Psalms 57:1-3 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by.
I will cry to God Most High,
To God who accomplishes all things for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon me.

This passage in Psalms is a prayer of David that he wrote while hiding in a cave when King Saul was looking for him in order to kill him. There are 150 chapters in Psalms and most of them are prayers. I read five chapters in Psalms each day as part of my Bible reading schedule so I get through it each month. Today is the 26th, 26 X 5 = 130, so today I read Psalms 126 to 130. As I read them I also make the words my personal prayer for that day. It is amazing how at least one verse each day will be a perfect fit for me. Todays reading includes this passage.

Psalms 130:5-6 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

To wait on the Lord means to spend time with Him, to seek a stronger relationship with Him. So as a result of reading this passage I prayed, “Dear Lord, I have been less than faithful in my Bible reading and prayer time lately because of business, I am sorry for that, I repent and commit to seeking You diligently, apart from You I desire nothing on this earth, apart from You I can do nothing that really matters.

Praying through five chapters of Psalms each day is very powerful praying in that the words are ones that are a prophecy of the very words that Jesus prayed as a man on the earth as He lived life.

Thursday is my birthday and I will be 74 years old.

Patty and I are 20 years old in the black and white picture. Whoooeeeeee a lot of difference in 54 years.

I have never thought a whole lot about dying. I have thought about heaven and what it will look like and the judgment seat of Christ a lot, but recently I have wondered how I will die, what the whole experience will feel like, what I will be thinking, sensations that I will have, if it will be quick or drawn out. It is like thinking about my first time skydiving. I wasn’t afraid but there was all the questions in my mind of the unknown. I am not afraid of dying, and when I think about it there is no apprehension, just wonder, because it certainly will be a first time experience for me. I wonder about why God put it together the way He did with all the variations of death. If God would give me the choice of dying or being raptured which would I take? I would take getting raptured in a heart beat, why? I am not sure, except that the rapture is going to be a big group experience, and it sounds pretty exciting the way it is described in the Bible.

I was talking to a guy a couple of months ago who was absolutely paranoid about his death. He was afraid of COVID, of cancer, and fretted and worried about every ache or pain he had. I thought, wow, that would be a sad way to live your life. It would be hard to enjoy your life if you were always in a knot about it ending at any moment.

I think a lot of people who think that they are born again, in God’s family, headed for heaven aren’t really. They have a pseudo salvation based on an experience, poor teaching, or a cultural upbringing that convinced them they are in when in fact they are not. I think that the nearer we get to the time of our death that the reluctance to think and ponder about it is a hint that we should be worried about it. When the Spirit of God truly dwells in us as a child of God I am thinking that there will be a confident calmness and a positive expectation of a incomprehensible future. This passage written by the Apostle Paul describes my thinking.

Philippians 1:21-23 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

Have you ever read Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy through, all three books, and then read them again, and then one more time. Probably not, because they are very hard books to understand and the content has very little direct application to our life. There are several important things about these books; the first is that they reveal a great deal about the nature, the character, and the attributes of God. God the father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in these books, their roles and relationships, and their desires and goals in regards to people. Another major topic in these books is government, how it is supposed to serve God, protect His people, and to maintain and protect justice among people. It is no surprise to learn that the founding fathers of the United States looked to these books as they wrote the Constitution for our country.

And then there comes Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, and 1st and 2nd Chronicles where there is written the history of the nation of Israel as seen in their government and rulers. Israel had a roller coaster ride over the years, and the ups and downs, the successes and failures were obviously the result of the person who was the king at any given time. The quality of the government, the leadership over the country brought God’s blessing on the country or God’s curse.

Today the same thing is true, the government over a country will ultimately determine the quality of life that the people under that government will experience. We have some input and influence in the choice of who those people are who are the leaders of our government, but in reality not very much influence.

Our greatest influence is stated in 1 Timothy 2:1-3 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,”

The passage begins with the words “first of all,” which would obviously mean, this is important. Discontent should move us to greater and greater commitment to prayer. God is infinitely powerful and sovereign, he can turn any representatives heart toward justice, any Senators, any President. Their heart is like water in His hand, He can turn it wherever He wants, but He lets us decide and influence through our prayers to Him. If we neglect our responsibility to pray for our country and it’s rulers then the devil gets to decide. Guess who is having the most say at this time in our country.

Have you ever seen a picture of a dog more sad than my Roscoe dog? He is getting a bath in the kitchen sink and he is not enjoying it one little bit.

Have you ever been sad? You feel trapped in a situation and you don’t know how to get out of it. There is nothing about what you are experiencing that you like, you didn’t choose to be there, and you are not happy!

It happens all the time to most of us, and it could be picking up speed because of our culture moving rapidly away from being Christian. So what do we do when we find ourselves in an unfair situation? If we want to be used by God as a witness for Him we choose to act and behave the way Joseph did when he was betrayed by his brothers and ends up in prison. But because he didn’t let circumstances control him he became the second most powerful man in Egypt and saved his family, the very ones who betrayed him.

Choose to act and behave like Daniel when he became the prisoner of a foreign king who had no clue who God was, and he was thrown into a lions den but survived miraculously and those who were wrongfully his enemies got eaten. The Bible is full of stories like that to encourage us to choose act like followers of Jesus.

That is the way God operates. Pray and ask God to use you and then be prepared to face a hard situation. Don’t grumble or complain, rejoice always and look for an opportunity to influence others to follow Jesus.

Jesus saved us through the cross, and he has told us in Luke 9 that if we want to serve him and influence people we must, not an option, pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

The conference was over at noon and my plane leaves at 7:00 pm and it is now 2:30 pm and I am sitting in a “Sports Bar” in the airport watching the Oregon-UCLA football game and eating fish and chips. It is now halftime and Oregon is up 31 to 13. I am at the Phoenix airport so there aren’t many Oregon fans sitting around me.

I enjoy watching football and basketball, both college and professional, and I have my favorite teams in both. I am not a fanatic for any team, but I enjoy “wanting” my team to win. In the New Testament the Apostle Paul uses sports as an illustration often, usually track or boxing. The point of the illustrations usually has to do with effort, diligence, and endurance. Living the Christian life is very much like most of life, those who work the hardest are usually the most successful.

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

Romans 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Diligence is usually manifest in reading your Bible everyday even when you are tired, spending at least 15 minutes every day with God in prayer, seeking wisdom like gold and silver by reading good books, and listening to pod casts, attending church most weekends, and serving Him in some kind of ministry.

Most are to busy with stuff in the world that has no eternal value to be faithful in the basic disciplines of the Christian life, and won’t do well at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Nice people but not winners.

I have been in Phoenix at a prayer conference since yesterday and will fly home tomorrow evening. I spoke twice this morning and listened to another four speakers. I was tremendously blessed by each of the messages that I heard. I didn’t hear anything new but hearing it again from such good speakers was very motivating and encouraging. I was reminded of the early days of pastoring Jefferson Baptist Church when I used to go to conferences and seminars three or four times a year, not only because of what I learned but because of the fire they would put in me for ministry. It was nice to know that I can still be stirred up and motivated; there isn’t much worse than an older man who thinks he knows it all and doesn’t need motivating by others.

It was a great reminder of what I say often, we are the church and we weren’t created by God capable of living the Christian life successfully on our own without input and help from others. Those who are humble and recognize how important others in the “Body of Christ” are to their own growth, put themselves in situations where they can be taught, encouraged, and held accountable by others. Help me Lord not to forget this principle.

Every Christian has a spiritual gift. It is a specific ability well-suited to edifying other people in their church. In the Apostle Paul’s writings, he calls the church the body of Christ. All together a church is like the body of Jesus when He was on the earth walking around. Each person in a local church is like a small part of Jesus the man, and everybody together functions like Jesus. The problem is that so many parts are missing in action, not functioning, not involved. We are commanded in the Word to use and develop our gift.

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Romans 12:6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly:

A church that has a high percentage of it’s people serving in the area of their giftedness will be healthy and growing. In the area of our gifting we are supernatural and have infinite potential and we should be excited about developing and growing our gift.

1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you,

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you

There are a number of lists of gifts in the New Testament and none of them are the same, suggesting that the exact total and names of each is not that important. What is important is that you discover what it is that you do well.Some might teach adults well and somebody else does a great job teaching children.

Serving in the area of our spiritual gift is a great source of joy and satisfaction in life, not much compares with it. The only way to discover your giftedness is through trial and error. If you see an opportunity to serve jump in and give it a try. You will either do well and enjoy it or you will stink at it. If it isn’t you, quite and try something else. It won’t take long as you every morning pray asking for God’s guidance.

Today we had a blast with the grandkids picking apples, grinding them to a pulp, squeezing the juice out of them, filtering, and pouring it into plastic one-gallon jugs. We had grandkids from Idaho, Hawaii, Albany, and Stayton. When you get to be 74 years old and ask the question, what have I done with my life that matters, everything fades into the background when I spend a day like today with my family, drinking apple cider.

As I read the news I can’t help but think, Governments worldwide seem to be competing for the title “The Craziest.” How certain people end up being the President, Premier, Ruler, Head Honcho of countries is a mystery to me. It seems that with pandemics, wokism, inflation, climate change, and the sexual revolution that the craziness is accelerating daily. I am very thankful that we are done raising our kids, but I spend a lot of time praying for God to protect my grandkids, to build a hedge of protection around them. In the midst of it all I trust the Lord with all my heart, and know that He is in charge and that He will carry out His plan, and that I am a major part of His plan.

Psalms 46:6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered

Psalms 2:1 Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?

Psalms 33:10 The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

Psalms 59:8 But You, O Lord, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

Psalms 9:5 You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

Psalms 79:6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.

Psalms 46:10 God will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalms 47:8 God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.

Our son Seth, his wife Amie, and their four kids drove from Idaho to see us, and it has been so fun having them here the last couple of days. Our youngest daughter Sally, who lives in Oahu, and her three kids just drove in from the airport, and popped into our bedroom to say Hi. We had a big hug fest sitting on our bed with Roscoe our dog enjoying all the attention he was getting. They have a camper van and will be living in our drive way for the next couple of days. Tomorrow some more of the kids will be here, and we will have a big party. One of the activities we have planned for tomorrow is to pick all the apples and pears off of the trees and make apple cider. It is a great activity for a bunch of kids and when they all taste their first glass of fresh squeezed apple juice they declare it the best they have ever tasted, and It is times like this that I declare m

It wouldn’t matter to me what we did, it is enough that they all are here and I get to hug them, talk to them, and watch the younger ones play. It seems strange that after all the years of raising them they are gone but now I get them periodically and it is good.