For the last few days, I have been reading Romans 8, to be specific, verses 37 through 39.  These are three verses that are a salve to the wounded heart and belong in the Christian’s spiritual warfare arsenal.

… we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom 8:37-39Rom 8:37-39
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

WP-Bible plugin ASV)

I have been firmly convinced for several years now that the Christian must glom onto Jesus and never let go under any circumstances.

As you walk through this life as a Christian, you will be attacked by the enemy.  The enemy may take the form of a stranger who walks down the street as in the following true story.

A friend and her daughter made a shopping trip to a popular mall one Christmas.  As they walked through the crowds, there were two teenaged boys dressed in black with all the accoutrements of the basic Goth look walking towards them.  When they passed, both boys looked at the daughter, which isn’t unusual in itself,  but one of them made motions with his hand – as if crossing himself in a twisted sort of way – and said “Obey the Master” in a low and sinister tone. That was a little weird – even for Goth-types in a shopping mall.  It was very upsetting to the two ladies and especially to the daughter.  The lesson is that those two boys recognized the qualities of Christ in the daughter, who, by the way, has a very strong relationship with Christ.

Sad-to-say, the attack may come from someone you consider to be a good friend in the church you attend.  This happens, too!

I tell you this because you will be recognized for what you believe – sometime, somewhere, somehow – and you need to be prepared.  We must remember that those who do attack may be innocently subject to the whisperings and persuasions of the evil one and they, themselves, are not the enemy at all.  We need to have grace for them and not condemn them, for we are not to judge them – that is God’s domain.

But, by the same token, we do not have to suffer each blow they deliver and be beat down.  It may even be that they will not back down from their attack, even when you try to explain your actions or your beliefs.  Just make sure your beliefs are in step with the teachings of Jesus and of the Bible.  We need to stand and fight.

Others, like those my friends encountered, have given themselves over to evil.  From those, we need to flee.  There is no help that a single person can bring to them other than through prayer.

Know this: even though we are attacked, we have a Comforter to help us through the circumstance and these three verses in Romans can help us get back on track if we recall them to our memory when we become beat up and downtrodden.

Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter to read and re-read and carefully study.  I will look at some of the other verses in the future, but in the meantime, why don’t you read it a few times and see what you glean from it.  Try reading it through quickly a couple of times and then read deliberately and let each word speak to you.

I’d like to know your thoughts and insights as a result of your reading — perhaps something in the chapter resonated with what you are dealing with at this particular point in time.  If you feel free enough to share that, that would be good.

I will honor any and all requests for privacy, but I would say that the level of privacy that you would like must begin with you.  Don’t write anything that you would not want your mother to see!

The holidays are upon us …

and they can be very depressing for some people. If you are one of those who approach the holidays with a grimace in stead of a smile, perhaps these verses can help to dispel some of those depressed feelings.  For us in America, Thursday the 24th of November, is Thanksgiving and it sort of marks the beginning of the holiday season – at least in my mind.  It is a day set aside for us to be thankful for all that God has given us.

Then, of course, Christmas comes a month later.  In between there is plenty of time for fellowship with friends and family.  Unfortunately, some people cannot look forward to the holidays with anticipation and instead they cautiously approach it with fear driven by the prospect of being alone at a time when many people are with friends and family.  Let’s try to ease someone’s hurts this holiday season.  Remember that it is not always apparent when someone is hurting – they can be good cover-up artists!

Thank you for reading and God bless you all.

Sounds like a Tolkien phrase, doesn’t it?  Well, it is – at least a close approximation. Wasn’t it the title of a book that Bilbo Baggins was writing of the journey during which he discovered the ring.

I have just returned from a two week vacation near the coast of Oregon and am coming to grips with being back in the work-a-day world and schedules and routine.

My contributions to quietshout have always been in fits and starts and several weeks before leaving I began formulating ways of overcoming that tendency, trying to become more constant and consistent in article writing.  I think I was becoming relatively successful but the vacation threw a monkey wrench into the works and threw me off track.

The vacation was, in part, a necessary vacation.  Some business-related details had to be addressed, but since there were several facets to the details, they had to be addressed over a period of time.  These demanded attention at various times during the trip.

I did bring a laptop with the intent of doing some work, but the conditions were not conducive to writing.  It takes me some time to write a page about the Psalms or even to write a post, if I want to make it something that is not rambling and incoherent.  But more importantly, I need an environment that is relatively free of interruptions.  There were times available, but they were not many, nor were they for an extended period of time.  I suppose I could have slung my computer over my shoulder and hiked to the library, but I wanted to be friendly and see relatives that I hadn’t seen for a year or more, catching up on their activities and life.

So that’s what has been happening to me.  I do want to honor the time and effort you take to visit quietshout with a decent amount of new material posted in a timely manner and I think I have some interesting stuff coming up.

• I have discovered a new resource for the Psalms, from my quick glance at it it looks to be pretty thorough with lots of good stuff;
• there is a new (at least to me) writing software package out there that is free and it looks like it could be worthwhile for those of you who want to write fiction (perhaps even nonfiction? we’ll see);
• there is another bible study software resource similar to e-Sword! that I would like to look into and tell you about;
• I have a number of posts started that I think will stir some interest – I have been considering some of these for some time and now feel like I can take us down a proper track.  A couple of topics I want to expand on or introduce will be prayer and spiritual warfare;
• and then, there is always that piece of scripture that grabs me, giving me ideas and insights that I haven’t  had before.

I do appreciate all your visits and I say, “Thank you one and all.”  Please do not be afraid to comment on something that grabs you one way or another.  I may or may not reply, don’t be offended if I do not.

Thank you for visiting. God Bless You.

The Gospel of John is full of references to darkness and light.  In the previous passages, we read about the darkness and how the Word came into the world and was a light in the darkness, but the darkness could not comprehend (or conquer) it.  Now in verses six through nine light regains prominence.   We read:

6.   There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7.   The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8.   He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9.   That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

The John we are talking about is John the Baptist, Jesus’ second cousin.  When Mary found out she was pregnant, she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.  These two women were at the opposite ends of the age spectrum.  Mary was maybe 12 to 15 years old at the time and Elizabeth was past her child-bearing years and had never had a child.  Luke writes that when the two women met, John leaped in the womb because Mary was carrying the Christ child.

We don’t know much about John, but we do know that he was bold in his words and preached the truth of God.  People came from all over Judea to hear him preach and to be baptized.  For his forth-rightness in calling out sin when he saw it and in his preaching, he was beheaded by Herod as a gift to his wife’s daughter for dancing an erotic dance at a dinner party.  But preaching the truth of God was the reason he came to be on earth – to bear witness to the Light.

That Light was Jesus

The life of Jesus was the light of men.  John knew this and his mission was to preach and teach mankind the truth of that light that they would believe.  He was sent by God for this reason.  He knew his life’s purpose was to be the witness to Jesus, that through him, John, “all men might believe.”  He knew he was not the Savior, but was instead a herald of the news of the Savior.

John the Baptist knew his place in the grand scheme of God’s plan.

Many people at the time questioned whether he was Elijah, which was a sign that the Messiah was on the horizon, soon to appear.  John made clear to the authorities when they questioned him that he was not Elijah.  He was, instead, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” to prepare the people for the coming of Messiah “to make straight the way of the Lord.”  He was to clear the path through the desert brush and prepare the soil for seeding.

John was humble, not proud.

What I find important and impressive in John is that he wasn’t tempted to claim to be the Messiah or Elijah.  Think how easy it would have been for him to slip into one of those roles – but he didn’t, he knew his role was a supporting role.  He had no grand illusions of being the best or the most important.  He knew his job was to set the stage, prepare the people for the coming Messiah, and clear the clutter in the path for the true Light for every man, woman and child in the world.

John had a huge following and a large number of disciples – John the Apostle being one of them. Yet, for all the followers and admires, and all the disciples and most likely all the accolades that he heard, he didn’t let it go to his head and puff him up.  He remained humble and he understood his work on the earth to be the most important work that any man could be called to do.

Thank you for reading and God bless.