toencourage June 22, 2013 Vol 1. Issue 17

We have been traveling today and I just got the opportunity to sit down and put my thoughts together.  

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Galatians 5.13

“Because I Can!” is a exclamation that we’ve heard for many years, from parents and children.  It was a proclamation toward Bill Clinton, who is considered to be one of our worst presidents of the United States of America, in response to his abuse of office and the liberties our great country possesses.  The atrocities he committed were said to be done ‘because he could’.  Simply put, he made a choice based purely upon his power as POTUS.

Sin is also a choice.  Abusing the liberty the Lord Jesus Christ provided in His death, burial and resurrection is a choice one freely makes.  As a born again believer in Christ, we have been given liberty from the bondage and the penalty of sin.  Yet, we have not been given relief from the temptation; just the ability to choose not to sin.  Sure this life is difficult and daily struggles with sin occur, but we are encouraged each and every day by the fact that we can make an conscious decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ by loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ!

Choosing to serve one another in love disables the facet of sin that so quickly latches to the flesh.  Loving one another enables the Holy Spirit to work from within moving outward to touch those that are around us.  By enabling the Spirit of the Lord through sacrifice to work together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we find the same corresponding strength in the numbers and ranks of the unified family of God.  It was the Lord that spoke to Paul’s heart to pen the words “that there be no schism in the body”.  As a body, we are only as strong as our weakest link.  Failure to love those of the body of Christ is a failure to serve in the manner Christ sacrificed for us personally!

In like fashion, our love one for another is evidence of the discipleship of Christ.  According to

John 13:34-35, it is our love toward one another that reveals who and what we are to the world.  Outside of the Lord, no one can know our inward thoughts and feelings.  Furthermore, saying we love another without actually doing so becomes nothing more than empty and wasted words spoken from mouths of falsehood.  Our outward actions reveal the inward intentions.  Exercising the love that Christ placed in us at the moment of salvation becomes the evidence of not only what we’re under the influence of, but also by whom we are owned.  Those in the world today are looking for something real, something of measurable truth.  Our attitudes and actions toward and about one another should reflect the very truth that they are searching for.

Lastly, choosing to do the right thing weighs in the balance of a far more eternal measure of glory.  By no means am I advocating life style evangelism.  However, if our life does not agree with who or what we claim to be, the consequences can, and typically are, eternal in nature.  Again, as children of our Lord, we are given the opportunity to choose that which is right by refraining from sin, thus presenting evidence of our discipleship in Christ through our love for Him and for one another.  Therefore, when coupled with the plain gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lost soul is more apt to see that our Christianity is something very real and true.

 Too many in the church today spend more time seeking faults and searching for failures in those they are related to by the blood of Christ.  I understand that we are to mark those that cause division and that we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, a fact which will forever remain true.  I find many people today are spending an excessive amount of time focusing on the faults of those in their camp rather than fighting the real enemy of our souls and families.

A dear friend gave me a book on Father’s Day written by a retired Air Force pilot.  At the beginning of one particular chapter, the author opens with, “Lose sight, lose fight.  Know who the real enemy is…”  Beloved friends, there is an enemy we face in this world today.  His name is the Devil and he is walking about day and night seeking whom he may devour.  The word “may” is in the context of “is allowed to”.  We possess within us the greatest power in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have the shield of faith that will quench the fiery darts of the devil and with that protection alone, as long as we obey the commandments of Christ, we are empowered to choose that which is right, present to others the evidence of our love for one another as Christ loved us and, by God’s grace, lay up in store eternal treasures of souls saved for Christ.

“…but by love serve one another.”

toencourage June 8, 2013 Vol 1 Issue 15

‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;’Psalms 23:4

We live in a world today filled with news  that indicates the valley of the shadow of death is upon us.  Whether society is making more of things than they really are, the reality is we dwell in a world of darkness.  Yet in the midst of all this, prevalent is God’s guiding grace of victories throughout the valley of decision.

For every valley there are two mountains representing victories, for every shadowy turn in our life that we approach there must be a source of light on the other side.  We walk in the shadow of death, arriving closer every moment to its destination; yet we should fear no evil, for the Lord our Great and Chief Shepherd is with us!  As the mighty Apostle Paul prepared for death he left us with these words: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” II Timothy 4:6-7

The Psalmist said: ‘I will fear no evil…’

Fear; We are in a day and age when people walk about projecting an image, a façade of ‘no fear’. “Pufferfish’ people walk around as if they are Samson assuming they are the strongest and toughest soul on the planet.  While exhorbitent incomes are made each year from simple fear, Hollywood alone makes frightening movies that earn billions of dollars.  Although, if you notice, our fears in this life are ‘out of order’.  Paul said: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” I Corinthians 14:40.   Solomon said: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Most people (Christians alike) fear things that they should not fear, specifically evil!

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:57

We must understand that as long as the Lord of the universe is our Shepherd we should never fear evil in the world. David said: “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Psalms 118:6.  We read these verses, most of us can and do quote them, but how many of us truly believe them?  Friend, the evidence of belief is ACTION and APPLICATION.

When the Apostle Paul wrote unto the Hebrew believers he said: “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews 13:6. 

There is a reverential fear unto the LORD that enables us to forget the fear of this world.  

You may ask how?”…for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  The rod is a fascinating twofold instrument that is shaped by hand from a sapling. The key to its usefulness was the hard knob found just under ground level from which the roots descend. The shepherd would dig up the sapling by hand to preserve the knob trimming off the trailing roots.  With a knife, the shepherd worked the knob end of the rod until he had a round smooth finished ball on the end of the sapling.  The shepherd would then cut the rod to the height of a few feet and continue to imbed fragments of stone and bone into the knob.  This provided additional weight and strength to the knob end of the rod.

As the wood dried and shrank it sealed itself around the fragments of stone and bone resulting in a type of club.

During the day the shepherd practiced wielding and throwing the club until it became a deadly missile.  In the strong hands of the shepherd, the rod of defense came to the rescue of the sheep against robbers, poachers and wild beasts.

Not only was it used as a rod of defense, but also a rod of directives.

It was used often when a stubborn sheep continued his precarious ways. 

Fortunately, the rod is not the only tool used by the Shepherd. As the rod of defense is used against the Savage Beast. The rod of directive used against the Stubborn Brood.  The staff is used for ‘Shepherding Between’.  The Staff is His instrument of direction.  Sheep tend to do what sheep do, nibble and wander. Before you know it they are in trouble or off the path, Isaiah said: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” Isaiah 53:6. To make the staff, the shepherd would select another sapling, cutting this one just above ground. While is was still green and pliable, he would soak the staff in water to soften it more so, then bend the top of the staff over to form a ‘crook’ tying it in the bent over position until it was seasoned.  When the staff was thoroughly dry the ties were removed and the shepherd’s crook was the result; a tall, sturdy staff with a bend at the top. The hook was just the right size to fit around the chest of the lamb or neck of larger sheep.  It is with his staff that shepherd guides and directs the sheep from wandering paths, steep ravines and deadly cliffs.  

Friend we can fear no evil when our fear is in order.  With our fear in order, our Faith is increased.  Remember, David said: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:”.  Solomon, David’s son, said: “Fear God and keep his commandments”.  When our fear is directed toward the right One, our faith follows.  It is very difficult to have faith when you fear of every sound or shadow.

Our fear and our faith are in order by knowing our Friend. “…for thou art with me…‘.  I am convinced that people’s fear spirals out of control due to the lack of faith in the Friend named Jesus: “ A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24.  Jesus Christ said: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”John 15:13.  That friend is the One who lays in the doorway of the sheepfold, the One who died on the cross for us.

Why can we fear no evil ?  Why can our faith follow the fear of God?  Because Jesus, the friend that sticketh closer than a brother, is with us.

That Friend is Whom Paul quoted in Hebrews 13:5 as saying: ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’.  Beloved, we can Fear no evil today, simply by placing our Faith in a Friend named Jesus – the LORD our Shepherd!

‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;’