Pray for the Leaders of Ukraine and Russia

     1Timothy 2:1-4 (NIV)  "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

 

 

     During a particularly difficult situation I was involved in during the Vietnam War, A man with us began to pray. The man next to him said, "How can you stop to pray at a time like this?" The man praying stopped, looked at the man, then replied, "How can you not pray at a time like this?" 

The Ukrainians pictured here are doing exactly what God asks of us at a "time like this."

 

 
 

I'm a Stout Pacifist Until...

 

 

I'm a stout pacifist until, you attack my God, my family, or my country.

 

Short in Height, Tall in Courage - the days of the harvest are here

 

     "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness." 2 Corinthians 9:10.

     One of the inner themes of my new novel, Short in Height, Tall in Courage, is the gathering of disciples per our commission from our Lord.

     "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

     Our Lord is uncompromising about loving one another. We need to lay this example of loving our Christian brothers heavily upon the non-believers. The Team is not perfect, but their reliance on and listening to God creates valuable teaching moments from those moments of imperfection. Our Lord is constantly teaching ways to influence and reminding us of our commission. In Chapter two, Samuel teaches two families who have been locked in a battle over some small thing for years. He teaches them that "...listening is as much of an art as conversation." If we cannot listen, we cannot discover the person's reasons for speaking. Listening is one of the most potent weapons of a Christian.

     In another chapter, the Chief asks Samuel, "What do you think," concerning an issue they needed to solve. Samuel got up in the Chief's face with, "It doesn't matter what I think. It matters what God thinks." I hear so many people say, "I can't hear God speaking." The reason for their not hearing is that they are not good listeners. Early in the book, you hear Samuel, the spiritual guide of The Team, emphasize being a good listener. Someone wails to God to change their circumstances in life and expect an immediate result, like the McDonald's drive-through. They spend a few seconds listening for an answer. When God eventually changes their circumstances, the person assumes it was their personal work that created the result. If you want a simple yes or no answer, ask Google. God is not talk; He is action. His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, practiced an active faith, just as we should.

     Please support Christian writers, artists, and other Christians working with loving hearts for our Lord with little applause and their personal funds and much time to give you stories, art, and other forms of entertainment and education dedicated to our God. All these things are using our spiritual gifts to gather disciples. If they lay rusting away, you might consider asking God to make use of your spiritual gifts.

     Love you all!

 

 

 

The Book, Short in Height, Tall in Courage, Is Finished and Mailed.

      A long journey of great pleasure has ended with the completion of Short in Height, Tall in Courage, the Story of God's African Special Forces Unit. It is in the mail to some distant land far away, over which I have absolutely no control. It is in God's hands now, and who better to have it in their hands? Thank you for putting up with me so far. The really difficult parts are just beginning. I need all of your support. Read my blog, please. I dream big dreams because my God made me with big dreams, and nothing is impossible for my God. 

     Growing up and now, I believe that success is built on the foundation of failures. My father told me, "If a job applicant tells me he has never failed, he is one of two things: he is lazy and never attempted anything or he is a liar."

Refueling Our Spiritual Tanks

 

 

 

       If the time ever comes that you are close to breaking and the world and its blows have laid you low, all life seemingly extinguished, remember these words about refueling your spirit through God in Isaiah 40:29-31.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

But those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

    I have often felt as though I am a pain in God's neck by leaning on him for so many seemingly trivial matters, yet he always smiles that smile that says nothing is too small nor too large for Me, the living God. This is what 1 John 5:14 has to say about asking for help.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us.

When you ask for help, pray just as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:42,

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Ask, but God's will may contain a different scenario than the one you specifically pray for. Too often, we think God doesn't hear or answer our prayers because they are not answered in the specific way 'we' want them answered. Always keep in mind that God's will is divinely good. The answer that God gives to our prayer is always good.

      When Jesus finished praying, he was at peace and secure in the knowledge that God's will would be done regardless of his wishes and that it was good just as God is good. Our reward is not upon this earth but after this earthly life in the new world. We cannot know the reasons for God's plan nor understand them, but we must trust him because Paul tells us in Romans 12:2,

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.

    Yes, my fellow Christian, life is filled with pitfalls. We, as Christians, must not pray for the trials and tribulations to be removed from our backs but pray that God will strengthen our backs to carry the loads he has entrusted us with so that his will shall be done. Paul lays it out in words nobody can mistake in Romans 5:3-5,

...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

    Sounds strange, rejoice in our trials and tribulations, but Christians are not like the world. We Christians are different from the remainder of mankind. A person should be transformed by his faith in Jesus Christ. We should be a physical and spiritual testament to the goodness of our Father, God. If you are the same as before your life in Jesus Christ, where is the evidence of your faith?

    Refuel your spiritual tanks and feel the strength return to your back and the joy return to your spirit through your faith. Be a glory to God by exuding spiritual joy through your trials and tribulations. What better way to show the world how different we are? What better way to refuel your spiritual tank?

 

Impossible Tasks

      I love impossible tasks because, with my God, nothing is impossible. I have set about loving the entire world's population because my Lord commands me to do so. Furthermore, I may not love all their actions, but I'll love them as human beings and chastise them for their unholy acts, just as my Lord does for me.

   Someone asked me, "Being a Christian, you think you are perfect, right?" Wrong. As a Christian, I know that I am not perfect, but I have been reborn by my faith in Jesus Christ as a new person who reads my God's word and tries my best to follow his teachings. 

     Alan Redpath, a British Evangelist and author, said, "The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the manufacture of a saint is the work of a lifetime." This is one of my favorite quotes, and shows that we should not give up when we fall backwards from perfection, but ask for forgiveness and get back into the saddle. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

     Some Christians will put on the air of perfection when they look down on you, but that act just proves they are sinners like me and you. Love you all!