New Media Posts

We are trying something new! We are adding video to our website with a few choice additions. You can access them by clicking on the Media button on the main page. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel called Sonslink by clicking on this link where you can see the first of a two part video that was shot at the breakfast table with a group of Baptist Pastors in southern California. It is sure to encourage!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sonslink#p/a/u/1/sEVI9IkeCGM
Check out our brother site at Sonslink.com and besure to check out the specials in the online bookstore by clicking on Books.

Enjoy and comment as these materials impact your life.

JRT

The Joseph Principle

Careless seems the great Avenger; history’s pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne,–
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown.
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

James Russell Lowell

“And they…sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt” (Gen. 37:28).

“For God did send me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5).

“And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Gen. 45: 7).

Anytime there is a move of God there is a counter move of Satan. Anytime there rises a man of God there rises against him opposition. God does not preclude it but rather makes it redemptive and enhancing. There is no story in the Bible which more perfectly proves this fact than the story of Joseph. God saw to it that every needed detail was in the story of Joseph. The report is full, covering ten chapters in Genesis.

Joseph’s biography is given in Hebrews 11:22: “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.”

I want to introduce to you the Joseph principle. It is a principle that affirms utter confidence in the ability of God to see his purpose through, despite anything that happens. God often takes the tools fashioned by the devil with destruction in mind and makes of them wonderful sources of blessing for his children. In spite of and, in fact, because of what the devil did in the story of Joseph the final result is redemption!

The Joseph principle takes four great facts into account:
One, the overwhelming wickedness of Man.
Two, the overseeing providence of God.
Three, the overcoming obedience of Joseph.
Four, the overruling plan of God.

The Overwhelming Wickedness of Man
The principle which faces us takes reality into account. Spiritual reality demands that we recognize the wickedness of man. If we recognize it, we will have difficulty trusting man. This will leave all our trust for the Lord and him alone. Although Jesus was betrayed by men; he was never suspicious, never bitter. He despaired of no one. If we trust wholly in the Lord, neither will we despair of anyone. The adversary was so bent on destroying Joseph that he followed him into Egypt where the conspiracy continued.

See the overwhelming wickedness of man, first in the depravity of Joseph’s brothers. They hated him because his father loved him. They could not speak a peaceful word to him. Isn’t that just like unredeemed human nature? He dreamed a dream, obviously from the Lord, and shared it with his brothers. This aroused even more envy and hate. When he visited them in the fields, they plotted violence against him and eventually sold him as a slave into Egypt. Their wickedness is further revealed in their plot to deceive the father and declare Joseph dead.

More of man’s innate wickedness is revealed in the deceit of Potiphar’s wife. The adversary is not through with his attempts to destroy the man of God. The wife of Joseph’s master made advances toward him. Day after day he refused her, vowing unswerving loyalty his master. Finally, on an occasion she found him alone and caught him by the garment. As he fled he left his garment in her hand. She then proceeded to lie about Joseph which resulted in his being put into prison a condemned man.

Then we have the disrespect of the liberated butler. You will remember that while in prison Joseph was elevated to the position of keeper of the prison. In due time the king’s butler and baker were placed in the prison under the authority of Joseph. Each of them had a dream. Joseph interpreted the dreams, and as he had interpreted so it happened. The baker was executed and the butler was liberated. To the butler Joseph said, “But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me to Pharoah, and bring me out of the house” (Gen. 40: 14). But as quickly as the butler was liberated he forgot. “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him” (Gen. 40:23).

The Overseeing Providence of God
All the while, unknown to anyone, God was keeping close watch over his investments and guarding his interests.

The providence of God was overseeing the whole affair. This meant several things. First, it meant that God’s presence was involved. “And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man” (Gen. 39:2). It was obvious to Joseph’s master that God was with him. “And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand” (Gen. 39:3). Second, it meant that God’s persistence was involved. Joseph was cast into prison because of the deceit of his master’s wife, but God persisted. “But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Gen. 39: 21). The butler forgot but God did not! Third, the peace of God was involved. There is about the whole story an atmosphere of peace. God would see him through. He could thus rest in peace. And that he did.

The Overcoming Obedience of Joseph
God’s providence needs his children’s obedient cooperation. Joseph was obedient to God in every circumstance. He was not bitter over being sold into slavery. There is never registered a note of hatefulness in any of the circumstances which surrounded him. He was faithful to his master, Potiphar, in spite of the repeated advancements of Potiphar’s wife. He was faithful to use his God-given ability to interpret the dreams of the baker and the butler. He continues faithful and obedient until at last he was liberated from prison and lifted to prominence…the prime minister of Egypt!

Obedience is the basic ingredient in overcoming. All the foes of God cannot unseat the man who observes obedience as his first and last qualification for usefulness.

The Overruling Plan of God
The plan of God came through all the conspiracies of the adversary. God’s plan is reflected first in Joseph’s prominence. It was unsought and unbought as far as Joseph was concerned but carefully prearranged by the God of heaven. God’s plan is seen next in Joseph’s purpose. He had no doubt about that purpose by the time his brothers came. Pharoah had a dream and could find no one to interpret. The butler at last remembered, and Joseph was called from prison to interpret the dream. When the truth was known about the seven good years and the seven years of drought, Joseph was made prime minister of Egypt. God will go to any measure to elevate anyone whose elevation will bring glory to His name.

God’s plan is again seen in Joseph’s proclamation. In the moving scene in Genesis 45, Joseph sends everyone out of the room except his brothers and breaks into tears. He then confesses his true identity to his brothers. His proclamation is, “God did send me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5). He was saying, “You didn’t do it–God did! It wasn’t evil-it was good!”

Finally, God’s plan is reflected in Joseph’s proof. When the brothers reported to their father that Joseph was alive, he could not believe. He had mourned the death of Joseph for twenty-two years. Joseph had disappeared when he was seventeen. He was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh to become the prime minister of Egypt. Seven years of plenty had passed and two years of the famine had come and gone. That made Joseph thirty-nine years old. Can you imagine the emotion-charged atmosphere when Jacob’s heart fainted within him at the possibility of seeing his beloved son. The proof of Joseph’s being alive came when Jamb saw the wagons sent by Joseph. The spirit of Jacob revived, and he said: “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die” (Gen. 45: 28).

What an ending to a pathos-filled story! God is working out his plan for this muddled-up world. It may seem to be staggering but it is plodding on toward the purpose of God. The Joseph Principle declares that God may not always be obvious in his presence and providence but he will win out in the end! Indeed Paul was right when he said: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Deposit the Joseph Principle in your heart. You will need it sooner than you expect!

JRT - Chapter 5, After The Spirit Comes

MORE, SO MUCH MORE

Life had only begun
When I gave Him my heart.
‘Twas the dawn of the day.
It was only the start.
God’s law was satisfied
By His Son crucified.
I was saved, was reborn
In my heart.
In my heart there is peace
Which the world could not give;
There is joy, boundless joy,
In each day that I live.
I can be what I ought
In each deed, in each thought.
It’s not I but it’s Christ
Who lives.
BUT THERE’S MORE, SO MUCH MORE
THAN THAT FIRST SWEET DAY;
MORE, SO MUCH MORE
EVERY PASSING DAY,
FOR THE LIFE I NOW LIVE
GOD IS LIVING THROUGH ME
IN EACH WORD, IN EACH DEED,
EACH DAY.

Song by Bob Oldenburg
Copyright © 1966 by Richler
Assigned 10 CRESCENDO MUSIC PUBLICATIONS. INC. 1971.
All rights reserved. Printed by permission.

Victory over the Devil

The Christian life is about victory. Victory implies struggle, battles, and warfare. Without an enemy there is no victory. We have an enemy, and he has troops. We also have a commander and allies. The wonderful truth about this war is that the outcome has already been determined and the gift of victory is already the personal possession of every child of God. If you are going to fight a war, that is the kind to fight! Because victory is our subject, there are certain areas, which necessarily come under consideration. Our enemy is a prime consideration, but we must not become preoccupied with him. The demons must not escape our notice, but we cannot become sidetracked into total demon-consciousness. The angels have been terribly overlooked, but we must not overcompensate to the point of worshipping them. Our study must begin with Jesus, end with Jesus, and be pervaded with Jesus. He is the VICTOR and has vanquished the foe! The announcement has already been made and has become reality in heaven. We are set in the world to be the means by which the Holy Spirit produces in terms of reality in the earth that which is. Already true in heaven. There is not even room for a shadow of a doubt as to our VICTORY. IT IS OURS NOW! In that pre-incarnate announcement in Isaiah 61, the Messiah declared, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GOD IS UPON ME; BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH TIDINGS UNTO THE MEEK; HE HATH SENT ME TO BIND UP THE BROKEN HEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.” He PROCLAIMS liberty because he has already PROCURED liberty!

When I was a lad, many of the sophisticated toys of today were not at my disposal. I found a favorite toy in a little piece of metal shaped in the form of a “V.” It was a magnet and attracted anything that corresponded to its likeness. One day Dad assigned me the task of picking up nails and other pieces of metal which would cause punctures and flatten tires on the automobile and farm equipment. I found that when I tied a string to the magnet and drugged it through the dirt, it would pick up the nails and metal. This is a crude way of illustrating a simple spiritual tool like VICTORY.

Victory in Christ is like a magnet. It attracts its likeness. As I think back over volumes of reading, hours of interviews, hundreds of tracts, days of deliberation, occasions of counseling, mountains of magazines, and manuscripts, and letters of testimonies, I am overwhelmed. I cannot know in my own mind which information is necessary and which is superfluous or spurious. Thus, my prayer has been and is that the Spirit of God will inspire me to drag the magnet of VICTORY THROUGH JESUS across the mountain of material which faces me. It has been delightfully workable. Frustration has lied! Joy has arisen! The magnet of VICTORY has been exposed to every piece of material. That which did not respond to the magnetism was left alone. That which did respond, stands as the final result…the volume which faces you. “THIS IS THE VICTORY WHICH OVERCOMES THE WORLD, EVEN OUR FAITH” (1 John 5:4)

Continuing victory will involve knowing and applying the truth about our adversary, the devil, his agents, the demons, our allies the angels, and our authority, Jesus Christ, the Lord!

JRT (From the Introduction to Victory Over the Devil)

The Devil

Men don’t believe in the devil now, as their fathers used to do,
They have opened the gates of widest creeds, to let his majesty through,
And never a sign of his cloven hoof, or dart from his fiery bow,
Is seen in all the earth today, for the people have voted it so,
But who is mixing that deadly draught, that poisons heart and brain,
And loads the bier of each passing year, with ten hundred thousand slain!
Who blights the bloom of the earth today, with the fiery breath of hell’!
If the Devil isn’t and never was, Won’t somebody rise and tell?
Who dogs the steps of the tolling saint, digs a pit for his feet,
And sows the tares in the field of time, wherever God sows wheat?
The skeptic says that the devil’s dead, and of course, what he says is true!
But who is doing the awful work that the devil alone can do?
If there isn’t a devil, whence all the sin, and the jarring and hideous sounds
That are heard in senate and mart and home, to earth’s remotest bounds!
It may be true what the scoffer says, that the devil is dead and gone,
But sensible folks would like to know, WHO CARRIES HIS BUSINESS ON?

F. C. VERNON-HARCOURT

From my book, Victory Over the Devil.

JRT

God's Miraculous Plan of Economy

There is a plan of economy which is eternal. It is a plan for all men and all seasons, and it involves all the commodities of life. That plan of economy is the will of God. G. Campbell Morgan said, “The one and only life that sets a man free from the forces that blight and destroy is the WILL OF GOD. Show me a man who lives for one day wholly, utterly, in word and thought and deed in the will of God, and I will show you a man who is antedating heaven, and who for that day reaches the plane of life which is at once broadest, freest, and gladdest.” The Word of God is given us that we might know the truth…not that we might have another theory with which to compare already existing ideas. The truth that the Bible reveals is the will of God.

The plan of economy presented in the Bible is stable and workable. It will work in good times and bad among people of all classes and races, young and old. It will still be in effect when the stars begin to fall, and a hundred million years from this very moment will still be standing. Such a plan deserves the consideration of every reasoning person today.

In these days when every magazine, newspaper, and television newscast is headlining the present economic disaster around the world and heralding the possibility of the collapse of the whole economic system, surely it is time to view the plan of economy that was in force when civilization saw its first sunrise and will be in force after the last sunset!

There is a plan of economy presented in the Bible which is not affected by recession, depression, spiraling inflation and dollar devaluation. It is God’s plan! It involves the management of all the affairs of man in this world and all the commodities of life. This is not a volume about money alone, because economy involves much more than money. It includes all the products with which man deals during his life—and after. A plan of economy that does not include the view of eternity is indeed incomplete! This plan takes into account time and eternity. It reckons with all earth’s treasures, resources, and capacities and man’s role in relating himself to them. It includes the eternal purpose in the mind of God as he created all that is.

Man’s economic systems are collapsing because he has been selfish and shortsighted and has failed to include in his economic principles those matters vital to its permanency. He has not reckoned with his responsibilities to the God who made all things, as well as himself, nor has he reckoned with his relationship with the whole human family. He has trafficked to his immediate advantage with divinely-given privileges, and the result has been the destruction of resources necessary to the whole human family.

The price for man’s crimes is high. The whole balance of economy is out of order. There is too much here and not enough there. Greed reigns, and war rages. The confusion and consternation among nations are but a magnification of what is going on in the hearts of men. The “evil day” has always come when the deceit of man’s systems has finally cornered him…when his violations of divine rules of economy have finally apprehended him. That day is near again! When it came the nation fell, the enemy took over, the famine came, the siege was executed …and whatever else happened that needed to happen to remind people that God was still in charge and demanded attention.

Long-standing rules on which we have based our world economy have at long last proved invalid. Shortages in all commodities are threatening. For the first time man can remember, famine is conceivable in every part of the world.

Surely it is high time to ask, “Does the God of heaven have anything to say to this turbulent, torn-up generation?” Of course he does! He has always had something to say, and he has always been saying it for those who listen. He does have a plan for your life! It is all-inclusive of every relationship, commodity, capacity now and later. It embraces what you are and all you will ever be. It includes your time, your concern, your love, your emotional and mental capacities, and your spiritual gifts.

It is God’s miraculous plan of economy. Miraculous? Certainly! Because it is God’s plan and because its workings cannot be explained by the rules of earth. The prayer of the author is that the reader will find it impossible to respond with a casual shrug of the shoulders to the message of this volume. I pray that it will result in whatever changes in the reader’s life-style are necessary to adjust him into God’s plan of economy. I pray that the message of this book will endanger and imperil any lifestyle which disregards the will of God as man’s supreme goal and cause an encounter which will result in your getting in on God’s way of doing things!

JRT

After the Spirit Comes

God is omnipresent. His Spirit is everywhere. Technically he cannot go or come anywhere. He is already there!

But there are times in the affairs of men when conditions are met In the spiritual realm and the Spirit of God moves in a fashion long remembered. There are times when the Holy Spirit, who has been there all along, manifests himself in people who come to blessing through brokenness. It is as if the Spirit has just come.

There seasons in the lives of people who have been indwelled with the Spirit all along when the Spirit resident becomes the Spirit reigning. Jesus moves from a peripheral role in the life to a prominent role. It is as if the Spirit of God has only recently begun to move.

There are eras in the life of the church when there is a spiritual breakthrough and the blessed Spirit of God finds freedom in movement and manifestation. While he has been there all the time, it seems that he has just come.

In all of these instances the Holy Spirit is no more present and no more powerful than he was before. And in the event of a phenomenal spiritual awakening, it isn’t even that the Spirit is moving in a more decisive fashion. I am convinced that the Spirit is always on the move. The Bible never reveals him in a static position. But when folks decide to obey him and follow his leading, it seems indeed that he is moving more than ever!

So After the Spirit Comes is a description of that time which follows close to those times, seasons, and eras which mark the manifestations of the moving of the Holy Spirit.

God never leaves his children without direction and instruction. The Bible is filled with information from real-life experiences of the heroes of our faith-these are valuable to us in times like these. The prayer of the author is that this volume will relate the wealth of biblical material to situations and needs today in such a manner as to facilitate lasting victory After the Spirit Comes.

Much More

The Christian life is an event followed by a process. It is an experience followed by a relationship. It is a step followed by a walk. It is an act followed by an appropriation. Many a believer has stopped with the event, the experience, the step, the act, and has never gone on to maturity. He has lived a life of spiritual poverty and spiritual defeat, always under the suspicion that there was MORE.

Now, it seems, that around the world there is a contagion of desperate searching, of ravenous hunger, and of intense investigation. The waters are troubled and thousands scramble to be the first to be made whole. Many report new lives, new homes, new churches in the wake of the stirrings of the Holy Spirit. That the Spirit of God is at work is a declaration which cannot be refuted. Something is going on! In the midst of it the theologians theorize, the historians analyze, the complacent rationalize. and the suspicious criticize.

The controversy rages! Issues develop. Terminology separates. "Extremism and wildfire'" contends one school. "Deficiency and deadness" replies another. The devil delights to divide. If we are not careful our differences in approach will cause a disturbance which will dull the point of the whole matter, namely, that any person can be BORN OF THE SPIRIT, FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, and WALK IN THE SPIRIT!

Yielding to His Lordship is like standing at the entrance of a gigantic treasure house, overwhelmed at the MUCH MORE of it all. Knowing the fullness of the Spirit is akin to the experience of standing on the shore of a boundless ocean with its waves licking at our feet. On beyond, there's more!

I am not now content to believe (nor have I ever been) that it was the plan of God that the church should begin in a flame of fire and end up in a fizzle of faithlessness. Jesus Christ is the same today! Only His earthly body has changed. It is now made up of the saved everywhere. Let that body discover the fullness of Him Who is the Head and you have the MUCH MORE of the New Testament church throbbing with the Life of her Lord.

I am delightfully aware that after the last word said and after a thousand others are written, we can still say, "Ah, but on beyond there's more ... MUCH MORE!"

The Reliable Word

Pick up a Bible. Any Bible will do. Now hold it up before your eyes. You are holding in your hand a miracle Book! Three miracles distinguish it from all the books of the world and defend it against ordinariness.

There is, first, the miracle of INSPIRATION: that work of the Spirit of God in the hearts and minds of the Scripture writers, which made their writings a record of divine revelation. That book is God-breathed! From its inception it was divine. In it is the mind of God, the way of salvation, and the revealed plan of God for man for time and eternity. It is divine in its initiation.

There is, second, the miracle of PRESERVATION: that work of the Spirit of God upon the hearts, minds, and hands of the Scripture translators, as well as upon the Scripture text itself, which guaranteed the perpetuation and protection of the original message of the Bible. Through the perils of translation and retranslation, changing times and cultures, the same Holy Spirit who breathed the original message to the first writer’s has been present to protect the text against deceit and error. So miraculously did the Holy Spirit work that the Bible has retained its impact and intent through hundreds of perilous years of translation. God did not leave the care of his Word to the hands of men alone. It is divine in its continuation.

There is, finally, the miracle of ILLUMINATION: that work of the Spirit of God upon the heart, mind, and life of the preacher, the teacher, and the student of the Word which discloses the inner meaning of the message of the Bible. No little miracle this! The same Holy Spirit which breathed the Word into the hearts of the writers and presided over its perpetuation now moves upon the preacher, teacher, and student to reveal its life-changing truths. It is divine in its communication.

Thus, you have physical, tangible, visible proof of the existence of miracles. You are holding a miracle in your hand! The Bible is miraculous in its initiation, in its continuation, and in its illumination. The Holy Spirit still guards his Word! If you doubt its miraculous nature, I challenge you to give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to speak to your heart through its contents as you read it. God’s eternal disposition regarding his Word is revealed in Jeremiah 1:12: “I will hasten my word to perform it!”

In this Book, the mind and plan of God are disclosed. It contains the plan of life for all men and all seasons and is eternal, unchanging, and complete…from eternity to eternity. The systems of man are collapsing and passing into antiquity. This should be no surprise to us. We have read the divine utterance which says, “And the world is passing away with its desires; but he that does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).

The Bible presents the rules of eternal life. Its principles dare to cut clean across the lines of modern reason, defy the best of our system’s experts, and extol values long since claimed obsolete by this world’s intelligentsia. The Bible claims things to be precious that the world abhors and abhors things which this world holds precious.

And the remarkable thing about all this is that the world’s claims make so much sense to the reasoning mind and the Bible seems to make so little. In the thinking of the world, the Bible seems preposterous and absurd…its claims far-out! I cannot argue this. But with as much sense as the deductions of the world seem to be making, they are not working! The world is falling apart, and its systems are failing! Man is scrambling to patch up his plans but they are passing away, despite it all. They simply are not working.

But I can tell you this…I affirm that the claims of the Bible are working! Right at this moment they are working! In the lives of men and women who dare to demonstrate their faith in the trustworthiness of the Word of God, heaven is happening! It is working! Its claims, as absurd as they sound, are standing. So I give you this Book, the Bible…laughed at, challenged, doubted, scoffed at, opposed, and refused…but whose principles stand!

The Key to Triumphant Living

… The KEY, in a statement, is CHRIST IN YOU…THE HOPE OF GLORY. It is by the Holy Spirit that Christ comes to live in the human spirit, abides to master the human spirit, and continues to minister through the human spirit to a world in desperate need.

There is much emphasis today on the need of a new dynamic. A trumpet sounds out a new possibility or a new power and thousands are ready and eager to listen. There are uncertain sounds in the area of renewal which bypass or disregard the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

These sounds are destined to die out among the howling winds of human need.

“Honor the Holy Ghost!” was the plea of an old man to Dwight L. Moody in the beginning days of his evangelistic ministry. He never forgot the admonition. That movement or person which does not honor the Spirit cannot succeed. Those who honestly, scripturally, and sanely honor the Holy Spirit as He magnifies Christ cannot fail… HE IS THE KEY…LIVING IN ME…BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

There are many ways to say it:

Hannah W. Smith calls it THE CHRISTIAN’S SECRET TO A HAPPY LIFE;

Charles Trumbull, VICTORY IN CHRIST;

Ian Thomas, THE SAVING LIFE OF CHRIST;

Stuart Briscoe, THE FULNESS OF CHRIST;

A. B. Simpson, THE LARGER LIFE;

Harold Wildish, THE GLORIOUS SECRET;

F. B. Meyer, THE EXCHANGED LIFE;

G. B. Duncan titles it THE LIFE OF CONTINUAL REJOICING:

Watchman Nee, THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE;

Ruth Paxson, LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE;

and still others such as Huegel, Barbour, Maxwell, McConkey, Redpath, Hunter, Tryon, Murray, Finney, and Letgers have varying terms for what Jesus simply called LIFE MORE ABUNDANT!

This quality of life has been appropriately called the Spirit-controlled Life, the Christ-filled Life, the Overcoming Life, Life in the Heavenlies, and the Key to Everything.

Whatever it is called, it is nothing less than all of Christ…RESIDENT IN…REIGNING OVER…AND RELEASED THROUGH the human life. This is the master key. This is the KEY TO TRIUMPHANT LIVING. I do not know of a lock it doesn’t fit.

JRT

from the Introduction to The Key to Triumphant Living

SOUL TALK SERIES # 7 THE BOASTING SOUL

“My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad (Psalm 34:2).”

We have spoken before of the soul’s makeup involving the mind, will and emotions. The act of praise and worship is a total soul involvement. The Psalmist declared his intention to “bless the Lord at all times and to have praise always in his mouth (Psalm 34:1).”

Praise, then, is a cooperation of mind, will and emotions resulting in visible, audible or vocal adoration of God. The mind assumes the stance of faith and declares to the emotions and will that it is a viable thing to do to worship God. This declaration of the mind is not without documentation. While the mind is yet without God, worship seems to be among the most foolish of exercises. Once God has gifted the soul with faith, the mind, under the power of the Spirit of God, is changed. The life of God in man’s spirit touches all the faculties of the soul and there is a dramatic shift. Foolish things become wise and viable. With the new birth there is a new thinking system, a new sense of emotion and a new response of the will.

All through the Psalms David and others record their intentions to worship with their whole beings, declaring that it is comely, proper and rewarding.

No stated intentions are more focused than our text: “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.” In this procedure the mind brings the matter to the table, the emotions add their “amen” and the will prompts the expressions of “boasting in the Lord”. There are times when the order of the worship experience shifts with the emotions leading the way. There are other times when the emotions seem dulled or passive and the will leads the way, pressing the emotions to join the party. To wait on the emotions may be costly to the worship experience as our feelings are often incarcerated by the atmosphere of an area or attitudes we have contacted during the way. While the emotions furnish a rewarding experience, we often must proceed without them with the mind’s knowledge or the will’s strength.

Since our relationship with God is a spirit-to-Spirit experience, God’s Spirit in us stirs the whole conscious being -- the soul -- to engage in worship. The result is loving God “with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Mark 12:30).”

Nothing affects our environment as powerfully as “boasting in the Lord”. The immediate result is that others will hear and be blessed, “The humble shall hear of it and be glad (Psalm 34:2b).” Gladden your world today; let them hear and see your praises. Say it with me:

“Today I will make my boast in the Lord; Those around will hear and be glad.”

Closing note of interest: This document was composed while the author’s emotions were on a brief vacation and were not in registered attendance while mind and will were considering the issue of worship. At the end emotions were detected hesitantly returning to the room.

JRT

SOUL TALK SERIES # 6 THE SOUL’S TABLE OF CONTENTS

If the soul was a book and had a sub title, a table of contents and chapters under main divisions it would likely read like this order:
Subtitle: The Reality of Who a Person Really is
Table of Contents (general divisions):
The Mind: the Thinker
The Will: the Decider
The Emotions: the Feeler
Then there would be dozens of specific parts of the soul.

To put it briefly: The mind is for thinking, for rationality, for understanding and can process with logic correct or incorrect and reach conclusions, good or bad.

The will reflects the pleasure of God in allowing us to choose to act on his initiatives. It is here at this precise point that we respond to God’s leading when we didn’t have to. We can take initiative or choose to be passive. Right decisions can shape a learned soul and a chain of right choices builds for eternity.

The emotions may serve as a go between standing where spirit and soul meet. Feeling may serve as the first contact point in a vital decision, to give a green light or a red light. We have all heard it said and said the words ourselves, “I don’t know about this situation but I just have the weird feeling that something isn’t right.” It has been said about women (I really don’t know who said it and do you think I would put it into print if I was quoting myself!) “Women’s intution (a gift to a woman’s soul) is fickle, nonsensical, ridiculous and virtually foolproof!”

When these three faculties are working properly, even in a God-vacant person, the results are impressive. In a God-contained person in touch with the Spirit the results are beyond astonishing.

A powerful thought (in my own humble and generally accurate opinion):
I am a soul and in that soul there is a thinking mind,
a deciding will
and feeling emotions.

These are all gifts of God and only he knows how they should work. When his life is in the human soul large and in control. . .watch out, world, you are in for a sight to behold!

JRT

A MEDITATION (Continued): PECANS AND BANANAS

I had already taken my morning rounds and saw that the mother pigeon was all right and saw that both eggs had become birds. Having some extra time I purposed to take up a long-postponed chore and began to separate partially shelled pecans from their delectable meat. I would try to think of someone who needed prayer with each pecan processed. It worked for a while until I was blessedly distracted by the thought, “How thoughtful of God to prepare the pecan, covered with a protective shell and filled with nutritious and delicious meat.” Wow, God You thought of it all and showed us Your love in the strangest of ways. You gave us the gift of appetite and gave us appetizing things to satisfy us while enriching our physical bodies.

I was fixing breakfast now and began to prepare a banana as a part of the breakfast menu. Since I was in a meditative mood already over the pigeon and the pecan, I thought, “What about this banana?” It is the perfect fruit (unless you want to cook it and make it a vegetable). It is neatly packed in a biodegradable carton, easily separated from its cover and even looks attractive and inviting. Its taste is beyond description and its nutritional value beyond assessment (I have a multipage report on its powerful nutritional values, its energy-giving potential, and its multivitamin treasures posted on my refrigerator).

I think I will never again eat a banana without repeating the thoughts of this meditation. God, You are so good to prepare such a delectable, easily prepared and health-filled snack for those you love, both monkeys and mankind.

Yesterday, I saw the love of God in a new way through the prism of the pigeon, the pecan and the banana. I found myself beginning to sing the old song on the love of God that I learned, played and sang as a boy. As I came to the last verse I remembered that in that now-ancient book where I first found the song, a note read that this verse was found written on the wall of a room in an insane asylum:

Could we with ink the oceans fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Now that is big love and I have a feeling that it is bigger than we can imagine. So you are now free to start anywhere, with a pigeon, a pecan or a banana or anything else and be reminded of a love unbounded . . . for you!

JRT

A MEDITATION: PIGEONS

I saw God’s love yesterday. As often the case I saw it through a prism of earthly hues. It was early and I would eventually prepare breakfast for my wife and me. I had some time.

First, I saw the pigeon. She had outwitted me at least three times, coming into our front balcony with intentions of building a nest. I outwitted her two times, taking away her nesting place and then throwing away the sticks and stuff she had gathered for the nest. It was not a fair fight. By the time I got back from a brief time away she had come, prepared a lesser nest in an unused flower pot and laid two eggs. Now I know when I am defeated. I am not a pigeon lover, doves are my choice, but in this case I am being changed. I have watched this lady bird totally rearrange her life around the potential of other lives. We have become quite friendly with one another, I am getting more forward with her and she is becoming less fearful of me. It was the eggs that did it, each of them a potential for life. I might shoo away a pesky pigeon but I was not about to destroy a life potential.

So I waited and watched and meditated as God-given instincts took over in her and in me and yesterday was the payoff: two baby pigeons. I had totally capitulated to the fact of my defeat and fed her when her mate didn’t come back. I even talked kindly to her as she sat on the eggs ever so gently for weeks. I felt like a part of the process.

It was a wonderful, all-wise God who made the creatures and equipped them with instincts that speak of Himself and us. Bound by these instincts, Mrs. Pigeon went to great inconveniences to bring these lives into the world. Had she been Mrs. Jones or Miss Smith, having a choice, she could have determined that she was not ready for such drastic responsibilities or inconveniences and opted to crush the eggs with her feet or root them out of the nest, watching them splatter on the surface of our balcony floor. She would have been quite within the bounds of law and in agreement with the A.C.L.U. and most politicians. But she was a bird and not a woman, bound by inner drives given by a loving, just and merciful God.

Yesterday as I watched the little baby birds nestle in their new world under the careful, gentle weight of their mother. I nestled, in response under the gentle, ever-present weight of divine providence and somehow knew that all was well in this turbulent world Now, we will wait until the little birds grow up enough to leave their nest and the cycle of life goes on. Next time I will be a little softer, more permissive, and silently grateful for the lady bird that out-deceived me three times to two, won my admiration and reminded me of my Father’s love.

By the way, though I do not dislike pigeons anymore, doves still remain my choice.

JRT

SOUL TALK SERIES #3 - THE PLACE OF THE SOUL IN THE LIFE OF MAN

It is said, and I believe correctly, that man is a threefold being, a trinity if you please. Assuming that this is true, we may also say that I am a spirit, I have a soul and I live in a body. We are spirit beings, meant to contain the life of God. A man without God is a man who is dead to God in his Spirit. He very much alive to sin but totally unresponsive to God until the Spirit of God takes the initiative to convict the soul of sin. The soul involves the faculty of will, thought and emotion. Mere religion cannot touch the spirit but has influence over the soul and body. The Spirit of God urges man to think about the claims of Christ, feel the need of Christ and when there is the gift of faith, he decides to receive Christ. This brings about the new birth. The result? A new creation! A perfect creation? No, but an experience has occurred that has changed man at the core of his being and from the core, his spirit, now containing God’s Spirit, As all this comes about, he begins to live in a new realm with new spiritual faculties. His spirit, once dead, becomes alive and from that time the life of God in man begins to do His work. His soul develops a new identity, a new creation.

There is a real sense in which the scope of salvation is Trinitarian, a living, continuing power in man. I was saved immediately in my spirit; I am being saved gradually in my soul and will ultimately be saved in my body when it becomes a body such as Jesus possessed after His resurrection.

Now, back to the soul: Before the event of the new birth the unredeemed soul was its own center, the untouched ego. In salvation there is a new center, the spirit where God’s Spirit dwells. The soul -- our expression of authentic identity becomes a servant of the human spirit and God’s spirit in developing expressions of new creation qualities, better known as the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace and so on.

It is at the point of the soul that growth takes place under the influence of God’s Spirit in us emanating His character through our entire being. One of greatest declarations in Scripture regarding the work of God in man’s soul is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now, may God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through (completely) . May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The next verse boldly derclares, “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

Now, this has been a quick run-through bringing us to the place of the soul, now under the influence of the Spirit reaching the whole man. Discipleship becomes a continuing therapy of soul training and the body happily becomes a servant of the soul which is the servant of the Spirit of God in man’s redeemed soul.

JRT

SOUL TALK SERIES #5 - THE ASTONISHING REACHES OF THE SOUL

To examine the soul from any position -- and there are many positions -- is to be startled and astonished at the potent power of the soul. Whether we have decided that the soul is a duality or a trinity, neither position puts a dent on the impressiveness of this part of mankind. The fact that one’s personality derives from the nature of his soul may be foundational as well as correct. It is here that character is implemented as well as expressed. To know a person in his or her soul is to really know him or her. This amazing entity in every person has powerful influence in many directions, none more powerful and spectacular than what we say in the next words.

The soul has the power to boast and seems to be the seat of pride, both good and bad. Not all boasting is the fruit of pride. One can boast of things good, noble and productive or one can boast of self and self exaltation. The Scripture says, This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom or the strong man boast in his strength or the rich man boast in his riches but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight (Jeremiah 9:23-24).”

Now that leads us right away to what was said of David or by David in a very trying time in his life, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will boast in the Lord; the afflicted shall hear and be glad.” And there you have it, arguably the most appealing reach of the soul of man, to be able to boast in the Lord and, at the same time, cause rejoicing among the suffering ones.

I don’t pretend to be thorough in my intellectual understanding of the human soul, but this I know: with whatever this is within me called a soul, I can brag on God to God and, in the act, cause rejoicing among those who hear and hurt.

Now, that is influence! As you think on this, consider that your soul has far-reaching capacities and potential and reaches out when you may not realize it. You can with proper soul care and discipline point your soul toward suffering humanity and leave a blessed trail of joy and happiness in your wake.

Be astonished at your soul, dear friend, within its reach are many waiting for someone whose soul is awakened to its seeming infinite reaches.

JRT

SOUL TALK SERIES # 4 THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SOUL OF MAN

In our quest of clarity regarding the human soul it would be a travesty to disregard a solitary life largely forgotten, namely that of Henry Scougal. He was born in 1650, over 360 years ago! But for one little volume, we in the twenty-first century may never have heard of him. The little book is entitled The Life of God in the Soul of Man. We will hear snippets from this small treatise from time to time in this soul-talk series.

Henry Scougal was a most extraordinary man whose life, like a meteor, flamed up for a brief time and flamed out when he was twenty-eight years of age. And yet his life and work cut such a wide path of effectiveness and joy that it is amazing and remarkable to behold. Perhaps the most significant influence of Henry Scougal’s life was his impact on George Whitfield through the book named above. Whitefield said of it, “I never knew what true religion was till God sent me this excellent treatise.” In J. I. Packer’s introduction of the little book, he says, “When a man of Whitefield’s stature applauds a book in such terms, it is our wisdom to sit up and take notice.” Again, Whitefield’s report was, “I must bear testimony to my old friend, Charles Wesley; he put a book in my hands, called The Life of God in the Soul of man, whereby God showed me, that I must be born again or be damned.” So through Whitefield Henry Scougal lived in powerful influence long after his death in 1678. Packer remarks, “Thus God used Scougal to awaken the man who himself came later to be known as the Awakener.”

I want to make this seeming sidelight brief to give you time to think on the subject of Scougal’s brief and splendid treatise and will treat you from time to time with great quotes from his life. In the meanwhile simply allow the title of Scougal’s only known surviving written work to fill your spirit and soul, The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Allow the words of that title to roll over your tongue and think of the glorious thought that our great God delights to find a home in our lives. Around this truth gathers the absolute genius of Christianity that no other religion even dares to claim: The union of man with God through the work of Jesus Christ!

I leave you with a quote from Scougal in eighteenth century prose: “Love is that powerful and prevalent passion by which all faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul are to be measured by the object of its love: he who loveth mean and sordid things doth hereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity with the perfections which it loves.”

In closing, let us consider the dynamic reach of the soul of man in the power of love. “This is love: not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (1 John 4:10-12).”

Let your soul ruminate on that!

JRT

SOUL TALK SERIES # 2 - SECRETS TO A RESTED SOUL

I awakened on a recent night with too much of the night left to be happy about it. But the problem was my mind was flitting about wildly like a bee from one flower to another. My soul was racing, not allowing time to consider one assignment, situation, problem or need before throwing others on the table. I began to do some serious soul-talk. I began the task of flagging my soul down to a walk and finally to a stop. Once I got my soul’s attention, we had a serious visit. (By the way, does this sound a bit schizophrenic to you? Whatever your response, stay with me!)

I had already allowed my soul to overload my plate before I was sufficiently awake to arrest it. Hmmm . . . do your reckon a rested soul must first be an arrested soul? Think about it but keep reading,

I tried several methods of calming my erratic soul until above all the tried ones came a well-known Scripture in Matthew 11:28-30. It was as if Jesus Himself had come into the room. I sounded the words with my own voice but I heard the voice of Jesus in my spirit immediately relayed to my soul. The effect was both immediate and dramatic.

My soul stopped alive in its tracks and listened. About halfway between sleep and being awake I experienced an encounter with Jesus Christ. When I awakened I quickly rehearsed what I heard lest, as many times before, I would forget completely (a very important measure in retaining details in dreams). Allow me to share with you what I will treasure for the remainder of my life and share wherever and whenever I can. As I recount what happened during my past-midnight tryst (from about 2:30-5:30) these are the flashpoints:

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
There was a call from Jesus, “Come . . .”

There was a coming to Him on my part; though half asleep I consciously went to Jesus.

There was a connection as I chose to take his yoke.

There was a consciousness of both his presence and peace, a rested soul.

There was a centering on the final statement in the passage, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” I will add one other thought.

There will be a continuity of this experience. It was not given as a single episode but as a lifestyle. That will be intentional.

There is much more but I will finalize the report for now by saying that burdens are inevitable but should never be borne alone; they must be borne as we are yoked to Jesus! His yoke does not chafe; the burden, now his, is light. I will never forget this night.

SOUL TALK SERIES # 1

This is a new series of blogs under the general title: SOUL TALK SERIES. As I launch this project into blogdom, I am reminded that I do not know what the word "blog" means. Looked it up in a big, thick dictionary and it ain't there. It is a clearly a third millennium word. Well, I guess I will learn about it on the way.

SOUL TALK SERIES # 1

Everybody does it! It seems inevitable and can be productive. We all talk to ourselves and the older we get the more prone we are to do it aloud. My mother-in-law , rest her soul, took audible soul talk to a new level, she argued with herself. I sometimes thought that if she was two people they would come to blows.

Whatever you think about it, it seems quite normal, so don't let someone convince you that because you engage in soul talk, you're going crazy (though there may be other signs that need attention)!

David, in the Psalms, engaged in soul talk. He was simply having a sensible, up-to-heaven (opposite of down-to-earth) talk with his soul when he said, "Soul, bless the Lord, praise His name, don't forget His multiple benefits: He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns you with love and compassion, satisfies your desires with good things and renews your strength like the eagle's. (Psalm 100)." All the while he is talking to his inner self, his soul.

Earlier in the Psalms David is heard, hauling his soul into counsel, demanding rather curtly, "Soul, why are you cast down; why are you so perturbed within me?" He asked the same thing three times in Psalm 42 and 43. It is evident here that he had heard a message from his soul he had no intention of taking lying down. So up he arose and sternly counseled his own soul, "Put your hope in God!" This outcry was a result of his realization in Palm 42:6 that "My soul is downcast within me."

We need to deal quickly and decisively with the case of the downcast soul. Don't put up with it, confront it and command it to face the truth that God and God alone is our hope.

Suggestions: Start right now listening to your soul and take nothing as final that is not good news or does not lead to good news. Demand an answer when discouragement, depression, disappointment or even disdain begin to infect and affect your attitude or disturb your inner peace.

Bottom line: If we are going to engage in soul talk, and we will inevitably, let's do it right. There is a key verse that will help us get started right, Luke 21:19. Though it is translated in varying ways, I love to translate it, "With stubborn endurance, get hold of yourself." I take that to mean, "Declare yourself in soul control" or "take full control of the inner you", all of this, of course, under the jurisdiction of he Spirit of God. Demand right answers, control the conversations and keep asking until you get a proper answer. The next time you use the familiar complaint, "Oh, my soul!", remember you have just addressed the seat of most of your problems, a soul out of control.' Make you soul subservient to His Spirit in you!

Until next time, happy soul talk!

Jack Taylor

Wonderful days in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa

This is my first post of my blog about our trip to Africa. We had a great day Friday with the president of the country who was as excited about being there as we were to have him. He was moved by our love and good words toward him and the warm reception of the great crowd.

We kicked off a stadium-like meeting in the field across from the church (the future home a 10,000 student university and a 200 bed hospital) with an evangelism and deliverance services last night and all day today. I preach again at a service Sunday Morning with the ordination of pastor and ministerial staff, sharing the time with Ralph Neighbour, Jr.

Friede is fine and ministered briefly in the deliverance tent tonight and taking thousands of pictures. We love the people of this country.

The launch of a massive expansion program yesterday to build hospitals and schools throughout the country and other nations while expanding the ministry locally will be the largest single project ever in history for a single church.

This will prove a strategic week with Ralph & I recognized as fathers of this most remarkable work with upwards of 200,000 members throughout the world and thousands of house churches.

6,000 ministers (mostly lay people) care for every imaginable need and witness opportunity. To watch the church in action is a most breathtaking experience.

We close with the massive ordination service in the morning and move three hours up country to the city of Yamousoukro for staff training centering on the Kingdom of God. We will leave the country Friday evening and be home late Saturday.

Tonight we were informed of the breakdown of one of the country's crucial power grids and may not have electricity where we are going but are assured that God knows what it is all about and will make a problem a blessing!

Pray about this and thanks for all the prayers thus far! You all are wonderful. Stay tuned for more postings of this fabulous trip...

Blessings!

Jack, Friede and Son Tim (Your missionaries on assigment in West Africa!)

Check Tim's blog on the trip at www.sonslink.com

Why the Windmill? (Ode to the Windmill)

Why the Windmill?

(Ode to the Windmill)

There it stands alone and still,

My old boyhood friend, the windmill.

"What's this contraption?" city-folk may ask,

"If it works, what is its task?"

Let it loose and you will see

It turns wind to water for you and me.

I grew up with windmills. The first 15 years of my life, all our water came directly out of the earth, thanks to our windmill. All over the tens of thousands of acres of West Texas one traveling through the area sees hundreds of these silent sentinels of the west. They stand alone, requiring nothing outside their own identity, driven by natural forces, green before green was cool. They draw clean, clear, cool water from deep within the earth. They accurately symbolize the character of the people among whom I spent my most formative years, rugged, independent, consistent and selfless, doing their jobs and living their lives, asking for nothing in return. These wondrous creations (the windmills) emit no fumes, record no carbon footprint and leave both land and climate undisturbed. Like the people around them, they seem willing to be taken for granted, can exist a lifetime without having to be affirmed, applauded or rewarded. They are just there doing what windmills were made to do . . . make water out of wind.

Nowadays you may go to Hawaii, Germany, Oklahoma or Texas and see gigantic multimillion- dollar machines creating energy by the same means my friend, the windmill, has for centuries. An idea generally disregarded until recently. Thus we were all losers until, hidden in plain sight, we awakened to the value of . . . the windmill!

When I moved from the country to the city to pastor, I longed for the country, its fragrances, its sights, its sounds, even its odors (ugh) but none more than the windmill. Eventually we moved to the country. Far out in West Texas on an engagement I saw a windmill, dismantled and lying flat on the ground. My heart was touched and I asked the owner if I could have it. To my delight he answered in the affirmative. It was moved to my five acre spread where we built a foundation and reconstructed the windmill piece by piece. We turned it loose and it was like the first time I fell in love with the windmill, love at first sound, the audible "cluck" from the little wind-driven motor that sounds with every turn of the wheel. With that first "cluck" all the gathered memories of life on the farm came back again. We never drilled a well so it never pumped water but the sounds I heard were like music to my ears and satisfied a longing that nothing else could have ever met.

MEET MY OLD FRIEND AND WELCOME THE WINDMILL!

Jack Taylor, Country boy come to town!