Serving Rascals, Clumsy Disciples, and Physically and Mentally Ill Believers with the Unconditional Love of Jesus Christ
(Taking a break from my serious stuff.)
Found this recently and felt it might bless (or humor) you. It is almost a Bible survey course, and as about as brief as you can go without losing any kind of comprehension at all. I so hope you like this, if just for the novelty of it. I wish I could attribute it to someone. I have no idea. I wish them the best.
Galatians 6:2
1 Thessalonians 5:14, Message
“A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings.”
Proverbs 25:11
Proverbs tells us that giving good counsel is more valuable than gold or silver. I have met many people who have an opinion about my problems, but few really know how to listen. Discernment is pretty much crucial, and maybe 1 of every 40 will really understand me.
Sometimes I must unload my issues and be understood by someone.
Personally, I need someone who has been profoundly depressed and finally stumbled out into the light. It’s not that I don’t love certain believers, but they haven’t been “checked out” on this particular problem.
It’s like flying a plane or operating heavy equipment, skills that are learned by experience.
It seems to me that it’s not only a gift, but a skill or capability that can be developed over time. Handling God’s Word intelligently and carefully under the direction of the Holy Spirit is a mark of a rainy day believer.
I’m also convinced that good counsel invariably comes from a good person.
At one time I thought any mature Christian believer had a right to give guidance, but that really wasn’t always the case. Now I believe God can use anyone He chooses, but He also employs those who He has given specific gifts to. I’m glad He’s done it this way.
I don’t diminish relationships, but I do know that certain people are not tested on certain problems. This may be simplistic, or a little harsh, but when I had my brain tumor, I did not want my car mechanic to fix me, I wanted a neurosurgeon. Someone who knew and discerned what was really happening.
“The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.”
Isaiah 50:4, ESV
Choose your rainy day people carefully. Build a connection. Mark them out before things get out of hand.
If you’re reading this, and you have an issue that’s starting to escalate, you need to reach out. The enemy wants you to withdraw. Ask the Holy Spirit for His help in this. He is the Comforter and the Wonderful Counselor. He’ll direct you, and help you. That is what He does. That is His job.
“Rainy day people always seem to know when it’s time to call,
Rainy day people don’t talk, they just listen till they’ve heard it all. Rainy day lovers don’t lie when they tell ‘ya they’ve been down like you.
Rainy day people don’t mind if you’re crying a tear or two.”
— Gordon Lightfoot, 1975
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My newest blog can be found at alaskabibleteacher.com.
My thoughts this fine morning:
There are some things that leave an indelible mark, deep down into our souls. For me, one instance I remember staying at Simpson College on Silver Ave. in San Francisco in June 1986. The dorms were empty and I had a whole floor to myself. The campus was gorgeous; the roses were in full bloom.
I found a little “mom and pop” corner market nearby which had an awesome deli. Here I could buy cold cuts, some excellent braunschweiger, and freshly baked sourdough bread. I returned to my room to build my sandwich.
I remember that the windows were open and there was a beautiful breeze. Food, warm sun, flowers in bloom and the Holy Spirit are just about ready to ‘intersect’ in my life. It would be a holy collision. I would come to Jesus in this bright new way.
It was simply a moment that I captured and savored. Everything seemed to coincide, it was magical in the best sense of the word. It was beautiful, that is all I can say. That time in that dorm room has become a crystalline moment that I will never forget. Right there, it seemed I fell in love, not with a girl, but with a moment in time and place.
That nostalgia lays thick on the shoulders of the writer of Psalm 84.
He remembers and savors those powerful memories of his visit to the temple. He was given something at that particular moment that would follow him for the rest of his life.
The beauty of that experience was inviolable and true and could never be duplicated. This treasure was his. As he aged he could tell his grandchildren, “I walked with God.” And he really meant it.
I personally believe God gives us these holy moments, wrapped in wonder and awe. When the Holy Spirit deeply touches in this way you will never, ever be the same.
The psalmist has the same hunger. These moments in the temple which are so blessed have also ‘ruined’ him. Often special times of God’s presence will result in a ‘sanctified’ dissatisfaction with the present status quo.
But when we finally make our way to Jesus (or He draws us), life takes on a special and curious wonder. When the rain finally comes to the barren desert, an explosion of life bursts out. In much the same way, our lives are ‘watered’ by Jesus. Things get very green and lush as we live in the Spirit. All of this is in contrast to our dry and desperate life without His presence.
I want to become hungry for His presence.
I so want to be in the center of wherever He is at. I admit that His grace and love has spoiled me. But the love of Jesus does this. Normal life seems to be nothing more than a boring journey into ‘black & white’, but somehow He turns it all into stunning color.
The psalmist practically begs to be returned to the temple. He wants to be there, more than anything else. It is now his true home. He will not be satisfied with anything less.
“I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord. Apart from you, I have nothing good.”
9 “You set the time!” Moses replied. “Tell me when you want me to pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then you and your houses will be rid of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile River.”
10 “Do it tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.
“All right,” Moses replied, “it will be as you have said. Then you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God.
Exodus 8:9-10
Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.
This was the dynamic working in Pharaoh’s mind. God had warned him earlier that he must release the Jews from slavery. But he oscillates, and vacillates after each warning. His stubborn indecisiveness is remarkable. Pharaoh resists, and becomes more and more obstinate.
There is a deep danger of delay.
God sends 10 plagues– quite dramatic and miraculous. But “the supernatural” really can’t touch certain hearts. There were certain Pharisees in Jesus’ time that they would not believe, no matter what Jesus did. (We call this, “hardness of heart.”)
In this particular ‘show-down’ a plague of frogs is threatened. It’s kind of funny, but Pharaoh doesn’t dispute the possibility of this “green invasion.” He just absorbs the inevitable. Pharaoh simply replies, “I will take one more night with the frogs.”
Within Egyptian mythology the frog was regarded as “holy.” It wasn’t to be harmed or killed. It was regarded as a blessing to the people. But that was hardly the case among the enemies of God’s chosen.
Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.
Sadly to say, there are so many like that man today. “Lord, I’m going to follow You, but let me have just one more fling, one more trip to Vegas, or the bar, or the Princess cruise, or a new car– just “one more night with the frogs!” And the “one more night” stretches out into a terrible, endless night, in the blackness of darkness forever.
“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
2 Corinthians 6:2
There’s urgency here, crucial and serious. Sometimes the window closes, and your “non-decision” matters more than you realize. A soft heart slowly hardens over time–that is frightening.
Will you choose to spend another night with the frogs, that is, in your sins? Or will you come to Jesus Christ for salvation today? There are consequences that follow each decision. What will you decide today? Will it be sin or the Savior? Will it be Heaven or Hell? Will it be forgiveness or the frogs? What will you do with the message you have read here today?
Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.
Broken Believers 