Let the reflections begin! Each year the unwritten item on our schedule is to look back over the past year. We had some ideas about what we would like to accomplish by the end of the new year. Actually, I think that it is a good thing. Some folks are so hard on themselves if they do not meet their own expectations it ruins the first quarter of the following year, but for most of us it helps to gauge ourselves. When we evaluate maybe we find areas that we spent much time on last year that would be better for the overall life and ministry if we shortened that activity for the coming year. Paul had a strong desire to mold Timothy into a soldier for Christ. Paul told him that he could not afford to get entangled with the affairs of this life if indeed he wished to be a good soldier.

Let’s pause for a moment and call to remembrance the things that were very important to us this time last year. Now, sit back down! How did we do? Can you look back and see how the cares of this life swallowed up your good intentions? We can now conclude that whatever it was was not really important anyway, or we can place some safeguards around that activity so that we can do better in the coming year. We need God’s Word every day. Were we faithful to read, study and pray over it last year? How about meditation? Do we take time out of our busy schedule to be still and know that He is God? Everything is clamoring for your attention, and if we do not establish some very strict lines of priority we will soon be reflecting with even greater disappointments.

Set aside time for Bible reading, study and prayer. When you look at your schedule do you find that your family is represented on the calendar as you claim they are in your preaching? Where does your outreach to the lost fit in your schedule? Are you witnessing to sinners on purpose? Perhaps there are a few things that accepted far to much of your time this past year. You know very well that those little time robbers have not retired from their activity. They know that the new year brings new challenges for them. You are determined to do better at getting important things done, and the little time robbers are equally as determined to bind your hands with unnecessary activities.

Set aside some good books to read this year. Take the most productive time in your day to read the Bible. Mark out significant time to communicate with your Lord. Don’t just spend time with your family, but enjoy spending time with them. Convince them that they are important to you and God.

Let’s, by the grace of God, have a wonderful 2015 in the service of the King.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

Over the years, I have read many of the sermons preached by Charles Spurgeon.  In several of those messages, not only did they ring true for his day, but for ours as well.  He warned those of his day of the peril that was before them if things continued as they were.

What was needed then and now was revival.  The believers in 2 Corinthians 8 first gave themselves to the Lord before they attempted to give themselves to minister to the needs that Paul put before them.  So many things are happening in our world today that certainly deserve God’s judgment.  It is so easy to look at things that happen in the Middle East, Hollywood, and Washington, and say God would bless if only changes could be seen.  However, we are fully aware that judgement must first begin at the house of God.  “If my people” were God’s words to Solomon.  If He brought judgement on Israel and they saw pestilence and famine, they were to look to God.

Yes indeed, God said that His people must pray, seek His face, and turn from their sin.  It is easy to blame the problems in the world on everyone but us; however, would the world be what it is if the church was what it should be?  It is rare to hear fervent prayer in any church these days.  There are mentally prepared prayers.  There are pretty prayers.  There are even preaching prayers, but rarely do we witness heartfelt fervent praying.  It must be easier to curse the darkness than to light the world!

If the world is darker, would it not stand to reason that the light must be dimmer?  Is it under a bushel?  We can do better, but we must want to rise above the darkness that has infiltrated the church.  Once the light has brightened in the church, it must then be displayed so that the world can see that there is a difference.  We must know that the world sees a lot of religion, but very little light.

Please permit me to speak clearly to us as ministers of the Gospel, and even more specifically to those that are taking the Gospel to regions beyond.  You are the only hope that the people watching you have of ever seeing real Christianity lived out before them.  If you find it impossible to represent Christ appropriately in the area that God has called you, please step aside and permit someone to bring light to their dark world.  You could very well be the only opportunity that they will have to not only hear the truth, but to also see it lived out before them on a daily basis.

We must lay aside the sin, but also the weight that so easily besets us and allows the darkness to prevail in our villages, towns, or cities.  May God graciously allow us to see real revival in our day, and may that revival push back the darkness so that the world can see genuine light lived out before them every day.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

Have you noticed how cluttered our lives are?  Paul offered many challenges to Timothy, and one really stands out to me in light of the stressful lives that we live almost every day.  2 Timothy 2:1-4 says, ”Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”  There are so many things in these verses that speak in certain sounds to me.  However, think on this one thing, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.”

This reminds me somewhat of Hebrews 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”  There is no question that sin is on every side.  We are warned on every hand, and the law of Christ written in our hearts makes us aware of the pitfalls that abound.  However, “the affairs of this life” and the “weight” can be easily dismissed.  Pastors will schedule revivals, Bible conferences, and missions conferences months and years ahead.  Everyone is aware of the church schedule.  Yet, when it is time to participate, it is as though it catches everyone by surprise, although many times it happens the same time every year.  Church leaders are often discouraged because the daily schedule of so many is continually filled to, and many times, beyond capacity.  Unfortunately, this is not only true for the average church member, but it is also true for most of us.  Are we incapable of discerning priorities?  Can we not find His guiding hand in the affairs of life?  Many years ago I read about a preacher in one of E.M. Bounds books on prayer.  The preacher said, “I have so much to do today that I fear if I do not pray at least four hours I will never get it all done.”  Are we actually praying about the priorities of life?

Much has been said of having a five year plan, but I wonder if we even have a daily plan.  It is so easy to drift along with the affairs of life and permit the heavy weights of life to map our lives for us. Life has limits, and time stands still for none of us.  The Lord told His disciples that His meat was to finish the work given Him by the Father. Let’s examine our lives.  Is the load that we are under everyday ordered by the Lord?  Are we making wise choices when faced with multiple options?  Praying that our steps would be ordered by the Lord should be a natural part of our Christian experience.  In all of our ways, we must acknowledge Him if we are to cross the finish line with the task complete to His satisfaction.

I pray that God will give us clarity concerning today, and then everyday He sets before us.  May His blessings be yours continually.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone