Knowing What To Say

We Christians sometimes see witnessing as something that is done once. We tell people what we believe as the most simple, uncomplicated truth . . .

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16 KJV)

. . . without taking time to learn their concept of God, the world, begotten, believing or everlasting life. We haven’t a clue about their family life to know what they see in their father when we tell them about our Father . . .

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. (Luke 11:2 KJV)

. . . and that we should do His will – without explaining what His will might be. At the very least, though, we have planted a seed. A seed that may not show fruit for some time – if ever. Some will never have an interest in hearing why we believe God is important in their lives.

Understanding that Jesus faced that every day of His ministry may help us show others His importance. His responses to unbelieving questions should be our lessons.

When Sadducees came to Jesus with a scheme to trap Him by asking what they deemed was a difficult doctrinal question, His response tells us what we should know:

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29 KJV)

The scriptures are inspired by God – virtually God-breathed – and we do err by not knowing them and using them to explain our hope:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15 KJV)

We can be ready if we not only become familiar with God’s word but apply it to our own lives before attempting to apply it to others. We do have help in our daily witnessing to His impact on our lives.

When speaking to His disciples, He promised words would be provided:

But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. (Mark 13:11 KJV)

We see examples of that in the book of Acts as many of them were brought before governors and kings. They were able to speak the gospel under stressful and adverse conditions. And, we see where their words were noted – and basically rejected:

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. (Acts 26:28 KJV)

I’m giving this a lot of thought today partly because I do not know what to say. A young life touched mine years ago and I saw there a response to the many people interested in sharing God’s love. Today the symbols I see in that life signify satanic rituals, replacing what we had hoped would be Christian growth. Rather than walk away shaking off dust, I pray that God will provide the right person with the right words – and prepare myself, should an opportunity arise.

Keeping Your Heart

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you;
and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them an heart of flesh:
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances,
and do them:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
(Ezekiel 11:19-20 KJV)

I thought of this graphic from a post I did three years ago. I had a different verse in mind for today, though:

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23 KJV)

Now I’d like to look at that verse as it is written in the International Children’s Bible:

20 My child, pay attention to my words.
    Listen closely to what I say.
21 Don’t ever forget my words.
    Keep them deep within your heart.
22 These words are the secret to life for those who find them.
    They bring health to the whole body.
23 Be very careful about what you think.
    Your thoughts run your life

This could very well be every parent’s prayer for their child, especially those who believe in God and that He has a purpose for our lives.

While we are very aware that the heart is not the seat of our emotions, we still use the phrases that seem as though it does. “I love you with all my heart.”  “My heart is broken.” “I have a heavy heart.” The examples could go on and on, and they do in the Bible.

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. (Psalms 4:4 KJV)

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5 KJV)

And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. (Acts 13:22 KJV)

Jesus confirmed how important our heart is:

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:43-45 KJV)

All this ties in to a Facebook post my teenage great-grandson posted. It’s a video done by a wrestler (my GGS is one, too!) who did not listen to his mother’s advice until after she passed away. Now he tells teens what he learned:  "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future."

That’s almost biblical, too, close to what Jesus said:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21 KJV)

Take care of your heart, your emotions, your dedication and most especially your love. Know who has your heart. Do they have God’s interest in your heart, too? In your soul? That’s known through a relationship with God, who has your very soul’s care in His heart.

Rejection - or Acceptance

This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. (Titus 3:8-11 KJV)

I’m not certain how the graphic will display on the blog page, but it tells us that originally the Greek word used in Titus 3:10 meant “choose” and eventually meant to choose an opinion that is against what is generally accepted. Ironic, I believe, is that today what is generally accepted is not was Jesus told us God accepts. As followers of Christ, we should be aware of what Jesus said, not how current society applies those words.

You see, while I fully believe:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 22:35-39 KJV)

I do not believe it negates the positive plan God instituted:

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:3-6 KJV)

The Pharisees came back with as human an argument as I’ve ever heard – and we still hear it today, without considering Jesus’ answer:

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:7-8 KJV)

Jesus is quoted as affirming God’s plan of one husband, one wife, from the beginning. However, the hardness of our hearts chooses to hold opinions against what God created.

We do make choices and live with consequences. God allows us to make those choices. Society accepts or rejects our lifestyles based on what seems good at the moment, subject to the winds of opinion. Society accepts or rejects God’s word also subject to the winds of opinion, doesn’t it?

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV)

It is much easier to be swayed by something we’d like to hear than to hear we are not doing what we’re supposed to do. It is much easier to do what we know others have done before. Moses told the Israelites:

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. (Deuteronomy 12:8 KJV)

Yet  in just a few generations we read:

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6 KJV)

That hadn’t changed for some in Solomon’s generation:

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. (Proverbs 12:15 KJV)

God knows whether the way is right:

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2 KJV)

So, how can we possibly know what to reject? If it seems right to us and we believe our heart is right, how can we know? For me, the answer is back with the Bereans:

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:10-11 KJV)

Be ready in your mind to search the scriptures.

In Memory

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:12-14 KJV)

Sunday morning our pastor asked his class if there were those who lost family members in war. My husband raised his hand and mentioned his brother Jack. The loss of a single soldier costs families their future. The death of John Clarence “Jack” Blickensderfer in World War II changed our family forever. It is in honor of his life and death that we personalize Memorial Day each year.

Jack’s parents adopted two young brothers. Babies are the first request for adoption so it’s fortunate to be adopted at age eight. For brothers 8 and 7 to be adopted together, the odds were astronomical following World War II. Yet my husband and his brother were – because two planes collided over Hoorn, Holland, July 7, 1944 during a bombing run to Germany. Because one young man, who knew he could be killed, joined with others to protect his nation and others from people determined to kill and enslave.

Jack was 19 when he enlisted. Before his 20th birthday he completed Army Air Corps training and was a Captain flying co-pilot for a B-17 Flying Fortress – not the Hilo Hattie, their plane was not available for the photo:

When his parents received word of his death, his father wrote a poem, “God Was Very Close Today.” Just a few years before, Jack’s grandfather had written in his will a note to his children:

To my dear family survivors; the greatest asset I can hand down to you is to commend you to the Lord Jesus Christ whom I have tried to serve from childhood. He is the only rock or foundation you can safely build or rely upon and you should love Him with all your might.

I, too, wish to pass down to my family that same thought that was given by our Father through His Son:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17 KJV)

Isaiah wrote of Him as seen by those who killed Him:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  (Isaiah 53:3-4 KJV)

We who love Him as Lord understand why:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

Today there are many in our nation who do not appear to understand or appreciate those we remember on Memorial Day. There are as many, or more, who do not understand God’s love that goes far beyond laying down a life for friends, but doing it for those who despise and reject.

It takes time to reflect and understand. I pray that time is taken and understanding is gained.

Changes

I was reading a novel and toward the end there was an interesting paragraph about regrets. We’ve all experienced regrets, maybe even remorse, along with a bit of self-pity when we think of what has happened to us. Some never get past that point to consider what we’ve done to others and regret those actions.

There’s a parable beginning in Matthew 18:24, about a king that forgave a servant's debt. The servant, however, tossed his debtor into prison. In verse 32 we read the king's view of this action:

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? (Matthew 18:32-33 KJV)

The servant had not learned mercy as his master had. He gave no thought to forgiving others. The servant showed no repentance, no change in his life. He did live to regret his actions, but it was to late:

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. (Matthew 18:34 KJV)

Today, the definition of "repent" is to feel (or even express) sincere regret or remorse about wrongdoing. Synonyms are remorse, regret, contrition. The definition gave the source – Latin to Old French to Old English, with a graph showing “regret”’s use going down hill for more than a hundred years:

How about what I see as even greater than regret is contrition. Again we see synonyms of remorse, repentance, sorrow, regret while the definition is feeling remorseful and penitent.

Penitent – now there’s a good word both as an adjective (contrite, remorseful, sorry, apologetic, regretful, conscience-stricken, rueful, ashamed) and as a noun (a person who repents their sins or wrongdoings and, in the Christian Church, seeks forgiveness from God) – now there’s action. There’s making changes.

Psalm 51 is way at the top of my favorites. David confesses his sin and sets an example, as a man’s after God’s own heart, for our own:

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalms 51:14-17 KJV)

Acknowledging without changing reminds me of an old adage that says the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Continuing in what God has made clear to us is sinfulness while regretting our actions is not repenting.

Yet, repenting is what Jesus preached from the beginning of His ministry:

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17 KJV)

To the end book of the Bible:

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:19-20 KJV)

That’s the church at Laodicea, the last of the seven Jesus addressed in John’s vision. Chapter 4 moves the conversation to the Lord’s throne, away from what was to happen in this world. Now that’s a huge change!

Are we willing to make the changes necessary in our lives to understand the 51st psalm? To make the offering of a broken and contrite heart? Not to have it broken to cause us pain, but to bring to us recognition of our sins to the point we ask His forgiveness and change our ways. Is that the change our lives need? I do so believe it is needed in mine.

Authority

In the United States House of Representatives is Thomas Hudson Jone’s sculpture of Hammurabi. His Code dates back to 1754 BC:

It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets.

It was used as the legal authority of what happened to those who broke that code.

The United States has such an authority, the Constitution. Created in the 18th century, it must be applied in 21th century cultural activities though there are thousands of new words in dictionaries that were unable to be considered when it was written. Still, it is used as the authority of this nation’s existence. At times.

While in a doctor’s office, I picked up a TIME magazine from February of this year, the article about the measles epidemic/dispute. One line struck me as going way beyond that one subject:

"In a culture upended by diminished authorities . . ."

What absolute truth is included in that statement!! Where do we see authority?  I must tell you that my bottom line authority is God’s word. I believe what is written in what I believe is God’s word to mankind, and I believe it is our Holy Bible. Please do not begin an argument over what is a true Bible. That question actually diminishes God’s message.

There are 53 verses referencing scripture(s) in the KJV. The Good News Bible has 162. Some might see that as discrepancy - until looking at specific verses:

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:10 KJV)

Then Jesus answered, "Go away, Satan! The scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!' " (Matthew 4:10 GNB)

So, if we add “it is written” as well as “scripture”, the numbers are much, much closer. Each translation tells us that the people who heard Jesus recognized scriptures as such. What was found in Qumran confirms our expectations that they were scriptures then and are scriptures today. From those writings that Bereans checked was was preached to them to be so.

They searched documents of authority to verify a tremendous change to what they had been taught. They discovered for themselves, based on an authority they trusted. Not the people who told them what the authority said, but by personal searching. If they had no authority, they would be as we are today – wondering what to believe and where to look for it.

Yes, I am concerned about a lack of authority in our government – at all levels. I doubt I am alone. I am more concerned about denominations doubting scriptural authority, relying instead on cultural desires. I am also concerned that some pick out scriptures that sound good, but ignore what Paul preached:

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (Acts 20:27 KJV)

We will find what we seek.  If we seek God, He will be found. If we seek our own desires, they too can be found. Remember, Satan tempted our Lord with scripture that lack all the counsel of God.

Be aware of authority. Use it wisely.

You Say, “I am not able.”

This isn’t the best of graphics – I cropped and resized from a screen capture. I found it after searching for one of the scriptures from a set of cards our missions group made. In case you can’t read the reference for what God said:

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV)

The cards our group created has the “You Say”  on one side and the “God Says” on the other. I must admit I glued some of them together because I’m not talented as some of our ladies who make beautiful things from paper. We have provided them for several different missionaries to pass around, and offered them at our craft fair. They provide an opportunity for people to see that we often have the same feelings, the same questions for God. Such as, “I feel all alone.” Yet we read:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5 KJV)

No, never alone. Even when we say, “I am afraid.”

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV)

A sound mind? But, what if I’m not smart enough?

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV)

Yes, He has provided wisdom to those who sought Him and asked in order that they might serve Him by helping others. Moses asked for help, he knew he could not face Pharaoh alone. And Solomon asked to help the people he was to govern. I venture to say both of them worried about their responsibilities. Peter tell us:

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV)

No one knows your particular situation, though. Why can’t they see how tiring it is to go from day to day, to the point it’s easy to say, “I can’t go on!” Then, He tells us:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

Oh, there are so many more! The Bible has so many examples of His mercy and His grace – along with examples of His perfect judgment.

I read something from the Bible and get comfort and education from it even while I’m asking questions. I pray for my readers that they, too, will understand what a comfort it is as we figure things out.

Might one of your questions be, “Is He able?”

And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. (Matthew 9:27-29 KJV)