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- Written by: Don Goulding
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (1 Peter 1:22) (NIV)
It was a simple scene—a dilapidated mobile home, a dying tree, and a rope-swing. The Holy Spirit used these three elements to expose a rotting cavity in my soul.
Lightening had shattered the top half of the tree until it looked like a hunched man. Any decent arborist would have cut the thing down.
But what about the swing? There must have been a child that treasured the stumpy oak. The rundown house hinted that the tree-swing may be the kid’s only solace. He or she would grow up with fond memories of the dear bent trunk—the eyesore I would’ve removed.
My fixation with perfection leaves a void in my heart. If a tree isn’t symmetrical, I want it chopped. If a human isn’t beautiful or rational, I want them to change. When a disciple backslides, I disregard them. I only love God’s creation when it measures up to my judgmental standards.
My heart needs to repent because real love doesn’t care if the recipient has value. It simply overflows the goodwill it receives from God, without regard to where the overabundance spills.
While serving in the Solomon Islands, Melanesian boys led me to their favorite hiking destination in the jungle. An emerald pool overflowed crystal water down a waterfall and into another fern-laced swimming hole.
From the purity of God’s being his love overflows my heart. For me to look down and decide the next pool is undeserving goes against every natural law. It dams up the river that I would drink from in heaven.
Prayer: Jesus, help me pour love into whomever you put beside me.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Romans 8:12-13)
Of the three enemies that plague me—the world, the flesh, and the devil—the most dangerous is my old nature that craves self-rule. Satan and the world are menacing to be sure, but neither of them can touch the real me in my spirit. Only my own flesh can drag my whole being into hell.
I am my enemy. The battle of life is against my own carnal nature. I fight human injustice, and I’m zealous to attack Satan, now it’s time to stop shaking in the knees before my flesh.
Today, I admonish myself—know your failures. Study your weaknesses then diminish their territory. Don’t compromise with your darker self. If you lose a battle, don’t wave the white flag of surrender, but pick up your weapons and resume the war. The danger is far too perilous to quit.
Most importantly, deploy the nuclear bomb that demolishes temptation—the filling of the Holy Spirit. The world, the flesh, and the devil all melt in the presence of the Spirit of Jesus.
On this battle ground you will be made or destroyed. Be strategic. Be bold. Rout the enemy before he overtakes your eternity.
Prayer: Present Holy Spirit, help me in today’s mighty battle against myself.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. Then they were all astonished at the mighty power of God. (Luke 9:42-43)
“A seizure overtook my body and everything went black.” Fifteen-year-old Jemi’s bright eyes shown from a brown face as she and her father, Pastor Daniels, recounted the events of her death in Chennai, India. “There was no pain but I died in my mother’s arms. My father was away and he knew in his spirit he needed to pray for me.
“Two angels took me to the Lord. When I saw him, Jesus said I had to return to my grieving family and bring others to salvation, then I would come back to him later. Then my body started breathing again.”
Jemi was born with a Hindu name that she wouldn’t speak to me. Her great grandfather practiced witchcraft and gave his daughter, Jemi’s grandmother, the secret name. That lady spent her life physically paralyzed. Jemi was her namesake and the generational curse reached a gnarled hand to destroy the girl’s life as well with deadly epilepsy.
The first thing the family did after the angels brought Jemi back was to break the curse by proclaiming the power of Jesus over her new name, Jemi New Grace.
Many Westerners roll their eyes at Jemi’s story. Angels, resurrection, and family curses are not empirical enough. But Jemi and her family don’t follow a tame Jesus, they follow a valiant Jesus. Their Lord is the Great Deliver, who’s very name has power over unseen enemies.
Jemi’s life is enmeshed in the spiritual battle between light and dark. My life is buffered from her worldview by modern entertainments and scientific explanations. While I squint into the magnifying-glass of technology, she gazes through the telescope of Biblical experience.
I propose that fifteen-year-old Jemi New Grace has a bigger grasp of reality than me.
Prayer: Mighty, powerful God, open my eyes.