The Devotional

Papa “J” says

All marriages need two funerals, the couple need to die unto themselves and come alive again as one! Oh, I should be slapped for such a statement! Wait a minute, I did not say that! Genesis 2:24 and Ephesians 5:31. This is where nearly perfect marriages begin.

So if you think about this, some of you submarine sailors will know such a person, but the likes of him run in every walk of life. He is the guy that has a career but does not carry his share of the load. The other sailors call him a “lifer”. He spends his time eating the meals, breathing the manufactured air, sleeping in the environmentally controlled surroundings and allowing others to carry his weight and theirs too. A submarine can handle just one of these people, two of them can cause major problems, especially if they were on duty at the same time. It is not that they do not know what to do, they do know, but they will not respond properly to a danger. So not only do these people take up vital space in the already tight quarters, but when the critical moment happens, they are often in the way. People called lifers are not ignorant of their ways and have no excuse, it is a title of guilt when one is called a lifer. Israel had two such people in the tribe of Levites, their names were Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli; both died when the Philistines captured the ark of God. 1 Samuel 4:1-22

Psalm 19

Psalm 19:12-14 Truly we cannot understand in total the error of our ways, no doubt this is a good thing, for if God should ever decide to show us what we really look like from the soul point of view that God sees, it would no doubt be our day of death. Jeremiah 17:9-10 and Matthew 15:19. But, let us not ask God to stop the world so we can get off, but realize that God provides grace and gives to us what we do not deserve. He gives us mercy.

Assuming that we understand salvation by grace (a different subject) we still need to acknowledge that our heart is full of faults that can be secret to us. Also, there are conditions in our sinful bent of the past that cause us to have presumptuous moments that harbor sin. In order to help us overcome these two conditions we must be willing to ask God to help us overcome in order to be blameless and innocent children of God, we cannot maintain alone.

So the words of our mouth and the moment by moment meditation of our heart are necessary. This operation and communication between God and the person will deliver them from the great transgression and restore sweet fellowship with the Creator. Being acceptable in His sight is also abiding in His strength and knowing that you have been redeemed. My hope is we would fully and truly let God redeem our soul. 1 Peter 1:18-19 It is all his work, we can only accept it by faith.

The Devotional

Papa “J” says

Little words in life can mean a lot! For example; the epistle of 1 John 1:5-10 has 140 words, 114 of them are four letters are less. Read this section and know the full story, it will only take a few simple seconds.

If you are a singer and are rehearsing for a song, the director will often say; “no! No! NO! Not like that! You need to get on top of the note” What he or she is saying is that the sound coming from your voice is being overran by the musical note played and a singer must be over the note and in command of the song. Our lives are much like singing, when the noise of the world is louder than our voice, we are misunderstood, misrepresented and misguided. We become nothing more than a piece of background noise. The apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 13:1 brassy and clanging. There are three intangible assets that help the singing saint achieve the goal of the Director. One is faith; Faith is confidence in what you believe. Two is hope; Hope is knowing what you believe in. And, love; Love is being on top of doing what you believe in. 1 Corinthians 13:13. Follow Jesus, He is on top of all things that pertain to life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3

Psalm 19

Psalm 19:7-11 The laws, testimonies, statutes and the commandments of the LORD can seem scary to the weary eye that reads of them. But take a moment and compare just one of those Laws of God to the created world around you and it is enough to convince your soul to rejoice in faith. Then allow the testimony of just one plant, or planet to speak to you and watch your wisdom leap with hope.

Oh! This does not stop! The statutes of God are greater pillars of stability. The foundations of creation rely on the statutes of God and when this light comes on in our soul we fall deeply in love with God. Our heart rejoices because we have come to know the greater gifts of God to us. Faith, Hope and Love all of which are found in the Person of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:6-11.

All the wonders of creation help you and me to know a proper “fear” of God. That to have fear is not to shake, rattle or roll every time His name is mentioned. But to know that this fear is a clean fear that will endure throughout all of eternity. So the laws, testimonies, statutes and commandments are really awesome pointers to the judgments of God. Let God, through Jesus Christ the Creator place you above the noise of the world around you. John 8:36 and Galatians 5:1.

The Devotional

Papa “J” says

The golfing season is upon us again. I suppose you know what that means! Most golfers talk to their ball right after they hit it. I don't understand... I've inspected many golf balls and I've not found one of them with ears!

An excerpt of an article found in the Prairie Fire, the voice of the Great Plain, given to me by Bill, Thanks Bill.

Psalm 19

Psalm 19:1-6 The Psalm is titled the Perfect Revelation of the LORD, it is written by David and it contains the Everlasting gospel of God. Revelation 14:6-7. This Psalm demonstrates to all the world that the universe and earth are the work of our Creator. Notice a few of the wonders of nature here. The heavens declare the glory of God's creative character and the voice of the created works of God proclaim their knowledge of His works.

There is little need for the voice to be loud, since in every language creation is perfectly understood and the works of creation explain this truth to every corner of the world, thus there is no excuse. So powerful are the words of creation that to voice a disagreement is to lie. Religion is the lie, Jesus is the truth. God set the sun in a tent and told it to remain in the circuit of the tent and the sun is happy to do just that and nothing more. The tent is our galaxy, best known as the Milky-Way!

Notice a corresponding passage in Proverbs 8:22-31, here wisdom explains how the LORD put things together, then commanded them to obey Him. Creation has no problem doing what God commands of it. Only the foolish fail to follow the Creator and that would be you and me. But, in His grace He has made provision to be reconciled back to Him. Romans 10:8-11

The Devotional

Papa “J” says

With a pair of binoculars things far away are brought close, focused and clear. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God can be seen, life will have purpose and His Plan will be clear. John 16:13-15.

For twenty three years I served in the United States Navy. Most of my days were spent under the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the various seas of Northern and Southern Europe. I visited many places and was obedient to my every command. Exploring depths that ordinary people do not see. Well I had some trouble seeing these depths too, it is very dark at depths of a thousand feet, but with sonar I was able to paint a picture of things in front of me and things to my port or starboard side. The hard part is to not know what is going on behind you so ever so often I would need to wiggle a little, called a maneuver to see if anyone was following me. Sometimes I would not feel good and my labor to stay focused was hard. Swimming about in these times of trouble made me use backup procedures that limited my ability to defend myself. Once I remember that I was so weak that I had trouble moving and all I wanted to do was sink to the bottom. My heart pounded and every vital nerve in my body was actively involved to keep me going. Oh, I survived or I would not be writing to you today. I had a strong will to live! Now I am retired and I am safe. My roots are found in the Los Angeles Class Submarine, My name is: USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 709) I have fought the good fight, my crew can now rest in peace. Psalm 4:8

Psalm 18

Psalm 18:1-19 The Psalm is very long, but it carries the theme of victory. The victory of one individual named David, the servant of the LORD who very soon after became king over Israel. The LORD delivered David from all of his enemies and from the hand of king Saul who was tormented with evil until the day he died. We like David face the battle of evil daily, the trouble is that many of us do not see it coming and we become victims rather than victors.

The LORD's strength and His deliverance are as solid as a rock, God is worthy to be trusted. God never fails. Surrounded by ungodliness, one can feel the grip of hell tightening and the grip of death clutching at our soul. In these distresses we cry out to God and from His temple where Victory sits at His right Hand the deliverance comes. His anger over evil is visible and a devouring fire begins to rage.

The dark spiritual world shutters as the LORD prepares to battle for us. He rides the cherub and sails on the wings of the wind. The LORD thunders from the heavens, He lets His arrows fly. At His rebuke the foundations of the world are uncovered. Then He finds us and delivers our soul out of many troubled waters. Personally, I am freed from the grip of the enemy and those who hate me. Not because of who I am, I am nothing. He delivered me because He delights in His Son, whom I have come to love and trust.

A Study of Ephesians

The Relationship of God and His Saints

Many folks who read this lesson from the blog or email will miss a great deal of context simply because time does not allow me to fill in a lot of the material I will be discussing during our class. If you have questions please let me know I will be glad to answer you via email. Jesse

The apostle Paul wrote the epistle called the Ephesian epistle while he was imprisoned at Rome. 59-61. Along with this epistle he wrote three others; Colossians, Philippians and Philemon. All of the epistles were delivered to the churches during one trip by Tychicus who was to Paul a faithful minister. Ephesians 6:21 and Colossians 4:7-9.

I believe that the epistle is written as a general epistle, probably the first of the four since it is not addressed to any specific church. The words “in Ephesus” or “en Ephesoi” in the Common Greek are not found in many of the earlier manuscripts

The apostle visited Ephesus twice, once for a brief time on his second missionary journey and then again on his third. On the third trip he stayed in Ephesus for three years and ministered to the saints with little opposition from the unbelieving Jews.

As we open this epistle, we need to remind ourselves that the epistle is full of doctrine for the first three chapters and that the last three chapters will focus on the application of these doctrines, so if you are ready to begin – so am I.

Ephesians 1:1-6

Ephesians 1:1 The apostle Paul is the apostle to the gentiles while the other eleven apostles were to the Jews. There is much evidence in the Holy Bible that explain this to us. For example; right after his conversion, Ananias is commanded by Jesus to go to a street called Straight and to the house of Judas (Barsabbas) and find the one called Saul. Acts 9:10-19 and Acts 13:46-47.

The Saints who are faithful in Christ The message of this epistle is to these people, so one might ask the question. “Who are they”? I am glad you asked. Today there much confusion. It seems that most everyone you talk to call themselves a Christian, or a Believer, so another question is tied to the first: “Who is a Christian and who is a believer”? So the statement really answers the two questions. A saint is someone who is faithful in Christ. Thus the first part of Ephesians, that is the first three chapters will be to identify the faithful in Christ who are called saints.

Ephesians 1:2 We are reminded in the verse that in order to understand the Word of God that there must be two attributes working interchangeability in us from God the Father and the LORD Jesus Christ, these are grace and peace. If grace and peace are not functioning while we are not studying scripture, we will not get much out of the study.

Ephesians 1:3 Spiritual blessing, what do these two words mean to you and me at this very moment? Hopefully that as we study we will gain the wisdom that God the Holy Spirit plans for us. Spiritual blessings are greater than the wealth of all the kingdoms in the world we live in. You say what? Well look at it this way. Is God greater than all the kingdoms of the world? Of course the answer is, emphatically YES so in a very real sense. If God gave us only on Spiritual blessing we would have more spiritual wealth that the kingdoms of the world. But notice the verse again. Every Spiritual Blessing available in God's Kingdom, He has given to His saints, the faithful in Jesus Christ.

The scripture plainly tells us that we are given the Holy Spirit at the point of being saved, which is the point that makes us the faithful in Jesus Christ. (Saints). Since we were obedient to the gospel of Christ and since we have the Holy Spirit who is our partial inheritance Romans 8:12-17 Then God dwells in us, who are the saints, the faithful in Christ.

These are not like the promises to Israel of land, relief from their enemies, health and other material things. The promises of God to Israel are based on obedience to God's Law. Now this may sound a little like a curve ball, but hear it out. The Spiritual blessings of this first chapter of Ephesians is not based on obedience to the Law of God as some may believe or teach. This cannot be emphasized enough. These Spiritual blessings are based on the grace of God as given to all saints at the point of being found faithful in Christ. Grace through faith, is the main theme that travels through this epistle. Ephesians 2:8-9.

Ephesians 1:4 God chose us to be Holy! Imagine that, are you a Holy person? God says that you are, in fact; If you are saved, then you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you, now you have a choice. You either believe this as truth or you don't, but this really makes little difference in God's plan for you. He is the one who has made you Holy and you cannot make your self unholy just because you do not want to believe it. So it is real time to get on with it and do what the scriptures already demand that we do. “Be holy, for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16

Ephesians 1:5 God has caused us to be adopted: We are no longer children of the world. We are given a position of "children of God", those of us who are in Christ, belong to God through adoption Romans 8:14-15

Ephesians1:6 By the grace of God we have been made acceptable in Christ: We will be learning more about the grace of God in the remaining lessons. Because we are called saints, remember a saint is someone who is faithful in Christ, God is well pleased with you. This is not because of some great deed which you have done to earn this pleasing status. This status belongs to one person who's name is Jesus. Matthew 3:17 Jesus is the faithful and obedient One who goes before us paving the way. Philippians 2:5-11.