FLAG DAY JUNE 14

 Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Hey Gang:  I had a wonderful friend whom I respected for many years with all my heart.  I was honored when the family asked if I would do his eulogy.  When asked, who were the people in my life that impacted on my life, Bill Porteous was always among the top of my list. 

Bill was drafted into the Army during the Second World War and spent his time preparing in boot camp and when the day arrived for him to debark, as he was waiting for his turn to go up the gang plank, he became seriously ill.  After a series of tests in the hospital, it was determined that he had polio and spent the next year or more in an iron lung fighting his own personal war. 

He eventually won the battle, but it left its scars on his body.  As I sit here at this moment, I can still see Captain William Porteous at dusk lowering the flag that he faithfully raised in the morning before going to work.   I always thought he never stood taller than when he religiously, and with great loyalty, to his country lowered the colors.

My bride found the following story in a 2005 Guidepost of another person who loved the stars and stripes and originated a day that our nations should honor our flag.  I do not believe all honor or love our flag or nation as the warriors who laid down their lives to protect this once great nation. 

That saddens my heart.  I am proud to have served the United States of America.

Take a moment and put all things out of your mind and honor stars and stripes that represent the multitudes of men and women that have laid down their lives to protect its shores even though it is the day after designated Flag Day.

Tuesday, June 14,  Daily Guidepost

Scripture: And, behold, God Himself is with us…. ---II Chronicles 13:12

I doubt the Wisconsin school teacher who originated the idea of Flag Day in 1885 could have ever imagined the places he could see the Flag displayed today. (2005).  Today I saw a flag flying on a car antenna, stuck on a store window, pinned to a man’s lapel and even painted on a rock.  No doubt, early Flag Day supporters would never have imagined the flag on the surface of the moon, or held aloft by six proud men, 5 Marines and a Navy corpsman, on the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima during a world war, or raised by three New York City firefighters amid the rubble of a place of unspeakable tragedy know as Ground Zero.

Such images remind me of the song “Ragged old Flag” by the late country-music legend Johnny Cash.  A visitor to a small town notices the disheveled courthouse flag, and he is told that the wear and tear has come from a lifetime of experience – from the hole he got when George Washington crossing the Delaware River to the beating taken through several wars.  Yet it still flies, and folks remain proud and thankful for all it represents.

When I look at the flag, I see threads --- freedom, tragedy, joy, triumph, sorrow, independence, faith--- an intricate history woven together over the course of years since Old Glory’s birth.  Today, as that flag flies outside my own front door.  I pray that God will bless our Nation with strength and endurance.

Lord, on this Flag Day, wherever in the world our flag is flying, please bless that place----Gina Bridgman.

Blessings, Gramps

PS Gramps and I were blessed to be ones who sewed stitches as part of repairing this flag from Ground Zero.

Breaking the spin cycle

 

June 6, 2016

God’s Power Principle For Today: “(Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him…He is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44).

 

Hey Gang:    It is important for God’s people to be aware of the practices of the evil one and keep their armor oiled and polished & on! It is also important for each of us to remember that Satan does not have the power to read our minds, but he is a real pro at reading our actions.  It is also important to remember that he is a “never giver upper”.  Satan saw he was not making progress in gaining control of Jesus in the wilderness, so he departed until a more opportune time. He will surely use the same tactic on each of us. 

 

But: What a wondrous promise we have from the very mouth of Jesus in John 10:27: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one”.  

 

God’s word is filled with power verses of protection for His children.  In this day of growing evilness, when Satan has unleashed all his powers for he knows his time is short, it is so very important that we keep our heart and mind filled with those promises and use them as weapons against the evil one and his minions.

 

Is it not fabulous that we can say as the Psalmist, “I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark”? (Psalm 91:2-4).

 

Do you have a hard time understanding that the God of all creation literally holds all of His sheep, all those whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life in His hands?  When I think about His words and compare them to my past life, I wonder why He was not only willing to come to earth and walk in my shoes, but also to lay down His life on a hideous cross so that I can gain the wonders of eternal life with Him.

 

So my young chicks, if the way seems a little rocky, and I can guarantee you there will be times when the road will be very rocky, keep in mind that your refuge and strength never slumbers or sleeps, that our security rests only in the Lord.  He is truly your “way, truth and life” and His joy can be yours this day.  So, pray the prayer of Eliezer: “Lord Give Me Success” (Genesis 24:12) and get about being a sower of God’s seeds

 

 

Blessings, Gramps

Monday, May 23, 2016

 

A Hedge Against Temptation

 

“I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16) 

 

 Hey Gang:  I don’t know about you but in this day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken, I take great joy and confidence that God has made a way through the wilderness for me through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 Bruce Wilkerson included the following comment in his book Spiritual Breakthrough that rang my bell: “I made a dramatic breakthrough when I discovered that right before every temptation, my emotions were distressed (inwardly agitated) and that I was actually seeking for comfort.  That’s when I remembered the promise, ‘I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever’” (John 14:14-17).

Wow, is that not neat.

 Is it not incredible that Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to be our ever-present source of comfort? Have you ever really checked Him out? I mean put Him to the test?  I decided to try. I prayed, “Holy Spirit, I am in desperate need of you, I don’t want to sin, please comfort me now”.  Now, I must admit that in the initial stage I felt nothing.  I really felt bummed out! 

 But then I slowly became aware that the anxiety level had subsided, and I felt a degree of comfort.  I also learned that this, like all learning experiences, had to be honed on the wheel of experience.  The more I made my mind aware of putting trust in the Holy Spirit the more I felt the comfort that is provided only by the Holy Spirit. 

 The neat part of this experience is that God has made me more aware of those times when temptation is knocking at my door; as I put my trust in the Holy Spirit to protect me from that temptation, I find that it slithers back into the pit from which it came. 

 Keep in mind we have an irrevocable promise that protects us from falling off the wagon: “No temptation is overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (I Corinthians 10:13).

 Bruce Wilkerson said, “I’ve prayed to my Comforter many times since, and I’ve discovered two immutable truth: first, The Holy Spirit always completes His responsibility in my heart, and second, He does it without delay.”

 Soooo, buckaroos, Tuck that away in your heart and mind for you can count on Satan and his minions testing to see if you are able! 

 Blessings, 

Gramps

 

Overwhelming, Just Plain Over Whelming!

 Monday, May 9, 2016

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

 Hey Gang  My dad was a coal miner. We lived in the back country of Pennsylvania.  Some say we lived so far back in the sticks that even the hoot-owls carried knapsacks and they had to pump sunshine to us.  We were as poor as church mice so a trip to store to purchase new threads was an annual event.   But this year’s trip was to result in nearly tragic overtones.

 The mine owner had recently installed a large auger machine that took the pick and shovels out of the hands of the miners and placed it in this wonderful new device.   A brand spanking new machine that made life oh-so-much easier for the miners. Add to this our yearly trip to town-store for a new pair of overalls in the same week.  Wow, life seemed so much brighter! 

 And then it happened.  As Dad was standing near the machine, the machine hit a rock that kicked the machine back several feet and Dad’s brand new coveralls got caught in the cogs of the machine - which began to pull him towards the digger part of the machine.  If the machine would have continued unabated, he would have been crushed.

 A t that moment a God-thing happened! One of the supervisors, who wanted to see the machine in operation, decided that was the moment he would visit the work-site.  When he saw what was happening, he immediately recognized that within minutes Dad would have been crushed. There happened to be an iron bar leaning on the cave wall. He picked up and shoved it into the cogs, immediately shutting the machine down.

 Shutting the engine down would not have saved my dad’s life; it took several minutes after cutting power for the machine to totally shut down.  The iron pick stopped the cogs immediately!  I remember them bringing Dad into the house on a litter and then the months of rehab that followed.  I also remember that my life changed, for even though my Dad recovered physically, he never recovered mentally from that terrifying experience, and we soon left the mountains and moved into the city.  ( The material of the old coveralls would have torn away.)

 Mining has always been a very dangerous occupation and there was always a constant element of fear in the air.  Mining accidents are not rare and, in most cases, there are injuries and death.  For several years after Dad’s accident, I would have dreams that a gigantic ball was always rolling after me and trying to crush me.

  I never told anyone about these nightmares because I did not want to add additional burdens to my Mom and Dad, who were in the recovery mode from dad’s accident.

 So why am I telling you all of this?  Because fear is like a cancer and eats the very heart out of your soul.   In my growing up years, fear was a driving force in my life.  And it remained that way until one day when I read these words from Mark 4:40: “Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?”    For the first time in my life I realized that I was the cause of my fear, and that fear was a faith issue.

 Now hear this old duffer:  I have received literally hundreds of messages over the airways and not a single one is telling e we are going to have a wonderful year filed with victories over the evil one.  I have also received many messages that the anxiety level of many folks is very close to the red zone.   Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).  God gave us this piece of assurance through His prophet Isaiah when He said, “For I Am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand.  Who says to you, “DO NOT FEAR, I WILL HELP YOU.”  

  Keep in mind my young friends, the victory is already ours because of the cross of Calvary!  On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.     Sooooo. Put your hands in the hands of the One who stilled the waters.  

 

Blessings,   Gramps

Did You Know Satan Is Out to Destroy Your Faith?

Thursday, May 5, 2016

 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail:” 

Hey Gang, do you think Satan would like to sift you like wheat?  Do we sometimes, or even often, place a bull’s eye on our back as a target for Satan’s fiery darts? “But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 31-32).

If there was ever a time when we need to heed the writer of Hebrews words it is now: “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).  If you are a child of God, you are in a fierce war.  In fact, you might even go so far as to say you are in a life-and-death war.  Satan has but one goal, to destroy the faith of all of God’s elect. And the stronger your faith, the more determined he is to sic his alligators on you.  

If there is anything that gets his dander up it is unshakable faith.  I wish I could attest to the fact that when you kick his can and stay firm on the Rock that is Jesus Christ, Satan sees he has wasted his time and moves on – but he just turns up the heat.

Why? Because he knows when God’s people, who are called by His name unite their hearts and humble themselves before Him, pray from the depth of their hearts, seek a every growing deeper relationship with Him and put away all of the bangles and beads that become idols that separate us from Jesus, he(Satan) is in big trouble. ” Throughout the Word we find that when we stand on the promises of God we gain strength.  We learn what Jesus truly meant when He said, ”Greater is He who is in you than he who is the world” (I John 4:4.

Hey Gang, yes, the times are tough.  Everything that can be shaken is being shaken so that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain (Hebrews 12:27-29), but we are also challenged by Paul in his letter to Timothy, his adopted spiritual son, “Fight a determined warfare, holding faith, and a good conscience”(1 Timothy 1:19).

The apostle Peter came under a ferocious attack against his faith.  His trust in Jesus so enraged hell that Satan asked permission to ‘sift him’ to see if he would stand.  Is not Jesus’ words of tremendous encouragement in this day of woe? “But I have prayed for you”.  I have prayed that your faith will stand the test and when you are converted, my mission for you is to strengthen your brethren.”

Maybe right at this moment you are going through a terrible storm in your life.  And the harder you try the deeper the woe in your life.  I can say, ‘been there and done that’ many times throughout my lifetime.  There have been many times when that storm has raged within my heart and soul and many times when I have cried out, “Why? Lord”?

In closing this Epistle I want to share that God has given us a powerful weapon to use against Satan’s attacks on our faith.  The weapon?  We are not to try and figure everything out.  We are to set our eyes on “the great cloud of witnesses” already in glory who have made it through with their faith intact”.  “Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” ((Hebrews 12:1).  What joy filled my heart when this verse finally sank into my understanding.

It is these times when we need to have Luke’s words tucked away in our computer hard drive: “Now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7-8). We need to we make sure our armor is in place, our lamps are filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit and we have the Sword, the word of God in sharpened and secure in our hands.

Notice Jesus’ question here:  Will he find faith in his people as they endure days of darkness and oppression?   I wonder how many would endure, if He would ask such a question today- in our nation that has chosen to ‘go its own way’.  I believe Jesus is asking, “Will the faith of the elect hold fast when the shaking storms come?”  The question each believer needs to ask, in this day of shaking is “Will my anchor hold fast?”  Or better, “Will I hold fast to My anchor Jesus?”

 I pray Father, in Jesus name, all who receive these morning gramps’ messages are solid on the Rock who is Jesus.

Blessings,   Gramps

Seed Planting Principle

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

“The King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).

 Hey Gang:    As exulted leader of the Village, I was invited to speak many times and share the successes we were seeing at the Village.  Each time that I was in route to where I would speak I prayed, “Lord, give me something fresh that I can share to this group that will hit their hot button.”

  On one such trip I stopped at a Burger King to get my usual burger and fries and noticed a poster on the wall.  It was in the early days of the Star Wars craze and the poster announced in very bold print “Your choices determine your destiny.”  I said, “Thank you Lord” and dug into the burger and fries.

 But, shortly after hitting the road, I received a tap on the shoulder from the Throne Room saying that there was a prerequisite to that saying.  It should read, “Your values, determine your choices which in turn determine your destiny.” 

 Getting back to the Scripture of the morning, the question arises, “Did What?  When hungry you fed me, thirsty, you gave me water, a stranger you befriended me, naked you clothed me, when sick you came to me and in prison you visited.  But Lord when Did I do those things to you?  What a fabulous answer He gave, “When you did it to the least…” – you did it to the Most -the Lord of Glory!”

 I was forced to go to Walmart the other day and, as per usual, I was thirty fifth (just joking) in line and it seemed every person in front of me had some sort of problem.  One had to be blind to not realize the cashier, probably a grandmother, was feeling very defeated and down. 

 When my turn finally came I smiled and said, ”Good morning.  How are you this morning?”  And then a saw a miracle – she looked up and began to smile.  Now, if I were to guess, I believe that dear lady had a much better morning after that.   

 I love the little words of the Bible, the ifs, ands, thens, the therefores, and most of all the “I will’s.  They tend to be the trigger words of the Bible that precede a truth that God wants His kids to pay special attention to.  Now, you take the challenge to invest the time to look at every one of these words in the Bible and you will be into every book and nearly every chapter and verse.

 The Book of Revelation has become a much taught, discussed and read book, especially as the alligators continue to rise in our culture and all that can be shaken is being shaken. Jesus began His dictation of the Book of Revelation with a fabulous promise: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3).   Does that light a fire in the depths of your heart to dig into the meat and potatoes of Revelation?

 I believe there are many special and very wonderful blessings hidden in the Book of Revelation.  For me, personally, I believe one of the blessings is, if you study each verse and follow the road maps that lead to other verses that add to and clarify what Jesus is saying, you will find at the end of the story you have been in every book in the Bible.

 I want to share one other word in the Scriptures that has become very special to me.  That word is “measure”.   Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, taught this: “Do not judge,…for in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of MEASURE, it will be MESASURED to You” (Matthew 7 :1-2).

 Now turn with me to Luke 6:38 and notice the good doctors challenge: “Give, and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of MEASURE it will be MEASURED to you in return”.

 Now I ask you, when Jesus said, “You did it to the least of these my brethren” does that connect with Paul’s words in his second letter to the Corinthians when he said, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”.  (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).

 If God judges you on “What you have done with Jesus in your life” using the “MEASURE” criteria, will you pass muster on the “You did it to the least of these” MEASURE? 

 Blessings,

Gramps

The Abrahamic Covenant -Does It Apply to Our Day?

 

Friday, April 15, 2016

The Abrahamic Covenant -Does It Apply to Our Day?

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to a land which I will show you. I will make you a great nation; and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Hey Gang:  The Word of God is filled with irrevocable laws that, if we choose to tamper with, we will reap a harvest.  In my years of serving as Chaplain at the Village, the focus of my ministry was based on the Seed Planting Parable, an irrevocable law of God.  Paul taught: You tamper with God's laws at your own peril when he wrote, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." in Galatians 6:7   

 I can attest to the fact that in all the times I ask youngsters, “if I planted a seed of corn, what would I get in return?”  The answer was consistent throughout the years – “You would get corn!”   I wish I could say, when I used this analogy with kids, I wished they would see themselves as the seed, and im-mediately change their seed planting program, but seldom was that the case. 

 Do you know what the Abrahamic Covenant is? Do you think it is in still God's plan for today?  I pray all who are reading this epistle know and apply it to their lives; but let me share a point or two on this irrevocable law.  The Abrahamic Covenant is a God-given promise based on the seed planting principle that you will reap what you sow, and can influence every decision you make in this life -time - every time! – every time!

 Paul, in writing to the Galatians, was very clear; this is an irrevocable law that can never be annulled (Galatians 3:17).  

Now, I am sure most of you are very aware of what I have said so far but let me go a step further and put some meat on this principal.  For the past several months I havehad a growing feeling, in my gizzard, that I am in a cage with two ravenous beast - a hungry bear on one side and an angry lion on the other; and I hear the door opening and see they are about to slip a Tasmanian Devil into the fray.  I wonder which one will win the day and have the joy of ripping me to shreds. 

I believe we can change the characters in that analogy and put the United States of America, the "Land of the free and the home of Brave" in the cage, and replace the hungry bear with the Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage.   Is it not interesting that the court's decision was announced during "Gay Pride Month" as set by President O.  There was never any doubt by the court watchers that the Court would make same-sex marriage the law of the land by a six to three vote. On that issue they were off by one vote, and another nail was added to the coffin of this once proud nation.

 In a recent follow up article pertaining to this decision, I learned two very significant things: First gay- right marriages have been adopted as national law only once before in recorded world history.  I thought it might be Sodom, but not so, it was in the days of Noah!  I also learned that Nepal, the country with total recognition of gay rights recently adopted gay marriage as the law of their land. Here is a tidbit that might get your attention: shortly after Nepal passed their gay-right laws they were hit with a major earthquake where 8500 people were killed.

 I close this epistle with Paul’s word: “Be not deceived, we will reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7). 

 Blessings,  Gramps