J. Todd Vinson is the Founder and Executive Director of Willow Springs Boys' Ranch and
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats in Chandler, OK.
Willow Springs Boys' Ranch provides a long-term home for boys who are displaced or whose families are in crisis. WSBR serves boys from across Oklahoma and the United States.
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats strives to strengthen inter-personal relationships, develop character, leadership, and introduce the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jacob's Ladder facilitates groups for high school and college athletics, youth groups, service groups, prepares mission teams, couples and families retreats, rites of passage retreats, and corporate retreats.
Jacob's Ladders function is to help fund the mission of Willow Springs Boys Ranch.
Todd holds a B.A in Psychology and a Masters in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Todd is a former Young Life staffer in Norman, OK. He also is a former Kanakuk Kamp counselor. Both of these organizations have had a profound influence on his life as he works with youth and families.
Todd and his wife, Jeannie, have been married for fourteen years and have four girls: Mattie, Ellie, Avery and Murphy. They are active members of Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, OK.
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My family went to the Christmas program at Henderson Hills last night. The title was ALL WRAPPED UP. The message struck me. It is a message often missed.
We often miss messages. Even with all the technology, we miss phone calls, voice messages, email, and directions that had we received them, our life would have been so much better. We miss messages because we are often all wrapped up in other things.
I was waiting in the lobby last night for Jeannie as she went back to the car for our tickets. I was in conversation with a friend. She said she tapped me on the shoulder, and said "I have your ticket and I am going on inside with the girls. She said I look right at her, but I never saw her or heard her. Frightening. I spent the next 20 minutes walking all around the area and even to the parking lot looking for her. Even though I was in the building, I almost lost my seat for the program. How often do I do that with God. More often than I would like to admit.
The same is true about the message of Christ. The message is one that we can't afford to miss. How often do we look right at the Message and miss it?
I am use to reading about the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke. I am use to seeing Carolers in the Mall, seeing a Nativity Scene, or hearing the Christmas Message at church. This morning, I ran across it in an unexpected place...in the book of Isaiah. My prayer is that none of us will miss hearing or receiving the Christmas Message this year. Take time to read in Isaiah and discover or be re-reminded why we celebrate Christmas.
Continue reading "DON'T MISS THE MESSAGE" »
We have been doing a series on Sunday Nights at WSBR called Tools for Your Tool Bag. Each week, Derin or I literally give each boy a tool for their tool bags. This tool represents a character quality that will help boys be successful in life. Today's tool will be a set of allen wrenches. They looked at me funny when I bought 16 of them at Lowe's this week. In fact, hardware stores look at us funny every week when we go in to by 16 of something.
Continue reading "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" »
I was sitting here reading the following Scriptures: Isaiah 55:1-5, Luke 9:1-3, 23-25, as I received an email today from a friend who is on the board to open a girls home in Albania. They are within 25k of having the reserves that the government requires for them to begin serving children. Over the last 12 years, God used finances as a tool in my life. It is a constant reminder of my need for HIM. The U.S. economic climate is being used for those same purposes as well. Our stock portfolios do not hold the same since of security that they once did. They never should have. We place our security in many things. Even in leading this ministry, oftentimes God ranks too low on the list. "It is up to my abilities, my contacts, my hard work." God says that HE shall provide ALL our NEEDS (not wants), according to HIS riches and HIS glory in Heaven. That does not negate my need for good stewardship and commitment to excellence. However, HE is the principle investor and shareholder in my life and this mission. God operates on a different economy. An economy where moth and rust does not destroy. I want to be invested there. That investment in not payed in a dollar amount, but with surrendering my life to Him. I become a Living Sacrifice for God. Living means that I am active and moving at His direction, not my own.
I have trouble being a Living Sacrifice. The problem is, Living Sacrifices often climb off the alter. I wander off and do my own thing. Or do God's thing my own way. God is the One who is at work. He is funding the projects here at WSBR and Albania. It is not natural for me to be concerned for the needs of Albania. I am swimming in daily and monthly needs of our own here at WSBR. But when my focus is on others and God, amazingly our needs are supplied. I got a phone call this morning from a friend that said that God had specifically put WSBR on his mind and he wanted to help. This happened with a 4 color newsletter, a banquet dinner, or a telemarketing campaign. I had never talked to this person about getting involved in what we do at the ranch. It was God prompting him to get involved in what God was already doing.
We are called to be available and obedient to God, for His good works and His glory. I am praying for God to show up. When He does, He gets the credit. When I show up, I tend to take credit for things that I played a very little part in. God is supplying ALL our needs,...here at the ranch and for what He is doing in Albania. All of these events today have been a good reminder of where I play my security.
Continue reading "Where Have You Placed Your Security?" »
We have a phrase at the Ranch that our staff has caught ourselves saying often over the years. We tell boys that one of the things that we are called to do is to "put tools in their toolbag so that they can be successful in life when they grow up."
Last night at Ranch Life, we re-introduced that concept to the boys in a literal way. WSBR bought a toolbag for each of the boys on the ranch. I described to them that tool bag represented their life. of my toolbag, I pulled out a hammer that my dad gave me. I still remember the lessons that he give me on how to hold it and how to keep from hitting my thumb. I am still learning some of those lession. But I think of my dad everytime I use his hammer.
Each week WSBR will be giving our boys a new tool to place in their toolbag. That literal tool, say a screwdriver or pair of pliers will represent a character quality or a life skill that WSBR is striving to develop in their life. It is up to them to take care of their tools in their toolbag. A tool is as only as good as the hand that holds it. Each tool also was designed for a very specific use. A philips screw is better suited for a screwdriver instead of a hammer, even though the hammer is often my tool of choice!
We want boys to move from toy boxes to tool boxes as they grow up and mature. When they leave, we want boys to leave with a toolbox of memories, character and integrity they have seen lived out daily at the ranch. It is our prayer that the little red Craftsman toolbag will one day be passed on to their sons. What a legacy that will be!
Thank you to all of you who help provide the resources for all the tools we use at WSBR to "Train Up" these boys. I appreciate all you do! Thanks for making a difference for generations!
I was driving my girls to school this morning. Ellie, my second oldest, was so excited. She had a shadow box that she had made for a report on polar bears. She read me her report on all the interesting facts that she had learned- how they hibernate, and polar bear habitat. Polar bears come out of hibernation in mid March, in case you were wondering. All of you in the Mid-West, be on the look out!
Continue reading "BROWN BEARS and DADDYS" »
After coming back from the World Mandate missions conference a few weeks ago, Jeannie and I began talking to our girls about how we "live out" our relationship with God daily. Our girls are 10 years old and younger, so you obviously have to take them where they are. We talked about spending some time with God everyday and what that might look like for someone their age.
Well my 10 year old and my 7 year old have started setting their own alarm on their own to wake up 10 minutes early every day to read a children's bible story and verse. THEY HAVEN'T MISSED A DAY SINCE THEY STARTED. Wish i could say the same! But it sure motivates me to be hungry for God. Especially when my 7 year old asks me in the car on the way to school, "Daddy, what did God teach you this morning WHEN...YOU read your Bible?
The reading from Oswald Chambers is strong stuff today. Are you hungry for God? Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it! I have seen that first hand in my girls.
Continue reading "INSTANTANEOUS AND INSISTENT SANCTIFICATION" »
And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless. ~1 Thessalonians 5:23
"Your whole spirit. . ." The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit
is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at. Read
the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies - "Thou art the God of the
early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the
mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has
further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the
nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths
than any sea in nature - Thou Who art the God of all these, be my
God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are
motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at - my God, search me
out."
Do we believe that God can garrison the imagination far beyond where
we can go? "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin" - if
that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us.
The man who has been made obtuse by sin will say he is not conscious
of sin. Cleansing from sin is to the very heights and depths of our
spirit if we will keep in the light as God is in the light, and the
very Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of
our spirits. It is only when we are garrisoned by God with the
stupendous sanctity of the Holy Spirit, that spirit, soul and body
are preserved in unspotted integrity, undeserving of censure in God's
sight, until Jesus comes.
We do not allow our minds to dwell as they should on these great
massive truths of God.
Oswald Chambers
II thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord... .
Jeremiah 4:1
The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before
God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends
me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out
before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may
take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it
must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go
through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power
over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there.
If I say, "I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put
God to the test," I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled
between my self and God in the secret places of my soul where no
stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty
that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and
upset are as sure as God's decree. The reason the battle is not won
is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone
with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and
for all.
In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an
issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and
again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax.
That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go
towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life,
or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God
- My Utmost for His Highest.
Mr. Spurgeon once preached what in his judgment was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and floundered, and when he got through he felt that it had been a complete failure. He was greatly humiliated, and when he got home he fell on his knees and said, "Lord, God, Thou canst do something with nothing. Bless that poor sermon."
And all through the week he uttered that prayer. He woke up in the night and prayed about it. He determined that the next Sunday he would redeem himself by preaching a great sermon. Sure enough, the next Sunday the sermon went off beautifully. At the close the people crowded about him and covered him with praise. Spurgeon went home pleased with himself, and that night he slept like a baby. But he said to himself, "I'll watch the results of those two sermons." What were they?
From the one that has seemed a failure he was able to trace forty-one conversions. And from that magnificent sermon he was unable to discover that a single soul was saved. The Spirit of God used the one and did not use the other. We can do nothing without the Spirit who helps our infirmities.
--Christian Digest
The concentration of spiritual energy
. . . save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:14.
If you want to know the energy of God (i.e., the resurrection life of Jesus) in your mortal flesh, you must brood on the tragedy of God. Cut yourself off from prying personal interest in your own spiritual symptoms and consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God, and instantly the energy of God will be in you. "Look unto Me," pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will be there. We lose power if we do not concentrate on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these, we are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God's centre in your preaching, and though your crowd may apparently pay no attention, they can never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it is of no more importance to you than your talk is to me; but if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again and so shall I. We have to concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy, the Cross, to keep in contact with that centre where all the power lies, and the energy will he let loose. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings the concentration is apt to be put not on the Cross of Christ, but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the churches is being criticized to-day, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this concentration of spiritual energy; we have not brooded enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of Redemption.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (November 26). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31.
The great marvel of the Incarnation slips into ordinary childhood's life; the great marvel of the Transfiguration vanishes in the devilpossessed valley; the glory of the Resurrection descends into a breakfast on the sea-shore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.
The tendency is to look for the marvellous in our experience; we mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us. If we do not want medieval haloes, we want something that will make people say--'What a wonderful man of prayer he is!' 'What a pious, devoted woman she is!' If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time.
'Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!' It takes Almighty God Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty to the glory of God. It takes God's Spirit in us to make us so absolutely humanly His that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success, but faithfulness in human life as it actually is. We will set up success in Christian work as the aim; the aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (November 16). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
"Take now thy son ." Genesis 22:2
God's command is - Take now, not presently. It is extraordinary how we debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height God shows can never be done presently, it must be done now. The sacrifice is gone through in will before it is performed actually.
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning and went unto the place of which God had told him" (v. 3). The wonderful simplicity of Abraham!
When God spoke, he did not confer with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to confer with flesh and blood, i.e., your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship to God. These are the things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God; self-sacrifice may be a disease. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the crucible for Abraham, and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one.
My Upmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers
What does a son need from his father? That is the question that I asked all our boys tonight at Ranch Life, our weekly Sunday night Bible Study. They watched a powerful video about father and son, Dick and Rick Hoyt.
What does a son need from his father? Hold on to you seat. Here are the answer that our guys gave tonight:
Someone to teach me about life.
Someone who will spend time with me.
Someone who will be a good role model for me.
Someone to provide for me.
Someone who will help me learn.
Someone who will be an example to me.
Someone who will love me.
Someone who will be a leader.
Someone who will discipline me.
Someone who will accept me.
Someone who will teach me about God.
Someone who will act interested in me.
Someone who will go to my games.
Someone who will encourage me.
Someone who I can trust.
Someone who I can always count on.
These answers did not come from Dr. Phil or Dr. James Dobson. These answers came from boys ages nine to sixteen years old. The story of Dick and Rick Hoyt is a powerful example of a father's commitment to his son.
Father's, your sons... and daughters need you. Look again at the list that the boys of Willow Springs made tonight. They are going to follow somebody. They were created to follow you. They need and desparately want to follow you.
You don't have to be perfect. Christ gave you the perfect example. Jesus said that he only did what he say his father doing. We have to look and see what the Father is doing, and follow His lead. Read His manual. Lead by example. Your son is needs that from you. He needs to see your face and finger-prints all over that list . What a reward you will have when he is grown.
I have not written much lately. Partly due to a busy camp schedule and a our baby girl arriving tomorrow. That part is all good and beyond what I could ask for. But the silent days of no postings screams volumes. This summer has been one of the most challenging times of serving others since the ranch began. WSBR has had a few boys who have chosen to walk away from WSBR. These are not new guys who have been here for a short time. These are guys who have been here over 5 years. Guys who many of you have also been heavily invested in as well. It has been hard to not feel a heavy sense of defeat and personal failure when you see the prodical son arrogantly walk away. But you continue to love. You begin to look down that dusty road and hope to one day see a familiar figure walking back to way of life that was instilled in them. We have to hold out hope for our mission statement of Proverbs 22:6 that says "when they are old, they will not depart from it."
As our staff picks up the pieces what seems to be shattered hopes for some boys, Oswald Chambers has given us an excellent reminder of where our focus needs to be during tough times and in the midst of tough decisions. I hope this reading encourages you as much as it did for me when my friend Derin read it to me. Please pray for the return of the prodical. Please pray that we can be the faithful father who waits for his son to return.
Continue reading "Am I Convinced by Christ?" »
I haven't read Oswald Chambers for weeks. Seems like when I do, it nails me. Like most people, I have had a busy summer. I get focused on self, and that is a slippery slope. Today's devotional was a good reminder on where I need to keep my focus. Read below what Oswald has to say:
Continue reading "COMPLETENESS" »
Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way... Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. Do we so appreciate the marvellous salvation of Jesus Christ that we are our utmost for His highest?
God saves men by His sovereign grace through the Atonement of Jesus; He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; but we have to work out that salvation in practical living. If once we start on the basis of His Redemption to do what He commands, we find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not practised. The crisis will reveal whether we have been practising or not. If we obey the Spirit of God and practise in our physical life what God has put in us by His Spirit, then when the crisis comes, we shall find that our own nature as well as the grace of God will stand by us.
Thank God He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a glad thing, but it is also a heroic, holy thing. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is bringing many "sons" unto glory, and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son. God's grace turns out men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not milk sops. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus in actual things. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.
~Oswald Chambers, My Upmost for His HIghest July 7
We've hit a full stride in our summer schedule. Some days I am in a rhythm and on a runner's high. Other times it feels like i have hit that proverbial wall. The rain this week has slowed me down a bit and caused me to reflect on where I am at. Today's reading of Oswald Chambers was also a great reminder. Click on the link if you would like to be emailed his daily devotion.
I often pride myself in my own efforts and abilities. If I am not careful, I start taking credit for things that are due God alone. We tell guys at the ranch all the time to "work smarter, not harder." The same is try in our spiritual life. We need to drinnk from the well of GRACE, daily. We can't just rely on the drink that we had yesterday, last week, last month, or last crisis. As Oswald mentions today in this devotion, we should be rich in grace and bankkrupt of self because we have poured it all out.
Continue reading "ALWAYS NOW" »
"Get thee up into the high mountain.'
~ Isaiah 40:9
Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things please and delight you, and you say, "I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation." Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ we see but little of him. The higher we climb the more we discover of his beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, "I know whom I have believed,"for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of him to whom he had committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1995). Morning and evening : Daily readings (June 25 AM). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
The Blessings of the Presence of God
~Brother Lawrence
1. The first blessing that the soul receives from the practice of the presence of God is that its faith is livelier and more active everywhere in our lives. This is particularly true in difficult times, since it obtains the grace we need to deal with temptation and to conduct ourselves in the world. The soul accustomed by this exercise to the practice of faith - can actually see and feel God by simply entering His presence. It envokes Him easily and obtains what it needs. In so doing, the soul could be said to approach the Blessed, in that it can almost say, "I no longer believe, but I see and experience." Its faith becomes more and more penetrating as it advances through practice.
2. The practice of the presence of God strengthens us in hope. Our hope increases as our faith penetrates God's secrets through practice of our holy exercise. The soul discovers in God a beauty infinitely surpassing not only that of bodies that we see on earth, but even that of the angels. Our hope increases and grows stronger, and the amount of good that it expects to enjoy, and that in some degree it tastes, reassures and sustains it.
3. This practice causes the will to rejoice at being set apart from the world, setting it aglow with the fire of holy love. This is because the soul is always with God, Who is a consuming fire, Who reduces into powder whatever is opposed to Him. The soul thus inflamed can no longer live except in the presence of its God. This presence produces a holy ardor, a sacred urgency, and a violent desire in the heart to see this God, Who is loved.
4. By practicing God's presence and continuously looking at Him, the soul familiarizes itself with Him to the extent that it passes almost its whole life in continual acts of love, praise, confidence, thanksgiving, offering, and petition. Sometimes all this may merge into one single act that does not end, because the soul is always in the ceaseless exercise of God's Divine presence.
The Means of Acquiring the Presence of God
~Brother Lawrence
1. The first means is a new life, received by salvation through the blood of Christ.
2. The second is faithfully practicing God's presence. This must always be done gently, humbly, and lovingly, without giving way to anxiety or problems.
3. The soul's eyes must be kept on God, particularly when something is being done in the outside world. Since much time and effort are needed to perfect this practice, one should not be discouraged by failure. Although the habit is difficult to form, it is a source of divine pleasure once it is learned. It is proper that the heart - which is the first to live and which dominates all the other parts of the body - should be the first and the last to love God. The heart is the beginning and the end of all our spiritual and bodily actions and, generally speaking, of everything we do in our lives. It is, therefore, the heart whose attention we must carefully focus on God.
4. In the beginning of this practice, it would not be wrong to offer short phrases that are inspired by love, such as "Lord, I am all Yours," "God of love, I love You with all my heart," or "Lord, use me according to Your will." But remember to keep the mind from wandering or returning to the world. Hold your attention on God alone by exercising your will to remain in God's presence.
5. Although this exercise may be difficult at first to maintain, it has marvelous effects on the soul when it is faithfully practiced. It draws the graces of the Lord down in abundance and shows the soul how to see God's presence everywhere with a pure and loving vision, which is the holiest, firmest, easiest, and the most effective attitude for prayer.
Spiritual Maxim: The Union of the Soul with God
~Brother Lawrence
The first way in which the soul is united with God is through salvation, solely by His grace.
This is followed by a period in which a saved soul comes to know God through a series of experiences, some of which bring it into closer union with Him and some take it further away. The soul learns which activities bring God's presence nearer. It remains in His presence by practicing those activities.
The most perfect union with God is the actual presence of God. Although this relationship with God is totally spiritual, it is quite dynamic, because the soul is not asleep, but powerfully excited. It is livelier than fire and brighter than the unclouded sun. Yet, it is at the same time tender and devout. It is not a simple expression of the heart, like saying, "Lord, I love You with all my heart," or other similar words. Rather, it is an inexpressible state of the soul - gentle, peaceful, respectful, humble, loving, and very simple - that urges it to love God, to adore Him, and to embrace Him with both tenderness and joy.
Everyone who is striving for divine union must realize that just because something is agreeable and delightful to the will does not mean that it will bring one closer to God. Sometimes it is helpful to disengage the sentiments of the will from the world, in order that it can focus entirely on God. For if the will is able in some manner to comprehend Him, it can be only by love. And that love, which has its end in God, will be hindered by the things of this world.
Spiritual Maxim: How to Adore God in Spirit and in Truth
~Brother Lawrence
There are three points to consider here:
First, to adore God in Spirit and in truth means to adore Him as we should. Because God is a Spirit, He must be adored in spirit. That is to say, we must worship Him with a humble, sincere love that comes from the depth and center of our soul. Only God can see this adoration, which we must repeat until it becomes part of our nature, as if God were one with our soul and our soul were one with God. Practice will demonstrate this.
Secondly, to adore God in truth is to recognize Him for what He is, and ourselves for what we are. Adoring God in truth means that our heart actually sees God as infinitely perfect and worthy of our praise. What man, regardless of how little sense he may have, would not exert all his strength to show his respect and love of this great God?
Thirdly, to adore God in truth is to admit that our nature is just the opposite of His. Yet, He is willing to make us like Him, if we desire it. Who would be so rash as to neglect, even for a moment, the respect, the love, the service, and the continual adoration that we owe Him?
Spiritual Maxim:Practice Necessary to Acquire the Spiritual Life
~Brother Lawerence
1. The most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God. That means finding constant pleasure in His divine company, speaking humbly and lovingly with Him in all seasons, at every moment, without limiting the conversation in any way. This is especially important in times of temptation, sorrow, separation from God, and even in times of unfaithfulness and sin.
2. We must try to converse with God in little ways while we do our work; not in memorized prayer, not trying to recite previously formed thoughts. Rather, we should purely and simply reveal our hearts as the words come to us.
3. We must do everything with great care, avoiding impetuous actions, which are evidence of a disordered spirit. God wishes us to work gently, calmly, and lovingly with Him, asking Him to accept our work. By this continual attention to God, we will "resist the devil and cause him to flee" (James 4:7).
4. Whatever we do, even if we are reading the Word or praying, we should stop for a few minutes - as often as possible - to praise God from the depths of our hearts, to enjoy Him there in secret. Since you believe that God is always with you, no matter what you may be doing, why shouldn't you stop for awhile to adore Him, to praise Him, to petition Him, to offer Him your heart, and to thank Him? What could please God more than for us to leave the cares of the world temporarily in order to worship Him in our spirits? These momentary retreats serve to free us from our selfishness, which can only exist in the world. In short, we cannot show God our loyalty to Him more than by renouncing our worldly selves as much as a thousand times a day to enjoy even a single moment with Him.
This doesn't mean you must leave the duties of the world forever; that would be impossible. Let prudence be your guide. But I do believe that it is a common mistake of spirit-filled persons not to leave the cares of the world from time to time to praise God in their spirits and to rest in the peace of His divine presence for a few moments.
5. Our adoration of God should be done in faith, believing that He really lives in our hearts, and that He must be loved and served in spirit and in truth. Believe that He is the most independent One, upon Whom all of us depend, and that He is aware of everything that happens to us.
The Lord's perfections are truly beyond measure. By His infinite excellence and His sovereign place as both Creator and Savior, He has the right to possess us and all that exists in both heaven and earth. It should be His good pleasure to do with each of us whatever He chooses through all time and eternity. Because of all He is to us, we owe Him our thoughts, words and actions. Let us earnestly endeavor to do this.
6. We must carefully examine ourselves to see which virtues we are in most need of, and which we find the hardest to acquire. We should also take note of the sins that we most frequently fall into and what occasions often contribute to that fall. It is in our times of struggle with these areas that we can go before God with entire confidence and remain firm in the presence of His divine Majesty. In humble adoration, we must confess to Him our sins and weaknesses, lovingly asking for the help of His grace in our time of need. In this way, we will find that we can partake of all the virtues found in Him, even though we do not possess one of our own.
I just began re-reading a book I found on my bookshelf that was given to me over 15 years ago by my friend Ken. It is titled, "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence.
We practice a lot of things. Some practice medicine. Some practice law. Others practice music and sports. Practicing the Presence of God is not always on the top of my list. This little book is a good reminder for me and makes me hunger for more. Below is an excerpt on this short 93 page book. Click on the link above for the entire book online.
Continue reading "The Presence of God" »
Put God First in Trust. Jesus did not commit Himself unto them,...for He knew what was in man. John 2:24-25.
Our Lord trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for any man. If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be-absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else.
Put God's Needs First. Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:9.
A man's obedience is to what he sees to be a need;Our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father. The cry to-day is-'We must get some work to do; the heathen are dying without God; we must go and tell them of Him.' We have to see first of all that God's needs in us personally are being met. 'Tarry ye until ..." The purpose of this College is to get us rightly related to the needs of God. When God's needs in us have been met, then He will open the way for us to realize His needs elsewhere.
Put God's Trust First. And whoso receiveth one such little child in My name, receiveth Me. Matthew 18:5.
God's trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe. God expects my personal life to be a 'Bethlehem.' Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God's ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (May 31). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
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That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4:10
We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of 'myself' apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say- "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.
There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.
Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (May 14). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
Continue reading "The Habit of Enjoying the Disagreeable" »
Add to your faith virtue . . . . ("Furnish your faith with resolution.") (MOFFATT)
2 Peter 1:5.
"Add" means there is something we have to do. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in. "Add" means to get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages it is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning, to instruct yourself in the way you have to go.
Beware of the tendency of asking the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative, stop hesitating, and take the first step. Be resolute when God speaks, act in faith immediately on what He says, and never revise your decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do a thing, you endanger your standing in grace. Take the initiative, take it yourself, take the step with your will now, make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you- "I will write that letter'; 'I will pay that debt.' Make the thing inevitable.
We have to get into the habit of hearkening to God about everything, to form the habit of finding out what God says. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we know that the habit has been formed. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we are not.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (May 10). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
Continue reading "Take the Initiative" »
Jacob's Ladder hosted the Men's Retreat for Henderson HIll's Baptist Church this past weekend. 125 men showed up for the event. 45 stayed in tents in the Great Outdoors. We had more men sign up than we had than the bunkhouses could hold. It was an incredible weekend! Patrick Payton from Stone Gate Fellowship was the guest speaker. In the last session on Saturday, Patrick talked about the unshakable man described in Psalms 15. Here are five characteristic of the unshakable man:
1. The unshakable man is a man who does what is right.
2. The unshakable man is a man who controls his mouth.
3. The unshakable man is a man who keeps good company.
4. The unshakable man is a man who is a sacrificial man.
5. The unshakable man is a man who is a gracious giver.
These are 5 pillars to build your life on. God says when we do, we will stand firm..
Continue reading "The Unshakable Man" »
I spent the day at the Graduate House working, getting it ready for boys to move in. We hung blinds, air vent and return air cover. There are seven men volunteering to come tomorrow to put up the rest of the lights. All of these jobs go easier when you have the right tools.
At the ranch we use the phase, " Work Smarter, Not Harder." That is easier to do with the right tools. Part of our purpose at the ranch is too help guys put the right tools in their toolbox.
I read a devotional today by Stan Toler that lists some of those tools. It comes from his book, Minute Motivators for Men. Some of the tools he mentions are Self-Control, Courtesy, and Spirituality.
A few more that we like to add into toolboxes at the ranch are disciple, a strong work ethic, character and a heart to help others. What tools are you sharing with young people around you? Tasks are easier to accomplish when you are using the right tools.
"Without vision...people perish." Vision is what give us purpose. We all want to be part of something great. Vision is what drives us. Vision is what gets us up in the morning. We want to be part of something greater than ourselves. I want to invest in something of value. Something that will last and have eternal significance.
My friends, Shari and Troy just sent me a song tonight, SOMETHING BIG by John Waller. They are involved in something big themselves as they prepare to go serve others over-seas. The lyrics are powerful. I just downloaded the song. It is worth the download.
What is your something Big? Does it drive you to God, or away from Him? My "something big" is the ranch and camp. My something big is just the vehicle, not the destination. Sometimes I get that confused. Okay,... I often get that confused.
The ranch is what has lead my family on the journey. The destination is the relationship that God includes me in. That is something BIG! God pursues me, wants to include me, wants a personal relationship with me, now that is BIG.
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