Revive Us Again!

“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. -Psalm 85:6-7 (ESV). “You who seek God, let your hearts revive.” -Psalm 69:32b (ESV). “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” -Isaiah 57:15 (ESV).

Probably many of you who read this can remember the times, especially in the summertime, when your church had a week (or more) of revival. In the mountains of north Georgia where I grew up, we sometimes called it not only “revival meeting” but “protracted” meeting. The latter term meant that the meeting was set for a certain week. Ours at Choestoe Baptist Church was beginning with the second Sunday in July and running through that week. If this week, which our native poet, Byron Herbert Reece in his poem “Choestoe” called “protracted meeting,” (“God’s high festival), was going well at the end of one week, with the Spirit of the Lord moving upon the hearts of the people, the meeting would be “protracted,” or continuing on for more days as the preaching and singing continued and the results were many people “getting right with the Lord,” confessing sins, and coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I became a Christian in just such a week of revival meeting, on a Tuesday night, in the second week of July, 1939. I remember the occasion well, and how happy I was to confess the Lord as my Savior. A month later, on the second Sunday in August, after the converts had been taught by our pastor the responsibilities and doctrines of church membership, and were considered to be truly converted, the baptismal service was held on the second Sunday afternoon of August, 1939. Twenty-three new converts lined up to go into the cold waters of Nottely River to be baptized. “Upon your profession of faith,” our pastor said, “I baptize you my brother/sister (as he came to each individually), in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You are buried with Christ in baptism; raised to walk in newness of life with Him.”

Now revivals are not held as regularly and as often as they were in those good days in the country. We put major emphasis upon going to church, morning and night, all week. We “had the preachers” (or pastor and the visiting evangelist) in our home for a bountiful meal. The front porch after the meal at noon were places where we heard the preachers expound upon passages of Scripture and teach us in a more casual setting than at church. Indeed, I could go with our local poet’s evaluation of such a high and holy week: It was “God’s high festival—protracted meeting.” Crops were laid by. It was time to get hearts and lives aligned with God’s purposes. It was revival meeting time! Reread our focal scriptures for today. These were fulfilled in our midst in those precious weeks in summer. God did, indeed, “revive us again,” his people did “rejoice in Him,” and we sought God and our hearts were filled with joy.

Here are some famous quotations about revival from two renowned evangelists of the past. Charles H. Spurgeon (1832-1892) wrote: “A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers or dawn without light.” He also wrote: “If we want revival, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God.” And again he wrote: “Revival begins by Christians getting right first and then it spills over into the world.” Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist, wrote: “Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray that He would empty us.” 

 

Prayer: “O Lord, will you not revive us again that your people might rejoice in You?” Amen! Now, can we not sing “Revive Us Again” with new and vigorous desire and prayer to have this spiritual renewal among us? - Ethelene Dyer Jones 07.03.2016

Memory Verse: Urging Believers to Attend Church

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” -Hebrews 10:23-25.

Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “I was brought up to go to church!” If so, listen to find out why. First, it is an admonition from the Word of God on how we should conduct the Christian life—with love for and faithfulness to the church. Jesus said that “upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus was referring to the confession Peter made when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). To assemble ourselves together with other believers helps us affirm jointly that Christ is Lord. The church has no power to save us, but through the church we learn who Jesus is and come to accept Him as Savior and Lord.

In the focal passage from Hebrews we learn that the church has a mission to “stir up love and good works” among fellow believers. There we can help each other to understand the Word and in time together for study, prayer and worship, and then go forth to live out the love of Christ in our own lives, and to do good works. Christians strengthen and encourage each other. We also help as we are taught and then may become teachers ourselves.

I am glad that even as a child I loved to go to the house of the Lord. To be absent from the “assembling of ourselves together” was a felt loss in my week and on Sunday. In retrospect, I can see that this early love for going to Sunday School, worship services and mission meetings at my church was preparing me for future work the Lord had in mind for me to do. I never dreamed as a young child that one day God would want me to be the wife of a minister and assist in the teaching ministries of the churches he served and the mission work to which he was called.

Hebrews advises strongly: “Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” and to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some.” This desire to be in the house of the Lord worshiping and studying should be a hunger of the soul. If that love for the church is no longer in your heart and practice, unless it is because of ill health or other necessary cause, I would say “beware!” A wise Christian leader taught me: “God does not move away from the believer unless first the believer strays from God.” There should be a strong desire to go into the house of the Lord. As we read in Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ “ If that joy is not with you, ask yourself “Why?” Seek God’s forgiveness and find a congregation of believers where you can experience the worship and fellowship the verses from Hebrews 10:23-25 teach, and the exuberance and praise that Psalm 122:1 radiates.

Dr. Vance Havner, a great minister of the gospel, wrote: “There is something wrong with our Christianity when we have to beg most of our crowd to come to church to hear about it.”

I love the words and music to the hymn, “Come All Christians, Be Committed.” Eva B. Lloyd wrote the words and James H. Wood adapted the tune “Beach Spring” from the Sacred Harp to go with her words on the same theme as we read in our focal passage for today.

“Come all Christians, be committed To the service of the Lord.

Make your lives for Him more fitted, Tune your hearts with one accord.

Come into His courts with gladness, Each His sacred vows renew,

Turn away from sin and sadness, Be transformed with life anew.” Amen!

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.26.2016

Memory Verse: Study

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” -2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).

Today is Father’s Day, a day when we honor fathers. My father encouraged me to study and do well. I remember his encouragement and admonitions with gratitude.

In the “memory verse” emphasis I am now writing about in these devotionals, I am selecting one by one (and day by day) those that I have memorized over the years. I am also using suggestions from the book by Robert J. Morgan entitled 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart (Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2010). Today’s selected verse, 2 Timothy 2:15, is not one in Dr. Morgan’s list of 100. I was encouraged early in my life, when I was in first grade at Choestoe School, to memorize this verse. It was not “against the law” then for school children to memorize Bible verses, or for the class to have the Pledge of Allegiance, a Bible reading and the Lord’s Prayer to begin public school in those days. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Mert Shuler Collins. She was also my teacher at Sunday School. She encouraged us at both places—school and Sunday School—to memorize Bible verses. As incentive, she had a chart with her pupils’ names at both locations, and would place a shining star by each child’s name who could repeat the memorized verse to her correctly. Her method may not be recommended by modern-day educators for the feelings of lack of accomplishment it might engender in those who do not earn the stars. But for me, both what this verse from 2 Timothy 2:15 teaches, and the very fact that it was safely lodged in my memory to give me more incentive to study set me on a course to work hard in all my lessons and be on that special road we called “Achievement in Studies.” And my father and mother at home encouraged and helped me to do likewise.

Paul, Timothy’s teacher, and the one who called Timothy his “son in the gospel,” knew that Timothy needed to study well the law and the prophets, but also Paul’s own letters that gave much of the new Way of Jesus as Lord that Paul preached and that he commissioned Timothy to teach and to preach to the churches he sent the younger Timothy to encourage. This verse, although meant to encourage study of the scriptures, can also apply to whatever challenges we have to study that which is good and beneficial. We study in school at first to grow proficient in reading, writing and arithmetic. Then we add sciences and the social studies, more erudite studies in specific fields we want to pursue which will help us in our careers. But the same principle Paul gave to Timothy still prevails, regardless of what pursuit of knowledge we follow, so long as the study is honorable and beneficial. The Amplified Bible gives additional insight into 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing—rightly handling and skillfully teaching—the Word of Truth.” I take the advice in this verse very literally when I teach a Sunday School class or lead a group in Bible Study. Being a teacher by profession, I sought to apply the principles of this verse in the classroom. The teacher must first study hard and diligently before teaching. A teacher should not be afraid to say: “I don’t know the answer to your question. But keep it in mind. Together we will seek to find the answer.” Eugene Peterson in his modern-language The Message Bible renders 2 Timothy 2:15 this way: “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.”’ His translation further admonishes: “Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul” (v. 16). -Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.19.2016

Messages from the Apostle Paul: Stand Firm in the Faith

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (ESV) [Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17]

In verses 1-12 of 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul instructs the church at Thessalonica more fully about the “day of the Lord” or the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul refutes the false claim that was circulating concerning the day of the Lord. Some believed it had already come and they were living in the post-second coming days. Did they not wonder why they were still on earth? Would that not have been a sign to them that ‘the day of the Lord’ had not come? He told them not to be ‘shaken in mind’ (v. 2) or to pay any attention to a letter that had been circulated among them and purported to be from Paul and his helpers. Then he proceeds to give some pointers about what will happen before the second coming of Christ.

A great “falling away” will occur. The “lawless one” or “man of sin” will lead a great rebellion against all that has been taught by Jesus Christ and about Him. This leader is called in Daniel 9:26, “the prince who is to come.” John in writing the Revelation calls him “the beast” (Revelation 3:2-10. 18). Called also “the son of perdition,” He will lead a great falling away from biblical doctrines and truth. Many scholars in identifying this person call him the “anti-Christ.” He will draw a great following to himself, and will even move into the Temple in Jerusalem and claim to be God. The lawless one comes under the auspices of Satan, and those who have pleasure in unrighteousness will be deceived by him and follow him.

Paul gives commendation in verses 13-17, and encourages the believers at Thessalonica to stand firm and not be taken in by the deceptions of the lawless one. He prays in verses 16-17 that they will be established in every good work, thus armed against the coming of the one who will deceive and seek to pull them away from the Lord Christ.

When we look at our current age and see so many “falling away,” and seemingly unconcerned about faithfulness to the precepts of the faith and to walking in a manner characteristic of the Christian life, we wonder if we are currently in the age of the “lawless” one. Yet we have not yet seen the world-wide “lawless one” take his reign and have a world-wide following who cater to his demands and manner of life.

With so many casual about their relationship with God, and in particular the current avoidance of mention of God in the public arena, we think that indeed we may be in “the last days” prior to “the day of the Lord.” Dr. John Macarthur, one of our present-day noted teachers, writes: “In place of agitation should come strength and a firm stand. In place of false teaching should come faithful adherence to the truth.” (The Macarthur Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005, p. 1769). Paul hoped to clear up confusion about “the day of the Lord” with his 1 and 2 letters to the Thessalonian Christians. From his writings we can more adequately examine our own beliefs and agree with his admonition. Indeed, we need to be faithful, weigh teachings, do good works, and stand firm in the faith. -Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.12.2016.

Messages from the Apostle Paul: Live a Life Pleasing to God

“Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” -1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 (ESV) [Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12]

Paul’s first letter to the Christians at the church he helped to found at Thessalonica in the Province of Macedonia was written, scholars believe, about 49-51 A. D. while Paul was on his second missionary journey and staying at Corinth (in southern Greece, also called the Province of Achaia). Paul and Silas had also established the church at Thessalonica on Paul’s second missionary journey. It was a new church when Paul was writing this letter, but it had been active in spreading the good news of salvation to others throughout Macedonia. Paul, not being able to go back to visit the new church himself, had sent Timothy to fellowship with them and teach them. Timothy returned to Paul with good news of the faithfulness of the Thessalonian church. When Paul then wrote this letter to them, he wrote it as a pastor to his congregation, making suggestions for a godly manner of life. Another prominent theme in 1 Thessalonians is the second coming of Jesus Christ. To anticipate His return to earth and setting up His kingdom encouraged the people to live holy lives worthy of the gospel.

In this section of 1 Thessalonians, Paul is instructing them in a life pleasing to God. They are to be separate and different from those who have not experienced saving grace through faith. I think my father, J. Marion Dyer, must have been very familiar with Paul’s instructions to the church in Thessalonica as to how to live a godly life. My mother passed away when I was fourteen years old, and Daddy then had the responsibility of parenting to himself. Knowing now from personal experience, having reared two children myself, I can see how burdensome it must have been for him to kindly but strictly instruct my younger brother and me without the help of our mother. (My older sister and brother were already ‘on their own’ and away from home when our mother died).

A list from Paul’s Thessalonian instructions might look something like this (and it is very much like how my dear father trained me): 1. Abstain from sexual immorality. 2. Control your own body in holiness and honor (and this includes the kind of clothes you wear!). 3. God knows what you do, even if an earthly parent does not. 4. God calls you to pure and holy living, and the Holy Spirit is your prod and guide. 5. Love one another, for love is of God. 6. Live quietly and mind your own business. 7. Work is honorable. Work willingly and well with your own hands; whatsoever your hands find to do, do it as unto the Lord. 8. Walk uprightly, and depend upon your own self, not on others for what you need.

To summarize these eight principles of Christian living, we might say: Please God; live in holiness; love one another. We might also train our minds and order our lifestyle by asking, “Would God be pleased with me if I follow this action or do this particular thing?” If there is even a slight negative thought about it, it is better to abstain than to be sorry for poor choices and wrong actions. This is not to stymy work or creativity, but to seek to follow God’s will in what we say and do. -Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.05.2016

Lessons from the Psalms: A Doxology of Praise

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! -Psalm 150:1-6 (ESV)

The closing psalm of the whole psalter (another “Hallel” psalm), calls for “everything that has breath” to praise the Lord. It is a festive praise hymn, fitting for the closing of the Psalms. It is a doxology, reaching a jubilant crescendo inviting voices and instruments to praise the Lord.

The psalmist answers four questions. Let’s examine them and the answers to the questions found in this doxology of praise.

Where do we praise God (v. 1). Praise God in His sanctuary. To the Jew, that would be the Temple or synagogue. To Christians the command would be to praise him in a church. Lacking either of these to gather in and to praise God, we can make a sanctuary—a sacred place—wherever we are. “Praise him in His mighty heavens” acknowledges that God made the heavens and the earth, and wherever we approach God in reverence is a sanctuary where we can raise our doxology of praise to Him.

Why do we praise God (v. 2). We praise Him for His mighty deeds. We praise Him because of “His excellent greatness.” These are revealed to all people if only they will regard God and His works. In Romans, Paul wrote “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:17b-20)

How are we to praise God? Here is given the most complete list of musical instruments in the Old Testament. We are to praise God, of course, with the voice; but then with the trumpet, the lute, the harp, the tambourine, with strings (stringed instruments, which are many), the pipe and both ‘sounding’ and ‘clashing’ cymbals. And with the jubilant instruments of praise, add the body in majestic movement, the dance.

Who is to praise God? The poem seems to reach a crescendo as the psalmist declares: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” People, animals, fish, birds, everything are to lift praises to the Lord God. The Psalms could not have come to a more climactic end than with this doxology of praise calling for everyone, with whatever method is joyous and praise-giving, to life gratitude and glory to the Lord. For great is He, and greatly to be praised. Praise the Lord!

For 150 days, from the very first of January, I have gone through the Psalms one by one giving brief devotional thoughts. The exercise has drawn me closer to God. I pray that you who have read these devotionals day by day have been blessed and drawn closer to the Lord.     -    Ethelene Dyer Jones 05.29.2016

Lessons from the Psalms: A Sincere Petition for the Lord’s Help

“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge! Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” -Psalm 143:8-10 [Read Psalm 143]

Psalm 143 is another of David’s petitionary prayers in which he unashamedly pleads for the Lord’s help. This is the last of the “Psalms of Penitence” in which the one who prays asks for the Lord’s forgiveness and help. The others with this definite theme are Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102 and 130.

As one who has prayed most of my life (I became a Christian at age nine), I can identify with David’s prayer. Although I did not have to hide in caves as David did when he fled for his very life before the wrath of King Saul, nor did I have the enemies David knew, even after he became King of Israel before he conquered the enemy nations and could settle into relative peace, still the challenges I faced in life sometimes loomed as impossible to deal with, much less to overcome. I can certainly identify with David’s prayer, “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.” Many have been the mornings throughout my long life when I have prayed that God would direct my steps and my work throughout the day, and “make me know the way I should go.” Likewise, verse 10 of Psalm 143 became a constant prayer of mine: “Teach me to do our will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

In the mountains where I lived in my growing up years, and for many of the years of my career as a teacher and as the wife of a minister of the gospel, we did not look out to see “level ground” in the mountains that surrounded us. Likewise, the “unlevel ground” became a metaphor for the challenges we often faced in living. To be Christian leaders responsible for teaching others and for setting an example for others to follow often put us on “uneven ground.” It was only through remaining close to our source of strength, the Lord Jesus, that we had any hope of accomplishing the will He desired for us to accomplish in our lives.

As David ended his prayer in Psalm 143, so we would yield to the inevitable call of the Lord upon our lives and pledge to do the best we could with God’s help: “for I am your servant, Lord!” (v. 12b). A Vacation Bible School motto learned very early in my Christian life remained with me, even until now: “I will do the best I can with what I have where I am for Jesus’ sake today.” I also learned, thanks to the wise counsel of a marvelous pastor, the Rev. Claude Boynton, to “pray Scriptures.” “The scriptures are the Word of God,” he told us. “And God likes to hear His own words prayed back to Him.” So many of the petitions and pleas of David, as these in Psalm 143, became familiar to me and sincerely repeated by me in my prayer life. How better to begin a day than to pray: “Lord, let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me to know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Pair these words with the marvelous message from Psalm 118:24, and every day begins with thoughts of the Lord and turning our day over to him: “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!” Selah!  -Ethelene Dyer Jones 05.22.2016