal, but God has always been gracious. As a pastor I need to help people with both trials and temptations, and to know the difference. You aren’t likely to be effective in standing against temptation if you think it’s a trial! Likewise, you aren’t as able to stand up under a trial if you think it’s something from which God is supposed to allow you to escape, as in this verse. I think I need to preach on this in the near future, but the Lord has already made it clear what I’m to speak on this coming Sunday, so I need to listen for His timing. Even this could be called a trial, but not a temptation! I’ve got to remember, and assure others, that God’s grace is always sufficient for us, regardless of the situation. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Father, thank You for this reminder. You show me so many mysteries, even as You have me speaking on this Sunday. May I indeed be a faithful steward of all that You provide, not just physical things but knowledge and wisdom and insight and everything else, so that those around me may be built up and You be glorified. Thank You. Praise God!

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Sex; September 27, 2018

Posted on September 29, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 7:4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.

This whole passage (1-16) is very real and down-to-earth. Paul isn’t embarrassed to talk about sex, but he doesn’t get too graphic with it. These days, the climate is such that a statement by a public figure that he was a virgin until well after high school was taken as a laugh line on a late-night TV show. One thing that stands out to me about Paul’s comments is the mutuality that is taken for granted. The first half of this verse probably causes a strong adverse reaction in some feminists, but it is followed with the second half, which probably comes as a surprise to many men. The Japanese translates this as the husband and wife each “not having authority over” their own body, because it belongs to the spouse. The implication is that each is expected to desire the other, and each is to be a source of pleasure for the other. When that becomes imbalanced, it is both a symptom and a cause of problems in other areas as well. God designed sex to be pleasurable for both partners on many levels, but when the physical is focused on to the exclusion of the emotional and even spiritual, everything falls apart. I do a lot of marriage counseling, and one thing I tell couples is that a wife who is emotionally fulfilled is going to fulfill her husband physically, and rejoice to do so, without exception. There are occasionally medical issues that interfere, but they are just a factor to be dealt with. Likewise, a husband who is respected and honored by his wife is going to have far less “performance problems” than someone who feels put down. Those factors aren’t at all limited to the bedroom! The thing is, God designed sex as “marital glue,” something to bind the husband and wife together in far more ways than just the physical. When sex is exercised outside of marriage, as it so often is today, that causes far more problems than even those involved realize. It’s not “politically correct” to say so, but studies have shown that the marital relationship is the single biggest factor in perception of happiness, for both men and women. “Sharing your body around” absolutely destroys that.

This is as close to home for me as it is for anyone. God in His grace knew how He had created me, and allowed me to marry at 20, for which I am deeply grateful. Cathy and I each had parents who exemplified both respect and romance, and that made us eager to have the same for ourselves. These days, many of our friends are amazed at the relationship we so obviously have: both respect and romance. In relation to this particular verse, I go by Cathy’s preferences in regard to my facial hair, for example, and I do my best to stay healthy, not for me but for her. She likewise makes it clear that she takes this verse seriously, which makes it all the easier for me to do so. I think all of this is what gives weight to the marriage counseling I do: I know what works, by personal experience. Personally, I am very thankful not to have been given the gift of celibacy that Paul had!

Father, thank You for Your incredibly gracious plan. So often we fail to believe Your plan is good, or that You even have one. I pray that I would be an effective channel of faith to those around me, enabling them to open their hearts to You to receive all that You intend for them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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God’s answer to Immorality; September 26, 2018

Posted on September 29, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This is the answer to all the LGBTQ people who are so offended by the Bible’s prohibitions of their activities. Every objective study has shown that immorality in general is detrimental to over-all happiness, and homosexual activity is particularly so. A simple look at suicide and depression rates will tell you that, but current political correctness won’t let even researchers interpret their data objectively. Because the answer to all such immorality is submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil fights tooth and nail to keep people in deception. The whole “born this way” movement is a prime example. Everyone is born with an inclination to sin, but no one is born homosexual, and the whole “transsexual” business is the worst sort of abuse. Those who are promoting it to ever younger children these days certainly deserve the millstone Jesus mentioned. (Matthew 18:6) There are all sorts of psychological tricks and traps the devil uses to snare us, but at best they are tragic deceptions. The good news is exactly what is stated in this verse: God can and does take even the most debased person who repents and clean them up, actually making them holy and righteous as they are reborn as His child by faith. Old habits sometimes die hard, but when we commit to Jesus as Lord, our fundamental nature is remade, and we are set free. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Even if you are convinced you were “born this way,” you can be reborn according to God’s original design, for your eternal blessing and His glory.

This is something I encounter constantly, because immorality is not only rampant, it is even accepted and expected. Weddings where both bride and groom – or even one of them – are virgin are rare indeed. I can’t change societal norms by myself, but I can proclaim the grace of God, and I must do so. I must be uncompromising in stating the truth of this passage as a whole (verses 9-20) but I must do so in love, always including this verse and the grace it represents. I am not immune to temptation myself, and never have been; I have no “high horse” from which to talk down to anyone. I am to be frank, not covering over God’s truth with political correctness, but always leading with God’s love. I am to remember that we live in a fallen world and not be surprised at anything, but at the same time not accepting things as they are as being as they should be. I am to be an open conduit of God’s truth and love, never sacrificing one for the other, so that people may be lifted out of the swamp of immorality to walk on God’s highway, (Isaiah 35:8) for their blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. This almost seems to be a “lost truth” in the world today. I do pray that Your name may be recognized as holy and Your kingdom come as Your will is done, in individual lives and in society as a whole, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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The Mysteries of God; September 25, 2018

Posted on September 28, 2018 by jgarrott

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

We often see and hear verse two quoted, and I’ve done it myself, but not often in tandem with verse one. We tend to apply this in blanket terms of stewardship, when here Paul is specifically addressing “the secret things of God.” We don’t often think in terms of “secret things” or “mysteries” in terms of God, but the Bible makes such references fairly frequently. So what are the mysteries of God? I would define them quite simply as those things that the human intellect can’t figure out for itself. Frankly, today we don’t like to admit there are things humans can’t figure out. Science has made great strides, especially in the last century or so, and things that were once science fiction are now commonplace – smartphones, for example. However, God is beyond all of that, and the very idea scares us. That’s why God has given us the Bible, as a reliable source of information about Him. Some of the things in the Bible seem only logical, but some are totally mind-blowing, when they are understood with all their implications. John 3:16 is a good example. It is perhaps the most popular verse in the whole Bible, but when you really grasp what it says, it trips all the circuit breakers in your mind. Why would the Creator love His creation so much that He would divide Himself to send His Son to take the penalty for His creatures’ sin and enable them to live eternally with Him? That is a mystery indeed! Actually, the Bible is full of such mysteries, but we often overlook them or else take them for granted. Neither of those responses is being a faithful steward. All Christians have been given some degree of understanding of the mysteries of God, or else they would not have made Jesus their Lord. That calls us all to be faithful with that knowledge, to share it with others so that they too may receive the eternal grace of our Creator. The more spiritual maturity we have, the more accountable we are to God for what we do with what He has poured out on us. The average person we encounter does not know things about God that we do, and we are responsible for sharing those things with them so that they too may repent and believe.

Wow! This just opened up a whole new perspective, not just on evangelism but on how to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I was raised in a thoroughly Christian home, steeped in prayer and the Bible from before my birth. I am a prime example of someone who tends to take the mysteries of God for granted. That’s not faithful stewardship! I do minister as a pastor in Japan, but I must keep seeking God for how He wants me to share what He has given me. I am all too guilty of what might be called “drive-by truth dumps.” I tend to state truth and then never follow up with helping people really grasp what I’ve just told them. God will call me to account for that. I’ve got to let Him show me the “teachable moments” He engineers, when people are ready to receive. In the conference that just ended, I was rather surprised to have several opportunities to share a Biblical perspective on marriage. That was entirely unexpected by me, but was planned by God. I need to be increasingly sensitive to such “divine appointments” so that I may be a good steward indeed, to the glory of God.

Father, thank You indeed for the many blessings of the past few days, and for the awareness that they are just part of the flow of what You are doing for and through us. Thank You for everything today will hold. May I be a good steward indeed, so that others too may receive Your mysteries with joy, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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