72 Niagara Falls, Slowly I Turn! While Sittin’ on a Park Bench

“All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.”  Acts 2:44-47 (NET)

I’ve been to a many so-called international festivals in my area of the world. We have the Irishfest in Smithville, the Greek Festival in Egg Harbor Township and I have attended the “We Just Live Here, Shoobies Are Welcome” local festivals around my home. But I never attended one that actually featured various people from another country when that country just happens to be right across the river. The night that Nik Wallenda crossed the Horseshoe Falls from the American side to the Canadian side was a night of much fanfare and there just happened to be an Indian Festival going on in the town of Niagara Falls. Oh, count it all a joy!!!

Traffic was wacked; parking was just as wacked (I actually thought it was like going to Eagles/Phillies game) and once inside the Niagara State Park wacked hit a new level of wacked. From the moment on I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore or at the very most South Jersey. People began to approach me and want to strike up conversation. There was a dad with his daughter giving me the lowdown on the park, there were two young ladies who had the scent of Upstate New York’s vineyards (my wife broke that one up real quick…thank you Kathy, it was getting scary) and there is always someone who wants you to take a picture for them. But then there was this guy named Zorelle.

Zorelle was passing out tracks during the Wallenda event. The tracks were newspaper-like and had the title “The Twelve Tribes” on it. I didn’t get mine from him but after the tightrope event was done I found a park bench to sit on and while waiting for the family to re-gather I began to read the newspaper. That’s when Zorelle approached me. Once it was established that we believed in the very same Jesus Christ that died for the sins of you and me we talked intensely about the state of the church in America today. “Jesus never intended His church to burden with stuff” Zorelle commented and I agreed.

“Think about it” Zorelle continued. “We make sure we have our stuff in our pockets, our wives have their pocketbooks with their stuff in it, our smartphones are clipped onto our belts and THEN we grab our Bibles before we head out to be in God’s House. We hear and see people in need of daily provision but before we give to the needy we make sure our storehouses are stocked up before we even give a glass of water to anyone. We break out the calculator to insure that we give our ten percent tithe; we do quick subtraction on the street before we hand out any money and we only give away our coat/tunic after we’ve gone and purchased another one. As Christians in America we have more than we need and yet we are becoming slaves to our stuff.” then as quickly as he showed up was as quickly Zorelle made his departure.

“Daddy, what is about you that make people come up to you and just start talking?” my daughter asked. “Ain’t too sure about that, little girl, but that dude was intense” I replied. I looked around the observation deck I couldn’t help to notice the glow of smartphones all around while the sound of one God’s greatest creations roared in the background. “I came here to see the Falls” I thought to myself and “ Zorelle struck a chord with me.” There is something to be said about the state of our church here in America and maybe we are burdening ourselves with too much stuff. Why not take a moment amongst the congregation during what our Pastor’s call our “mediation time before we come into His presence” and see if you are noticing the strange glow of smartphones. If you do…well then ‘nough said, huh? – Chris Hughes is a grad of the Colony of Mercy and blogs regularly on Freedom Fighter

Team YOU: Job 8-10; Proverbs 27; Acts 8:26-40

Motivations: : “What equipment do you need to serve the Lord brother? Why, the dear old camp meeting ladies used to say, “See this is my harp with ten strings and I praise the Lord!” And they’d clap their little old wrinkled hands with shining faces. What claptrap do you need? Do you need a bushel basket full of stuff to serve the Lord with?”—A.W. Tozer

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 1:29; Level 2: Philippians 1:27-30

Powered Up:  Prayer is not a method for us to change God’s mind, it is through time and persistence in prayer that God begins to change our mind and perspective to match what He had all along.

 

Lavish Grace

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
~ paul,  The Least of the Apostles, in Ephesians 2

Sometimes beloved.  Oh my!

Who is this One who hath saved us?

Surely He had something else to do with His goodness…

It just doesn’t make any sense.  He comes into this world, saves us from our sins and then has the jaw-dropping audacity to give us the power to actually be saved from ourselves.  We actually begin to look a little bit like Him.  People begin to actually catch the scent of G_d on our breath.

And then it gets better.

People get saved.  Bills get paid.  Circumstances get better.  Suffering purifies our souls.  Pain drives us to our knees into the very near presence of the Lover of our whole being.  He becomes so real that we no longer believe in Him.  We simply know Him.

And then it gets better.

He starts to pull out the stops and accelerate our lives.  He hammers our existence with a joy unspeakable (and this writer has tried).   He makes everything new in our lives.  The words about pearls of great price and the Kingdom begin to make sense.  And we even begin to do our math using the axioms of heaven.  Clarity and pain and joy and suffering and power and trial and purpose and commission and Love begin to be the very warp and weave of our lives in Him.

And then it gets better.

Then He just decides to give us someone we never even really knew that we needed.  Just because… Just because He is who He is.  Into our life comes a soulmate, or lover or friend or spouse (or all of these rolled into one) and He makes us one with them.   We began rich beyond any measure in Him, and then the one He brings us simply adds another enormous, nearly-infinite portion to this wealth!  It is as if He has brought us to a place where we truly know that He is everything in two peoples lives – and it is in that space that those two are finally able to simply, truly, fully and profoundly love each other through the knowing and being known by each other.  And in this gloriously rich vein, this writer will establish, by His Grace, the Doulos Home on 30 June, 2012.    He will marry, literally, the princess of his and her visions and dreams.  Yeah, He is good to us.  Good beyond any measure.

And then it gets better.

In but a few breaths, the whispers of Love we call grace in this life will be given full voice.  The beautiful shadows we find in marriage and relationship will be consummated in the full Light of the One who causes the shadows to be cast.

Why?  I don’t know.  But I will do nothing other than live in profound thankfulness to the One who has done the saving and the giving.  Thank you G_d.  Thou art worthy to receive honor and glory and power and riches and everything else in and under heaven!  Amen. – Makala Doulos is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a Freedom Fighter Blog contributor

Team YOU: Job 5-7; Proverbs 26; Acts 8:1-25

Motivations: Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving. It is a self-existent principle inherent in the divine nature and appears to us as a self-caused propensity to pity the wretched, spare the guilty, welcome the outcast, and bring into favor those who were before under just disapprobation. Its use to us sinful men is to save us and makes us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God’s kindness to us in Christ Jesus.~ A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 1:29; Level 2: Philippians 1:27-30

Powered Up:  Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer except that which lies outside of the will of God. – John Blanchard

COMPLETE

“and you are complete in Him,” (Colossians 2:10)

God has blessed us with some incredible servants of God who have proclaimed truth from the Keswick pulpit. This morning’s devotional is from REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE and was written by America’s Keswick Board Member Emeritus, Dr. Eric Crichton, who served for many years as Senior Pastor at Calvary Church in Lancaster, PA.

This wonderful statement can be interpreted in two ways.  First, with reference to our standing or acceptance in the sight of a holy God.  It is a glorious truth that we are made “complete” in regard to our standing before Him.  As is often sung, “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”  Or as another hymn expresses this truth, “Complete in Thee! No work of mine may take, dear Lord, the place of Thine.  Thy blood has pardon bought for me and I am now complete in Thee.” That is a wonderful truth in which we greatly rejoice.  However, the text has another meaning.

The Greek word “complete” has in it the thought of “bringing to full measure” or “being made full” or “being made adequate.”  There is also the thought of “being fully established.”  So this text is suggesting that all that we need for life is in Jesus Christ.  That fullness makes us adequate for all of the will of God. It is just as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6a, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.” The apostle Peter wrote similarly in 2 Peter 1:3-4, “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”  That is, God has already given to us everything that we need for life and godliness.

Peter continues to explain that this is because we are made partakers of the divine nature.  There is nothing more that the Lord can give us than that which He has already given through the imparting of His very nature.  So, thereby, we are made adequate for whatever we may face within the will of God.  Our part is to allow the Lord to have full possession of our lives so that He may live out His total adequacy in us. Dr. Eric Crichton Praise God, my brother! You are complete in Him. Now let us purpose to live that way today. – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Esther 6-8; Proverbs 22; Acts 6

Motivations: Those who know nothing of the spiritual life declare that it is impossible to experience real peace and heavenly joy in this grief-stricken world. But those who have experience of the spiritual life know that just as one finds here and there in the midst of the ice fields of the polar regions flowing streams of hot water, so in the midst of this cold and sorrow-laden world there are to be found flowing in the hearts of believers restful streams of heavenly peace, for the hidden fire of the Holy Spirit glows within them. Sadhu Sundar Singh

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 1:21; Level 2: Philippians 1:19-26

Powered Up:  In order to make sure that we are not retreating from the tension of faith, it is helpful to ask ourselves as we pray, ‘Do I really expect anything to happen?’ This will prevent us from going window-shopping in prayer.” Catherine Marshall

Our Friend Joe

But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy). Acts 20:24

Saturday was a tough day for our Keswick family. We all lost a very good friend in a tragic motorcycle accident on Saturday morning.

Joe was a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.  Addiction dominated his life at an early age. His was a life of despair and misery until Jesus came and set him free!

What impressed me about Joe was that even in the midst of his struggles, he always cared about YOU. His life touched so many and in so many different ways.

Someone called him “Waldo.” He’s seemed to appear in everybody’s pictures. He was the kind of guy who when he was in your presence was just easy to be around.

He had a passion to help guys who struggled like he did. He called. He texted. He visited. He went out of his way to point a struggler to the Cross and share the Gospel with them.

He touched my son, Zach’s life. He never treated Zach as the “President’s” kid. He truly cared for Zach and Zach really loved Joe as if he was his flesh and blood brother.

Humanly speaking, this seems like a senseless tragedy. Why at 31 when he was doing so well, on top of his game? Why Joe when so many other guys seem to thumb their nose at God?

There are no answers. Speculations – things said to make us feel better? Maybe in eternity we will understand – maybe not. Maybe it doesn’t really matter apart from God loved Joe so much that He wanted him home.

I do know this: Acts 20:24 sums up Joe’s life. Joe, you finished well. It’s a good reminder for us – will we finish well? That’s my desire. How about you? – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Esther 3-5; Proverbs 21; Acts 5:22-42

Motivations: The important question is not how much you enjoy religion, but whether you will whatever God wills. Humbly confess your faults; be detached from the world, and abandoned to God; love Him more than yourself, and his glory more than your life; the least you can do is to desire and ask for such a love. Francois Fenelon

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 1:21; Level 2: Philippians 1:19-26

Powered Up:  Perhaps the most blessed element in this asking and getting from God lies in the strengthening of faith which comes when a definite request has been granted. What is more helpful and inspiring than a ringing testimony of what God has done? – Rosalind Goforth

No Filter?

I live in three worlds. I am surrounded with senior citizens. I have a 15 year old son. I have 9 grandkids, several between 4-7 years of age.

There is a common denominator with all three age groups = no filter. I have learned that seniors because of their age are entitled to say whatever they want, when they want, however they want, and it doesn’t matter if it is kind or unkind, edifying or condemning.

They no longer need to say the magic words, “Please” and “Thank You.” – They’ve arrived.

We love Zach dearly, and he makes us laugh – but with him – what you see is what you get. If he is thinking it – it flows out of his mouth. He hasn’t caught on to the fact that as Solomon say, “there is a time to speak and a time to be silent.”

My grandkids crack me up. Hey – if you want to know how you talk – listen to your kids and grandkids. They really are like parrots. They imitate perfectly.

King David penned this verse: Psalm 19:14 – Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be accepted in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.

Notice the connection between the mouth and heart. Maybe you’ve missed it. Jesus told the disciples that what is in the heart comes out through our words. Chuck Swindoll said that “our words are the dictionary of our hearts.” Or better yet, I love this Swindoll quote: “We ought to so live our lives that we wouldn’t be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

It really doesn’t matter how young or how old we are. We DO need a filter on our mouths. Age, rank, status of life don’t negate all the other principles laid out for us in God’s Word about how we should use our words.

Maybe that is why James wrote “let every man be swift to HEAR, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)”

How’s your filter? Might be a good day to start thinking about your words and how you can use them to please HIM! – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Nehemiah 12-13; Proverbs 19; Acts 4:23-37

Motivations:  “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

Practice to Remember: Level 1: Philippians 1:29 Level 2: Philippians 1:27-30

Powered Up:  It matters little what FORM of prayer we adopt or how many WORDS we use, what matters is the FAITH which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to Him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Razor Edge of Failure

Good morning, brothers. I look forward to starting this new week with you. Trust you had a god weekend. One of the daily devotionals I read, and have been reading for years, is one by Dr. Glyn Evans, Daily with the King. It is available from Amazon.com and you can download to your Kindle or other reading device.

Today’s devotional is a good reminder for all of us. Be blessed.

“Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness” (2 Chronicles 19: 7).

One of my strong affirmations is the security of the believer. I think it is a precious truth, but I also believe in the insecurity of the believer. I think it is a precious truth also. How many times have I stumbled because I thought I was secure, and how many times have I been victorious because of my very insecurity? If the Israelites had one main fault, it was false security (1 Corinthians 10:1–13). Despite the fact that they passed through the Red Sea, were guided by the cloud, and had been fed manna, they lusted after “evil things” (v. 6). They had every reason not to fall; yet fall they did, all because their past blessings became sedatives instead of stimulants. That is a warning to me: I must not “think security,” or I will fall (vv. 11–12).

The best way for me to live is on the razor edge of failure. I must be insecure enough to cling to the everlasting arms. If God blesses me as He did the Israelites, I must immediately assume that these blessings are a preparation against future problems, not guarantees of perpetual bliss. I must appreciate my blessings and use them correctly, but never grow maudlin over them. I must get rid of my security complex. Success has a way of dimming my spiritual eye and slackening my spiritual hand.

Being in Christ is no assurance whatever that I will be immune from the lashings of Satan, the tantalizings of the world, or the rigors of God’s disciplinary grace. I will be safe only as I run scared, scared enough to be baby-like in my total dependence upon God, for the man who makes the Lord his trust is blessed and will not go astray (Psalm 40:4). “Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness” (2 Chronicles 19: 7).Evans, W. Glyn (1989-11-08). Daily With The King (Kindle Locations 3224-3240). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Have a great day, brothers. By the way, if you haven’t checked out the new format of Freedom Fighter on the web, check out the link (https://freedomfightersblog.com/) and send it to a friend. Let’s build our Freedom Fighter team! – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Nehemiah 10-11; Proverbs 18; Acts 4:1-22

Motivations:  God is a specialist; He is well able to work our failures into His plans…Often the doorway to success is through the hallway of failure. Erwin W. Lutzer

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 1:21; Level 2: Philippians 1:27-30

Powered Up: You must pray in faith. You must expect to obtain things for which you ask. You need not look for an answer to prayer, if you pray without any expectation of obtaining it. – Charles Finney

Watching You

Sunday is Father’s Day and I am very thankful for the four young men in my life who I am proud to call MY sons. Ok, two are “sons-in-law” but I really love them as if they were my own blood sons.

Watching Josh, Garrett and Jon become fathers has been an awesome experience for me. They have all become wonderful dads to their kids. In many ways they have done a much better job of fathering than I have done for them. And whether they realize it or not, they have become very important role models for their brother, Zach. I know that when God gives him the responsibility of being a Dad, he will be able to look back on how his brothers modeled being godly fathers.

Rodney Atkins wrote a really powerful song about the way sons learn from watching their dads. It is not a Christian song, but the principles are powerful:

Drivin’ through town just my boy and me
With a Happy Meal in his booster seat
Knowin’ that he couldn’t have the toy ‘til his nuggets were gone.
A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath.
His fries went a flyin’, and his orange drink covered his lap
Well, then my four year old said a four letter word
It started with “S” and I was concerned
So I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to talk like that?”

Chorus:
He said, “I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
We got cowboy boots and camo pants
Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?
I want to do everything you do.
So I’ve been watching you.”

We got back home and I went to the barn
I bowed my head and I prayed real hard
Said, “Lord, please help me help my stupid self.”
Just this side of bedtime later that night
Turnin’ on my son’s Scooby-Doo nightlight.
He crawled out of bed and he got down on his knees.
He closed his little eyes, folded his little hands
Spoke to God like he was talkin’ to a friend.
And I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to pray like that?”

Chorus:
He said, “I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
We like fixin’ things and holding momma’s hand
Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?
I want to do everything you do; so I’ve been watching you”

With tears in my eyes I wrapped him in a hug.
Said, “My little bear is growin’ up.”
And he said, “But when I’m big I’ll still know what to do.”

“‘Cause I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
By then I’ll be strong as superman
We’ll be just alike, hey, won’t we dad
When I can do everything you do.
‘cause I’ve been watchin’ you.”
hey yeah
uh huh

Dad’s – we need to wake up and remember that our kids are watching us! You are their greatest role model. Happy Father’s Day to all of you – but especially to my three Dad/Sons: Josh, Garrett and Jon. I love you guys so much. – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Nehemiah 1-3; Proverbs 15; Acts 2:1-21

Motivations: Patrick Morley has wisely said, “Men, if you don’t have enough time for your families, you can be 100% certain that you are not following God’s will for your life.” Men of Integrity, November/December 2009, p.11/29

Practice to Remember: Level 1: Philippians 1:9-10; Level 2: Philippians 1:12-18

Powered Up:  If there are tears in heaven, they will be over the fact that we prayed so little.