Christ's Influence on the World via St. Patrick

The Importance of the Dreamer

1/30/2014

In living much longer than anyone who knew me expected when I was young, I have come to some conclusions that are not new to the world. The idea that as we age we get worse is not true. We actually get better at the things that matter. At least we should and as I evaluate my list of priorities I have evidence that confirms my maturing with age.

While preparing the outlines for my next book, (the one I am working on now) I keep sensing the phrase used by the brother of Joseph in Genesis 37:19, “And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.”

When the subject of dreams come to the fore of thinking it’s good to immediately get away from the kind brought by eating too many onions, garlic and a three pound hamburger just before drifting off to dreamland. And it’s sure enough important to rid the mind of the kind induced by occult practices, which are thoroughly denounced in both the old and new testaments. It’s good to really run dreams through the filter of scripture.

Most people who are a wee bit younger than me think of the speech, I Have A Dream, delivered by Martin Luther King during the civil rights era. The visions stated in the speech were at the very least high and noble. And that’s one of my points today.

To have high and noble dreams, dreams that have been run through the rigorous filter of God’s word are to be desired. Joseph’s father, Jacob had a dream, his dream consisted of winning the hand of the magnificent Rachel. The dream that Jacob harbored for her was equal to or better than Don Quixote’s impossible one. The power of Jacob’s dream is set forth this way in Genesis 29:20, “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.” There is a wealth of information in this one verse. Love, true love for a person or dream is energizing far beyond normal human endurance. In harmony with this is the truth expressed in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Charity, the agape love is durable and never fails.

When a good dream for glory of God and benefit of His creatures is heavy on your mind and heart, it will be as the love that God has for us.Find a way. The song has it, “Love found a way to redeem my soul.” Seven years for the hand of Rachel seemed as but a few day.

If you think about all the wonders that we who live in modern civilization enjoy you have to understand that each and parts of each one were originally a dream in someone’s mind and heart. Back in the 19th Century a Bishop in the United Brethren in Christ remarked to parishioner that man would never fly in a machine. It is interesting that two of his sons were playing on the floor in the room. The Bishop was Milton Wright. The boys, Orville and Wilbur. You know the rest of the story.

Many of the dreams of my life have to do with people, helping people through the power of Christ to spread their God given wings and fly. The soaring above mediocrity is the dream of most sensible people.

Flying airplanes had been part of most of my adult life. I enjoy flying as pilot in command primarily because I don’t have to put up with airlines and the homeland security nightmare. Primarily private flying gets me where I want to go faster than driving or jumping through the airline hoops.

The premier pilot of an earlier age, Charles Lindberg has this to say about dreams of achievement:

“Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquests.”

Lindberg simply meant the fabulous machines etc. which we now have are the fruits of the dreams of men and women of yesterday. We must be willing to dream and hold tight to our dreams while finding ways for those dreams to become reality. An old line has it, “People who never build castles in the air, never build castles anywhere.” It’s true.

We Christians must quit moaning and groaning about how bad things are and replace the malady with a vision that honors God. Keep in mind the eternal truth laid out in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish:”

Copyright © 2014 Larry LillyNote: Oral's IT business is really picking up. Contact him if you need help and need it now. His growing list of customers will gladly give you a recommendation. LML

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I'll Never be Lonely Again

1/26/2014

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1-27-14
Years ago there was a popular song in Christian circles titled, I’ll Never Be Lonely Again. I played the song quite often on my daily radio programs and the song brought many replies, most of them positive. I like the melody and words of the song, yet I knew the song was a stretch. It meant well. I have been saved for over fifty years and have had to learn how to deal with lonely.

In concentration camps, prisons of all sorts, one form of punishment is to isolate the prisoner, for punishment, for torture, sometimes to force information to flow from a lonely heart or simply to cause insanity to progress a little faster. God Himself taught at the beginning that it is not good for man to be alone and He therefore made a woman, a good idea that we humans need to work on.

Some of the loneliest people I know are married, but effective communication is as far as Timbuktu. Two lonely people living under one roof is as common as an old shoe. Churches, even Mega-Churches, are filled with people wearing big smiles, but inside their mind and heart is aching for someone, not necessarily a wrong someone, just a human being that they can relate to safely. Hard to find. I know we can relate to Jesus, but in many situations people need another sinner saved by grace to help evaporate the fog of loneliness. Millions of people are so lonely that they pay good money for professionals to help them find someone. (I know several outstanding Christians who have had success with this, but I sure don’t recommend it).

Loneliness is a national gold mine for many predators of all sorts. I read about a man about 50 years ago who had married 16 women. He married them, took their money and would disappear. When the police finally caught up with him, they found him rather sub ordinary in looks and very deficient in social skills. When the women were asked, “How did Harry Marry win your affection and trust?” Each woman said in effect, “He was always complimenting me and saying nice things. He convinced me he really cared for me. I fell for it hook, line and sinker.”

Over time men and women acquainted with the troubles of life do learn to be aware of the fact that Jesus is near and accepting this is a great help in turning loneliness into spiritual growth. Jesus often spent time alone in serious prayer and outstanding Christians have often talked about their “Prayer closet.” I know a man in Virginia who spent hours in his barn actually praying. He was a firebrand for Jesus. Back in those days, Dewy Umberger was legend for Jesus Christ. When you are really in the spirit as was John during his time on the Isle of Patmos, some wonderful things can happen.

Most of us are not John and thus loneliness often takes its toll on us spiritually, socially and even mentally. One of the most outstanding women of the 20th Century wrote about this during a time of deep darkness in her soul. Her statement rings true for many who have suffered through what some theologians have called the dark night of the soul. It’s my belief that she was so on target that her statement scared many otherwise nice people into vitriolic attacks on her person, her character and her salvation. Her later years reminded me of the man Peter wrote about in 2 Peter 1:9 “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” It is possible to fall into the pit loneliness, so be careful with criticism toward some suffering child of God who is walking a path of which you know nothing, yet.

The woman of whom I speak, Agnes Bojaxhiu, who had traveled the world helping poor and lonely souls, said, “Loneliness is the leprosy of the modern world.”

Loneliness and leprosy are a good comparison. In leprosy the body is eaten away piece by rotting piece. Likewise loneliness eats away at the inside of a person, gradually but surely rotting away the spirit. Loneliness can cause doubt about yourself and even nagging, sometimes haunting, fears about God.

Christ knows about loneliness. That’s why He makes Himself available for us to come boldly to the throne of Grace, to find help and companionship in time of need. He also established the Church for people of faith to find the camaraderie of the saints. Camaraderie, that deep sense of oneness that people who have suffered similarly have such as a band of brothers during war time.

Here, yet again, is my favorite passage: Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lillyhttp://development-resources.com/index.html
Note: Oral's IT business is really picking up. Contact him if you need help and need it now. His growing list of customers will gladly give you a recommendation. LML

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The Tree or The Axe?

1/22/2014

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1-23-14
I was thinking about forgiveness the other day, which is nothing new for me. The ideas and “convictions” are legion, but the Bible is very clear on the benefits of giving forgiveness, and also of accepting it when appropriate. In most human events where forgiveness should be given, the one who gives the forgiveness, whether or not the other accepts it, is the primary benefactor. That is the premise of my book Outrageous Forgiveness in 30 Days.

That the dynamics of forgiveness are complex goes without saying. One is hurt, suffered some sort of loss, the other did the hurting, on purpose or inadvertently, but the hurt is there nonetheless. The “axeman” often swings a look, a word or deed without thought and damage is done. In other situations a business deal goes wrong. The list could go on, but why? Right now you are thinking of someone who caused pain in your life. Or, you just may be thinking of a wrong or wrongs you have done to others.

An African proverb addresses the tangled web of hurt with this, “The axe forgets what the tree remembers.” It’s too true.

A pastor friend of mine went through a really tough time years ago as pastor of a church in the state where I have lived now for 39 years. He left with bad feelings about the way the people had treated him and they with the same about how he had treated them. He went on to pastor a thriving church in a Western state and in the course of years was called by the Lord back to the Eastern part of our state. In the strange way that God can work and often does work, the Spirit moved and on a given night the church, the current pastor and my friend had a public reconciliation meeting. I know there was more than a few old fashioned hallelujahs sent up and I feel certain an angel or two rejoiced with the people.

Something like the above cannot be worked out on a reasoning basis, but God can and is willing to override past mistakes, past sins, and certainly via the blood of Christ wash away and bury the differences. He did just this in the above case. My friend has been with Jesus now for several years, and the church where he once pastored and then enjoyed true reconciliation is prospering. This is as it should be.

In real life, the “axe” may forget the pain, while the tree remembers and oft points to the scars. Both the axe and the tree, offender and victim, will be better off when the hatchet is truly buried without the handle sticking out. In Christ all Christian offenses and pain can be reconciled and should be in the name of Christ.

In most any city there are at two churches of like or similar faith that are bitter toward each other. It’s almost as if one is named Hatfield Baptist and the other McCoy Baptist. It’s not limited to a particular group. This must stop.

I had the privilege of meeting Richard Wurmbrand, the Lutheran Pastor who suffered horribly at the hands of the communists in Romania. He spoke in our churches on three occasions and when I pastored for a short time in Maryland, I had the joyful privilege of flying him to several different meetings to share his story and then back to our base. The stories he could tell in the privacy of 20,000 feet were priceless and I will always remember them. He said, “In the communists prisons we did not fight about the things everyone wants to fight about here. We were busy surviving.” Wurmbrand a dignified, erudite Lutheran pastor, told of holding hands, while naked, on the ice with an illiterate Pentecostal, singing with all their heart, Amazing Grace. Many of my Baptist Friends will say, “If I were standing naked, on a frozen lake holding hands with a Pentecostal it would be because hell had frozen over.” Could it be this is why our churches are as cold as a mother in law’s kiss?

The differences we have are not bad. I think for the most part they are essential. I can tell you from sad experience, when you are sitting naked in some prison cell in a foreign land, or in our own United States, you will gladly welcome the prayers and songs of prisoners in the same boat, whatever their preferred persuasion. Or yours.

You may be the axe or the tree. Whichever, get over it.

Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly

For really good IT services check out My Guru:
http://development-resources.com/index.html
Note: Oral's IT business is really picking up. Contact him if you need help and need it now. His growing list of customers will gladly give you a recommendation. LML

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Will Explain Later. God

1/19/2014

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Larry & Joyce Circa 1985

1-20-14
I often wonder, especially when I’m a little “down,” why God lets certain painful things happen to me and to so many of His people. I have moved from “why me” to a simple, often whispered, “why?” Perhaps you have or are experiencing the same feeling.

Joyce and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this coming August. We appreciate the prayers of many people for us along the way. And we admit to attempting to hold back a smirk for all those who snidely remarked, “Ha, it won’t last 6 months.” Along with the smirk I have to admit that, on occasion, I too have wondered how much longer this will last.

I was not always the polished erudite Christian gentleman you know me to be. When Joyce and I were married we both were Christians, but I was coming out of a life Hollywood wouldn’t believe and was making a living as a long distance truck driver. One Friday night I came home from a two week trip and was more than a little grouchy. In the course of the evening, Joyce packed a little bag and went home to her mother. In short order her mother, God rest her soul, sent her back. Joyce has been like glue ever since. I recall a time in the early years when I emphatically told her I was leaving, and when I got to the car she was right beside me saying in a rather loud voice, “OK buster, I’m going with you.”

That’s about it for us. Other than these two events our lives have been rather boring. If it wasn’t for Jesus and our love for Him and each other we would never have made it.

All of this to say life has its days, and sometimes long periods when we do wonder, how long, oh Lord how long? As a preacher of sorts, and then a pastor for most of the years, we have had our share of broken hearts. Times of fear when doctors told us on two occasions two of our children would not live through the night, and in God’s mercy He spared them and they, with the other two kids are alive and well while serving Jesus.

Along the way we’ve had people we won to Christ and Baptized, performed wedding ceremonies for, who have joined with disgruntled saints and met in prayer that we would leave or some worse thing would happen to us. Yet the Lord blessed in spite of some things prayed for actually happening.

I am sharing this with you to let you know that every sermon I ever heard that was promising a life of bliss on this earth if only you trust Jesus is simply not true. Job said it well, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Job 5:7.

It seems to me from over 50 years of serious Bible study that God reveals Himself in some lives with prosperity and others via pain and suffering in some form. Whichever is His choice and ours is to as Charles Weigle wrote, sing of Him and smile through tears, be they of joy or pain.

Isaiah puts forth a promise for special occasions of trouble, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Isaiah 43:2

This is a powerful idea to cling to in trouble.

I don’t know what you may be walking through today. I don’t why you’re walking that path, God does. And you can take comfort in this truth. An old Gospel song has it, “Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through great trails, but ALL through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long.”

When the book of our life is opened and we sit and as Ira Stanphill wrote, “Ask the reasons and He tells us why” we will recall the wonder, the fear, the pain, the criticism from others and thank Him for carrying us through those very rough waters that threatened to overwhelm us.

In the meantime, regardless of the current time of trouble we can take comfort from God’s Word, God’s people and perhaps a little saying from the now departed North Carolina preacher, Vance Havner, who wrote, “God marks across some of our days, ‘Will explain later.’”

We will be amazed.

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly

For really good IT services check out My Guru:
http://development-resources.com/index.html
Note: Oral's IT business is really picking up. Contact him if you need help and need it now. His growing list of customers will gladly give you a recommendation. LML

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When God Leads you Through

1/15/2014

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One of my early teachers

1-16-14
To say we are living in troublesome times is a major understatement. Daily I receive emails, snail mails, phone calls, tweets and messages from folks who think this is the end, I can’t take anymore. Sometimes while I’m answering such notes of woe, I catch myself thinking, their trouble sounds like mine.

We are not alone when these thoughts hit like a 3 o’clock in the morning kick in the stomach. It’s been this way since Adam traded naked innocence for a coat of skin and walked out of Eden. Job said it this way, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Job 5:7.

C. H. Mackintosh said this concerning the plight of the Israelites near the beginning of their journey from Egypt, “The Sea was before them, Pharaoh’s hosts behind them, and the mountains around them. And all this, be it observed, permitted and ordered by God.”

I have a dear friend who though middle aged is young in the ministry. The Economic Tsunami is flooding him out financially. Surrounded by debt, serious medical problems with a son, and the carping of fellow clergy on dry land, for now, heaping mountains of criticism upon him to the point he screams his prayers to God for help. He knows God’s Word and God’s ways and this knowledge enables him to abide faithful, though eager for the sea to roll back its waves and he and his family getting to walk through on dry ground.

His ministry continues as did the work of Isaiah, Jeremiah, John of Patmos and a grocery list of faithful men and women in the Saints Hall of Fame. It pays to keep in mind that many on the Roll Call of Faith died still surrounded by the obstacles and people around them, yet like Paul just prior to his beheading in Rome we can utter the paean of praise found in 2 Timothy 4:6, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

A mountain philosopher said, “This here life ain’t all they is.” We must not only live through the terrifying circumstances of life that surround us, we must do this living knowing that soon, it will be worth it all. When Jesus died on the cross the observing world assumed His defeat. Three days later all doubt was removed; that seeming defeat was really the greatest victory of all the ages.

As Moses held his rod over the Red Sea and said, “Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord,” a number of things were implied. I am convinced the “stand still” means to quit your fretting, lay off the fear, turn your eyes and hearts from the circumstances and trust God for the outcome. It makes sense that if you never have “circumstances” you will never have a victory. The thing above all else that we must do “when all the world forsakes us and Satan tempts sure, we rest upon His mercy and trust Him more.”

Jesus Christ is greater than your circumstances and He has proved this by His resurrection from the Dead.

Many of our forefathers went to fiery stakes, the original “hot seats” hanging, drowning and being torn to pieces by beasts. They were not delivered, but their faith and patience under the severest fire, singing to God with their last earthly breath, inspires us to continue with trust and faith in our hearts that when the last breath has been expelled from our lungs, the next one is for sure the breath of heaven.

Times may get better or they may get worse. One thing is certain as mentioned by the writer of Hebrews, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8. And in verse 5 of this chapter He promises never to leave or forsake us.

This will help you to sleep soundly while the bill collectors, purveyors of bad news, rebellious children and frowns from other believers, are arming their minds for yet another assault upon your courage to hang in there and sing with faith, Amazing Grace.

Tis a sweet sound indeed.

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly
For really good IT services check out My Guru:
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A Raging Sea of Ignorance

1/12/2014

1 Comment

Raging Sea

1-13-2014
I noted to a friend the other day that in spite of all the very good Bible teaching available to today’s saints via traditional venues, add to these the plethora of media outlets and great writing, too many of God’s people continue to be going down for the third time in a vast raging sea of ignorance.

Most cities and towns across Christendom are awash with men and women who profess to be saved by the Blood of Christ, yet have returned to the sidelines of the faith due to having been “hurt” by other professing Christians. The Lord knows I know the feeling of “hurt” from both sides, having been the cause of hurt to some and by God’s grace enduring avalanches of such hurt.

One of the reasons hurt comes from other Christians is due to the refusal to accept what God says about the human race. This was brought home to me in a post that had this statement as the lead:

“There is no injustice in a wolf acting like a wolf. There is ignorance in the belief that a wolf will not act like a wolf.”

When a Christian acts like a wolf, he/she is acting in accordance with the corrupt Adamic (human) nature. When a Christian acts in a Christlike, biblical manner to the events of life, he/she is acting in response to the new nature imparted via the New Birth. Both natures are active until we lay aside completely the old one in death or the rapture. The old one is controlled by the Adamic instinct, and the new by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and our willing submission to God’s way.

If you have been “hurt,” get over it by grasping the truth that some professor or true Christian was merely acting naturally instead of supernaturally. Jesus Christ touched on this in John 2:25, “And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

Now you know.

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly

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Nothing or All Things

1/8/2014

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1-9-2014
The stated purpose of modern, secular education is to produce an autonomous person, a person who due to the educational process, pulls himself up by his own bootstraps. When I was but a child I helped cut logs for a summer and fall and was awarded a pair of Engineer Boots for my efforts. I was happy. I distinctly recall taking hold of the straps and pulling with all my might. Never moved a fraction. I then pulled with all my might, adding a little jump. I not only could not pull and leap myself up; I fell flat on my hind quarters.

This brings me to a converse truth that will help us to grasp the magnificence of Christ’s statement in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

That Christ is being kicked out school, (I know from experience how He must feel), ruled out of the military, mocked in our congressional halls, and besmirched via equation with false gods, is evident, and glaringly so.

I was blessed by the truth as I listened to a recording of the late Russell Kelfer in which he told of an older widow’s statement to God over heard in a prayer meeting:

“Dear God, I cannot live without Bill without you.”

I support this honest prayer with Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

You may put your loss/heartache into this verse and go on with Christ.

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly

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The Dumpster Rule

1/5/2014

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Woman Found $150,000 rug in Dumpster

1-6-14
Last year a woman discovered a beautiful rug in a dumpster. She dug it out because it was beautiful to her. On a whim she took it to the TV program, Antique Road Show. The host of the show pointed out the rug was an Admalic creation about 200 years old. This woman from San Diego, California now has a rescued dumpster rug valued at $150,000.

Here’s a question: Does the person who put the rug in the dumpster have a claim to the thrown away rug? No. The Dumpster Rule states once something is set outside the home, business etc. as trash it is fair game for whomever. This includes any form of law enforcement, a passerby or a professional dumpster diver.

The wording is similar to this: Once it hits the dumpster it is no longer under your control.

I have invested heavily in rescuing people from the dumpsters of life. These are men and some women who have been deemed unworthy, unredeemable, and other terms signifying trash.

I could make a list several pages long of people I and my associates have picked from life dumpsters who turned out to be of great value to Christ and His work. Though often criticized, we continue helping people get out of the dumpster and get on with life.

People do not belong to other people to throw away and if they are thrown away for whatever reason, they still are God’s creation. Some of the worst attacks and criticism have proven groundless as the rescued have proven of great worth in the kingdom of Christ.

Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him (Jacob) in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly

For really good IT services check out My Guru:
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