November 11, 2015

Posted on November 12, 2015 by jgarrott

Joshua 10:13-14 The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

Scientifically speaking, this is the biggest miracle in the whole Bible, because it is of literally astronomical proportions. I have read some reports of “an extra day in the scientific record,” but I take those with a huge grain of salt. I do know that the magnetic poles of the earth have swapped more than once, according to the geologic record, and also that the axis of rotation has shifted. I would personally conclude that this was such an event. The how of it remains a mystery, but it is certainly a reminder that God can do anything He likes. The why of it boggled the minds even of those who experienced it and recorded it. We are back to the mystery of prayer. Why would the omnipotent Creator of the universe listen to the voice of an individual human being? That is the mystery of God’s grace and love. We certainly can’t force God to do anything, but He tells us to ask, seek, and knock. (Matthew 7:7) When everything has repercussions that we can’t imagine, it is miraculous on the face of it that God would do anything on the basis of personal requests, but we know from experience as well as from the Bible that it indeed does happen. The only logical response is to press into God to line up with His will more and more fully, so that our prayers are indeed answered. I am convinced, again both from the Biblical record and from experience, that God desires fellowship with us His children; that’s why He created us. When we say “intimate” that immediately conjures up sexual overtones, but there’s nothing of that here. We were created for intimacy with God, and prayer is one of the best tastes of that we can get on this earth.

I was raised in a home where prayer was as natural as breathing, and for that I am deeply grateful. However, I have come to realize that prayer is not natural, it’s supernatural. I am not to look down on those who have difficulty with prayer, but rather come alongside them and encourage them. I give people the opportunity to hear me pray as an example, but when I have a gift for words, and as a pastor and teacher am a “professional speaker,” that can perhaps be more intimidating than encouraging. I need to seek and receive God’s wisdom in communicating the beauty and joy of prayer, so that everyone in my care may learn for themselves how much God loves them individually and wants them to grow close to Him.

Well, Father, I had wondered what You wanted me to speak on this Sunday! Thank You for making that clear, and for such a joyful topic to speak on. I ask for clear guidance as I prepare the notes so that it won’t be me talking down from an ivory tower, but rather relating to each person where they are, allowing Your Spirit to take my words and open the eyes of their hearts to all that You intend for them, for their great blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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November 10, 2015

Posted on November 12, 2015 by jgarrott

Joshua 8:1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai.”

This verse needs to be considered in context. After their miraculous, total victory at Jericho the Israelites had experienced their first, shocking defeat the first time they tried to attack Ai. Chapter 7 tells the story, and how the Lord indicated that it was because of the sin, the greed, of Achan that they had been defeated. With that sin dealt with, now the Lord is telling Joshua to try again. As many people have pointed out, failures are an important part of success. If we have no failures, we never really learn anything, and we get cocky and conceited. In this particular instance, God gave Joshua wisdom as a general so that he used his forces effectively, and on the second try they had a decisive victory. We, like they, need to learn that if we are listening obediently to God, no obstacle is impassible, but if we fail to listen obediently to God, even small things will trip us up. That story has been played out countless times, as high-profile Church leaders, even, have crashed and burned. No sin is hidden before God, and we need to fear Him enough to do as He says, rather than listen to our flesh. That’s why the Bible says repeatedly, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) Today we tend to focus on the love of God, and loving Him in return. That’s not wrong, but if we forget that He is also perfectly holy, and that sin has consequences, we are setting ourselves up for failure. If we repent genuinely, then God will have turned our evil around and used it for good, (Romans 8:28) teaching us to fear and obey Him.

I have certainly had my moments of cocky conceit, and it’s not been pretty. I have been slow to learn absolute purity in my thought life, and that has been a real drag on me. The challenges of ministry in Japan are huge, and I have come to accept failure as normal. That’s no way to be! I need to seek the Lord for the tactics He would have me use, just as He led Joshua. Frankly, in Japan no tactic has been what we would call terribly effective in growing the Church, and that’s even more true outside of major metropolitan centers. I have been called and sent to Omura, but I have not been called and sent to failure. I need to be fully humble but not resigned, not beating myself up but not giving up either. God has not given us a vision of Omura again being the foremost Christian city in the nation for nothing!

Father, I didn’t expect this when I started writing! Thank You for Your encouragement. Thank You that You continue to grow and transform me into the likeness of Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:18) May I not get in the way of that but cooperate fully, so that as Your agent I may cause many to acknowledge You as holy, bringing Your kingdom as Your will is done perfectly right here, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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November 9, 2015

Posted on November 9, 2015 by jgarrott

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

This is certainly a magnificent command/promise, and it bears analysis. Fear is a major tool of the devil, and faith is the ultimate weapon against it. The devil peppers us with “what if?” scenarios, and we need to respond with the contents of this verse: my God is with me. As God said to Paul, His grace is all we need. (2 Corinthians 12:9) That’s a truth the devil desperately wants to hide from us! As has been well said, courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s moving forward in the face of fear. Accordingly, faith is the ultimate foundation for courage, because when we have faith that our Lord is greater than our circumstances, we aren’t defeated by our circumstances. (1 John 4:4) We don’t see the future, but if we fix our eyes on the One who holds the future, we can have peace. Atheists would say that this is all a matter of mind tricks, of self-hypnosis, if you will. The human mind is capable of amazing things, but God has given it to us to be submitted to Him, and thus be a tool of blessing. When the mind is given over to the devil, nothing good comes of it. Some translations of the Bible use the term, “reprobate mind,” in Romans 1:28. What a waste! How we use our minds is a choice. If we dwell on the negative – physically, emotionally, morally – we will reap negative results. As Jesus said, sin starts in the heart. (Matthew 15:19) When our minds and hearts are fully given over to Jesus, we are courageous indeed!

This is intensely personal at the moment, as my wife is experiencing “rebound pain” from her nerves after her surgery that is more intense than what she had before the surgery. Just reminding her that the doctor said this was likely was a help to her, because the devil was having no trouble presenting negative scenarios to her mind! I must not make her feel put down for that, but come alongside her and encourage her to keep her eyes on Jesus. I am reminded of what Peter is said to have called out to his wife as she was being crucified, just before he was: “Remember Jesus!” I can’t bear Cathy’s pain for her, as much as I would like to, but I can and do stand with her in prayer, so that she may receive the full measure of the grace that she needs right now, for God’s glory.

Father, I do pray for Cathy, and I thank You that Your grace is sufficient. I pray that You would enable her to lift her eyes from herself in spite of her pain and rest in You, so that Your good plans for her may be fulfilled, for her blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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November 8, 2015

Posted on November 9, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 31:12-13 “Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so that they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Moses talked repeatedly about generational transmission of the knowledge and fear of the Lord. This was particularly an issue at that point because most of the people were illiterate, and Moses was literally writing the start of the Bible. It’s very hard for us to grasp emotionally what that would have been like. Moses poured all he had into Joshua and he went to the enormous effort of writing the Pentateuch, but ultimately he had to trust God. After all, God had certainly shown Himself powerful, to Moses perhaps more than to anyone else. Moses had to believe that God would manifest His power to the succeeding generations, but he had no idea what form that would take, and he wanted the people to know what God had already done. Today we have the weight of thousands of years of God’s working with His people. That record starts with the five books Moses wrote and continues through the closing of the Canon a few hundred years after Pentecost, but He is still working with and talking to His people today. That said, the Church is indeed only one generation away from extinction, because each generation must know, fear, and love God for themselves. Failures in that area have dogged the Church down through the centuries, but God has been faithful in spite of our unfaithfulness. The point is, parents must teach the truth of God to their children and others, not only with words but by living it out. If they will do that one thing, nothing will be able to stop the growth of the Church – not even the gates of hell. (Matthew 16:18)

I am the product of generations of believers who took this issue seriously, but I work with people who for the most part are the first people in their families to believe in Christ. That presents some seemingly unique challenges, but really, they are not so different anywhere in the world. If I fail to speak the truth in love, and even more importantly, if I fail to validate what I say by living it out, then who is going to learn to know and love God? As a pastor, perhaps my biggest challenge is in helping the believers understand that exactly the same thing may be said of them, even though they aren’t “professional Christians.” The clergy/laity dichotomy is sadly alive and well here. Japanese society has long depended on specialists, with few people grasping the vision of doing things outside of their own specialty. That can be crippling to a church! I need to help people grasp the reality that they are as called as I am, and that God is just as capable of using them as He is me. The details will change, but He’s the same God. I’ve demonstrated that trying to do that in my own strength and wisdom doesn’t work, so I’ve got to depend on the Holy Spirit. That’s good, because He’s the same Spirit who is given to every believer and is available to them in unlimited measure. (John 3:34)

Father, we’re back to the subject You have me writing a book on. Help me keep at that to complete it as You intend, for exactly the issue Moses was dealing with. May I be fully useful to You in transmitting Your truth to succeeding generations, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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November 7, 2015

Posted on November 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.

This is a pretty remarkable chapter. It’s the oldest reference I know of to draft exemptions, and it even talks about the environment, saying not to cut down fruit trees. (verse 19) However, it is the truth of this first verse that enabled Moses to say things like this. When God is on your side you don’t have to be frantic about manpower or anything else. That’s not to say that other things are unimportant, it’s that they are secondary at best. Christians and churches need to remember this truth, because we are very much in the middle of a spiritual war. Gains by the enemy have largely been because the Church has been asleep! Thankfully, evidence is pointing to the Church finally waking up, and that is something to be grateful for. The enemy has been doing some outrageous things recently, which I think the Lord may even have encouraged for the specific purpose of waking up his people. That’s not an issue in countries with ongoing persecution, but the Church has been lulled to sleep in numbers of historically Christian countries. Those of us who are now awake need to read this verse and take it to heart, knowing that He who is in us is far greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

I am very much a target of what I have just written. My awareness of spiritual warfare has been relatively limited to dealing with such things as demonic possession (which I have done occasionally) when actually the battle is ongoing. There are ebbs and flows, but at no time am I to let my spiritual guard down. However, I am also not to be afraid, just as this verse says. I am to check my spiritual armor, making full use of the weapons provided to me. (Ephesians 6:10-18) I am to remember the power of those weapons and not draw back from any challenge. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) As a leader, I am to rally the troops and teach them to use, and how to use, their weapons. I need to help them understand the conflict we are in, and at the same time help them believe the truth in this verse and not be afraid.

Father, the battle is at times intense. Help me keep that reality in focus, not being fooled into thinking that the conflict is less than spiritual. Help me be faithful as Your warrior, a captain in Your army, so that Your victory may be manifested on a daily level in the hearts and lives of many as well as in the wider society, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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November 6, 2015

Posted on November 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 18:14-15 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

The Jews of Jesus’ day were very aware of this prophecy. They wanted to know if John the Baptist was “the Prophet,” and some of them indeed rightly identified that Jesus was this Prophet. However, most of them didn’t connect this prophecy with those in Isaiah and elsewhere about the Messiah. They couldn’t see how one individual could combine the prophetic, priestly, and kingly roles, much less grasp that there might be two comings of the same individual, with the kingly role delayed until the second of those. From our perspective, this long after the cross and resurrection, that doesn’t seem so strange, but many today have forgotten the kingly reign of Jesus entirely. We need to grasp that Jesus is indeed all these things, and commit ourselves to Him in total obedience. Many today look to various things as predictive, and look to science much like sorcery. We aren’t to ignore logical forecasts, much less science as a whole, but our reliance must be on God and not on anything else. The Japanese here twice uses a compact expression that means, listen and obey. That expression appears a great deal throughout the Bible, and I wish English had a similar phrase. We tend to divorce those two things, listening and obeying, but that is self-deceptive. (James 1:22) Yesterday I saw a very cleverly pointed video of a father who had told his teenage daughter to clean her room. She had memorized his words, read a book about their implications, and done various other things, but she had never actually cleaned her room. As that video was pointing out, that’s NOT how to love Jesus, but it is all-too-apt an allegory for the lives of far too many Christians.

As a pastor it is very easy for me to see this in others, but I must not tolerate it in myself. I come up with justifications so easily! I need to walk in daily, humble obedience, listening carefully and always with the attitude of applying what I hear. I see too many people who nod sagely during the sermon and maybe even express appreciation to me after the service, but then never apply it in their daily lives. I am not to look down on them, because I’ve done the same thing more times than I could possibly count, but I must pray for obedient, listening hearts and never stop speaking the truth in love. I also must never confuse what the Lord says through me and what comes from my own emotions and imagination. The more anointed the messenger, the more dangerous that becomes. I must walk in full humility at all times, applying in my own life everything He speaks to and through me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness even when I myself am so unreliable. Help me be an accurate representation of Your grace to all I encounter, so that they too may be drawn into fellowship with You, by Your Spirit, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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November 5, 2015

Posted on November 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 7:22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.

Here we have an extremely practical reason for gradual victory. There were other reasons, but this was one the Israelites could accept. The thing is, sudden victories are ultimately much harder to accept and profit from than gradual ones. Stories abound, for example, of people who win lotteries and their lives are destroyed. When you haven’t learned to handle a little money, a lot is totally overwhelming. The problem has a number of facets. One of them is the matter of assimilation, just mentioned, but another is the matter of valuing things that have come too easily. We have trouble grasping the worth of something when we haven’t worked for it. Again the illustration is financial, but this is a good reason for tying a child’s allowance to household chores. Without the emotional connection of work to income, they are all too likely to grow up accepting the welfare state as natural, and go through life trying to do as little as possible. That benefits no one! God delights to bless us, but He also knows what is best for us, far better than we possibly could ourselves. The point is to be as good a steward as possible of what He has already provided, not just financially but in every area, so that we will be trained and prepared for the more that He wants to pour out on us.

I was not raised with a connection between chores and allowance, and I didn’t raise my own children that way either, so in a way I’m speaking from negative experience here. I never saw a connection between my parents’ work and the income they received either, so financial gain has never been much of a goal for me. I’m afraid that has spilled over into my ministry as well, because “pavement pounding,” distributing tracts and the like, has never seemed to connect much with how many people come through our doors, much less how many commit their lives to Christ as Savior and Lord. The good side of that is that I haven’t been so tempted to give up because of the low rate of return! It all comes down to trusting obedience. I would be thrilled if the Lord decides I’m ready, and starts multiplying the church, but my obedience to Him is not dependent on that. I have planted a lot of seed, and I continue to pray that He will bring fruitfulness and harvest in His way in His timing in His locations (since the seed has certainly been far-flung) for His glory.

Father, thank You for not doing things as I have imagined. I remember praying for resurrection of that little boy who was murdered over 30 years ago, thinking how that would be such a powerful tool for drawing people into Your kingdom, but I can see now that had You done that, I would have been destroyed in the process, because I was far from ready for that sort of thing. Help me be faithful on a daily basis, seeking Your kingdom and Your righteousness and trusting You for the return. Thank You. Praise God!

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November 4, 2015

Posted on November 6, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 3:26 But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me.

I find it fascinating that Moses, of all people, is blame-shifting even at this time of his life. The incident for which God would not let him cross the Jordan, recorded in Numbers 20:6-12, was triggered by the attitude of the people, but the problem was Moses’ attitude. At that time God said very clearly, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:12) God takes the matter of being honored as holy very seriously. We tend to skip over in our minds the first part of the Lord’s Prayer. We don’t have an emotional connection with “Hallowed be Thy name,” so it becomes just words to us. Even in contemporary English, “May Your name be honored as holy” doesn’t click with us, but it is exactly the issue that kept Moses out of the Promised Land. Even the third of the 10 Commandments touches on this, forbidding taking God’s name in vain. Today, people do that so casually they don’t even think about it. Teaching English in Japan, I frequently have to tell people that “Oh my God” is not the casual expression they have been led to believe it is. It certainly doesn’t surprise me that non-believers would so disrespect God, but it pains me when I hear Christians doing so without even thinking what they are doing. As a society we are very weak on the whole concept of holiness. When we forget the holiness of God, the idea of personal holiness in daily living becomes quite foreign and strange, to the point that it takes real courage for a true believer to stand up and be different from their peers. However, a lack of courage is no excuse not to honor God as holy. Other people are never an excuse for our own actions, whatever Moses said.

I’ve “gone with the flow” more times than I care to think about, so I should have good empathy with those around me who are struggling in this area. However, empathy doesn’t mean excusing. I am to speak the truth in love, even when people feel their toes are stepped on. Japan doesn’t have a tradition of verbal misuse of God’s name, so that isn’t much of an issue over here, but as they say, actions speak louder than words. I need to help people understand that their participation in non-Christian religious ceremonies and festivals must be with the utmost caution. I don’t refuse to attend funerals because they are Buddhist, but I decline to burn incense at them, even though it is expected. I attend the summer festival, but do not clap my hands in front of the portable shrines. Pressures are higher on those who were raised in non-Christian homes and who are the only believers in their families. I am to be a support and encouragement to them, and help them understand just how big an issue it is.

Father, may my life indeed help people understand Your holiness. May I trust You enough to lead others to trust You as well. May I not blame anyone else for my failures, but repent before You and receive Your gracious forgiveness, so that You may be honored as holy indeed. Thank You. Praise God!

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November 3, 2015

Posted on November 6, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 3:6 We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children.

This isn’t a comfortable verse for modern Christians to read at all!When it talks about killing children, we want to look the other way. This is the sort of passage people point to when they accuse Christians of hypocrisy in their interpretation of the Bible. However, such accusations aren’t seeking truth, they are simply seeking to discredit the Bible. Such people are likely to support tearing children apart in the womb, which has been done in the US in recent years in numbers that make this incident totally pale in comparison. However, events today don’t justify automatically what was done back then. When we think about such things we tend to forget two things. One of those is the social/religious context of the day. Brutal doesn’t begin to describe it. Infants, after birth, were regularly sacrificed to their idols, and assorted other practices we would blanch at today were the order of the day. This was a highly degraded society. The other, and actually more important, point is the holiness of God. We tend to think of holiness in terms of white-robed choirs, but that is shallow in the extreme. It is holiness that dictates that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) When we don’t understand the holiness of God we also don’t understand the magnitude of His grace. These people were actively opposing the people of God, and God used His people to “pay them their wages,” so to speak. This doesn’t justify the people who have murdered abortion doctors. I would strongly doubt that they had direct orders from God. It does explain why Bonhoeffer was actively involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, but even there the question remains of how accurately he was hearing the Lord. We do need to remember that God said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” (Romans 12:19, quoting Deuteronomy 32:35) What happened here was in the context of war, and was not personal.

I have never liked passages such as this myself, but seeing what is going on with the Islamic State makes me understand them better, I think. Right now they are trying to get Western, and specifically American, troops to oppose them on the ground, because of their interpretation of their “end time” scriptures. They see death in battle as a ticket to paradise, when they have no connection to the Creator of the universe. I do not know what God has planned in current detail, but I do know that the final outcome is already decided, and it is not at all what the Islamists imagine! I need to remember that the way the world works is not as we like to imagine either, but that God is still God and His plans are good, though they are far higher than anything we could come up with. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Father, the world is indeed beyond my comprehension. Thank You that I’m not in control! Help me walk in daily faithfulness and obedience, letting You be God and acting and speaking as You direct, so that I may be Your agent in all my interactions, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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November 2, 2015

Posted on November 6, 2015 by jgarrott

Deuteronomy 1:30-31 “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

We are so quick to forget what God has done for us in the past! That’s actually the whole reason for Deuteronomy. It is a retelling by Moses of all the things the Israelites had experienced since leaving Egypt, as a written record they could hang onto. This particular passage is reminding them of their major failure in that area, when they couldn’t accept that the God who had parted the sea for them could give them victory over the current inhabitants of the land they had been promised. Perhaps one reason for that failure was that crossing the Red Sea had only required walking, while taking the land was going to require fighting. As soon as real effort on their part was required, they chickened out! That story sounds all too familiar, because we do it all the time. We rejoice when God hands us something on a platter, but when He requires us to stretch and grow and really break a sweat, there’s no end to our grumbling! We couldn’t do it on our own in any case, but if it doesn’t require anything of us we don’t value it very much. That is very evident in the actions and attitudes of people who have been pampered, but God is too good a Father to pamper us all the time. He is tender and loving, as Moses indicates with the figure of a parent carrying their child, but He loves us enough not to spoil us. We don’t like to hear that any more than the Israelites did! However, a mature faith will rejoice in the perfection of God’s plans for us.

I’ve really experienced this truth! It has been hardest for me to value the things that have come easiest to me. At the same time, I have rebelled at putting in the effort necessary to get the full benefit of other things that God has intended for me. How foolish! It is easy for me to see such failures in others, but I am too often blind to them in myself. As a pastor I seek to open people’s eyes to see God’s plans for them and how they need to cooperate with those plans, but I must not do it from an attitude of superiority. I have struggled, stumbled, and fallen in that way too! Yesterday’s Bible study was very good in that area, as people realized how God uses even the mistakes of very imperfect people to bring good they hadn’t imagined. I need to help people realize the goal is worth striving for, and that by God’s grace they will reach it, if they will believe and trust Him.

Father, You indeed “do exceeding abundantly, beyond all we could ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) Thank You. Help me indeed be willing to make the effort to “take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12) Help me recognize Your grace and abundance and be willing to do all You ask of me, however hard it might seem at the moment, so that all of Your plans, for me and for those around me, may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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