At the beginning of last week I thought it was going to be one of those times when I was being attacked on all sides. Everything I am not good at was attacking full force. I wrote about these times in entries this past week. I also wrote that I was able to find Christ in these weak, fear evoking moments where I never had before. This has left me with a very humble thankfulness. On top of all this, the past couple of days God has abundantly blessed with some small, but important things.

God is so amazingly patient and kind. He waits for times like this past week to reveal Himself in the troubling parts of life and then incredibly reveals Himself in kindness where only you notice, but know beyond any shadow of doubt that what took place is a gift from Him. I am so grateful!

Today our quartet sings for a couple of places. One is a church service this morning and the other is an assisted living place later this afternoon. I will be including some of my testimony connected to a couple of the songs being sung. I pray God will be seen for His kindness and love for those needing to be comforted. God is so amazing in doing this! I know this full well.

Last night I had a phone call from a young married man who meets with me each Saturday morning. He had succumbed to a fear which was gripping him and had caused him to act on the fear in a troubling way. He wanted to know what to do at this point? We talked for a while on speaker phone so his wife could be part of the conversation. We agreed that this morning we will continue this topic of fear.

God’s amazing strength cannot be ours if we rely on our own strength when times hit like this. I had this happen to me earlier this week as I had written about. The roots of fear and helplessness from it had extremely deep roots within me which Jesus has now replaced just a few days ago. I am praying that this morning our young man can see how Jesus will replace his fear with confidence when he gives the fear over to Him as it hits him.

I wouldn’t even know that fear is often caused from a lack of confidence until most recently. The confidence was never in me when fear has gripped myself. However, now that I have Jesus at the root of this old nature I know the confidence is my trust in Him and fully knowing I don’t have to deal with the topic of the fear on my own. That helpless sense doesn’t need to own me any longer. What a refreshing and gratifying sense this is too! God is AMAZING!

What I wrote yesterday has not ended. Today as I was having my devotions I had this deep sense within me that Christ IS in me. My devotions were talking about keeping my eyes on Jesus. As I was processing this statement I no longer had this sense of seeing Jesus outside of me. To be honest, I’ve always known that Jesus’ home was my heart, but I have never known fully until this morning just what that was like. Today, as I was seeing Jesus, I saw Him within me and I am confident of it rather than hoping for it. It is utterly amazing what this is like!

There is a deep settled peace in my soul today. I can only describe it as a confidence I sense. It is not of flesh but of spirit. I just have to praise God for His patient endurance waiting for me to finally find the work of His Son Jesus in the depth of me where fear had abound. That fear is now replaced with the assurance I am a child of the King! Wow!

Today is my oldest daughter’s birthday. She was two weeks overdue and the doc was going to induce labor the next day if she weren’t born that day. It was a Sunday morning. We had gone to church early as we did each Sunday. My wife played the piano and I led the worship so we were there to prepare. All of a sudden she went into labor. We never did that service. We went home and the rest is history!

What is amazingly on my mind this morning is a huge message from God He has been wanting me to know and believe from Him. Yesterday afternoon I was looking up a recipe on-line for Kathy and my daughter Angie. They were making salsa and canning tomatoes. They needed to know how long to process the salsa. In looking for this on-line the computer was hacked and frozen. A number was present on the frozen screen to call which I did. It turned out to be hackers. I didn’t give any pertinent info since my daughter was very savvy to this and she was at my side. I hung up on them with my computer frozen. I didn’t tell anyone this at the moment, but I was feeling as helpless as I use to feel when I was a kid being beaten by my dad or used by my brother. I wanted to go into an escape mode as I did as a child, but I’m 73 not 10 years old. I needed to leave for counseling appointments so I left and got home at 8:30 pm last night.

This morning as I got up I turned on the computer and everything booted up as though nothing had ever happened. I then began my bible reading where the scripture reading and devotional readings all had the same message: God is Almighty and is also all Loving. We are to turn to Him for ALL of our needs. I can quit trying to take care of my needs in my own strength. I’ve known this for SO LONG, but yesterday’s event leaving me feeling so helpless took this message to my core where my helplessness was still housed from those early years of abuse. Today I let God’s Son and Holy Spirit move into this place wiping out that old fear!

Who would ever think God would use a canning recipe to fill a void I never thought would or could be filled? Only this God Who is Almighty and All Loving would do this! What a thankful grandpa and dad I am!

I’ve never done this before, but today I’m cutting the first paragraph from June 1, 2023 because it fits perfectly with what I want to write for today. The next paragraph is it.

Today’s devotional message is one that awakened a truth in me I have never realized. Galatians 5:16 says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” I have known this verse for years. Yet, the clarity of the verse’s message hadn’t hit me until today. I have always interpreted this verse’s meaning as to walk with the Spirit within me. Some translations even say to walk in the Spirit. However, today as I read this scripture I, for the first time, pictured God walking right along side of me through the day.

This message comes from the 90-day devotional I’m using for the second go-round. I’m reusing this paragraph because I had lost its meaning for me in the last 90 days. Learning to surrender instead of struggle is one thing. Learning to surrender with the anticipation of growing from walking with God’s Spirit is completely different. When we give up something it is nice to have something more valuable to replace it with. Good grief, giving up something of the flesh for something from God’s Spirit?–Wow, they hardly compare! I want to keep this promise permanently this time from Paul’s writing in Galatians.

Yesterday was going to be one of those days where there were things to get done, but no timeframe for them. I only had one main commitment so all else could easily work around it. Well, the day turned into one interruption after another. I found myself having to try and make things work so I could fulfill the one and only commitment. Along with this my good friend was leading our choir practice last night due to the absence of our worship pastor. He had text me asking that I do the devotions for choir. At the time I thought it was no problem since I had an “easy day” ahead. My only prep for it turned out to be when I drove to the one commitment and home from it. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what I should say but as I drove God informed me. I like to write what I’m going to say so I don’t stray from the topic. This time, God wanted me committed to listening and responding to His Spirit within without script leaving me rather nervous. This morning all I can recall of the moment is doing it. What was said is almost entirely gone from any memory. I just trust that God’s message He wanted spoken was done.

The disruption in my day turned out to be a very simple thing. My pickup had literally died. There was no evidence of life as I turned the key. It’s 22 years old, but when I drove it a few days ago it was working fine. I changed a fuse marked “engine” and it started right up. Once I got to my destination it died again. I had Kathy come and pick me up so I could make it to my one commitment. When I returned I got fuses thinking this is the problem. No luck with that! A mechanic friend stopped by and found the problem–negative cable on the battery was loose. I was seeing thousands of dollars trying to fix the problem. God was just wanting me to trust Him completely in the day–that’s all. What a kind God He is!

A very important item God is wanting me to learn and believe each and every day is that I will never be temptation free. I fought so hard in my youth to “not sin” so I wouldn’t add to the sins done to me. I was already so badly tarnished that I just couldn’t ever be good enough for God’s Saving Grace if I added to those sins. Well, all these years later I still have those moments where I want to have God obliterate all temptations. The memories of childhood don’t vanish. However, God reminds me that His Grace is sufficient. Jesus’ work on the Cross not only took care of all sins done to me (us), but His Work also takes care of all sin we have committed and will commit since we will not be beyond our flesh until we die. Flesh and temptation do run hand in hand.

As a kid I lived in a fantasy world that had no ugliness in it. At that time it was a gift so I didn’t linger too long on the reality of life back then. Today, God wants me in this real world and to stay focused on Him in it. I Corinthians 10:13 tells us that our temptations are “common to man” and that God will provide “a way of escape”. The sins done to me I couldn’t escape, but they weren’t mine. My temptations I can escape as I surrender them to my Loving, Gracious, Savior and Lord. How lucky we are to have Him–Jesus Christ!

It is incredibly amazing to me how God works. Yesterday’s blog message was about the dilemma of our flesh and how I step into a struggle before I remember to surrender it to the One and only Jesus Christ who has overcome temptation, sin and Satan himself. Today’s 90-day devotional speaks directly to this topic. The author speaks what we often don’t want to admit–sin can be, and usually is, temporarily enjoyable. Otherwise, we would have no problem leaving it behind. Sin has a way of enticing us into it even though we know better.

Each day, when we start it with Jesus in a time of worship and devotion, we can connect our spirit with His Holy Spirit. He will speak to us and give us direction. He doesn’t take away our sinful flesh, but He offers Himself and His conquering of sin as our way of escape. We can do this in His Power this day–today by surrendering, walking away and confessing the struggle to our trusted friend. Tomorrow, we will need to reconnect with Jesus and His Holy Spirit to have His Promise alive for the new day.

Our flesh is weak, we know this; but, His Promises are All-Powerful. God gave each of us the choice to choose Jesus as our Savior and then, as our Lord. If He is going to be our Lord in the present day, this needs our daily renewal. We choose this. I choose this day to have Jesus as my Savior and LORD!

“…The battle is not ours, but God’s.” II Chronicles 20:15. I don’t know why, but this scripture always comes to me following a battle instead of when the battle begins. My natural instinct is to fight with my own strength and when I struggle is when I will remember to surrender it. It would seem that this lesson would teach me but in this area I am a slow learner. Maybe all of us are in this boat together. No matter what, I’m going to continue to surrender for I never want to be anything but a follower of Jesus and to let His Holy Spirit have His way within me.

I love how patient Jesus Christ is and how He never gives up with anyone of us!

There is nothing like a visit to one’s prayer warrior to lift the spirits of man. Yesterday I visited my prayer warrior and she wanted to hear how the individuals and couples were doing? Many of them she called by name. I always ask each client if it is ok to share their name/s with Lois. I’ve never had anyone turn down the opportunity to have a prayer warrior praying for them.

As I gave an update to each of the questions I found that there has been a great deal of growth with each. It caused me to realize that I spend so much time thinking about the present and the next steps that I too often forget to reflect on the start and where we presently are. God is always working, as Lois reminded me. Her reminder included my need to Praise God always for He is never not working! I don’t want to forget this message!