April 19, 2916

Posted on April 20, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Chronicles 7:2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it.

I find myself longing for this to happen again. Religion tends to be so man-centered, and this was a powerful reminder that true religion isn’t about man, it’s about God. I have read of times when God’s glory was manifested in a worship setting. There was an incident a few years ago when a heavy Plexiglass pulpit split in the middle of a worship service, and those present were flattened under the weight of God’s presence, but such things are certainly rare, and are quickly forgotten by practically everyone. Without an awareness of the presence, holiness and power of God, church gatherings degenerate into social and political affairs, with people posturing before one another as they go through the motions of worship. That is tragic! The evidence of that is all too evident in the watered-down theology and morality of so many churches today. God does not accept such “worship”! Most of us are included in what Jesus said to Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) Our awareness of God is more by faith than by experience. Jesus said that was blessed, but it’s not always easy! However, if our faith leads us to an expectation of God’s presence we will experience it, even if it’s not as dramatic as what happened at the dedication of the temple. We know God not because of external events but by His presence within us, even in very undramatic circumstances.

I have experienced God’s presence powerfully a number of times, but never with fire, smoke, or a split pulpit. However, they have been enough that I am more convinced that God is real than that I am. I exist because of Him; it’s not the other way around. That’s a real blessing. However, I deal with people all the time who don’t have that assurance, even though they want to believe. There is no way I can force them to experience God, which is why I wish for Him to do something dramatic to demonstrate Himself. However, I can teach people to get into the Word in all humility and expectation, because that is where I have met Him more than in any other way. If we depend on dramatic incidents, our faith will fade along with those memories. If we renew our experience of God daily through prayer and reading the Bible, it will be fresh and strong and carry us through anything we might experience. I talk with people about this, but they generally fail to gain a sense of urgency about it. What a waste! I am to pray and to preach and especially to train people to this end, walking them through the process so that they will grasp that God really is speaking to them, so that they may value opening up to hear His voice and rejoicing in fellowship with Him.

Father, last week it was late in the week when You gave me the Sunday message, but You’ve done it early this week! Thank You. I pray that Your words would flow through me in Your power to open the eyes and hearts of all who hear, giving them a hunger for daily fellowship with You so that they may commit themselves to it and to You, and thus allow You to transform them into the children that You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 18, 2016

Posted on April 19, 2016 by jgarrott

1 Chronicles 29:14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

I think the fundamental key to David being a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) was his humility before God. He was totally bold from youth, as is evidenced by his encounter with Goliath, which was preceded by encounters with lions and bears, but he knew that everything he had was from God. Just yesterday I preached on self-confidence (which in Japanese is a homophone for earthquake). To outside observers, David probably seemed very self-confident, but this verse shows that he was not. He did get into real trouble when he took his eyes off of God, but he was deeply, fundamentally, aware that he was totally dependent on God. The world today ridicules that attitude. Of the current candidates for President of the United States, only one seems to display that attitude, but most of the world doesn’t seem to notice. That’s not a valued attribute in most people’s opinion. How sad, and potentially disastrous! These days self-promotion seems to be the key, and some of the most famous people got that way by throwing themselves into the gutter, so to speak, just to get noticed, and now they are famous for being famous. How pathetic! David here states truth we all need to remember, however much the world tells us to forget it.

I have been greatly blessed, but there is no question in my mind that it is all grace, and not something I have worked up. For example, you don’t get to choose your own IQ! That means that the big issue for me, as it actually is for everyone, is stewardship. Since everything I have comes from God, how does He want me to use it? That applies to finances, as David was dealing with in this verse, but it also deals with every other detail of my life. I am to have a clear-eyed assessment of what is available to me, and I am to make the use that God intends of every bit of it. That applies down to every second of the day. Life is measured in time, and since my life is a gift from God, my time is to be returned to Him by being used as He intends and desires. The next four months look to be very busy, and I tend to stress out at that. Rather than stress out, I am to consciously give each minute back to God, since He gave it to me in the first place, and not resent what I have to do or what I don’t get to do. I belong to Him, so it’s His business, and I am to be grateful.

Father, thank You for this very timely reminder. Today’s schedule looks very full, with my nursing school classes starting back up today and various other things. Help me rest, relax, and rejoice in You each minute of today, letting Your love and grace flow through me to all I encounter, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 17, 2016

Posted on April 19, 2016 by jgarrott

1 Chronicles 5:20 He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.

This is a very simple, very fundamental principle of prayer: you need to trust the One to whom you pray. The Japanese translates this verse as “depend on,” which is the same thing in this context. James puts it this way: “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7) Faith can be a tricky thing. There is great power in faith, but if we have faith in faith, rather than in God Himself, everything goes wrong. That’s the problem with the “name it and claim it” people: their focus is on faith itself, rather than on God. That said, a great deal of prayer tends to be just wishful thinking, without any real faith associated with it. We are back to the cry of the father of the epileptic boy: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) Faith itself is a gift from God, (Ephesians 2:8) but it is a gift we must choose to accept. There are countless testimonies down through history of the remarkable things that have happened when people have simply chosen to trust God, and I think this verse is one of those.

I have seen God’s hand work so many times that I ought to have completely rock-solid faith, but it is still a choice I must make. It does get easier with practice! This morning as I rode around to the different churches in town to pray blessing on each one, as I do every Sunday morning, God spoke to me through the two churches that display their sermon titles were they can be read from the road. At the first church I went to the title was, “Feed my sheep.” (The Japanese for that verse says, “Shepherd my sheep.) The second was, “I won’t give up.” (Conversely, that could be rendered, “Don’t give up.”) I’ve been pastoring this flock for 32 years now. We have none of the original members, and have an average stay of only a few years, with Cathy and me being the only constants. At past 65, the temptation to say “That’s it. I’m retiring,” is real. We do have real potential for a successor at this point, but dumping everything on him and walking off is not an option. That’s why those sermon titles were a Word to me. I’ve got to keep my eyes on Jesus, trusting and obeying Him, just as I’ve told others to do for all these years. God isn’t through with me here, and I’ve got to choose to trust Him in that.

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. Help me look to You consistently enough that Your faithfulness will be manifested in and through me. May I indeed shepherd Your sheep as You desire, not as though they were my property but as a good steward of what is Yours, so that they may be nurtured and grown and matured to be all that You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 16, 2016

Posted on April 17, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Kings 20:6 “‘I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.'”

We view things through the lens of time, but God sees everything all at once. David had no idea that his faithfulness would bring an extra 15 years of life to one of his descendants and delay the downfall of Jerusalem. We tend to think we are living for ourselves and that our choices and actions affect only ourselves, but nothing could be further from the truth. We especially have no idea what effect our failures to act have on the world. That child we didn’t have might have been an inventor or a doctor or simply a really good, kind person who helped many. That word of warning we didn’t speak might have prevented a whole train of heartbreak. Of course we have the possibility of seeing the ripples of the words and actions we do take, but often they too escape our notice. Several years ago I was talking with a pastor whom I didn’t remember meeting before, and he said that some years previously I had said something to him in private conversation that had impacted his entire ministry since then, and he was grateful. Right now I don’t even remember what he said I told him! If we get paranoid about this sort of thing it can paralyze us, but steering clear of that, it is good to remember that God can and will use us in ways we can’t imagine, if we will be available and yielded to Him.

My own life is an echo of generations of people who loved and served God, and I am deeply grateful. Like David and Hezekiah, God has protected and blessed me on account of them. At the same time, I am fully responsible for the use I make of the opportunities I am given, so that they too may echo down through time. I recently got a call asking me to participate in the Centennial celebrations for Seinan University in Fukuoka on May 14th. I checked my calendar and found I had a wedding scheduled for that day, but since I haven’t done the counseling for it yet, I was able to call and cancel. I will be participating in the Centennial not for my own sake, but to honor my parents. The school as a whole was founded in 1916 by C. K. Dozier, but after WWII my father founded the University Department. I was an infant at the time, but I will be going to the ceremonies for my parents rather than for myself. Since my parents were very clear about their own commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and to sharing Him with the Japanese people, it is possible my presence will trigger memories in someone to draw them to Christ, or else the Lord may allow me to speak words, either in public or in private, that will have that effect. In any case, my task is to be available. Of course, that isn’t limited to special events like the Centennial; I am to be available at all times. It is God’s business what He does with the ripples from my words and actions, but I’ve got to be willing to make the splash.

Father, this isn’t something I’ve been thinking about, but it’s certainly important. I see so many people who think they are living only for themselves, with no grasp at all of the ripple effect they are having. I ask You to use me to open the eyes of the Christians especially, so that they may broaden their hearts to be intentional as Your agents, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 15, 2016

Posted on April 17, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Kings 19:19 “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

Hezekiah had his head and his heart on straight. Faced with an existential threat from one of the major tyrants of world history, he turned fully to God. He didn’t ignore circumstances: he acknowledged that Sennacherib in his conquests had destroyed numbers of local deities, just as the letter boasted, but his focus was on the Creator of the universe, not some human creation. We don’t have a very good grasp of his situation emotionally, because few of us are in that sort of a polytheistic society. However, we also tend to fail to have as complete trust in God as Hezekiah did. As came up in yesterday’s reading, we tend to turn to anything but God, and we certainly suffer for it. If God’s people would depend more fully and clearly on Him, then those who don’t yet know Him would be more likely to pay attention when we tell them about Him. As it is, much of the world considers religion peripheral to life at best, which is why they are so mystified at Muslim extremists: they can’t imagine why anyone would take any religion that seriously. Christians serve a very different God from terrorists, but their dedication should be no less.

I had a very interesting “wake-up call” on this issue just last night. At 9:26 I discovered that my cell phone’s emergency warning system works, when it suddenly gave off a siren noise and then a voice said, “This is an earthquake. This is an earthquake.” That removed any question as to what the shaking I was feeling might be! I had been in the middle of writing an email, so I completed that and then went to turn on the TV to check the news, discovering that it had been a magnitude 6.4, centered a few hundred kilometers away from us. We had some after-shocks, and then at 10:06 another pretty strong one. We did go to bed after that, but experienced several more after-shocks, as well as a text message from a friend checking on us that woke us up. All in all an interesting night! That certainly wasn’t in the class of Sennacherib threatening to wipe out the nation, but it was a reminder that our trust must be in God, the Maker of heaven and earth, rather than in anything less. Thankfully there seems to have been very little real damage from this earthquake, but it could easily have been otherwise. I need to remember, and to tell others, that we are all totally dependent on the grace of God, so that more people may turn to Him in repentance and faith.

Father, thank You for last night. It’s the strongest I’ve ever felt, even though it wasn’t damaging around here. Help me make full use of everything You allow us to experience to point others to You, so that they may have every opportunity to receive Your salvation, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 14, 2016

Posted on April 17, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Kings 19:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.

Hezekiah’s first response to the devastating threats of the Assyrians was to humble himself before God. As events bore out, that was definitely the right thing to do! We don’t have the custom of tearing garments and wearing sackcloth as signs of distress today, so the idea of going to church wearing burlap seems pretty strange to us, but it was the culture of that day, and the Lord received it. Hezekiah needed a specific, and not just a general, word of encouragement, so it is also very appropriate that he sent people to Isaiah. Isaiah obviously had a pretty well established reputation as a prophet at this time, and as such was an appropriate intermediary between the king and God. How different history would be if even Christian national leaders called on tested pastors in times of national emergency! However, even in England, where there isn’t any legal separation of Church and State, that hasn’t happened very often. We tend to rely on merely human solutions as we desperately try to figure things out, and the result is never as good as if we had acted as Hezekiah did. The world is in a real mess right now, with predictions of economic collapse in every corner of the globe, on top of the huge problem of Islamic activity on every side. Human solutions just don’t work, as all the machinations of the IMF and the Federal Reserve Bank demonstrate. What is called for is the faith and humility Hezekiah demonstrated, so God’s people need to get serious about praying for that to happen.

Of course I’m talking to myself here. I’ve experienced God’s provision so thoroughly that the “economic collapse” business doesn’t worry me so much, but there’s plenty of stuff to stir me up. I myself need to be humble before God, and I need to pray consistently and persistently for a spirit of humility and repentance to come on national and world leaders. Such a spirit doesn’t come naturally to them! I need to pray for God’s people to wake up, stand up, and live as God’s agents, His representatives, in all purity and power, instead of being thoroughly compromised with the world, as the majority are now. In military terms, when an installation has been compromised it means that the enemy has gotten in and the defenses are nullified. That is exactly what has happened to the Church. As we pray for leaders who are submitted to God, we need to check our own level of submission and obedience. As Jesus said, genuine love for Him means doing what He has said. (John 14:15) Rather than just saying we love God, we need to live it out every day, in every area of our lives.

Father, I have grown in my obedience, but I’m certainly not perfect, as You know better than I do. Help me walk in consistent humility and loving obedience to You at all times, not relying on human solutions to things, especially not my own, but seeking Your plan, Your solution to everything, so that Your will may be done on every level, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 13, 2016

Posted on April 14, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.

Reading this story again, I really think the Star Wars people may have gotten some of their inspiration from it, because what follows this seems like a “Jedi mind trick” to me! The whole point of this story is that spiritual reality is not usually visible to the natural eye, and that’s important to remember. I have a feeling that from the point he saw Elijah taken up to heaven (2 Kings 2) Elisha operated more and more in the spirit realm, and not just in the natural. As such, he should be a model and an inspiration to all believers today, because we are to walk by the Holy Spirit, and not by the merely natural. (Romans 8:4) However, it goes without saying that such living doesn’t “come naturally” to us! Rather, we need to be active in our pursuit of God, choosing Him in preference to other things, filling our minds and hearts with His Word and listening humbly to Him. If we will do that, our eyes too will be opened, and we will see what is really going on around us, just as Elisha’s young servant did.

I find that I pray for people’s eyes to be opened at least as much as I pray for anything else, because I am constantly astonished at how blind people are to spiritual reality. I’m not talking about horses and chariots of fire, but rather of the very fundamental issues of right and wrong, of light and darkness, of life and death. That sometimes creates a real communication gap, because I’ll be talking about things that seem perfectly obvious to me and get blank stares in return. That makes me cry out, Lord, open their eyes! However such “enlightenment” (for once the Buddhists have a pretty good word for it) seldom happens as instantly as it did in this story. I need to remember the path that I have come and exercise toward others the patience that has been shown to me, aware that I continue to have areas of blindness myself. This has been the experience of God’s people down through the ages, and I’ve got to trust Him with the process. That’s not at all to say that I’m to be passive, but rather that I must remember that I can’t force anyone to open their eyes; I’ve got to speak the truth in love and allow the Holy Spirit to do the illuminating.

Father, it is so encouraging to me when people say things that show they are starting to see. Keep me from being discouraged at how far between such incidents can be, but rather stay faithful to You myself, continuing to press into You to be available for however You desire to use me, for the salvation of others and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 12, 2016

Posted on April 14, 2016 by jgarrott

2 Kings 4:30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

This is a very touching story, and an instructive one to us today. The woman being given a child in the first place was a response to her generosity that really wasn’t seeking a reward. That should be an encouragement to us all that, though we aren’t to serve God for the sake of the rewards, our labor won’t go unrewarded. (1 Corinthians 15:58) The second point in the story is that God didn’t tell Elisha immediately what the woman’s immediate problem was right here; he had to deduce it himself from what she said. God does expect us to use the brains he gives us! The third point is in this verse itself: This woman knew she had no solution to her problem, but that if God could give her a child miraculously, then He should be able to raise him from the dead, and Elisha was His servant. He was her only hope. That’s actually pretty clear thinking. Today we tend to cling to medicine or to any of a number of other things rather than to God Himself, who might or might not make use of any or all of those things. What Elisha did for the boy when he got to him has been described as “CPR” by some people, but the time lapse was too great for science alone to account for his recovery; it had to be God. I have read stories just recently of several people who medically had been dead too long to be resuscitated without major brain damage, but who came through without a hitch. God is still in the miracle business!

I’ve seen some miracles, but not a resurrection – yet! Recently my wife has been experiencing rapid recovery from multiple major surgeries, but nothing that would be called miraculous as such. However, I found out just yesterday that her rapid recovery has been discussed among the staff at the rehabilitation center where she goes for her Parkinson’s Disease, and the man who has known us longest said, “It’s because God is with her.” It made me very happy to hear that! Unfortunately, since Japan describes itself as “the land of 8 million gods,” the average Japanese might take that as, “A god is with her.” That wouldn’t do them very much good. However, most of the miracles in the Bible were in a polytheistic context, so I shouldn’t let it discourage me. I need to remain faithful, and make it clear that every good thing that people see in me is because of the Creator of the universe, who loved us all enough to send His Son to die for our sins so that we might live in Him.

Father, I do have the reputation of being Your servant, but I still haven’t seen many people committing themselves to You in faith. I have no idea what the solution is, but I offer myself to You for You to use me however You like, to draw as many as possible into Your family, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 11, 2016

Posted on April 12, 2016 by jgarrott

1 Kings 19:4 He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

This should be an enormously comforting passage to every true servant of God. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets, who appeared with Moses to consult with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, (Matthew 17:1-9) and yet he was so human as to be subject to a depressed pity party. Thankfully he wasn’t to the point of actively taking his own life, but he certainly wanted to die. The cause was very simple: he had relaxed his guard and taken his eyes off of God, putting them instead on himself and his circumstances. Even the situation was common enough: right after a major triumph. Some might try to peg him as bipolar, but I think such labels are greatly overused; everyone has ups and downs. One of his problems was that he didn’t have a real support structure, people to come alongside and keep him from the emotional isolation that can be so deadly. The story as a whole shows us that despite all these things, the Lord got through to him, encouraged him, and continued to use him. The solution to such problems is always to shift our focus from ourselves and our circumstances onto God. Sometimes that’s not easy, but habit can be a big help. If we make it a regular practice to start each day focused on God rather than on all we have to do, correcting focus when we get distracted becomes much easier. We are no better than Elijah, certainly, and even Jesus got up early to spend time with His Father. Regular devotional time with God is not an obligation, it is a privilege and a necessity, and often a life saver.

I am definitely personally familiar with depression. When I was a teenager I called such episodes “pink-and-purple-polka-dotted-funks,” to distinguish them from normal “blue funks.” In college I tried to commit suicide through auto-hypnosis (I had become quite proficient in hypnosis in high school) but the Lord stopped me. Since I have no fear of death itself, suicidal thoughts have come to me many times over the years. However, I have come to realize that suicide is the ultimate self-centered act, which is what makes it sinful. Everyone is born essentially self-centered (though recent studies have shown that altruism is also innate). Perhaps that’s a component in “original sin.” At any rate, yielding to that impulse eventually deprives us of everything genuinely good in life, but we are generally slow to realize that. According to Jesus, both the first and the second Great Commandments are other-centered, loving God first and then loving our neighbor. (Matthew 22:37-40) As a pastor I try to get this across to people, but I have very mixed success at it. Yesterday one person gave me feedback from the message that was encouraging. I must never give up, but keep my own focus first on God and then on those to whom He allows me to minister, so that He may use me to draw them to Himself as well.

Father, thank You for loving and using us in spite of our weaknesses. I pray that Your Spirit through me would cause more and more people to wake up and see through the deceptions of the devil, to walk in all that You intend for them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 10, 2016

Posted on April 12, 2016 by jgarrott

1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.

This story is one of the most dramatic scenes in the whole Bible, and that’s really saying something. However, the question that Elijah asked the people is one that really needs to be put to a lot of people today. In traditionally Christian countries, vast numbers of people go through the motions without having any real faith, and so are easily distracted by their flesh and the world. I personally know someone who became a missionary, and then discarded Christianity and is now a Buddhist priest. He knew the culture well enough to fool the mission board, saying all the right words, but he didn’t, and doesn’t, have a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord. I won’t go into what I think induced him to abandon true life, which is found in Christ alone, but sadly, he has a lot of company. The devil is a skilled liar, and he plays on human weaknesses all too well. The saddest thing is, though the people Elijah addressed came back to the Lord after fire fell from heaven, Revelation indicates that many will refuse to do so even with such signs as that. God is incredibly patient and merciful, but we must still face the consequences of our choices.

One of the biggest heartaches for any pastor is when people who have seemed to be genuine turn their backs on Christ. One particular young man stands out in my memory. He seemed very much on fire for the Lord, but when his father developed cancer and was not completely healed (though he lived several years despite having been given six months from the original diagnosis) the son decided it was all a lie (under the strong influence of his mother). We tend to do what he did, setting up tests for God and then if He doesn’t pass them, in our judgment, we abandon Him. How incredibly foolish! However, I know I am capable of that or worse, so I must not look down on people who are so deceived. I am to welcome whatever signs God provides and give Him glory for them, but not make my faith and obedience dependent on signs I set up in my mind. I need to be like Daniel’s friends, who proclaimed, “The God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18) They literally put their lives on the line, and I should do no less.

Father, You know better than I do that I haven’t been fully faithful to You even without major “excuses.” Thank You for Your patience and Your grace. Help me extend that patience and that grace to those around me, but at the same time be fully forceful and effective in drawing them to You. May their eyes be opened to see themselves and their situations accurately because they see You, so that they may repent and believe, and receive Your full salvation. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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