September 17, 2013

Posted on September 19, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 96:13 They will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

English and Japanese translations of the Bible often divide verses differently because of different sentence divisions. Here, the Japanese includes “They will sing before the LORD” in verse 12, and focuses entirely on the Lord’s coming in verse 13. We tend to think of Bible passages on the Lord’s coming as being in the New Testament or in specific Old Testament books like Daniel and Ezekiel, but actually, His coming is throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament the references are both to His first coming, when He was born in a barn in Bethlehem, and to His second coming, and that confused the Jews of Jesus’ day and continues to confuse many of them now. This passage, however, is clearly about His second coming, and it is very clear and firm. The Japanese expresses it as “Positively, the Lord is coming. Positively, He is coming to judge the earth.” The Psalmist didn’t want to leave any doubt! Sadly, we tend to lose sight of this promise, this expectation. We get tied in knots over how we perceive things to be, forgetting that God has the last word. There are many “why” questions we can’t answer at this point, and the more we agonize over them, the less peace and joy we have. This is where faith really comes in. Everything is an opportunity to choose to trust God. The more consistently we make that choice, the more peace and joy we will have.

This is an excellent point, when I was just struggling with insomnia! As the old Southern Gospel song says, “We will understand it better by and by.” Just recently I was talking with a woman who has gone through some rough stuff, and she’s not out yet. However, as she was telling me what she had been through and how she had responded, I could see that the Lord had been giving her a crash course (just about literally) in some things she really needed to learn. I’m sure that in not too many years she will be able to look back and say with the Author of Psalm 119, “It was good for me to be afflicted.” (Psalm 119:71) As a pastor, I am frequently called on to help people put things in perspective, to see the temporal as temporal and fix their hearts on the eternal. However, I’m still learning to do that myself! Problems may be “light and momentary,” (2 Corinthians 4:17) but that doesn’t make them any less real in the moment! People see me as a rock of faith, when I am very aware that I am a work in progress. I am not to focus on the negative in any way, but choose faith at every turn, exactly as the Lord preached through me just a few Sundays ago.

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness to teach us the lessons we need to learn. Help me appropriate the lessons for myself, as well as pass them on to others. When You speak truth to me, help me never think “that’s for so-and-so” and fail to apply it in my own life. May I choose trust and obedience constantly and consistently, so that all of Your plans may be fulfilled in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 16, 2013

Posted on September 19, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 92:14-15 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Having just had my 65th birthday, this passage is a comfort! The Bible has many examples of people who served God notably after reaching what most would consider retirement age. Moses is probably the most notable, leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt after he had turned 80, but he’s far from the only one. That is all the more impressive when you consider the average lifespan in those days was about half that! Length of days was considered a blessing from God, but in general, the Bible focuses more on what each person does with the days they are given, rather than just on how many there are. If we look at life from the standpoint of eternity, that makes a lot of sense. Our days on earth are a training ground for eternity, and as such are vitally important. However, that importance is not in how long they take, but how ready we are when they are over. This passage says that we can and should be fruitful for however long we are on this earth. Too many older people act like they aren’t in the least concerned with that any more. What a waste! The joy and satisfaction of bearing fruit isn’t just for the young by any means. The fact that any human being is alive at any point is an indication that God still has something for them to do while they are here, whether it is internal to them, such as repentance, or external, in influencing others. One of my aunts was in a nursing home, blind and essentially bedridden at 90+. When we visited her, she expressed frustration that the Lord wouldn’t go ahead and take her home, saying that she was “useless” there in her bed. As our conversation progressed, she told us about a grandson who had gone to the brink of divorce, but then had straightened out his marriage, and how much she had prayed for him. I had the privilege of pointing out to her that was something she had accomplished through prayer right there in her bed; her task for her remaining time on earth was to be a prayer warrior, and it was a high privilege. I think we left her much happier than when we arrived!

The other day Cathy asked me what brand I was going to choose for my “re-tirement:” Goodyear, Bridgestone, or some other. Collecting pension certainly hasn’t meant slowing down, to this point at any rate. I am to be a faithful steward of the body and time I have been given, but my focus is to be on the Lord and what He wants me to do, rather than on myself in any way. I am reminded of what a Japan missionary said of my father after visiting him in the hospital shortly before the surgery from which he didn’t wake up, a few days after his 64th birthday: “I never saw a man with more reason to live, or more ready to die.” I would like to live like that for as long as the Lord leaves me here, bearing fruit for His pleasure and glory.

Father, thank You yet again for Your grace toward me. Thank You for the high volume of birthday wishes this year, courtesy of the Internet. Help me live out this coming year, and each year, in active obedience to You, so that all of Your purposes for me may be accomplished for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 15, 2013

Posted on September 19, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 91:9-10 If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the LORD, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

I have liked this Psalm for a long time, becoming particularly aware of it when I learned a musical setting for the first three verses. However, I think it may have been even before that that I made a note by verse 10 in the Bible I was using for my devotions at the time: “Whatever it looks like, it isn’t disaster.” Sometimes we accuse God of not living up to His word, but that comes from our defining everything from our highly limited human perspective. The writer of Psalm 119 had it right when he said, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71) As we need to keep reminding ourselves, God is good all the time. That’s not to say that everything that happens to us is His best; our own insensitivity to guidance, and even active disobedience, block many blessings and invite many undesirable consequences. However, as Jesus so famously told us in Matthew 6:33, if we make obedience to God our first priority, then everything we need, on every level and in every area, will be supplied to us. The problem comes in how we define our “needs.” If we are convinced that we need such and such but don’t have it, then we allow resentment to poison our hearts, and that is a crying shame. We need to say, “Lord, I would like to have such and such, but I choose to trust You. Thank You for Your grace toward me. Supply what You know I need, and help me walk in total obedience all the time, for Your glory.” That’s not always easy to do in honesty! However, if we choose to pray that way in faith when we are alone with the Lord (and not just to sound pious to other people) then God will answer beyond all that we could ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

This is something I probably first heard many, many years ago, but it is something I still have room to grow in walking out. There are times when I want something intensely, particularly someone’s healing, deliverance, or salvation, but I don’t see it in my time frame. That can be hard! There are times when I really want something material myself. That’s a little easier to recognize as being of lower priority, but my flesh can get pretty noisy at times! I’ve lived long enough to know that temporal things are indeed just that: temporary and not worth getting tied in knots over. My challenge is to live out what I know!

Father, thank You for Your incredible, overwhelming grace toward me. Help me rest in that grace indeed, knowing that You will never allow anything in my life that You can’t use for my good, if I will release it to You. (Romans 8:28) Help me receive everything from Your hands with gratitude and obedience, so that You may be free to use me however You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 14, 2013

Posted on September 15, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 89:15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

The NIV is a reasonable rendering, but a more literal translation is “those who know the shout of joy.” In other words, this is talking about people who know to praise God, and who know how to praise God. Praise and worship of God is fundamentally a very joyful thing, and it can get loud! The Old Testament actually speaks many times of the “shout of joy,” most often in Psalms but also many times in Isaiah, and a few times in Jeremiah. How often do we get so joyful we can’t help but shout? That’s not at all to say that all worship should be loud, but it is certainly to say that not all worship is to be quiet! We are created as emotional beings, and that’s a good thing. I don’t know if emotions are specifically part of our being created in God’s image, (Genesis 1:27) but it well could be. We aren’t to be whipped around by our emotions (which can happen all too easily) but we aren’t to be afraid of them either. If we try to make our experience of God devoid of emotion, then it is lifeless indeed. The better we know God, the deeper our gratitude and the greater and deeper our joy.

I remember one time when God was really touching people in a church in Kumamoto, a few hours south of where I grew up in Fuku­oka. A seminary student who attended our church went down to investigate, and my mother was horrified when he came back. Why, he was actually hoarse from shouting so much! Her personal preference was for the quiet majesty of the cathedrals we had visited in Europe back in 1959. She was a strong Christian, but she didn’t learn the joy of abandonment in praise, and she had trouble understanding my involvement with the Charismatic Movement. Remembering that, I have tried not to force particular styles of worship onto people, but I do encourage them to express worship with all they are. We run the gamut in this church, with people who are very expressive and some who hardly move. I am not to value noise over substance. In prayer, for example, I need to remember, and teach, that God is not deaf, but neither is He nervous. We don’t have to be loud, but we shouldn’t be afraid to make noise either. When people get so enthused, and loud, over sports events they shouldn’t hesitate to be enthusiastic about God! My task is to communicate that without putting people down who are like my mother was, so that we may all worship together in spirit and in truth.

Father, thank You for this Word. It really pulls together what You have said recently about praise. Help me be properly prepared to deliver this Word in Your timing, so that it may communicate as You want it to. May we be a praying people, a praising people, a worshiping people, in full obedience to You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 13, 2013

Posted on September 15, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

This verse has long been a significant one to me. I particularly need to pray the second half of it, more often than I would like. God has been very faithful to teach me His way, allowing me to be steeped in the Bible from childhood and guiding me through it, as well as in other ways, in the years since then. However, knowing the truth isn’t the same thing as doing it, as I know all too well. That’s where the “undivided heart” comes in. Part of me always knows what God wants me to do, but sometimes my flesh argues louder! Actually that’s a common human experience, and even Paul wrote about it in Romans 7. In English we speak of being “of two minds” on a subject, but Japanese speaks of “two hearts.” Accordingly, in this verse the Japanese phrases it as, “Give me a single heart.” It would be easy if we didn’t have such inner conflict, but that’s an important part of being human. A vital proof of Jesus’ humanity was the struggle He had in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was ultimately successful, resulting in our redemption through His sacrifice on the cross. We too can be successful, to the degree that we submit to Him and abide in Him. That is the conclusion Paul came to in Romans 7:25, and it is what we need to remember and cling to. It is only when we are in Christ that we are free from the condemnation that comes from a divided heart, which of course is what Paul said in Romans 8:1.

When I have had such a struggle with this issue over the years, I should have great empathy for those around me who are struggling with it as well. One person particularly comes to mind, but I need to remember that everyone deals with this issue. I must be careful not to be an instrument of condemnation, but rather heal and encourage so that the devil’s lies may be countered with the truth of God. As I tell people fairly frequently, the Holy Spirit convicts but He doesn’t condemn. The devil, on the other hand, condemns every chance he gets. I must not be party to his schemes! I am to be honest and straightforward about repentance, and that it is essential, but my goal must always be healing and restoration. I can also point people to the hope we have, that those who choose to be in Christ now will some day stand before God’s throne, clothed in the righteousness of Christ without any hint of division. That will be glorious indeed!

Father, when I woke up this morning I thought I was going to be preparing a message on praise, but You had a better idea. Thank You. Guide me now in laying out the notes as You desire, and guide me Sunday as I flesh those notes out with Your words, so that everyone who hears may be drawn to single-hearted devotion to You, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 12, 2013

Posted on September 15, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 76:1 In Judah God is known;
his name is great in Israel.

This Psalm is obviously a celebration of a decisive military victory, and I would guess from the internal context that it is from before the nation was divided. It is impressive that God is given full credit for the victory, with no evidence of boasting that I can see. That said, what comes to me on reading this verse is a pun that isn’t directly connected to military action at all. Judah was one of the sons of Jacob and the patriarch of the tribe that produced David and Jesus, but we read in Genesis 29:35 that the name means, or at least is derived from, “praise,” as in praising God. It has been the experience of God’s people down through the multiplied centuries that praising Him indeed opens our hearts and minds to know Him better. The NIV gives this translation only as a footnote, but Psalm 22:3 says that God is enthroned on the praises of His people. This has all the more impact when we consider that Psalm 22 is a remarkably detailed prophecy of the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as the results of His resurrection. I keep coming back to the fact that God doesn’t need our praise, but we need to praise Him. You could compare it to having a large diamond that you thought was just a piece of glass. You would think it was pretty, perhaps, but not value it very much because you didn’t know what you had. Praising God teaches us to value Him, which is integral with knowing what an omnipotent, infinite, loving, gracious, and compassionate God He is.

I have enjoyed singing hymns of praise since childhood, but I was introduced to what were called “praise and worship choruses” when I first got interested in the Charismatic movement. Often taken directly from Scripture, they opened me up to a level of experiencing God that I had not experienced previously. Since living in Omura I have had the privilege of translating a few hundred such songs, both from English to Japanese and Japanese to English, and that too has been very enriching to my appreciation of God. A pun though it is, I can say positively that God is indeed known in Judah (praise). Therefore, I do my best to encourage others to praise Him with me. Those who are not musical can still “make a joyful noise” to God!

Father, thank You for the privilege of praising You. Thank You for accepting our praise and worship, though we are not inherently worthy to give it. Thank You for how You straighten out our thoughts and emotions when we praise and worship You. I see so many people who need to do that, to get their eyes off of themselves to be able to see things in right perspective. Raise us up as a praising, worshiping people, Lord, so that we may escape the traps of the enemy and be and do all that You desire and intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 11, 2013

Posted on September 12, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 69:30-31 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

Every religion tends to settle on certain things that are to be given to deity in one form or another. In some societies there are whole industries devoted to making things whose whole purpose is to be sacrificed to some god. Even originally Biblical patterns of worship quickly become codified somehow, sapping the sincerity and vitality out of it all. That was true with the Old Testament sacrificial system, and it is certainly true in churches today. I’ve seen churches where it felt like they didn’t really want you to give an offering unless you checked the right boxes on their very detailed offering envelopes. David was a man after God’s own heart because he saw past that, as he expresses here. Passages in both the Old and New Testaments speak of offering God “the fruit of our lips,” (Hosea 14:2, Hebrews 13:15) that is, verbal expressions of worship. However, we need to be careful that our worship doesn’t stop with words. Jeremiah said to God about the people of his day, “You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.” (Jeremiah 12:2) I heard Hebrews 13:15 often when I was first exposed to the Charismatic movement, but verse 16 was hardly ever quoted: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Our words of worship and praise need to come from a heart and lifestyle of gratitude and worship.

I have always liked to sing, and my family growing up would often gather around the piano and sing hymns, in 4-part harmony. It is my personal experience that songs can break through whatever barriers we might put up and bring us to repentance and intimacy with God. I am convinced that God doesn’t tell us to praise and worship Him because He needs it in any way – as though the Creator needed “strokes” from His creation! Rather, He is pleased when we praise Him because it lines our hearts up with Him, and He is most interested in our hearts. However, I must be careful that everything that comes out of my mouth is in line with what I sing to God. James had some pretty strong words for people who say one thing in church and are completely different outside of it. (James 3:9-12) I am to praise and worship God with my whole heart, and see to it that extends to my whole life. I don’t want any part of my life to be inconsistent with the words I sing and say on Sundays.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I try to be careful about this, but You are the Judge of how well I do. Help me be a good example to the believers first of all, and also to all who know me, because I am watched by many. May my life and words consistently point them to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 10, 2013

Posted on September 12, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 68:11 The Lord announced the word,
and great was the company of those who proclaimed it:

Sometimes I am very thankful I do my Scripture readings in two languages, and this is certainly one of those times. Two things come out in the Japanese that are invisible in any English translation I’m familiar with. The first is that the word the Lord proclaims (in the Japanese here everything is in present tense) is specifically good news. In other words, it is the Gospel. The second point that jumps out at me is that in the Japanese, the “great company” of those who proclaim this good news are specifically women. That certainly throws a money wrench into some current theology of the Church! I wonder if this verse wasn’t an inspiration to my grandfather, W. O. Carver, who was a great champion of women in ministry. At one point over half of the people under appointment by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board) were graduates of the Carver School of Missions and Social Work. Recently, some in the Southern Baptist Convention have tried to expunge my grandfather’s name from denominational history, but that doesn’t work too well. In any case, the point of this verse is that when God declares something, it behooves us to proclaim it, because it is going to be good news for all who are willing to obey it. The Gospel is not good news to those who are stubbornly set in their sin, but the minute they are willing to let go of their sin and rebellion, it becomes the best news in the world.

This verse almost makes me wish I were a woman! However, I am indeed dedicated to proclaiming the Good News the Lord has announced, and it is a joyous commission indeed. Fruit has historically not been abundant in Japan, but I have had the great joy of seeing people turn from darkness to light, death to life, and say things like, “My life was a fog before this,” and “Why on earth did it take me so long!” Hearing such testimonies and seeing their joy makes it all worth it. I’ve got to remember that this is the Good News the Lord has announced; it’s not of merely human origin. Other religions have their “holy texts,” but Christian faith is founded on the Word of the Creator. Buddhism in particular is based on the writings of a large collection of sages, but there is no underlying foundation of revelation. I’ve met someone – coincidentally a woman – who was so earnest in her search for meaning through Buddhism that she shaved her head and became a monk, only to give up some years later in despair, because she could find no foundation underlying all the nice-sounding things Buddhist sages had written. Then she encountered Christ, and now she’s a joyful, fully committed evangelist! I am never to give up proclaiming the Word, because all who do accept it find it to be true indeed, the Word of Life. (John 6:63, 68)

Father, thank You for the privilege of proclaiming Your Word. Help me be faithful, not by my own strength which is obviously inadequate, but by Your wisdom and power, so that as many as will may accept it, repent and believe, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 9, 2013

Posted on September 10, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.

This is a fairly well-known verse, but I think it is understood and followed far less than it is known. Simply put, this is describing the opposite of repentance. Because the word for “sin” in Japanese has strong overtones of “crime,” the translation I’m using says “unrighteousness,” to make it clear that this isn’t just talking about stuff like murder. The important point to notice here is the matter of “cherish.” (The Japanese says, “hold close.”) This verse isn’t saying that only the sinless are heard by God, it’s saying that refusing to repent cuts us off from God. This is the point of Jesus’ famous story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:10-14. The tax collector probably had quite a “rap sheet” from the standpoint of the Mosaic Law, but he was humbly repentant before God, and Jesus said he was received by God far more than the Pharisee who ignored his sins. James points out that if we approach life from a legalistic standpoint, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10) That’s why a repentant heart is essential! We aren’t to go picking at ourselves looking for things to repent of; that’s being spiritually neurotic. However, we are to ask and allow the Holy Spirit to shine His light on everything the Father wants us to repent of. God, being the perfect Father, isn’t going to dump everything on us at once, and He will never deliver blanket condemnation. That last is a vitally important point, because blanket condemnation is what the devil loves to dump on us. If we get the feeling that we’re hopeless and might as well give up, we can be positive it’s not from God!

This is something I’m constantly having to explain to people, because so many are oppressed by the devil’s blanket condemnations. However, as I express and explain God’s grace to others, I must not take it lightly myself. I must not cheapen grace by taking it for granted. I am to keep an open door for the Holy Spirit, not just for guidance and encouragement but also for correction and rebuke. I’d like to avoid that last item, but if I need it I need it, and I’d better receive it humbly and gratefully. I don’t want anything to get in the way of my hearing God or God listening to me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. You know the people I’m dealing with right now, and the lies they’re hearing from the devil. Help me speak Your truth to them in love, gently, strongly, and persistently, so that Your truth may penetrate their hearts and minds to set them free from the lies of the devil, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 8, 2013

Posted on September 10, 2013 by jgarrott

Psalm 54:1 Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.

As I have been reading passages centered on “The Name of the Lord” for the past several weeks I have been struck with how little weight we attribute to that Name. We act as though it could just as well be George, or any other name. The idea that the Name of the Lord itself could save us, as is expressed here, is totally foreign to us. I think we lose a great deal by that. Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song quite a few years ago called Something About That Name that touches on this issue. The song is about the Name of Jesus, which of course David didn’t know as a covenant name. Actually, he didn’t know the Greek form we use at all, but he was certainly familiar with Yeshua, which we render as Joshua. That name means “Yahweh is salvation,” and that certainly ties in with this verse. By degrading our appreciation of God’s Name, we fail to understand His authority, which David also mentions here. (The NIV says “might.”) This isn’t just an Old Testament issue. Philippians 2:9-11 famously says, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The better we grasp that, the better we will exercise that authority in obedience to Him, and the more we will see His power manifested for His glory in our lives.

I have and I haven’t understood this in my own life. I’ve known the words, accepting it as an intellectual concept, but it hasn’t penetrated as deeply as it needed to. Right now I am faced with multiple issues and situations that call of the right exercise of the Name and authority of the Lord. I cannot handle, much less correct, any of them by my own wisdom, strength, or authority. I need to be so totally submitted and obedient to God myself that I will speak His words in His Name to accomplish His will. That will indeed “save people by His Name,” just as David prayed. Mouthing formulas just doesn’t cut it, but even words that seem formulaic, when spoken in true submission and obedience to the One who holds all authority and power, break every fetter and save people indeed.

Father, You know the situations that are on my heart, and You care about them even more than I do. Thank You for the moment You gave me, in the middle of writing this, of proclaiming the Name of Jesus over one of those situations. Help me be so submitted to You that You are free to use me as You desire, setting people free and bringing them into Your full salvation, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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