[Note:  Some of you may have the strange feeling you’ve read some of this before.  You have!  Last December. We received such an overwhelming response from it last year, that we feel God wants us to repeat some of it this year . . . especially for our thousands of new readers who’ve joined us since last December.]

Merry Christmas!

I know!  I know!  To be “politically correct” here in USAmerica, we’re not supposed to greet people with “Merry Christmas” these days.   The word “Christ” seems to offend a lot of people.  But…I’m saying it anyhow:  “Merry Christmas!” So there . . .  Let the political correctness police come and arrest me!  Slowly but surely Christmas is fading from our culture, being replaced by such counterfeits as “Winter Holiday” and “Celebration of the Winter Solstice.”  

You do know, don’t you that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25^th in the year 0?  No, He was most likely born in the spring of the year, probably in April.  We can’t prove that one way or another, so I have no quarrel with celebrating his birth on December 25^th.  But, why stop with celebrating his birth on just that one date each year?  The important thing is that we continue celebrating his birth, whenever He was born.

Backward, Turn Backward

God transcends the four known dimensions of time and space, “residing” in a hyperdimensional or transdimensional “place” called eternity.  In fact, current science tells us there are many more dimensions than only the four we live in.  Some physicists say there are at least 10 dimensions . . . or many more.  God transcends all of them, no matter how many there are.  And . . . because of those many dimensions beyond time and space—hyperdimensions—time can actually turn in on itself and go backwards.  Scientists have proved that mathematically, although they haven’t seen  it happen in real life . . . yet.

God dwells “outside” of and “above” time and space so that past, present, and future are all simultaneous to Him.  For God, everything is always “now.”  That being the case, from God’s eternal perspective his coming to earth as a human baby    is   forever occurring    “now”—as    well     as 2,000 years ago.  For God, time really can go backwards:  not actually, but are you getting a feeling for what I’m trying to say?  

From God’s perspective in eternity, the entire life span of Jesus—his conception by Holy Spirit, his birth from a virgin mother, his sinless life, his cruel death, his resurrection from the dead, and his return to heaven—are always “now.”  So God gets to celebrate Christmas all the time—everywhere and everywhen!  God is continually—always and ever—pouring out his love to all humanity—from a manger in Bethlehem, from a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem, from an empty tomb, and from his throne of grace in eternity.

Here’s a paraphrased version of some words from a Celtic song:

Here is love vast as the ocean;
Lovingkindness as the sea.
From the Mount of Crucifixion
Grace pours down eternally!

Let’s not limit God to some events that happened in our four-dimensional time and space 2,000 years ago.  Let’s not limit Jesus to a baby in a manger in a hillside stable 2,000 years ago.  Yes, we celebrate our Saviour’s birth each December 25th, but we can celebrate it over and over throughout the year.

Immanuel

You’ve heard Jesus called—or named—Immanuel, haven’t you?  By the way, the word is sometimes spelled with an “E” as the first letter.  Immanuel is found in Matthew 1: 23, quoting from Isaiah 7: 14.  Immanuel is a Bible word meaning “God is fully present with us.” But it doesn’t refer only to when Jesus was born that God became “with us” as God in human form.  No, it means that since the time of Jesus God is with us in the sense that He is now always fully present with us . . . and in us.  

Yes, God is always with us, living inside us  in his “unbodied form of Holy Spirit.”  He is fully present with us now during this mortal stage of our journey.  He will be fully present with us when we die.  And He will always be with us in the eons of time to come and in the eternal state after the universe and the earth are freshly renovated and restored.  So . . . because God is always fully present with us and in us, we, too, can join God in celebrating Christmas all year long.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Gift-Giving

What gifts do you hope to receive for Christmas this year?  What presents do you plan to give for Christmas this year?  How much will you be spending?  How much can you honestly afford to spend?  Why do we practice Christmas gift-giving in the first place?  Oh, I know all about Saint Nicholas . . . and how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus when He was a toddler . . . and how gift-giving at Christmas has just “always been done.”  But has it?  Really?

Wanna know when gift-giving by God’s people actually began?  I’m glad you asked. Gift-giving as we know it today—from a biblical perspective—actually began about 2,500 years ago during the time of Queen Esther in the Old Testament.  After God delivered Queen Esther and the Israelites of that day from an evil plot to kill all of them, they celebrated “with days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.” (Esther 9: 22). 

500 years before Jesus was born, God’s people began giving gifts to one another and presents to the poor!  But if our custom of giving gifts to others at Christmas began with the wise men giving gifts to Jesus, why do we give gifts to one another?  Why don’t we still give gifts to Jesus—instead of to one another?  After all, whose birthday is it?  Aren’t we supposed to give birthday gifts to the one whose birthday we are celebrating?

A Tectonic Shift in Thinking

Maybe we need a radical shift in our thinking about who we should be giving birthday gifts to this time of year.  Maybe we need to give gifts to Jesus instead of to other people.  Maybe we’re missing something by what we’re doing.  Maybe we need to change something—beginning this year.  Jesus said on one occasion that there will always be poor people.  I take that at face value. 

I believe there will always be poor people, both in this life and in the age to come after Jesus returns to establish his Kingdom here on earth with his headquarters in Jerusalem.  Some folks teach that after Jesus returns to earth, He will instantly make all things new by Divine fiat.  I don’t hold that view.  Instead, I firmly believe that it will take a minimum of 1,000 years for Him to lay the groundwork for ushering in a fully restored universe and earth before we enter into a state of being called eternity.

Jesus Begins to Change Everything!

For example, I believe it will take at least a few centuries after He returns for Him to firmly take control of all earth’s governmental entities.  It will be the same with earth’s educational systems.  And taking apart earth’s military-industrial establishments, turning all of that vast industry into peaceful purposes.   And restructuring all earth’s economic systems, finally beginning to truly eradicate poverty once and for all.  

Having said that, the poor will continue to exist on this planet for a long time to come.  Jesus expects those who “have” to help those who “have not.”  So . . . during this Christmas season, why not give gifts to the poor around you?  No one is so poor that they cannot locate someone nearby who is just a little poorer.  Jesus said in Matthew 25 if we aid and assist those who are less well off than we are, that is the same as serving Him.  How much money are you planning on spending on gifts to others this Christmas?  Even putting some of it on your credit card that you won’t be able to pay off for months?

Joy In Giving

I guarantee you will find much more joy in giving if you will give to the poor rather than spend money you don’t even have for gifts no one uses.  Or for gifts that are used for only a short while and then just tossed aside on a pile in the attic, garage, or basement with last year’s Christmas gifts.  You and I cannot eradicate poor-dom from planet earth—at least not until after Jesus returns.  Only King Jesus can—and will—eradicate poor-dom after He returns to fully establish his Kingdom on earth.  But . . . we can help one poor person or one poor family in our locale during this Christmas season. 

I guarantee that not very far from you wherever you live on this planet, there is at least one poor person or family you can help with gifts in Jesus’ Name!  Do you remember that Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive”? (that’s in Acts 20: 35)  Do you believe what He said?  I do.  It really is more blessed to give than to receive.  I don’t believe that’s simply a statement Jesus made.  I believe it’s a promise and principle as well.

I Double Dare You!

 When I was a child, my friends and I used to play a game called “Double Dare.”  We would double dare—challenge—one another to do something risky, or scary, or even wrong—just to see if we had the courage to do it.  I double dare you to make a major shift in your thinking this Christmas season and give gifts to Jesus instead of to one another, thus helping the poor as they did way back in Esther’s time 2,500 years ago.

It’s Jesus birthday; let’s give our gifts to Him instead of to one another!

C’mon, I double dare you!  Talk it over with your spouse, your children, your church, your home Bible study group, your friends, your office co-workers.  And then just do it!  You may be protesting, “But, what will people think!  What will my children say?  What will my family think? We’ve already bought most of our presents?  The kids are already expecting_________.  I’ve already charged everything to my credit card.  I’ve placed lots of things on layaway at K-Mart.”  

Here’s  my  response  to  all  those   excuses:  “S-o-o-o-o!  Who are you trying  to  please?” Return those things.  Get your money back.  Remove things from layaway.  Explain your changed thinking this year.  Talk things over with your family.  Find a poor person or family in your locale.  Bless them richly this Christmas day!  Spread your joy.  Bless someone poor in the Name of Jesus.  Make God happy.  He will take great delight in your new approach to Christmas gift-giving.

          Give gifts to Jesus this year and all your years to come!  Remember, He is always fully present with us and in us!

“For a child has been born–for us! The gift of a Son–for us! [When He returns] He’ll take over running the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Mighty God, Father of all time and eternity, Prince of Peace. His rule over earth will spread, and the peace He establishes will be limitless. He’ll rule from the historic throne of David over that coming Kingdom, which He’ll place on a firm footing and keep it going with fair dealings and right living…lasting always.” –Isaiah 9: 6 and 7, paraphrased.      

To think about this month: 

“Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and LIFE to us He brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that we no more may die,
Born to raise the children of earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark!  The herald angels sing:
‘Glory to our newborn King!’”

–written by Charles Wesley, 1739 
–slightly adapted                                    

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
E-mail: leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020   

First, I want to wish each of you a very thank-full Thanksgiving during this month we celebrate a national day of thanksgiving TO GOD! here in USAmerica. I hope you’re living a daily lifestyle of thanks-living, not merely saying you’re thankful!

The Real Road To Wellville

 A few years ago Hollywood produced a movie entitled “The Road To Wellville” about a young married couple seeking to restore and save their marriage.  I’m not recommending the film to anyone because it featured some very rude, crude, and lewd scenes and dialogue.  But the movie did contain some interesting concepts about forgiveness, reconciliation, and working to make marriages stronger.  Again, I’m not recommending the film to you—just making some comments about it.  And it certainly isn’t a film for anyone under age 18 to see!  The real “road to wellville” is the Royal Road To  Forgiveness.  And, that’s what I want to teach about this month:  The true Road to Wellness!  It’s a road that helps us become well and stay well.

Forgive!

Anything in your life you need forgiveness for?  Anyone you need to forgive?  Anything in your own life you need to forgive yourself for?  Some people don’t believe in forgiveness, feeling it’s a sign of moral and emotional weakness.  Some people feel if someone else has done something to harm them, they need to do something to hurt that person in return—certainly not forgive them.  Where do you stand on this matter of forgiveness?  

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you don’t forgive the sins of others—letting them go and   giving   up     your    resentment—your Father won’t forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6: 15)  Later, Peter came to Jesus and asked Him, “Master, how many times must I forgive a fellow believer if they sin against me—as many as 7 times?” Jesus answered Peter, “No, not 7 times—but 490 times!” (Matthew 18: 20, 21)

“Jesus believers, . . . forgive one another readily and freely, as God in Jesus forgave you.” (Ephesians 4: 32)

“ . . . Readily pardon one another; even as God has freely forgiven you, so must you also forgive.” (Colossians 3: 13)

When Jesus was in the throes of agony on Calvary’s cruel cross, He cried out just before He died:  “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing!” (Luke 23: 34)  Yes, He was speaking to those people physically present at the time, but by extension, that cry to “forgive them” comes ringing down through the centuries of time and refers to us, too.  

Through Jesus’ cruel, agonizing death on our behalf on that tortuous cross, the Father has already forgiven us all our sins—past, present, and future.  And it’s not cheap, lovey-dovey, sentimental forgiveness:  it cost the death of Jesus!  Jesus went to the cross to release forgiveness into all the world for all time and eternity . . . into you in the now of your life—and through you into the lives of others whom you must forgive. Only the brave know how to forgive!

Results of Unforgiveness

 Later, Paul warned us that unforgiveness results in bitterness which can destroy our lives and the lives of others  (Ephesians 4: 31, 32 and Hebrews 12: 15).  The coldness of unforgiveness and bitterness turns inward into a hate that burns and then destroys the person harboring it.  The acid of hate and bitterness destroys the container:  you—if you’re the one harboring the deadly acid!  

Are you one of those Jesus believers who says, “Yes, but . . . ” to biblical references such as I’ve cited above?  “Yes, but you don’t know my situation.”  “Yes, but, you don’t know how badly that person hurt me.”  “Yes, but you don’t know what a terrible sin that person committed against me.”  “Yes, but . . .”  You must know, don’t you, that all those “Yes, buts . . . ” are just flimsy excuses for not obeying what God commands you to do in biblical references such as the above?

The bottom line?  If you harbor unforgiveness for any length of time against another person, you’re being disobedient to God.  You’re not hurting anyone else by your unforgiveness; you’re hurting only yourself and causing bitterness to grow within you.  Simply put, forgiveness is a choice; it is not a feeling; forgiveness is an act of the will, a quality decision.  Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving;  in some instances, you probably never will feel like forgiving.  As a choice, as an act of your will, as a decision, just do it:  Forgive! Then, learn to live daily with an ongoing attitude of forgiveness for the remainder of your journey through time and into eternity.

Genuine Freedom

It’s the only way to live in the freedom freely given us by God through Jesus; “If Jesus sets you free [from unforgiveness], you shall be free indeed!” (John 8: 36)  As Jesus-believers, when someone sins against us, that person has all the advantages.  They can sin against us up to 490 times or more and we’re supposed to keep on forgiving them!  They can hurt us in terrible ways, gossip and spread rumors about us—libel or slander us—over and over and over, and, still, Jesus instructs us to forgive them with no thoughts of getting even.  The burden is on us because we have been fully and completely forgiven by God, and God requires us to do no less. 

No excuses.  It’s pretty straightforward:  God has forgiven us; we must forgive others!  Holding on to unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness can lead to higher blood pressure, muscle tension, and depression.  The person who forgives and the person forgiven aren’t the only ones who benefit.  There’s a ripple effect.  Those who forgive are much more likely to perform volunteer work or give to their church or charity.

Just Do It!

If someone has wounded you or hurt you in some manner, you are wasting your valuable time if you are sitting around waiting for them to realize what they have done to harm you and then come to you to ask for your forgiveness.  Friend, that just doesn’t happen except very, very rarely.  999 times out of 1000, the person who has hurt you will never come to you seeking forgiveness.  But you must forgive them anyway.  

Forgiveness is not about them; it’s about you!  You need to forgive for your own spiritual, mental, and physical health and well-being, not for the well-being of the person who hurt you.  Give it up!  The person who hurt you is not going to come to you seeking forgiveness.  The truth is, they most likely don’t even remember, or know—or even care—if  they have done harm to you, causing them to need your forgiveness.

 I’d like you to say this OUT LOUD . . . right now, two or three times:  “I remain imprisoned within myself as long as I harbor unforgiveness, anger, and bitterness, but Jesus sets me free!”  If God was willing to totally forgive you and me for our sin, our meanness, our weakness, our stubborn self-righteousness, our foolish pride, then who do we think we are by holding those same sins against another person?!  Maybe we should concentrate more on confessing our own sins than on keeping morbid track of another person’s sins against us.  When we harbor unforgiveness toward others, often we can’t even deal with our own sins because we’re so focused on the sins of others.

Staying angry with others is how we mistakenly think we protect ourselves from letting others hurt us more.   Refusing to forgive is not only how we feel we are “punishing” others, but it’s how we feel we can keep others from getting close enough to hurt us again.  Sometimes it seems to work, but the downside is that it leads to deep bitterness—which can really do destructive damage to our bodies, minds, and spirits.  Look closely at someone you know who is full of anger, resentment, unforgiveness, and bitterness.  See how those traits have twisted and shriveled that person inside and filled them with malice; look how it has atrophied and shrunk their insides.  Anger, all by itself is not damaging; it tells us that something we hold dear is in danger—something or someone is in danger, or our beliefs, or our physical safety.

The Bible says it’s okay to be angry; we just shouldn’t sin while we’re angry—and get over our anger and let it go before we go to sleep at night.  Anger is sort of a flashing yellow caution light.  It’s saying “slow down and figure out what’s going on.”  If we do slow down, often we can learn from our anger.  Sometimes we can use the energy it creates to change ourselves or our relationships with others—by the inner power of Holy Spirit Who empowers us to make such changes.  But if our anger just goes on and on without our using it to change what needs to be changed, then it is not simple anger anymore.  It has turned into bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness. 

Someone has called such unresolved anger “arthritis of the soul.”  And, only our forgiveness can “cure” such arthritis!  That means there is another good reason for us to forgive—besides simply obeying what Jesus tells us to do. We owe it to ourselves, because such anger, bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness “deforms” us and makes us dis-eased inside.

It becomes a boomerang; we think we’re using it to protect ourselves—to hurt back before we can be hurt again—but it has a sinister way of circling right back at us so that we become the victim of our own bitterness and unforgiveness.  The bottom line?:  Our unforgiveness most often doesn’t really hurt the other person that much; sometimes they even go on completely oblivious to the harm they have caused us and of our unforgiveness of them.  But our unforgiveness does hurt us—sometimes irreparably this side of heaven.  The only antidote to sin—ours or that of others—is forgiveness.  Sometimes the challenge  is that our anger is so exciting and enlivening in a twisted sort of way that forgiveness seems like sort of a limp surrender.

We won’t admit it, but sometimes having an unforgiven “enemy” helps us feel we “look good” by comparison.  It also helps sometimes because we have someone whom we feel we can blame for our lives not turning out they way they’re “supposed to.”  To forgive, often means we give up our own misplaced feelings of “being right.”  And sometimes that’s sort of scary.  Forgiveness helps us live again, no longer bound by chains of resentment and bitterness—chains we’ve bound ourselves with.

Forgiveness is setting a “prisoner” free and then finding out the prisoner was me!

Through Jesus, we are being forgiven by God every day of our lives.  God is continually setting us free from chains that bind us.  Forgiveness is God’s cure for the inner deformities our unforgivenesses causes us.  Every time we forgive, we stand up a little straighter and taller inside—we become a little more alive with God’s very own LIFE inside us.

          “Don’t ever forget all God’s benefits.  He forgives every one of your sins.  He heals all your diseases.  He redeems your life from destruction.  He crowns you with love and grace.  He wraps you in his goodness.”  –Psalm 103: 2, paraphrased

To Think About This Month: 

                          “Many scientific studies show that, overall, there are fewer illnesses among people who are forgiving.  People who have been deeply hurt, but have forgiven those who hurt them, have better blood pressure, healthy muscle tension, better immune response, and improved cardiovascular and nervous system functioning.”

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

For years, many of my students and friends—and some in my family—have asked me to write my autobiography.  I did! And it’s now hot off the press and presently available for you to order from me or from amazon.com, both as a paperback and as an e-reader.    If you order it directly from me, I’ll autograph your copy.  Just think, in a few hundred years it might be a classic collector’s items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars . . .  Simply contact me by phone or e-mail for the price and to furnish me shipping instructions.  Published in August, (it even has photos!) it’s about my own journey through this mortal life from my conception to the present.  

Entitled Him ‘n me, I hope you’ll purchase a copy.    My prayer is that God will use it to draw many people closer to Himself  through Jesus.  It’s about Him, not me.   There are some encouraging parts, some poignant parts, some sad parts, some strange parts, some controversial parts, some weird parts, and some happy parts.  As mentioned, it’s got some photos of me.  They’re guaranteed to keep your home free from pests and rodents.  If you lay it on your coffee table using the latest feng shui placement, it’ll even ward off evil spirits . . .  Seriously, I do hope you’ll purchase a copy—for yourself, perhaps as gifts to others, etc.  None of my royalties are used personally; all royalties are contributed to our  ministry  in   order  to  reach  more   and  more people with the Good News about Jesus.

Ancient Aliens Give Bible To Moses! 

No doubt you’ve seen those or similar headlines in various supermarket tabloids from time to time.  By the way, I have a very misinformed friend who actually believes that headline statement!  All my teaching in person and in print is always based upon the Bible; some of my teachings are not directly from the Bible, but they are always Bible-based and Bible-related.  Let’s address a couple of basic issues about the Bible.  First, Why is the book we call the Bible called the Bible? Why isn’t it called the Grunzat,” “Yarnusk,” “Q’reen,” or some other name?

How We Really Got The Bible

The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word for the papyrus plant (biblos), since the leaves of that plant were used for “paper” in ancient times.  The Bible is a collection of 66 different “books” or letters written by 40 authors over a period of approximately 1,500 years.  It’s not just one book, but a collection of books.  Sure, they’re relatively short books and letters, some no lengthier than a small pamphlet, but they’re still called books, nevertheless.  Therefore, you don’t need to just pick up the Bible and begin reading it like you would a single novel, an autobiography, or a textbook.

When you first read the Bible (if you haven’t already) you don’t need to start by reading the first book, “Genesis.”  You could begin by reading one of the other books.  For those who have never read the Bible, I generally recommend they begin by reading “The Book of John” (also called “The Gospel of John”).  John is a pretty good introduction to the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth whom the entire Bible is really all about in one way or another.

Next, I recommend people read the “Book of Acts” (actually, its full title is “The Book of the Acts of Holy Spirit”), and then the rest of the books following Acts, clear to the book of Revelation.  Then go back and begin reading Genesis, continuing all the way to the end of the “library” of 66 books.  Here’s a relatively minor point, but one many people don’t know.  Originally, the books of the Bible were not divided into chapters and verses as we see them today.  Such divisions were made only relatively recently in history.  And, generally speaking, they were made by one man.  Although he did an excellent job of dividing the Bible into chapters and verses, such divisions were not in the original manuscripts of the Bible.

Brief History Of Writing

Writing in many forms has been around for a long, long time—for thousands of years.  When God first began to “reveal” Himself to humans and help them sort out the differences between all the false idols and handmade god-statues they had created for themselves, on one hand, and the one true and living God, on the other hand, He prompted various people to begin writing down His concepts, thoughts, and words. 

That began approximately 3,500 years ago. Oh, they weren’t written on word processors and faxed, e-mailed, or texted from place to place, but they were written down—on clay tablets, on special animal skins, on papyrus—writing surfaces like that.  God used 40 persons to write the Bible over a period of approximately 1,500 years. 

God caused people to write what He wanted them to write.  Keep in mind they were humans just like you and me; some were well-educated, some were not.  They came from various walks of life and occupations.  Some were kings, some were farmers and fishermen, but they were all literate and could write.

Don’t believe the naïve lies they were sort of ancient “cave people” who were ignorant and could only grunt—who couldn’t read or write.  That simply isn’t true.  From China, the Middle East, and various other sites all over the world, archaeologists, toponymists, epistemologists, and other experts about human history are constantly discovering more and more writing that is more and more ancient—going back many thousands of years.  Writing in many languages has been around for a long, long time, folks.

How God “Wrote” The Bible

Here’s how one reference in the Bible says God caused people to communicate what He wanted written.  2 Peter 1: 21 says as they were guided and directed by God’s  Spirit inside of them, certain people wrote what God wanted written.  Oh, they weren’t automatons, whom God just overpowered and forced them to speak or took control of their hands and made them write.  

No, God worked “behind the scenes” in their minds and spirits so they thought the thoughts God wanted them to think, and then wrote them down—using their own style of writing, their own languages, their own idioms, their own phrases.  Holy Spirit inside them acted as somewhat of an “overseer” to ensure that they wrote what God wanted them to write.  He didn’t override their personalities and “force” them to write; in fact, they probably didn’t know with any certainty at the time that what they were writing was the “word of God.”

They were simply writing down what they believed God was communicating to them—from inside them, for the most part; although some of them would occasionally “hear” God’s voice from out of the heavens, out of a cloud, or from some other “outside” source.  But for the most part they wrote what Holy Spirit guided them to write from where He lived inside their minds and spirits.  Another reference in the Bible (2 Timothy 3: 16) says the entire Bible is “inspired” by God.  Literally, the word “inspired” means all the Bible is “God-breathed.”  Well, what does that mean?  How did that work?

Look at the word “inspiration.” Let me write it this way:  “in-spirited-action.”  What that means is that God was inside certain people—inside their spirits—and He took action to cause them to think—in their minds—certain thoughts and to write whatever words He wanted written.  Some people question God’s “ability” to cause the Bible to be written in the manner I’ve described. 

Although the Bible claims that God did cause it to be written through various people, God didn’t “control” their every move.  The writers used their own minds, and their individual personalities show clearly in the different styles of writing found in the 66 books of the Bible.  God is God.  He can do that sort of thing, can’t He?  You decide.  Can I prove that’s how it happened?  Nope.  I wasn’t there.  But the Bible says that’s how it happened.  It’s a matter of choice.  Is God trustworthy?

Who Ya Gonna Believe?

Can I believe Him when the Bible says that’s how it happened?  I believe I can.  Can you?  That’s up to you.  It’s a matter of choice.  Who ya gonna believe?  Does this type of explanation seem farfetched to you?  It doesn’t to me—if I believe God is God:  a real “unbodied person” who exists in spirit “form” and who lives inside  people.  As stated previously, the Bible is not just one book; rather, it is a collection of 66 different books.  There are 39 books in the Old Testament (the part written before Jesus lived) and 27 books in the New Testament (the part written about Jesus when He was here on earth as a human, and for about 35 years afterwards).

The oldest book of the 66 books is the Book of Job (pronounced jobe), likely written about 2,000 years before Jesus.  The last book written is the Book of Revelation, written about 30 years or so after the time of Jesus.  Are all those books reliable?  Can they be trusted?  You have to answer such questions for yourself.

All I can tell you is that the Bible has been around for a long, long time.  People have tried to burn all the copies in existence, kill people who owned them, prove it’s false and full of myths and errors, prove that it wasn’t written by those who claim to have written it.  And it’s still here, still being printed, still being distributed, still being read by multitudes of people, still radically changing the lives of millions of people in each generation who believe and obey its teachings. 

What can I say?  It seems to me the real issue is something like this:  what is your own personal relationship to the Bible? You must use your own mind and spirit to read it.  Does the Holy Spirit live inside you?  If He caused it to be written—as the Bible claims—have you ever asked Him to “interpret” it for you and help you understand it?  What better person to ask to explain it to you than the Person who caused it to be written? 

God did not give us the Bible merely to inform us.  No.  No.  No!  God gave us the Bible to transform us, not merely to inform us.  It’s a living” book Holy Spirit uses from inside us to transform our lives more and more into the clear image of God as seen in Jesus.  You are missing out on the very intent, purpose, and meaning of the Bible if you’re merely reading it to amass information about the Christian religion.  Or if you’re merely reading it for its history, rich poetry or wise sayings.  

God gave you your Bible to transform your life.  And He does it little by little, day by day, week by week, month by month, year after year . . . as you read, study, and attempt to obey it.  God’s Spirit who lives inside you in your spirit takes what’s written on the printed pages of the Bible, makes it come alive inside you, and s-l-o-­w-l-y transforms your life from the inside out.  I hope it goes without saying that for your transformation to happen, you must actually get out your Bible and read, study, and attempt to obey it regularly and consistently.

         All meaningful and lasting change begins on the inside of us and works its way out into our thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and behavior!

“God’s Word is LIFE-giving and full of power. It pierces down inside us–to the very depths of our being–like a sharp, two-edged sword, clearly showing us what changes need to be made inside us with the inner power of Holy Spirit.” –adapted from Hebrews 4: 12

Thought For The Month     

                              “Self-filled, sin-full living will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from self-filled, sin-full living!”

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

Happy Second Anniversary!

Each September’s issue of The Traveler is devoted to reviewing the previous 12 months of The Traveler . . . and personal events in our lives.  The Traveler is usually only three pages in length; each September, it is four pages.  We began publishing The Traveler two years ago in September 2009.  At first, we planned to provide it by e-mail to only a few family members and friends;  As I recall, the first mailing went to about 65 or 70 people.  Little did we know what greater things God envisioned for it, however!  

Now—two years later—The Traveler is being read by thousands of people in numerous nations on 6 continents of the world and even on some of the island nations of earth’s oceans and seas.  Simply as a personal goal, I’m asking God to provide me at least one reader in Antarctica, so it will reach all 7 continents.  Our mailing list has grown only by personal referral.    We have not purchased any e-mail lists, nor have we intentionally “spammed” anyone.  It’s just a “God thing!”

Recap Of The First Two Years

Our inaugural issue of September 2009  introduced our overall theme:  we are all travelers, sojourners, pilgrims, wanderers through this brief mortal life.  In the light of eternity, our lives are as brief as a morning fog that vanishes as soon as the rising sun hits it.  Our short lives are to be lived in preparation for eternity.  That’s the only thing that makes sense of this brief, mortal  life  here:   living  in  preparation  for  Jesus’ coming Kingdom and then—later—in eternity.

 Since that first issue two years ago, here are some of the many topics and subjects we have covered from month to month:  The Bible, What is Eternal LIFE? Repentance, Success and Prosperity, two Christmas issues, Faith, The Wilderness, Restoration, “The Time Traveler,” and many others.  For two years, we have received numerous responses from readers all around the world.  Some of the responses have been positive, some have been negative.  But overall, it looks like the Traveler is being used by God to meet all sorts of human needs.

Trapped In Time and Space

I’m “trapped” inside my own skin and can’t really do much to influence other people except by my prayers for you and my writings and teachings.  But God is not “trapped” or limited in any manner, and can range unlimited throughout the earth, meeting the overwhelming needs of all kinds of people, wherever they are located.  I pray daily that from his unlimited, inexhaustible, abundant resources God will meet the overwhelming needs of people for whom I pray and for whom I write.  That’s the least I can do, and that’s the most and best I can do for my readers.

Orthodoxy?  Heresy?

Some of the responses I receive are from a few readers questioning the “orthodoxy” of my teachings, whatever that means.  Some have even labeled me a “heretic” (whatever that means, too), but I usually respond to them that I’m a “happy heretic.”  Long ago, I chose not to simply accept  without question the teachings of others—even though they might be the overall, normative thinking in the Bible-believing world.  And I chose not to unthinkingly and unhesitatingly accept the Christian “party line” without ample evidence from the Bible alone.  I’m an orthodox nonconformist . . .  I try to teach and write what I honestly believe the Bible discloses about God’s character and nature, about his vast creation, and about God’s eternal love and grace He extends to all humanity.  

Unfortunately, there are far too many self-appointed “fruit inspectors” running around loose in the worldwide Body of Jesus inspecting for unorthodoxy and heresy, but overall, it’s been an extremely exciting part of my own journey to write the Traveler and furnish it to thousands of readers around the world these past two years.  Don’t be one of those self-appointed, Jesus-believer fruit inspectors; God has much better things for you to do with your time and energy.  Jesus commissioned us to bear fruit, not inspect it!

“Keeping The Home Fires Burning”

My autobiography will finally be available for purchase next month; I’ll tell you more about it then.  [Him ‘n me, my autobiography was later published in 2012 and can be purchased at amazon.com] I’m now working on my fourth book I hope to have published by the end of this year.  That book is about Holy Spirit, entitled Friends Forever.  [this book was published near the end of 2011 and can also be purchased at amazon.com]

Meanwhile, I continue to write new teachings and update previous teachings posted to our ministry web site.  I add one new teaching every four months on average and update one or two teachings every month or so.  Right now, there are about 60 of my life’s teachings on our web site.  I invite you to visit there any time and study some of my teachings.   Of course, they can all be downloaded and printed.  Use them any way you see fit.

Throughout the past year, we have continued to host and teach a weekly Bible study in our home with approximately 8-10 people in attendance most of the time.  There, too, we have witnessed the Holy Spirit change and transform lives.  That’s his job; that’s what He does best.  It’s not my job to change anyone.  I just teach the Bible as I understand it and let the Holy Spirit use it to liberate and transform people.  

In addition, we continue to be involved in various ways in our local church, Destiny Church.  It’s a great church with a husband and wife team of Pastors.  If you live in this locale and don’t have a church home, come visit us at Destiny Church located in a “converted” warehouse behind K-Mart.  And, in addition to my own private counseling practice, I’m involved from time to time with a unique, very effective method of counseling called “God’s Light” offered by our church.

The Most Important Thing You Should Be Doing!

I honestly feel the most important thing any Jesus-believer should do is disciple, mentor, teach, and train younger Jesus-believers all the  time.  At any given time, I’m usually discipling 4 to 6 other Jesus-believers on a weekly basis.  In my own view, if you claim to be a believer in Jesus  and you are not continually discipling other, younger believers something is dreadfully wrong with your life!  I don’t care who you are or where you are or what you do or how busy you are, or how adverse your circumstances,

The Bible mandates that it’s part of God’s purposes for each of us to always be discipling other, younger Jesus-believers.  No excuses!  If you claim to be a believer in Jesus, you ought to be discipling at least one other believer all the time and then—when finished discipling them—“releasing”  them to—in turn—disciple a minimum of one other believer.   If you’re not doing that regularly and consistently, something ain’t right in your relationship with God.

Hey, hey, hey!  Nope . . . I won’t listen to any of your excuses;  I’ve heard ‘em all.  Most of my adult life I’ve been as busy or busier than many of you, and I’ve always made (not found) the time to be discipling at least one other younger believer at any given time—“younger” as a believer in Jesus, not necessarily in chronological age.  It’s a matter of priorities; you have to make the time; you won’t find it.  Remember, Jesus commands each of us to “go and make disciples” in every nation in  which we live.  It’s not a suggestion; it’s a command!  I’m not trying to impress you with any of this information; I’m simply recapping our personal activities related to The Traveler and to our ministry, Life Enrichment Services, during the past 12 months.

In addition to writing The Traveler, books, and teachings for our web site each month, some of you don’t know that I’m also an Instructor with Crossroad Bible Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  By free correspondence courses, we teach and disciple thousands of prisoners throughout the United States and in other nations of the world.  I work with various prisoners on a weekly basis, going over their lessons and writing them encouraging letters.  God is saving, transforming, restoring, reclaiming, and rehabilitating thousands of prisoners around the world, since they’re somewhat of a “captive audience” and eager to learn about God and the Bible.

China:  The Sleeping Dragon

Our international focus remains on China, that wonderful nation where Anne and I  taught and ministered a number of years ago.  We financially support some Jesus-believer workers there, and are excited overall about what God is doing in that great nation.  I won’t write much about China; it’s like I’m saying “Don’t get me started writing about China because I’d never stop.” We love the people of China, and events are occurring there which will astound the entire world within the next couple of decades.  I made this same prediction about China a year ago, and you can hold me accountable for it.

I predict that by the year 2025 China will be the most God-believing nation on this planet, the most godly nation the world has ever known!  Impossible with humans; a small matter for God!  And, within the next few years, 100,000 flaming young Chinese evangelists will break out from behind the Bamboo Curtain to carry the Good News about Jesus throughout the teeming Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim nations enroute to carry the Good News about Jesus back to Jerusalem where it all began 2,000 years ago.

A Very, Very Ordinary Man

For those of readers who don’t know me and have asked who I am, please understand very clearly that I’m just an ordinary man, a very nondescript, normal Jesus-believer.  My name is Bill Boylan.   I’m married to a  great lady named Anne, have 3 biological children and one step-daughter; 3 grand-children, and two great-grandchildren.  There is nothing special or outstanding about me.  There’s no way I stand out in a crowd.  I live in a modest home on a quiet residential street in the relatively small community of Rapid City, South Dakota, in the northern Great Plains region of USAmerica near the beautiful Black Hills.  The world-famous Mount Rushmore is only about 25 miles from our home.  

I pay my household expenses every month, help clean our house, wash most of our dishes, assist with our laundry, make the bed most mornings, drive a 13-year old pickup, and wear jeans and a sweatshirt or T-shirt most of the time. I get sick and grouchy from time to time.  I love to watch silly sitcoms on TV.  And I confess that I love science fiction books, TV programs, and movies.  My hobbies are occasionally hiking in the nearby Black Hills, regularly walking on a nearby walking path with my wife and dogs, and reading, and writing.  My roots go down deep in this locale. 

My brother and his wife live nearby on the cattle ranch originally homesteaded by my great-grandparents in the 1870’s.  But my roots are not too deep; I’m ready to be “uprooted” either when I die or when Jesus returns to planet Earth to awaken me from the sleep of death and establish his eternal Kingdom on Earth.

73 – 18 = 55

So far, I’ve lived here on planet earth as a mortal for 73+ years.  In the 18^th year of my mortal pilgrimage, I invited Jesus to come into my life in his “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit, and since then I’ve been immortal for the past 55 years.  After Jesus returns to Earth, I plan on continuing to live here on Earth in his Kingdom as an immortal being for many thousands more years and then—later—in eternity beyond all limitations of time and space—permanently headquartered here on planet Earth in the city of New Jerusalem.  

Most of my working years were spent as a public school teacher, a medical administrator, and as a mean, tough old Sergeant First Class in the U.S.  Air Force and fulltime Army and Air National Guard.  I’ve always been bi-vocational as a so-called “lay person.”  Please don’t tell anyone I’m addicted to McDonalds’ sweet tea; you’ll often find me at a nearby McDonalds sipping sweet tea and visiting with friends, reading my Bible, or reviewing my Bible memory references.  I’m very generic.  I’m not tall and handsome, I’m not very smart, and I’m not very wise at times.  I’m so very ordinary, you wouldn’t believe it.  I’m human; I sin and make many mistakes.  Just ask my wife and children and friends who know me well—and love me in spite of myself—in spite of my faults, failures, and shortcomings.

Our Extraordinary God

 Yes, I’m just very ordinary.  But . . . I do love and serve the EXTRAORDINARY God Who lives inside me in his “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit!  That’s the key.  That makes all the difference in this world and the next.  That same awesome, holy God lives permanently within you in his Spirit form, too, and wants to take your “ordinariness,” change you and transform you, and do EXTRAORDINARY things WITH you, IN you, THROUGH you, and AS you!  

What is God doing in and through your life each day?  What is He doing in your life right now—today—as you read this issue of The Traveler?  Are you sharing Good News about the Living Lord Jesus with others in your world?  What are you doing with the time, talents, and treasures God has lavishly given you—hoarding them or sharing them with others?

 There you have it.  That’s a recap of our first two years of publishing this e-zine, The Traveler . . . and related events.  We hope to continue providing it to you and thousands of other readers around the world each month for many years to come—to build you up, encourage you, and enrich your life in some manner.  We pray for you to experience marvelous miracles in your life and in the lives of others whom God brings across your path each day as you continue on your journey through time and space with God.  

We encourage you to break out of any “dead religion and tradition box” you may find yourself in, expand your horizons, and see people in your life who are ready for “harvesting” and discipling where “the rubber meets the road.”  Please feel free to contact us by e-mail, through our website, or by telephone.  We are always here to help you and encourage you in any way we can.

Let’s journey on together…!

“And now to Him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating–to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, for the present time, to the consummation of all time, and in eternity!” –Jude 24 and 25       

To Think About This Month: 

“God, help me live in such a way that when it comes time to die, the only thing I have left to do is die.”     –anonymous

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

I usually ask God about six months ahead of its “publication” date what He wants me to write in The Traveler that you will read six months later.  When He informs me what He wants me to write, then I start studying the Bible, praying about it, and writing that issue.  For example, I began writing this issue in February 2011.  I start writing that far ahead of time so I’ll have ample time to edit, add, delete, fine-tune, and “tweak” it before I e-mail it to you.  So it’ll have time to sort of “marinate” and “gel” in my mind and spirit.  

From February until about a week ago, I kept having this nagging feeling that I wasn’t really writing what God wanted me to write for this month.  It just wasn’t “coming together” and I had no inner peace about what I was writing.  It nagged at me so much that about a week ago I told God I just wasn’t going to mail this issue.  Something wasn’t right.  Well, I finally had enough sense to wake up, slap myself on my forehead, and ask God specifically what was wrong.

 He responded:  “Bill, sometimes you really are a slow learner.  Last February you forgot to ask Me what I wanted you to write for the August issue!  You just went ahead on our own and started writing; that’s not the way we agreed to do it when I asked you to begin writing The Traveler in September 2009.”  Yep, it was one of those slap-myself-on-the-forehead-Duh! moments.  So I began to panic.  I just knew I couldn’t scrap what I had already written and write something new and fresh in only a week.  

But then I asked God what He wanted me to write for this issue.  He responded:  “I’m glad you asked, Bill…finally.” And then within just a matter of a half hour or so, God placed in my thoughts what you’ll be reading this month.  God is so loving and patient.  There are times I wonder why He “puts up” with me.  But  then  I  remember  He  puts  up with me  in and through what Jesus has done for me.  In fact, He doesn’t  merely  put  up   with   me,   He always blesses me richly with his love, favor, and grace . . . far more than merely putting up with me!

Three Essentials Qualities For Your Life Journey

Both the Bible and most modern behavioral and social researchers teach there are three essential elements humans must have in order to have a successful journey through our mortal lifetimes: 

1. Something meaningful to do. 
2. Someone to love. 
3. Something to hope for.

If even one of those essentials is missing from our lives, our lives can be empty and pointless, devoid of joy, happiness, and hope.  In fact, we often succumb to depression or other psychosomatic (mind-body) illnesses if one of those essential qualities is missing from our lives.  For example, from time to time (depending on the subject in a particular issue of The Traveler) I receive e-mail responses from both young and old readers from around the world telling me they just don’t want to go on living . . . they tell me they are unhappy and miserable with their lives.  And it doesn’t seem to make much difference whether or not they’re Jesus believers or pre-believers.  Both seem to write equally about the horrible life-challenges they are facing.

Often, younger readers feel their dreams for the future have been shattered by economic inflation, recession, or depression.   They question why they should even bother living in view of such seemingly bleak futures.  Older readers inform me they are dissatisfied with their jobs, with their spouses, with other relationships . . . and with “playing church.”  Others complain they are approaching retirement age with little or no retirement income.  Their exciting, lifelong dreams for their retirement have been blown away like dry leaves in the autumn winds.  What’s the solution for such bleakness, despair, and lack of hope . . . for Jesus believers and pre-believers alike?

Success And Prosperity In The Bible

First, I hope you remember the Bible definitions of success and prosperity I have repeatedly taught in previous issues.

                   Success is for me to steadily and consistently move toward accomplishing God’s plans and purposes for my life, according to my potential;  *  it is a journey, not a destination.      (* my potential consists of 1.  my God-given abilities and talents, 2. my desires and dreams, and 3.  my training and education. )

                   Prosperity is for God to provide me  enough for my journey.

If you’re attempting to make your journey through life based upon how this world perceives and defines success and prosperity, that will lead to bleakness, emptiness, despair, and hopelessness every time . . . guaranteed!

Something Meaningful To Do

I’m a little hesitant to write about something meaningful to do. Why?  Because we’re not “human doings.”  Rather, we are human beings or human becomings.  You see, for those of us who are Jesus believers, it’s never what we can do for God.  Instead, it’s what God chooses to do with you, for you, in you, through you, and as you.  There’s no work we can do for God!  All that is required of us is to cooperate with whatever work God chooses to do in us—and not knowingly resist what He does in us.

Nevertheless, we must be engaged with God in something meaningful He chooses to do with and in us . . . according to the gifts and talents He has allotted to us.  There are many Jesus believers whom I label as “Dead Sea Believers.”  Why?  The Dead Sea is “dead” because all its water is coming into it, but none is going out.  Many Jesus believers are “dead” in that sense, too.  They spend their entire lives reading and studying their Bibles and other books, praying, attending church, thinking positive thoughts, and attending one spiritual conference after another.  But they’re still miserable, unhappy, depressed, and lack the joy to be found in serving God and others.  Everything is coming in, but nothing is going out.  

I personally know one Jesus believer who has spent the last 30 years reading and studying his Bible, reading religious literature, faithfully attending church, going to conferences, but he has never done one single thing in terms of letting God do something for others through him.  Not one single thing!  In fact, he’s even been seeing counselors for years in an attempt to determine why he is “stuck,” why he’s depressed, why he’s always unhappy, why he has no joy in his life.

The answer is so simple:  for 30 years or more, he has done absolutely nothing meaningful with his life in terms of reaching out and serving other people.  Zilch.  Nada. Nothing. Zero.  Everything’s coming in, nothing is going out.  He can quote the Bible at length, he can discuss “correct” theology, he can rave about the latest Christian television personality, he can talk about the newest book he’s been reading by a popular Christian author . . . but he has never once in 30 years ever considered that God just might want him to reach out to serve other people with his time, talents, and treasures!  

And he wonders why his life is so empty and meaningless even though he’s a believer in Jesus . . .  We humans simply must have something meaningful and significant to do with our lives.  If we’re not green and growing, we’re ripe and rotting!  I caution you, however, not to be significantly engaged in that which is not significant.  Think about it . . .

Someone To Love 

This one is very simple, too.  The very core character and nature of God is love.  He shows how much He loves us by dying on a cross for us to in order to completely and forever take away all our sin and save us from death.  In turn, He wants us to love Him because He first loved us.     If we simply accept his love for us without sharing it with others in our world . . . well, life is empty and meaningless.  It really is that simple.  

God’s love is “fluid” and cannot be “stored up.”  It can’t be kept inside us without it becoming perverted in some manner.  It must be shared with others.  Love is an action word, not a feeling word—not a whimsical and capricious feeling we might have or not have on certain occasions.  Love gives, not takes.  Love reaches out, not reaches within.  Love shares, not hoards.  Love “does,” not does not.  Don’t you dare claim you have God’s love in you if in some way it’s not flowing out from you to others in your world!  I’m sure you’ve heard the old expression:  “Love is not love until you give it away.” It’s true!

Something To Hope For

This third essential is just as simple as the first two.  It doesn’t take an astrophysicist to figure this one out.  Of all people living on planet earth, Jesus believers ought to have this essential quality; it’s a “slam dunk.”  Colossians 1: 27 in the New Testament puts it pretty straightforward and succinctly:  “Jesus living in the believer is the hope of glory!”

The hope of the believer is not in some upcoming future event such as a ““rapture” or retirement, or amassing enough wealth for old age.  It’s not in finally being able to take that world cruise you’ve hoped and prayed about for years.   It’s not in marrying the right spouse and “living happily ever after.”  No, the hope of a believer is in a person, Jesus.  No Jesus, no hope!  Yes, Jesus will return to earth in the future to establish his Kingdom, but our hope is not to arrive some day in that Kingdom.  Our hope is in the King of the Kingdom who lives inside us NOW in his unbodied form of Holy Spirit!

There you have them—the three essential qualities to give meaning and purpose for your journey through this life.  If only one of them is missing, life might seem pretty bleak and empty.  If two—or all three—are missing, life really is empty and meaningless.  Not that it seems so . . . it really is!  God created you to have meaning, love, and hope in your life.  If you don’t have those three essential qualities, it’s not God’s fault!  He has given you all you need to have a purpose-driven life of meaning, love, and hope.

Teleo . . . What?

I want to teach you the definition of a strange-sounding word:  teleology.  It’s a word that means humans do best in their journey through life if they’re doing something meaningful with their life . . . if they’re loving and serving other people.  You and I are teleological beings.  God created us to love Him, to serve others from his love within us, and to know that our journey is taking us to a point in the future when Jesus will return to earth and make everything right.  How about you?  Are you doing something meaningful with your life, are you loving and serving others, are you looking forward with eager expectancy for what the Bible calls “The Blessed Hope” when Jesus will return to earth to establish his Kingdom?

          What’s God doing in and through your life today . . . NOW?

“God puts all things together. He makes all things whole. He marked you out for Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus–the sacrifice of Jesus’ shed blood that sealed God’s eternal covenant with you. He brought Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead. He puts you together and provides you with everything you need to please Him… All glory to Jesus now and for all time and eternity!” –paraphrased from Hebrews 13

To Think About This Month:

       “Today, I deliberately choose not to be significantly engaged in that which is not significant.” 

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

 Provi-dence n. the care or benevolent guidance of God over the universe, earth, humanity, and individual humans. 

No, this issue of The Traveler will not be a travelogue about a city in Rhode Island named Providence. But it will be a travelogue…of sorts. A travelogue about your journey through this mortal life. A notable theologian named John Calvin (or was it Calvin Klein? Hmmm) once wrote these words: “…that winding road of God’s providence.”

He was writing about how sometimes it was nearly impossible to figure out all the innumerable ways God was leading and guiding his life. He was commenting on how foolish it is for a limited, finite human to attempt to figure out what an unlimited, infinite God is doing in one’ life. This issue of The Traveler will be about the winding road of God’s providence in our lives as we continue our journey through this life enroute to the next.

You know, if you look around you anywhere on this planet, it certainly doesn’t seem to our five senses that God is benevolently guiding earth and humanity, does it? Look at hurricanes, wars, deadly accidents, starvation, tsunamis, earthquakes, drought…and all such things. To our five senses that sure doesn’t look like God is even in charge of what’s going on, much less guiding what’s occurring on planet earth and in the lives of individual humans…in your life…in my life.

But do you remember what I taught about faith in the February and March 2011 issues of The Traveler?  If not, I suggest you go back and study them before reading any further in this issue.  Or, you can request back copies if you didn’t happen to save them.  Incidentally, many people save their issues of The Traveler and use them to teach the Bible,   to preach,  and to otherwise share God’s Good News about Jesus with other people in their world around them.  That’s okay, I consider it an honor when people use my teaching materials, including those on our ministry website; you never have to obtain my permission to do so.

The Pottery Shop

Part of the winding road of God’s providence in our individual lives will always take us past a pottery shop.  What do I mean by that?  I’m glad you asked.  Let me tell you a story . . .  Many years ago in a faraway land lived a man named Jeremy.  It seems like Jeremy  was depressed much of the time because he simply couldn’t figure out what God was doing in his own life and the lives of the people to whom God had assigned him as sort of their spokesperson.  

One day—right out of the blue—God told Jeremy to go visit a nearby pottery shop.  You know, the kind of shop where a potter fashions all sorts of both practical and beautiful items from clay.  If you’ve never watched a potter at work, find a potter’s shop and spend a little time watching the potter.  I guarantee you’ll be fascinated watching the potter at work.  When Jeremy walked into the pottery shop, he saw the potter’s wheel spinning with the clay on it and the potter’s deft and skillful hands fashioning something from special clay used to make pottery.

Something Beautiful!

 Jeremy asked the potter what he was doing.  The potter responded, “I’m making a beautiful piece of pottery out of this shapeless lump of clay.”  Jeremy asked:  “With that little lump of shapeless clay there in front of you?  How do you know it’s going to become a beautiful piece of pottery?”  “Because I have a purpose and dream for this little lump of clay; I have a design for it already imagined in my mind,” responded the potter.  

Jeremy “got it.”  He knew instantly why God had sent him to visit the pottery shop.  All of a sudden he realized what the potter was doing with the shapeless lump of clay.  But then while the wheel was spinning and the lump was beginning to take shape, the potter abruptly stopped what he was doing.  Jeremy asked:  “Why have you stopped?”  The potter replied, “I’ve just discovered a defect, a flaw, in the clay.  There’s something wrong.”  

Jeremy now realized why God had asked him to go to the potter’s shop.  He realized the potter represented God and that lump of clay represented humanity—that something was wrong with people:  they have defects and flaws, they’re marred.  As Jeremy watched, the potter began to reshape the clay.  He realized the potter hadn’t given up, nor was he going to dispose of the clay.  Jeremy’s mind was racing:  “Aha!  God hasn’t given up on me, as flawed as I am, nor has He given up on other people who are flawed and defective.”

Reshaping the Clay

What the potter did next shocked Jeremy.   The potter pulled the clay off the wheel and broke it into smaller pieces.  Then he began to lump all the pieces back together into a misshapen mass.  He mashed it down and began to knead it.  “What in the world are you doing now?” Jeremy asked the potter.  “I’m breaking the clay in order to remake it . . . to reshape it . . . to refashion it.” 

So he kneaded it, added some fresh water to the lump, worked the lump and the water together to make the lump more pliable, and placed the pliable lump back on the wheel.  In the process, the potter had gotten rid of the flaws and defects  in the clay.  Once again the wheel began to spin, and the potter’s skillful hands began to reshape the lump of clay according to his original design and plan.  

Jeremy left the potter’s shop with a smile on his face and a “knowing in his knower” that he now had a message of hope for his people.  That message is:  “Although we are just lumps of ordinary clay, God’s skillful hands are upon us, shaping us into something beautiful according to his designs and purposes for our lives!”  Jeremy learned that no matter how badly our lives are marred and flawed, God is reshaping them into something beautiful—useful “containers” for Him to use to convey his good purposes to others in our world.  You may be saying to yourself right now, “This story about Jeremy and the potter isn’t about me; I’m not like other people.  You have no clue how deeply flawed and how seriously marred my life is!”

What’s Going On In Your Life?

You’re right, I don’t have a clue about what’s going on inside you right now . . . but the Master Potter does.  And no matter how flawed and marred your life is, He can reshape your life and make something beautiful of it.

Something beautiful,
something good;
All my confusion He understood.
All I have to offer Him
is brokenness and strife, 
But He can make something
beautiful of my life!

–Adapted from a song written by Gloria Gaither in 1971

This story about God asking Jeremy to take a detour to the pottery shop during his life-journey is from one of the books in the Old Testament portion of your Bible.  I’ll let you find the story for yourself.  Hint:  “Jeremy” is the traveler’s shortened nickname.  What’s the Master Potter doing in your life today?  What’s He re-shaping, re-newing, re-storing, and transforming in your life?  What flaws and defects is He removing from your life so He can re-form and re-mold you?  When the Potter mixes some water in with the clay of your life, that water symbolizes the Spirit of God inseparably blending and fusing with your human spirit, transforming you and re-shaping you from the inside out as you cooperate with Him in the lifelong transformation process.  

Are you resisting what the Master Potter is doing in your life?  Or, are you humbly complying and cooperating with his efforts to renew your thoughts and attitudes, thus forming in your more and more the mind of Jesus?  It’s a lifelong transformation process that  began when you invited Jesus to come into your life and take up permanent residence inside you in his “unbodied” form of Holy Spirit.

The Glazing Process

One thing I haven’t written about yet is how after the beautiful piece of pottery has been shaped and painted with vivid colors, then it has to go through the glazing process.  You know what the glazing process is, don’t you?  The new piece of pottery has to be placed in a very hot glazing oven to harden the clay and “set” the beautiful design painted on it by the potter.  Yep, the clay has to go through fire before it becomes a finished product.  

I’m now going to make a very simple statement about the purposes of fire:   The basic purpose of fire is always to cleanse and purify something . . . always!  It is to rid it’s fuel of impurities, of foreign matter, of undesirable elements.  The fires of God are not necessarily to punish and destroy some of his creation.  A clear understanding of the nature of fire, both in physics and the Bible, clearly shows fire’s basic purposes to cleanse and purify.  God always puts his people into the glazing oven to purify and cleanse their lives of impurities, flaws, and defects.  Over 100 years ago, a songwriter wrote these words; I think he was on to something:

“In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet
God leads his dear children along.
Where the water’s cool flow bathes the weary ones’ feet,
God leads his dear children along.
Some through the water, some through the flood;
Some through the fire, but all through the blood.
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song
In the night seasons and all the day long.”

If you’re interested in knowing much more about fire as related to God’s plans and purposes for you and for humankind in general, I invite you to read one of my teachings on this website entitled Fire.   Back to the subject of providence . . . God is God.  You aren’t.  God—being God—can do whatever He chooses to do with any lump of clay He has created.  He is not answerable to you or to me in any way, shape or form.  He can do whatever He chooses to do.  But . . . remember this one thing:  God is altogether good and absolutely everything He does is good.  (That principle about God’s basic character and nature of good-ness is expressed in Psalm 119: 68 and other related biblical references.)  

Everything God does for all humanity . . . including you . . . and me is always—always!—providentially filtered through his absolute goodness and love for everything He has created.  He is always—at all times!—working out everything for the good of his entire creation.  That’s providence.  That’s the “winding road of God’s providence” always at work in your life of clay—constantly re-shaping, re-molding, and transforming for good absolutely everything in your life.

“Don’t even think for one minute you know enough to call God into question! Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, asking ‘Why did you shape me like this?’ The Potter has every right to do whatever He chooses with any lump of clay with which He works.” –adapted from Romans 9     

To Think About This Month

          “God allows (not causes) me to be broken at my weakest points so that afterwards I am strong at the broken places.  The Master Potter is continually putting the broken pieces of my life back together.”

Bill Boylan 
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020 

The Travailer

No, I didn’t spell “traveler” incorrectly.  The word “travel” comes from an old English word “”travail,” meaning “very hard labor and toil.”  “Travail” comes from a Latin word tripalium,” meaning “three stakes used as an instrument of torture.”  Kind of an interesting study of word origins, huh?  Where am I going with this?  I’m glad you asked.  With our modern cars, ships, and airplanes and our many fine restaurants and posh hotels, ground travel today in many nations on planet earth is not difficult—downright easy in many cases.

Yes, I realize that ground travel is still difficult, too, in some nations, but I’m trying to make a point here about most travel, especially in the “olden days.”

For example, in the Middle Ages in Europe when the word was “travail,” roads were poor and places to eat and sleep were far apart. Travel was hard, uncomfortable, and laborious—even torturous and dangerous in many cases.  As noted above, our word “travel” comes from a Latin word that meant “torture.” Many devices were used in the Middle Ages for torture in an effort to force confessions from persons accused of crimes and religious heresy.  One of these devices, called in Latin a tripalium, gave us our English word, “travel.”  The word, tripalium, literally “three stakes,” was derived from Latin “tri,” meaning “three” and “palus,” meaning “stake.” 

This word is thought to have been the source of the Latin verb, “tripaliare,” meaning “to torture.”  In early French the word became “travailler,” with both the meaning “to torment” and the meaning “to work at hard labor.”  Then this early French word was taken into Middle English as “travailen,” with the meaning “to work hard” and “to travel.” In time these two meanings became separated into different words, “travail,” meaning  “hard work,” and “travel,” meaning  “to go on a trip.” 

Travail Across South Dakota

In the 1870’s, my great-grandparents, William and Jennie Boylan, “travailed” by covered wagon from north central Iowa to western Dakota Territory where they each  homesteaded  160 acres of free land only a few miles north of where I am inputting these words into my computer 130 years later.  One can cross South Dakota these days in about 5 or 6 hours on Interstate 90.  By contrast, it took my great-grandparents an entire summer to cross the territory in a covered wagon pulled by mules.  If they traveled across Dakota Territory on any sort of path, often those paths would be pocked with mud holes deep enough to sink a wagon to the axles. 

Hard rains in the eastern part of the Territory could have held them up.  There may have been terrible thunderstorms—with damaging hail.  In those days, often their food supply could spoil with the dampness.  To supplement their food supply, I’m sure they ate berries, bird eggs, rabbits, pheasants, turkeys, and other wild game they killed along the way.  What a relief it must have been finally to arrive at their destination along the eastern edge of the beautiful Black Hills.  Now with interstate highways crossing both South Dakota and Iowa from east to west, the same journey can be made very comfortably in a plush, air-conditioned vehicle in approximately seven hours, even less time by airplane!

Travailing Travelers

I’ve been writing about early travel as being “travail” to make a point.  The point is this:  our travels through this life far too often involve travail, and even torture at times.  I mean both real travail and torture experienced by millions of Jesus-believers throughout 2,000 years of church history.  And I also mean inner travail and torture simply because we’re mortal, human travelers journeying through this life from conception to death.  Another interesting meaning for the word travail in the Bible is “to labor in order to give birth or to bring forth a new thing.”  

Sometimes our travail (travel) gives birth to something new in our lives.  I could write an entire issue about that definition of travel, but I’ll save that for another time.  I want to point out to you that this very moment you are reading these words many thousands of Jesus-believers around the world are being imprisoned, tortured, and even killed because of their faith in Jesus.  More Jesus-believers are suffering these days because of their faith in Jesus than at any other time in 2,000 years of church history!

Those of us who comprise the so-called “western church” of Europe and North America are not suffering in that manner.  We feel if someone laughs at us for our faith in Jesus or criticizes a bumper sticker about Jesus, we are “suffering for Jesus.”  Incidentally, if you doubt my statement about real torture and travail of Jesus-believers in the world today, simply go to your computer search engine and type in the words “Christian martyrs,” or “persecution,” or similar words.  You’ll be deeply saddened from what you learn on the internet . . .  

So . . . our life’s journey for some Jesus-believers involve real torture and sometimes death.  Some suffer inner travail and torture in other ways.  Either way, it is never easy and a “bed of roses” to be a believer in Jesus.  Simply because we’re humans living on Planet Earth means we’ll endure some sort of suffering and travail.  This life has often been called a “vale of tears” for Jesus-believers and pre-believers alike.

The Troubles of Job

A man named Job lived thousands of years ago somewhere in the Middle East.  After Job began to undergo many troubles—and much travail—in his life, he made this statement:  “Trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.  It’s human!  Mortals are born and bred for trouble, as certain as sparks fly upward.”   Even though the Book of Job in the Bible was given us by God for certain life’s  lessons, one cannot read about Job without experiencing a deep awareness that the troubles in our lives are simply part of the universal human condition, which happen to us simply by virtue of living our mortal lives on this planet.  If you’re human, you suffer in one way or another.  Yes, you!

Sin!

“Oh, no!  Bill, you were doing so well up to this point.  Please, please don’t start writing about sin.  The concept of sin offends many people, Bill.”  I know, I know . . . most people don’t like to read about or hear the word, “sin.”  Many people deny it’s existence, many people don’t want to even think about sin, many people deny they are sinners.  I “get” that.  I understand.  Sin is not a pleasant subject.  The reality is, however, that every human ever born on this planet is a sinner.  Period!  Yep, that means, you, too; you’re not exempt.  And sin ultimately kills every human born on this planet.  Why do humans die?  Because of sin. 

Sin is a “terminal illness” we’re each infected with.  Each of us will die as a result of sin.  There are many definitions of sin that have been given through the centuries.  And, of course, the Bible defines sin in both the Hebrew and Greek languages in which it was written.  However, to me the most understandable,  rubber-hits-the-road,  workable, “down-and-dirty” definition of sin is:  I sin whenever I make deliberate choices and decisions to live for my self instead of for God.  I sin when I mistakenly feel I am in charge of my own life–when I’m deluded  into believing I am in control of my life. 

Does that definition “fit” you?  Have you ever made deliberate choices and decisions to live for your self instead of for God?  C’mon, be honest.  Sure you have.  That means you’re a sinner . . . and the end result of sin is death.  No one is exempt.  The good news is there’s a cure for fatal sin-sickness:  “The blood of Jesus [continually] cleanses us from all sin.”  How about a “cure” for death, the result of our sin?  “Since the appearance of Jesus, nothing could be plainer:  Jesus has abolished death and has given true LIFE to everyone.”  That’s it—plain and simple—Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin and has abolished death.  Period!

                   “I caused the Bible to be written, dear children, to guide you out of sin.  But if you do sin, Jesus serves as your ‘Defense Attorney’ in the “courtroom” of the Father.  Yes, Jesus, righteous Jesus.  When He made the ultimate sacrifice for your sins, He solved your sin [and death] problem for good—once and for all.”         –1 John 2:  1 and 2, paraphrased

Yes, there will trouble, pain, toil, travail, and sin in our lives throughout our mortal journeys . . . essentially caused by all of us choosing to live for our self instead of for God  And, you know something, we can’t even make the right choices most of the time without God’s help.  In fact, the Bible says:  “There isn’t the slightest doubt that the God who started a great work in you will keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Jesus returns!”  God actually does all the work in keeping us free from sin; all we must do is cooperate with Him in the process of cleaning up our lives and resisting sin’s influences.

God is also the one who will raise us from the sleep of death upon Jesus’ return to earth to establish his Kingdom.  Try raising yourself from the dead and see how well that will work for you!  God raised Jesus from the dead; Jesus raised a number of people from the dead; some people are being raised from the dead around the world even now as Jesus-believers summon them in the power of Holy Spirit to awaken from death.  Honestly! 

People really are being raised from the dead by the power of Holy Spirit.  One area of Mozambique has documented almost 100 people having been raised from the dead in recent years!  You will be raised from your sleep of death when Jesus returns to earth, no longer held down by the ravaging effects of sin.  Yes, our sin is a terminal illness that will eventually cause each of us to die; of the thousands of people who read The Traveler each month, some of you won’t be here to read it a year from now.

It’s possible I might not even be here to write it a year from now.  If not, I’ve already written the final issue and have left instructions about e-mailing you that final issue . . . whenever my death should occur.  Hey, I’m not trying to be morbid about this matter of sin and death; it’s just a reality for everyone ever born on planet earth.  There are many religions on planet earth.  But there’s only one Person (not a religion!)  who cleanses us from all sin and who will raise us from the sleep of death after we die.

          His name is Jesus of Nazareth.  His Name is above every other name—even the names, Sin and Death!  His voice is the only voice “loud” enough to cleanse from all sin and summon dead people from their graves…

                       “Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies “in” Adam; everybody comes alive “in” Jesus.  But we have to wait our turn: Jesus is first, then those with him when He returns, the grand consummation when, after crushing all opposition, he hands over his Kingdom to God the Father.  He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death!  When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!”          –From 1 Corinthians 15, paraphrased                                                                                                                                                                                                              To Think About This Month

                 “Don’t stop and claim a homestead when, in fact, you need to continue your journey until you finally arrive at your true Home!” 

Bill Boylan 
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

Continued from last month

Every wilderness experience Holy  Spirit leads us into is custom-tailored by God for each of us so we can humble ourselves, learn from the experience, be tested, cleansed, and “broken.”  Then and only then can the Master Potter re-form, re-mold, re-shape, and re-store us more and more into the image of Jesus, so, in turn, He becomes more “fully formed” in the new-born part of us.  In last month’s issue of The Traveler, we thought about a reference in Hosea.  Now I want us to examine Isaiah 43: 18 and 19 that teaches (in some versions of the Bible) God not only leads us into the wilderness, but He also leads us through our wilderness experiences.         

                  “Forget about what’s happened in your past; don’t keep going over old history and dwelling on events of long ago.  Your past is nothing compared to what I’m about to do.  Be alert, be present in the ‘now.’  I’m about to do something brand-new.  It’s already happening.  It’s bursting out!  Don’t you see it?  There it is!  I’m making a pathway to take you through the wilderness, where rivers flow to quench your thirst as I bring you home.”     –Isaiah 43: 18 – 20, paraphrased

God-led wilderness experiences are always transitional experiences in our lives to take us from and old level of our relationship with God to a new, deeper level of relationship.  If . . . we allow Him to lead us through the wilderness.  At any point in time, we can choose to run away from any wilderness experience and leave incomplete the real, important, lasting changes God wants to work out in our character and nature.  God will not force us to stay in the wilderness until it is complete in his timing; at any point, to our own harm and detriment, we can stubbornly and pridefully interrupt the testing, humbling, purifying, cleansing process.  Note in Isaiah 43: 19 the end result of our wilderness experience is not only that God does a new thing in us, but He also gives us rivers in the wilderness.

Rivers of Living Water

The rivers God creates in our wilderness experiences are those rivers of Living Water Jesus spoke of in John 7: 37 – 39.  Expect a new, deeper relationship with Holy Spirit to come out of your wilderness experience.  Expect rivers of Living Water to begin flowing anew from your innermost being to quench your own thirst and the thirst of others around you in new, creative, and power-full ways.

Now please turn to Song of Solomon 8: 5.  Here’s an important point:  The only way up and out of  your wilderness experience is by leaning on your Beloved!  Of course, Jesus is not only God’s Beloved Son, but He is also the Person Beloved by all Jesus-believers!  (Ephesians 1: 6)

“Leaning on Jesus,
Leaning on Jesus,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.”

I want to encourage you:  you will get through—and up and out—of your wilderness experience by trusting God’s absolute sovereignty of leading you into your wilderness, by “bending your knee” to God, by letting his fires test you, purify you, and cleanse you, and by leaning on Jesus to come up and out of your wilderness!  You’ve seen movies or television programs where someone has been hurt or wounded and they walk away from an accident leaning heavily upon a fellow soldier, paramedic, or fireman.  That’s what this reference means by the phrase “leaning on your Beloved.”  Lean as heavily on Jesus as you need to until you emerge fully from your wilderness.

Comfort Beyond Human Comfort

Another thing God will do in our lives while we are in the wilderness is He will comfort us. References such as John 14: 16 and 26, teach us Holy Spirit is our Helper or Comforter in a wonder-full, unique manner.  He comforts us in a way no human can comfort us.  We can always lean heavily upon Him for aid, assistance, support, and help because He lives inside us—permanently fused and melded with our spirits within us.  He never leaves us nor forsakes us.

Holy Spirit is always within us, ready to comfort and help us at a moment’s notice!  Most of our wilderness experiences will lead us into a new, more vital and personal relationship with Holy Spirit, The Comforter.  One important characteristic of The Comforter is that He not only comforts us with comfort He alone can give us (2 Corinthians 1: 3 and 4), but He also empowers us to comfort other people just as He did for Jesus after He emerged from his wilderness experience.  

When you emerge from your wilderness experience, you will not only have been comforted in a special way by God, but you will be newly empowered (Acts 1: 8) for work, service, witness, and ministry . . . and to comfort others with the same comfort with which you have been comforted.  Don’t miss out on all God has in store for you in your wilderness experience by stubbornly and pridefully resisting what God wants to do in you, through you, for you, and as you.  

The comfort we experience in, through, and beyond our wilderness experiences makes us uniquely equipped to be “wounded healers” for others around us who are in need of healing, too.  God will bring you through and out of your wilderness experience in his perfect timing.  God is never late.  He is never early.  He is always on time . . . every time!

As we read last month, Hosea 2: 14 claims that God allures, entices, or draws us into our wilderness experiences.  One feeling that most people often have while they are in the wilderness is hopelessness. God always provides a “door of hope” while we are in our wildernesses. 

                    “What a God we have!  He is the Father of our Master, Jesus.  Because God raised Jesus from the dead, we now have an ever-living hope and have everything to live for, now and in the future”!                                                                                        —1 Peter 1:  3

While you are in your wilderness, I want to encourage you:  please do not despair, do not feel isolated, do not feel deserted by God, do not lose hope! 

God Disciplines Those He Loves

Since our relationship with God is by our inner faith-sense rather than based on our “outer” five senses and objective reality, do you ever have those occasional moments when you honestly question whether you truly are a child of God?  I do!  Here I am, one mere mortal among 7 billion other mere mortals living on a tiny planet near the edge of an obscure galaxy in this vast, seemingly boundless universe—and I have the audacity to believe I am a child of the Living God Who created all things visible and invisible.  Who do I think I am?  Well, one of the reasons (among many other reasons) I know I am a child of God is because God tests, purifies, and disciplines those mortal humans who are his children!  (Hebrews 12).

If I—a mere mortal human—am often led by God to the wilderness in order for Him to humble, test, purify, and discipline me, that means I am a well-loved child of God.  He wouldn’t discipline me if He didn’t regard me as his well-loved child.  That’s one way I “know in my knower” that I am child of the Living, Almighty God!  God wouldn’t bother disciplining me if I weren’t his well-loved child.  Think about it–  Our hope is as eternal as God is, and comes to us because we follow a risen, Living Savior Who leads us into, takes us through, and brings us out of our wilderness experiences.  Lean hard on Jesus coming out of  your wilderness experiences!

“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood
and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.
On Jesus, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand!” 

While I was getting ready to wrap up this issue of The Traveler, something kept tugging at my consciousness.  It finally dawned on me it was Holy Spirit trying to teach me a final thought about wildernesses.  The ancient Israelites killed and presented to God many thousands of dead animal sacrifices during the years they were in the wilderness.  God wants us to sacrifice to Him in the wilderness, too.  But He wants us to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices while we are in the wilderness.  Yes, God wants us to take our everyday, ordinary lives and offer them to Him as living sacrifices.  It’s the right thing to do; it’s the best thing to do.  It’s the only reasonable thing to do in light of all Jesus has done for each of us.  (Romans 12: 1 – 3)

Where Are We Headed?

After reading last month’s issue of The Traveler, one reader e-mailed me:  “Bill, yes, I agree we all experience wilderness episodes in our lives . . . but where is our journey taking us?  Don’t forget to write about that.”  I appreciate his e-mail.  Where are we headed?  Well, unless Jesus returns to earth soon, the first place we are headed is the grave after we die.  I know, I know, that’s kinda morbid . . . but it’s true.  Statistically, there’s always been one death per person.  You might be one of those statistics.  

But the question is where are we headed after we die.  We are headed to the Kingdom of God over which Jesus rules as King and Master—here on this earth, not far away in some unreal heaven beyond the stars somewhere in the “sweet bye and bye.”  The Bible teaches clearly that God will “freshly restore” the entire universe and earth after Jesus returns to earth.  And we will be with Jesus on this same freshly restored earth we now live on.  Yep.  Same earth.  Same planet.  Same celestial 0rb.

Jesus said we are to “Seek first that  Kingdom!” (Matthew 6: 33) Above all else we do, we are to seek first that Kingdom.  We are already citizens of that Kingdom (Philippians 3: 20).  That’s why we’re  strangers and pilgrims here on the earth (1 Peter 2: 11).  That’s why we are on our journeys.  That’s why we’re traveling.  That’s why I write this publication called The Traveler each month—to aid us and help us understand the journey we are on.  I want us all to arrive safely home in Jesus’ coming Kingdom.  In fact, Jesus said on one occasion (Matthew 24: 14) the Good News about that coming Kingdom must first be preached to all people-groups (“nations”) on earth.  When that is accomplished, then He will return to earth to establish his Kingdom.

 There are 7,000 people-groups on earth.  A people-group is “any group of people having a distinctive language and culture.” About 3,500 of those people-groups have had the Good News about Jesus already presented to them in their language.  Therefore, about 3,500 more people-groups must hear the Good News about Jesus in their language before He will return to earth.  In my view (I know it’s controversial!), the only so-called “end-time sign” heralding Jesus’ return to earth is when all 7,000 people-groups have heard the Good News about Him in their own language.

I know, I know . . . all about all the other so-called end-time signs people claim are signaling Jesus’ soon return, but I don’t hold that view.  That’s just me.  Don’t take my word for it.  Check it out.  Make up your own mind.  I think there are a lot of misguided “end-time prophets” out there—confusing and scaring lots of people!  

Keep traveling on!

To Think About This Month

The more bitter the wilderness experience, the sweeter the waters of the oases God leads us to. 

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

Wilderness: n.  A dry, hot place;   a wild, isolated, barren, place;  an obscure or unknown place; a deserted, desolate place.

The English word, “wilderness,” appears over 300 times in the Bible, making it an important subject simply by the large number of references.  Bible scholars and teachers often focus on the “wilderness experience” of Jesus (Luke 4: 1 – 13), sometimes overlooking the similar wilderness experiences we go all through.  This issue will be mostly about our wilderness experiences as Jesus-believers, but we will first take a brief look at Jesus’ wilderness experience to sort of set the stage for the remainder of our teaching in this issue—to be  continued next month.  

When studying any subject or topic in the Bible, the honest Bible student will first look at all the references in the Bible about that subject before arriving at a conclusion.  In addition, all subjects or topics found in the Bible always have one reference, chapter, book, etc., that serves as a summary of the Bible’s teachings on that particular subject.  For example, the Bible chapter  summarizing the subject of “resurrection” is 1 Corinthians 15; the chapter summarizing the subject of “love” is 1 Corinthians 13.

Jesus’ “Pattern”  Experience

I  have studied all 300+ references in the Bible about “wilderness” before arriving at the conclusions I will teach in this issue.  The main biblical reference summarizing the subject is Luke 4: 1 – 13, Jesus’ wilderness experience.   I won’t go into great detail about his  experience,  but  I want to  touch  upon three points before moving on to the subject of our wilderness experiences.  

First, I point out that Jesus wasn’t in the wilderness by accident or by chance.  He wasn’t in the wilderness because He was “outside” God’s will for his life, or because He had sinned and was being punished, or because He had mistakenly wandered into the wrong place.  NO!  Jesus was in the wilderness because God the Holy Spirit led Him there.  I’m not certain if I can “prove” the point, but it seems to me from the Bible’s overall teachings, we are also led by Holy Spirit into the wilderness experiences of our lives.

Oh, we may end up in the wilderness because of sin or wrongdoing, or by prideful rebellion, or by turning our backs on God.  But it seems that we are actually in our wildernesses because God the Holy Spirit leads us there.  He may be orchestrating our wilderness experiences from behind the scenes, so to speak—not leading us directly—but leading us there, nonetheless.  “That winding road of God’s providence” in our lives—working behind the scenes—often is completely unexplainable.

Second, we must understand that—just as Jesus did—we will always encounter Satan in our own wilderness experiences.  But, please remember that Satan is merely a limited tool, an instrument, in the overall plans and purposes of God for his children.  Satan does not appear by accident in our wilderness experiences; He shows up only because God has allowed him there so he can be used as an instrument by God to test us just as he did Jesus.  And, we must deal with Satan in exactly the same way Jesus did.  We combat Satan’s deceitful strategies by deftly quoting to Him ALOUD the Bible—the Living, Written Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit!

For a full, detailed expose about Satan and his strategies in our lives, I urge you to read two teachings on this website:  Satan:  From Beginning to End and Soldiers Training Manual. 

 Third, our wilderness experiences occur so we will be tempted, tested, and tried at the weak points in our character and nature, and then emerge on the other side of the wilderness stronger at those weak points.  In His sovereign, overarching plans and purposes for our lives God always allows us to tested, and then broken at our weakest points—so that afterwards we are strong at the broken places!  Although there’s much more we can learn from Jesus’ wilderness experience in Luke 4: 1 – 13, those 3 points are all I want us to look at for now.

 Obviously in this brief study, we are not going to examine every one of those 300+ references to “wilderness” in the Bible.  Instead, we will examine only a few that seem germaine to this study or those encapsulating or summarizing the Bible’s overall teachings about our experiences in the wilderness.  The first major wilderness experience in the Bible is that of the ancient 12 tribes of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness of Sinai for many years.  What were those  years all about?  God summarized their experience in Deuteronomy 8: 2:

                        “Remember all the ways God led you during 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would obey Him or not.”

 God Himself led them into that wilderness to humble them and to test them. They weren’t there by accident, or because they couldn’t reach their destination by some other route (they could have, but that’s another story–).  No, they spent many years in the wilderness because God led them there and kept them there until they were sufficiently humbled and tested.  In the very next chapter, Deuteronomy 9: 3, God says of Himself that He is a consuming fire! Wow, I could write a lot about that aspect of God’s nature in dealing with us in our wildernesses.

 But—wait a minute—I’ve already written about that in another teaching on this website, where I invite you to read about the subject of fire in the Bible; that teaching is entitled Fire! If you read that teaching, you’ll gain some more insight about how God tests us with fire in the wildernesses of our lives.  How does the Bible define “humble”? 

In its basic essence, it means to “bow one’s knee voluntarily.” God leads us into and through our wilderness experiences so we will voluntarily “bow our knees” and surrender to his absolute mastery in our lives.  So that we willingly proclaim in our proud, stubborn hearts that He is in all, through all, and at the end of all.  So that we will acknowledge that He is in absolute control as Master of our lives.  No “Yes, buts . . . .” He is Master of all my life, or He is Master of none of my life! And it often takes a wilderness experience for us to honestly humble ourselves before his absolute sovereignty.

To “test” us means that God puts us through the fires of cleansing and purifying so that the “gold, silver, and precious stones” He is working into our characters—into the very essence of our newly created beings—rise to the surface, and the “wood, hay, and stubble” of our old, pre-Jesus natures are  burned up completely.  You may read about that process in 1 Corinthians 3.  I could teach much more about that process of cleansing and purifying, but my teaching about fire covers that in much more detail.  The ancient Patriarch, Job’s, exclamation in Job 23: 10 – 12 furnishes more insight into God’s testing us by fire.  Isaiah 48:  10 also addresses the matter of testing by fire.

Four Major Areas of Testing

So . . . God leads us into our own wilderness experiences to humble us and to test us.  My own observations and my own experiences based on the Bible’s overall teachings lead me to believe the major areas of our lives where God seeks to humble us and test us are areas of disobedience, pride, rebellion, and when we  “harden our hearts” over matters  in our lives.  I’m sure there are other areas of our lives that God deals with in our wildernesses, but those are the 4 major areas I’ve seen over and over in my own life and in the lives of other people.  God will always “custom tailor” our humbling and testing experiences for areas of our own lives (often ones we attempt to keep hidden from others) needing such humbling and testing.  He sees all and knows all; nothing in our lives is ever hidden from God!

Okay, now I want us to take a look at the actual processes in which God leads us into the wilderness, takes us through it, and then takes us out of the wilderness.          

                 
“I will allure you into the wilderness, and there I will speak tenderly to your heart.  There I will cause you to bear new fruit.  The Valley of Achor—the valley of trouble and testing—will turn out to be a Door of Hope for you.  [When your testing has been completed], you will sing and rejoice!”    — Hosea 2: 14 & 15, paraphrased  and personalized

One of the first reasons God leads us into the wilderness experiences of our lives is so He can take us aside from the distracting routines and busy-ness of our lives and speak tenderly to us.  Of course, God is always speaking to us through the Bible and by means of Holy Spirit Who lives inside us in our spirits, but He often leads us into the wilderness so He can speak more “loudly” to us, yet in a tender manner as only He can do.  in a sense, He speaks tenderly to us during a time when we are more apt to be listening more intently.  

You’ve heard the old expression (or something similar):  “He had to hit him with a 2 x 4 to get his attention!” Well, the wilderness experiences of our lives are often “2 x 4” experiences when God needs to really get our attention so we will focus our listening on what He’s attempting to tenderly say to us.  So, that’s one of the first things that happens when God leads us into the wilderness: He speaks tenderly to our inner selves.

Next, generally (but not always) God leads us into the wilderness so He can produce new fruit in and through our lives. New fruit that will spring forth in the wilderness itself, often a new thing in our lives that we don’t even consciously know we need to have happen—hidden areas of our lives that need exposed and brought out to the light so new fruit can grow there.  

Each wilderness experience God allures us into will be a period of trouble and testing, beyond which will be a door of hope.  Learn to focus on the promised hope you can “see” by your inner faith-sense beyond the period of trouble and testing.  That hope will then result in singing and rejoicing that God has led you through and out of the wilderness.  Yes, something new and amazing often stands at the other side of our wilderness experiences:  a door of hope, resulting in singing and rejoicing!

What type of wilderness are you in right now?  A wilderness of depression?  Of financial needs? Of hopelessness?  Of despair?  The loss of a loved one?  A wilderness of failing health?  A wilderness of a failed relationship?  A wilderness of addiction?  Maybe you’re even in the dark wilderness of the shadow of death, not certain what awaits you on the other side.  The Bible assures you there’s a wonder-full, new immortal life of joy and peace beyond that dark valley, where Jesus awaits your arrival at the golden dawn of bright morning in his fair and lovely Kingdom.  Yes, you may even be facing your final wilderness of death.  The darkness of death cannot hold out against the onslaught of the bright, golden, Kingdom of Jesus where He and loved ones wait to greet you.

No matter the wilderness, at the other side of it is a door leading to the verdant uplands and meadows of renewed LIFE in Jesus . . . in this life or the next.  Your Beloved Savior and Master awaits you beyond the open door!  He has been fully present with you in your wilderness; now He is the door itself up and out of the wilderness.

Continued next month–

                    To Think About 

The Promised Land of ‘milk and honey’ always lies on the other side of your wilderness! 

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and updated December 2020

Continued from last month

NOTE: In classes, seminars, workshops, and study groups I teach, I continually remind my students not to take my word for something as being final, to challenge me, to point out where they feel I’ve made a mistake, to ask questions…  I constantly tell them I don’t have a corner on truth—that all I know is a mere fraction of God’s Truth.  I let them know I’m human and make mistakes.     

I’m not God’s special spokesperson, having all the answers.  Actually, most of the time I have more questions than answers.  I do that because I don’t want anyone to “put me on a pedestal,” so to speak, and think more highly of me than they should.  So, I was pleasantly surprised when—after receiving last month’s issue of The Traveler—a reader in Australia e-mailed me saying, “Bill, I think you’re wrong about the ‘amount’ of faith God gives to people.  Didn’t Jesus say to his disciples, ‘O you of little faith’”?

When I replied to him, first of all I thanked him for challenging what I had written.  Then I explained to him:  “Yes, Jesus did make that statement [Matthew 8: 26], but the Greek word for ‘little’ is oligopistos, meaning undeveloped or underdeveloped faith, not a small amount of faith.”  Just thought I’d mention that; maybe some of you other readers were thinking the same thing.  I appreciate when my readers contact me, challenge me, and ask questions. I always try to respond—in one way or another.

Now let’s continue our teaching from where we left off last month…

Here’s another way to think about the faith God gives each of us. Natural light takes various forms.  For example, light in a common household light bulb is unfocused;  it’s called radiant light, meaning it radiates out from its source equally in all directions; it’s not focused in any manner.  On the other hand, there is light such as laser light which is very narrowly focused into a compact, powerful beam which can be pointed or focused in a specific direction.  God wants us to learn how to focus our faith like laser light—pointed specifically at Him.  He doesn’t want our faith to spread out randomly in all directions (and thus lose some of it’s “power”).  Rather, He wants our faith to be narrowly and powerfully focused towards Him.

Let’s continue on with some general teaching about our faith.  We know a little about how our five senses function.  We know a little about auditory nerves, olfactory lobes, tactile nerve endings, taste buds, etc.  But what do we know about how faith works and functions?  More than you might think.  How do we now?  From the Bible.  From Holy Spirit communicating to us from within us and showing us how to apply the Bible to our lives.  

For example, we have already pointed out that God gives each of us an appropriate amount of faith.  The Bible teaches that we must “exercise” and “develop” that faith just as we exercise and develop our muscles and minds.  We exercise our faith by “releasing” it toward God and “attaching” it to Him:  by believing in Him, trusting Him, praying to Him, obeying Him, listening to Him with our “inner ears,” seeing Him with our “inner eyes,” etc.  

As we exercise our faith in those ways, our faith is honed, sharpened, and focused; it becomes more use-able.  God becomes more “responsive” (in a sense) to our prayers, to our trust, to our use of our faith.  Not that we manipulate God with our faith or that He is some sort of cosmic servant who responds to our every whim; no, nothing like that!  It’s just that as we open up our inner selves and use our faith more often and in a more focused manner, we become more and more aware of just how the entire, invisible, spiritual realm of faith operates.  We become more aware of “spiritual laws” and how they operate, just as we have become aware of how natural laws operate in the material universe.

Faith “Sees” The Invisible

Just as we read, study, experience, and learn more about our physical, material universe by “exercising” our five senses, we perceive and comprehend more and more about God and our non-physical, non-material, invisible, spiritual universe (RealRealm) by exercising our faith-sense.  I encourage you to study Romans 1: 20 and Hebrews 11: 27 concerning things which are invisible.  By our five senses we are aware of our connectedness with other people, with planet earth, with the material universe. 

In contrast, by our faith-sense we are aware of our connectedness with another universe—the limitless expanse of the Kingdom of God—which transcends the material universe.  We’ve read that one of the things God wants us to do with the amount of faith He has given us is to place our faith in Him.  God has given us the appropriate amount of faith so we may direct and focus it toward Him and thus believe in Him, know Him, and trust Him—but not with our five senses.  With our faith!  Believing in Jesus means we have a firm, steadfast reliance upon Him—by faith.  There are other uses to which God wants us to put the faith He has given us.

Prove It!

First, we use our faith to believe that Jesus paid the supreme penalty for our sins and restored us to a proper relationship with God.  See Romans 3: 25.  What Jesus did on our behalf happened in historical time and space 2,000 years ago.  We weren’t there.  We didn’t see the event, experience it, or hear it; our five senses are unable to “prove” that Jesus gave his life and shed his blood to pay for the sins of all humankind, including yours and mine.  Only faith can “prove” inside of us that Jesus actually did what He did; we cannot know the reality of it by any other means.  

In connection with believing by faith what Jesus did for us on the cross, the only way we can know and experience the personal, indwelling, abiding presence of the living, resurrected Jesus is by faith.  True, there’s an empty tomb on a hillside near the city of Jerusalem; history tells us that’s where Jesus was entombed after his cruel, painful death.  But we weren’t there personally to see Him burst forth from that tomb, alive again by the power of God’s Spirit.  We can believe that historical event really occurred only by means of our faith-sense.

Closely tied to that aspect of our salvation is the simple fact we could not even believe the Gospel—God’s Good News for all people—without the faith God dispenses to us.  The only way we can “believe” the Gospel is by faith.  God’s Good News is not good news when perceived by the five senses.  Actually, for the most part it is irrational and illogical nonsense to our five senses; it’s foolishness. 

But faith makes it possible for us to understand it’s the greatest, most power-full Good News ever proclaimed to humankind!  (see Romans 1: 16)  Well, those are only a few examples of how we are to use our faith:  to believe in God, to believe in what Jesus did for us, to believe the Bible is God’s Word, and to believe, comprehend, and understand God’s Good News about our full and complete, eternal salvation.

I’ve lived by faith for many years now.  Oh, there’s always an interplay between my five senses and my faith.  That’s true of all of us.  Just like there’s always an interplay between ShadowLand and RealRealm.  After all, we’re human; we’re a “blend” of both material beings and spiritual beings.  But beyond my five human senses, logic, reason, education, and intellect, faith is the means of my direct connection with God and with all that comprises the limitless, boundless, eternal Kingdom of God.

We are not human beings sent here to have spiritual experiences; we are spiritual, faith-beings sent here to have human experiences!

 I could teach you much more about living by faith, about reaching out to other people by faith, about “seeing” into invisible RealRealm by faith, about being “co-creators” with God by faith, about dealing with dark, unseen forces by faith, about being aware of angels by faith…yes, there’s more, there’s more.  And it’s all by faith.

Don’t Demean Our 5 Senses

I’m not suggesting that any of us demean or minimize the five senses.  That’s life.  I use my five senses; I believe in education, the intellect, logic, reason—all of those are necessary parts of our lives and the world we live in—ShadowLand.  For example, I have a great deal of formal, higher education for which I am very grateful to God; I never denigrate or minimize education. 

But in addition let us also determine to live and move and have our being in that realm beyond the five senses, education, reason, and logic—by means of faith!  By means of our faith-sense, we who are Jesus-believers are presently bi-locational, locked into the “box” of mortal life here in time and space on planet earth…while simultaneously having immortal, eternal LIFE in the transcendent realm called the Kingdom of Heaven.

Every subject or topic in the Bible has at least one main reference or chapter that sort of summarizes the Bible’s teachings about that subject or topic.  The chapter in the Bible that best summarizes or encapsulates the matter of faith is the 11^th chapter of the Book of Hebrews.  The chapter summarizes the experiences of many “heroes of the faith” throughout the Old Testament era before Jesus.  Midway through the chapter, it teaches a little about our spiritual ancestors who died “in faith,” not having yet received the promises from God they had believed by faith.

The reference says they knew they were strangers and pilgrims on a lifelong journey towards their true heavenly homeland, RealRealm—a land in which there was a great City God had prepared for them upon their homecoming.  You can read all about that City in Revelation 21 and 22 at the very end of your Bible.  We’re all journeying toward that City—where we’ve never been and which we’ve never seen…yet.  But by our “faith-sense” we know it is there and we long to arrive there at last.  

I recommend for your reading pleasure  a short teaching on this web site entitled City of Mystery, a brief allegory about that City in RealRealm toward which we are all journeying as strangers and pilgrims during this mortal life.  You can also read about that City in the October 2009 issue of The Traveler.  That’s it; that’s a very brief summary of what I know about faith, an appropriate amount of which God has freely, lovingly dispensed to every person ever born on planet earth.  What are you doing with your faith?

“[4,000 years ago] Abraham never wavered in believing [by faith] God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that what God had promised him, God was able to make happen. Because of his faith, God declared him to be righteous. To everyone who places his or her faith in Jesus, God forgives their sin and declares them to be righteous, too. In fact, Jesus Himself becomes our righteousness.” –From chapters 3 and 4 of Romans and from 1 Corinthians 1: 30            

To Think About This Month:

          “Collectively, we Jesus-believers are the King’s Bride journeying toward our wedding feast in the City of God.  We cannot be the King’s Bride without giving up other ‘lovers’ that might seduce us along the way.”

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
E-mail: leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December