January 9, 2017

Posted on January 13, 2017 by jgarrott

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

A major advantage to reading the Bible in more than one language is the different nuances that come out. Where the NIV says “Devote yourselves to prayer,” the Japanese here says, “Pray without giving up.” The “giving up” here is the same phrase used in Isaiah 40:31 where the English says, “run and not grow weary.” To be honest, we get tired of praying, especially for the same things. Most often that’s from a lack of faith. When we don’t see the results we’re looking for immediately, we just give up. Jesus spoke to that directly in Luke 18:1-8, and Luke starts out his narration by saying, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1) Prayer is a mystery, because why should the Creator of the universe listen to us anyway? However, the Bible and experience both tell us clearly that He does listen, so we must never think otherwise. There are many kinds of prayer, but all of them, to be valid, have to be directed toward God in sincerity, or we’re just talking to ourselves. The interesting thing is, even then God is listening. I’ve had Him answer me very distinctly when I wasn’t praying consciously, but just thinking something. When God listens to us that closely, we have all the more reason to pray and not give up.

This could hardly be more applicable to me. After 35 years of ministry with few visible results, the temptation to give up is very real. At the same time, God has been doing some remarkable things recently, with the potential for many more. I am not to abdicate my responsibility or the authority I have been given in the name of Jesus, but rather exercise that authority to fulfill my responsibilities with joy, giving back to God all that He has placed in my hands. That means praying with faith and anticipation, expecting God to do something in keeping with His character even if it isn’t what I ask from my decidedly limited perspective.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the early morning prayer meeting that came in the middle of my writing this, with several of the participants in the conference gathering to focus on You outside in nature in the predawn darkness. Thank You for having me proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the wind and the waves when I walked down to the beach. Thank You for Your power that is infinitely greater than we can imagine. Help me keep my focus on You and walk that fine line between faith and presumption, not being passive or “entitled,” but trusting You completely, with full participation in what You are doing, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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January 8, 2017

Posted on January 13, 2017 by jgarrott

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

This is a beautiful, involved pastoral prayer, but with the conflict of languages, translations, and traditions, it’s very hard to pull out a section to write about! Even in English, traditional verse divisions often don’t match up to the sentence divisions in modern translations, and then with Japanese grammar it can become completely different still. However, this verse is reasonably self-contained, and it certainly has plenty of truth in it. In the first place, Paul didn’t stop praying for this group of believers after he heard about them through Epaphras. We tend to pray about something or someone once and then forget about it. That can sometimes be an expression of faith, but it is more often an expression of spiritual laziness. The movie, The War Room, is very good on that point. That said, what we pray for is very important. Paul knew how vital it is to know God and His will for us, so that is what he prays for these people, and by extension, for us. I like the turn of expression in the Japanese, where “understanding” is expanded to “strength (ability) to understand.” As the Bible makes clear in several places, and as our own experience will tell us, there are quite a few truths about God that we can’t really grasp without the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it’s always appropriate to pray for that help to be granted to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Doing so will improve our own ability to understand! God doesn’t want or intend for His will to be a mystery to any of us, so if we ask sincerely, He will answer.

As a pastor I should go back to do a study of Paul’s various pastoral prayers, and of course Jesus’ great pastoral prayer before His crucifixion. (John 17) I delight in prayer and don’t hesitate to pray, but I still have plenty of room to grow. It has been pointed out to me recently that I have responded to the stresses and pressures I feel by becoming less patient with those around me, and that’s not good at all. The more, and more accurately, I pray for people the more patient I will be with them, because I will be trusting God with them. If I fail to pray for them, my efforts at feeding them God’s truth will be less and less effective. I am to speak the truth in love, but such love will certainly express itself in prayer for them. Likewise, I need to be careful that my prayers don’t center on people’s relationship to me, but rather to God. Since ordaining an assistant pastor I’m not preaching every Sunday, and that feels strange. I’m to pray that people would receive God’s truth just as well through what he says as I pray that they will through what I say. From this evening I’ll be attending a three-day conference. I need to pray that everyone present would receive what God says to them through each person who speaks. I’m the MC for tonight’s session. My words and my bearing need to point people to God in worship, praise, and expectation, so that their hearts may be open to receive all that God wants to do in them.

Father, thank You for all You’re doing in me these days. Sometimes things come out about me that aren’t pretty. Thank You for exposing them so that I may repent and receive Your cleansing. May Your presence in the service here and in each session of the conference be clear and strong, touching each life and transforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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January 7, 2017

Posted on January 11, 2017 by jgarrott

Phil 4:4, 13 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This whole passage is dearly loved by many, and for good reason. The only problem is, much of it runs counter to our human nature. If we try to do all the things it tells us to do in our own strength, we quickly give up in despair, which is highly ironic when the first command is to rejoice! However, the key comes in verse 13, that is, it is God in us who enables us to do all these things. Some people take verse 13 as blanket enabling for anything that crosses their minds to do, but that is taking it out of context. What Paul is talking about is living as an obedient child of God. If that is our choice, then He will enable us to follow through in every detail. We won’t get it all right all the time by any means, but if He is our choice, then He will keep growing us to make us like Jesus. I keep coming back to the truth that what God asks for is our will, our choice. That’s why Jesus so famously told us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) That doesn’t apply just to the material provision He was talking about at the time, but to everything else in life as well.

I am in a practicum on this very point right now. I feel overwhelmed by all the different demands on me, while at the same time having various things I would like to do on my own. That generates resentment, and that’s poisonous. This is training in releasing both my circumstances and my desires to God and choosing to rejoice in Him. I can’t do it naturally, but I can do it in Christ. My flesh says, “But this is supposed to be my off season to do as I like!” The Holy Spirit within me says, “This is a time to grow and bear fruit.” That’s far the better option! I like to joke that the reason I stay so youthful (or so people tell me) is that I never mature. That had better be just a joke! Genuine maturity is hardly antithetical to cutting up and having fun, but it does tear down selfishness and resentment. Since selfishness never brings true happiness and resentment is poisonous, then I should submit myself fully to the Holy Spirit’s maturing work in me!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You are doing in and through me in these days. Help me indeed set aside my own agenda so that I may operate on Your schedule, doing Your will in Your way so as to produce Your results for Your glory. I know that is the way of greatest peace, joy, and satisfaction for me. Thank You. Praise God!

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January 6, 2017

Posted on January 9, 2017 by jgarrott

Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

For quite a few years now the attitude of so many Christians toward death has been a mystery to me, because it is so different from the one expressed here. Humanly, physically, it is natural to fear death, but for someone who has encountered the risen, living Savior, Paul’s attitude seems far more logical. This is not at all to say we are to seek physical death in any way; suicide is a horrible defeat before the deceptions of the devil. However, for anyone who is in Christ, physical death is a liberation, a graduation from all the struggles of this life into the incredible presence of our Lord in heaven. That is gain indeed, just as Paul says. Our problem is that we are so fixated on the material and the temporal that we can’t shift gears into the eternal. We are on this earth simply to get to know our Creator and learn to serve Him in love and fellowship. We will lose sight of that, or fail to see it in the first place, if we are fixated on earthly pleasures and things. For someone who is in Christ, death is a tragedy for those they leave behind, not for them personally. Funerals are for those left behind in any case, but for Christians they should be celebrations. I was once in charge of the music for the funeral of a lady over 100. She was technically a member of the church I pastored in Virginia, but she had lived with a daughter for many years and so had been associated with two other churches, and all three pastors took part in the service. I chose the liveliest, most joyful hymns I could find that she would have been familiar with, and afterward was thanked by many family members for such an enjoyable funeral that they were sure had delighted her. At that age that doesn’t seem so strange, but it should be the same even for a young person who is in Christ. We look at “lost potential,” but God is the judge of that, and we should trust Him.

When I got the news that my father had died at 64, my first, honest reaction was, “He won’t have to retire.” I knew he was very much NOT looking forward to that, since he would have had to leave Japan. That said, I grieved my own loss. At this point, I realize the impact my own departure would make on those around me, especially my wife, and I do my best to stay healthy, knowing that I have the same genetic makeup as my father and grandfather before me, who both died of heart problems. Like Paul, I need to focus on the “fruitful labor” the Lord has for me, spending each day in obedience to Him. Frankly, I am FAR more concerned about my wife’s passing than my own, but I am fully aware that is entirely selfish, particularly given her long list of physical problems. Also, she’s already been to heaven once and come back, so I know from her own report that insisting on her resurrection would be downright cruel! As long as I am on this earth, I am to seek to bring as many people as possible to the same assurance I have, so that death may indeed have no more dominion, for the glory of God. (Romans 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:55-56)

Father, thank You for this reminder. These days I’m spending a lot of time with a very frail 79-year-old, and we are moving toward building an assisted living facility, so this sort of thing is very much in my awareness. Help me indeed get as many as possible into right relationship with You, so that they too may look forward to standing in Your presence, for Your glory now and throughout eternity. Thank You Hallelujah!

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January 5, 2017

Posted on January 9, 2017 by jgarrott

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

This is a marvelous promise that we often forget, in relation to ourselves and in relation to others. We may have trouble finishing what we start, but God has no such difficulty. This isn’t to say that no one ever gets off track and suffers for it, but it is to say that the final outcome is always in God’s hands. We sometimes despair over our own lack of progress, as we see it, but the very fact that we’re upset about it is clear proof that God is still working in us. We also get upset about those we care about failing to walk in fellowship with the Lord they profess. We can’t change them directly, but by praying for them and speaking the truth in love, we can be God’s instruments for the work that He is doing in them, as this verse talks about. The Bible leaves no room for complacency, for taking things for granted, but it also makes it very clear that God is God, and totally to be trusted. What He asks of us is our will, the choice to turn to Him in love and obedience. The stronger that choice, the more we are aware of the many ways in which we fall short of perfection. This verse should comfort everyone who finds himself in that situation.

As a pastor, I need to remind myself of this truth in relation to those under my care. I’ve got to remember that I can’t carry them in my own strength, and I’m not supposed to. God is able to bring to completion what He has begun in them. If it’s something I’ve done, then it’s meaningless in the first place. Part of my problem in ministry is plotting in my own mind what the best course for a particular person would be, and then trying to make that happen. That’s doomed to failure, for them and for me! I’ve got to be active in placing everyone and everything in God’s hands, while keeping myself available for however God wants to use me in what He is doing. I am never to excuse sin, in myself or in others, but I am to forgive. I am not to ignore others, but neither am I to allow people to monopolize me and keep me from tasks the Lord has for me. Recently a great deal of my time has been taken up with helping a particular person. That isn’t bad, but the Lord reminded me this morning of some other things that have to be taken care of that I’ve been letting slide. What God is doing in me includes accurate time allocation and faithfulness in follow-through. I’m not to be anxious about any of it, but remember that God is indeed faithful to complete what He has begun.

Father, thank You for all You enabled us to get done yesterday. There’s a lot on the schedule for today as well. Help me not panic about any of it, but do each step in turn, not relying on my own understanding but listening obediently to You every moment. May I be a pure, open channel of Your grace and love in all that You allow me to do, so that Your work may be advanced not only in me but in everyone around me as well, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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January 4, 2017

Posted on January 8, 2017 by jgarrott

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We are so quick to forget that our struggle isn’t against human beings. Sadly, human beings are often used by the powers of evil, but they are not our actual enemies. Keeping that in focus is actually very powerful spiritual warfare, because people don’t know what to make of those who won’t hate them when they’ve been given every reason to do so. We don’t act that way naturally. Jesus’ words about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44) have been dismissed as impractical idealism by many over the years, but if it is our choice to do as Jesus said, God will enable us to follow through and do it. We need to be aware that the same forces that make bad use of the people around us also war directly against our own souls, and we are as capable of hurting others as they are of hurting us. Yielding to such forces never benefits anyone. Even those in law enforcement or the military who are called on directly to take the lives of others should be praying for those they have to kill, without being paralyzed by doubt when the moment comes. The whole matter of self defense comes in here too. In addition to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also said that if his disciples didn’t have a sword, to sell their cloak and get one. (Luke 22:36) Physical response to physical attack is not wrong, but the spiritual battle is at the root of it all, and we must not forget that.

This again is close to home. I have been strongly tempted to despise the owner of the land next door because of how he has acted, really throughout the time we have known him. However, he has been shaped – deformed – by the one who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, (John 10:10) and the landowner is not my enemy. I am to pray, as I have been doing, that his interaction with us would open his eyes to the reality of a God who loves us all, so that he too would open his heart to receive that love. I realized quite a few years ago that he was a wounded and scarred individual, though I have no idea what events contributed to that. I am to pray for him not only to do what God desires – which will benefit me – but to repent and believe for his salvation, which will benefit him and cause rejoicing in heaven. (Luke 15:7)

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You have on our slate for today. May I go through today seeing each individual as someone Jesus died for, allowing Your love to flow through me to them, so that all the forces of evil may be defeated indeed and many brought to light and life in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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January 3, 2017

Posted on January 8, 2017 by jgarrott

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

It is entirely appropriate that Paul would pray this after what he has just prayed for his readers, because what he has just prayed is impossible from a strictly human standpoint. However, it is to God’s glory that His Spirit, love and power indwell those who are His children by faith. It is passages like this that make Ephesians my favorite book in the whole Bible (though that’s a pretty fierce competition). I think the same could have been said of my maternal grandfather, W. O. Carver, who wrote what many feel was his best book, The Glory of God and the Christian Calling, on this letter of Paul. Ephesians was written late in Paul’s life, but not at a point when he was sharply aware of his imminent martyrdom. It distills much of what he had heard and learned of/from the Lord throughout his life, without being too tied to local conditions and events of those to whom it was written. (There is valid discussion as to whether it was originally written just to Ephesus, or whether it was written to a number of churches and the one to Ephesus just happens to be the one that was best preserved.) It focuses in on our relationship to God: what He has done for us in Christ and how we should be living that out in our daily lives. As such it is an excellent tool in accomplishing exactly what Paul prays for here, because the more we internalize the truths it holds, the more we will grasp the magnificence of what God has done for us and the more we will walk that out daily, for His glory.

As familiar as this book is to me, I still can’t say I live it out 100% in every situation. I would do well to meditate on it more, perhaps even memorizing it in both of the languages I use on a daily basis. However, even memorization doesn’t necessarily mean application. I must not deceive myself by loving the words without living them out. (James 1:22) This particular snippet is very important to remember: God is able to do more than I can ask or imagine. Recently He has been doing some fairly remarkable things that we really didn’t know to ask for, and He is going to do far more. I am never to underestimate God! I have been overwhelmed at times by the volume and variety of what felt like demands on me, but however impossible it might be for me to answer all of those on my own, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) I am too prone to limit God by looking at people and circumstances strictly through the filter of my own abilities. That’s downright laughable! I must remember that God is GOD, for crying out loud! As the Bible says repeatedly, “impossible” simply doesn’t apply to Him. For example, I was telling some people just the other day how He got Cathy and me together, and I had to say that the story would be ridiculed as the plot of a movie as simply too improbable. I need to remember such things in my own life, even, and expect Him to continue to do more than I could ever ask or imagine.

Father, thank You for this encouraging reminder. I’ve got quite an imagination, but it doesn’t begin to approach Your plans for me and for this church. May I be yielded to You joyfully at all times, to be completely available for You to do in and through me all that You plan and desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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January 2, 2017

Posted on January 6, 2017 by jgarrott

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Paul’s various prayers recorded in his letters are excellent examples for us to follow in how to pray for each other. It is when our prayers are in line with God’s will that we can have full assurance that they will be granted, and nothing could be more in line with God’s will than what is expressed here. God wants us to know Him, or He would never have sent His Son to let us know what He is like. However, God is so far beyond us that it takes the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to get a handle on Him at all, and that’s what this is talking about. Everything else flows from knowing God, so that’s where we need to start. The rest of this prayer could be said to be an amplification of what is actually included in this one verse. We come to know God through His Word, through our experiences, and through the testimony of others, but in all of that we need the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit or we are entirely likely to misinterpret things. We need to ask, for ourselves and for others, that God would pour out His Holy Spirit, who provides the wisdom and revelation we need to grasp who God is, what He has done for us, and who we are in Him.

As a pastor I am constantly praying some variation of this prayer for the people in my care, but it would probably be helpful for me to come back to this specific passage and appropriate these words as my own prayer. It breaks my heart to see people decline the riches God has provided for them, stumbling along in poverty of spirit, seeking to fill the void in their life with things and feelings rather than with God Himself. I need to pray this prayer for them, because it’s for sure I can’t give them wisdom and revelation on my own! I delight to share the Word with people, but I desire even more that they learn to take it in for themselves, and choose to do so regularly. However, I have tried until I was blue in the face to get people to develop a regular habit of personal devotions, and have simply proved that I can’t force anyone to do anything. However, I can pray for them, and I must do so faithfully. God has proved time and time again that nothing is impossible for Him, so I need to pray with assurance and joy for His will to be done.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the good service yesterday and for the Word You spoke through me. I pray that we would all rejoice to be chosen by You and respond with both gratitude and obedience, so that we may welcome Your Spirit and allow You to transform us into the children and servants You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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January 1, 2017

Posted on January 6, 2017 by jgarrott

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

It’s interesting that I was so sure we had used this verse as the verse for the year not that long ago, but we can find no record of that having been the case. It may be because it comes out so long in Japanese that I had avoided it, choosing shorter verses instead. I am of course preaching on this verse this morning, but there is so much here it looks like a series to me. The focus for this morning’s message is on the fact that we are chosen. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” (John 15:16) We may question His wisdom in choosing us, but it’s not up to us. Paul wrote at length about God’s choosing in Romans 9, but in the end it remains rather a mystery to us because of our being in the flow of time and God being outside of it, having created time in the first place (since time can’t exist without matter). Because God sees everything at once, He knows who chooses to follow Him and who chooses either to ignore or to rebel against Him, but that doesn’t mean He forces us into those choices. That’s what predestination and free will are all about. We get caught in traps of human logic when we try to think about that too deeply, because this also touches on the whole area of prayer, and why it makes any difference to pray. We have to come back down out of the clouds of philosophy into the “real world” of our experience, simply because we are not outside of time, and so have no real vocabulary even to think about it clearly. We tend to think about God’s choosing as a matter of discarding the ones not chosen, but those have eliminated themselves from God’s choice by their own choices. That’s not to say they have deliberately chosen against God, but rather that they have chosen all sorts of things instead of God. Jesus’ statement and Peter’s statement do not eliminate human responsibility and accountability.

I see that I’m faced with quite a challenge in communicating this clearly and simply this morning! I need to focus on what Peter and Jesus said was the purpose of God’s choosing: that we may declare His praises and so bear much fruit. As a pastor I am involved in far more than just my own choosing/being chosen, but I’ve got to remember that it is ultimately not up to me, it is up to God. I can do spiritual warfare on behalf of people so that they may have a clear path to escape the devil’s traps, but it is up to them as to whether they take that path. I am to provide nourishment for the flock, (John 21:15-17) but I cannot force them to eat and drink. God knows how they will respond, which is part of His choosing. I am not to write people off, but I am to yield them to God. I am not to be proud of having been chosen, but I am to urge others to allow themselves to be in that category as well.

Father, thank You for this Word, for today and for this year. I can see that I really need Your wisdom and guidance as to what to say and how to say it in the message this morning, or I will leave people terribly confused. May I speak Your words in the power of Your Spirit to that Your will may be accomplished, in individual lives, in this church, in this city, in this nation, on earth as it is in heaven, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 31, 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by jgarrott

Lamentations 3:25-26 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

Any time we read Lamentations it’s important to remember the horrendous circumstances under which it was written. Modern warfare can certainly be horrible, but precisely because they didn’t have guns and explosives back then, war was intensely personal. In most cases you saw the person who killed you, which is the opposite of today’s drone strikes. Jeremiah had lived through that, and he was faced with the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem after a very long siege. Detailing the horrors he experienced isn’t perhaps necessary, but we do need to have some sort of grasp of the level of faith expressed in this third chapter. We need to let the truth expressed here work its way into our hearts and minds so that we can have peace and stability regardless of what is going on around us. That is a treasure indeed!

What we have gone through in the past month is no comparison to the horrors of war, but it has been training in faith nonetheless. We have been faced with seemingly insurmountable circumstances one after another, and have seen the Lord get us through them. Last night I called the owner of the land next door to give him a report on all we are doing to move forward toward getting through all the red tape involved in our purchasing the land, and he spent virtually the entire call emphasizing how it was hopeless for us. I stood firm, without lashing out at him more than to say at one point that he had already made himself very clear, but at the end of the call I was tied in knots, to put it lightly. However, just a few minutes later he called me back and said that he was working on what amounts to an end run around the regulations about the sale of agricultural land, applying to get it re-zoned as non-agricultural. He emphasized that such applications are rarely approved, but it is certainly true that the land in question has not been used for agriculture since the end of WWII at least. If that application is approved, then he can simply sell the land to the church, no questions asked, and what we do with the land after that is entirely our business, with no time pressure. That would be welcome indeed! However, my focus isn’t to be on the land, the owner, the bureaucracy, or any plans involving all of that. My focus is to be on my Lord, who owns it all and has it all under control. On this last day of the year I need to remind myself and others of the goodness of God, and place my hope and my expectation entirely in Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I ask for guidance, wisdom and strength for all that today holds. Help us get each thing done in turn, leading up to a very blessed Watch Night Service tonight. May we all focus our hearts and our minds on You, allowing You to do in and through us all that You desire and intend, so that we may be prepared for all that You have for us in the new year, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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