Continued from last month

change:  to cause to become different; alter; transform; a radical transmutation of one’s character or core  nature. 

Many extensive surveys and studies the past few years have disclosed that one of the greatest fears among both teenagers and adults is the fear of changes which might occur in their future.  In fact, the fear of possible future changes has led to an entire category of mental and emotional illnesses roughly categorized as “anxiety” or “panic attacks.”  For the most part, such illnesses are caused by fear of the future.  

In turn, such illnesses create stress, which, as you know, often is the cause of (or related to) many other, stress-induced illnesses such as some cardiac problems.  Hospital beds, psychiatric hospitals, and mental health clinics are filled to overflowing with people who suffer from stress, anxiety and panic attacks, which, in turn, cause all sorts of other illnesses. 

Yes, fear of the future leads to stress, panic attacks, and anxiety, which, in turn, are the causes of many other illnesses.  I just came from having lunch with an old friend.  My friend seemed unable to talk about anything except his fears of the future and all the changes taking place in and around him.  As he talked, he was actually shaking from such fears.  It seemed like that’s all he could think about and talk about.  

After I let him tell me about all his fears and anxieties for almost an hour, this is how I responded:  “There is one prayer God will not answer:  ‘Please, God, let things remain the same; please, no more changes!’”  I informed him that changes were going to continue in his life for as long as he lived, and he needed to begin to ask God for help as such changes occur.  Otherwise, he would make himself physically ill.  In fact, he already had some physical illnesses likely caused by his worry and anxiety about his future.

When Changes Begin

Changes begin in each of our lives at the moment of our conception when our first fertilized egg cell changed by dividing . . . and changes will continue right up until the moment of our death . . .  and beyond.  When we were conceived, our bodies began to change, our souls began to change, and our spirits began to change.  And such changes will never cease in each of our lives.  One of the few predictable things in your life is change:  change in your body, change in your soul, and change in your spirit!  On a vastly larger scale the entire created universe is constantly changing, growing, and expanding.  Nothing in all of God’s creation ever stays the same; nothing throughout all creation remains unchanging.

Immutable

The only Person Who never changes is God.  He doesn’t need to change because He is whole and complete in and of Himself.  Malachi 3: 6 emphatically states:  “I am God; therefore, I do not change.” Hebrews 13: 8 states, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for all the ages of time and eternity.”  The theological word for God’s unchanging-ness is “immutable.”  Just thought I’d throw in that word so I could impress you with my deep theological understanding…  

But let’s take another look at all the changes occurring in our lives…and changes that will be coming in our future.  Get used to change.  Learn to deal with changes in your external world and inside you.  They’re going to keep coming.  They ain’t gonna stop.  You can’t run from them.  Change is here to stay.  You can learn to embrace change rather than fear it!

Job’s Ageless Question

Thousands of years ago a man named Job asked God a question…and then answered his own question.  He asked:  “If a person dies, shall that person live again?” He then stated:  “I will wait until my change comes.”   What change was Job thinking about?  He was thinking about the changes that come to every human when they die.  As I wrote last month, we will all die (except for those people who will be alive when King Jesus returns to establish his Kingdom on earth).  You will die.  I will die.  We will all die. If you don’t believe that, well . . . you must be living in a world far, far away from the real world of life and death the rest of us live in.

Biggest Change Yet To Come 

I’m going to begin by writing about the biggest change we all face…and then work backwards from that big change—to other changes in our mortal lives leading up to that big change.  1 Corinthians 15: 51 and 52 teaches about the Great Change coming when King Jesus will return to usher in his Kingdom:

            “Pay attention!  I am telling you a previously hidden truth.  We will not all sleep in death, but we shall all be changed—in an atomic second, in less time than it takes to blink.  A trumpet will sound and we will be raised from the dead, free from  decay.  Yes, we shall be changed and transformed.”

That will be sort of our final change, when we are changed from mortals to immortals, but it’s not really our final change, because we will continue to change for many eons to come after that event…and then beyond those ages, we will continue to change in timeless eternity.  In the meantime, God wants us to continue to change, grow, and develop in this mortal life before we die or before Jesus returns—whichever occurs first.  

As I wrote last month, most changes that need to occur in our lives during this mortal journey are changes in our minds, attitudes, and thought patterns so we see life more and more from God’s point of view and think more and more like Jesus thinks.  I’ve stated this before:  “If we’re not green and growing, we are ripe and rotting.” I know, I know, that’s kind of a dumb statement, but—as dumb as it is—it’s true!

The first change that needs to be made in peoples’ lives is to be born again. That change into a new person—a newly created immortal being—automatically sets in motion a lifelong process of change, growth, and development.  You became a brand-new creation—a “changeling” when you were born again—and will spend the remainder of your mortal journey here on earth being changed and transformed back into God’s image as seen in Jesus.  I refer you back to last January’s issue of The Traveler where I wrote about that process of change and growth back into God’s clear image in us.

“I appeal to you in view of God’s mercy to make a decisive dedication of your bodies to God, which is only reasonable, and is well-pleasing to God. Don’t be conformed to the external, superficial ways of this world, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.” –Paul, Romans 12: 1 & 2, paraphrased

In last month’s issue of The Traveler, I taught about the process of changing our minds–what the Bible calls repentance. I wrote about how such change is inevitable; how we mustn’t resist such change because of our fear of change. An old Gospel song puts it like this–about our constant change and God’s unchangeable-ness:
                   

God’s oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the ‘whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.

The only way for us to deal successfully with all our lifelong internal changes is to rest upon God’s unchanging support and stability.  If we know that He never changes—and that all changes in our lives are working out for our ultimate good—then we can face all of life’s changes with confidence.

Model For Inner Change

When you were born again, in a nanosecond Jesus came to live permanently inside your spirit in his “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit.  Part of the work of Holy Spirit living inside you—his “job”—is to bring to your attention changes needing to be made in your thoughts, attitudes, and behavior.  When He points out those things needing changed, then you job is to change your mind about them…to repent.  Then, once you change your mind, Holy Spirit furnishes you the inner power to make the necessary changes.  Once you make the changes, then He will bring to your attention more changes you need to make…and so on throughout your entire mortal journey.  Here’s how that “model” for change looks and “works”:

           1.  Holy Spirit brings to your attention thoughts, attitudes, or behavior needing changed.  2.  Next, you change your mind.  3.  Then Holy Spirit gives you inner power to change.  4.  You then make the necessary changes with his inner power.  5.  Next, Holy Spirit brings to your attention more thoughts, attitudes, or behavior needing changed.  6.  Again, you change your mind…and so on throughout your entire mortal life. 

 That’s the model, that’s how it works, that’s how you make the necessary changes using Jesus’ power within you from where He lives in your spirit.

Thoughts, Attitudes, Behavior 

Our thoughts need changed because before we are born again, for the most part we had learned the thoughts and thought-patterns of this world and it’s systems.  We  learned a “worldly” worldview; we need to unlearn many of those views and newly learn a biblical worldview.  We need to learn to see life here on planet earth as God sees it.  Of course, we learn such new thoughts and thought patterns by reading, studying, and obeying the Bible!   That’s why God gave us the Bible–not merely to inform us, but, rather, to transform us.  

Next, we need to learn new attitudes.  Why?  Because 90 to 95% of what we do every day of our lives is based upon the attitudes we have at any given time.  Our prevailing attitudes dictate almost all that we do—or don’t do—at any given time in our lives.   We definitely need to change many of our attitudes.  We weren’t born with attitudes; we’ve learned them throughout our lifetimes.  And, they can be unlearned and replaced with “godly” attitudes.

As to our behavior, well, our behavior flows from our thoughts and our attitudes.  When our thoughts and attitudes change to be more godly, then changes in our behavior will follow.

Yes, dear reader, it’s a lifelong process of repentance—changing our minds:  to see life more and more as God sees it, to think more like Jesus thinks, to change our attitudes and our behavior.

          Keep repenting!  Keep changing!  Stay green and growing!

                   “And be constantly renewed in your mind, having fresh thoughts and attitudes.  And put on your new nature–your new self–being created to be like God in true right-living and wholeness.”                                                —Paul, Ephesians 4: 23 and 24

To think about this month:

             “All the universe is about change—about moving on.  And when things stop changing, they are dead.”  –Twyla Tharp

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

Here’s a general statement:  Most—not all—adult humans tend to fear and resist change.  Oaky, okay, I know—you don’t fear change; you’re the exception.  I wrote most adult humans fear and resist change, not all of them.

I’m not writing about generalized changes that take place during our mortal journeys in the external world around us—technological changes, new inventions, political changes, and the like. Those types of external changes just sort of “happen” around us as we journey through life.  For example, just think back a moment to the huge numbers of changes in your external world since you were born—and launched on your mortal journey.

The Big Changes

The changes I’m writing about that we tend to fear and resist are internal changes, changes to the interior of our beings—changes we must make inside us as we journey through life.  Those are the hard changes most of us deal with throughout our mortal journeys.

Hey, I could just tell you outright:  “Get over it.  Replace your fear with faith and your resistance with compliance!”  But, that’s much easier said than done, friends.

Yet, that’s exactly what God expects us to do throughout our lifetime journeys if we’re going to grow, develop, and mature as Jesus-believers.

Repent!

Uh, oh, there’s that word.  A word that most of us don’t like.  An old-fashioned Bible word that we’d rather weren’t even in the Bible.  Repent!  What does that word really mean?

Do people these days need to repent like they did in Bible times?  Yes, just like people did in the “olden days,” we—you—me—must repent.  But wait a minute, I need to explain to you what that word really means in the Bible.  It doesn’t mean what many people have been led to believe it means.  

There are two words (and their derivatives) used in the original Hebrew and Greek languages of the Bible that have been translated “repent” or “repentance” in English.  The most basic meaning of those Hebrew and Greek words are to change one’s mind.  Period!  Nope, no “Yes buts…”  It just means to change one’s mind.

Maybe right now you’re thinking, “Yes, but I’ve heard that it means…”  No, what you’ve heard might be wrong.  It simply means to change one’s mind.

It does not mean to cry, to moan, to sob and weep at a church altar or to “walk down the sawdust trail” in a tent revival meeting, to be extremely sorry for wrongdoing, to vow never to do something again, to promise to turn away from sin, to resolve never again to commit a certain sin. Nope.  None of those.  Repent means to change one’s mind.  Period!

Okay, that’s a very basic definition.  Let’s amplify it a little just to give you a better feel for what it means:  Every day I change my mind to stop living a self-filled life and start living a Jesus-filled life. A “self-filled life” simply means I want to live life my own way without any interference from God or anyone else.  It means I feel I’m in charge of my own life—not anyone else—and certainly not God.

There’s a little “throne” on the inside of your life.  To repent means you make a quality decision to have God rule and reign on that inner throne—instead of your own “self.”

Here’s an even more expanded, amplified meaning:  repentance is to live in a continual state of changing mental awareness where I see life and reality more and more as God sees them, and think more and more like God thinks.  How do we reach such a state of awareness and comprehension?

The Bible!

We repent by continually reading and studying the Bible and letting Holy Spirit point out what we need to change our minds about.  It means that we—based upon the Bible’s teachings—are constantly changing our minds throughout our lifetimes so that we develop godly minds and think more and more like God thinks.

There are many references in the Bible that teach this concept; I’ll let you look up those references for yourself.  The life of a Jesus-believer is a continual, lifelong state of repentance, of changing our minds.

Repentance is never just a one-time act a person commits in order to be “saved”!  It’s a lifelong process of changing our minds.  Also, it does not mean “doing penance” for a period of time after we repent or continuing to be “penitent” for a period of time after we change our minds.

The concepts of Penance and Penitence are human-made traditions not found anywhere in the Bible!  Oh, after we have repented of a particular sin, transgression, or wrongdoing, there may be a period of remorse or regret; there may be times when we feel contrite; that’s pretty normal for most people; that’s okay.

But, nowhere does the Bible teach there should be a volitional period of penance or penitence after we have repented (changed our minds) about something.  So go ahead and feel remorse or regret or contrition if you have sinned and repented of it.

However, don’t feel there needs to be a time of penance or penitence to make your repentance “stick”; that’s simply not taught anywhere in the Bible.

You may be asking, “Bill, isn’t it almost blasphemy to teach we can think like God thinks?”  I’ll let you answer that question for yourself after you read and ponder just a few references from the Bible:  Romans 12: 1 and 2; 1 Corinthians 2: 16; 2 Corinthians 10: 5; Ephesians 4: 23 and 24; Philippians 2: 5; and Hebrews 8: 10.

Don’t all such references say either directly or by inference that we are to develop the mind of Jesus?  How do we develop the mind of Jesus so we think like He thinks?

By constantly repenting—constantly changing and renewing our minds based upon what we read and study in the Bible!

Reasons To Repent

There are three basic reasons (actually there are many, many reasons) why we need to develop a lifestyle of repentance.  I want to make this point first—before we go any further:  God doesn’t change our minds for us, and our minds don’t change by some sort of spiritual magic. No!  We change our own minds using the inner power of Holy Spirit God has already placed within our human spirits. Once we change our minds, then Holy Spirit empowers us from within to change our attitudes and our behavior—based upon what we have changed our minds about.

Here are the three reasons why we need to repent—change our minds.  First, God commands us to repent.  You can read about that in Acts 17: 30 and 31.  Repentance is not optional.  Does God have the right to command us to repent?  C’mon now.  Who’s really in charge of your life?  Who has the final word?

Yes, Almighty God—the Creator of the entire universe and of you—has the right to command you to repent.  It’s not a suggestion.  We are commanded by God to change our minds.  And, when God directly commands us to do something, it’s probably best if we obey Him.  Disobeying god can lead us into all sorts of negative situations.

Reason number two:  Please refer to Romans 2: 4 for this one.  We need to practice changing our minds because God is a good God—not a bad God.  God is always good and never bad.  (also see Psalm 119: 68)  One significant flaw in the lives of many Jesus-believers is that they really don’t believe God is good.

You must decide in your own mind whether or not God is a good God or a “bad” God.  If you choose to decide He is good, that can mark a major shift in your life.

If you really come to believe that God is good—everything about Him, everything He does—your life will change dramatically, when you begin to see that god is altogether good—not a stern, judgmental, vindictive tyrant—you will just naturally want to change your mind in order to be more life Him.

Not to become “goody-goody” or “holier-than-thou,” or sanctimonious, but just good:  loving, upright, honorable, honest, clean-living, reliable, wholesome, dependable…

Unfortunately, some Jesus-believers and church congregations have a negative mindset causing them to feel they constantly need to remind people about the severity and judgment of God—his “badness”—in order to get them to repent.

Such Jesus-believers seem to constantly dwell on “hell fire and brimstone,” on the horrible judgments of God, on all the bad things that happen to people, on the awful calamities that people experience because they are “poor lost sinners.”

The Bible is very clear in Romans 2: 4; it is the goodness of God that leads people to rep.ent, not his “badness.”  Most people know they are sinners without Jesus-believers constantly reminding them of their sin and its consequences.

John 16: 7 and 8 makes it quite clear that Holy spirit is very capable of convincing every human being of their sinful condition, without us feeling we

What’s reason number three:  Read 2 Corinthians 7: 10.  It reads, Godlike sorrow produces repentance.”

What is sorrow like God’s?  What makes God sorrowful?  Well, for starters He’s sorrowful when He sees how we hurt ourselves and constantly “beat up” on ourselves.  He’s sorrowful when we choose not to live up to our potential as his sons and daughters.

He feels sorrow when we hurt and are in pain…when our relationships become broken or fragmented…when we hurt ourselves physically or with the strange, negative mind games we sometimes play with one another… Yes, God sees all those things in our lives—and more—and it causes Him to be sorrowful—not angry.  That reference is about how God feels toward us at times.

Sometimes we need to see ourselves as God sees us—how we’re often our own worst enemies and cause ourselves so much pain and harm.  Sorrow about things we say and do—from God’s viewpoint—causes us to repent. What am I trying to say here?  God is our loving, heavenly Father, and it hurts Him and makes Him sad when his kids mess up their own lives and the lives of other people.  

This is not referring to a human type of sorrow which is usually only a mere temporary emotion or feeling and doesn’t result in lasting and meaningful changes in our lives; in contrast with human sorrow, when we feel godlike sorrow it does produce meaningful and lasting changes in our attitudes and behavior.

Those, then are the three main reasons provided in the Bible why we regularly and consistently need to practice the process of changing our minds…day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year throughout our entire mortal journeys on planet earth.

I will continue this teaching about change in next month’s issue of The Traveler.

“Change your mind and then turn away from your sin so your sin won’t ruin you.  Turn away from your stubborn rebellion and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit.” 
                  –God, Ezekiel 18: 30 and 31

To Think About This Month:     

        “All meaningful and lasting change begins on the inside of me and then works it way out as my external behavior!”

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

This is a simple reminder of why I write and furnish you The Traveler each month:

You are a traveler on a very brief, hasty journey on your way to Jesus’ Kingdom when He returns…and beyond.  God wants you to have a successful and prosperous journey!

The Bible is very clear:  we are  transient strangers…temporary residents…short-lived travelers…sojourners…pilgrims…wayfarers—all too quickly journeying toward another state of existence beyond this mortal life.  (Hebrews 11: 13;  1 Peter 2: 11, for example.)

I hope no one is foolish enough to deny  that the mortal life each of us lives here is not permanent—only temporary! Oh, one’s mortal life here might last a hundred years or so, but none of us is here permanently in this mortal life.  Every human who has ever been born on planet earth has died—or will die.

True, there will be some people alive at the time King Jesus returns to earth, but except for those people, everyone else dies.  I will die.  You will die.  We all will die.  This mortal life is only temporary!  The Bible calls it a very short-lived journey, a very hasty pilgrimage, a temporary sojourn.

Now, let’s visit a bit about God’s provision for our brief journeys.  Simply because most—not all—of you who read this publication live in the western world, I want to be very careful how I define “success” and “prosperity” from the Bible.   Biblical success and prosperity are not how this world’s systems define them!  I don’t want to make the mistake of defining those two words the ways in which the western world’s systems define them—only how the Bible defines them.  

So…before we go any further, let’s look at how the Bible defines success and prosperity—God’s provision for our journeys.   Depending on which version of the Bible you use, the word “success” may not even appear in your Bible; for example, some older versions of the Bible don’t even use the word.    Some—not all—newer versions use the word.  For example, it does appear in the New King James Bible of the 1980’s.  It’s also found in The Amplified Bible, the New International Version, and most recent versions of the popular Living Bible.

Let’s Define Our Terms

Okay, having said all that, let’s define the world “success” as it appears in most newer, more accurate, Bibles—and the biblical words “prosper” or “prosperity.”   Success: To regularly and consistently journey toward accomplishing God’s plans and purposes for one’s life, according to one’s ^*potential.

( ^* “potential” consists of 3 factors:  1.  one’s God-given skills, talents, abilities, and gifts, 2. One’s God-given desires, and 3. One’s education and training.)

In the Bible’s definition of success, the emphasis is on the journey itself, not the destination.   In most cases, the word “success” in the Bible is very closely linked to the biblical words for “prosper” or “prosperity.”   In fact, sometimes it’s difficult to even separate the two words, depending on which version of the Bible you are reading.

Prosperity: to have enough provision for one’s success-journey.   In considering the matter of prosperity in the Bible, we must consider the differences between our needs and our wants; sometimes they are one and the same, sometimes they are decidedly and markedly different. God has promised always to meet the needs of his sojourners, but not necessarily their wants—if the two are different.  

For Jesus-believers in the western world—because of our affluence—we often confuse our needs and our wants.  That has caused much financial confusion among many of God’s western-world children the past 100 years or so, causing them to want what the world wants rather than what God promises.

Again, I’m generalizing about most Jesus-believers in the western world, not necessarily believers in other areas of the world who often have a much clearer concept of the differences between human needs and wants.  

A Really Great Book!

It’s very clear from Genesis to Revelation in the Bible that God promises to provide for our needs while we are on our journeys.  But what does that mean?  I won’t go into detail here—because I’ve already written a book on the subject, but I will mention a few highlights here in this month’s issue of The Traveler.  

[Incidentally, if you’re interested in purchasing a copy of my book (and I hope you might be!), it’s entitled LIFE-Giving (subtitled “Clear Directions For You To Have A Successful And Prosperous Journey Through Life”).  You can purchase a copy directly through any major bookstore, or from Amazon.com.]

Meeting Our Needs

  There is one very basic, elemental way in which God provides for our needs during our journey:  we must first give our time, our talents, and our treasures to God in order for Him–in return–to meet our needs.  Okay, let’s think about first giving back to God some of the money He provides us.  Giving something away—in this case, money—is  absolutely 180 degrees opposite from the way the world looks at money.  

We have been taught from birth on that if we give something away, it diminishes us.  Not true!  We are never diminished by giving to God! Quite the contrary.  When we give to God He always multiplies what we give—both in the lives of those to whom we give AND back into our lives at our points of need.  We cannot outgive God; the “shovel” He uses to give back to us is much larger than our shovels…

  We must learn to develop a lifestyle rhythm of giving and receiving, planting and harvesting, sowing and reaping.  “When I give to God, He gives back to me [through other people] more than I gave Him:  shaken together to make room for more, stomped down, and overflowing.  Then, to dispense back to me what I receive, He uses the same ‘measuring cup’ I used when I gave to Him.” –an amplified rendering of Luke 6: 38  

That biblical reference must be understood only in the light of many other biblical references about giving to God; otherwise, it can be radically misunderstood and abused—as has often been the case in recent years—especially in the Church in the western world.  I won’t teach all those other references at this point, but I list a few of the major ones here so you can look them up and study them on your own:  Genesis 8: 22;  Exodus 25: 2;  Deuteronomy 16: 7; Ecclesiastes 11: 1; 2 Corinthians 9: 6 – 10; and many more…

So…in brief, if we want God to provide what we need for our journeys, we must first give to Him.  In stark contrast to what the world teaches, Jesus Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”(Acts 20: 35)

To paraphrase an old Gospel song:

Our journey is full
If God is in it.
If we journey not for
wealth or fame.
Our journey is full
If God is in it.
If we journey in Jesus’ Name!

I strongly urge you at this point in your journey—as you are reading these very words—to determine what is most important and of the most value to you on your journey…and sort out your wants and your needs. Those determinations will serve to “dictate” the remainder of your journey.  At the end of your mortal journey, your life will be evaluated by what you have kept for yourself, not by what you have given! Think about that statement…

Okay, that’s enough about God’s provision for our journeys.  I could teach s-o-o-o much more, but I again refer you to my book, LIFE-Giving, for the entire scope of what I have attempted to teach you in these few paragraphs about God’s ample provision for our journeys.

Each day of our journey brings us closer to the moment of our death.  If we houard treasures here, we spend each day moving away from them;  if we store treasures in heaven, we spend each day moving toward them.

If we spend our lives looking back where we have hoarded our treasures here, we will despair.  If we spend our lives moving toward our treasures in heaven we will have reason to have joy on our journeys.  Despair or joy: it is simply a matter of our daily choices and decisions as we journey along the King’s Highway toward our final destination—death and beyond.   You’ll notice I often quote from songs or poems in The Traveler.  It’s because music and poetry are both sort of “universal languages” that often speak to the human heart.  Here are some words from an old song that sort of say what I’ve been trying to teach in this issue; it’s loosely based on Psalm 63: 5:

“[Jesus] tells me of my Father’s love,
And never-slumbering eye. 
The Everlasting King above
Will all my needs supply.
Singing I go along life’s road
Praising the Lord,
Praising the Lord.
Singing I go along life’s road,
For Jesus has lifted my load!

You have to choose.  You have to decide.  Do you want joy during your journey?  Or emptiness, futility, and despair?  It’s all based on whether or not you choose to be a giver or a receiver.  Whether or not you choose to develop a lifestyle of giving or a lifestyle of receiving—of getting rather than giving.  

Incidentally, we must learn to be receivers as well as givers. If we don’t learn to be gracious and humble receivers, then we are blocking the flow of God’s blessings in the lives of those who wish to give to us.   Okay:  bottom line…  You are a pilgrim on a very temporary journey through this life—and beyond.  Is God providing for your needs, or isn’t He?  You have a part in his supply of your needs by “planting” good seed into the good soil of God’s Kingdom.  (See Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8 for the biblical principle of sowing and reaping.)

Don’t plant your seed in soil that is rocky, full of weeds, or which has no depth. Trust God—by faith—to give you a “harvest” from the seed you have sown.  You must “water” your seed with prayer.  Keep the “weeds” out of what you have sown.  Expect a harvest.  Expect a miracle harvest!  A Russian Jesus-believer once said something like this:  I stand midstream in the flow of God’s gifts into my world.  God’s gifts flow to me and then flow from me.  If I stop the flow I become a mere receiver, not a giver.  Giving to others is the very reason God gives to me.”

I don’t mean to bore you, but I’ll say it again:  in order for you to have a successful, prosperous, and joyful journey, you must learn (by daily choices and decisions) to develop a lifestyle—a rhythm—of giving and receiving, planting and harvesting, sowing and reaping…of your time, of your talents, and your treasures.  There just isn’t any other way to have a truly successful and prosperous journey through this life!

             “Be strong and courageous.  In order to have success and prosperity as you journey, don’t turn to the right or left as you travel the King’s Highway.    Memorize, meditate upon, and obey the Bible; then you will have success and prosperity.  Yes, obey Me!  Be strong.  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you wherever your journey takes you.” –Joshua 1: 7-9, paraphrased

To Think About This Month

“Am I ready to leave for my new Home when it’s time for me to go?  Am I sending ‘treasures’ on ahead of me in advance of my arrival There?”

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

This isn’t People or Us magazine or the National Enquirer, but here’s my prediction for you for 2010: I predict that 2010 will be the most successful and prosperous, most meaningful, most fulfilling, and happiest year you will ever have if . . . you will read, study, meditate upon, and obey! everything you read in Joshua 1: 7 – 9; Job 23: 10 – 12; Psalm 23: 4; Isaiah 48: 18; Matthew 6: 33 and 34; and Luke 6: 38.  C’mon now.  You’d like to have a great 2010, wouldn’t you?  Just read, study, meditate upon, and obey! what those references teach, and you will have a great year.  God guarantees it!

2010: A “Chunk” of Time

 No human being has ever walked down the very tiny chunk of time called 2010. But God has! He is simultaneously present in all of time—including 2010.  Actually, it’s not that God will be present throughout this year we call 2010.  He is already fully present in 2010, beckoning you to step forward boldly and walk confidently with Him into a year unknown to you, but already fully known to Him.  He knows the “maze” of your 2010—every  twist and turn, every treacherous curve, every dangerous portion  of each day, every valley, every pitfall, every cool refreshing rest stop and spring along your journey—during this brief span of time we call 2010.  

All the events and situations you’ll face during 2010 are already wrapped up in the loving heart of God . . . and so are you!  With God, you can walk through the seasons of 2010 with a spring in your step, with love, with faith, with hope, with heightened expectations, with peace, with delight, with joy, with boldness, with confidence.

Wonder-full miracles from God’s benevolent hand will be coming your way all year;  you just need to keep your eyes open to see your miracles as they approach you—and then reach out to grab them before they whiz right on by.  How can 2010 be anything less than terrific if you’re really traveling with God and trusting in his provision and care?  Nothing will happen to you during 2010 without being filtered through God’s love for you!  

God is a good God and everything He does is good (Psalm 119: 68).  His thoughts toward you are always positive and good (Jeremiah 29: 11).  He has nothing but his very best in store for you for 2010.  Yes, 2010 really can be the best year you’ve ever experienced…if you’ll obey all those biblical references I cited in the second paragraph.  Have a great journey with God through 2010!

2010 really is a whole new year ahead of you. It’s a brief fragment of time God has given to you for certain reasons.  I don’t mean to be morbid by asking you these questions, but “You do know, don’t you, that there are no guarantees you’ll live the entire chunk of time we call 2010?  At some level inside you, you really do know that, don’t you?  C’mon, be honest.”  Oh, I know you’d like to live the entire year; you’d like to be here for all 365 days of 2010;  you hope you’ll live the whole year through.  But, again, there aren’t any guarantees that you will.  Put it this way:  What day of the week in this month called January are you reading these words?  What guarantee do you have that you’ll even be alive at the end of this very day?  The answer? 

None of us knows how long we have yet to travel during our mortal journeys.  Our lives just don’t come with that type of knowledge from our Creator.  If your mortal journey does happen to end today, are you ready for the next stage of your journey—the next stage of your immortal journey in Jesus’ Kingdom and beyond—into the state of existence the Bible calls eternity?  Hey, I’m just asking . . .

Make a Quality Decision!

Today, right now while you’re reading these words, make a quality decision to follow Jesus wholeheartedly during 2010.  Some of the words of an old Gospel song go something like this:

I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back.
Though none go with me,
Still, I will follow.
No turning back,
No turning back.

During last year—the one we called 2009—four dear friends of mine ended their mortal journeys. God fully prepared them to move on into the next, immortal stage of their journeys, but none of them knew that their mortal journeys would end in 2009. Life just doesn’t come with that kind of knowing.  Why?  Do you think about why you’re here? What are the reasons you’re here? Why were you placed in 2010, no matter how old you are as you read these lines? What’s 2010 going to be all about for you?  Do you remember these words I wrote in an earlier issue of The Traveler?  Please say them right now…out loud:

          I am a spiritual being sent to earth to have a temporary, mortal, human experience, not a human being sent here to have a spiritual experience.

Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, that statement has nothing to do with reincarnation or anything similar; the Bible absolutely denounces any beliefs in reincarnation or similar drivel.  You were sent here to get prepared for the next stage of your immortal existence in Jesus’ Kingdom, and then beyond that in a state of existence called eternity.  What’s the preparation process like?  How does it “work”?  What will God be doing in you, through you, and as you as He prepares you during 2010 for the next stage of your existence as an immortal being?  The Bible answers such questions with many different word pictures and images, but I’m going to attempt to shed a little light on the matter by writing about God’s image.

The Image of God

God’s vision for you . . .  God’s dream for you . . . God’s purposes for you . . .  are  to restore you into his clear image.  God originally created humans in his clear image.  By sin, you marred, blurred, and dimmed his image in you.  God is restoring his clear image in you. It’s really that simple.  That’s why you’re here for this mortal stage of your journey through time.  The fullest—the perfect—image of God is Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 18; 4: 4; Colossians 1: 15;  Hebrews 1: 3).  Jesus is the unmarred, unblemished, completely focused image of God.  You are a marred, blurred,  fuzzy, unfocused image of God.  

What’s the definition of “image of God” in humans?  It means that we are visible representations of the invisible God.  Jesus is God’s perfect visible representation; You are God’s imperfect visible representation. How is God restoring his clear image in you?  You must cooperate with Holy Spirit daily as He empowers you (from within where He lives in your spirit) to change your mind from choosing to live a self-filled life to choosing to live a Jesus-filled life.  It’s a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month process during 2010 by which God will restore you into his clear image…if you fully cooperate with Him in that process.

Changing your mind (what the Bible terms “repenting” or “putting on the mind of Jesus”) day after day, year after year, changes you more and more into the fully restored, clear image of God.    (Romans 12: 1 and 2;  Ephesians 4: 23, etc.)  During 2010, God will take whatever steps are necessary (many known only to Him) in order to accomplish his vision for you.  He is eternally farsighted.  You are very often shortsighted, not seeing beyond the finite limitations of your mortal life.  

Your past does not necessarily equal your future: to be fully restored into the clear image of God.  As mentioned earlier, God is an altogether good God, and everything He does is good.  (Psalm 119: 68)  Everything—everything!—that happens in your life is working toward your ultimate, final good.  (Genesis 50: 20;  Romans 8: 28, and similar references taken together as a whole!)

Like a magnet irresistibly draws iron filings to itself, God is inexorably drawing you to Himself through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary—continually restoring you into his clear image! (John 6: 44 and 12: 32)  The Bible begins with “In the beginning God . . . . ” The Bible wraps it all up with “In the end God . . . . ” (Genesis 1: 1 and 1 Corinthians 15: 28)  As I indicated earlier, what I have written about the image of God is only one of the ways the Bible illustrates God’s plans and purposes for you during 2010; there are numerous other “word-pictures” in the Bible where God teaches about his plans and purposes for you.

Right now—today—as you read these words, the year 2010 stretches out before you as a blank tablet.  But the only one of those 365 days you have guaranteed to you is today (and—maybe—not even all of today!).  Use today wisely as part of your preparation to make the transition from “earth to glory,” as an old Gospel song puts it.  So . . . here we are at the beginning of a chunk of time we call 2010.  Some of you reading these words are in North America, some in Africa, some in Europe, Some in Australia, some in Asia, and some in the island-nations of the world.  What are you planning to do with this fragment of time we call 2010?

With all my heart, I urge you to cooperate with God in all the ways He wants to restore you into his clear image as seen in Jesus.  Just let go of your past (which there’s no way you can change) and walk with God confidently and boldly into 2010.  Jesus—in his unbodied form of Holy Spirit—lives within you and wants to progressively, little by little, transform you and restore you into the whole, complete person you were originally intended to be before you were ever implanted in your mother’s womb.

Let God do whatever He chooses to do in your life during 2010 so that process can continue in you unimpeded and unrestricted.  Let 2010 be your year of transformation and restoration!  Pay attention!  You’re saying to yourself, “During 2010 I’m going to do such and such.” You don’t know if you’re even going to be given one more day to live.  Your entire life is like a morning fog that all too quickly dissipates when the sun comes up.  You need to learn to say, “If it’s God’s will and I’m still alive, I will fulfill his plans and purposes for me this year.”  (James 4: 13 – 15, paraphrased)

To Think About This Month: 

“If it should happen that I die in 2010, I want to make sure all I have left to do is die!”

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

It was a clear, warm spring night. Shepherds were watching over their flocks on the Judean hillsides and meadows. Suddenly, the night skies lit up brighter than any fireworks display ever witnessed. An angel proclaimed to the startled shepherds . . . And you know the rest of the story!  If not, read about it in the 2^nd chapter of the book of Luke in the Bible.

Fullness of Time

When time was ripe . . . when time was full . . . when time was “pregnant”—God stepped out of the infinite vastness of eternity into the self-imposed, finite limitations of time and space and became fully human, while remaining fully God.  Yes, when time was fully pregnant, a young unmarried, virgin teenager named Mary became fully pregnant, too, and gave birth to the God-Human, Jesus.  Jesus was given the royal title, Immanuel, meaning  “God is fully present with humans for all time and eternity.”

 After Jesus later died, was raised from the dead, and returned to eternity—in all the 2,000+ years since, Immanuel is born² (born again) in anyone who asks Him to take up permanent residence in them and make them new-creation beings.

Yes, Jesus is the true Time Traveler who travels down through each generation of time when He is born²—in their personal  ripeness of time—in each man, woman, or child who enters into a personal relationship with Him by inviting Him into their lives.  Over and over and over again in each passing generation of time, God once again becomes Immanuel for each person in whom He comes to live by means of Holy Spirit, who is Jesus in his unbodied Spirit form.

 God.  Jesus.  Immanuel:  The true Time Traveler who invites each of us to travel with Him throughout the ages and eons of time—and then when time ends—into the eternal state which God inhabits in all his majesty, holiness, and glory!  The Bible is not merely a manual; the Bible is Im-Manuel telling us how God is  fully present among humans in the Person of Jesus in his unbodied form of Holy Spirit.

Many of my older readers might remember this simple Christian chorus popular during the 1980’s:

Immanuel,
Immanuel,
His Name is called Immanuel—
God with us,
Revealed in us!
His Name is called Immanuel. 

 The Bible was not given to us by God merely to inform us. No, the Bible was given to us by God to transform us, as Immanuel lives in us and leads us on our own journey through time and eternity.  2,000 years ago God intersected time in the Person of Jesus, Immanuel.  During the thousands of years since, eternity again intersects time whenever any human is born² and becomes a new creation.  Sometime in the future, He will once again step out of eternity into time when Jesus returns in bodily form to establish his peace-full Kingdom upon earth.  Yes, Jesus is The Time Traveler!

Time and Eternity

If the concepts of time and eternity—and their differences—are as fascinating to you as they are to me, I invite you to read one of my teachings on this website titled Beyond the Far Shores of Time. It’s even kind of pseudo-scientific, containing a lot of up-to-date information about the latest developments in the scientific studies of time and space. 

The Four C’s 

What are four C’s?  I’m glad you asked . . .  Since this issue comes to you in the month of December, God asked me to write a little about the timeless Christmas story.  You do know, don’t you that Jesus was not born on December 25^th? It’s a long story, but that date was dreamed up and began to be used centuries after Jesus’ birth.  In all likelihood, Jesus was probably born in the spring or fall, but that’s another story, too.

At this point, I invite you to read The Christmas Story under Teachings on this web site; it’s a Bible-based story I wrote to be read aloud serially during the month of December. 

We all have a tendency during this month of the year to focus on the baby Jesus in the cradle. The Cradle is the first C.     And . . . it’s a good thing to focus on the baby Jesus in the cradle at this time of year.  God did become a human being in Jesus, He was born of a human mother, He did live as a human among us.  Again, his title, Immanuel, means God is fully present and living among us for all time and eternity.  Our salvation begins with the baby Jesus in a humble cradle in Bethlehem.  Yes, we do focus on the cradle at this time of year—the first C.

But while we concentrate on the scenario surrounding the cradle, let us never lose sight of the cross as well:  the second C.  The helpless baby who once laid in that humble cradle was the God-Human who set his will to go to the cross, there to give his life and pour out his life’s blood to emancipate all humanity from it’s sinful condition and from the finality of death.  The despised Roman cross on which Jesus died was an instrument of unspeakable torture, suffering, and pain.  Yet He willingly chose to hang there, bleed there, and die there in order to free us—you and me—from our lifelong and eternal bondage to sin.  The cradle and the cross.  But thank God that’s not the end of the story. 

There is also the crown, the third C.  After Jesus’ horrible death on your behalf and mine, God the Father brought God the Son back to life by the power of God the Holy Spirit.  Shortly thereafter, Jesus ascended back to the eternal, heavenly realms where He is now enthroned in majesty at the right hand of the Father.  Jesus forever wears the crown of victory over sin and death!  The cradle, the cross, the crown. 

They are on a continuum in our redemption’s pageant:  Christmas, Easter, and Jesus’ victorious Ascension to the Father’s right hand, there to rule as the fully just and benevolent King of the universe.  But there’s more.  The pageant is not yet complete.  There is still to come his return in majesty as King of all earth’s kings and Lord of earth’s lesser lords.  He will return to establish his earthly kingdom and begin to consolidate his loving reign over our darkened and benighted planet.  Yes, the earth will yet bask in its bright, golden, millennial age wherein King Jesus will rule with divine justice, grace, and love.  

At this time of the year when we normally focus on Jesus’ birth, let us not lose sight of God’s total package—his complete redemptive work on our behalf.  Yes, there’s more—so much more—than Christmas alone:  the cradle, the cross, the crown, and, his coming again, the fourth C!

         “When the proper time had come, God sent his Son, born of a young pregnant virgin.”                                                                                —Galatians 4: 4        

          “Jesus actually became flesh and lived awhile among us; and we saw the glory and honor and majesty of the Father’s First-born Son, full of grace and truth.”      –John 1: 14 

 The chorus of another older Christian song puts it this way:

Living, He loved me;
Dying, He save me;.
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified;
One day He’s coming
O glorious day

I Fooled You!

Guess what I just did to you? I really fooled you. I taught you in an easy, painless manner some  incarnational theology!   I know, I know, some of you thought theology was what wizened old men in long “hoodies” did when they sat around by dim candlelight in a dark room discussing how many angels could dance at one time on the  head of a pin . . .   

Here’s a simple definition of theology:  It is a person’s understanding about God’s character and nature and his works and ways among humans. All of us—even atheists—have our own personal understanding about God:  who we think He is, what He does, what He’s like, our relationship (or lack thereof) with Him.  That’s all theology is.  Now that you know that, you can brag to all your family and friends that you are a bona fide theologian.  Wow!  What a way to impress people . . .  I’ll bet you never thought you’d be a theologian, did you?   What’s being a theologian have to do with this Christmas issue of The Traveler? I’m glad you asked.

If we’re each going to have a “successful” journey through life, having the “correct” theology is vital to that journey.  How do we get correct—or proper—theology?  From the Bible.  The Bible is where we get correct theology so we can have a great journey through life.  The Bible tells us about Jesus, our Fellow Time Traveler.  It tells us who He is—for He alone is the final and full self-revelation of God to all human beings in every generation for the past 2,000+ years.  Without the Bible we would not know anything about Jesus, THE Time Traveler.

 The baby in that cradle, the suffering Savior on that cross, that power-full resurrected God-Man, the One who returned  to eternity and the heavenlies victorious over death, the conquering King who is coming again—that is all called the incarnation when the one True and Living God became eternally human.  The Bible tells us that the incarnation never ended, but continues—Jesus is now and for all the ages of time and eternity—fully God and fully human.  He was resurrected and returned to heaven bodily, and He will return bodily. 

That’s the incarnation.  That’s theology.  The cradle.  The cross.  The crown.  His coming again.  That’s the complete Christmas story.

The incarnation of God changed everything for all time and eternity—reaching back to the very first humans, and reaching forward to include all humans who are yet to be born as the ages of time continue to roll on into eternity.  God in Jesus not only intersected history for a brief 33 years of solar time, but as the God-Man seated at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus is eternally coexistent with everyone everywhere and everywhen.  I’m not writing about religion. This “incarnation/Christmas thing” is not about a religion.  It’s about having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with the one True and Living God through Jesus!

You Must Be Born Again!

If you have not yet been born² by inviting the living Jesus to come into your life, invite Him into your life this Christmas season. Let Immanuel of history become your personal Immanuel for your own life journey: God fully with you (and in you) now, and for all time and eternity!   What a way to celebrate this wonder-full Christmas season! 

To Think About This Month:

    2,000 years ago Jesus was born as a human.  Now, when I invite Him to come take up permanent residence in my life, He is “born again” in me—forever Immanuel, forever God in me! 

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

At the beginning of this third issue of The Traveler, I want to elaborate on something I briefly mentioned in my first month’s e-mail introduction.  I wrote: “I don’t have any delusions of grandeur that what I teach and write is absolutely essential to your spiritual well-being.”

To build on that thought, I write this month:   “It is not my intention to make you think as I think, but to usher you to the Living Truth, to Jesus Himself, from Whom alone you can genuinely learn anything!  My thinking is just as flawed and faulty as yours.  I don’t have many of  the answers, but I do know The Person Who is The Answer, The Truth—Jesus!”

 At any given time on our journey, each of us can only think and act based upon our (1) current state of awareness and (2) present level of understanding.  Even what little truth we presently understand is always based upon those two factors.  That’s why we must have absolute, final, and objective truth—something outside our limited selves:  God, Jesus, the Bible.  Without those, we flounder around, playing mind and word games and thinking “our” truth is better than someone else’s truth. 

 Having said that, I invite you to read another teaching on our website titled Truth.  It might help to clarify this matter of truth. 

The Transformer

 I want to share a little bit about how the Bible is the “LIFEGuide Book” for our journey.  But here near the beginning of this issue, I want to make a point as clearly as I possibly can:  God did not give us the Bible, his written Word, merely to INFORM us—but to TRANSFORM us!  Our lives as Jesus-believers are not to be spent merely learning and amassing information about God, but they are to be spent in letting God transform our lives by means of his written Word, the Bible.

If such transformation is not occurring in your life day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year, then something is not “working right” for you!  Hebrews 4: 12 states unequivocally that the Bible is “LIFE-giving and full of power” to transform our lives. How does that happen?  We read, study, and obey! our Bibles.  The Spirit of God who lives within us (the Author of the Bible) then takes what we read, study, and obey!, and from within us He uses it to transform our lives by his inner power interacting inside us with the “outer,” life-changing, transforming power of the Bible.  

 His inner power.  The Bible’s written power.  They work in tandem to transform our lives as we read, study, and obey! our Bibles.  It’s really that simple.  No long explanations.  No deep theological mumbo-jumbo.  God uses the Bible to transform our lives while we journey through this life.  Again, if that type of transformation is not occurring in your life, then something is wrong and you need to correct it!  So…where are you in relation to the transforming power of the Bible?  Where is your Bible?  Is it on the coffee table where you dust it once a week?  Or are you reading, studying it, and obeying! it daily—as if your journey depended on it?  Because it does!

Transformed Into What?

     Good question. I’m glad you asked.  Human beings were originally created in the image of God.  What does “image of God” mean?  We are visible representations of the invisible God.  But…because of a matter called sin, the image of God in each of us has been blurred, marred, disfigured, and is out of focus, so to speak.  We’re not very clear visible representations of the invisible God anymore.  

To make a long story very short, God is in the lifelong process of transforming us and restoring us back into clear images of Himself.  He does that by means of the transforming power of the Bible interacting with Holy Spirit who lives permanently within each of us.  The Bible is unlike any other book ever written on planet earth.  It’s not mere words on paper as are all other books.  It’s God’s pure written revelation of Himself to all humankind. And—obeyed!—it transforms and restores our lives into the clear image of God during our life-journey.

 The clearest—the perfect—image of God is Jesus.  You can look that up in 2  Corinthians 3: 18;  4: 4;  Colossians 1: 15; and Hebrews 1: 3.  By contrast to Jesus, you and I are unclear, blemished, fuzzy, unfocused, cloudy, imperfect images of God.  God is restoring you and me into his clear image as we read, study, and obey! our Bibles and then change our inner selves by the power of God’s Holy Spirit who lives within each Jesus-believer.  

Changing our inner selves is what the Bible calls  “repentance.”  That means:  I willfully choose to turn away from living a self-filled life to leading a Jesus-filled life. When I make those types of daily choices, then Holy Spirit “kicks in” and empowers me to make the necessary transformations that will slowly change me back into God’s image.  You can read about that process of inner change in such Bible references as Romans 12: 2 and Ephesians 4: 23 and 24.

Our entire life’s journey is so that we can be restored back into God’s clear image! God’s ultimate, final vision for your life is to fully transform you and restore you into his clear image!  If that’s not happening, you’re missing out on the most exciting part of your life’s journey.

God’s Character In Us

Another way of stating what I’ve been attempting to say about God restoring and transforming us into his image is to say that God is implanting and infusing his core character in us by our reading, studying, and obeying! the Bible.  What is God’s core character?  It is twofold:  God is love.  God is good. You can find references for those in 1 John 4: 8 and Psalm 119: 68. 

But what does it actually mean to say that God is love and God is good—and what does it mean that He is infusing those characteristics of his in us?  God is love.  Throughout our journeys, everything God does in each of our lives is always filtered through his love for us. His love is eternal, and He eternally works in our lives to transform us so that we exhibit more and more of his type of unconditional love toward ourselves and others.

God is good.  Everything God does is good.  He is working out everything in our lives for our ultimate good.  His innate goodness is as eternal as his love.  Together, his love and his goodness are always—irresistibly—drawing us toward our ultimate good as He works out his “behind the scenes,” greater plans and purposes for each of our lives as we journey along our mortal pilgrimage here on earth. 

Yes, God implants his goodness in us, but it’s not a “goody-goody” type of goodness; rather, it means we are being transformed into good people—people who are loving, joyful, full of peace, faithful, humble, self-controlled, etc.  Those are the types of good aspects of God’s character He is implanting within us as we journey.  So…as we journey along the King’s Highway, God is infusing within us his restored image and his transforming love and goodness so we actually become more and more like Him.

The Bible Is The Source

 Again, where do we learn that God is good? That God is love? That He is transforming us and restoring us back into his clear image? The Bible!  Fellow travelers, that’s what the Bible is all about.  Not just to inform us and regale us with nice little Bible stories.  Or insipid little life lessons.  Or pleasant positive sayings.  God has given us the Bible to transform us, not merely to inform us!  

The Bible is the Source of God’s transforming, restoring power in each of our lives.  If you regard the Bible in any other way, then you’re not letting it and Holy Spirit who lives in you do what God intends for them to do….  If you’re not letting the Bible and Holy Spirit do what they’re meant to do for you, then you’re missing out on more that you can possibly imagine for your life journey!  

2 Timothy 3: 16 and 17 (in the Bible) tells us a little bit about how the Bible works in our lives.  It begins by telling us God “breathed” his own Life into the Bible, just as He breathed life into Adam, just as he breathes life into a newly conceived baby in the mother’s uterus at the instant of conception, and just as He breathes his eternal LIFE into us at the time of our “spiritual conception” when we are “born²,” (meaning born twice, born again, born from above).  It’s the same life-breathing process in all four instances.  

Then that reference goes on to say that God uses the Bible in 6 ways to transform us, restore us, and transplant his character and nature in us as we journey along life’s road.  First, God uses the Bible to implant in us “correct teaching”—so that we believe the proper things about God.  So that we have a God-worldview, a biblical worldview, not the flawed and limited worldviews of earth.

Second, God uses his God-breathed Bible to reprove us or reprimand us when our “stinking thinking” needs to be changed.  Reproof is not punishment; it is loving discipline God submits us to, always for our higher, ultimate good.  Third, God uses the Bible to correct us when we go astray, when we wander off the path.  It’s like the Bible is a GPS unit God uses to help us correct our course if we drift off the King’s High Way during our journey.

Fourth, the Bible instructs us in right living—living in a manner that pleases God and causes us to say and do the right things along the way as we journey. Fifth, God uses the Bible to grow us up, to mature us, to develop us into his image, to fully transform us, to fully restore us into the finished product He designed us to be.

Finally, the Bible thoroughly equips us to be good and to do good.  Not to be “holier-than-thou” good, but to be patient, merciful, kind, happy, gentle, self-controlled—someone whom it’s good to be around.  Let the Bible slowly and steadily transform you into that kind of person.  If you want to know a little more about the Bible in general:  its history, how we got it, etc., I invite you to read another teaching on our web site titled The Bible.  Your journey will not be what God intends it to be without you daily reading, studying, and obeying! the Bible.

You simply won’t have a worthwhile and meaningful journey without applying the Bible, God’s Living, written Word, to your life each day of your journey.  Your life will not be as fulfilling—you will not be as content—without daily applying the Bible to your life as you journey along.  God wants you to have a good journey.  A journey full of abundance and well-being.  A satisfying journey.  A journey full of peace and contentment.  It won’t be that way without the Bible.

“Often during your life’s journey, you will find yourself having to travel at night and during other dark times; when that happens, My Word will be a Lamp to your feet and a Light to your pathway—one step at a time.” –God, Psalm 119: 105

To Think About This Month:

       “I have had a tremor of bliss, a wink of heaven, a whisper, and I would no longer be denied; all things proceed to a Joyful Consummation.”–T. S. Elliott

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

INAUGURAL ISSUE

Some of you don’t know this, but from April 1985 to December 1997, I previously published another monthly teaching publication entitled The Communicator, distributing it around the earth by “snail mail.”  That printed publication–in which I taught the Bible and related subjects–reached numerout people in almost every state of USAmerica and many other nations.  During those almost 13 years of monthly publication, The Communicator enriched the lives of hundreds–even thousands–of people around the world.  Many lives were eternally changed!  Many people came to know Jesus personally and intimately, and grew, developed, and matured in their relationship with Him. 

Most of the teachings in that printed publication have been enhanced and updated and are now posted on our ministry website imbedded in many of my teachings.  I encourage you to read any and all of them whenever you have time. If you were to read and study all of the teachings posted there you would have almost a full college-level education in many Bible topics, themes, and related subjects.  I still don’t for sure why God asked me stop writing and publishing The Communicator almost 12 years ago. 

Oh, I know some of his reasons, but not all of them.  Sometimes—as much as we’d like to—we just don’t know all we want to know about God and why He does what He does.  I learned a long time ago He has no obligation to explain to me all He does in and through my life.  No, God is not obligated in any way to fully explain his Word, his works, his will, or his ways to me.  Okay . . . so why not begin where I left off 12 years ago, and start re-publishing The Communicator?  Why start a new e-mail publication entitled The Traveler?  Good questions!   To explain fully would take far too much time and space. 

          Traveler: n.  a person who journeys from one place to another.  

I’ve had a publication such as The Traveler on my mind for many years.  EACH OF US IS A TRAVELER THROUGH THE EONS OF TIME AND BEYOND—INTO OUR FINAL, ETERNAL STATE OF BEING! 

Yes, we’re all travelers on a lifelong journey through this life . . . to the next life . . . and beyond.  We’re all traveling through time from birth to death, through the ages of time, and into a state-of-being called eternity.  I simply believe God wants me to share with you some of my thoughts about our journey.  So, for however many years God wants me to write and publish The Traveler, join me; let’s journey along together.  

I hope The Traveler will be a monthly publication, but that remains to be seen.  I enjoy doing the necessary research and writing of a teaching publication such as this, but it does take a good bit of time and effort each month.  It’s worth it to me—if it’s worth it to you.  While writing material such as this, I am constantly asking myself “God, will it help my readers grow, develop, and mature as Jesus-believers?”

 Here We Go! 

The Bible (God’s printed revealing of Himself to humans) has much to teach us about travelers—and their journeys. From Genesis to Revelation we read about many travelers—people just like you and me who traveled through their own time and space . . . and God deliberately left us with written accounts of many of their journeys.  We’re going to study the lives of some of those travelers and see how their journeys relate to our own journeys thousands of years later.  And, I’ll write about what the Bible has to say, if anything, about us traveling through the 21^st century.  

Some of you reading this inaugural issue of The Traveler have been traveling with me almost from the very beginning of my own journey many years ago.  Some of you joined me half way or three-fourths of the way on my journey.  Some of you have only recently become my fellow travelers.  We’re all at different stages of each of our journeys, but we’re all journeying the same “route” from birth to death . . . and beyond.  At various times we’ve all experienced detours, switchbacks, obstacles, and delays.  There have been some sunny days to travel—and some dark, gloomy days shrouded in mystery and fog when we weren’t even sure we were still on the right path.  At times we’ve each been surrounded by all sorts of warm, friendly traveling companions; at other times, the journey has been very lonely when we’ve felt we were the only ones on the road.

 The Right Path 

There’ve been some pleasant stops along the way, but also some stops filled with sorrow and pain. At times, each of us has lost our way and we’ve been concerned whether or not we would be able to get back on the right path.  Sometimes we’ve encountered robbers and thieves who’ve tried to rob us of God’s provision for our journeys.  There have been seasons of great strength—and seasons of exhaustion and weariness.  We’ve each experienced seasons of extreme heat—and extreme cold.  But there have also been warm, balmy days of joy and peace as we’ve traveled along, singing as we go.  

Ah!  For each of us there have been those magic moments during our journeys when God reminded us with startling clarity: The journey—not the destination—is what it’s all about!  Oh, sure, the destination is important, but since our arrival at our destination has been predetermined by God, let’s enjoy the journey in getting there! 

Where are we headed?  Where is our journey taking us? What is our destination?  The same place Father Moses and Father Abraham and millions of others—our fellow sojourners and pilgrims—were headed:  our homeland, a heavenly country, a magnificent city, in a freshly restored earth and universe—especially prepared for each of us by the Master Traveler and Builder, Jesus, Who eagerly awaits our arrival in our eternal homeland.  (See Hebrews 11: 14 – 16 and Revelation 21: 1 and 2)

Along Life’s Way

Yes, that’s our destination, but how do we get there? If we’re all fellow travelers through this life . . . and beyond, where is that destination located, where are we headed?  To begin to answer such questions, we must start with God.  He is both our beginning and our ending—and the journey itself; God must be our starting point.  I’m not going to attempt to prove God’s existence.  According to the Bible, only “foolish” or unwise people believe there is no God.  

Every human ever born starts out believing in God; some have simply chosen at some point in their lives to deny His existence, but they’ll believe again at some point in their journey—even if it’s not until at the end of their journey.  This publication is not written for the foolish and unwise; it’s written for the wise—those who have chosen to journey along the Way of the Wise.

 God was at the beginning of each of our journeys.  God will be at the end of each of our journeys.  God is with us each step of our journeys.  Our journeys begin and end with God.  If that’s not true, then the journey is in vain and we are very foolish indeed!  But we are not foolish.  We are wise.  And we are journeying along the King’s High Way.  We walk in the light of God’s eternal day, not in the darkness.  We know the beginning, we see the end, and we understand where the journey is taking us.  

We have many “signs” to guide us on our journey and we will look at some of those signs, the foremost being the Bible, God’s written “Traveler’s Guide,” full of detailed travel information.  In part V of his poem, “Little Gidding,” the famed poet, T. S. Eliot, once addressed the matter of our journeys in these words: “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive at where we started and know the place for the first time.”

We know He who said “I am the Way” was with us at the beginning of our journey, He is with us and in us throughout the journey, and He will be there to greet us at the end of our journey.  Yes, we are wise—not foolish; the journey is secure; we are safe; there are unseen Great Ones who guard us and surround us as we journey with joy in our hearts and songs on our lips!  God calls to each of us:  “Come, journey with me; together we are bound for the Promised Land and the Celestial City.  Who will come and go with Me?”  “To the place where I am going, you know the way . . .   I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; those who journey to the Father’s House arrive safely home at last only through Me.”       –Jesus in John 14: 4 and 6, paraphrased

Every human ever born knows instinctively he or she is on a life-journey.  Just as with their knowledge of God, some deny the reality of that journey, but they know . . . they know.  All who admit their knowledge of the journey hope they are on the “right” journey, but the only right journey is through The Way to the Father’s House.  And therein lies the dilemma for uncounted humans:  there are ways that seem right to many, but unfortunately the end of those ways is death.  (Proverbs 12: 15 and 14:  12)

 Sojourners and Pilgrims

          Sojourner: n. one who lives temporarily, as on a brief visit. 

          Pilgrim: n. a person who travels about; a wanderer.  (see Psalm 119: 54; Hebrews 11: 13, and 1 Peter 2: 1 

  Let’s establish this fact right at the beginning of this inaugural issue of The Traveler: God is the only Being Who is not a traveler, sojourner, or pilgrim. He simply is—the Great I AM. He doesn’t travel anywhere or go anywhere. Everything—everywhere and everywhen—is  absolutely simultaneous to God!  One of our fellow sojourners named Hildebert wrote these lines about our non-traveling God many centuries ago:

“God, You are within all things,
but not enclosed;
outside all things, 
but not excluded.
Underneath all things,
The firm Foundation of all.
You are above all things,
sustaining them.
You are wholly outside,
embracing all things;
wholly within,
filling all things.”

 To Think About This Month:

          “As I journey along the King’s High Way, it is the King Himself in Whom, with Whom, and to Whom I travel.  He was the Beginning of my journey, will be the End of my journey, and is the Journey itself.”

Have a great journey this month. I’ll write again soon—

All back issues of all sugsequent issues of The Traveler are archived on this our website as well as many of our most popular teachings.

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