Gratitude; September 24, 2024

Posted on September 25, 2024 by jgarrott

Psalm 13:1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?

It struck me just now that this is the cry of a man who was used to hearing from God frequently. The thing is, when he got more comfortable in life as the undisputed king he stopped listening, and so went far afield with Bathsheba. I have heard it said that God likes to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Both are actually expressions of His loving grace. God allows trials in our lives to shake us up, to remind us how much we need Him, not because He is mean – which He certainly isn’t. Good parents need to give their children opportunities to fail, because without failures, they will fail to mature, and will never know the true satisfaction of successes. If we constantly hear God, we won’t grasp what a privilege it is to have the ear of the Creator of the universe. A feeling of entitlement is one of the greatest “joy thieves” in existence. The better we understand God’s grace, and that it is grace, the more grateful and joyful we will be. Dennis Prager says that he has never met a happy leftist, and I can agree. I genuinely feel sorry for those, in America of all places, who fail to recognize the abundance of blessings that are available to them, and instead, bad-mouth everything. Just yesterday I read the story of a woman who was born a slave and lived to 102, and in her recollections she talked exclusively about how good she had it. She and her family even chose to stay with their former master as his employees after emancipation. One thing that struck me about that account was that her master had consistently given them the opportunity to go to church with him every Sunday, not commanding but offering. It obviously did them all a lot of good!

I think my parents consciously raised us to be grateful, and it was one of the best things they could ever have done for us. At Christmas it wasn’t “everything’s from Santa,” but each gift was from an individual, and that individual was to be thanked. Gift opening always took a long time, because we took turns, with everyone watching as each present was opened. I remember being more excited to see how someone else responded to what I had chosen for them than I was about what I received. Today, I couldn’t begin to enumerate all the blessings I feel God has poured out on me. As I have commented, sometimes I worry about my faithfulness, if my cross is so light! It’s not that I have no problems, but I feel bathed in love and grace. And to top it off, my Heavenly Father meets with me every morning! I seek to help others realize that such a life is available to them, but most of the time they are too focused on other things to recognize the goodness of God. I am to maintain an attitude of gratitude, expressing my love for God by obedience to Him, so that His purposes for me may be fulfilled on His schedule, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I really don’t have words to express a proper response to You for Your goodness. May my life be an expression of gratitude and praise, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Assurance; September 23, 2024

Posted on September 24, 2024 by jgarrott

Psalm 4:3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

Here we have the secret of David’s boldness, his assurance in times of trial. There are many other examples throughout the Psalms (as well as times when he didn’t feel so heard). David was certainly not perfect by any means, but he had learned to listen, and recognize when God was speaking to him. Some would think it was hubris for him to claim to be a saint, a holy one, (the NIV says, “faithful servant”) but the New Testament extends that term to every believer, and we need to lay hold of it. Those who rebel against God and persecute His people certainly don’t have that assurance, and it drives them nuts that we do! We are always to walk in personal humility, but at the same time know that we serve and are loved by the Creator of the universe. That assurance can get us through anything! The last verse of this Psalm expresses a very practical outcome of such assurance. “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8) If we have that assurance, anxiety and insomnia go out the window!

In 76 years I have experienced God’s loving, personal care more times than I could possibly count. That doesn’t mean the devil doesn’t still try to make me anxious, because he does, but it’s not difficult to change gears and be grateful for all that God has done for me. That is particularly effective when my brain won’t shut up after I’ve gone to bed. I run through the lyrics of songs like, “O Lord, You have been Good,” and focus on gratitude for all that He has done for me, and the next thing I know, it’s morning! Yesterday’s message focused on the reality that life on this earth isn’t just a walk in the park, and that God isn’t just a vending machine, but that we have absolutely nothing to be anxious about, even so. John 16:33 has become something of a theme verse for me, even though I know that my troubles are far lighter than those of many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, particularly in places like North Korea. I am able to remind myself that all my troubles are indeed “light and momentary,” just as Paul said. (2 Corinthians 4:17) As a pastor, I am to seek to help those in my care to have the same awareness, just as I did in the service yesterday.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace toward me. Thank You for the joy and privilege of sharing Your truth with others. May every word You speak through me have its full effect, so that the lies of the enemy may be defeated and people set free, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Hearing God; September 22, 2024

Posted on September 23, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 33:14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—
    though no one perceives it.

It’s a little hard to know how to take Elihu, the speaker here. He “comes out of nowhere” in the narrative, not being one of Job’s three friends, and after his lengthy discourse, he isn’t mentioned again. One of the members of this church, years ago, thought he was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it’s hard to fault what he says in his discourse. Here, he points out that God does speak to us, but we often don’t recognize what He’s saying or even that He’s speaking. In verses 29-30 Elihu explains why God speaks to us. “God does all these things to a person—twice, even three times—to turn them back from the pit, that the light of life may shine on them.” The methods of God speaking mentioned here are all physical ailments, but how often do we seek God for what He might be saying to us when we get sick? I’m not saying that every disease is a message from God, by any means, but the possibility is real, and we need to be listening actively. The methods God uses to speak to us are virtually limitless, so the point is to be sensitive and expectant. The problem is that very few people today have the expectation of God speaking to them. As I mentioned recently, just a few years ago when a public figure in the US mentioned something about hearing from God, they were ridiculed and accused of a mental disorder on national television. The devil doesn’t want us hearing and obeying God! That’s all the more reason to be listening eagerly, because the devil is absolutely a liar, out to kill, steal from, and destroy us. (John 10:10) If he wants you to do something, do the opposite!

I grew up with the awareness that God is intimately concerned about us. Though my parents didn’t often use the terminology of “hearing from God,” they sought His guidance in daily devotions and were faithful as He led them. Prayer was as natural as breathing in our house, and it was understood that it wasn’t just one-way. Even so, it was many years before I developed a lifestyle of listening to God. I mention it frequently, but it was a total shock when I first heard Him speak in what seemed to be an audible voice, and what He told me was, “Well then, shut up!” I do delight to talk to Him (I’m quite a talker in any case), but I still have room to grow in listening to Him, just as I need to grow in listening to the people around me. At 76, my physical hearing isn’t what it once was, but I know that my spiritual hearing is far more important. Even talking with people, I need to hear what they are really saying, above and beyond their words. I especially want to hear what my Lord is saying and be fully obedient to Him, above and beyond any other voice, or even my own intellect. God does speak, and I want to listen.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for how You are so faithful to give me the messages You want conveyed to Your children. I pray that I would do so accurately this morning, both for those physically present and those who will hear electronically. May we all listen to You as obedient children, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Salvation; September 21, 2024

Posted on September 22, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 25:4 “How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
    How can one born of woman be pure?”

This is an existential question for mankind as a whole, and different religions have tried to answer it in different ways. I don’t know how Hinduism explains it, but Buddhism dispenses with the whole idea of a Creator, and says that human perfection comes from discarding human impulses. Islam brings it all down to submission, with martyrdom being the only guaranteed route to acceptance. Judaism of course knows the God of the Bible, but presents good works, that is, obedience to the Law of Moses, as the way to salvation. Various “Christian” groups have gone the same route, ignoring the two councils of the Church in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 11 and 15, that agreed that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by genetic lineage or external rules. That seems like good news, and it is, but human pride stubbornly wants to take credit for our own salvation. That’s why Paul had to expressly deny the possibility of our doing that, in Ephesians 2:8-9. But then we come back to Bildad’s question here. He was essentially saying that the gap between God and man is so great, there’s no use trying. That’s another lie of the devil. In His incredible wisdom, love, grace, and mercy God created a bridge for that gap in the person, death, and resurrection of His Son. Without that act of judicial reparation for our sins, faith alone would have been empty. We aren’t saved by wishful thinking, we are saved by believing that God loved us so much that He indeed sent Jesus to die for us, as it says in John 3:16. That is the ultimate answer to Bildad’s question.

This is something I had to answer in my own life, and it is what I have devoted my life to sharing for the past 50 years. At one point I thought my genetic heritage put me in a pretty good place, and God had to very firmly correct me in that error. I have been incredibly blessed with a heritage of faith, but it has to be my faith to be effective for my salvation. Now, some people look at me and think, “Of course God loves him. Look at how he is living!” What I try to get across to them is that He loves them just as much as He does me, and the key to receiving that love is humble repentance. Jesus died for all mankind, but that salvation must be believed to be received. I can’t save anyone myself, but I can share the good news of salvation by faith, and pray that the Holy Spirit will work it into people’s hearts to produce the repentance and faith necessary, for their salvation and God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the various personal encounters we had yesterday, some of them quite deep, and others largely surface. I pray that our every interaction with people would point them, draw them, to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Light; September 20, 2024

Posted on September 21, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 24:13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who do not know its ways
    or stay in its paths.”

This statement by Job brings to mind Jesus’ statement in John 3. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19-20) Human nature doesn’t change! We are constantly faced with the choice of light or darkness, far more often than we realize. Job’s statement is specifically about light, but as John wrote in his first letter, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Rejecting light is rejecting God. Peter also points out that God has called us out of darkness into His light. (1 Peter 2:9) You can’t disassociate light from God. That said, we need to be careful, because one of the names for the devil is Lucifer, “light carrier,” and “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) With that caution in mind, we should still seek the light, and certainly avoid the “deeds of darkness.” (Romans 13:12) The problem is that society has many dark corners, and we get so used to them that we don’t notice them until we get stuck in them. That’s why we need to keep a close watch on ourselves, and choose honesty and openness at every turn, letting the light of Christ shine from us. (2 Corinthians 4:6) If we do that, we will be much less likely to stumble!

I had the great blessing of being raised by a man who chose absolute honesty as one of his core principles. That doesn’t mean I’ve never been devious, and certainly not that I’ve never done things I’d rather keep hidden, but it does mean that lying doesn’t come very naturally to me. Even springing surprises on people, I’d much rather be quiet than actually say anything that isn’t true. I think I have a much less stressful life for that, because I never have to worry about what I told someone, and whether I told someone else the same story. In terms of light, as a photographer I’ve spent a lot of time in photo darkrooms, and got so acclimated to them that I could read a newspaper with just the safelights I had in my personal setup. Even today, sunglasses are essential to me in sunny weather, but I still prefer brightly lit rooms, unless I’m trying to sleep. I have been accused of hurting people by being overly direct. I am always to speak the truth in love, but never to speak less than the truth, thinking I’m being loving. I don’t have to say everything I know or perceive. That’s a lesson I’m still learning! As a pastor, I seek to lead others to the light, and teach them to love the light as I do.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I’ve got a really packed schedule today. Help me walk in Your light each moment as a carrier of Your light, so that those I’m with may be drawn to Your light for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Motivation; September 19, 2024

Posted on September 20, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 22:21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way prosperity will come to you.”

Some of the things that Eliphaz says are true and reasonable, but when you read through it all, you realize that his motivation is distorted. He is speaking to Job to get him to do things that will build Job up, rather than actually keeping the focus on our Creator. Some of the things that he says I want to say a hearty AMEN to, such as the point of letting God be our treasure, in verses 24-26, but the motivation is to get God to listen, to be spiritually powerful. We should desire to be spiritually powerful, but not for our own sake. Rather, we should seek to be available to God for Him to use us as He pleases. Many people seek spiritual power out of ambition. When Jesus’ disciples were delighted that demons obeyed them, Jesus said, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20) When our motivation is personal power, we are off base. In the example above, Jesus too was delighted that His disciples were operating in Kingdom authority, but He was concerned that they would be enticed by the authority itself, rather than delighting in the Kingdom. That’s why He had told them, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33)

I have had fantasies and daydreams of operating so in tune with my Lord that everything I said happened, even as I was speaking. I too have trouble with motivation! Power can be very seductive. A secular proverb says, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” God does exercise His power through me, but if my focus is on the power rather than on Him, at the very least I lose the benefit, whatever else might happen. I have written recently about speaking for God, and that is certainly an exercise of His power. However, if I let myself get inflated as “God’s spokesperson,” then I am in deep trouble. I have learned the hard way that I am foolish and unreliable. It is only when I am fully committed and yielded to my Lord that His plans for me are fulfilled. I’ve got to remember that in the parable of the talents, the servant who started with five and the servant who started with three got exactly the same commendation. It wasn’t for what they did, but for their faithfulness. That is precisely what I want to hear when I stand before my Lord.

Father, thank You for this reminder. All sorts of things are going on. I want to do Your will and Yours alone, not for bragging rights but for Your pleasure and glory. I ask right now for the message for Sunday, so that Your sheep may be fed. May I be Your instrument in everything I do, whether it is “religious” or not. Thank You. Praise God!

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Truth; September 18, 2024

Posted on September 19, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 12:13 “To God belong wisdom and power;
    counsel and understanding are his.”

In this chapter, Job is rattling off truisms about God to his three friends, who have been using such truisms to attack him. It’s not that any of these things are wrong, it’s the way in which they are used. Context and intention are always important. It is popular these days to deny the existence of absolute truth, but denying it doesn’t make it go away. At issue is our perception of it. Some well-meaning Christians use the Bible like a cudgel to beat people up. That doesn’t make it any less true, but it essentially takes truth out of the equation. As Paul famously expressed in 1 Corinthians 13, truth without love becomes meaningless. The flip side of that is that feelings don’t negate truth. We can’t negate gravity, for example, by wanting it to be different. This is a tension we all live with. Even God has to deal with it, and He chose a most extreme method to do so. It is absolutely true that He is perfectly holy, making it impossible for sinful beings to approach Him, other than for judgment. What He chose to do was to give His own Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, so that those who believe that Christ died for them receive His righteousness by faith. You could not get more extreme than that! The Gospel is that we are all sinners, rightly and justly headed for hell, but God provided an “escape hatch,” so to speak, but it requires humility, and we can be sadly short of that. God is love, but we must repent to receive Him as Lord.

This is the story of my life, as it actually is for every human being. I have had less excuse than most, because I have been taught God’s truth from infancy, but all too often I have chosen to ignore it. Pride is a terrible snare! Now, I seek to lead others into God’s truth, but find that my own wisdom and knowledge are insufficient. I’ve got to be humble enough to ask God to use even me to lead others into His gracious salvation, because I can’t do it myself. However, I am deeply grateful to say that He has used and does use me. I am not to take personal credit, particularly in my own mind, but give all the glory to Him. I’ve got to be careful of both sides of “speaking the truth in love,” never deviating from God’s truth, but staying filled with love: love for God and love for my neighbor, all because of His love for us.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me never spout truisms, but always speak Your truth in love. Keep me from backing down from Your truth, but never because of pride. May I understand more and more the magnificence of Your grace toward me, so that I may be a more effective channel of that grace toward others, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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True Success; September 17, 2024

Posted on September 18, 2024 by jgarrott

Job 11:17 Life will be brighter than noonday,
    and darkness will become like morning.

I somewhat regret including this passage in the Scripture readings, because it is nothing but platitudes. That’s the tricky thing about reading Job: you have to be careful who is saying what, because Job’s three friends were not speaking out of a genuine relationship with their Creator. This verse sounds like something a modern “Prosperity Gospel” preacher might say. Whereas it is true that God is more than gracious and He delights to bless us, that’s no guarantee we will have an easy life. Jesus went so far as to say definitively, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33) The Good News isn’t that this life will be easy street, it’s that we will be able to make it through whatever the world and the devil throw at us, and, as Paul said, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”(2 Corinthians 4:17) In fact, James went so far as to say, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) That is spiritual prosperity, not material. An excellent modern example is Taylor Swift. She is incredibly wealthy, but by her own public statement, she has had 14 lovers, no husband, and no children. Her songs, that have made her so much money, are all about her bad choices in life! That is actually very pathetic. As has been said many times, God is more interested in our character than our comfort. He knows what is best for us, what will help us let go of our wrong attitudes and values, if we are paying attention, and will guide us into the relationship with Him for which we were created. Zophar, the speaker in today’s passage, had no real grasp of that, so all he could offer Job was empty platitudes.

I don’t feel like I have suffered particularly, to the point that I sometimes worry about whether I am sufficiently true to Christ! In thinking about it, though, I think it’s more a matter of my knowing enough about Christ to put things into perspective, so that my troubles don’t seem so severe. After all, just before telling us that we would have troubles, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33) When I am resting in Christ, my troubles seem insignificant. After all, the Lord told me personally to rest, relax, and rejoice! I am not to chase this world’s riches of any kind, but rather, as again Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) Most of the people around me don’t have that value system. I’m not to look down on them or feel superior, but rather speak the truth to them in love, so that they too may discover the true riches, peace, and joy that are in Christ alone.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me be ever more effective in sharing the Good News of Your kingdom, so that more and more people may repent and believe, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Being Smart; September 16, 2024

Posted on September 17, 2024 by jgarrott

Nehemiah 9:20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

Differing translations can be fascinating. Where the NIV and other English translations say, “to instruct them,” the Japanese says, “to seek to make them smart/wise.” That’s not a purpose of the Holy Spirit we often talk about! However, as Nehemiah goes on to express, the people so blessed didn’t accept God’s Spirit very well, and instead acted very foolishly. The thing is, God doesn’t force His blessings on us; we have to receive them. As Paul pointed out, it’s all too possible to grieve the Holy Spirit, and when we do, He withdraws. (Ephesians 4:30) I think most people would like to be smart, but we are all born with different “mental horsepower.” God’s way to even that up, so to speak, is to provide His Spirit, since God Himself is omniscient. A person with an IQ of 80 who is filled with and yielded to God’s Spirit expresses more genuine wisdom than a genius who denies God. Not to get political, but that’s a good illustration of equality versus “equity,” as it is used today. We all have different starting points when it comes to intelligence, but God gives us equal access to His Spirit, Who is all wisdom and knowledge. It is obvious we don’t all arrive at the same level, but the determining factor isn’t our starting point, but rather how yielded we are to God’s Spirit.

This is a point of great interest to me. I took my first IQ test in the 5th grade, and turned in a score of 150. Academics came easily to me, but I also made some very foolish decisions, and I descended into intellectual and spiritual pride. That was certainly not wise! God had to “take me to the woodshed,” so to speak, over that, but He was thankfully very gentle about it. A little after that He used someone who probably didn’t have an IQ like mine to help me understand how to open up to the Holy Spirit, and then another brother to open me up to spiritual gifts. As I have written recently, it was a real revelation to me to grasp, genuinely, that God’s smart and I’m not. It is only by His Spirit that I can act with His wisdom, and that is what I desire.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your incredible grace toward me. Help me live not by my intellect but by Your Spirit, just as You said to Zechariah. (Zechariah 4:6) May I never think that anything human can come up to Your level, in wisdom, power, or anything else, so that I may be fully obedient to whatever You say, accomplishing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Speaking for God; September 15, 2024

Posted on September 16, 2024 by jgarrott

2 Samuel 23:2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me;
    his word was on my tongue.

From one perspective, this seems like a statement of incredible conceit. From another perspective, actively voiced by a TV personality about someone else not long ago, it seems like evidence of mental disorder. Both of those attitudes are actively promoted by the devil, because he doesn’t want people believing that God can and does speak through people, that He is actively concerned with our daily affairs to the point of doing such a thing. However, David had built up a track record with his Psalms, as is acknowledged in the verse before this. It would be impossible to number all the people who have heard from their Creator through David’s words, so this verse is a simple statement of fact. That said, not every word that came from David’s mouth was directly from God, nor can anyone on earth today make that claim. Jesus was the only person to live for whom that may have been true, but I would think that even for Him, many words were simply inconsequential. However, every word He spoke was spoken in love, and was in no way a violation of God’s character. God does call individuals to be His mouthpieces, so to speak, and He speaks through all of His children to some extent, but our response, any time we realize He is using us that way, is to be humble gratitude and not pride. Another angle to that is that any time God speaks through us, we must pay attention to it ourselves, and never assume that the message is just for “the other guy.” Every honest preacher, much less prophet, will acknowledge that their fulfillment of the truth they speak is imperfect. That isn’t necessarily hypocrisy, but rather the result of a perfect God speaking through an imperfect vessel. That’s why we must all walk in humility, particularly when God speaks through us.

I have become dependent on God speaking to me, and I seek to allow Him to speak through me whenever and however He chooses. That said, I get in the way all too often. My wife says that I tend to come across as angry, and I have certainly failed to praise people as much as I should have. Awareness that God does speak through me at times fills me with joy and a desire for it to happen more consistently, but I also need to be careful that my “inconsequential” words don’t close people’s ears to what God actually is speaking to them. I’m not right all the time, nor do I always hear correctly what God is saying. Humility is without question essential. I am at times in awe of things God has said through me, lyrics He has had me write, but I am never to let that puff me up, but rather inspire me to be more available to Him.

Father, thank You for this clear reminder on my birthday. You have indeed made me to be a wordsmith. May every word that comes from my mouth or my fingers be what You desire to be expressed, for the blessing of my hearers and readers and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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