Notes of Faith March 16, 2021

When I was a little boy, I dreamed of being a superhero. For me any superhero would do, but my favorite was Ultraman.

Ultraman was the star of the coolest show aired on television between 1966 and 1967. I was just five years old at the time. 

For Halloween my parents purchased an Ultraman costume for me at the local Kmart. When I put on the outfit, I became Ultraman. This suit of steel (actually polyester) not only helped me to bag some amazing candy that October 31, but also empowered me to save the world from space monsters a million times over and even rescue a few damsels in distress. Why has a space monster never come after you?

Because I took him out before he got to you. You’re welcome. 

Then I grew up and put away such childish thoughts. Time to face reality. I am just an average ole’ guy trying to make it through the day. There are bills to pay, work to do, schedules to keep, lawns to mow, kids to chauffer, meals to prepare, dishes to clean up. Time to take off the cape of an imaginary superhero and get on with real life.  

Let me ask you, where would you place yourself on the Empowerment scale below? 

Empowerment Scale 

1    2    3    4    5    6   7   8   9  10 

                I Am          I Am Somewhere         I Am 
       Powerless              In Between             Empowered 

Actually, for most of the adult years of my life, I would have ranked myself pretty high – somewhere around seven or an eight. Then I got blindsided by an act of betrayal and I experienced a free-fall to a two or maybe a three. When the psychiatrist said, “Randy, you are clinical depressed”, I just gave her a blank stare, turned and looked at my wife who was sitting right by my side, and let the tears flow. It was official. I am in a dark hole and feel powerless to do anything about it.  

If you ranked yourself in the lower half of the scale, it may be the result of a mental health issue like mine. You are certainly not alone. Mental health struggles were already on the rise before a global pandemic decided to visit our planet earth and overstay it’s welcome. We are now seeing the highest levels of anxiety and depression since the Great Recession of 2008. Maybe your struggles are not that intense, but you struggle, nonetheless. You are overwhelmed with all the duties laid on you that have to be repeated ad nauseam. Maybe you feel stuck in a dead-end job or can’t get your boss’ attention. Maybe you feel you were born on the wrong side of the tracks, or just can’t catch a break.  

Is this it? Is this all there is… or is there hope?   

For followers of Jesus, there is amazing hope! Tucked away in the ancient scriptures there is a passage that one should not rush over too quickly. It is found in a prayer that Paul offered up to the believers in the city of Ephesus. He prayed that they would grasp a truth that would alter their lives right into eternity.  

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms. — Ephesians 1:18-20 

Do you see it? Paul is praying that the eyes of our hearts may see that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us who believe. Talk about empowerment! This kind of power is certainly sufficient to overcome any issue I face in my life. How about yours? 

The pragmatic’s question immediately becomes, “How might I tap into such power?” It’s okay to ask such a question. Paul bated us to do so. We should ask it.  

In pursuit of the answer, my question is this – “Why didn’t Jesus raise Himself from the dead?” If Jesus is God, and He is, why did He need any help? You can leave it in the realm of mysteries, (most do) or you can search the scriptures for clues.  

Here is what I discovered. When Jesus, “being in the very nature God”, left the heavens to wrap Himself in flesh and move into our world, “He did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage”. (Philippians 2:6) Jesus came to earth to become one of us and show us the way to God by the way He lived his life.

If He used what was available to Him as God, that would be an overwhelming advantage. No kidding! 

So, I believe that Jesus temporarily left behind these advantages. Three in particular –  

• Omnipresence – the ability to be in all place at all times

• Omniscience – all knowledge

• Omnipotence – all power

For the thirty-three years Jesus walked the earth, He restricted His access to these three sources of power. So how did He pull off all the miracles, healings and even a resurrection? He relied on the first and third person of the Trinity – the Father and the Holy Spirit. In doing so, He is showing us the way to tap into this power.  

Here are the three steps that Jesus took that gave Him access to this amazing power source. If, as believers, we will follow in the footsteps of Jesus we too will have access to this power. That’s the promise. 

1.   Empty – Jesus emptied Himself of control. We need to empty ourselves of the illusion of control. Not an easy thing to do, but very liberating. Pretending you are in control is exhausting. 

2.   Align – Jesus aligned His life to the will of the Father. Why, because the power of God is reserved for the will of God. We need to align our lives to the will of the Father if we want access to His mighty strength. 

3.   Empower – Jesus yielded to the power of the Holy Spirit that came upon Him at His baptism and remained with Him throughout His time on earth. (John 1:32). We don’t need to try harder to live an empowered life, we need to yield harder to the presence and power of the Spirit of God to accomplish the will of the Father in and through us.  

There is not much within us as flawed humans that wants much to do with these three steps. It explains why so many of us as Christians live such normal, defeated, lack luster lives. It doesn’t have to be that way.  

How am I doing today? Well, I did write a book on how to walk daily in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead… Just saying. I discovered that same power is absolutely available to all believers today if we will follow the pattern of Jesus. So maybe it’s time to strap on those superhero capes once again! 

Written for Devotionals Daily by Randy Frazee, author of His Mighty Strength. 

Do you feel empowered today? Or are you asking ‘Is there hope’? As a believer you have access to amazing, divine power every day!

See the Scriptural reference below to see why I don’t agree with Randy concerning Jesus not being involved supernaturally in His resurrection . . .

John 10:17-18

I lay down My life so that I may take it again.  18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

Nevertheless the three steps he lists to access the power of God are very good –

Empty or humble yourself before God

Align or better word, be obedient to what God says

Empower or yield to the power of the Spirit within you

Indeed, we have access to the power of God at all times.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 15, 2021

The power of kindness was not a new thought to Jo and me. This concept is echoed in our Magnolia Manifesto, a series of statements that lead out the work we do as a company, serving as a lighthouse of sorts. No matter the conditions, these words guide us home. A line from that manifesto kept popping into my head:  

We believe in human kindness, knowing we are made better when we work together.  

What opportunities to treat people with kindness had I missed? Maybe the implications weren’t always so dire, but where could I have tipped the dominos, so to speak, if I had only stopped to consider it? So many times it’s not that people don’t care to be kind; it’s that life is moving too quickly for us to stop and think about how an outpouring of kindness could start. We’re hurrying home to make dinner, we’re late to pick up the kids from practice, we’re swamped at work, we’re stuck in traffic. Any thought given to someone else (and how we might change their day for good) gets buried under the noise and stressors of what we have going on in our own lives.  

I didn’t want to get tangled up in the shouting match about gun control and mental health issues, but I knew I had to do something. It occurred to me: What good is this network I’ve built if I don’t rely on it... right now? Still, Jo and I realized that using our platform would only go so far. We needed to involve more people, knowing that true power is not in the “me” but in the “we.”  

I wanted to work through this with the people around me — a process I’ve always found helpful — so Jo and I rallied the Magnolia team together to hear their thoughts.

We all came to the conclusion that the challenge was right in front of us: make kindness louder.  

Louder than chaos. 

Louder than hate. 

I’m not talking about kindness in terms of grand gestures or the goodwill that comes on special occasions or holidays. I’m talking about day-to-day interactions that offer a glimmer of love or hope. The kind of goodness that abounds in equal measure for a loved one and a stranger on the street, people on both sides of our bubbles. That’s the kind of kindness that can tip the dominos in the opposite direction.  

A subtle reminder is sometimes all it takes. A nudge to do just one small thing. At Magnolia we made up four fliers with pull-tabs suggesting practical ways to show kindness. We shared them on social media so people could print them out and also offer this idea to those in their own networks. Two of the flyer templates had general acts of kindness, those you could use around the home or office. The third flyer was geared toward kids, and the fourth was blank, which we hoped would empower people to think of even more ways to help. 

Mow a neighbor’s lawn. 
Write a letter of thanks to a first responder. 
Stop and ask a person experiencing homelessness their story.  

We knew we weren’t reinventing the wheel, but we hoped that something tangible — that little slip of paper — might burn a hole in someone’s pocket until they decided to act on it.  

Within hours, the post took off. People all over the world downloaded the flyers, and we were blown away by the responses and stories that people sent in using the hashtag #makekindnessloud.  

That’s it. That’s the stuff. Real and important change begins with small, courageous acts.  

KINDNESS FLYER  

Make your own kindness flyer for your fridge to remind you to perform random acts of kindness. Make a practice of pulling off a tab any time you feel a kindness deficit in the world.  

Here are a few ideas to get you started:  

Buy coffee for the person behind you in line at the coffee shop.  

Make time to call a friend.  

Ask a stranger how they’re doing.  

Write a thank-you note to a former boss or teacher.  

Volunteer at a local charity.  

Tell someone what you like best about them.  

GET UNCOMFORTABLY KIND  

We tend to think that kindness is easy. Soft. Nice. It’s something you learn in kindergarten — how to say “please” and “thank you” and share your Goldfish crackers. Kindness has gotten a rep of being like Glinda the Good Witch, all gentleness and smiles. Someone with a “No, please, after you, I insist” type attitude. It’s easy to think, That’s just not me. I’m not a pushover, I’m not constantly in a good mood, and I’m not always patient and nice. But real kindness is built with grace and grit, and I don’t think one works without the other; they are wisely intertwined.

Because life-changing kindness is hard. Sometimes so hard it hurts. It’s sweat and effort. It actually requires something of you. That’s kindness that inspires, kindness that makes a difference.  

In the story of the widow’s mite in the Bible,1 Jesus watched at the temple in silence as rich men made donations — some of them quite large — into the treasury. But then a poor widow placed two small copper coins in the box, barely a fraction of a penny. That was when Jesus spoke up, saying that this woman had given more than any of the others, even the richest of them, because she had made a true sacrifice.  

How many times have you stopped short of giving because it would require something slightly inconvenient to you, maybe something as small as creating an account and a password to donate to a worthy cause?  

Ninety-nine percent of kindness, of generosity, of fairness, of justice is follow-through. It requires sacrifice. It is uncomfortable. You hold the door for an older person on their way out of the grocery store — that’s kind — but when you help load their groceries into their car, even though you’re already running late, that’s uncomfortably kind. A teacher who gives a struggling student an extra-credit opportunity — that’s kind. Coming in early every day to go over her lessons is uncomfortably kind.  

If we are going to belong to one another again, we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortably kind.

#makesense  

During the recent protests surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, a local woman tweeted at me. In a totally nonconfrontational way she asked if Magnolia would consider making a percentage of our vendors at our upcoming vendor fair Black-owned businesses. It took about two seconds for me to say yes. That part was a cinch.

That was easy kind. The hard part, the uncomfortable part, was following through by doing our due diligence to find and invite vendors in an honorable way, and making sure their businesses wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the bump in volume that could come. It made more work for our staff, but it was worth it a thousandfold. Society would have us believe that we have to be cutthroat to excel in business and in life, but I’ve learned to place my bets on a different theory:  

kindness never returns void.  

When we push the borders of the bubble far enough, it eventually bursts. That’s when we can see what has been true all along — there is no difference in worthiness between those inside the bubble and those outside. We all belong to one another, and there’s no good reason why kindness shouldn’t blanket and protect us all. It’s like the old Irish proverb that says, “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”  

I read a great story that illustrates what can happen when you break through your bubble. In early 2020, Qasim Rashid was running for Congress in Virginia. As he was campaigning he received a lot of support, but he was also on the butt end of a lot of upsetting anti-Muslim comments.

One day, a guy named Oscar Dillon blasted out a tweet, the gist of which was that Rashid was not welcome in America.  

Anyone who has ever been on the internet knows how these exchanges usually go down — someone says something incendiary, then someone who disagrees either makes an impassioned argument or they hit back with bombs lobbed at the opposition, which usually just results in more name-calling and spite. Rashid took a different tack.

He did a little research and saw that Dillon was having medical issues and had set up a GoFundMe to pay for his mounting bills. Dillon had absolutely gutted his retirement savings and was now having to dip into his wife’s savings to cover the costs. When Rashid saw that, instead of firing back at Dillon, he took a risk. He set aside his own hurt, gave up his own affronted dignity, and decided to get uncomfortably kind. He donated to the GoFundMe — and then encouraged his supporters to do the same. Within weeks, the campaign was up to $20,000.  

Dillon watched donations racking up, just staring at his screen in shock. He couldn’t believe that Rashid had reached out to take his hand given the way he’d treated him. He asked Rashid to meet, and when they did, they spoke openly to each other, and Dillon apologized for his tweet. Not only that, he invited Rashid to put campaign signs in his yard!2 

When Rashid made the choice to see Dillon as a person, to look at his life as a whole, to understand where he might be coming from, it made all the difference. I genuinely believe that the more we operate in this kind of mindset, believing the best about people, the more likely it is that those people will believe the same in others. That’s another thing about kindness: it’s contagious.  

Our collective kindness can become louder than any individual acts of hate. But that’s only if we don’t let ourselves go numb. Only if we expand our bubbles until they disappear. If we ask the hard questions. What pain does the world have that causes me to ache? What small thing can I do about it today? Maybe in that process you help someone who was so lost they were headed down a path that would have been destructive to themselves or to a whole bunch of people. We must build up instead of tearing down. So much of what we know is broken. The way we treat our neighbors. How we speak to one another. And we have to start moving back to a place of love and civility. A place of concern and respect.  

Jo and I want to operate with the kind of love and kindness that lends itself to rolling up our sleeves and working hard. If we’re doing it right, we’re all in the restoration business.  

Kindness asks us to look each other in the eye and see one another as valuable human beings. This begins at home, in our own networks and communities, with a steadfast belief that we are made better when we believe the best about each other.  

Acts of kindness often occur in the absence of witnesses. We also can’t always see the immediate effect. But rest assured, if the conditions are right, kindness moves and shifts like wildfire, and its beauty lies in its potential to spread. To catalyze a series of reactions that can transform how we care for one another.  

The spark has to begin somewhere. Let it begin with you.  

1. Mark 12:41–44; Luke 21:1–4.  

2. Ewan Palmer, “Muslim Political Candidate Helps Pay Off Medical Debt of Man Who Sent Him Islamophobic Tweet,” Newsweek, March 12, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/ muslim-candidate-qasim-rashid-gofundme-debt-virginia-1491929.  

Excerpted from No Pain, No Gaines by Chip Gaines, copyright Chip Gaines. 

Sometimes kindness requires a little discomfort. Let’s get uncomfortably kind!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 14, 2021

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8

What will it mean, in the end, to see God? This longing, knit deep into the fabric of our being, is at once one of Scripture’s great promises and puzzles.

In the Beatitudes, Christ himself pledges this greatest of all sights to the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). Among the most famous lines penned by the apostle Paul, we have, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Hebrews tells of a “holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). And in the final chapter of holy writ, the Apocalypse promises of the people of God, “They will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).

Christians have long called this great promise “the beatific vision,” meaning “the sight that makes happy.” As creatures who seek happiness, this is the great Happiness to come, the moment when we, at last, stand face to face before our God to perceive him visually and immediately and more.

Yet with it is a pronounced enigma. As we thumb through the pages of Scripture, we might speak of a marked “doctrine of divine invisibility.” The apostle John rehearses both in his Gospel prologue and again in his first letter, “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). Hebrews commends the cause of Moses’s endurance being his “seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). Paul refers to “the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) — divine invisibility being no flaw but an “honor and glory” of the uncreated, immortal, invisible God (1 Timothy 1:17), “who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16).

Tension in Scripture and History

Whether we humans physically can see God or not — and if so, how — is a tension and dynamic that runs through the progress of redemptive history, and is at the very heart of the story line itself. On the one hand, Moses, Aaron and his sons, and seventy of the elders of Israel “saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. . . . They beheld God” (Exodus 24:10–11). Still, soon thereafter, when Moses has asked, “Show me your glory,” God says, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:18, 20). More seems to be happening here than “feet, yes; face, no.”

“To see Jesus in glory will be the sight of God for which we have so long ached.”

And what are we to make of the patriarch wrestling at night with that enigmatic divine-human figure? Jacob testifies, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Genesis 32:30). So we find the same surprise in Deuteronomy 5:24: “This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.” In the same vein, the prophet Isaiah cries out, “Woe is me! . . . For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5; see also Judges 6:22–23; 13:22).

Even if, without exception, the various theophanies to God’s ancient people fall short of revealing the face of God unmediated, “as he is,” we do observe a progress over time, and starkly so in comparing the old covenant to the new. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes it plain, writes Hans Boersma, that “our spiritual vision of Christ today is more glorious than that of Moses” (Seeing God, 390). There was indeed glory in that first covenant, “such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’s face because of its glory” (2 Corinthians 3:7). Yet the new has “even more glory” (2 Corinthians 3:8). In fact, the new “must far exceed it in glory” (2 Corinthians 3:9) — so much so that “what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it” (2 Corinthians 3:10).

And even now, in Christ, “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18), as we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), we await a day when the former will give way to the latter. Some great sight approaches.

What Will We See?

Puzzling as the riddle can be, we dare not overlook — as strikingly many in church history may have — the bracing clarity of the apostles in a handful of New Testament texts.

The majestic opening lines of Hebrews hails Christ as the visible manifestation of the Godhead: “the radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3). As does Paul in his Christ hymn in Colossians: “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). In the incarnation, the divine, immaterial, invisible God has become human, physical, and visible. And if we were to wonder whether Christ might be God in part, not in full, Paul writes, “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19), and again, “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

Seeing Jesus is to see God is so surprising a revelation, and so counter to human expectations, that we’re prone to read right past it. Indeed, many seemingly have. Even one so careful as Calvin, who affirms that “all revelation of God in history is Christological,” that “when God stoops down into history, he always does so in Christ,” did not “extend his Christological treatment as far as he might have . . . [but speculated] that in the eschaton we will no longer see God in Christ,” says Boersma. However, he adds, “Puritan theologians such as Isaac Ambrose, Thomas Watson, and John Owen did not follow Calvin in this, and also Jonathan Edwards had a more consistently Christological approach to the beatific vision” (277).

Whose Face?

The man Christ Jesus is the gloriously invisible Creator now made gloriously visible as a creature — and perhaps none strikes that particular emphasis so clearly, and frequently, as the apostle John. He follows immediately his prologue concession, “No one has ever seen God,” with this: “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). That is, no one has seen God apart from his Son. And the revelation of God himself in the person of Christ is so rich, so full, so extensive that all other revelations of God are hereby relativized. “He has made him known” — period. No qualifications, at least not here.

“The beatific vision will not be momentary or static, but eternal and dynamic — ever clearer and deeper.”

In John 12, he adds the explosive commentary on Isaiah 6 and Christ, that the prophet “saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41). In John 14, the disciple Philip essentially asks his master for the beatific vision: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8). Jesus replies, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

John’s first epistle contains one of the most important assertions: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). He speaks here of both God and Christ. Christ will appear, and Christ is God, and when we see him — God in Christ — we will “see him as he is.” For finite creatures, what more of God might there be for us to see than God himself having entered into our world, having put on our flesh and bone, and now transfigured in the glorified humanity of the world to come and presenting himself to us in love? In that moment, there could be nothing more. There could only be eternity to come to keep seeing ever more.

Revelation 21–22 confirms the centrality of Christ in our coming climactic beholding of God. The new heavens and new earth “has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23). There is a singular lamp for the divine glory that gives light to our eyes in the age to come: the Lamb. So too, in the next paragraph, the God of heaven and the Lamb who was slain have come together so tightly in the progress of the apocalyptic vision as to be one. There is a singular throne, not two (22:1, 3), and singular “his” and “him” and “face” when John asserts, “His servants will worship him. They will see his face” (Revelation 22:3–4).

To see Jesus in glory will be the sight of God for which we have so long ached.

Our ‘Struggle’

Yet as plain as it may seem in some regards, why is it that so many Christians throughout the ages have had such seemingly different instincts, or at least struggled to be satisfied that seeing Jesus will be enough, that the God-man himself is the essence of the beatific vision and not some additional sight around or past or beyond Christ?

Even those theologians who have taken most earnestly that seeing Jesus is to see God struggle with this doctrine. It pushes us to the very brink of biblical revelation and ongoing mystery. In fact, we might do well to beware those who don’t struggle in some sense but purport to see it all plainly. Even in John Owen, as staunch a defender as any of a thoroughly Christological approach to the beatific vision, scholars identify an instance or two of equivocating.

“The infinite God will never be done showing us the immeasurable riches of his grace or the full vista of himself.”

As we see in 1 John 3:2, our seeing God in Christ involves not only object, as we know from physical sight, but also subject and medium. Our seeing him correlates with being like him. Not only might there be obstructions in the field of vision that need to be removed, but also cataracts in our own eyes. Add to that the reality of Creator and creature, that the object is infinite, while the subject finite. Especially significant here is the acknowledgement that the beatific vision, as much as we may long for that coming first instance, will not be momentary, or static, but eternal and dynamic — ever increasing, ever progressing, ever clearer, ever deeper.

Never Boring

More than simply our physical seeing, the beatific vision begins in our being seen, and being transformed, even somehow becoming, while ever creatures, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). God’s rescue of his people, “rich in mercy” and in “great love” (Ephesians 2:4), means that “in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).

The infinite God will never be done showing us the immeasurable riches of his grace, or the full vista of himself, coming to us in love, not wrath.

Our “sight” of God, in Christ, will be both immediate and continue to ripen forever. It will never become static and, as Edwards writes, never boring: “After they have had the pleasure of beholding the face of God millions of ages, it will not grow a dull story; the relish of this delight will be as exquisite as ever” (“The Pure in Heart Blessed,” Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 2).

We will indeed see God. We will see Jesus. And it will not end there. That great “sight that makes happy” will continue to do so, and ever more, for all eternity.

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.com

Are you ready to see God?  The time is near . . . nearer than it has ever been.  Be prepared, know Him, love Him, worship Him, serve Him . . . and you will see Him soon!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 13, 2021

“A PSALM OF TRUST” - conclusion
Psalm 27

A STANZA OF COMFORT  (vv. 7-10)

David pleads to be heard.  There were times when David, no doubt, felt totally alone with his problems (familiar)?  There were times when he prayed and there was no immediate answer from God.

David pleads to be helped and remembers how God has seen him through in the past.  And finally David is assured that if the last bastion of help and hope from human sources fail him - God will never fail.  What a comfort!

A STANZA OF CHALLENGE  (vv. 11-14)

Keep an open mind to the Lord (vv. 11-12, Luke 11:4)

•  “Teach me thy way” - a request for knowledge.

•  “Lead me in a level path” - a request for wisdom.

•  The Christian’s demeanor should be right on - clear cut - straight - without ambiguity and unquestionable.

•  We should be easily read.

•  Worldly critics we have with us always.

•  We should seek to live life along the plain path - be transparent.

•  Don’t give the critic any legitimate grounds for censure.

This requires knowledge of God’s way and wisdom to walk in those ways.  We must keep an open mind to the Lord.

Keep a positive outlook on life  (v. 13)

•  The only way that a believer can keep a positive outlook on life is by faith.

•  Faith looks at God’s faithfulness to His people.

•  Faith understands God’s character - that He is essentially good and does good.

•  David was supported solely by his faith in a loving and good God.

•  David believed that He would see the good hand of God in his life because he had seen the good hand of God in his life countless times before.  His faith had a precedent.

Keep a patient disposition  (v. 14)

•  “Wait” means to hope or to be convinced that a thing will be brought about and then to wait steadily and patiently.

•  Waiting is always easier when you know that your waiting will be rewarded.

•  God has never let you down.  Has He brought you up to this moment in time?  Then why should you doubt that He will take you through this experience and on to the next one (Phil 1:6)?

Beloved - David’s challenge is to:

                        Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage,

                        And He shall strengthen your heart.

                        Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Have a blessed week.  Love to you all,

Charles Covington

Live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.  Every breath and heartbeat is a gift from God.  Listen to His teaching, learn, and walk in a manner worthy of being His child.  "The just shall live by faith."  Trust God and live out the faith you have been given.  If you are struggling, pray fervently for greater faith.  In your trust and dependence on God . . . WAIT patiently for Him to bring about His glory and honor.  He will fulfill all of His promises to you and bring you to Himself, to a spectacular place prepared for you.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 12, 2021

 “A PSALM OF TRUST” - continued
Psalm 27

The Test of Confidence (vv. 2-3)

Note the mounting crescendo of opposition against David.  Often there seems to be a mounting crescendo of opposition that we face whether in the form of people or pressure of circumstances.  And, alas, very rarely does the individual wave break upon our life.  Many times they are followed by others.

James speaks of this gathering storm in James 1:2.  Paul addresses it in Romans 8:35 and Job experienced it in Job 1:2 suffering the loss of animals, servants, children, and health.  We may liken it to the buildup of the surf.

In spite of all this opposition, David said, “I shall be confident” (see Romans 8:31-39).

Safety does not consist in the absence of danger - but in the presence of God.

A Stanza of Commitment (vv. 4-5)

•  Confidence leads to a greater commitment.  David’s desire was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.  The House of the Lord was the tabernacle/temple - the place in the Old Testament where a godly Jew went to learn of God and to serve Him. 

•  To behold the beauty of the Lord which is pleasant, good, or full of grace (cf Phil. 4:8). The character of God is attractive.  Individual colors of a rainbow have a certain beauty, but it is when all the colors are seen in their blended radiance that we really see the intrinsic beauty of the rainbow.  To behold the beauty of the Lord is to study His multi-faceted character.

•  To inquire in His temple.  David had committed himself to becoming acquainted with God and His ways - of loving the things of the Father - of feeling familiar and at home with truth (see Luke 10:42, Phil. 3:10-14, Col. 3:1-4).  This exercise builds trust and confidence.  You can trust someone only as well as you know  him.  This explains why David can make the statement in verse 5, “In time of trouble He shall hide me.”

David’s Praise of the Lord (v. 6)

David’s confidence in and commitment to the Lord results in praise.  “I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”  We Christians are to offer the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15). There is power in praise (II Chron. 20.)

Beloved - we can come to God’s Word depressed and go away rejoicing and ready to take on the world.  Fear and inner turmoil subside as we tap into His presence.  I challenge you this week to spend quality time in the Word.

Love to you all,
Charles Covington

I love continuing to learn lessons from the Scriptures taught by my pastor and friend Charles.  I pray that you continue to learn from him too.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 11, 2021

As youngsters, we neighborhood kids would play street football. The minute we got home from school, we’d drop the books and hit the pavement. The kid across the street had a dad with a great arm and a strong addiction to football. As soon as he’d pull in the driveway from work we’d start yelling for him to come and play ball. He couldn’t resist.

Out of fairness he’d always ask, “Which team is losing?” Then he would join that team, which often seemed to be mine.

His appearance in the huddle changed the whole ball game.

He was confident, strong, and most of all, he had a plan.

We’d circle around him, and he’d look at us and say, “Okay boys, here is what we are going to do.” The other side was groaning before we left the huddle. You see, we not only had a new plan, we had a new leader.

He brought new life to our team. God does precisely the same. We didn’t need a new play; we needed a new plan.

We didn’t need to trade positions; we needed a new player.

That player is Jesus Christ, God’s firstborn Son.

Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, He gave us new life with Christ. — Ephesians 2:5

God’s solution is not to preserve the dead — but to raise the dead.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone; the new has come! — 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

What Jesus did with Lazarus, He is willing to do with us.

Which is good to know, for what Martha said about Lazarus can be said about us,

But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell. — John 11:39

Martha was speaking for us all. The human race is dead, and there is a bad smell. We have been dead and buried a long time. We don’t need someone to fix us up; we need someone to raise us up. In the muck and mire of what we call life, there is death, and we have been in it so long we’ve grown accustomed to the stink. But Christ hasn’t.

And Christ can’t stand the thought of His kids rotting in the cemetery. So, He comes in and calls us out. We are the corpse, and He is the corpse-caller. We are the dead, and He is the dead-raiser. Our task is not to get up but to admit we are dead. The only ones who remain in the grave are the ones who don’t think they are there.

The stone has been moved. “Lazarus!” He yells. “Larry! Sue! Horatio! Come out!” He calls.

“Andrea! Jenna! I’m here!” I shouted as I ran down the camp road. (I won the race.) I spotted Andrea first. She was under a canopy preparing to practice gymnastics. I called her name again. “Daddy!” she yelled and jumped into my arms.

There was no guarantee she’d respond. Though I had flown a thousand miles, rented a car, and waited an hour, she could have seen me and — Heaven forbid! — ignored me.

Some kids are too grown up to run to their parent in front of their friends.

But then there are those who have had enough camp food and mosquito repellent to make them jump for joy at the sight of their father. Such was the case with Andrea.

All of a sudden, Andrea had gone from feeling homesick to feeling happy. Why? Only one difference. Her father had come to take her home.

Excerpted from In the Grip of Grace by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

As a believer in Christ, Jesus is on your team. He is with you and has your back. In the flesh, we are dead, but in Him we will live forever and He will take us to our forever Home with Him!

Eagerly anticipating Jesus coming to take us home!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 10, 2021

“A PSALM OF TRUST”
Psalm 27

     God created man with a wide range of emotions.  Under various circumstances we express these emotions. Some are stronger and more pronounced than others.  One of the stronger emotions is fear!  In fact, fear is the first emotion expressed by man following his fall into sin (Genesis 3:10).

     Fear is good if it is the right kind of fear.  Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

     Fear is a natural human emotion - the natural response to human tragedy.  We experience fear in a state of uncertainty about certain things.  We experience fear when we come to grips with our inability to cope with present or potential problems.  Just facing life itself often brings fear.

     If we put all of these into a boiling pot, they would boil down to one thing:  Fear results when our personal preservation or the preservation of loved ones is threatened!  Fear comes in the wake of life’s threats.  The key is, what do you do with it?  Do you live with it - or do you turn those threats and fears into a challenge - a challenge to trust God?  “What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee”(Psalm 56:3a).

A STANZA OF CONFIDENCE (Psalm 27:1-3)

     In Eccl. 4:12 we see the basis for David’s confidence - “A threefold cord is not easily broken”.  It is a three-fold cord of God’s grace that holds David in the grip of stability.

“The Lord is my Light” - first strand

• The Lord becomes the personal and present need of His people (I John 1:5).

• The first thing God said was “let there be light” Genesis 1:3.  Light is our essential need.  There has to be light as a basis for any kind of meaningful existence.

• For a Christian to exist in a world of hatred, darkness and confusion, we have to have God’s mind, God’s perception of life.  We have to have God’s illumination in our own personal affairs (I Cor. 1:30, 2:16, James 1:5). 

“The Lord is My Salvation” - second strand

• Salvation - “deliverance, safety, health” (Webster’s Dictionary).  In the context, David’s salvation took the form of deliverance from danger.  David was being delivered from danger all his life.

• Salvation for the believer is a package.  Christ is our salvation from eternal danger (Eph. 2:8, 9).  Christ is our salvation from present danger (I Cor. 1:18).

• There is a sense in which the believer is experiencing God’s deliverance throughout the entirety of his life.  Deliverance from self doubts, fear, uncontrolled emotion, internal conflict.  These things are more devastating than human enemies could ever be.

“The Lord is the Strength of My Life” - third strand

• Cities of refuge were places of safety or protection in the Old Testament (Numbers 35:65).  Our “city of refuge” is found in Proverbs 18:10 & 11 and II Cor. 10:5.

• The Lord is the believer’s defense from a vicious, unseen enemy (Eph. 6:10-17).

     Beloved, what is the basis of our confidence?  Where do we put our trust?

Love to you all, Charles Covington

This is a 3-part devotion from Charles about Psalm 27.  Enjoy his studious insights and wisdom.  I am so grateful that someone or several people were involved in keeping Charles pen pulpits that they might be shared for years to come!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 9, 2021

“My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”  — Jeremiah 3:22 NLT 

“Don’t talk to your kids about God as much as you talk to God about your kids.”  

I forget where I first heard that line, but it’s one of my favorite pieces of parenting wisdom, particularly during those seasons when our kids don’t particularly want to hear us talk — about God, or about anything else.  

Teens are not alone, of course, in their willingness to wander — to want to figure things out on their own, even when doing so takes them down a dangerous or disobedient path. “We all,” the Bible says, “have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.”1 For a parent, though, it can be painful — and scary — to watch a child make choices that run counter to God’s design, to the “rich and satisfying life” that Jesus says He wants us to enjoy.2  

PRAYER PRINCIPLE  

The most effective way to get your teens to make good choices isn’t to talk to them about God; it’s to talk to God about them.  

When I started doing the research for this book, I reached out to a network of friends — and friends of friends — to ask people if they’d be willing to share their stories. I wanted to know how other Christian parents were navigating the sometimes-tricky teen years and, even more than that, I wanted to know how they were praying.  

I’ll never forget opening an email from a woman named Lara, a lifelong churchgoer who loved God and believed His Word to be true, but who had never considered using the Bible to help shape her prayers...  

Lara’s world was spinning out of control. Her daughter Samantha was gone — and the nightmare was starting again.  

Her mind flashed back to the first time Sam had run away, during the summer before her freshman year in high school.

A tip from one of Sam’s friends led Lara and her husband, Peter, to call the police, who found Samantha in a house where other young runaways were known to have stopped for shelter. The satanic symbols that marked the walls served as a chilling portent of the home’s darker purpose: it served as a gateway to the streets of Los Angeles — and to prostitution.  

At the time, Lara had been frantic — and then grateful beyond words that her daughter had been found so quickly.

That very day, she and Peter had taken Sam to a counselor, who recommended that she be hospitalized for treatment of depression and low self-esteem. Lara and Peter were stunned: Samantha was a popular, straight-A student. She was athletic, musically talented, and pretty. Listening to the counselor’s diagnosis, Lara had felt her heart sink. She didn’t even know how much she didn’t know about what was going on inside her precious daughter.  

After a month at the treatment center, Sam had come home. The family celebrated her return, and Lara — who had spent her adult life in church and Bible study — had been thrilled by the news that Samantha had recommitted her life to Christ. At last, Lara’s dream of having a healthy Christian family seemed within reach.  

She and Peter had been fairly strict in the past, fearing that — if things were left up to her — Samantha would make hurtful and potentially life-scarring choices. Maybe, they had thought, it was time to give her some more freedom. But that was easier said than done, particularly when the “friends” who tended to gravitate into Samantha’s orbit seemed to be such a troubled, rebellious lot. Trying to talk things out with Samantha rarely helped; more often than not, their conversations turned into arguments.  

Now, looking at the empty bed in Samantha’s room, Lara couldn’t help but wonder whether they had given her too much freedom. It was the spring of Samantha’s junior year — more than two years since the police had brought her home the first time — and she was gone again.  

Lara felt like a total failure. Her only consolation was that, unlike the first time she had left, Samantha did not appear to be in imminent danger this time. Taking shelter with whatever school chum would have her (and sometimes sneaking into her boyfriend’s house after dark), Samantha showed up for school, continued to get excellent grades, never missed a day of work at her after-school job, and even went to her piano lessons. The only thing she refused to do was to come home.  

Knowing her daughter was nearby did little to ease Lara’s pain. What should she and Peter do? Samantha was like a toddler, Lara thought, throwing a temper tantrum whenever the rules got in the way of her desire for independence. If they forced Samantha to come home, she would only run away again.  

Lara decided to confide in a few close friends. After hearing what she was going through, one of them mentioned that she had heard about Moms in Prayer on the radio. Praying for their children couldn’t hurt; in fact, Lara thought it would be a definite step in the right direction, particularly if she had other mothers who were willing to come alongside to give her strength. Even with Peter sharing the load, her burden had gotten too heavy to bear.  

Talking to God sounded like a relief.  

The women began meeting weekly to pray. It didn’t take long before Lara realized something was different. A lifelong Christian, she had always believed in prayer, but when this group of moms prayed, they often used Scripture — the actual words in the Bible — as the basis for their prayers, and for the first time, Lara began to sense that God’s Word was alive. She couldn’t seem to get enough of it. Even when she wasn’t praying with the group, she found herself turning to her Bible, letting the words slip off the pages and into her heart to fill her with strength (Lara’s prayers are in italics after the Bible quotations):  

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. 

From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him... 

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. 

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, 

but the Lord was my support. 

— Psalm 18:6, Psalm 18:16–18 

Lord, help us. Rescue me. Rescue Samantha. Be our support.  

Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. — 2 Timothy 2:25–26 NLT 

Teach me, Father, how to reach out to Samantha. Give her a knowledge of your truth, and let her escape Satan’s trap.  

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise — Psalm 56:3–4 

I do trust you, Lord. I do.  

And then there were passages that seemed to be written expressly for Samantha. Lara hung on these words — praying the Scriptures when it was too painful to pray about the details of her daughter’s life — and clung to the hope they provided:  

“I will... recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.” — Ezekiel 14:5 

Recapture Samantha’s heart, Almighty God, and let her return to You!  

For the grace of God that offers salvation... teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. — Titus 2:11–12 

Shed Your grace on her, Lord. Teach her to say no to her worldly passions and desires and yes to the life You desire.  

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 

But with You there is forgiveness, 
so that we can, with reverence, serve You. 

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope... 

Put Your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with Him is full redemption. 

— Psalm 130:3–5, Psalm 130:7 

Thank You, Lord, that You do not keep a record of Samantha’s sin — or of mine. My hope is in Your word. Let Samantha’s life — all of our lives — be fully redeemed by Your unfailing love.  

Five weeks after she had left, Samantha came home.  

This time, there was no big celebration — and no dramatic, overnight change. With help from their pastor, Peter and Lara made a covenant with their daughter, a contract that outlined rules and freedoms that came with family life.

Samantha agreed to continue in counseling, and Lara continued to pray. God, she knew, had protected Samantha when she and Peter could not; truly, as the psalmist said, God had “reached down from on high” and rescued their family.3  

Today — more than two decades later — Samantha is still a risk taker. She often finds herself in prison and in other dangerous places, only she isn’t running anymore. Instead, equipped with a PhD in clinical psychology, she is ministering to those who have found themselves scarred by wrong choices, people whom others have given up trying to help. She loves her family and treats them with appreciation and respect.  

“It is so faith-building,” Lara says, “to realize that God was at work, even when we couldn’t see Him. He is a faithful, powerful, redeeming God — and without Him, we would never have made it through those dark years.”  

Poised for Prayer  

All of the prayer concerns in this book are spiritual battlegrounds, but rebellion is an issue where Satan’s hand is often the easiest to see. As the one who comes to “steal and kill and destroy,”4 he likes nothing more than to rip our families apart, making parents and teens think their fight is with each other rather than with him.  

PRAYER PRINCIPLE  

As you fight for your teen in prayer, remember that the battle is not with your child; it’s with the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy.  

Lara would be the first to tell you it isn’t easy, but that perseverance — in pursuing your teen, in showing love when it’s hard, and in prayer — is the key to winning this battle. Here’s what I mean:  

Pursue. Your teen may say they don’t want to talk to you and don’t want to do anything with you, but don’t close the door on those things. Instead, do everything you can do to show you are interested in their life. Attend sports events and recitals; take them out to breakfast or lunch; ask about their friends, their schoolwork, their activities. If they rebuff you, don’t be discouraged. Take your cues from Hebrews 10:  

• stand your ground in the face of suffering, even when you are publicly exposed to insult and persecution (Hebrews 10:32–33);

• do not throw away your confidence (Hebrews 10:35);

• persevere, knowing that when you have done the will of God, you will receive whatHe has promised (Hebrews 10:36).

Love. We often think of love as a warm and fuzzy feeling, but more often than not, love is a decision — one motivated by patience, kindness, perseverance, and hope.5 Prodigal teens can be tough to love. And if we had to rely on our own strength, we would be doomed. Thankfully, though, we are not alone. God shows us what unconditional love looks like — He stays by our side and calls us back to Him, no matter how often we blow it — and when we struggle to do the same thing for our kids, we can ask him to do it through us.

We can be, as Scripture says, His “ambassadors” carrying Christ’s love to our kids even as we plead with them to “come back to God.”6  

Pray. Lara saturated her heart and her mind with the promises in God’s Word, praying “continually” — and we can do the same thing.7 Set aside time each day when you and your spouse will commit to earnest prayer for your teen.

If you’re a single parent or if your spouse won’t join you in prayer, ask God to give you another prayer partner. Take courage from Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:19–20:  

If two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. 

Because again, talking our kids about God is not nearly as important — or as effective — as talking to God about our kids.  

1. Isaiah 53:6. 

2. John 10:10 NLT. 

3. Psalm 18:16. 

4. John 10:10. 

5. 1 Corinthians 13:4–7. 

6. 2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT. 

7. 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  

Excerpted from Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens by Jodie Berndt, copyright Jodie Berndt.

This works for all of the people God puts within our sphere of influence.  We need to talk to Him more than we talk to them about Him.  He will use us if we are willing and available.  The Holy Spirit will put the words in our mouth that He wants us to share.  But we should spend more time talking to God about everyone! He will draw those that belong to Him…none will be forgotten or left out of His family that are His.  Pray.  Pray.  Pray.  And trust God to do the work that only He can do in the hearts of those that we are praying for.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 8, 2021

We all go through times when life seems to overwhelm us. The Bible reassures us that God’s presence is with us to help us, even when we don’t realize it. The Book of Psalms is full of reminders that God is a shelter from life’s storms, a 

refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble — Psalm 46:1 

while Ephesians 5:8 reassures us that even though we “were once darkness,” we can now “live as children of light.”  

Moments of darkness in our lives may be caused by the death of a loved one, the loss of a job or a home, or another great tragedy of life. Yet there is a greater darkness than these tragedies: the darkness in the eyes of one who has not felt God’s love, grace, and the assurance of His hope.

There is hope for all of us. There is light. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our hope and light in darkness.  

Our dark times may also be times when God wants to teach us something more about ourselves and His love for us. Romans 12:12 advises,  

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Our faith can be strengthened if we will wait patiently and trust God’s heart-desire to make us more like Himself.  

Tragedy or testing, dark days or dreary nights, God knows what we are facing. He is in touch with what is happening to us, and He is concerned.  

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. — 1 John 1: 5-7 

When have you been overwhelmed by life? 

How did God reveal His presence to you in that time? 

God may use our dark times to draw us nearer to Him.  

What has God taught you about yourself or His love for you during a dark time? 

Read Isaiah 43:2. 

What does this verse teach you about God’s response to our suffering? How can this verse be an encouragement to you in trying times? 

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and You listened to my cry. — Jonah 2:2 

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” — John 8:12 

“For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.” 

Excerpted from Footprints by Margaret Fishback Powers, copyright Margaret Fishback Powers. 

Jesus Christ is the hope of all of us who know Him.  He is our Shepherd leading us toward what we need, all that is good for us.  He walks beside us, our ever present help in time of need.  He follows behind us, our rear guard, protecting us from the unseen enemy.  Jesus surrounds us with His love and provision and protection.  Never fear . . . I am always with you!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 7, 2021

When I first woke from a sudden, near-fatal brain-stem stroke, I could hardly move, nor could I speak. I was 26 years old and instinctively wanted to nurse my six-month-old baby but could no longer hold him, much less act as his mommy. I was surrounded by doctors and nurses and loved ones constantly, but I had never felt more alone.

A tangled mass of blood vessels ruptured, causing the stroke, and had to be removed, along with half of my cerebellum. Miraculously, I could think and process fairly normally, but people didn’t realize it at first since I could not talk. I spent months essentially entombed in a severely restricted body. Many spoke to me like “I” wasn’t in there and talked as if I was cognitively impaired.

Weeks led to muted months, and I was given a message board to type on with my one, working hand. I repeatedly wrote over and over, “I am the same on the inside! I am the same on the inside!”

Life in a broken world means all of us experience loneliness and isolation in various ways.  While it is excruciating to be left alone, a startling question we don’t always get to ask ourselves is: what if we only had ourselves and our own thoughts and feelings to talk to? Where would we be?

Mercifully, the Lord never intended for us to be alone, especially the deepest place: our souls. As Jesus was preparing to leave the disciples in the cross, death, then resurrection and ascension, He reassured them that His spiritual presence would be with them forever.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. —  John 14:16-18

Mining the treasures of the indwelling Holy Spirit of the resurrected Christ is ours for this lifetime and the next.

Though this may sound crazy, I’ve come to realize I was actually fortunate to have been restricted in such a way that the only true, two-way conversation I could have in the darkest season of my life was with the Lord. And believe me, I’ve never been at a loss for words, but He out-chatted me! Listen to what Christ goes on to promise us in His indwelling:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. — John 14:26

I had moments in the hospital when I believed my survival from the stroke was a mistake. I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t be a mother to my son or a wife to my husband. I should have died. But it was as if the Lord said, “I am not leaving you alone, Katherine. I am here…. Because I live, you also will live….” The Lord tells us in John 14:16, that He corrects our lies and fears with the truth. The truth is my survival was not a mistake. The Lord gave me hope that He indeed meant for me to live on this earth now with great purpose, but my greatest life is yet to come, when I am, one day, resurrected face to face with Him in a body fully restored.

After 40 days in ICU nearly two years in neuro-rehab, I re-learned how to talk, how to walk, how to eat, how to be a wife and mom again. But even before I left the hospital, I knew I had to share the hope Christ had given me. Since that time, my husband and I have begun a ministry called Hope Heals to bring Christ’s hope to those with broken hearts and broken brains, those who feel alone in a world moving on without them.

Christ has promised that despite how deeply alone we might feel in our bodies, those who seek Him are anything but alone in our souls. With His Spirit in us, we live and move and have our being. That is our healing and that is our hope.

Original writing for Devotionals Daily by Katherine Wolf, co-author of Hope Heals.

This brings back painful memories of Pastor Charles who I know was the same inside but could not function on the inside.  I am sure I talked about him to others while in his presence, and to him as though talking to a child or one with cognitive disfunction.  I have apologized many times over the years and still do for not understanding what had happened to him.  What a blessing for someone to share their own personal struggle and the strength of God’s healing hand in theirs.  Charles was given seven more years after his debilitating stroke to love his wife and family, preach to his beloved congregation, and continue to encourage me in the path God had chosen for me, following in Charles footsteps to love, nurture, equip, teach and shepherd the people of Community Grace Brethren Church of Long Beach California.

Praise be to God for all His marvelous works!

Pastor Dale