Random Thoughts…End Of Summer
I just finished reading “Lord Foulgrin’s Letters”, written by Randy Alcorn. It is a fictional book, describing the unseen spiritual warfare that the Bible tells us about.
The book focuses on letter writing between a senior and a junior demon, and tells of the senior demon’s counsel to his subordinate about how to destroy a particular man. Every other chapter focuses on the demonic letters from the senior demon to the junior demon. The alternating chapters give a chronological account of the man’s life, and the interaction between the demon’s efforts against the man, and the work of God in seeking to help the man.
I highly recommend this book. It is one of those books that rings true about what I have believed for a long time, and known, but don’t effectively remember often enough. It puts into words vividly that which I know in my heart.
Buy it here.
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I am realizing that I believe in the unseen world much more than the seen world. This world makes no sense to me except by the explanation of Holy Scripture. My citizenship is in Heaven. I am a pilgrim.
I will not pour myself into things that will pass away. I will enjoy life and the blessings that God has given me, but I will pour myself into things that will last eternally.
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I thank God that he will receive me unto Himself, whether via the rapture or by death.
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I believe in the truths of God now more than ever.
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I am in the middle of an unseen spiritual war. I am more sure of the presence of Satan than ever before. I am also more sure of the power of God.
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Prayer is indispensable. I am blessed to pray with men each Tuesday night. I believe that God will do great things because we are asking for His will to be done. Prayer is becoming the air in my lungs and the constant thought of my mind. I pray more than ever, because I must, and because it is powerful to change things.
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I am at the same time, amazed but not surprised about people who turn away from Christ. I did it myself for 6 years, but I still can’t believe why I did it, or why anyone would do it, and yet I am not surprised, even though I am shocked.
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I grieve over those who live without Jesus. One of the Wesley brothers (John or Charles) was quotes as saying to his congregation, “How can I not cry for you, when you will not cry for yourselves”.
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I don’t like when people assume things about me because I am a Christian and a pastor. I don’t hate gays. I am not a hard core Republican Conservative, nor a liberal Democrat. I am not blindly pro-Israel. I don’t expect to change the culture, but I pray that Jesus will change people and use me in the process. I am not in favor of making prayer in school mandatory. I am a Calvary Chapel pastor, but I don’t like being pigeon holed as being a blind follower of Chuck Smith and all things Calvary Chapel. I am a Christian, and seek to follow Jesus, not a movement.
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I cannot accomplish everything I dream of. It is hard to know how to spend my time. I will die with many dreams undone, but that is O.K. My life is His to spend, not mine to keep. Therefore, I will pray about how to spend my life, for my life is His.
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I have recently realized that many of my dreams and hopes have come to pass regarding ministry efforts. That leads me to believe that God was the inspiration of those dreams, which brings a wonderful peace and gratitude to my heart.
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Ministry that costs little accomplishes little. (not original with me, but I don’t remember who said it)
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Like everyone else, I want to be understood and accepted.
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Faith waits…
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1 Timothy 1:12-14 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
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The above painting is done by my friend Rich Brimer. It is entitled “Mary Painted”.
Rich’s work can be found at http://richbrimer.com/
5 Responses so far
Bob Bennett
August 19th, 2009
10:11 pm
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Costa Mesa, CA
11:10 PM PDT
Hi Bill …
A late-night Facebook check-in led me here to your post … and I wanted to send my love and greetings in our Shared Faith! Hopefully we can reconnect soon and figure out a way to get me in your neck of the woods … or to reconnect here if you ever get behind the OC Curtain anymore.
Your friend, Bob Bennett
Bill Walden
August 20th, 2009
12:29 pm
Bob,
It would be great to have you visit with us again. I rarely go behind The Curtain anymore. It is hard to go back to Egypt when you live in The Promised Land.
Love ya brother…
Praying Heart
August 20th, 2009
4:20 pm
Pastor Bill;
- As the days grow closer to our being with Jesus (whether we’re getting closer to the end of our life, or Jesus’ coming is just over the horizon) – we absolutely want to do all He’s called us to do to fulfill His Great Commission and call upon our lives – for that’s the greatest calling we have –
We’re not only building our treasure in Heaven as He’s told us to do, we’re also communing with Jesus here on earth – and one day we’ll be talking with him face to face – looking into His most beautiful, revealing eyes – what could be better!!!
Thanks for the encouragement to ‘KEEP ON KEEPING ON’ with Jesus!
When we’re aware of the battle, we won’t ‘rest on our laurels’ – or make our home in this world –
“Lord, please help us to never forget we are Yours and You are ours for all eternity – this is who we are and where we live!”
Loren H.
August 21st, 2009
6:30 am
Bill, I assume that you are familiar with the “Screwtape Letters”, written by C.S. Lewis? I believe Alcorn credits these as the genesis of his story. When I was a baby Christian I listened to a audio recording of this narrated by, of all people, John Cleese of Monty Python fame. I would listen to it late at night when I could not sleep. I still think back to it when I feel distracted or diverted from focusing on prayer, worship and service. I am sure that there is much more about the unseen world that we cannot undertstand than we can understand, so I appreciate the Screwtape Letters for providing a basis for seeing it from the “other side”.
Lisa and I keep Bob Bennett in or car’s CD player all the time, so if you can twist his arm to come to Napa again we would be in the front row!
Loren
MaryAnne Hommel
August 21st, 2009
7:39 pm
I remember reading the Alcorn book a long time ago, and I liked it. I have recommended it to a lot of kids who can’t seem to get their head around Lewis.
“Prayer is indispensable”: We just got a phone call from a guy that God rescued from the pit about eight years ago. About five years ago, he went back to the pit. We were overjoyed to hear from him. When I texted my daughter that he had called she texted back “Where is he? I was just praying for him yesterday!” We never stopped. It was good to be able to tell him that, and it made me want to be able to tell a lot of other people “I never stopped praying for you”. God is faithful!
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