And so how can you, as a Christian, ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen to you? The answer is simple: You must do that which is necessary to keep your fellowship with Christ maintained and strong. How do you accomplish this? You do it through such things as: daily prayer, daily Bible study, weekly church attendance, cheerful giving, frequent witnessing, and regular confession and repentance. I know, I know, these things have been promoted so much they’ve become virtual cliches of Christianity. But they’ve been promoted so much because they work!

In Jeremiah 6:16, the prophet Jeremiah says to the people of Judah:

Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls…”

By encouraging the people to ask for the old paths God was telling them, “The things I’ve had you do before will still work and keep you in right fellowship with me.” To those Jews that meant keeping the moral specifics of the Mosaic law, bringing their sacrifices to the temple as acts of worship, offering up their prayers to God, confessing their sins and repenting of them, and looking to God for their guidance and protection. Sadly, though, those people would have none of it. Jeremiah 6:16 ends with the mournful words:

…But they said, ‘We will not walk in it (the good way found in the old paths).’

Now, I do realize that the “old paths” for the Christian today aren’t the same as the ones the Old Testament Jews were to walk. However, the basic template is still the same: adherence to God’s word, worship, prayer, confession, repentance, and seeking God’s guidance and protection. The Christian whose life evidences these things need never worry about rotting or sinking because his spiritual boat will be solid and worthy of sailing the seas of life. As we all know, those seas can sometimes be stormy, choppy, and downright dangerous, but the Christian who is walking God’s in old paths won’t sink. How can he when he has the Lord Himself as his captain?

Would you describe yourself as a humble person? More importantly, would others describe you as a humble person? I think it’s obvious that our society doesn’t rate humility very high. We’re too busy envying the aloof rich and worshiping self-absorbed celebrities. That’s why we need to be reminded every now and then that God places immeasurable value on humility.

The Bible is replete with passages that prove this. Here are just a few:

Psalm 10:17: Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear.

Psalm 138:6: Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.

Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:19: Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Isaiah 57:15: For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I will dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Romans 12:3: For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…

Colossians 3:12: Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…

James 4:6: But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Of course, these verses stand alongside the fact that humility was one of the major themes of Christ’s ministry. For your homework, read: Matthew 5:3-5; 11:29; 18:1-4; 20:25-28; Luke 1:52; 18:9-14; 22:24-27; and John 13:12-17. Trust me, you won’t have any trouble picking up on the recurrent teaching in those passages. But how could we expect anything less from a Creator God who evidenced His humility by voluntarily leaving heaven, taking lowly human flesh upon Himself, living among the mess of the fallen human race, and dying a substitutionary death for the sins of that race?

I’ve known Julie (Mckinney) Phillips for years. For a while she was the person who cleaned my teeth twice a year at our local dentist’s office. During one of those visits she said something that I’ve never forgotten. As we were talking about our lives and the various troubles we had endured, she said, “Yes, I think I’ve had about enough character-building experiences!” I couldn’t help but laugh because I understood exactly what she meant and felt the same way about myself. I don’t see Julie much anymore, but even now there are times when I’m praying about some circumstance and say, “Lord, I really don’t want another character-building experience right now.”

Still, despite these prayers, God keeps sending such experiences my way. Why does He do it? I’ve come to the conclusion that it is to keep me humble. Apparently He knows that deep down inside me there is a streak that is prone to pride and arrogance and He doesn’t want that streak to get too wide. So, lest I get “too big for my britches,” I never go too long without having to endure some humbling ordeal, or to use Julie’s term “character-building experience.” Understanding how God uses such experiences helps me cope with them. It doesn’t make them easier, mind you, but it does allow me to view them through His perspective and see the good He can bring out of them. And that good is very real, even if I don’t always enjoy or appreciate what it took for me to acquire it.

That night, Moses, in order to create a defense against further attacks by the Amalekites, instructed Joshua to put together an army literally overnight. It’s the first time that Joshua is mentioned in the Bible. Exodus 17:8-9 says:

Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek…”

Now, you’ve got to understand that this battle was Israel’s first military endeavor following their exodus from Egypt. (No, I’m not giving them credit for defeating Pharaoh and the Egyptian army at the Red Sea because God handled that one Himself). So my point is, logically speaking, the Israelites shouldn’t have been able to defeat the Amalekites. The people of Israel had spent the last four centuries as slaves in Egypt, which meant that no living Israelite had ever had one second’s worth of military training. Even going all the way back to the beginning of Israel’s history, its patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) certainly hadn’t been great men of war who had built, trained, and maintained armies. Genesis 14:1-24 does record the story of how Abraham had once led a group of men in the defeat of an alliance army from the East, but that was just a singular story from Israel’s lengthy history.

Since Exodus 17:13 says, “Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword,” obviously the Israelites did have some swords. Where did they get them? Our best answer is, they were part of the plunder the Israelites took from the Egyptians on their way out of Egypt (Exodus 3:21-22; 11:2-3; 12:35-36). Still, though, even if they did have swords, it’s not like Israel’s men were experts in using them. Again, we’re talking about people who had been menial servants all their lives.

And so how do we account for Israel defeating the Amalekites in this battle? Well, the passage itself couldn’t be clearer. Even more than what Joshua and his fellow soldiers were doing down on the battlefield, the key to the victory was what Moses was doing up on the hill. He was standing up there with “the rod of God” in his hand. As long as Moses kept that rod held up, Israel prevailed in the battle. But whenever his hands became heavy and he was forced to lower the rod for a while, Amalek prevailed.

Finally, things got to a point where Moses was so physically exhausted that measures had to be taken to help him. Aaron and Hur placed a large stone under him, which allowed him to sit down. Then, as he sat there on that rock, they literally held his hands up for him. They did this until the sun set the evening and the battle was over.

For good reason this story serves to symbolize the power of intercessory prayer. Just as Moses was on the hill interceding with God for Joshua and his soldiers, Aaron and Hur were up there interceding for Moses. Both parts of the equation are beautiful. The story also teaches us the importance of going into battle with God as opposed to going into battle without him. As David wrote in Psalm 20:7:

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

But the thing I really want to draw your attention to about the story is the physical toll that Moses’ ministering took upon him. Putting it bluntly, the man got tired, even to the point of exhaustion. Sure, he was eighty years old at the time, but that doesn’t fully explain why he got tired. After all, he would live another forty years before dying. No, there’s another element at work here, one that Charles Spurgeon described in this way:

The more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it.

I think that every Christian has experienced this. Tell me, Christian, have you ever sat down to have a really good time of prayer only to have your mind start wandering just a few minutes into the prayer? Or have you ever felt a wave of fatigue come over you shortly after you began a work for the Lord? I know that I have certainly had what I’ll call my “Moses moments.”

All this reminds me of the night of Christ’s arrest. As He entered into the garden of Gethsemane for a time of intense prayer, He left eight of the remaining eleven disciples (post Judas’ betrayal) at the garden’s entrance. Then He took Peter, James, and John further on into the garden with Him. Just before He left them at a certain point and went even further into the garden to pray, He gave them the instructions, “Stay here and watch.” But what did He find when He returned to them after a while? All three had fallen asleep. That’s when He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

You see, Jesus knew that the intentions of Peter, James, and John were good, but He also knew how weak and frail the human body can be. And so my advice to you, Christian, is to enlist the aid of your fellow Christians to help you in your spiritual endeavors and battles. Putting it simply, every Joshua needs a Moses and every Moses needs an Aaron and Hur. You say you aren’t seeing the Amalekites defeated in your life? Well, maybe it’s time for a new battle plan. Perhaps the key to your victory lies not in yourself but in the aid and intercession that others can give you.

The next morning at sunrise, per the custom, the bells of the town were rung in celebration of Easter. If Napoleon’s army was coming at least the townspeople could enjoy one last joyous Easter. But the ringing of those bells caused something strange to happen. Napoleon’s army, not realizing it was Easter Sunday, took them to mean that the Austrian army had marched into Feldkirch during the night and the bells were being rung in celebration of it. Based upon this erroneous assessment, Napoleon ordered a retreat and the town was saved.

This Easter we Christians should let the bells of our heart ring out in celebration of the fact that Jesus is alive. Of all people on earth, we should feel the most joy and hope. No matter what our circumstances are, our great God and Savior stands ready to come to our aid and defense. That’s so much better than awaiting the arrival of a human army, one which may or may not provide the help we need.

So, Christian, are you having difficulty this Easter season? Does it seem as if your enemy’s victory is inevitable? Is your situation desperate? Then let the bells of your heart ring out loud! Remember that Jesus lives and stands ready to help you in your time of trouble.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I grew up in the small town of Bakersville, North Carolina. I would call it Mayberry, but Mayberry looks bigger on television. Nationally speaking, Bakersville’s claim to fame is that it lies at the foot of the North Carolina side of Roan Mountain, a well known tourist site.

And what is it that makes tourists want to come see Roan Mountain? Rhododendrons. The mountain is home to the largest display of blooming rhododendrons in the world, and the display is 100% natural. All told, the plants cover over 600 acres of the mountain. We’re talking the world’s most exquisite rhododendron garden, marvelously nestled along a mountain ridge 6,300 feet high. It really is quite a site. The plants usually bloom sometime around mid June, and Bakersville holds an annual Rhododendron festival complete with a beauty pageant, street dance, 10K run, and car show. Can you say, “small town Americana”?

Back in the 1800s people held to the general notion that high mountains offered mystical, healing powers. To cash in on this idea, mining tycoon John Wilder built the grand three-story Cloudland Hotel atop Roan Mountain. The hotel was completed in 1885 and was billed as a health resort. It featured beautiful carpets, fine furniture, copper bathtubs, steam heat, a bowling alley, a croquet course, and a small golf course. The hotel thrived for several years as a class of wealthy patrons ranging from American politicians to European royalty frequented it. Ultimately, however, the high cost of operating such a place on a mountaintop marked the end of the Cloudland. By 1910 the hotel was out of operation. A few years later, just before his death, Wilder sold it. Shortly afterward the new owner auctioned off the materials of the decaying building. By 1927 nothing but rubble was left. Now even the rubble is gone.

Here, though, is where the story of Roan Mountain’s rhododendrons takes an interesting turn. After the Cloudland’s closure, workers were hired to come in with machinery and dig up the mountain’s rhododendrons. The plants were then sold off to different places. Obviously, the conservationist movement hadn’t exactly taken hold yet! The removal of the plants left the once beautiful mountaintop looking barren and scarred, and the local people who lived on either side of the mountain were grieved and outraged. They thought the days of Roan Mountain being defined by its trademark rhododendrons were gone forever.

But something unexpected started happening a couple of springtimes later. The roots of the old plants, roots that had been down too deep for the workers to touch, started sprouting new growth. And the wonderful thing was that this new growth was even more beautiful than the previous growth had been. Whereas the previous growth had looked somewhat unkept and wild, the new growth actually looked cultured, even intelligently pruned. It wasn’t too long then before the mountaintop was once again a natural rhododendron garden, with this garden being even more breathtaking than the original one.

Now let’s be clear, the digging up of those original rhododendrons was certainly not a good thing. Today we look back on it and are appalled at such a ravaging of God’s creation. But God, in His infinite power and sovereignty, was able to take that “bad” and make it work for Roan Mountain’s “good.” And you can rest assured that if He was able to do that with a bunch of rhododendrons atop a mountain, He can do it with the “bad” of your life. Do you remember what Jesus said about another kind of flowers, the lilies? He said,

…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:28-30)

The point is that God cares much more about you than He does flowers, even gorgeous lilies or stunning rhododendrons. This doesn’t mean that He will keep everything “bad” from happening to you. But it does mean that, if you know Jesus as your Savior, He will take even the “bad” in your life and use it to produce something “good.” He’ll bring a positive out of the negative. He’ll work with the ugly to create something of beauty. Claim this promise today, Christian, and if you need an object lesson from nature, go visit Roan Mountain along about the second week of June.

One of the service’s primary organizers was Mary Sue Ledford, who had been my English teacher my freshman year and my friend and supporter ever since. When she called to ask me if I would be one of the speakers, I was honored. But it was a particular quote from Mary Sue that stood out the most from that conversation. She said, “Russell, I will not live in a county of fear.” I had known her for years but had never heard her speak with that level of sincerity and passion. She meant what she said down to the core of her being.

Several years have now passed since that conversation, but I often find myself thinking back to Mary Sue’s quote. For obvious reasons, it comes to my mind when I am facing some daunting challenge or potentially perilous situation. When my first instinct is to shy away or pull back, her words remind me that fear is no way to live. That goes for not only living in a post 9-11 world but also many other seasons in life.

Of course, the Bible is certainly not silent on this issue, particularly when addressing the Christian. Consider the following verses:

-2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us (Christians) a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

-1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

-Romans 8:14-15: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

-John 14:27: Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

It’s been said that courage is not the absence of fear; it is doing what you ought to do in spite of your fear. I like that. And it is with that thought in mind, as well as Mary Sue’s quote and these verses that I have listed, that I ask you, Christian, “Are you somehow letting fear dominate your life these days?” Perhaps you are scared about an upcoming event. Perhaps you are scared of what some problematic person is going to do. Perhaps you are scared about the state of the world. I don’t know your circumstance, but I do know that people can be scared of all kinds of things. All I’m saying is, whatever your big, bad thing is, face it head on with a courage befitting a bona-fide child of God. Never forget that you are not alone in the fight. God is your heavenly Father. Jesus has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. And the Holy Spirit dwells inside you. So really, Christian, with the triune God right there in the fray with you, what could you possibly have to be afraid of? There is absolutely nothing that He can’t help you handle.

This world is filled with people who will bail out on a difficult circumstance when the sledding gets rough. They won’t be going for help either; they’ll be looking out for themselves. Sadly, too many times this applies to how we Christians relate to following Jesus.

One of the most somber questions that Jesus ever asked is found in John 6:67. Let me set the context for you. A tremendous crowd of 5,000 men (not counting women and children) gathered around Jesus to hear Him teach near the slope of a mountain hovering over the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus miraculously fed this crowd by using a young boy’s lunch of five loaves of bread and two small fish. Following this miracle, the crowd tried to take Him by force and make Him their earthly king. Wanting no part of such an election, He dispersed them, commanded the twelve to get in a boat and cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain alone.

That night a terrible windstorm swept down onto the Sea of Galilee, preventing the twelve from making much headway to the other shore. When they reached a state of exhaustion and despair for their lives, Jesus walked on the water, calmed the storm, and joined them in the boat. At that point the boat was miraculously transported to the other shore.

The following morning many of the original crowd got into boats and crossed over to find Jesus. They caught up with Him in a synagogue in Capernaum. Shortly afterward, Jesus accused these people of only following Him for His miracles. Then He launched into a weird teaching about Him being the bread of life and how they needed to eat of His flesh. You talk about throwing cold water onto a fickle bunch! When the teaching was finished, they turned away and never followed Jesus again. Just as He had said, they were only interested in following Him as long as the miracles were rolling and the teachings were pleasant and easy to understand.

It’s at that critical moment that Jesus looked at His chosen twelve and asked the penetrating question, “Do you also want to go away?” Some of them may have, but Peter spoke up before anybody else could answer. He said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Good for you, Peter!

Tell me, Christian, are you right now going through a difficult time with the Lord? Are you confused? Are you frustrated? Are you out of heart? Has He hurt your feelings? Trust me, you aren’t the first to go down such a road. The question is, how will you respond? Will you turn back from following Christ? Or will you, like Peter, understand that turning away from Him is akin to turning away from the source of life and truth? Please understand that I’m not talking about a Christian possibly losing his or her salvation. As the old saying goes, “once saved, always saved.” What I’m talking about is breaking fellowship with the Lord and bailing out on what He is trying to teach you through your difficult times. Trust me, such a bail out might provide a modicum of temporary relief, but in the end you’ll come to know all too well that you should have stayed on the plane with your Savior.

Truth be told, many historians doubt the truth of the legend. Some of them contend that Cortez did purposely render his ships unsuitable for sailing but didn’t burn them. According to the theory, he did this because he didn’t want his men to mutiny and return to the safe haven of Cuba. Others say that the idea of Cortez burning the ships stems from a poor translation of the Latin in which the story was written. But, hey, let’s not let the facts get in the way of a great story!

If you want to run with the idea of going full bore into something by “burning your ships,” there’s a Bible story that you’ll like. It’s even one that you’ve heard. It’s the one about God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to facilitate their escape from Pharaoh’s army. You’ll find it in Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14:21 says that the Lord divided the waters and turned the sea into dry land by means of a strong east wind that blew all night. In Exodus 15:8, Moses describes this wind as the blast of God’s nostrils. Isn’t that great? And so the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land. But then what happened? The Egyptian army pursued them into the dry land only to be drowned in the depths when the waters came crashing back into place once the Israelites were safely on the opposite shore.

Okay, now here’s where I’m going with this. When those waters thundered back down and closed the pathway through that sea, that was God slamming the door shut on the Israelites possibly returning to Egypt. You see, it wasn’t just His way of slaying Egypt’s army; it was also His way of forcing the Israelites to forge onward into a new day. Going back to Cortez legend, it was God burning Israel’s ships.

As you read this, perhaps God has pushed you out into a new adventure but you are considering returning back to more comfortable ground. All I’ll say is that if you genuinely believe the adventure is of the Lord, don’t try to return to Egypt. There’s nothing for you back there. It doesn’t take much faith to live in Egypt anyway. That life is what it is. But it takes a high degree of faith to let God lead you step by step into a new, uncharted land. So it might just be that a good prayer for you to pray right now would go something like this, “Lord, if you want me to continue on with this adventure, close up the waters behind me so that I’ll have to stay here in this new land. And then help me make it here.”

First, this personal peace involves the believer being at peace with God, his Maker. The classic verse on this is Romans 5:1:

Therefore, having been justified by faith (referring to faith in Christ), we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m reminded of that story about the preacher who asked the man, “Have you made peace with God?” The man answered, “I didn’t know that we were fighting.” Well, the fact is that every member of the human race is born fighting with God. Romans 3:10-12 says:

There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.

Yes, the sinner is at war with holy God. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that Jesus, through His shed blood (Colossians 1:19-20), has laid a peace treaty on the table for any individual who will sign it. Isaiah 53:5 describes it so beautifully:

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for out iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Second, this personal peace involves the believer being at peace with himself. Christ’s words from John 14:27 refer to this kind of inner peace. He says to His disciples:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

In a recent series of devotions, my friend Malcolm Woody has been dissecting Philippians chapter 4, specifically as the verses relate to the inner peace of the believer. The devotions have driven home to me afresh and anew the fact that inner peace is there for the taking if the believer desires it. But even as I read those devotions each day it didn’t dawn on me that there was one particular area of my life concerning which I didn’t have an inner peace. It wasn’t until my brother Richie pointedly said to me the other day, “You just don’t a peace about you right now,” that I came to grips with the truth of that statement. I feel like the Lord worked through Malcolm’s devotions to set me on a tee and then He worked through Richie to whack me out of the park. Since my conversation with Richie, I’ve really been working hard at accessing the inner peace that I am afforded in Jesus as it relates to that one troublesome area of my life.

Christian, I gave you that bit of personal testimony to let you know that I speak from personal experience when I ask you if your heart is troubled about something right now. Is there some circumstance, some situation, some problem in your life for which you have no inner peace? If there is, you are, as I was, living beneath your privilege because you aren’t abiding in the peace that Jesus has given you. You need to repent of your worrying. You need to give up on trying to control things you can’t control. Most of all, you need to put your complete trust in your sovereign Savior and let His peace well up from inside you and begin to dominate your life as it should. A troubled heart and the peace that Jesus has given you just can’t coexist. We, as Christians, should obey the command of Colossians 3:15 and “let the peace of God rule in our hearts.”

Third, this personal peace involves the believer being at peace with others. Ephesians 2:14 plays off the fact that in the Jewish temple there was a wall that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the areas that were exclusively for the Jews. The verse says of Jesus:

For He Himself is our peace, who made both (the Jew and the Gentile) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

In Bible times, it would have been impossible to imagine too more different people than the Jew and the Gentile. They were completely different races. They came from radically different backgrounds. They had strikingly different customs. And yet, through Jesus, the Jew and the Gentile could now be at peace with each other. This proves that, through Jesus, the Christian can peaceably get along with others. Jesus Himself says in Mark 9:50, “…have peace with one another.” Hebrews 12:14 chimes right in with that by saying, “…Pursue peace with all people.” And in 1 Thessalonians 5:13, Paul says to the Christians of Thessalonica, “Be at peace among yourselves.”

On the heels of such verses, you know what I’m going to ask you. Are you fighting with someone right now? Is there a person with which you currently are not at peace? If there is, let me encourage you to do all that you can to make peace with them, whoever they are. Remember that in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught that His followers (whom He called sons of God) should be “peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). That means you, Christian. I’ll also quote Paul again here too. In Romans 12:18, he says:

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

These words certainly ring true for any time of the year, but surely they ring all the more true for this season of Christmas. How can a Christian properly celebrate the birth of his Savior, the Peace-Giver, if he is at war with a fellow human being? I know, I know, Paul said “If it is possible…”, and maybe you are saying, “It’s just not possible with that person.” Well, maybe it isn’t, and maybe you and that person will never want to climb into a car and take a road-trip together, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t at least do your part to make peace. At the very least, you can stop throwing gasoline onto the fire and making the relationship worse. Ask Jesus to help you to know exactly what to do and what not to do, and trust that He will. Take heart in the fact that peace between yourself and others is one of the kinds of peace that He died to bring you.

Merritt once extended an open invitation for all the homeless and outcast to attend a supper in his mission. Afterward, when he went to leave the supper, he found that some of the invitees had cruelly filled his hat with bacon rinds and other unsavory items. The act infuriated him, and he climbed atop a chair and passionately scolded the crowd for their ingratitude. He even threatened to call the police.

But before Merritt could finish his rebuke, the Holy Spirit brought the words of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 to his mind:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, K.J.V.)

Convicted by the Spirit in this way, Merritt quickly stopped his tirade and right then and there apologized to the crowd, admitting to them that He had grieved His Lord. Then he invited them all to another dinner the following night. When he was finished, the practical jokers confessed their prank. That next night forty men accepted Christ as Savior.