Need I remind us that it is prayer? We can seek advice, pour over our computers, read books for insight, and fret over problems. But prayer puts us in touch with the all-wise God of the universe. No resource or power is greater. When we pray we move heaven and earth.

All the greatest men and women of the Bible were people of prayer. The prophet Daniel made it through stressful and dangerous times only by prayer. His book features God’s providence, but it is also a book of prayer. His parents must have trained him in prayer when he was growing up, for when he arrived in Babylon, he was soon engaged in it. Challenged and threatened by the greatest world ruler of the day, he and his friends prayed for “the compassion of the God of heaven” (Dan.2:17-18). The answers came. Then another great prayer was offered: “He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things…” (v21-22). Can’t God do that for us?

Daniel’s habit was to pray three times a day without fail, “giving thanks before his God” (6:10). Think about that! He was a captive in a foreign country suffering ridicule and constant threats, yet he thanked God for all his blessings! Lots to learn from that.

And when he poured out his heart to God, the Lord promptly sent him angels to explain the times. Angels may not appear to us today, but God’s wisdom and consolation does. Didn’t James say, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much”?

What are you worried about today? Who are you concerned about? What choices must you make? Sure, get some advice, read up on things and go online. But the most powerful thing you can do is pray.

Remember the old song, “Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?”

– Tim Johnson

It seems that in every community in our part of the world you can see large, expensive homes being constructed. Perhaps these are “dream homes” people have always wanted; others are built by surprisingly younger people who want the best thing going. Some are never completed because of high costs. Sometimes a big house never becomes a real home.

Just outside Lexington, Kentucky, you can see a huge castle-like structure on a hill. You have to look quick because the high-speed road below takes you by quickly. It was built by a real estate broker and his wife who admired the castles and architectural styles they had seen on a trip to Germany. For their house, they bought 50 acres of land and began construction in 1969. They wanted seven bedrooms, fifteen bathrooms, a tennis court, and a fountain in the courtyard. But their marriage fell apart and they divorced in 1974, leaving their dream home unfinished. Later in was sold and renovated but destroyed by an electrical fire. It has been rebuilt and expanded, operating as a tourist inn. The original owners had a great house, but they didn’t make it their home. It’s a tragic story.

It’s very easy to make this mistake today. In our materialistic society people want the best and will go to any length to get it, but fail to work just as hard to build their marriage and create a great home. A couple can actually live in a small house, condo or apartment and make it a wonderful place where love, consideration, forgiveness, and kindness flourish. We’re told in 1 Cor.13:4-5 that “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.” Concentrating on these important things, not just on the physical features of your house, can produce a great home.

How about yours? Do you have a home, or just a house?

– Tim Johnson

We are often disturbed with the turmoil that swirls around us in our world. Nations squabble and threaten each other over economic and security issues; National leaders seem preoccupied with satisfying the demands of various interest groups and often neglect more important matters; The military might of various countries stand ready to strike if imaginary lines are crossed. We worry that peace may merely be a fragile arrangement.

We must not forget that God is still in control and Jesus Christ still sits on the throne. “All things have been created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col.1:16b-17). Speaking of nations, God said He has “determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:26). World leaders may often seem erratic and foolish, but God has his steadying hand in all affairs.   

To that end, God has always promised His people that He is watching out for their welfare. God said to a crumbling nation, “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:1). He would not forget them in them in the miseries they were bringing upon themselves. Pulling this scripture out of the Old Testament, the Lord said through Paul to the New Testament church, “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people…And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me’, says the Lord almighty” (2 Cor.6:16b-18).

God’s temple is no longer a physical building in the Middle East. He lives within Christians and we become a living temple in this world. God cares for us every day, no matter what is going on in the world. We have no real need to fear the manoeuvrings of men in power. We have every reason to be confident that God has our best interest in mind.

Never forget that God lives in his temple – and that means you!

– Tim Johnson

On Friday the world marked the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and man’s first stroll there. It was a marvelous feat of engineering at a time when computers were the size of refrigerators. It took 400,000 engineers, mechanics, doctors, and scientists to fly three men there on the tip of a Saturn V rocket – the largest ever built. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin actually walked on the moon while Michael Collins remained in the space capsule at the controls.

It is evident that without physical order in the universe these achievements would not be possible. Accomplishments of this kind require precise knowledge and conformity to God’s order. Tens of thousands of man-hours, the sophistication of technology and the investment of billions of dollars would all be a waste without the orderly universe to count on.

A wise student of the Bible said that the God who ordained physical order also ordained moral and spiritual order. Conformity guarantees fulfillment. Disobedience spells disaster. Break God’s law and it breaks us.

One can reject God’s moral laws but that does not get rid of them. The law of sin and death is as inviolable as the law of gravity. Morality isn’t arbitrary. It’s part of the natural law of the universe. God’s law stands whether we like it or not. It’s important that we not ignore these eternal principles for they have eternal consequences. 

The 1969 moon landing might have been one small step for man. Certainly it was one giant leap for mankind. But it didn’t happen without God’s wise and wonderful order which he built into our universe.

– Tim Johnson

(With help from a prior article by David Johnson)

Recently I witnessed a boss yelling at two employees in a lot where their heavy trucks were parked. His words were laced with profanity and you could hear him all over the busy street. I wondered how devasted and discouraged his two men must have felt. Words can build people up or tear them down. Here are some comments written by David Johnson a number of years ago on this subject. I’d like to reprint them:

No doubt you remember chanting the childhood phrase, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” One minister said that the reason this saying lives on through the years is because it is not true. A word, he said, is like a bullet; it leaves an impact on everything and everyone it hits. Words, not just sticks and stones, can hurt deeply.

Consider the destructive power of the following words: I hate you; you disgust me; I wish you had never been born; I wish you were dead; you are good for nothing; I want a divorce; nobody cares about you; I’ll never speak to you again.

Now consider the constructive power of these: I love you; you are important to me; thank you so much; how can I repay you; you look really nice today; I like your new haircut; great job; this place wouldn’t be the same without you; I’m proud of you; you are irreplaceable; things go better when you are here.

A German folk story tells of a boy who was talking unkindly of others. His father had him take a bag of goose feathers and fling them out of the second story window of his house. The wind scattered them into the streets below. Then he said to his son, “That’s the way your words go out to the people. Now go out and pick them up.” The boy cried out, “That impossible!”  His father said, “So it is impossible to take back the words you have spoken.”

Words reveal who we are and what’s in our hearts. “What’s in the well will come out in the water.” “What’s in the tree will come out in the fruit.” Warning: Watch your words. The tongue is a wet place and it can easily slip.