May 3, 2014

Posted on May 5, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 52:6-7 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at him, saying,
“Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!”

There are any number of people on the world stage today who come to mind as we read this. David was writing about Doeg the Edomite, but the principle is timeless. Actually, people don’t have to be famous to fit into this category. The central point is the simple matter of trusting in what you have, instead of in the God who gave it to you. I think everyone is tempted to do that at times, either in a positive or a negative way. That is, sometimes we trust in what we do have and so fail to trust God (which is what I meant by positive) and sometimes we look at what we don’t have and are fearful because we don’t trust God (which is what I meant by negative). Neither side of that coin does us any good! We are quick to notice those who are actively evil, using what God has given them for purposes that are actively against God, but we don’t have to be in that camp to get into trouble over this issue. At its most basic, it comes down to what Jesus so famously said in Matthew 6:24-34, where He talked about not being anxious. We indeed can’t serve both God and money, the Creator and the created. Any time we try to rely on what we have, instead of on the One who gave it to us, we are in trouble, however successful we might seem at the moment.

This is a very pertinent issue for me on several levels. I’ve never had “great wealth” to be tempted to rely on it, but I have had times of anxiety because of what it looked like I didn’t have. On the flip side, I have trusted in abilities God has given me and not even asked Him how they were to be used. How foolish! I need to remember that God will always supply everything I need, to do whatever He tells me to do, but that I can do nothing without Him, even with the abilities He has given me. (John 15:5) As a pastor I am constantly dealing with people who are in a panic because of what they think they need but don’t have, whether it’s abilities, financial resources, or whatever. I need to help them realize in faith that either they don’t really need it, or God has already provided it in one way or another. Sometimes we miss out on God’s provision because it simply doesn’t look like what we had expected. I need to let the Holy Spirit use me to open people’s eyes to see God and His provision.

Father, this is very timely. You know better than I do that I’ve been somewhat tied in knots over today because of the packed schedule and what I am asked to do. Forgive my foolishness. Thank You for what You enabled us to do yesterday, and for the lessons in presumption that messed up my bumper and side mirror. You did allow us to bless others and witness to total strangers. Thank You that Your strength and ability are more than equal to what is being asked of me today. May I be Your agent each moment of today, accomplishing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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May 2, 2014

Posted on May 5, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

It is interesting how the Lord gives us practicums in what He speaks to us. I’m preaching Sunday on how gratitude is the key to happiness, and since completing the notes I have been beset by little things that could have stolen my peace and joy, had I not countered them with conscious gratitude for God’s great blessings. Just now, I discovered that by my typographical error the Scripture list for the month gives today’s passage as verses 1-9, when it should have been 1-19, including the whole Psalm. I was hit with a wave of guilt, because of all the people to whom this Scripture list has been distributed, for whom I am responsible to God for their spiritual feeding. It is a small thing, certainly, but when we serve a perfect God we are constantly called to repentance, on one level or another. Comparing ourselves to others and thinking we aren’t nearly as bad as they are is common, but it is ultimately fatal. Each one is called to acknowledge their own sins, confess them before God, and place them under the blood of Jesus Christ to receive His forgiveness. When I take the things of God lightly I am dishonoring Him, and I’ve got to repent. Repentance isn’t just feeling bad about what we’ve done, it’s changing course so that we don’t do it again. As long as we are on this earth we will keep discovering ways in which we have not been like Jesus, which means we need to repent of those things. This is not condemnation, it’s discovering that God’s grace is continuous. If it were only for the moment of our salvation by faith in and commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord, then we’d be in deep trouble! God loves us in spite of our imperfections, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to acknowledge our imperfections and receive His cleansing. (1 John 1:9)

This is obviously about me as much as it is about anyone. I need to exercise the same grace toward others that is extended to me. I am not to excuse sin, in myself or others, but rather operate in the glorious reality that those who are in Christ do not continue in sin. (1 John 5:18) I’m not to be picking at myself, continually seeking things of which to repent, but I am to be fully open to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, to let Him point out everything that is not pleasing to the Father, and when He does, repent. I am not to be condemnatory of others, but rather proclaim God’s love and grace to them so that they may open their hearts to Him and let Him clean them up.

Father, it’s interesting to me how strongly my typo on this very important Psalm hit me. Thank You for the reminder of my imperfection. I certainly have worse faults than overlooking a numeral! Thank You for all that You have for me to do, in the next three days particularly. My body will be busy; help me stay at rest in You. May I be an open channel of Your grace and love to each person I encounter, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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May 1, 2014

Posted on May 5, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 50:23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,
and he prepares the way,
so that I may show him the salvation of God.

40 years ago I learned this verse in the King James translation set to music: “Who so offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him who ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God.” We no longer give “conversation” the meaning of “lifestyle,” or “way of living,” and for that reason it is misleading to most people today. Also, praise and thanks are closely related, but they aren’t identical. The Japanese translation here agrees that this verse is talking about sacrificing thank offerings, rather than just singing a few songs. However, it’s good to consider what it means to sacrifice thank offerings. Paul famously and repeatedly tells us to give thanks for everything. (Ephesians 5:20, Philippians 4:6, Colossians 3:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:18) That is enormously important. When we lose sight of how blessed we are, the devil very easily can, and does, steal our peace and joy. Sometimes giving thanks really is a sacrifice, when we are confronted with devastating circumstances. However, the rewards are unmatched by anything else. When we focus on God and His grace toward us, He indeed shows us His salvation and floods us with His peace and joy. In Hebrews 13:15 it famously says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His Name.” Psalm 50 says in very clear terms that God doesn’t need anything material that we could possibly give Him. For one thing, He created it all in the first place! However, He desires our hearts, our love, our fellowship, and that happens only when we give Him the thanks and praise He deserves.

Just yesterday I was talking with someone who has lost sight of being thankful, and they are really pathetic. It’s not that their circumstances are really so terrible (though they aren’t easy) but that they are so focused on the stresses of their life that they can’t see God in any of it, even though He is in the process of blessing them greatly. That’s what happens when we listen to the devil! I can’t say I’ve never fallen into that trap myself, but as a pastor I certainly want to help people out of it. Simply reasoning with such a person is rarely effective, so I’ve got to pray for God to give them a revelation of what they have been doing, so that they may repent and turn from it. We seldom think about needing to repent of being ungrateful, but it is indeed a sin, because it denies God His due. The consequences are worse for us than for God, because He doesn’t actually need our thanks, whereas an ungrateful heart is really pathetic. I am not to put people down, or denigrate real suffering, but I am to keep myself available to God for pointing people to Him, so that we may all escape the traps of the devil and walk in the abundant peace and joy God intends for us.

Father, sometimes I am really tempted to say, “Get a life!” However, that rarely accomplishes what is needed. Help me express Your truth in Your love by Your Spirit so that it may penetrate to where it is needed, setting people free indeed, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 30, 2014

Posted on May 1, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 40:3, 10 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

When God delivered David, he sang about it to anyone who would listen! That’s a very good attitude to have, and a prime component of David being “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Sam. 13:4; Acts 13:22) When we testify of what God has done for us, whether or not we do it musically, people do pay attention, recognize that they are equally at risk, and put their trust in God. That should be the motivation behind all witnessing, drawing people to God as we give Him glory for what He has done for us. As came out in the message this past Sunday, that sort of witnessing is far more effective than “evangelistic programs” of any sort. That’s why all preaching should be personal: if there isn’t a personal connection to the speaker, the hearer isn’t likely to feel any personal connection either, and it will all remain very abstract. Two different people could say exactly the same things about God and one be an effective evangelist and the other not. The difference is whether the person speaking understands how vitally important those things are to him on a personal level. Canned presentations are stale before they ever get started.

My difficulty in witnessing in Japan is whether those hearing feel any identification with what I am saying, because they see me as so “other.” On top of my being a “professional Christian,” I am a Caucasian among a people with some of the strongest racial identity in the world. I find that many people admire me, but they don’t think they could ever be like me, so they don’t begin to investigate how they might do so. That’s why I feel I am much more effective as a teacher of Christians than as an evangelist toward non-Christians. That’s why I so urgently want to raise up Japanese as evangelists, because they are a big step closer to those around them than I could ever be. However, Japanese social pressures being what they are, many are afraid even to say to non-believers that they are Christians, as one believer was confiding to me just recently. When Japanese society values harmony on the basis of sameness so much, people are greatly inhibited even from admitting they are different from those around them, much less proclaiming God boldly as David did. I am to understand the pressures on Japanese believers, and encourage them to receive God’s boldness to overcome those pressures, without putting them down for feeling the pressures.

Father, we’re back to the issue of Japanese believers waking up to who and what they are in Christ. I can’t bring that about on my own, but I pray that You would use even me to accomplish it, so that the Japanese Church may rise up as a mighty army, tearing down the strongholds of the devil and setting people free for a massive harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 29, 2014

Posted on April 30, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

Here at the end of this listing of all the benefits that accrue to the righteous, it is good to be reminded that those benefits are all the Lord’s doing. We can never be good enough or smart enough or strong enough to save ourselves, whatever anyone thinks. David knew that from abundant personal experience. He also knew full well that simply being righteous does not keep you from having troubles. It’s like Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33) That’s simply a fact of life. Parents who try to shield their children from any possibility of getting hurt, physically or emotionally, aren’t simply on a futile quest, they are actually doing their children harm by making them less prepared to live in the real world. We aren’t to go looking for trouble, but when it comes we aren’t to be surprised or go into a panic. As this verse says, in such times the Lord is standing by to be our fortress, and we are to “run into” Him, just as it says in Proverbs 18:10. (I really like the musical setting for that verse. It’s fun to sing, and it’s true!) All around us we see people who run to almost anything but the Lord when they encounter trouble of one sort or another. Truth be told, we all do that at times, but the Lord is the only reliable fortress, and in Him we can rejoice regardless of the circumstances. (again, John 16:33)

As a pastor, I am constantly dealing with people who are trying to rely on something other than the Lord in their difficulties. With people who are not Christians it’s one thing, but with Christians it can be quite exasperating. Sometimes it even seems like they don’t want to be delivered! It’s not at all that we are to be passive, but rather that our focus is to be on God and obedience to Him. The life of David, who wrote this Psalm, is certainly instructional. As long as he relied on the Lord, putting his best effort into it, he was remarkably successful. It was when he thought he could figure it out, whether it was bringing the Ark into Jerusalem or having a good time while the army was at war, that he got into trouble. In verse 25 of this Psalm he says he is writing this from the perspective of age. I am already far past average life expectancy of even 100 years ago, and am even past my father’s age when he died. Learning to rely on the Lord without being passive hasn’t always been easy, and I still haven’t learned it perfectly, but I can say with full confidence that it’s the best course, indeed the only course, to receive the fullness of all that God has planned for us.

Father, thank You for Your total faithfulness. I started to say “amazing,” but why should it be amazing that You are faithful? Thank You for the privilege of sharing Your truth, Your grace and love, with others. Help me do it ever more effectively, so that more and more people may know the joy and peace of Your salvation, membership in Your family, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 28, 2014

Posted on April 29, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:12-13 The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.

This entire Psalm is a very encouraging (for a righteous person) comparison of an evil man and a righteous man. This particular pair of verses brings to mind strongly what is going on in the US today. With “political correctness” run amok, anyone who stands up for Biblical morality is promptly ridiculed and targeted, to the point of losing their job and/or their livelihood. The temptation to panic under such circumstances is understandably strong, but we need to remember that this Psalm is still as true as the day David wrote it. The image of God laughing at the wicked is itself not very politically correct! However, it’s a reminder that we aren’t to take them too seriously. They can make trouble in the short run, certainly, but in the long run they are only making trouble for themselves. As such, they are more to be pitied than feared. Circumstances give us plenty of chance to grow in faith. Sometimes our faith doesn’t seem up to the task, but if we will exercise the faith we have, we will find that it grows. God is faithful, whatever things look like at the moment.

A major benefit of added years is the greater ease of taking the long view. It’s easier to understand that the temporal is just that, temporary, and not get so worked up about it. That doesn’t mean that pain, either physical or emotional, is pleasant, but it does make it easier to bear, because we know it won’t last. For the person who is anchored in Christ, even the pain of separation from a loved one by death can be understood as strictly temporary. Right now I’m seeing God do some beautiful things around me, but at the same time the enemy is trying to distract me from them with all sorts of irritations, physical and emotional. I need to laugh at him the same way God does. David was doubtless thinking of human bad people as he wrote, but this applies to the devil just as much, and I need to remember that. Christ is victor, and those who are in Him are likewise victorious!

Father, thank You for all that You did over the two weeks the YWAM team was here. Thank You for the continuing fruit we can expect over the days and weeks ahead. I pray Your continued protection and blessing for them in this next month of ministry practicum, and for clear guidance for each person as to Your plans for them as this term ends. May neither they nor we be anxious, but all of us rest in trusting expectation of Your grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 27, 2014

Posted on April 29, 2014 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This is a frequently quoted Psalm, but I think it is often misunderstood, in English at least. That’s one of the biggest benefits of reading the Bible in more than one language, even if you aren’t fluent in Greek and Hebrew. The Japanese expresses the first half of this verse as, “Make the Lord your joy.” That removes a lot of wiggle room! We find our joy in lots of things, but it is only when we focus in on the Lord that things really fall into place. Sometimes things give us joy unexpectedly, but to a very interesting degree we really do choose our joys. The thing is, material joys are always transient, as are various joys of the flesh. When we choose to rejoice in the eternal, that is, God, then our joy is correspondingly long-lived. When we make the choice to rejoice in God, when it is our desire to do so, then God will always make that possible. This is a secret saints down through the centuries have learned. In the middle of persecution or even martyrdom, those who are genuinely focused on God can rest in His peace and joy. That’s a secret the devil doesn’t want us to know! As long as he can keep us chasing material things, he can deprive us of the peace and joy that God intends for us. Human will is an amazing thing. It’s got to be one of the most valuable things in the universe, because if we didn’t have free will, there would be no accountability for sin, and Christ would not have had to die to atone for it. It is amazingly powerful, as hypnosis can demonstrate. Someone under hypnosis can be told they are going to be touched with a red-hot iron bar, and when they are touched with something cold instead, they still get a bad burn that requires medical treatment. When you think about it, that’s scary! However, it illustrates the truth that we create the majority of our own misery, simply by failing to make God our joy.

I was quite proficient in hypnosis in high school and college, but thankfully I drifted away from it even before I got right spiritually, to understand that I wasn’t to play with something Christ died for: human will. I had a “parlor trick” I could do involving self-hypnosis, pushing a needle into my arm while blocking all pain simply by my mind. God has far better things for us to do with our wills! I am far from complete in my focus on God even at this point, but it’s certainly sharper than it was. However, the devil is constantly waving distractions in front of my face, trying to get me to seek my joy in other things than the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) When I keep my focus on God, there is no limit to Him and so no limit to my peace and joy.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Busyness and exhaustion can be real distractions! Thank You for all that You have planned for today. Help me delight in You even before I see your blessings with my physical eyes. I do ask Your protection and blessing for the YWAM team as they move on this afternoon. May their remaining hours here and their remaining days on this trip be all that You desire and intend, for their blessing and for the sake of the Body of Christ, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 26, 2014

Posted on April 27, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 1:1-2 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

This first sentence is one of the most important in the entire book of Acts. Luke is saying in the clearest of terms that Jesus is not only alive, He is continuing to act and teach. Frankly, this point seems lost even on some Christians today. We have a “closed canon” (definition of what is the Bible), yes, but Jesus is continuing to act and speak even today. He never contradicts what is in the Bible, but He opens our eyes to understand how the Bible relates to our specific circumstances, even when at first glance they might seem to be far removed from the Bible. Yes, He does it through the Holy Spirit, just as He said in the upper room before His crucifixion, (John 14:26) but the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, (Philippians 1:19) so He is the one teaching us. He is also acting, sometimes in ways that seem supernatural, such as miracles, but more often in ways that might seem completely ordinary, and He does it through people who are committed to Him. In other words, when we are obedient to Him, He is acting through us. If we forget that, sometimes we want to know, where is Jesus? The answer is, in us. It might seem absurd, but we are included in God’s plan of action, weak and foolish though we are. This is in no way an excuse for pride or self-importance, but rather a reminder that God is so powerful that He can even speak and act through us!

This is, of course, of vital importance to my life. As a pastor, people tend to expect Jesus to speak and act through me, but they tend not to believe that He wants to do so through them just as much. I have long been convinced that when the believers of Japan wake up to what they are in Christ, they will transform not only this nation but the world. People get tired of my telling them to take their eyes off of themselves and put them on Jesus, but that’s not only so that they can overcome whatever is facing them, it is so that He will be free to use them for His glory. Actually, I tend to forget that myself at times, particularly when I’m as tired as I am right now! That’s why Isaiah tells us to wait expectantly on the Lord, so that He may replace our weakness with His strength. (Isaiah 40:31) When I’m busy telling that to others, I need to practice it myself.

Father, thank You for all that You have been doing over the past two weeks. I pray that all that You have done in those to whom we have ministered, as well as in each of us, would be sealed by Your Holy Spirit so that the enemy would not be able to interfere with it. I pray that as the team goes back to the orphanage this morning that Your love would be clear and strong, transforming everyone involved. I pray that as I conduct a wedding this morning and then do premarital counseling for another couple this afternoon, that I too would be an open channel for Your love and truth to flow through in grace. May each of us indeed be “Jesus with skin on,” for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 25, 2014

Posted on April 27, 2014 by jgarrott

John 21:22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

This is a very important Scripture. We are so extremely prone to compare ourselves to others, either favorably or unfavorably. We worry about what God is doing or is going to do with someone else to the point that we miss what He wants to do with us! God uses us to bless others, but our responsibility is for personal obedience, not for what happens with the other person. We have such trouble with that. My father, in the letter he wrote to the family just before the heart surgery from which he didn’t wake up on this earth, said that he desired God’s perfect will for each of us, which would fit in perfectly with His perfect will for everyone else. If we are worried that someone else seems to be getting more “perks” than we are, we will be less than faithful in our own duties, and we will certainly miss out on the peace and joy that God intends for us. We need to trust, on the deepest level, that God’s plans for us are to prosper and not harm us, to give us hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) When we really grasp that, we won’t be so anxious about God’s plans for anyone else.

I think it’s been a long time since I’ve suffered from much “ministry envy,” but I do get tied in knots over whether my spiritual children are going to miss what God has for them. I’m to pray for them and encourage them, certainly, doing all I can to pass on to them what God has given me, but what they do with it is ultimately their own responsibility. I will do them more good by being focused on my own obedience than by being anxious over theirs. Trusting God for and with His plans cuts both ways. I am to be God’s agent in tearing down the works of the enemy (1 John 3:8) and in communicating His grace and love, but I’ve got to remember that it is His power and wisdom that accomplish those things, not mine. If I am rightly connected and related to Him, then His will will be done in and through me. I have no reason to be anxious about anything!

Father, thank You for all that You have been doing in these days. Thank You for what we have seen with our physical eyes and for what we have seen with the eyes of our hearts. I pray that these last three days the YWAM team will be here may fulfill every one of Your plans for this time. May we not be anxious, but rather fully obedient, resting, relaxing, and rejoicing as we do Your will, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 24, 2014

Posted on April 27, 2014 by jgarrott

John 21:12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

We can’t help but wonder how Jesus’ appearance had changed with His resurrection. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus didn’t recognize Him for some time, even while He was talking to them. This incident seems even stranger, when these were His very closest disciples. Why would anyone have needed to ask who He was in the first place? I would guess that the point is that we are not to focus on externals, but on the reality that our physical eyes don’t see. Jesus manifests Himself in many ways even today, but not so that our physical eyes can see Him. Here, Jesus was tending to the physical needs of His disciples in a way that made it clear to them who He was. A story is told of a child who was afraid at night and wanted her mother to stay with her. They were a Christian family, and the mother reminded her that Jesus would never leave her, but she responded, “But sometimes I need Jesus with skin on.” God calls believers to be “Jesus with skin on” in every area of their lives. Paul called it being “ambassadors.” (2 Corinthians 5:20) This isn’t some mystical, New-Agey thing, but rather a matter of thinking, speaking, and acting in harmony and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ.

This is something I have been increasingly aware of over the years, but know I need to walk in much more than I have to this point. Just this week a friend gave me a book for evaluation that talks about a teacher who would “exhale himself” and be filled with Jesus in a sort of “possession” situation. That in itself set my guard up, but then glancing through the teaching in the book I saw that it was similar to the Bible but twisted just enough to lead people badly astray. It was quickly evident to me that the book was just another ploy of the liar who only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) I am to live as an agent of Christ, but not be deceived by any sense of self-importance. I am to teach believers that they are called to be “Jesus with skin on,” but in the most practical of terms. Here, Jesus had a fire going and breakfast cooking, and wasn’t speaking in grand terms about “unity with the cosmos,” or some such. The Bible has truly transcendent things to say, but it is also the most practical of books, and we are to be the same. James stressed that in his letter, and he had grown up as Jesus’ kid brother! This fits in with a very true statement I first heard years ago: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I am to be an expression of Jesus’ love first, and then a spokesman for His truth.

Father, thank You for all that You are doing in these days. We have seen some beautiful results, but there is much more You want to do. Help me, help each of us, be totally sensitive and obedient to You so that Your will may be done through us. Help us wait on You and allow You to replace our strength with Yours, (Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 4:13, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10) so that Your will may be accomplished through us for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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