Author Archives: revjaf

DECEIVED, DOUBTING AND DOWNCAST 2 Kings 4

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Here’s a title to lift your day– ‘Deceived, Doubting and Downcast’!  Should you stop reading this?  Maybe, just maybe, the Lord has something to say to you and me from deep within the Old Testament, from 2 Kings 4.

Here’s a story about the prophet Elisha and a couple from Shunem, a town in the northern part of ancient Israel.  Of the couple, it’s the wife our author focuses in on.  They’re probably a tad wealthy, so she suggests to her husband that they build a room for Elisha, on the upper story of their house, for when he comes their way.  She’ll also provide necessary food.

When Elisha stops by one day, he feels obligated to return the favor.  2 Kings 4:13–‘…See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you?’  Elisha’s sidekick, Gehazi, pipes up that they would love to have a child.  They’re a bit long in the tooth with biological clock about to strike midnight.

2 Kings 4:16–‘…At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.’  Wow!  Really, Elisha?  Are you joshing us?  Putting one over on us?  Snow job in the hot desert?  She’s unsure.  Maybe he’s lying, trying to butter her up, keeping this free Airbnb alive and well.  ‘…O man of God, do not lie to your servant’–2 Kings 4:16.  Liar, liar, pants on fire?  Not so.  For next year she cradles a lovely baby boy, all of their own, as promised.

Time passes and this boy grows up into a young man, who helps his father in the fields.  One day their son experiences searing head pain, causing him to collapse.  Carried back to his mother, he dies.  She seeks out Elisha for emergency help saying–“Did I ask my lord for a son?  Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?'” (2 Kings 4:28).  Not only lied to but deceived.  Torrid finger-wagging right in Elisha’s face.

Elisha rushes to the deceased boy’s side and you know what happens.  A miracle!  Life restored!  Not by Elisha but through you-know-who.  The mother now rises up in gratitude for what the Lord has done.  Note that Elisha doesn’t gloat over his success or throw salt in her wounds by maligning, denouncing and tearing into her for being faithless.  A hint there?  About how considerate I am of other’s frailty?  How Jesus treats me?  How I care for myself?

Even when downcast, especially then, the Lord wants to draw near, not with scorching, strident potshots, but with kindness, understanding, and tender loving care.  I often expect the back of His hand only to find the one that helps.  His forgiving love more than anger.

I need more of Jesus as He truly is.  Not as my peabrain misreads Him.   Don’t you want the same?  Gone on–grab hold…of Jesus!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being here with me today and always.  Amen.

A BRIEF AD!

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Please forgive me for this brief ad. Think it might help with a holiday gift or two. I’ve written 2 daily devotional books that you can order on Amazon. The first is entitled ‘Reflections Out Of Time’ and the second is ‘Reminders for Daily Devotion’. Could be that one or both are just the right gift for someone you want to encourage or even witness to about our Lord Jesus. Might be. Just wanted you to know…blessings and Keep Christ in Christmas! John

KEEP TO THE BOOK 1 Corinthians 4

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Where can you find a solid rock to stand on, an anchor in rough seas, a cave to slip into when howling winds threaten to topple you?  In other words, where can you feel safe and secure?

Not with big bucks, or from baby-kissing, two-bit politicos or owning the latest tech wonder-gadget.  We’ve made them life-and-death, major league necessities, yet none satisfy.  Not completely.  I’ve tried some.  In ministry, there’s always some new angle that promises to beef up our churches or my clergy awesomeness.  The pastor as clown.  No comments, please!  Purpose-Driven stuff.   I’m Okay/ You’re Not So Great!  Pop psychology that poops out.  Business techniques that grow our congregations, competitively topping me out as the numero uno very best pastor in town!  On and on.

But when push comes to shove, there’s one safe place.  It’s in that book you have.  Your Bible.  That’s the place to be safe and sound.  One given by God Himself.  Listen to the Apostle Paul–‘…that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written…’ (1 Cor. 4: 6).  Hear that?  Stay within God’s boundaries found in His Word.  Inside you’re home free.  Outside?  Well, you know.

God’s ancient peoples wander away from what’s written.  Amos 2: 4–‘…because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray…’  Ever since Adam and Eve fall prey to the deception of that slithery, satanic serpent, mankind has gotten sidetracked all over the map.  Gladly, eagerly following hooey and hokum rather than God’s truth.  Swiveling and swerving away from God’s light at first opportunity, only to find that darkness increases exponentially.  Jesus says this– ‘…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil’ (John 3:19).

Now what?  Grab your Bible.  Keep to the Book.  Crack open its pages.  Dive in.  Make it like 3 meals a day.  Balanced and nutricious.  Vitamins included.  Most of all, enjoy getting to know the Author, finding yourself deeply loved, intrigued by His genius, relishing the Son-shine, standing on solid ground.

Keep to the Book.

Thank you, Father, for your dependable Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

HALF-BAKED Hosea 7

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How exciting to have a machine that bakes bread.  Like magic.  All it takes is adding a few ingredients, push a few buttons and out pops homemade bread in a couple of  hours.  The machine’s ringer signals that it’s time to chomp down on some delicious staff of life.  Make sure butter and jam’s ready to go.

I open the lid.  Can’t believe what I’m seeing.  Instead of a nice toasty loaf, I’m looking at a pile of gloppy goo that defies description.  Disgusting.  Disappointing.  Dreadful.  What’s happened?  Bad yeast?  Salt lost its saltiness?  No.

Plain and simply stupid–I didn’t pay attention to the order of ingredients going into the machine.  Didn’t think it mattered.  Why should it?  Legalists.  Party poopers.  Couldn’t be little old me, could it?  Then my wife tells me that I didn’t lock the bread gadget into place causing the blade, or whatever it’s called, to roll around aimlessly!  You can tell how high-tech I am.

Hosea, the Old Testament prophet knows how to grab your attention.  He’s told to take back his wife, who has the unenviable name of Gomer (no last name of Pyle, however!), who’s wandered off in sexual escapades.  There’s even more to it than that.  In chapter 7, Hosea brings God’s urgent message to ancient Israel, which should have turned a few heads, ushering in repentance, falling down at God’s feet, begging Him to set them straight.  But no.  They pay no attention.  Could care less.  Thumb their noses His way.

Hosea 7:8–‘Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.’   This largest family group of Northern Israel mixes itself together with those who worship all kinds of gods.  False gods, like a mishmosh goulash, with God’s people giving Him only a passing nod.  Sadly, this spiritual hanky-panky catches on among His own like some current-day nasty pandemic virus. Only thing they can’t resist is adding more and more bogus gods to their worship.  Screwball hobby, collecting phony deities which aren’t kosher.  Mixed in and mixed up.  Soon to be nixed by God Almighty, the One and Only.

Like a cake not turned or a half-baked loaf of bread, burned on one side, soggy mess on the other.  Compromisers.  Mixing and matching the wrong ingredients.  Not following the Lord’s instructions.  Sound familiar?  Like our culture?  Maybe your life to a degree?  Rings in my ears.

Isn’t it time to stand up for Jesus?  For Him alone?  To mean what you say, and say what you mean?  Unashamed?  True we’re all failures and hypocrites.  Wishy-washy sweet-talkers.  This time I’m staring in the mirror.  Do I like this about me?  A people pleaser?  Not really.  Hopeless?  No.  We know who turns failure into forgiveness.  Don’t we?

So get up.  Stand up for Jesus.  No better time than right now.  Maybe no one expects it of you or me.  But shouldn’t I do what He wants?  For a change?  Not such a half-baked idea!

Lord Jesus, we want to be unashamedly yours.  Thank you.  Amen.

THOSE BEASTLY MOTHS Hosea 5

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How could we not love cruising the Danube and Rhine rivers in Eastern and Central Europe?  It’s like going back in time to a simpler way of life.  All on a floating first-class hotel with a five-star restaurant amply meeting all our needs!  We upgrade to a balcony, which is barely usable as we traverse literally dozens of dark-inducing navigation-locks all along those fabled waterways.

One night we couldn’t believe our eyes.  Looking out onto our balcony we see cloud-like white flapping wings of myriad thousands of moths.  Foolishly, I open our sliding-glass door to shoo them away only to welcome in those flying buggers.  Now they take over our stateroom.  So I grab a magazine and start swatting, flailing and whacking away with determined ferocity.  And what a bloody mess I make!  Took the staff quite awhile cleaning and disinfecting our walls and furniture.  I did a good job.  Maybe a little too good?  Should never have given those winged beasties an opening.

A lesson here?  Don’t give a fighting chance to sin.  Try not to open that window or door even a smidgen.  Hosea 5 spills the beans on God’s people who overflow with wickedness.  They’re warned, in no uncertain terms, that consequences will usher in unanticipated troubles.  If the Lord’s people don’t turn around and run to God for His help and healing, He’ll be to them like those little varmints were to us in our stateroom.  Hosea 5: 12–‘But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.’  Moths and dry rot–what God’s judgement looks like to the unrepentant.  Make a sharp U-turn.  Do a one-eighty.  For sin leads to a double-whammy chain reaction.

Before we sell our 70-year old home, inspectors check high-and-low for structural issues.  At the top of their list is dry rot.  After all, we live in a rainy climate, making rot a real problem, especially for an older property.  Decaying wood leads to moogoo bucks in repair bills.  No wonder they check so thoroughly.  The results?  We pass but not without a whole bunch of stress and worry.

That lesson again?  Let go of sin.  Don’t allow those pesky, unglodly ‘moths’ in.  Treat spiritual foundation and siding with care and protection.  Keep the ‘doors’ and ‘windows’ closed tight as hard-nosed sin sniffs out nonstop for even the tiniest break.

Know your Bible.  Spend quality and quantity time daily in its pages.  Get closer to Jesus.  Never shy away from Him.  Even cuddle up a little closer.  He’s waiting!

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so much.  Amen.

MY END TIME PREDICTIONS Daniel 12

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I’m now going to disclose my on-target, nailed-down prognostications of the end times.  The meat and potatoes, ins-and-outs of the millennium and the tribulation.  Their ABCs with i’s dotted and t’s crossed.  My predictions?  Actually zero, zippo within a bucket of goose eggs!  Except for this– I know that Jesus is coming back again.  So get ready and be on the alert.  When?  No idea.  The bulls-eye specifics?  Not from me.  After all, I find it difficult to make predictions, especially about the future!!

When a Bible school student, I develop an aversion to all the end times guesswork.  Wrangling, verbal wrestling and arguing, which I figure may be mere student-things in Bible school.  Wrong.

Over the years I’ve run across quite a few who know, or so they imagine, all that’s going to happen when Jesus returns.  And I mean ‘all’.   Goings on before He comes back, in the middle and at the end.  Theories, hobby horses, charts and graphs.  I flee from them straight to Scripture, which makes more sense than guesses and guesstimates from all those final-event pundits put together.

The book of Daniel is fodder for these speculators.  So take a gander at the last chapter.  Daniel covers the main points.  The archangel Michael helps him understand ‘…the time of the end’ (Dan. 12: 4).  What’s happening?  Terrible traumas will plague the world.  Shock and misery like never before.  But God’s people experience deliverance.  Those whose names are in His book, the wise and those who share their faith, receive everlasting life (vs. 1-3).  The ungodly share none of the Lord’s eternal bounty.  Sadly, none.

Then Daniel’s told to seal away, lock up his prophecy for a later time.  When?  Later–‘…until the time of the end’ (v. 9).  Again, when?  Only God knows.  What’s revealed is that troubles will be for a time, some more time, and then a tad bit longer (v. 7).  The point?  Difficulties don’t last forever for God’s people.

Daniel wants more info.  He has a yen for added end time details (v.8).  This is what he’s told by an angelic messenger–‘…Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.  Many shall purify themselves…’ (Dan. 12: 9-10).

Bottom line–go about your life, living well for Jesus, knowing that whatever happens, whenever it does, we’re to be ready and wide awake, while remaining in the best hands ever.  The very best.  That much I guarantee!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for standing with me through all times.  Amen.  

AN OLD CAMPFIRE SONG Daniel 4

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When I’m a college freshman, my pastor asks me to help counsel for a summer week at church camp.  Only problem is that I’ve never camped out before in my life.  Have little idea what it’s all about.  So I gingerly go out into the wilderness toting a mussed up suitcase containing my clothes and Bible.  Can you imagine?  A suitcase dragged into the forest primeval!  Well, I didn’t volunteer and their vetting process proves rather bogus!

About the only thing I remember, apart from being a pathetic and pitiful counselor, is an old campfire song.  ‘All night, all day, angels watching over me, my Lord.  All night, all day, angels watching over me.’

Twice in Daniel 4 (vs. 13, 17) ‘watchers’ are mentioned.  Wakeful ones, heavenly and holy ones, who keep constant vigil.  When life advertises how puny we are, how insignificant and unloved, it’s then we need to know something.  What?  That God has angels watching over us.  And He cares.

Watchers–all night, all day.  Angels watching over us.  The word ‘angel’ is the same as ‘messenger’.  The messenger’s source is our Lord.  He’s keeping an eye out for you and me.  Keeping tabs on everything.  Checking out troubles before they happen.  Helping us when facing fear and failure.  Like Daniel’s three friends (Dan. 3: 8ff), I’d rather be with Jesus in the fire, than outside without Him.  You too?

Daniel interprets the king’s scary dreams, reassuring the royal mind (Dan. 4).  Remember that in Christ we’re royalty–‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people’ (1 Peter 2: 9-10).

May seem like we’ve been abandoned in life.  No one giving a flying fig.  All alone on our own.  Not so.  The Lord has watchers all over.  We’re never out of their reach or sight.  Just like the old campfire song sings– ‘All night, all day, angels watching over me…’

Even a novice camper toting a bedraggled suitcase!

Thank you, Jesus, for never letting us out of your sight.  Amen.

SUCH A LITTLE ROCK Daniel 2

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My sister was the first to sign up for these weekly devotionals over 7 years ago.  Thanks, Barbara!  From the beginning, I’ve had a certain number goal in mind.  Something to aim at.  Takes 6 years to hit that target.  I now have a vibrant ‘congregation’ to encourage week by week!  All of the Lord’s doing.  Coupled with help from my tech-savvy wife Sue.

Let me admit my number goal is most modest.  Pastors would not be impressed.  Too little.  Too insignificant.  Too bad, so sad…for them!

This is between the Lord and me.  I’m to forget the naysayers.  Put your fingers to the loom, your hands to the wheel.  Off you go.  For Jesus, the Master Weaver.

May require lots of hard work, producing a rather teensy-weensy outcome… in some minds.  But with Jesus, first and foremost, the results are His anyway.  Aren’t they?  Rag on Him?  Better not!

Look back at Daniel chapter 2.  A bad dream nauseates bloviating King Nebuchadnezzar.  A colossal statue, made of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay, topples over crashing and smashing to the ground.  Destruction complete.

What demolishes this hotdogger, grandstander statue?  Some ancient earthquake?  Could be.  Shoddy construction?  Possibly.  Enemy sabotage?  Perhaps.  But what exactly?  Daniel 2: 34–‘As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.’

A little rock, not from Arkansas but from God, gets hurled at that big-shot, phoney baloney bunkum.  The miniscule shatters the mighty.  Down it comes with brute force as the earth shakes and shudders.

When God calls you to do something, nothing could be better.  If we grab hold of it.  If.  May seem small change, but little is much when God is in it, as the old song says.  So, get busy with what He places in your hands.  To do for Him.  For others.  Something come to mind?

What a privilege, Lord, to serve you.  In Jesus’ name and for His sake.  Amen.

A PSALM FOR ALL Psalm 71

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Here’s a psalm for all of us.  Begins when life does.  Even before–‘Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb’ (Ps. 71:6).  Then the poet continually praises the Lord regardless of age–‘My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day’ (v.8).

Finally, he gets to me, an old goat!  A bit long-in-the-tooth.  Please don’t say as good as you-know-what with one foot you-know-where!  Psalm 71: 18– ‘So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.’

Ferver to pass it on to the next generation.  Unselfish and generous.  Not hogging forgiveness and eternal life, but eager to share.  Giving to missionaries who carry the word of God to where we can or dare not go.  Since I became a believer in Jesus listening to Christian radio, monies are gladly designated to groups who beam the Gospel message around the world.

But what grabs your heart will be different.  Maybe you love to help children’s ministries for that’s when and how you came to know the Savior.  Or the local Gospel mission reaching those we have a hard time relating to.  That Christian school you attended, that made such an impact on your life, which still needs financial donations to keep going for others.  How about all of the above?  And then some.

No matter your age, you can pray for those younger than yourself.  Can’t you?  Digging deeper, giving a tad more?  After all, this is no dress rehearsal.  When life calls it a day, all comes to a screeching, grinding, shuddering halt.

What’s on your ‘to do’ list?  For Jesus.  For others.

Thank you, Father, for life worth living.  All because of Jesus.  Amen.

MOVE IT! Psalm 70

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Here’s a psalm fit for impatient types like me.  Hardly a procrastinator, I dislike putting things off.  I’m a planner.  A list maker.  That’s why I’m drawn this psalm’s cry for help.  As if telling God to move it!  Psalm 70:1–‘Make haste, O God, to deliver me!  O Lord, make haste to help me!’  See what I mean?  And this from the last verse–‘O Lord, do not delay!’ (Ps. 70:5).

The Bible teaches that God’s ways are His alone, and that He rarely reveals any details to us.  Only that we need to trust Him.  But here’s the rub.  We know that life can be rather nasty.  No guarantees that all will be days of wine and roses.  Not at all.  Life often is a mish-mash of the helpful and the hurtful.  Trust Him?

As much as I don’t like admitting it, troubles do benefit me long-term.  The older I get, the clearer that becomes, though not an open-and-shut case.  So I shy away, getting antsy not knowing what’s coming…or going.   As if God has it in for me and not necessarily in a good way.

But that’s not this psalm’s mind-set.  Not at all–“May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!  May those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is great!'” (Ps. 70:4).  In his impatience, David knows that seeking God is joyous.  Our Lord is dependable and loving.  Our promise-keeper through and through.

With that in mind, we can bear almost anything.  Give it a try?  What’s to lose?  I read about a man, climbing down into a darkened well, tightly holding onto a rope.  Soon his strength gives out.  Not knowing how far he’ll plummet to reach rock bottom, he fears death calling out to him.  His muscles fail.  He lets go, cascading and tumbling down all of three inches to the solid bottom.  Three inches.

The Lord wants me to let go more often to find His bedrock that’s usually less than a stone’s throw away.  You’re invited, too.  Ready?  Get set…

Thank you, Lord, for being our safe landing place.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.