Dear Friends,
From the time I was a little boy growing up in the game rich land of Northern Michigan until last year, a span of 70 years, I had always wanted to go on a guided hunt for big game and stay in a hunting lodge with like-minded individuals for the camaraderie. Well last year I was blessed to get together with a strong Christian fellow that also owns and operates a hunting business, so I booked a hunt and invited a couple of friends to join me.
I arrived at the lodge down in South Carolina late in the afternoon and wanted to check the old rifle that I built about 22 years ago to see if it was still shooting straight, so I joined several men at the target range. The first thing that surprised me was that these fellows had no knowledge of basic ballistics, or their rifles. One of them was a Raleigh, NC police officer who had recently been discharged from the military. After waiting until almost dusk for them to hit a target, I finally told the men how to sight in the rifles that they carried just so I could fire couple of rounds from mine.
The next morning, eight of us loaded up and the guide took us to a very small piece of land that had just been hunted the week before. Of course, the deer, being smarter than the average hunter’ including me, decided that the heavily overgrown land without hunters that bordered our spot was the best possible place for them to hang out. Well, the camaraderie was good, but the hunt was kind of disappointing.
Modern church life is a lot like that hunt! Mary K and I enjoy membership at a great fellowship, but we also have visited other churches to teach and encourage as the Lord leads. One thing that we have noticed with regularity is that while most Christians carry their bibles around in the church environment, they do not have a good working knowledge of God’s word for use when they are in the area bordering the church where people who are hiding in ignorance desperately need our help! In our arsenal is forgiveness for sin, defense from evil, healing for sickness, blessing for prosperity, promise of fertility, peace of mind, and most importantly, promise of eternal life.
I want to share some of this with you now and would encourage as many as the Holy Spirit is leading to dig into your scripture with renewed enthusiasm. How many know someone that has been told they are seriously sick? I saw this scripture while reading the other day and was really surprised by it. “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.” (2nd Chronicles 16 vs12)(He also died a pretty nasty death from some kind of foot rot!) God still wants to heal you and your friends, only now the provision is made through Jesus. “And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
There are so many promises of fertility that it would take several pages to list them. I gave a list one time to a young woman who had miscarried twice and was in despair of having children. She posted them above her desk and read them everyday. Several beautiful children later, I reminded her that she could take them down! “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.” (Deut 28:4)
How many do you know that need peace of mind? It seems like the whole world is worried about a non-existent pestilence, an impending ice age, or a meteorite destroying all life (that one is going to happen according to Revelation 8:8!). Jesus gave us something to help with all of that, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27) Try meditating on this and see if you anxieties don’t just melt away. Another good one is, “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” (Psalm 94:19)
The most important blessing that is offered to us and those that we know, is eternal life found only in the sacrifice of Jesus on that cross so many years ago. “That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:15-17) To claim all of the many blessings of our Creator and not accept the greatest gift that He could give makes all of the others null and void.
As you crawl about in the underbrush of life looking for the elusive lost, you will get scratched up a bit, probably entangled a few times, and you might even suffer a couple of nasty falls. It is called tribulation, but the end result more than makes up for it! “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:2-3)
Remember what Jesus said to His disciples (you want to be a disciple, right?), “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)
In His Grip,
Will Dallas
Please visit Mary K and I at The Disciple Shoppe https://thediscipleshoppe.org