I have been getting up at 4:15 am this week in order to be at prayer at 5:00 am at the church for our “ Five Days of Prayer” this week. Someone asked me if I was a morning person because I am usually the first one at the church and I am reasonably cheerful. I responded by saying “no”, if I had a choice I would stay in bed until 9:00 am every day. But that is not an option most days, so I set the alarm, get out of bed when it goes off, pray my morning prayer of commitment which has in it that I will not act the way I feel, and then off to whatever is on my agenda for the day. It is called “Principle driven living”, know what the principles are and follow them because of the rewards that they bring. I have been collecting principles for years, not that I necessarily have a lot, but I do have clearly written, well thought principles that I run my life by. A major one is, “God desires our prayers to Him, and He gives great blessings to the person who is devoted to prayer. The more time we give, and the more cost that we pay, the more blessings God gives.” The blessings are strength, joy, peace, wisdom, and opportunities. There isn’t much else that matters when you have those blessings in your life.

My favorite heavy weight boxer when I was younger was Muhammad Ali. I think I watched every fight he was ever in. Occasionally now I will watch three or four in a row on YouTube while I ride my stationary bike. I think my favorite fight of his was when he regained the Heavy weight title for the second time from George Foreman when he was a major underdog in 1974. The fight was in Africa and Ali called it “ The Rumble in the Jungle.” using the now famous rope-a-dope technique. My second favorite fight was when he regained the title for the third time from Leon Spinks when he was 36 years old, and was again a huge underdog because of his age and the fact that Spinks had beaten him in an earlier bout. That win was a classic because of Ali’s courage and toughness. He lost the first four rounds on points and then decisively won the next ten. In the final round of the fight Spinks and his corner new that the only way for Spinks to win was to knock Ali out, and they also knew that Ali had never been knocked out. Spinks came out like a crazy man in the last round throwing caution to the wind trying his hardest to win the fight by knockout, but even though Ali was 36 years old and way past his prime he went into his famous Ali Shuffle and simply danced away from Spinks and his flailing arms. Ali finished the fight with his best round of the fight showcasing his boxing skill and totally frustrating Spinks.

The last round reminded me of Revelation 12:12 which describes the devil’s actions in the last round here on earth. “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Much of what is happening now in our country is obviously demonic in origin and if it is the last round, things are going to get increasingly worse. The devil sincerely believes he can win, but he knows he doesn’t have a lot of time so he is going for the knockout. It is time for us to go into our dance and totally frustrate the evil one. We know that God is just toying with the devil, and when the time is up he will be thrown into the “Lake of Fire”. So we need to live our life as winners, because that is what we are.

Over twenty times in the Bible we are commanded to be strong. Here are a few of those verses;

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Psalms 27:14 Be strong and let your heart take courage;

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

A strong person is a tough person. A strong person doesn’t quit when things get hard. A strong person is faithful. A strong person is responsible. A strong person doesn’t complain or grumble. A strong person doesn’t feel sorry for themselves. A strong person looks out for others. A strong person keeps their word. A strong person acts like a strong person.

When I was a kid I watched Pop Eye cartoons, and Pop Eye got strong by eating spinach, so I ate lots of spinach when I was young. I still like spinach and still expect that it is going to make me strong. Whenever Brutus had Popeye in trouble and Olive Oil needed saving he would just suck down a can of Spinich and the day was saved. Wouldn’t it be cool if it were that easy. So how do we become a strong person?

There is a story in 1 Samuel 30 about David that would have made a great John Wayne movie. David and his mighty men were gone from their city, and while they were gone a band of raiders burned the town to the ground, took everything they owned, their wives, and their children. David and his men returned to the city and discovered what had happened. They all wept and mourned, and David’s men were so upset they threatened to kill him, but then in verse 6, it says,
”Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” After that David rallied his men, and they took off after the bad guys, killed them all and rescued all of the woman, children and all their stuff. So what exactly did David do when it says, ”He strengthened himself in the Lord.”

He prayed and asked God to give him strength. The most often prayed prayer in the Bible is the prayer for strength. God loves to answer the prayer to Him for His strength.

Psalms 105:4 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.

If you want a little strength, ask a little, if you want a lot of strength, ask a lot. I ask every morning for sure, and often several times every day. I want to be strong like Samson, not physically but emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

Someone said to me the other day in a conversation we were having that he thought I was the most confident person he had ever met. I thanked him for the compliment, went back to the topic we were talking about, and didn’t respond on the subject of confidence. It kind of caught me off guard a bit, and I didn’t know exactly what to say. I got to thinking about it later, and even journaled extensively about it trying to figure out what it was he saw in me that prompted the compliment.

I think confidence is probably the wrong word. What I do have is a very strong faith in God, not just in His existence, but in His personal interest in me as an individual, so my confidence is a result of my belief that He will always provide me with guidance, wisdom, protection, and strength. Because of this faith in Him I am not afraid of failing so I will try most anything. Because my relationship with the Lord is so real, that is, I have a very strong sense of being special to Him, which results in wanting to please Him with my behavior. The result is that I am not affected much by people’s opinion of me. I care for people and I want to treat them well, but my sense of worth and value comes from God. The result is a freedom from trying to project an image in order to impress people which results in a lack of intimidation and no fear of looking dumb.

My faith is not something that I have willed into existence, it is the result of my devotion to prayer and my lifestyle of prayer. In 1969 I made seven very clear goals in regards to prayer because I wanted to make prayer the most important activity in my life. I made those goals at that time because I felt like a total failure as a Pastor and I had zero confidence in my ability ever to do better. I pursued those goals relentlessly, sometimes purely out of duty, often with little faith or awareness of God’s presence, but I rarely missed keeping my commitment to the amount of time I had made the goal to spend in prayer. After a season of this ”dry as dirt duty” praying because of my goals I began to change as prayer became the delight of my heart.

Prayer is probably the most faith requiring activity there is. When you pray you are talking to a God you can’t see so you must believe that He exists, you must believe that He hears, you must believe that He cares, you must believe that He will answer, and you must believe that He enjoys and desires our time in prayer. As a result when we pray our faith grows, and the more we pray the more it grows, and the greater our faith in prayer the more we desire to pray and the more power we have in prayer.

So I guess I am confident, super confident, and it came from being a failure with zero confidence.

Because of all the years of driving old tractors with not much in the way of mufflers, running chain saws, and shooting guns, all without hearing protection, I have a significant hearing loss now. Not being able to hear most of the conversations around me has created some problems over the years, some of them quite humorous. It has also caused some skirmishes with Patty as I accuse her of whispering so I can’t hear what she is saying. A couple of years ago, I bought some hearing aids, and they work pretty good, but occasionally I have problems with them. I hate wearing these face masks so when I exit a store I usually rip it off and stuff it into my pocket. The other day I discovered that one of my hearing aids was gone, and as I pondered on how I may have lost it, I thought, “I bet I pulled it off when I took my mask off after sitting down at the table in Denny’s Restaurant, or leaving. So we drove back and checked everywhere around where we were eating and found nothing. The people that were sitting where we were helped by crawling around on their knees under the table. We went out and looked around the parking lot, and again several people joined in to help us look. I eventually found it right outside the door next to the sidewalk, and it still worked fine. Being a pastor is a lot about communication with people and not being able to hear what they say definitely creates a challenge. One of the basic principles of life is that the quality of our communication is the main factor in the quality of our relationship. What is true between people and me is also true of my relationship with God.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

My ability to hear God’s voice determines whether He is going to come in and dine with me. That word picture of dining with me is the ultimate in relationship and closness with Jesus. We all have a significant hearing loss when it comes to hearing God’s voice.

We have four sources for the thoughts that come into our minds. One is ourselves, we all have original thoughts that spring into our minds that come from our own soul. A second source is the world around us. All day long our senses are bringing information into our minds, and that information prompts many thoughts to rise to the top of our conscious thinking. A third source of many of our thoughts is the devil and his demons. As they seek to tempt us and get us to sin, talking to us us their primary method. And the fourth is God, He speaks to us and we hear him in our thoughts. The problem we have is sorting out the many thoughts that fill our mind all day long, and decerning the source. An additional problem is that the devil and His demons work very hard at imitating God’s voice, and they have had a lot of years of practice.

As a 72 year old pastor who has spent the bulk of his life seeking God and working very hard at hearing His voice, I am convinced that the very best hearing aids available to us is corporate prayer. There is something about corporate prayer that muzzles the devil and his demons, I am not sure they can even stand to be in the room where prayer is happening. When we gather together as the ”Body of Christ” to seek God and intercede for others God’s voice will be dominate as He seeks to prompt us what to pray for. If we pay attention and listen attentively to our own thoughts and the prayers that others are praying we will grow in our ability to hear God’s voices.

Beginning tomorrow morning at 5:00 am we are going to have prayer at JBC. We will pray from 5:00 am until 10:00 am Monday through Friday, and 5:00 pm through 10:00 pm as well. We will be in the Old Chapel praying together and you can also join us via zoom. If you want to join us using Zoom text me at 503-559-5282 and I will send you the link.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

My kids used to sing this verse as a song when they got together with all of their cousins. It was a catchy little song, and it helped a great deal in memorizing the verse.

The most interesting thing about this verse is the emphasis on the word command, this is not a good suggestion. ”Be strong, ” ”be courageous,” ”do not tremble, ” ”do not be dismayed, ” don’t do it, period! Be anxious for nothing, do not fear, that is a clear, black and white command concerning everything, no matter how big and how bad it is.

Looking out my window, I can’t see very far because there is so much smoke, it just hangs everywhere. If the existence of fear could be seen we would see it like this smoke, hanging everywhere, influencing everything. People are afraid of getting sick, of their stuff burning up, of getting lung cancer from the smoke, of the future, and their finances. The amount of alcohol being consumed in the last six months has almost doubled over the same time the previous year, drug use has gone up, the number of people who are getting counseling for anxiety and depression has increased substantially, and the number of suicides has increased as well.

Obeying the command to not fear isn’t as easy to accomplish as the command to pick up the pepper shaker would be, but it is a command and therefore it is very possible for us to live a fear free life. God would not command us to do something that is impossible to do. I am fear free; I am not uptight or anxious about anything. Here is what I do;

1. I take every fearful and anxious thought captive, that is, I stop thinking those thoughts as soon as I am aware of them in my mind. I do that by choosing to meditate on Bible verses that I have memorized well on this topic.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

1 Peter 5:7 cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

2. I pray about whatever is bugging me, and ask God for strength, joy, peace, and wisdom. He promises always to answer the prayer for those blessings. If the fear and anxiety is strong in me, I will write out the prayers, and pray them often.

3. I choose to think about heaven, what it will look like, what my new glorified body will feel like and what I will be able to do. I think about flying, about all the people I will see like my Mom and Dad, and about being able to remember everything. I think about Jesus, what He will look like, sound like, and what it will be like to talk to Him. I let my imagination go wild.

I guarantee you that if you do those same three mental disciplines, you will be fear and anxiety free. It is a great way to live.

Lot’s of people are doing some very bad things in the name of seeking justice, but they are not solving anything, they are not fixing anything, or changing anything, they are just making it all worse. Why? The answer is in the Bible, God’s Word, His instructions on successful living.

Principal #1 – Only a few people have significant influence and impact on their environment to move it towards the light instead of darkness, goodness instead of evil, and justice instead of injustice; most have little to no influence, some negative influence, and some very negative.

Principal #2 – Only those who are free of personal bitterness towards others because of real and perceived wrongs done to them and others will be able to influence, impact, and change things for the better by their leadership. This is a law of God set in stone. Those who are filled with bitterness and see themselves as victims, and blame others for their problems and plight in life will simply and always make things worse in their attempts to change things.

Principal #3 – The only way to be free from bitterness and a victim mentality is to choose to forgive others for the wrongs that they have done to us, that is the only way, not merely the best way. That is why there are only a few people changing things, because most will not forgive, and revenge will be the underlying motive for their actions not justice.

Principal #4 – Only those who have been forgiven will be able to forgive. I am empowered to forgive others by my own awareness of being forgiven. The stronger my sense of being forgiven, the greater my sense of self-worth, and my power will spring from my love for others and the desire for their well being.

Romans 3:23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Everyone has sinned, most have sinned a lot. When I sin it is not in a vacuum, that is, my sin will always have a negative impact on others, what I choose to do or not do that is wrong brings consequences into the lives of people around me, most of whom I know and love. And on the flip side, I have for all my life since the day I have been born experienced consequences because of the sins of others, some that I know and others that I have never met. It all began with Adam, the first man, who disobeyed God, and ate the forbidden fruit, and I now experience the consequence of his sin every day.

Romans 5:12-18 through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men. . . by the transgression of the one the many died. . . judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation. . . For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one. . . through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men,

But just the opposite is true as well, when I do good, make right choices, others around me experience the blessings of my righteousness, even as limited as it is. The ultimate example of this is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the sins of every person. He could do this because Jesus never sinned, not even a little one, therefore He was able to be my substitute, take my place, and die for my sins. When I recognize my sinfulness and except and believe that Jesus died for me and choose to live for Him, my sins are forgiven and I am given the gift of eternal life in heaven with Him.

Romans 5:6-20 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . .God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . .we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. . . For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. . . So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous

Principal #5 – My behavior, choices, and actions influence, impact, and change the lives of those around me. If my life is being lived for the most part righteously, others are blessed because of me, but if my life is characterized by sin and wickedness, many around me will experience the consequences of my choices, we do not live in a vacuum. In a very real way, we are all victims of others, Adam, parents, teachers, pastors, and friends. And, in a very real way we are all positively influenced and blessed by the same.

Principal #6 – I am not motivated to be good because I am afraid of going to hell forever, I am going to heaven because of my faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for me, no good works are required. I am motivated to pursue righteousness because I want to be used to positively change the lives of as many people as possible, as much as possible with my life.

Principle #7 – We are not prisoners; we can escape, change, and grow if we respond to the light that God incrementally brings into our life, some neglect that light and others choose to respond.

Hebrews 2:3
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Black Lives Matter, Antifa, protests, riots are a major part of our country right now, and the reason is because of injustice, both real and perceived. People’s rights are violated, they are treated unfairly, they are mistreated, often cruelly, people in positions of power and influence do wrong and others experience the consequences of that wrong.

The desire for and the pursuit of justice for ourselves and others is a major part of who we are as people created in the image of God. All of our eight kids, at an early age, angrily declared, ”that’s not fair!” Sometimes they made an appeal to us as their parents to make things right and fair, and other times they simply ”threw a fit”; children do that.

We all want to be part of the solution of injustice in the world, the question is how can we do that successfully. Many think that ”protests, riots, and even war” will solve the problems, but they seldom have or will, because they are usually just ”throwing a fit”. The responsibility of government is to preserve ”justice for all”, but because people in government are often selfish, unwise, and wicked, the government often fails.

As a believer in the Sovereignty of God and the truth found in the ”Word of God”, the Bible, I believe that the solution is found there, and only there. There are principles of justice found in the Bible, God’s rule book for successful living.

Principal #1 – Only a few people have significant influence and impact on their environment to move it towards the light instead of darkness, goodness instead of evil, and justice instead of injustice; most have little to no influence, and some negative impact.Principal #2 – Only those who are free of personal bitterness towards others because of real and perceived wrongs done to them and others will be able to influence, impact, and change things for the better by their leadership. This is a law of God set in stone. Those who are filled with bitterness and see themselves as victims, and blame others for their problems and plight in life will simply and always make things worse in their attempts to change things. Principal #3 – The only way to be free from bitterness and a victim mentality is to choose to forgive others for the wrongs that they have done to us, that is the only way, not merely the best way. That is why there are only a few people changing things, because most will not forgive, and revenge will be the underlying motive for their actions not justice. Principal #4 – Only those who have been forgiven will be able to forgive. I am empowered to forgive others by my own awareness of being forgiven. The stronger my sense of being forgiven, the greater my sense of self-worth, and my power will spring from my love for others and the desire for their well being.

The forgiveness that God gives through faith in Jesus Christ is supernaturally powerful in many different ways. Talk more about this tomorrow.

I have ministry goals, health goals, financial goals, fishing goals, hunting goals, house goals, car and pick up goals, personal growth goals, marriage goals, kid goals, grandkid goals, bicycle goals, mountain climbing goals, sky diving goals, exercise goals, and travel goals, to mention a few. My goals help me balance my life, they help me budget my time, they help me budget our money, they help me prioritize my life, they motivate me to do more, to work harder, they stimulate me to plan ahead, they are a key to saying ”no” to things outside my goal package, the writing process as I plan my new goals stimulates my creative thinking, the writing, dreaming process also motivates me to do things I have never done before. Reading past years goals that I have accomplished gives me a great sense of accomplishment, and they are a great tool for helping me discern God’s will for my life.

Very few goals go as planned in my head and on paper, there are almost always a host of barriers that pop up that have to be overcome, conquered, solved, and often major adjustments have to be made. Goal barriers can cause a lot of discouragment to the point that we quit setting goals and having dreams. There isn’t much that is as painful as the ”death of a vision.”

This COVID thing has been a major ”mess up” for a bunch of my goals. I have had to make major adjustments, and changes to a number of my most prized goals, even abandoning a few. But that is life, you figure it out, make mid-flight adjustments, and put the gas peddle back down on the floor.

When the first two of our eight kids we’re still little Patty and I went to a ”Child Raising Seminar”. In the seminar one of the speakers taught this principle, ”The best parenting tool available for parents who want to raise champions who love to win is camping, because when you go camping, everything that can go wrong does, and then you can teach your kids how to overcome problems, barriers, and emergencies. You can not only teach them how to conquer the barriers, make adjustments, sometimes even changing their goals because of them, you can also teach them to enjoy the process and the challenge. Kids that grow up knowing how to overcome the unexpected and not get uptight and frustrated in the process are very rare, and do very well in every area of life.”

All eight of our kids are ”overcomers” in attitude and character. They deal with life, solve problems, make adjustments, maintain their joy and positive attitude, and grow closer to God in the process.

One example is Sherri. She graduated from Multnomah Bible College and went to Liberia, West Africa as a missionary. While there she met Thomas, a Liberian, fell in love, and got married, doubly married, they got married in Jefferson and again in Africa. Their goal was to be life long missionaries to Liberia, a very noble goal, but while they were in the States so Thomas could get his U.S. Citizenship, he had a farming accident and broke his neck, paralyzing him, and putting him in a wheelchair. Liberia is not a handicap friendly country, and it would be very difficult for a wheelchair bound person to function. So they have made some major adjustments and refocusing of their dreams and ambitions for their lives. It has been a joy for me to watch as they deal with the unexpected, make adjustments, and maintain their joy and trust in the Lord. They have their down times, but they are like a volley ball being held under the water, it isn’t long before they pop back-up.

A major principle of life is, ”The more difficulties that God can bring into our life without us derailing, the more usable we become for Him.”

One last benefit of goal setting, ”those who set noble goals and pursue them, dealing with the barriers as they come up, become very tough people, sort of like camping.

I say ”again” because I have written a blog by this title on many occasions, most often right after hunting season is over and I didn’t kill anything. Basically the theme of this blog and others with the same title is how do you manage the disappointment of unrealized goals. I know so many people who don’t set goals because they can’t manage the disappointment and pain of feeling like a failure when they come up short on their goals. Most who have stopped setting goals or have never even gotten started setting them justify it with statements like, ”I am just going to trust the Lord and see what He decides to do”, or ”that’s just not my temperament, ” or ”I don’t like the pressure that goal setting adds to my life, ” and many accurately acknowledge the fact that ”the failure to accomplish their goals makes them feel like a loser.”

Goal setting certainly isn’t a requirement in life, most people don’t set specific, measurable, written down goals for their life, so if you don’t, you are in the majority. It is much easier to just ”go with the flow, ” rather then take the time to think through what you really want to do and accomplish with your life, write them out, read them regularly, and focus most of your mental and physical energy, and resources on accomplishing them.

Goal setting is much more of a skill than it is a gift or a temperament type, and a skill is learned from those who have developed it and by practice. Though it is an option in life, it is a basic fact that those who have developed the skill of goal setting and practice it faithfully will almost always accomplish much more with their life that is meaningful and significant for them than those who don’t. Goal setters are focused, they prioritize their time, energy, and resources.

Back to the problem of failing to accomplish our goals. There are five attitudes that are important to understand and to develop if you want to keep goals from beating you up.

1. A goal is an expression of a desire of my heart, a dream, something I aspire to, not a command, or an obligation. Our flesh rebels against law, and making our goals requirements demotivates us rather than motivating us to greater accomplishments.

2. Our goals, in the way we write them, need to be relatively free of uncontrollable ingredients, that is things that I have little to no control over. My goal is to go archery hunting for a week, and to prepare well so that the chances of killing a deer and an elk is increased. If I don’t kill anything I will evaluate why, and make adjustments in my preparations next year. I will learn to get my enjoyment from the experience and the challenge, which are well within my ability to control.

3. Learn to identify the ”wins” in the pursuit of any goal, the positive elements that brought joy, peace, personal growth, enhanced relationships, excitement, renewed energy, increased skill, and a new experience, which almost always increases our wisdom.

4. Rewrite the goal for next year or the next time it is to be pursued with the adjustments that we have observed will increase the probability of accomplishing it. Nothing reinforces the spirit of goal setting like rewriting them with adjustments made with wisdom learned. It makes goal setting a journey rather than an event.

5. If the joy and enthusiasm of pursuing a specific goal is gone, drop it. There are to many noble goals to pursue to use up our time, energy, and resources on a goal that is no longer a strong desire of our heart.

Archery season isn’t over until September 27th.