I have been doing a very poor job of getting enough sleep lately. Probably the biggest problem I have with my Parkinson’s is getting a good nights sleep, because when I move while sleeping the muscle pain wakes me up. Because I don’t sleep well I tend to just not go to bed, and after a while, I start having consequences from that bad discipline, which is mostly just groggy thinking and fatigue. I got up at 4:30 am and went to the start of the five days of prayer this morning, after sleeping for three hours, but I left after one hour. I went home, took a sleeping pill, some Parkinson’s medication, some Ibuprofen, slept six hours straight, and now I am feeling good.

Sleep is obviously a basic human, physical need that needs to happen systematically or we don’t function well. The consequences of not meeting this need are obvious and quick to happen, and force us to get disciplined in meeting it. Other basic disciplines in our life if not practiced faithfully result in consequences, but they are not as obvious or as quick to happen so it is much easier to let them slide.

The basic disciplines of the Christian life, Bible reading, scripture memory, prayer, both private and corporate, gathering with other believers for the purpose of giving and receiving encouragement, worship, learning, reflective thinking, self-examination, and confession of sin, and serving the body of Christ are essential for our character growth, our spiritual relationship with God, and our fruit-bearing. But many Christians are very undisciplined in making these happen in their life because the consequences are not obvious but they are very real and most are eternal, not just in this life.

The only way to maintain faithfulness in practicing the basic spiritual disciplines is to make specific, measurable goals for each of the disciplines, keep track of what you do religiously, and be in an accountability relationship.

Many argue with me on this requirement for faithfulness to the basic spiritual disciplines. Those who say that they do just fine without goals and accountability usually have a short list of disciplines and daily isn’t an essential part of the disciplines they practice. The result is mediocre accomplishments, minimal growth, if any, and increased entanglement in the world.

I am looking forward to a lot of things in the days ahead with great anticipation. Super fun or exciting things that we are looking forward to in the future make the difficult things in the present much easier to endure, so I think a lot about the future and the plans that I have. A major part of the anticipation is the planning for the future events. I love to plan and strategize about upcoming challenges and adventures.

On May 25th a number of us are leaving on a bicycle trip from Canada to Mexico on the Pacific coast. We are planning the route, the campsites, the equipment, and the food. I have several books written by those who have already done this exact trip and I read some of it each week which increases my anticipation tremendously.

I am going fishing for sockeye salmon and halibut in Alaska this summer, and I can hardly wait. I look at pictures from previous trips of all the fish we caught, I go over my fishing gear trying to think of anything I am forgetting. I have dreams most nights of fishing. I have a goal of learning how to catch halibut out of my drift boat instead of paying $300 for a charter. I am looking so much forward to that cool challenge.

My greatest of all future events in anticipation is being raptured and going to heaven with Jesus with my new glorified body.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

The first thing that will happen is that I will hear a trumpet sound. An amazing and beautiful sound that will come from above. It will be loud, I am sure and will demand immediate attention. The next thing that will happen is this old, tired, worn out, body will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye to be just like the body that Jesus has. Then we will hear a voice, an amazing voice, that will command us, “come up here.” Then we will rise up from the ground and meet in the air, up above where the clouds are, in a huge gang of people, gathered around Jesus, and then off to heaven we go.

I may die before the rapture happens but I anticipate that it is going to be in the next 24 hours. I eagerly await His appearing, I look forward to it every day, I run over the event in my mind with the wildest of imagination. This great anticipation motivates me to pursue godly character growth every day, it keeps me rejoicing and grateful for my salvation provided by Jesus’s death on the cross. Life is good!

Hebrews 9:28
so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

Weariness is the enemy of endurance, and the reason most don’t accomplish much with their life. The Bible says that we “will reap if we don’t grow weary.” Weariness is not caused by overwork, it is caused by discouragement, frustration, and a sense of failure. Weariness comes from the loss of vision for our life, a loss of purpose, a feeling that we are just treading water, going in circles, going nowhere, and accomplishing nothing of significance. Sometimes weariness is caused by physical pain, sickness, or limitations. Weariness is very common to those who are struggling in relationships and can’t seem to solve the problems that plague their relationships. People who are weary usually after a time simply quit, give up, and stop trying. I get weary and have had long seasons of weariness, but I know how to fix it, quick and easy, works every time. I go to the “five days of prayer” and I pray a lot, 40-plus hours. There is something very supernatural about sitting in the presence of God for long periods of time.

Jefferson Baptist Church has four, five-day prayer events each year. We pray for 50 hours during the five days, ten hours each day, five in the morning and five in the evening. We average about 40 people every hour with lots of coming and going. This particular five-day prayer time that is starting this Monday is focusing on our world wide missions effort and we will have a number of our missionaries with us sharing about their ministries and needs via Zoom.

Though we are praying for our missionaries and the millions of lost people that live all around our missionaries I personally am incredibly blessed by each of the prayer events, and when one is over I can hardly wait for the next one to start up.

Here are a few of the very real blessings I receive during each of our prayer events.

The most noticeable reward that I receive is a marked increase in energy. I am 74 years old and I have Parkinson’s and I am weary most of the time. Getting out of bed in the morning takes most of the energy that I saved up during the night sleeping. Just about everything makes me tired, including fishing, but praying energizes me. I pray for about 40 hours in the five days and it really seems like it is the volume of praying that fills up my gas tank so much. The extra energy and passion that I get Monday through Friday will make a difference in me right up until the next one.

Another super reward that I will experience next week is a significant renewing of my creative thinking. My brain picks up a lot of speed, sort of like I have shifted into a higher gear, and I imagine all kinds of scenes in heaven. I also get a ton of ideas about solutions for current problems I am dealing with. I get so many ideas for goals, projects, ministry ideas, and sermons that I can’t get them all written down.

The most important reward is the strong sense of God’s presence that I feel and the resolve that wells up inside of me to seek Him more, to serve Him, and to grow to be more and more like Him in character all the days of my life. The resolve to seek Him diligently results in a recommitment to reading His Word everyday, to spend time with Him in prayer every day, and to worship and praise Him all day long.

There are many more blessings and rewards but I will write about them another day.

Acts 1:8
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The word “both” means that we are involved in all four of these arenas at the same time in regards to evangelism and reaching the lost. For me, that would be equivalent to Jefferson, the State of Oregon, the United States, and the whole world.

Being involved in all those areas as an individual would be very difficult if not impossible physically, but we can do it in prayer. God gave us prayer as a powerful tool to accomplish His will of reaching out to the lost.

People in many countries of the world are in great bondage to the devil, and he blinds them so they can’t understand the gospel when they hear it. When we pray God sends angels to war against them freeing up people to respond to the gospel. ¡

One old man in a rocking chair can accomplish a phenomenal amount through prayer if he prays with faith and faithfulness. When that old man joins forces with others his prayers to God will increase in power exponentially.

This next week, starting on Monday we are going to have a “Five Days of Prayer” specifically for missions around the world.Why not join us.

I came back from the Pastor’s Prayer Summit this afternoon riding with Gary. When we got to JBC I got out and while I was getting my luggage out I set my iPad out on the rail of the pickup bed, and forgot it there. He made it about a mile before it slid off in the middle of the road. I used the”find it” app on my Iphone and drove right to where it was laying in the middle of the road. It looked like it had been run over a few thousand times. Because I use my iPad so much I went right into the AT&T store in Albany and bought another one. It took awhile for the nice guy in the store get everything switched over, but finally we got it all. He had a good laugh when he saw my iPad and had little difficulty selling me insurance on my new one. My old one was eight years old and my new one has a lot more bells and whistles on it, and the price was quite a bit higher as well. It is a miracle that I have kept it for eight years because I have left it in restaurants, on top of the car, motels, and I even left it on an airplane once. It is tough to get old.

It is times like this that I get to day dreaming about my new body that I am going to get when I get to heaven. The Bible says that I am going to get a body like Jesus has now. I expect that my thinking capacity is going to be amazing. I wonder what that is going to be like, to have perfect memory, amazing wisdom, and the ability to grasp and understand anything.

I get this new body that will never die, get old or tired, and will probably be able to fly. Why? Because I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and am now in God’s family. There are so many people who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior, because of pride, mostly, they think they can make it on their own. I don’t know what hell is going to be like, I do know it is going to be bad. The sad thing is that becoming a follower of Jesus is free and easy, and then eternity is going to be wonderful. It is a puzzle to me why people reject that, but they do.

Right now there are 736 people signed up to get my blog via email each day. My goal is to have it grow up to 1,000 readers signed up to receive my daily blog. My first plan to increase the number of people reading daily is to make the blog very enjoyable to read. I am working hard at learning how to write in a way that holds people’s attention and teaches them new information, especially spiritual information. The result of my increased writing skill should result in an increase in the number of people reading my blog,

One of the things that you can do to help me grow my blog is to “share” it with other people suggesting that they subscribe after they read it. Just make it an automatic thing after you read it to share it. If you think one particular blog is bad then don’t share it.