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Waylon and Willy, my two little twenty pound, light tan, wiry haired rescue dogs, as with other dogs, loves to be patted and rubbed on. When we go walking together they will be all preoccupied sniffing around and investigating things, then suddenly they will just run over to me and jump up on my leg wanting some “lovin”. I generally give it to them, patting them on the head and scratching my fingers on their round little bodies in their coarse fur. If I do it for any length of time their paws will slowly slide down my leg from sheer relaxation and if I continue they will end up lying on the ground on their back with their paws up in the air, totally submitted to the ministration of what feels so good. Often times their eyes will be closed to just drink in unhindered the realization of all the good that is coming from their master.

A universal sign of surrender is hands up and eyes closed with one’s life placed totally at the mercy of the power over them. This is not done for show to impress others of one’s humility. It is done to surrender your life over to the power that is greater than you. It is done to receive what that greater power has for you. It is just between you and the greater power. When we have a realization of what God has done for us, and what he continually does for us, and we have praise and thanksgiving in our heart toward him, it is just natural to raise our hands to surrender our lives to him and honor him for who he is and what he does for us. He purchased us from the slave market of sin and adopted us for his own, to walk and talk with him all our days on earth. He has positioned us in Christ, seated together with him in all powerful heavenly places far above all the powers of our enemies, to rule and reign in life. Even when we go into adversities, by our communion with him we can have victory in the midst of the appearance of defeat. He is ever with us to help us. As we draw on his help, we worship him, we praise him, our hands go up in appreciation and honor to him. Truly, Jesus Christ is Lord, and we are not ashamed to confess and show that to God himself. Only selfish pride, fear of man, and lack of trusting God would keep us from surrendering all that we are and have unto him, and certainly, that is what would keep us from simply raising our hands in love and honor for who he is and what he has done for us. All creation is a testimony of the goodness and greatness of God. If a dog can raise all four to his master, certainly we should be able to put our two up to God.

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What a wonderful visit we had with Mary Jewell, a beautiful and pleasant lady 100 years of age. A drive to a hilly, rocky, part of Arkansas brought us to her home in a picturesque place of hills with outcroppings of rocks and a 90 acre spread with a big rolling creek rippling right through the middle. It was a fitting setting to encounter such a wonderful lady as Mary Jewell. She had crocheted a wall hanging for us of our last name “Calhoun”, which was sent to us through a friend last year. She said that was the last one she was doing. We wanted to meet her and thank her for the treasured piece of art that hangs front and center in our living room. She is a lady as gracious as her handiwork, as is her son, Dan. Dan lives on the same life-long home place in a separate house, but he is right there within a minute to help take care of anything she might need. Superb hospitality provided a very memorable visit with two unforgettable people. In fact, with Dan’s blessing we picked up three unique rocks from the creek bed to be kept as a memorial of our visit with Mary Jewell and Dan. We asked of Mary Jewell the secret for her longevity. Her reply was “laugh a lot”. She was well practiced in that exercise, as she so easily broke out into a gentle laughter. I came away from the visit with the phrase in my mind of “serenity of soul”. They are people who are not ashamed of their faith in the Lord, and through the bumps and even the dire events of life, they choose to see the bright side of things.

The Bible says you will keep the Lord in perfect peace as you keep your mind “stayed” on him, through your trust of him. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength (Isaiah 26:3,4). It also says a merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones (Proverbs 17:22). Life can throw us twists and turns leaving us maimed and broken. In the midst of it all if we will get our mind and our very being to “stay” on the Lord, or give ourselves to learn all we can of him and his ways and his word, we will derive strength for the battle. Our setting in life might be a war zone of strife and stress, the opposite of the setting described above. That is all the much more reason to keep one’s mind “stayed” on the Lord and his ways and his word. We will choose to either voice the negative, which, “dries the bones”, or, we will engage in the “medicine” of trusting the Lord unto voicing praise, humor, and thanksgiving for God’s help and goodness in the midst of the chaos. People who trust God can have serenity of soul.

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It has been a life-long desire of mine to learn to play the piano. My Dad gave me a Sears Silverton acoustic guitar when I was about 11, and I taught myself to bang around on that, mostly just chording to accompany singing. But I wanted to learn the piano. We didn’t have one, so the opportunity never really availed itself. When I went to college I thought, “Ok, they have piano training here, and little rooms just big enough for a piano that you can get in and practice, so I’ll just learn to play the piano here.” So I signed up and eagerly went to my first class. It was like that teacher was talking to me in a different language. It didn’t take long that day to figure out this was not the way I was going to learn to play the piano. I dropped the class. Fast forward fifty three years and three wives later, one by divorce, one by death, and now living with one who plays the piano by ear and can rip it up like you would not believe. A piano is in the house, and, Christmas a year ago I got a keyboard with headphones (all the practice is only heard by me). I make an effort to practice and play some every day. It’s a lot of work, but the reward is good. I enjoy it. I’ll probably never be good enough to play with George Baker’s Bluegrass band, but I enjoy what I am able to accomplish. It is a struggle to get what my brain is trying to do on those 88 keys laid out before me, and to actually get my fingers to accurately do it. It takes focus, “programming in” the correct thing to do, and lots of spaced repetition to ingrain it into me so that it becomes part of my life.

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word (Romans 10:17). We can increase faith with the Word of God like learning to play the piano. When we place our focus on the promises of the Word, and “program it in”, or “hide it in our heart”, and keep that Word before us with “spaced repetition” so that it becomes a part of our life, there will always be good results. When we hear something over and over, we get to believing it. When we “get to believing” the promises of God, the sky is the limit. With God all things are possible. That is the value of feeding on and embracing the Word of God. That Word can bring peace to our soul and life to our flesh in healing, restoring, rejuvenating, power. The power is there in the Word by the Spirit of God. If we are willing to give ourselves to focus and persistently apply that Word by affirming it out loud into our life situations, we will be able to play a new melody.

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A soldier is trained and disciplined to carry out a mission under the direction of a superior authority. When a person joins the military, they leave behind life and identity as they knew it, and they are subject to the life and identity that the military gives them. They are told what to do and how to do it. They enter into a time called “boot camp” or “basic training” in which there is intensive training on every physical and mental level. This shows if a person can take the rigors of being in the military, and, it starts preparing a person to take on the mission ahead. When a person identifies with a particular area of activity within the military, they will be trained specifically in that area for expert efficiency. All of this is so the overall mission can be accomplished of defending our nation from enemies and doing what we need to do to obtain and maintain liberty and justice and for all.

A Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus had a mission to carry out from the higher authority of his heavenly Father. This was his supreme motive in life. It is why he was alive. Carrying out the plans and desires of his heavenly Father was not only his top priority in life, it can be said it was his only priority. All else was subject to this. In order for him to accomplish this he maintained very close communion with his “headquarters”. He would arise early in the morning and spend whole nights in prayer and communion with his heavenly Father in order to be prepared for executing God’s order for the day. He was extremely careful to be faithful to his Father in hearing from him and carrying out his plan. Because he did this, he accomplished obtaining everything involved in eternal salvation for those who believe. To believe on and follow him is to have our identity changed to being a son of God. We are now in God’s army. In order to accomplish the mission he has called us to, we too must come under the training and discipline of a higher authority. Spending time with God in total commitment to him allows us to identify our areas of specialty in which he will work with us to develop into expert efficiency. He does this so we can be strong soldiers to maintain our personal freedom and to be a team member to provide freedom for others. Often we are carried by other’s spiritual strength, but there comes a time when we must take personal responsibility to do what the “higher authority” is calling for us to do to make it through the battle. Father God has designed for and wants you to be in victory. He calls you to turn loose of pride and self-sufficiency and apply his spiritual measures to fight your way out. A good soldier is totally committed to accomplishing Father’s mission.

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Jesus either rightfully laid out the truth for the whole world to see and follow, or he was a lunatic. From what he taught and the claims he made, it is one way or the other, there is no gray area. If he is all he claims to be, it is just good reason to pay close attention to what he said and follow the way he laid it all out before us. We must each choose which way we will believe. His Word tells us that his perfect sacrifice before God on our behalf is the full, final, and all-sufficient payment for our sin to make us right with God. Our good works cannot obtain eternal life. Good works are the evidence of God working in our life in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a lapse of true reason to think that we in ourselves can satisfy God’s holy justice on sin. Jesus is the only one who has done that for us. When we believe on and embrace him as Lord of our lives, we receive the power to become sons of God through cleansing from sin and infilling of the Holy Spirit. What we cannot do for ourselves before God, God did it for us. That is God’s reasoning. It is a lapse of true reason to think we can take God’s place. Some people think because they were baptized, they will go to heaven. This is a lapse of true reason. Baptism in itself only gets you wet. With faith in your heart that what Jesus did for you makes you right with God, baptism serves as an act of obedience to Jesus as your Lord, showing the world that you are now a follower of him. Another lapse of true reason is the idea a person has that because they are not afraid to die, they are okay with God. The mind can be conditioned in all sorts of ways. Just not being afraid to die does not make you right with God. Embracing the sacrifice of Jesus as Lord of your life makes you right with God. The frog that slowly had the temperature of the pan of water increased until he was boiled thought everything was okay, too. “I have peace and a very good life”, is another lapse of true reason. This classic bait and switch reasoning will keep you happy – until the last moment. “I believe when we die we are just gone”, is a common line of reason. The fact is every human spirit lives forever, whether you believe or not. A human spirit joined to God’s Spirit lives with God forever. A human spirit not joined to God’s Spirit, will live in eternal torment apart from God’s presence. Jesus taught this. Jesus came to provide the way for all people to be one with God. It is a lapse of true reason to not embrace him as the Lord of our life.

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With a copper theme in the kitchen, we were looking for just the right light fixture over the sink. The red ceramic one just did not fit. The search went on for weeks and months, just keeping it in mind as shopping took place, looking for just the right one. Of course, we wanted it to be unique, and I personally like metal work, so I preferred metal in some way. Over time, pictures were taken of fixtures and sent to the wife for approval or disapproval, but just the right fixture was never found. Before Christmas I made a special effort, as it would be a perfect gift, but none was found. Barb and I was standing in the kitchen discussing the fixture, and there was a copper tea pot sitting on top of the cabinet along with other copper pots and pans around the top for décor. We looked at it and I said, “I can make a fixture out of that.” “You can,” she replied, “why that would be perfect!” So within an hour, after taking the jig saw to the bottom of it with a metal cutting blade and drilling a hole through the handle and another slight modification, and cleaning the inside a little, it was ready to hang. The old came down and the wire was run through the new fixture and the perfect, unique light fixture over the sink now graces our kitchen. It was there all the time.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that through Christ, God’s provisions to meet every need of mankind are already provided through the perfect righteousness and sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Religion works so hard to make it with God. You gotta do this and you gotta do that, and there is a scripture to back up every move. We can look for peace here and we can look for peace there, this way and that. We can look high and we can look low. All the time, the perfect, unique answer for our personal needs is sitting right there on the cabinet in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, waiting for us to take possession of him by faith and apply him to our lives. When we get wired up to him, the light of his power and ability shines brightly in our life. It took me an hour to go from a realization of the possibility to the living reality of the perfect light fixture. Sometimes it takes a moment to get us from the realization of the possibility that we can be cleansed from sin, healed in our body, or whatever we need, to experiencing the living reality. If we will hang with the Word, embracing it, confessing it, and taking action on it, the possibility can become the reality in our life. We cannot lose by submitting our life to God and believing the good news of Jesus Christ. He indeed is the Light of the world.

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God chose a despised-by-his-brothers boy with a rock to take out a threatening giant who was oppressing the nation of God’s people. Jesus is the Rock. The praying church of true believers is the modern day David. The sling is faith-inspired Spirit-propelled prayer according to the Word of God. A body of praying people, believers in Jesus Christ allegiant to the ways and principles of God’s Word, is the David who will deliver this nation from Goliath (1 Samuel 17).

A lone prophet stood up against an Ahab/Jezebel political system and 450 violent prophets who were against the ways of God. A famine was in the land and God’s people were being corrupted with false gods and false worship. When the prophet built an altar of true worship to God, and called upon the name of God Almighty, the fire fell and consumed the water soaked alter. The people saw what God did and they fell on their faces and declared “The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God”. The false prophets were slain (1 Kings 18). The Elijah prophet today is the believing, praying church who can move under God’s direction in the power of the Word and Spirit of God to deal with the spiritual wickedness in high places. Prayer might have been taken out of schools, but true prayer cannot be taken out of the hearts and mouths of true believers.

Daniel was told to shut up from praying to his God. Laws were conspired and passed making it illegal to pray to God. He just opened the window and kept praying as always. He ended up in the lion’s den, but the same lion’s den designed to take him out, instead, consumed his crooked enemies (Daniel 6).

With the forces that are in place today, it is not a time for business as usual. True believers and followers of Jesus Christ must take their place in the calling of God as salt of the earth and light of the world in Christ. We must take the overall perspective, stand tall in our position with God, and believe and pray big on the Word of God. If God says it, it is so. We must pray and act on that basis with all boldness without apology. No believer is insignificant or to be despised in God’s kingdom. Your power with God is the righteousness and faith of Jesus Christ. You are just the voice in the wilderness of this world, to proclaim God’s Word and God’s Way into the world. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life – period. It is not about political parties or personalities or empty promises. It is about the Lord himself changing minds, hearts, and lives to line up to his agenda and his way of doing things. These are radical days requiring radical action. Pray big. Live justly and truly in following Jesus. Be the vessel to reflect God into our society today.

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A new year is upon us. There is one tidbit left over from last year that I want us to munch on. We should all be in the process of setting goals and making plans and affirmations for the coming year. It is this little tidbit that I think would be well for us all to insert into our future.

I have always considered that Jesus was wrapped in a blanket when he was born. In my mind I translated “swaddling clothes” into a “blanket”. I learned in this past Christmas season that the sign of him being laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes carries special significance. There were ceremonially clean shepherds in Jesus’ day who watched over flocks that were raised for the express purpose of being a lamb to be sacrificed in the temple. One of the qualifications for a lamb to be a sacrificial lamb in the temple was that it be without blemish. These temple flock shepherds would wrap newly born lambs in strips of clean cloth called swaddling clothes to protect them and keep them free of blemishes. With no room found in a Bethlehem inn during the busy tax season, Mary and Joseph ended up in what we would call the barn for the flocks of temple sheep, which was also the birthing area for the sheep. Swaddling clothes were definitely in this place, so the clear sign and direction given by the angels to the shepherds was that they would find the babe in a manger wrapped in these clean swaddling clothes used for the sacrificial lambs.What a divinely orchestrated series of events – tax season, crowded inns, Mary and Joseph ending up at the place where sacrificial lambs were born, and the angelic word given to the shepherds about the sign of swaddling clothes with the babe lying in a manger. They knew right where to go to find the Savior Babe.

Wow! This awesome God is the one who we want to have our destiny! What a clear sign that shows the redemption that has been birthed into the world for all people’s deliverance! Jesus, the Lamb of God, wrapped in the same swaddling clothes as the sacrificial lambs for the temple. Even in his birth, every detail is pointing to him being the Savior of mankind from sin, disease, death, and hell. If you have not truly called upon his name and yielded your life to him for cleansing from sin and eternal life, then I urge you to start your new year taking Jesus as your Lord and King. Through him, in all the details of life, you can realize the peace, joy, and power that is now available to you through his Word and Spirit. The babe has grown up to be the King. We can bow our knee to him now and realize his goodness and blessings. Let’s start the New Year with the King of all kings orchestrating our life as never before.

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“For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The all-sufficient gift embodied in the person of Jesus is more than forgiveness. Included in this gift is a principle in life called cleansing and renewal. In our bodies wastes and toxins are being washed out on a cellular level and fresh nutrients and fluids moved in to rebuild, restore, heal, and strengthen. In business inefficient workers are let go and new eager workers brought in. In a city garbage is moved out making room for new food and stuff to be brought in. A healthy mental lifestyle is a lifestyle of laying aside negative attitudes and emotions and embracing and maintaining positive ways of thinking and expression. Forgiveness in the kingdom of God is cleansing from sin. When Jesus died for us, that sacrifice before God secured our cleansing from sin. He was laid in a tomb of death, but on the third day he came out of that tomb, having conquered sin and death. He rose up in the power of the Spirit of God with all authority in the spirit realm. Now, he is alive forevermore to impart that same Spirit to those who embrace and believe on him committing their lives to him. Renewal is experienced as we yield our lives to the Spirit of God who makes the Word of God real to us with spiritual understanding. Having everlasting life is having his Spirit which is a life-giving Spirit that enlightens and leads us in the truth that sets us free. The Spirit of God “quickens” or “makes alive” our mortal bodies with this everlasting life here and now. Healing comes from a touch of everlasting life, just like a touch of electricity gives us a jolt, or lights up a string of Christmas lights (Romans 8:11). In the gift of everlasting life in Christ Jesus, there is the cleansing of forgiveness and the renewing operation of the Spirit of God in our life for healing, strengthening, and empowering in a supernatural way. Jesus taught that out of our innermost being, by the Spirit of God, as we believe on him, we would have “rivers” of living water to flow out to quench the thirst of whatever we need in our life or the lives of others (John 7:37-39). In this gift of Jesus there are rivers of forgiveness, empowerment, healing, miracles, wisdom, understanding, direction, sound judgment, common sense, boldness, and so much more. All this is embodied in Jesus and in everlasting life, alive and operating now, ready to go into effect in our lives and in the lives of others through the exercise of faith in him. Faith is embracing, believing, speaking, and acting on his Word above all we see, think, feel, taste, or hear. It is not a religious thing. It is receiving the gift and utilizing it with praise and thanksgiving to God.

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“For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Embodied in the person of Jesus is God’s gift to the world, which is provision to help mankind meet every possible need with all sufficiency and abundance. God’s provisions are conceived in his love, and birthed by the operation of his faith imparted into and through mankind. The supernatural virgin born Son came in the flesh for total identification with us in the flesh, yet without sin. He broke the power of sin and death, thus qualifying him to break every bondage known to man. All bondage has its root in sin somewhere down the line. Jesus, in love for the world of mankind, stayed the course to defeat sin, flesh, death, and hell for us. When we embrace what he did for us with a committal of our life to him, we receive his victory into our life, our sins are forgiven. With this same faith, we can apply that victory in our everyday life for every day directions and situations. It is not a religious thing. It is a Spirit directed business transaction. It is a fact of what he did for us. It is a fact that God’s love, like a dynamo generating electricity, is continually operating on our behalf. It is a fact that faith connects our life to the life of God and his operation in every day events. It is a fact that as we give ourselves to his direction the wires are connected and as we keep the switch of faith turned on, we receive his operation and power. When you see the beautiful Christmas lights in this season, remember that as we are plugged in to Him, understanding and embracing the promises of his Word for ourselves, then the beauty of his Light of forgiveness shines through each vessel no matter what the shape or color. The diversity of color is grouped each to its own color, or, it is blended with all colors. Either way, it all shines with beauty to the glory of God through Jesus, and his gift of forgiveness. Without this gift, mankind is left in the eternal darkness of sin, separated from the life of God. Though a person perhaps is good, moral, having integrity, and having good and proper motives, still, God’s provision of everlasting life is only through Jesus given for man and man believing in him. As the gift is offered, if we just take the gift, then the gift is ours. Sin is a fact. It is a fact that forgiveness through Jesus is offered. It is a fact that when we take his provision, it becomes ours. He said in his word, “Come now, let us reason together…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). It is the reasonable thing to do. What a wonderful gift!

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