Hi friends

I will Be on the road for the next month so the The Jesus Walk will be hit and miss as I have opportunity to access the Internet.

Pray for me as I go to India and share the gospel there. These are exciting times in the Kingdom of God and I want to encourage you to walk each day with Jesus...it makes the difference.


See you when I can!


Blessings,


Rip

James1: 2-4. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I must admit that I hate test. Growing up I did not like to study, especially spelling. Spelling words were difficult for me to learn. Long list of useless words, which filled the pages of our worksheets, bombarded my mind each and every Friday. Testing day was always on Friday and we would have a week to learn the new words. I confess that I waited until the last moment to study and I have a suspicion that this had something to do with my lack of testing well.

Test in life are inevitable, it’s a reality of life that each of us will face difficult times, yet it is in the midst of such testing or trials, that we discover who we are and how much we need the provision of our heavenly Father.

Struggle as much as I did in elementary school, the lesions I learned have guided me into my adulthood and have produced in me the qualities that I now process. Look at how this works which is lined out for us in scripture.

Trails produce faith, faith develops perseverance, perseverance finishes work, and this produces Christian maturity.

So Lord, bring on the test, I am ready to discover more of who you are and more of how much I need you in my life. And you said something about having pure joy? I want that as well. Amen.

James 4: 7 -10 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

What does this say about us? I find it rather convicting that James is reminding church people that this life is lived best when we lose control, or more correctly when we give control to God. I have taught over the years that living life is a series of choices. Every choice has a consequence and reaction. Therefore it is important that we make right choices, choices the reflect God in our lives.

James gives us some important instructions for making this right choice. Let me highlight these words for you. I have added my insight for clarification.

Submit yourselves
Surrendering my desires to God so that He is in control

Resist the devil
Walking away from evil

Come to God
Trusting in His power and grace

Wash your hands
An image of being cleansed by the blood of Jesus

Change
An act of choice to follow after God

Humble yourselves
Realizing that we are not God

There is a promise contained in this passage. The promise is that when we live under God's control; one day, He will lift us up. I look forward to that day. Amen.

JAMES 1:5-8
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

“If any of you lacks wisdom.” I can’t tell you how many times I have found myself in this dilemma. More times than I care to count I have come to the realization I don’t know what to do next. If you look closely at this passage, you will see that it relates to verses 1- 4 that deal with facing difficult times in our lives. The promise is that God will be with us to give us all the things we need.

Here is the key: the first thing to do is ASK. Ask God to help you, to bring to remembrance the things you know to do and the strength to do them. Asking for wisdom is asking God to use that which I already know to fulfill God’s purpose in my life. The second thing to do is TRUST. How can we receive from God or anyone else for that matter if we don’t trust them to provide the answer? Trust God to provide the things He wants to give to you freely.

Prayer: Father, thank you for daily wisdom for the living of my life. Amen.

James 3:5b-12 See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Words that harm and words that heal. We have the ability to do both, you know. With a word we can cause a child to soar in belief that all things are possible, and with a different word said at the wrong time we can crush the creativity and destroy the soul. I wish I could take it back, that word or action or that negative feeling directed toward another person. The problem we face, however, is that once said or acted upon there is no taking back the consequences of our actions.

I was entering the seventh grade when I remember my first real negative words of despair. My seventh grade basketball coach said to me, “Jenkins, you will never amount to anything; in fact, you won’t even graduate out of high school.” I was devastated to say the least. I lost hope and actually believed him for a while.

It was words of hope, however, that brought me out of that slump, words that said I believe in you. Those words still ring true in my life. Every time I listen to the words of despair, I am reminded that God loves me and believes in me. His words do not lie.

Think about it, you have the power to heal and the power to harm. Which words will we choose?

Prayer: Father, teach me to control my tongue.

Harvest

Matthew 9:36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

I have just returned from an amazing trip to the northern part of Nicaragua. About ten minutes from the Honduras border is a community of 35,000 people eking out an existence and trying to find their way forward. The community is filled with all types of social problems and is one of the areas where child prostitution is rampant. My purpose was to build into some local pastors in that area the only hope of the world: Jesus Christ. I think this is somewhat what Jesus was talking about in this passage above.

Our first task was to encourage pastors who have been working, many for only a few dollars a month, to be true to the mission and ministry to which God had called them. I have long believed that the role of a pastor is to lead a life of Christian value and character, and that our lives should reflect the inner peace we have discovered in walking and living for Christ. But in difficult places and extreme poverty, this Jesus walk we often take for granted is compromised. How do we stay faithful when those around us have no hope? How do we lead when we ourselves are caught in the quagmire of legalism and even outward sin?

I was reminded through the passage above that these leaders were themselves helpless and harassed; in fact, they were like sheep without a shepherd. The challenge to do more than just encourage is something that we must take seriously, the future of the church in this area is dependent upon the faithful joining together to proclaim the unchanging work and word of Christ.

Even as I ministered to these pastors I was reminded of the countless others who were dependent upon the faithful proclamation of the word of Christ through them. The words of Jesus echoed in my mind, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them." If Jesus were here today, He would have compassion for them. We drove around the city through mud roads because of the rains, and viewed broken down homes and shanties which barley protected the villagers. It was easy to see the despair and hopelessness of the people; evidences were everywhere of the needs that these people of God so desperately lack.

As we left this town, I was reminded that indeed Jesus had been there today. He had been there with me, and His words, not mine made an impact. I was reminded that the food that they were able to eat this day was food from Jesus and not my hands; I was reminded that the words of encouragement, which I shared, were the words which Jesus wanted to share with them. I spoke to them because long ago I answered the call to join the harvest. My prayer is that you will join as well.

Blessings, Rip

Hi everyone, I am back in Nicaragua for two weeks. This place keeps calling to me and I know that God is working here in a great way. Please keep me in your prayers that I follow His leading. Rip

Glorify

John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”

WOW! This passage hit me like a rock today. The part that got me was this; in what I do, do I glorify God? Interesting question, most of the time I am pretty good about bringing glory to myself. I usually take care of my needs, I am a good father and husband, I am a friend, a hard worker, a good listener, a faithful follower of Christ, and have many other very worthwhile attributes, which attest to my value. But what good is all this about me if I only bring glory to myself? Who am I serving and whom am I calling attention to?

I am convinced that in God's wisdom He did not say, hummmmm, “I wonder how great I can make Rip today,” or “I think I will make Rip just a little special.” No, in actuality, I was created and you were created to bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. It seems somewhat strange to me how we seem to get that backward in most of our lives. I don't think it is wrong to use our ability of talents to inspire or serve others; in fact, that is what we are created to do. What is wrong is when we don't put proper acknowledgment in what was accomplished. Here is some real truth: apart from God, I am nothing.

Apart from God I am alone, fragile, foolish, sinful, broken, prideful--the list could go on. Just fill in your particular weakness and it work. Apart from God we are incapable of anything that has lasting value and worth. I love this passage from Acts 17: 28, 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of our own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' The reality of our lives is that we can only find real value in Him and that our living should be a reflection of His glory so that we might share with Him in His eternal glory.

I hear some people say, “I don't know what I am called or created to do?” The answer actually is simple--to bring glory to God is a good first place to start. When you can't figure any of this world's issues out or places where you can plug in, then the best place to start is with a simple understanding that anything I do must bring glory to God. The next question is then: How? How do I bring glory to God?

Bringing glory to God is choosing to live in light of Christ's teaching and love. To have only teaching is not enough and to have love is not enough. It is the combination of both that brings about the proper glory. Jesus reminds us in the teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

So let's get busy. The call is to bring glory to God through all we say and do.

Blessings, Rip