The Harsh Landlord

   For many years, I worked as a remodeling contractor. My work consisted of small to large construction jobs, along with installations of various appliances. On one occasion, a customer contracted me to install a new dishwasher. I ordered the dishwasher, and scheduled the installation. Upon arriving at the customer's home, I realized that he was not there,  so I waited for about an hour to see if he would show up. Riding with me that day was a young man named Woody, whom I was mentoring as both a worker and spiritual disciple. 

   As we waited, we noticed a man next door to the residence standing on his porch, waving "hello" to us. We walked over and began a conversation with him, and his wife came out, as we began to talk. It became abundantly clear that the man was very drunk, but very easy to talk to, and seemed oddly coherent. After a few minutes, the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask him if he died this day, would he know if he's going to Heaven. He replied. "Well, probably not; I am not a good person."

I asked him if he would like me to show him from God's Word how to know for sure he could be saved, and know he's going to Heaven. He said. "Yes, I would like that very much" 

   Before I could get my hands on my Bible, his wife suddenly produced one from inside their home. I began to share John 3:16, Romans 3:23, basically the entire Romans road to salvation. He had told me that because of his drunken life that God didn't want anything to do with him. Once I made him realize that we are all sinners, and that in our state of darkness, Jesus sacrificed Himself to blot that out. 

   His wife expressed to us how burdened she was for her husband to be saved. So I asked him if he wanted to be saved this day. He said, "Yes!" After a bit more discussion. We all got down on our knees and prayed. I led him through the sinners prayer, but not before explaining that words are cheap; if he didn't mean it from his heart that our prayers wouldn't go any higher than the ceiling. He seemed to understand that, and cried out to God as he asked Jesus to come into his heart.

It was a Glorious time, and when that man stood up, miraculously, he was as sober as a judge! He was a happy man, and along with his wife, we all celebrated his salvation. But there is a strange caveat to this story.

  The Rest of the Story

   Let's back up a bit. While we were there on our knees praying, I heard a voice in a very harsh tone adking,"What's going on here? What are you doing?"

I opened my eyes to look up at a rather tall man staring in apparent anger at all of us. 

I boldly replied, "Sir, I don't know who you are, but we are praying with this man, so you'll have to wait if you want talk to me!"

So as we finished our prayers, we rose up, and the new convert was rejoicing and hugging and kissing his wife. It was a very happy occasion to see that. We gave him encouragement, and showed him some areas of God's Word to study, and a brief conversation of how to grow in the Faith.

   As we exited the home, the man who interrupted our prayers was standing in the front yard with a scowl on his face.

" Exactly what did you think you were doing in there!" he demanded

I answered," That man wanted to accept Christ as his Savior, and we were helping him with that, who are you, anyway, and what is your problem?"

He shot back," I am the man who you are supposed to be working for next door here. You're supposed to be installing my dishwasher, and I am gonna report you to your boss for doing religious stuff on company time!"

So I said, " Well, you just reported me, because I am the boss, and for the record, you were supposed to be here over an hour ago. So, tell me...we are here; do you want the dishwasher or not? My time is just as valuable as yours, sir."

At that, he unlocked his house, and invited us to come in to install the dishwasher.

   We had to do some plumbing modifications to accommodate the dishwasher, so the job took about 2 hours. During that time, we were actually able to get to know the harsh man, as he revealed his reasons for his anger. It turns out that he was a prominent leader in a local Kingdom Hall. Their religion teaches many things that I believe are contrary to God's Word, like denying the Diety of Christ, and that the only way to get to Heaven is by working in their ministry. He explained his immense frustration in that for many years, he had been trying to convince the next door neighbor to come to his belief system; all in vain. And so when I roll up, a perfect stranger, and end up leading the man in a prayer of salvation...it made him extremely angry.

   I did not apologize for my actions, but explained to him that many of my family members, including my grandmother, had been trapped in his religion, which I considered to be a cult. 

   While I was installing his dishwasher, the man explained that he owned the house next door, and was their landlord. He tried to befriend me, and began discussing the differences between my beliefs and his. Again, I made no apologies for my beliefs, and stood my ground concerning Jesus being the Creator of all things. He just couldn't wrap his head around that, and said," So y'all believe in some 3-headed God that can be all things, right?"

   I calmly said, " No, we believe in one omniscient and omnipotent God who has three distinct traits, and can be all things, do all things, omnipresent, who was and is, eternally." 

   At that, our work was completed; after an ops check of the dishwasher, we shook hands, and we were on our way.

   But before we left, we stopped to visit the newly saved man once more, and his wife to give them encouragement and a brief discipleship lesson. They both had big smiles on their faces, and promised that they would seek out a good Bible believing church, and would be undeterred by the landlord's intimidation.

   For me, it was a good day. Angels rejoiced along with us that another soul was snatched from the fires of hell.

My Mission

Thursday, June 15, 2006

My Mission

My Mission: Let's see...I think my mission is to go to Hawaii at least 100 more times before I die(I'm being funny here), but if I don't, the times I have been there have been amongst the most wonderful times in my life.

When I started this blog, I had a concept of this wise old man who would give out free advice on everything from soup to nuts, since I have a lot of experience in many trades, including an extensive background in music.

To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect, but I did pray, and ask God to bless my efforts, and as I began to write, He seemed to take control, and what you read on the blog is the result.

I think others expected something totally different, as well. My chief desire is to help people; I obviously don't have all of the answers, but I know someone who does. Jesus Christ lives in me, and He wants to live in you. 

I believe that God wants to speak through this blog; as usual, I had something altogether different in mind; He knows best, so I will trust Him for the stories for you to read. Stay tuned, and see what God has in store for us; yes, us. 
My life verse is Isaiah 61:1&2
"The Spirit of theLord is upon me; because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn."

No Man Can Serve Two Mast

Thursday, June 14, 2007

No Man Can Serve Two Mast

ers...Knowing God's Will?

click on the photo to enlarge

Do You Know God?

I won't go into a long tirade about your relationship with God, but I have posed this question for the purposes of asking all of us to do a self-examination to determine if we truly have a one on one relationship with Jesus. The little illustration above is not meant to insult anyone either. I found it in a old book, The Old Man by E.G March from the Revivalist Press; circa 1931. It is is based on the scripture where Jesus states that no man can serve two masters; he will love the one and hate the other. It is very simple, when we come to Jesus, we cannot be tampering with the things of the world any longer, for after our surrender to God, we are not our own, we are bought with the Blood of the Lamb. Take a few minutes to study the picture, and see how that with Jesus in our "driver's seat", we can and will have a victorious Christian life. With satan in control, we were going nowhere but a "dead-end" street.

With That Being Said...

Now that we are living for God, then how do we know what His will is for our life? Well, there was a time in my life that I didn't feel comfortable going forward with anything, until I had a clear picture from God as to what I should do next. I found out that even though God wants us to seek His will, that we "see through a glass darkly", and with our eyesight, we don't always see clearly, even when God is trying to tell us something; so I began to step out in faith more and more, and do what Proverbs teaches us to "trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."

We are really pretty stupid, especially when we think that we are smart. I find that I am smartest when I ask God to think for me. When I get in that mode, many times miraculous, supernatural things happen. So, to me, it is just that simple. I have had people (even really good, well meaning Christian ones) try to tell me and even dictate to me what God's will is for my life, and I have even tried to make my plans fit to God's Word, and visa versa(making God's Word to comply with my plans) This is called manipulation.

On Our Own?

Jesus said that He would not leave us alone, but would send us a comforter, the Holy Spirit, oh yeah, that's God, too! Well, if we ask God to go with us, He promises that He will, and not leave us floundering in a sea of helplessness. So that's really how I determine God's will...I don't...He does, and I try to follow, when I am awake(alert) enough to hear His voice(that still quiet one), and then, that peace that passes all understanding comes, I walk through the doors that He opens.

Oh yeah, sometimes He provides a window that I have to crawl out of...oh yeah, sometimes, He knocks down a whole wall for me ...thank you Jesus! Oh yeah, many times, God directs, protects, leads, and does things for us that we don't even know that He does, and we may not know about those things this side of Heaven. So the key element here is total trust in God.

So if you want to know God's will, ask Him; He will show you, but not always in some "crystal ball" visionary way. Guess what; He is not obligated to show us the entire painting; he is the artist, we are the canvas; if we could know all of the answers, we would not need God, but we do need Him, and that's a good thing! There are also very obvious things that we know are or are not God's will. Those are the "givens" in life; we know the basics of right from wrong, and we must adhere to those principles.

Keep praying, keep trusting, keep believing, keep dreaming. Love God, praise Him for who He is. Praise Him for all the mighty things that he has done. Love everyone, even when it hurts, the pain will subside! Be joyous!

"Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God"
I Corinthians 10:31

The Temple

Thursday, January 19, 2006

THE TEMPLE

Pictured here is a replica of the Byodo-In Temple, located in Kaneohe, Hawaii. This very beautiful structure is actually adjacent to a cemetary called The Valley of the Temples. Both Christians and Buddhists are buried here. The original Byodo-In Temple is located in Uji, Japan, and is constructed of wood, but this Hawaiian replica is made of concrete, because there was great concern that wood could not survive the attack of termites in this area. The temple is surrounded by Koi ponds, and and has a huge bell just outside, that visitors can ring with the big swinging clapper. Inside is a huge golden Buddha, made from wood, and covered in gold lacquer. The craftsmanship is exquisite.
Many people contemplate this temple that we have called the human body. By the same token, many of us take our bodies for granted until something breaks, rots, or is attacked by something. Either way, the truth is that God did create us; none of us were found under a rock, and his Word speaks of our bodies as being the temple of the Spirit of God. Jesus said that if they tore down the temple, that He would raise it again in 3 days. They thought that He meant the actual structure of the temple. What He really was referring to was his actual physical body, which was raised from the dead, 3 days after they killed Him. We should take care of our temple, but more importantly, we as humans, should take care of the soul that is housed within. Jesus taught us that we should fear not that which can kill the body, but rather to fear that which can kill the body and soul, and condemn it to hell.
I don't spend a lot of words teaching a lot of doctrine here, but I do give you some things to think about. You see, many don't believe in this "soul" business, they simply believe that we are just born, and we die, and that is that!, Well. think about this for a time; when you go to the local funeral home, and look into the casket of a dead man, can he see you? can he smell you, hear you, or if you
touch his face, can he feel it? I maintain that what we experience our conscietiousness with is our spirit, or soul. The soul of a dead man is NOT there; it has travelled on... somewhere else. At my age, I am thinking more about keeping the termites out of my temple, so I can live longer to do God's will, but when He allows my temple to fail, my soul within will travel on to be with Him. Whether the finest physical specimen, or not so fine, our bodies really are amazing; God's craftsmanship is exquisite! When all my systems fail, I want what's left to be with God, and He is there all the time...He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

The Will...whose Will are you in?

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Will...whose Will are you in?

THE WILL

A story that was related to me by my late Mom, still, to this day, leaves me a little bewildered.
Her grandmother died when my Mom was very young, and had owned a Rolls Royce automobile, similar to the one in the photo above. In her last will and testament, she left my Mom the car, but since she was too young to drive, the car could not be driven, for the will stipulated that the car could not be sold, and it was to be solely owned by her grand-daughter. Because of this, the once, very expensive automobile, sat there...and sat there...until it literally rotted to the ground. To the car enthusiast, a story like this one is just plain "tragic". The vehicle could have been covered, and cranked and run on a regular basis, and possibly have been saved. Can you imagine a young girl actually owning a car like that, and not being able to use it? At her age, she probably could not comprehend nor appreciate its value. Nevertheless, any piece of machinery that is not used and maintained, will assuredly deteriorate rather quickly. The paint fades, the interior gets moth-eaten, tires dry-rot, the seals in the engine and transmission crystallize, fluids leak out, rust and corrosion take their toll, and what was once a treasure, becomes a worthless piece of junk. I have heard of similar stories like this one before....it seems sad, yet preventable. I don't have all of the details of exactly why this happened, but it seems as though I remember that there was some sort of family feud over the inheritance of the car, so I presume that their way of dealing with the issue was just to not deal with it, so the car just sat, and wasted away.
YOUR WILL

Most people who own things of value will make provisions for their loved ones who may be left behind, for the dispensation of the valuables. In many cases, people die without a will, and the state is left with the job of probating property and valuables among the survivors. Some leave no inheritance behind; some leave only a legacy of unpaid bills. Regardless of what is left, what a person leaves to his or her relatives or friends, is something that is usually purposed or "ear-marked" for the heir or designee. It is something that is designated by the free will of the benefactor. What is your will? It can be easily spelled out in a...will, which means that you "will" certain things to be done after you are gone from this life.

We all have a will...a free will to do pretty much what we want to; especially if we live in a free country. One can hear many people saying "I will do this, or I will do that." When someone places another in a will, most of the time, it is a "free willing" of what they are leaving to someone as an inheritance. Now you may say to me"Where is he going with this little play on the word "will"?" I thought you'd never ask.GOD'S WILL

God the maker of Heaven and Earth, and all the stars, and planets in the universe, and all that we know, and all that we don't know; HE created...everything. Since He did, that makes Him our Heavenly Father, and He is the benefactor of all mankind; you know, the one who leaves an inheritance to people in a will, the will to do something, like give us things that we did not earn, a gift that He owned to begin with, and that because He loves us, He wants us to have both while on this Earth, and in the hereafter. The "things" that I am talking about are not material, necessarily, but are necessarily Spiritual, and we will discuss what this means, next. Jesus said,"Lay not up for yourselves treasure on Earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break in and steal, but rather, lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, and neither do thieves break in steal." There is an inheritance that God left to us, when He died...when He died??? What does that mean? Jesus, the man, God incarnate, laid down His life, as the supreme sacrifice, so that we can have an eternal inheritance in Heaven, forever! If a person simply both believes, and accepts this truth, he or she can have assurance of this eternal home away from home, for this world, as we know it, is truly NOT our home. Every person has a choice; either to live with God in Heaven forever, or not; eternally seperated from God.

THERE'S MORE

Not only that, God has provided through His Spirit, a way to live in power and strength from on High, and we are not required to be sad, meager, and weak people; we need to believe that He wants to be a part of our human existence here on this Earth, while we are passing through. So.... I am going to let you decide for yourself what this means; I am providing some Bible verses here to help you see some of what God has promised us. As you read, I challenge you to find other verses in God's Word that prove out this philosophy. Just consider that story of the Rolls Royce, or any other gift or tool that is allowed to sit and fade away; first, one must realize that he or she has the gift, and then..."If you don't use it, you may lose it...or worse, you may never realize that you ever had it!!"
Mt 16:19 -
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mt 18:14 -
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Mr 1:17 -
And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
Mr 14:36 - And He said, Abba, Father, things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt
Lu 11:2 -
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Joh 6:39 -
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day
Joh 6:40 -
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 14:14 -
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:23 -
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we willcome unto him, and make our abode with him
Joh 14:26 -
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Joh 16:13 -
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come
Joh 16:23 -
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Acts 26 Read This Chapter
26:15
And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
26:16
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
26:17
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
26:19
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Ephesians 1 Read This Chapter
1:10
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
1:11
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
1:12
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
1:14
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Alone With God

Friday, May 19, 2006

Alone With God...God Alone

ALONE WITH GOD

As I stood on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, gazing at this scene, I had an experience that will never be forgotten. Rushing into my senses was the incredible, immeasurable, power and presence of God, and His universe, a part of which I realized and comtemplated my "smallness"and seemingly insignificance. The next few entries on this blogsite will deal with experiencing the presence of God, and how we may teach ourselves how to return to that private place that He has kept reserved for us.


Getting alone with God is something that many don't understand, and because of that, they don't pursue the experience. There are others that don't "know" God, so getting alone with Him would be completely foreign to them. Then there are those who are so hungry just to experience a few moments of solitude in the presence of the God of the universe; the creator of all things. In the Bible, Collossians says that (in regard to Jesus) that by Him, and for Him, all things were created. To me, this substantiates the fact that Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God, were for eternity past in Heaven("let us create man in our own image"), and that Jesus came out of Heaven to become a man who laid his life down as a sacrifice for our sin.
Regardless of your concept of God, it is the desire of this writer to help all understand that God is real; He loves us; He wants to spend time with us; since He is always there, then where did we go? Most of the time, it is away from the presence of God, for we are human, and easily distracted by the things of this life, like practically everything that we do. So what is the answer? How do we get into that intimate, one on one, "alone-ness" with God? Think about it.


Notice what I just said...think about it...that's it! You see, our mind is directly connected to our spirit, and when we think on certain things, that is where our spirit goes. The Bible says," As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So our first step to getting alone with God is to think about Him. When a man calls his lover, who he has not seen for a while, one of the first things he says to her is,"Honey, I have been thinking about you, or I have not been able to take my mind off of you." The same type of principle is true concerning God. It does help if we know Him, or have some sort of knowledge of how much He loves us, and when we fall in love with God, we seem to want more of Him in our lives. But we get off track, we lose focus, we get distracted, we forget who we really belong to. When we begin to think about God, and think often, He begins to DO things in our lives, and unless we are in tune with him, we miss it.

So think about God as often as you can; try it. I go to these awesomely beautiful places, and I am immediately reminded of how wonderful, and vast God really is. But we can obtain His presence by simply just asking Him to come in, and habitually thinking about Him; He will take care of the rest. Remember...God Alone=Alone with God=God Alone. Next time we will discuss the topic entitled "Come In God!!"

p.s. We ARE NOT insignificant to God!

Posted by Larry Wiseman at 10:16 PM No comments: 

STANDING IN THE GAP

Dedication: I dedicate this posting to my wonderful grandfather John L. LeMay, whose last words on this Earth were Psalms 23

                               The Valley

   On this day, one of God's anointed was travelling through the valley of death with his caravan. His entourage was accompanied by The Good Shepherd, and hundreds of thousan8ds of his sheep. These sheep had a very different look about them. Their wool was "whiter than snow", and very, very long and very, very thick. They had not been sheered for a long, long time, and the wool was so long that one would not even recognize them as sheep.  All of the sheep followed The Good Shepherd, and focused on His every move, and listened intently to His every Word. 

   As the caravan made its way to the entrance of The Valley, a large group of demonic creatures gathered at the rim of the canyon, snarling and yelling slanderous and cursing words at God's anointed. These creatures had long horns, with razor sharp hooves, and were great in number. They yelled, "We hate God, we hate Jesus, we hate his anointed, and all of his sheep, and we will destroy them, this day, right here in this valley!"

   As the anointed and all with him entered into the valley, The Good Shepherd cried out to the sheep," Go! Stand in the Gap between the valley and the ridge, and pray with Faith in your hearts!" All of the sheep obeyed, and formed a long white wool line on both sides of the road leading through the valley of death. They did not look left or right, but faced forward, towards God's anointed with their eyes fixed on The Good Shepherd. 

   The demonic minions screamed loud obscenities at the sheep; jeering and laughing with evil, menacing  laughs saying," You sheep are weak, and we will slaughter you all. We will pierce you with our horns, and stomp you in the dust of this valley. You should run! For this day, you will die!"

   All of the sheep remained steadfast, and ignored the demons, and stood in the gap, with their eyes looking straight ahead. As God's anointed kept moving, the demonic creatures began to stampede down the walls and cliffs of the valley. As they approached the white wool line of sheep, they plowed their horns into the sides of the sheep, expecting the sheep to collapse in pain, and bleeding. But to their shock and dismay, their horns became stuck in the thick wool of the sheep, and became so entangled that they could not move. All of the sheep stood firm, and the more the demonic creatures struggled, the more they were entangled, until they were helplessly disabled. 

   The Good Shepherd walked calmly down the line of sheep, and instantly sheered all of the wool from all of the sheep, leaving a long line of piles of wool that were all filled with the struggling beasts. The more the beasts struggled, the more they were stuck in the piles of wool to the point that both their horns and sharp hooves were wrapped deeply in the piles of wool. They were all left helpless in the dust of the valley, where they eventually died, to be eaten by huge vultures that were circling above. 

   The Good Shepherd, all of his sheep, and God's anointed walked through the valley, totally unharmed moving forward into life to do God's Will!

Remember this: When The Flood Comes In, God Divides The Water!

                             What is the Meaning?

   First of all, this has nothing to do with politics, but is a lesson on how to trust God in all things. It is also an example of how the Lord really wants us to be involved in His will for all of us, and that requires obedience, and faithfulness to Him. "God's anointed" might be a person, but not necessarily. It could be anything that God ordains that we may not always understand. The Valley of Death is significant to our walk in this world each day. Watching the news lets us all know that we live in a dangerous world every day. The sheep are us; the believers and followers of The Good Shepherd, Jesus. The "whiter than snow" wool represents our forgiveness that Christ gives all who call on him as savior. The thickness and length of the wool represents the depth of our sin that we all have inherited from our Adamic original sin. The evil critters represent the evil in this world, and anyone who hates God. The sheep standing in the gap show how diligent and steadfast we must be to see God's will to its fruition. You will notice in the midst of the attacks, they kept their eyes on Jesus. BUT once the sin of the wicked entered into the white wool The Good Shepherd Jesus had to cut it loose, and leave it in the camp of the wicked, to be destroyed of their own devices. Just remember, when all else fails, God Almighty remains on the throne!