*Volume 68 *No. 6 *Published by Christian Triumph Co. *Permit # 695 * June 2004 Contents: Excess Baggage Poet‟s Corner In My Opinion Letters from Here and Abroad An Open Letter to the People of Iraq
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Excess Baggage By Alisha O‟Dell I was rifling through my sister‟s stuff. Before she moved, she had made the mistake of leaving quite a bit of her stuff at the house. As I rummaged around, I couldn‟t help but admire her courage at leaving some of it behind. She had priceless pictures of friends and family, the things she has collected over the years, and some cool jewelry. She trusted the family with some of her most precious possessions, having faith that they would and could take care of it for her. Then she trotted off, moving on in life. As I think of this act of faith, I am reminded of a verse in Matthew 6:34 which says "Therefore, Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." This was said by Jesus. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, commanded us to not worry. If you read a “therefore,” you should go back and see what it‟s there for. I‟d tell you to go back to the beginning of this teaching, but it also begins with a therefore; therefore, let‟s look at verse 24. In verse 24, was the end of his teaching about loving God or loving money. He ends it with the fact that you cannot serve two masters. After that we go on to read verses 25-34. "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do
not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying „What shall we eat?‟ or „What shall we drink?‟ or „What shall we wear?‟ For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it‟s own." It amazes me that all through Jesus‟ life he was teaching us. He told us not to steal. He told us not to judge others. He told us to fully rely on God, to not store up treasures on earth, not commit adultery, to love our enemies. It seems that we try as hard as we can to follow these most basic of laws, but when Jesus tells us not to worry, when he tells us specifically to give our baggage to God, we disregard what he‟s saying. Jesus tells us in this passage, plain as day, "God is in charge! Do not worry!" Yet we do. Why? When we worry and when we carry around this baggage, are we not playing the part of God? We‟ve been hurt so bad in the past, and it seems that no one knows what we are going through, or have gone through, but maybe someone does. Perhaps, a man who was slandered, kicked around, beaten, stabbed, and murdered for our sake would know what you feel like. There is this song that I love called "More" by Matthew West. When I first heard it
on the radio, I thought to myself, "Wow! I wish I loved God that much. I mean, I love God, more than anything on Earth, but not as much as this guy is saying he loves God." For those of you who don‟t know the words to the chorus, it goes like this, "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine, you are Mine and you shine for Me too. I love you yesterday and today and tomorrow, I‟ll say it again and again, I love you more." After the chorus finished, I looked at a friend and said, "I don‟t get it, that guy didn‟t teach the sun and the stars to shine." My friend looked at me like I had lost my mind, "Uh...no...God did," he said. At first I didn‟t get it. I was confused. I leaned my head to the side and squinted my eyes, and puckered my lips, and looked at my friend for about ten seconds. All of a sudden I got it! I gasped and I giggled that schoolgirl giggle and I realized that Matthew West was singing from God‟s point of view! 1 Thes. 1:4 says, "It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much, but also has put his hand on you for something special." Paul says that it is CLEAR to us. Crystal clear. As in obvious, it is apparent, unmistakable. Unmistakable. There isn‟t a question about it, it is a fact. "More" says from God‟s point of view, "Just a face in the city, just a tear on a crowded street, but you were one in a million, and you belonged to me, and I want you to know that I‟m not letting go, even when you come undone." Michael West has a valid point. Psalms 34:19 says, "Disciples so often get into trouble, but still, God is here." This type of statement is then repeated in Hebrews 13:6, "We can boldly quote, „God is there, ready to help. I am fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?‟" How do we know that God is there, ready to help?
In "More" God says, "Take a look at the ocean, far as the eye can see, and think of me, take a look at the desert, do you feel like a grain of sand? I am with you where ever, where you go is where I am, take a look around you, I‟m spelling it out one by one..." The bible says, "The Earth is the Lord‟s and everything in it. God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." By God‟s love alone, God has something special for each of us. We were made for God‟s purpose. Amazingly, however, even with the vast amount of knowledge and opportunity at our fingertips, many people will not accomplish their life goal. Why? What exactly is stopping us? Is it because we are constantly hindered by feelings of guilt, worry, fear, anger, disappointment, or depression? Let‟s look at Job, a resident of Uz. A section in a study bible at the beginning of Job gave me a quick summary of who he was and what he was known for. It said he was a prosperous land and livestock owner. In a time when wealth was measured by the amount of livestock and land you owned, Job was the richest. According to Job 1:3 he had "seven thousand head of sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred donkeys. He was known for being blameless and upright in the sight of God, for his honesty in questioning God after disaster struck, and for his perseverance and piety despite incredible suffering. I believe after reading Job, however, that he was doing a little suffering before disaster struck. Job by no means had a perfect life. Job was the greatest man among all his people. In fact, Job even had ten kids: seven sons and three 2
daughters. In those days, ten kids signified an ideal family and great wealth. The number 12 in biblical times was the perfect number. Counting the parents, the family would be twelve, which is perfect. Furthermore, he had seven sons. The number seven signified completeness. Sons were especially good because they could work and bring in money for the family. Therefore, from the outside looking in, we must assume that Job had an ideal, complete family with great wealth. Job carried burdens that he didn‟t need, however. In Job1: 4, we see Job‟s burden. It says, "His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them thinking, „Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.‟ This was Job‟s regular custom." You have to wonder how Job put up with all of this. The children that he had raised grew up and, for all he knew, were party animals. Job, a righteous man, must have felt a deep sense of failure. Yet, no matter what he felt, he put it aside because he cared about his children. He refused to allow the feelings of guilt to consume him. He refused to give up on his children. He diligently took the time to fight for his children‟s souls. This faithfulness to his family and to God was probably one of the things that made God recognize Job as one of His own. God knew that Job‟s faith could be tested. Satan probably had no idea what he was getting into with this man, so God allowed Satan to test Job. Job 1:13-19 says, "Sometime later, while Job's children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing in the field next to us
when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened." While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Bolts of lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and fried them--burned them to a crisp. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened." While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened." While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened." Suddenly, before Job even knew it, all his wealth, all his life was gone. The servants he used to take care of his animals and the animals themselves were destroyed. All of Job‟s wealth was gone. I can just imagine his thinking. Had it been me, I would have been devastated. My wealth was gone. How would I sacrifice for my children anymore? How would we eat? I have 12 members of my family. And within the same instant another messenger came to him and told him that his children had died. The children he had been sacrificing for were dead. The children he had invested so much in, gone forever. Dead. He‟d never see their bright faces again. He‟d never need to sacrifice for them again. And what‟s worse, they were partying when it happened. Now he wouldn‟t know if they had received the eternal reward. His money, his family, his ideal life was gone. He didn’t know he‟d get it back. The most awesome part about this sad story is Job‟s reaction. In verse 21, Job says 3
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return to the womb of the earth. GOD gives, GOD takes. God's name be ever blessed." No sin! No baggage! Nothing but praises. I know there have been times in my life when I have had a hard day, or been going through a tough time, and "under the circumstances" I wouldn‟t sing a praise. Because "under the circumstances" of my life at that moment, I couldn‟t praise God. I couldn‟t put aside my problems, give them to God, and sing of all the wonderful things He has done. Why is that? Job had his children taken away from him, his servants killed, and his animals killed. All his wealth and happiness was disintegrated; yet, he still praised God. How many times have we been unable to praise God "under the circumstances?" THIS WASN‟T EVEN THE WORST OF IT!!! Satan, in all his trickery, said to the Lord, "A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He'd curse you to your face, that's what." God, in his wisdom, replied with, "Alright, you can do what you want, but don‟t kill him." Satan then covered Job‟s body with sores and blisters. Job was a sight. He was festering. His sores hurt him so bad that he took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself. OUCH! He took a sharp piece of pottery and scraped the skin off his oozing, bloody sores. Afterward, he went away and set on a trash heap among the ashes of his losses. Job‟s wife came to him and told him he should just curse God and die (what a great support system he had!). What was Job‟s response? "You're talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God--why not also the bad days?" Job could have easily taken up baggage from these situations. Failure, depression, anger, and unhappiness are all things that any of us
would feel under these circumstances. What did Job do with these feelings? He gave them to God. He told God he felt this way and in the end, God eased his suffering. Job was blessed with twice as much wealth and he and his wife had ten more kids. Job was able to fight his urge to carry excess baggage into his next family. Had it been me, I probably would have told my kids no partying, made unexpected trips to their houses, and never really let them out of my sight. However, Job trusted in the Lord and it all worked out fine. We all carry around luggage; not the kind that we pack clothes and toothbrushes and shampoo in, but the kind that we pack emotions in. Most of us right now are traveling prepared. Prepared for disappointment, prepared for pain and suffering, we are prepared for failure. We are ready for others to fail us; we are ready to fail ourselves; we are ready to fail God...Failure is our only option. We fail in our marriages; we fail at our jobs; we fail at school; we fail at life. And through all of this horrible failure that we believe we have no control over, we load on the bags. I should have waited...I shouldn‟t have left...What if I had just listened? I should have stood up for myself...I could have fought back...I could have stopped it from happening! What disappointment! How dissatisfying! The guilt is killing me! Why are you not letting God take care of these things? It happened. It hurt you. And you can‟t do anything about it now but suffer. Right? WRONG! God wants you to give him your all. But you can‟t reach him around all of those bags. How can he take you into his arms and hold you when you won‟t put down your luggage to embrace him? Do we not live in the gallery of our God? Isn‟t the sky his canvas and humanity his work of art? Are we not encircled by artistry? And isn‟t the soul his studio? The beginning of love, the giving of grace. All around us miracles pop like fireflies–souls are touched, hearts are 4
Poet’s Corner
changed and we miss it. We sleep right through it. We can‟t help it. It‟s hard work carrying around yesterday‟s guilt. This burlap bag of worry has our necks in a knot. The dread of death is enough to break a back. What do we miss while carrying around this load? We miss God parting the heavens to hear us sing. Shouldn‟t we be stretching heavenward, tiptoed on our pews? What do we miss? God‟s Word. Shouldn‟t we be wide-awake? We should, but we dragged that trunk of dissatisfaction all over town last week. Besides that, we couldn‟t sleep last night; we kept rolling over on our duffel bag of disappointments. Don‟t be ashamed. We all have a bag. I hold onto bags, too. What‟s in your bag? You know; God knows. It‟s time to give the bag to Him. Let‟s get rid of the bags! Once and for all, let‟s give our luggage to Him. Let‟s take Him at his word! He says, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry a heavy burden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). God is everlasting. He's always there. He's ready to hear your prayer. The song, "I Surrender All" reminds me of what we should be doing. It says, "All to Jesus, I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in His presence daily live." Don‟t you want to surrender to God? Don‟t you want to lighten your load? You CAN give your luggage, your burden, to God; you CAN let go. You DO NOT have to carry the burden you are carrying. Bring your bag to Him, pray, drop it off. Let go. When you pick up your daily life, leave your bag with Him. Talk to God, He knows what you are going through. He is the only one Who can take that bag from you. Bring it to Him, the advocate, the bread of life, the redeemer, and surrender it all; lay it down for him; give the bag to him.
OH, WHAT I WOULDN’T GIVE! Oh, what I wouldn’t give To be an angel, Embracing God above. Leaning on the arm of Jesus, Led by the Spirit’s love. Winged Earthward by my Lord To Bring His child Home, Drying away all tears, And as God’s own special angel, Holding His loved one near. Watching Jesus hug his child, Hearing shouts of Joy, Kneeling, blessing God’s throne, Singing those marvelous praises, Tis awesome to be Home! --Nancy Hunter A PRAYER FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY
Dear Lord, You told us in Your Holy Word To pray for all those in authority. And so, today we come before You, Lord, Asking that You will with each of them be; Giving to ev‟ryone wisdom and grace, Who in all sincerity seek Your face. Help them to rule well, with integrity, Instead of what seems best politically. We pray just now for our own President, His Staff, and members of his Cabinet; That upon You their hearts will be set, And that from You, strength they may get. We pray for both houses of Congress too; And that our Courts will again turn to you For the wisdom that only You can give; That we may in peace and harmony live. Editor’s Notepad --Byrum C. Remember, no issues Lee of Faith Messenger will be published in July or August. Please also remember to pray for the Beletic family who is expecting their third child during this time. 5
In My Opinion…
exploded and perish before the spell of her developed and cultivated mind.” …For their honeymoon, William and Catherine Booth spent a few days in the Channel Islands. Before leaving Guernsey, Mrs. Booth wrote the following in a friend's autograph album: "The woman who would serve her generation according to the will of God, must make moral and intellectual culture the chief business of life. Doing this she will rise to the true dignity of her nature, and find herself possessed of a wondrous capacity for turning the duties, joys and sorrows of domestic life into the highest advantage both to herself and to all those within the sphere of her influence."
A Woman at the Right Place and Right Time Dare I adopt the words of Catherine Booth for my own? Perhaps not her specific words, as she was much more eloquent than I, but certainly our philosophies are the same! In a letter to her pastor; Dr. David Thomas in 1853, Catherine Booth replied to a sermon preached by him, supporting the doctrine of woman's intellectual and moral inferiority to man: “Permit me, my dear sir; to ask whether you have ever made the subject of woman's equality as being the matter of calm investigation and thought? If not, I would, with all deference suggest it as a subject well worth the exercise of your brain, and calculated amply to repay any research you may bestow upon it. “So far as Scriptural evidence is concerned, did I but possess ability to do justice to the subject, I dare take my stand on it against the world in defending her perfect equality... That woman is in consequence of her inadequate education, generally inferior to man intellectually, I admit. But that she is naturally so, as your remarks seemed to imply, I see no cause to believe... “Never yet in the history of the world has woman been placed on an intellectual footing with man. Her training from babyhood even in this highly favoured land, has hitherto been such as to cramp and paralyze rather than to develop and strengthen her energies, and calculated to crush and wither her aspirations after mental greatness rather than to excite and stimulate them. “The day is only just dawning with reference to female education and therefore any verdict on woman as an intellectual being must be premature and unsatisfactory. Thank God we are not without numerous and noble examples of what she may become, when prejudice and error shall give way to light and truth, and her powers be duly appreciated and developed. “..... A brighter day is dawning and ere long, woman will assume her true position, and rise to the full height of her intellectual stature. Then shall the cherished... dogma of 'having a cell less in her brain,' with all kindred assumptions be
To Whom It May Concern: Please if you would send me free samples of “This Thing Is From me” along with other available papers and tracts that you offer for street ministry of neighborhoods. Than you much. Pamela Macon, GA
Dear Sir/Madam, I am very happy to write you this letter. I hope by God‟s grace everything is moving on smoothly. Firstly, I am a boy of fifteen (15) years old and I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, so I am begging you to help me in some ways. For example, bringing me a Bible and other books for me to understand the word of God. I will be so grateful when you bring me the Bible and the books I am requesting from you. May God be with you and guide you in your ways and also help you to achieve your aims and bring me the Bible and the books that I need from you. 6
I will like to end here with much greetings to you, goodbye.
your oil. The people of Colonial America paid a terrible price for their freedom, and succeeding generations of Americans have gone to war on several occasions to secure freedom for other nations. Now, we would love nothing more than to see your people enjoy the same freedoms that are guaranteed to us by our Constitution; the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right of peaceable assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. With your liberation, your future can be secure only if a government is in place that guarantees these same rights to all people. We are awar theat your nation is primarily Islamic, and our intent is not to destroy your religion; hoping only that all the people of Iraq, irrespective of their religious convictions, will enjoy the same freedom of religion that is granted to Muslims in America. There are things about America today of which we are not proud, and we hope you never adopt those things that are our shame. However, we would encourage you to consider that the foundation of our nation is based on Chistian principals, although our Founding Fathers were wise to maintain a separation of government and religion. For this reason all religions are tolerated in the United States without intervention of government.
Yours sincerely, Paul Boahen Kumasi, Ghana, Africa
Hi and hello friends, My esteemed predecessor in this place, chaplain Peggy Thomson, has given me your address, knowing of our need for Spanish tracts and Bible study. We have about a thousand souls here in the County Jail, mostly men with relatively few women. About a third are monolingual Spanish speakers, who attend religious services and/or individual pastoral counsel about a hundred times each month. Will you end us some of your offerings? I‟d also be interested to see at least a sample of your English-language offerings. Thanking you kindly, and with the blessing, C. Montague, Chaplain Monterey County Jail
Dear Brother, I hope this communication finds you and your family in good health. I am writing to tell you that I am going to evangelize a town that has quite a few inhabitants. I don't have enough tracts and I would like for you to collaborate with me on this mission that the Holy Spirit has commissioned me to do. God bless and keep you.
Byrum C. Lee Byrum C. Lee is a retired minister from the Church of God. He was a personal friend to L. Y. and Una Janes and is of the “same generation” as their three daughters, to whom he was also a friend. He has read the FM for many years, but this is his first time as a contributing writer.
Your sister in Christ, Alma Rosa
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ America, with a coalition of nations, has entered your borders with no other purpose than liberating you from your oppressors. Neither President Bush nor the people of America have any ill will toward the people of Iraq. Nor does our nation have any designs on your territories or 7