A Description of Prayer

Posted on September 28, 2011 by russellmckinney

Christian, have you prayed today? If you have, what motivation did you have for praying? I hope you’re not like the little boy who was asked, “Do you pray every day?” He answered, “No, some days I don’t want anything.”

Of course, I realize that God’s word does tell us to make our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6; Psalm 21:1-2; James 4:2). I get that. But God’s word also teaches that prayer should be so much more than just you handing God a grocery list or sending Him on an errand. If that’s all your prayers are, you’re no better than that little boy.

The moment a person genuinely believes in Christ as Savior, he or she is “born again” (John 3:1-21), and to be “born again” is to have God the Holy Spirit literally come into your body and take up residence (Romans 8:9-11). Furthermore, it is through this glorious experience that you become nothing less than a child of God. In one sense, you become His child by way of birth (the new birth, which is not a physical birth but a spiritual one). In another sense, you become His child by way of adoption as He adopts you into His family (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:4-7). All this explains John 1:12-13, which says of Jesus:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (N.K.J.V.)

Okay, now here’s where I’m headed with this. Imagine a child who only talks to his or her father as a way of putting in requests. “Dad, take us on vacation this year.” End of conversation. “Dad, give me some money.” End of conversation. “Dad, buy me a car.” End of conversation. “Dad, make that guy be my boyfriend.” End of conversation. How do you think a father would feel if the only talking his child ever did with him involved the child requesting him to do something? Surely that father would think, “I’m just a magic genie to this child. This child doesn’t love me or want to spend time with me. This child isn’t interested in hearing my opinion or allowing me to impart my wisdom. I’m just a means to an end.”

Well, if that’s what an earthly father would think about such a child, do you think that God, the Christian’s heavenly father, thinks any differently? You see, Christian, God wants your prayer time to be a dialogue with Him not a monologue at Him. He wants it to be a confessional booth in which you confess your sins to Him. He wants it to be a psychologist’s couch upon which you lie down and pour out your deepest feelings, emotions, fears, hurts, disappointments, and regrets. He wants it to be an altar at which you resolve to live for Him and do His will. He wants it to be a classroom in which He instructs you. He wants it to be a dining table at which you feast on His wisdom and His word. He wants it to be a general’s desk at which battle plans for how to defeat the enemy are laid out and discussed. He wants it to be a pickup truck in which the two of you just drive along and talk about anything and everything under the sun.

So tell me, Christian, is your prayer time all these things? If it isn’t, then the problem is with you, not God, because He longs for your prayers to be everything that I’ve described and even more. And here’s hoping that, starting today, your prayers times will become just that.

Posted in Discipleship, God's Love, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Let Me Illustrate

Posted on September 26, 2011 by russellmckinney

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them… (Matthew 13:34, N.K.J.V.)

Several years ago, at the close of a funeral service we both attended, I talked with a friend of mine named Geraldine. Previously, I had given her some c.d. copies of a sermon series I had preached on the life of David, and she had listened to them. In commenting on them, she had just one question. She asked me, “Are you enjoying having Josh on your football team again this year?”

I have to say that the question caught me off guard, and I got a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment as my mind began to race. I thought, “Josh? Josh who? And how does Geraldine even know that I’m helping coach youth-league football right now? What’s the connection that I’m missing here?”

Since there were currently two boys named Josh on my son Royce’s team, I stammered out something like, “Yes, I am.” I don’t think Geraldine could tell that I was trying to bluff my way through the conversation, but the truth was that I was still trying to get up to speed subject wise. But then she said something that made everything clear. It was something along the lines of, “I thought the way you used him as an illustration was just perfect.”

At last I knew exactly who and what we were talking about. In one of the David sermons, I had spent a couple of minutes talking about how “little Josh” was the best tackler on Royce’s football team even though he was one of the smallest kids on the team. Since Geraldine knew that I had preached that sermon about a year ago, she rightly assumed that I was helping coach Royce’s football team again that following year and that Josh, being the same age as Royce, would be on the team again. Once all that clicked in my mind, I told her that, yes, Josh was on our team again, and, yes, he was still our best tackler. We both got a good laugh out of that.

As Geraldine and I exited the funeral service and went our separate ways, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how she had remembered my Josh illustration. She hadn’t asked about a sermon title, an outline, or a finer point of some text. No, apparently the top thing that had stuck in her mind from all my preaching was an illustration that I had used, a personal one at that. I guess that Jesus, being the master communicator, teacher, and preacher that He was, knew exactly what He was doing when He spoke in parables.

The word “parable” comes from the Greek word parabole. Literally, the word means “a placing beside.” Therefore, a parable is a story that is placed alongside a teaching to help illustrate the teaching and make it more memorable. You see, Christ’s parables were what we would call sermon illustrations. Of course, His illustrations were of a significantly higher grade than ours!

The book Love Worth Finding is the biography of Adrian Rogers, the great Baptist preacher. His life certainly makes for an interesting read, but my favorite part of the book is its closing section, which is entitled “The Preaching Philosophy of Adrian Rogers.” Concerning the use of illustrations, Rogers says this:

One of God’s great ways of communicating spiritual truth so it is easily understood is by use of illustrations. I attempt to include an illustration with every outline point of the sermon.

Likewise, Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Church, writes:

Jesus was a master storyteller…In fact, the Bible shows that storytelling was Jesus’ favorite technique when speaking to a crowd (Matthew 13:34). Somehow preachers forgot that the Bible is essentially a book of stories. That is how God has chosen to communicate his Word to human beings…Long after a pastor’s clever outline is forgotten, people will remember the stories from the sermon. It is fascinating, and sometimes comical, to watch how quickly a crowd tunes in when a speaker begins telling a story and how quickly that attention vanishes as soon as the story is finished.

Now, I realize that every Christian is not a preacher. But I also realize that every Christian is supposed to share not only the gospel but also a multiplicity of nuggets of truth from God’s written word. So, how can we effectively do this sharing? Well, I don’t think there is a canned answer to that question, but surely one of the best ways is to incorporate interesting, relevant, thought-provoking illustrations into what we are saying. After all, if Jesus, who was God in the flesh, chose to major on this way of teaching, who are we to think that we can come up with something better?

Posted in Communication, Evangelism, God's Work, Ministry, Personal, Preaching, Sunday School, Teaching, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Throw Up Your Cap

Posted on September 21, 2011 by russellmckinney

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11, N.L.T.)

Years ago, in a small fishing village on the coast of New England, a winter storm blew up suddenly and caught the small boats out at sea. The fishermen rowed hard to reach the safety of the harbor, and all the boats made it in except for one that was captained by an old man named John. Just when that boat was almost to safety, a huge wave struck and hurled it up against a rock. With his boat in ruins, John did the only thing he could do: pull himself up onto the rock and commence to hang on for dear life.

John’s fellow fishermen saw his plight, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it. The idea of taking rescue boats out into the teeth of the storm was ludicrous. To further complicate matters, it would soon be dark. So, being the practical New Englanders they were, they decided to wait until the morning to attempt a rescue. In the meantime, they built a bonfire on the shore and dedicated themselves to keeping it burning all night. Every now and then, by the light of that bonfire, one of the men would throw his cap up into the air just to let John know they were there and hadn’t abandoned him.

Finally, after a long, rough night, the winds subsided and the dawn broke. The fishermen quickly put out their boats and were able to rescue old John. After he had warmed himself by the fire and been given something to eat, they asked him what it had been like out there on that rock all night. Here’s what he said:

Well, it was the longest night of my life. I made out pretty well at first, but then a big wave came along and flattened me out and I felt myself slipping. I was worn out. I was ready to give up. My old father went down at sea, and I had decided my time had come. But just as I was ready to let go, I looked through the darkness and saw somebody’s cap going up in the air. I said to myself, “If there’s somebody who cares enough about old John to stay out on a night like this, I guess I’m not going to quit yet.” Just then the winds seemed to ease up, and I got a fresh hold, and well, here I am.

With this story in mind, I’ll ask you to throw up a cap yourself today because Johns are out there everywhere, just trying to hold for dear life. Find someone who needs some encouragement and tell them that you appreciate them. Show them that you care and that they’d be missed if they weren’t around. You never know how much influence your encouragement might have. It could just be that an encouraging word from you will give that person reason to keep pressing on rather than quit.

Posted in Communication, Doing Good, Encouragement, Friendship, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Missions, Service, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Got a Need?

Posted on September 20, 2011 by russellmckinney

A small Bible college was growing so fast that it desperately needed more dormitory space. If a new dormitory couldn’t be built, students would have to be turned away. So, the school’s president took the matter to God in prayer and left the request with Him.

Not long afterward, the president was invited to speak at a conference in another city. One night, after the service, he was handed a small envelope with a note inside it. The note was an elderly woman’s request to meet with the president.

The following day the president went to the woman’s home for tea. All the while, as they sat there drinking tea and talking, he hoped that God would work through her to meet the financial need. Much to his disappointment, however, no offer had been made as the visit began to draw to a close.

Somewhat dejectedly the president headed for the door, but as he did, the woman’s face suddenly lit up. She said, “Oh my, I almost forgot.” Then she left the room momentarily and came back carrying a small folder. As she handed the folder to the president, she said, “This is for you and the work you are doing for the young people.” The folder contained many thousands of dollars worth of stocks and bonds, the cash value of which totaled up to the exact amount needed to build the dormitory.

While this story is supposedly true, the fact is that the Christian realm is filled with such stories. Preachers like myself know all about books of illustrations, and these books offer many such stories about God meeting people’s needs. Actually, the stories are so numerous as to be almost cliched. But are they true? Do such things really happen? Does God really meet needs?

I speak from personal experience when I answer, “Yes.” During my first few years of Disciples Road Church, a church I started and pastored for over eight years, God ran me through a lengthy class on this subject. Whereas I had always preached that God would meet every need, I found out that it’s a different deal altogether when you find yourself sincerely wondering how you are going to pay the light bill, the phone bill, the car payment, the mortgage payment, etc. That’s when you truly learn whether or not all those corny old stories you’ve read are for real. And again let me say: they are.

So who am I writing this to today? Is it you? Do you have some pressing need staring you squarely in the face right now? If you do, then take heart because God can and will meet that need if you will sincerely turn it over to Him and leave it there. Remember, Philippians 4:19 is still in the Bible, and it is applicable for any and all genuine needs. That verse says:

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Comfort, Doubt, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Provision, Money, Needs, Personal, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

1,500 Sheep

Posted on September 19, 2011 by russellmckinney

A few years ago the Associated Press ran a story that came out of Gavas, a town in eastern Turkey. According to the story, one sheep from a very large flock walked to the edge of a cliff and jumped to its death. A second sheep soon followed. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. The A.P. report read:

Stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff.

Incredibly, only 450 of the sheep died. The rest survived because their fall was cushioned by the bodies of the sheep that had jumped before them. I guess there’s something to be said for being toward the back of the line, after all.

Here’s a typical parent-child conversation:

Jimmy: “Dad, can I take my skateboard and try a triple-spin-reverse off the front porch?”

Dad: “No!”

Jimmy: “Why not? Tommy does it.”

Dad: “If Tommy jumped off a cliff, would you follow him?”

That comeback about jumping off a cliff has traditionally been the go-to line that parents have used to keep kids from caving in to peer pressure. It reminds me of the “You’ll shoot your eye out” line from the movie A Christmas Story. As little Ralphie says about his mother using that line as her excuse not to buy him a BB rifle, “That deadly phrase uttered many times by hundreds of mothers was not surmountable by any means known to kid-dom.”

Truth be told, though, parents have to warn their kids about jumping off cliffs because peer pressure is such a powerful force. In his book There’s A Sheep Born Every Second, David Kirkwood uses that A.P. story about those sheep and writes, “Imagine the peer pressure that last sheep must have felt. Surely 1,499 sheep can’t be wrong, can they?”

So, consider today’s post a word of encouragement to all you parents who are still trying to hold the line. Keep up the good work. Don’t make the mistake of giving in to peer pressure yourself, the pressure other parents put on you to let your kids: watch anything they want to watch, listen to anything they want to listen to, wear anything they want to wear, think anything they want to think, say anything they want to say, go anywhere they want to go, buy anything they want to buy, and do anything they want to do. Can 1,499 sheep be wrong? You’d better believe they can! And that’s why you can’t let your child be number 1,500.

Posted in Children, Choices, Courage, Decisions, Desires, Discernment, Discipline, Dress and Appearance, Family, Fatherhood, God's Will, Influence, Motherhood, Parenting, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

God Is Not Mocked

Posted on September 15, 2011 by russellmckinney

Dr. R.G. Lee was one of the most famous Baptist preachers who ever lived. From 1927 to 1960, he served as the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During those years the church grew in membership from 1,400 members to 10,000. He also served three terms as the president of his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Dr. Lee once used the following illustration:

Newburg, New York had a society led by Bline Palmer called The Druidical Society. It had a high priest and met to ridicule and destroy religion. Infamous and blasphemous acts were performed. At a meeting they burned a Bible, baptized a cat, partook of a mock sacred meal and administered sacrament to a dog.

In the evening, he who administered the sacrament was attacked with a violent inflammatory disease and died before morning in great bodily and mental agony, his inflamed eyeballs protruding and his tongue swollen. Another was found dead the next morning. A third died in a fit a few days later.

In five years of the organization of the society, all thirty-six of the original members had met strange and premature deaths: one of horrible swelling, one found dead in bed, one died in convulsions, one froze to death, three died in accidents, five were suicides, two were stoned to death, seven died on the gallows and eight were shot.

In conclusion, I guess about all I can add to Dr. Lee’s illustration is a thought from the Bible. It’s a simple thought but a profound one. In Galatians 6:7, the Bible still says:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked… (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Atheism, Depravity, God's Holiness, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Rebellion, Sin, Sowing and Reaping | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tonya’s Birthday

Posted on September 14, 2011 by russellmckinney

Today is my wife Tonya’s birthday, and so I’d like to devote this post to her. I thought it would be fun to describe a typical day in her life, and since my day-to-day memory only lasts for about one day, I’ll describe yesterday. Here goes.

Just as she does every school morning, Tonya got up sometime around 5:45 a.m. I use the word “sometime” because it’s not like I woke up with her and got the official time. Once up, she had until 7:00 a.m. to: get herself ready, wake up our ten-year-old son Royce (he’s easy), wake up our fourteen-year-old son Ryan (he’s hard), make sure the boys got ready for school, fix a little breakfast, and get everyone loaded into our Dodge Caravan. She dropped Ryan off at Mitchell High School around 7:10, dropped Royce off at Gouge Elementary School around 7:20, and then reported for duty at Bowman Middle School to spend her day teaching math to 7th and 8th graders who typically don’t care about learning it.

The general idea is that her day at Bowman ends at 3:00 p.m., but that’s laughable. It’s always an after-school meeting, some work she’s got to finish, or something. Usually she doesn’t leave Bowman until after 3:30, and many days it’s not until after 4:00. Yesterday she must have left around 3:30 because she got home around 3:45. When she gets home in the afternoon, she has Royce with her because he rides a bus from Gouge to Bowman and stays in her classroom until she’s ready to leave. He’s supposed to do his homework during that time, but don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, yesterday I think that Tonya’s first words to me when she got home were, “I’ve got to be back at Bowman no later than 5:15.” I didn’t even bat an eye at that comment because I knew the deal. Every teacher at Bowman Middle School has to sign up to work three of Bowman’s home football games. Over the years, Tonya has done everything from collecting money at the gate to working in the concession stand. But, believe it or not, her favorite job is being a member of “the chain gang.” For those of you who don’t know football, “the chain gang” are the people who stand on the sidelines and handle the chains that are used to determine whether or not a team got the necessary ten yards for a first down. It’s usually men who work those chains, but for some odd reason Tonya likes doing it. I guess she likes the action of being down on the field.

“And where is her husband while all this is going on?” you ask. Oh, he’s busy too. First, I had to get Royce to his 5th-6th grade football practice at 5:30. I’m an assistant to the assistant coach’s assistant for that team. Second, I had to leave that practice and go pick Ryan up from his j.v. football practice at 6:00. Third, since Ryan wanted to catch the last part of the Bowman game, I had to drop him off there on my way back to Royce’s practice. While at Bowman, I walked up on the field and briefly spoke to Tonya as she worked the chains. Since I hadn’t any supper, I was thrilled when she offered me half a bag of popcorn and half a Pepsi. I thoroughly enjoyed both as I drove over to Royce’s practice.

That practice lasted until 7:30, but Tonya and Ryan showed up to it around 7:15. Bowman’s game had ended (they beat Avery 30-6, had to get that in), and now the question of supper had to be officially addressed because Ryan was gnawing the dash of the van. The classic McDonalds option was tossed around, but I just wasn’t in the mood for another Big Mac. So, we decided that the best plan was for Tonya and Ryan to go to the grocery store. We needed some stuff for the house anyway. They were still at the store when Royce’s practice finished up, and so I called her and told her to buy a frozen pizza for me and him. Ryan ended up going with some frozen Chinese dish that he later regretted. As usual once she’s in a grocery store, Tonya thought of plenty of other things that we needed. All told, the bill ended up being over $60. We’d have gotten out a lot cheaper at McDonalds. And what did Tonya have for supper? She fixed herself some popcorn. Yes, the woman loves her popcorn.

Well, by the time everyone had finished their supper it was after 9:00. Brilliantly, I had made Royce take his bath while we’d been waiting for Tonya and Ryan to get home from the store. So he was almost ready for bed. At least that’s what I thought. But along about 9:30 I heard Tonya reading to him as she helped him finish up his homework. I thought to myself, “Okay, once she’s finished with that she’ll go to bed herself.” That’s not what happened, though. At 9:45 she walked into the dining room and told Ryan to get in there because it was time to put the finishing touches on his miniature bust of the Roman emperor Constantine. (Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.)

For one of his classes, Ryan has been working on a report on Constantine. As part of the assignment, he had to create a small bust of the man. Well, I was willing to help him sort through the high points of the emperor’s life, but you might as well ask me to build a space shuttle as create a bust. My best attempt would no doubt have involved the purchasing of a Mister Potato Head kit.

Ah, but Tonya does have a touch of that arts and crafts thing about her, and she stepped up to the plate and helped Ryan out. So there they were, at a few minutes past 10:00, sitting at our dining room table, painting the finishing touches onto the great Constantine. By the way, those are the types of things for which we use our dining room table. For us to actually eat off it, it would have to be excavated, cleared, and thoroughly cleaned. Such is family life in this modern world.

Well, with Constantine formally finished up around 10:15, Tonya was finally allowed to brush her teeth and literally drop into bed. For the record, I’ve never met anyone in my life who falls asleep as quickly as she does. Being a night owl myself, I have no idea why she can’t sit up late with me. Just kidding, of course. Seriously, I have no idea how the woman does all that she does. All I know is that she was back at it again at 5:45 this morning.

I’ll close now with some verses that are highly relevant to all this (all from the N.K.J.V.):

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18)

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)

Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)

Tonya will no doubt get a kick out of me citing anything from Proverbs 31:10-31. Every time I have a congregation turn to that text, she just groans and thinks, “It’s impossible to live up to the standard that passage describes.” Well, honey, I don’t tell you this enough, but don’t ever doubt that you do live up to it each and every day. Also know that I love you and I’m going to take you out to eat tonight. Of course, we’ll have to take the boys. I promise you, though, that we’ll do a little better than McDonalds. And, hopefully, I’ll be able to give you the one gift that I know you crave the most: being in bed and fast asleep by 9:30. Happy birthday!

Posted in Children, Doing Good, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Personal, Service, Sports, Wives, Work | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Making Excuses for Your Sins

Posted on September 13, 2011 by russellmckinney

Four old codgers were playing poker for money in the back of their local store. Suddenly, the sheriff walked in on them and said, “Gambling again, eh? This time I’m going to arrest you fellows just to teach you a lesson.”

That’s when the excuses started flying. One of the men said, “I wasn’t playing sheriff; I just dropped in to talk.” Another one said, “I wasn’t playing either, Sheriff; I was just visiting.” A third said, “I just came in to warm up by the stove.”

The fourth man sat quietly as all this went on and continued to hold his cards. He never once took his eyes off them. The sheriff looked at him and said with a smile, “Well, you certainly can’t deny that you’ve been playing cards.” The old man, still not looking up from his cards, answered that by saying in his slow drawl, “Now, Sheriff, who would I have been playing with?”

Oh, the excuses we make for our sins! We blame everyone from our parents to the government, when all the while the heart of the problem lies with us. Please understand that I’m not minimizing any sins that have been committed by your parents or your government, but also understand that there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your own sins. Face it, you have about as much of God as you want in your life.

You probably know Christ’s most famous parable, the one about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). But do you know the verse that marks the turning point of that story? It’s Luke 15:17, which says of the son:

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!'” (N.K.J.V.)

Be sure not to miss those all important words: But when he came to himself. You see, the prodigal’s life didn’t change for the better until he conducted a personal evaluation and was sufficiently shocked by what he found. And notice that Jesus didn’t say that the young man came to a revelation about how his parents had raised him, or one about how others had done him wrong, or one about the ills of his society. No, he came to a revelation about himself. He thought, “I brought myself to this lowly state.”

I don’t know your life, but perhaps you, like the prodigal, need to come to yourself. Maybe you need to stop blaming others for your troubles and start admitting to your own role in creating your mess. Remember, excuses will only keep the status quo in tact and prevent you from returning to the blessings of the father’s house. (I could also say a lot here about the importance of confession and repentance, but I’ll leave that for another time.) Right now the first order of business is to get you to realize that you are the problem. Until that happens, you’ll never be ready for the next step.

Posted in Addiction, Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Change, Disobedience, Drugs, Gambling, Gluttony, Lust, Lying, Obedience, Personal Holiness, Problems, Racism, Rebellion, Repentance, Sanctification, Sex, Sin, The Tongue, Worry | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Elephants, Grass, & Spiritual Warfare

Posted on September 12, 2011 by russellmckinney

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:6-12, N.K.J.V.)

My mother is a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Dr. C. Mark Corts was the pastor of that church for almost forty years. He died in 2006.

In his retirement years, just before his death, Dr. Corts wrote an excellent book entitled The Truth About Spiritual Warfare. In the first chapter of the book, he deals with the story of Job and explains that spiritual warfare isn’t about us. It is, instead, a battle between God and Satan. Corts writes:

Natives in Africa say, “When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.” That’s what we see happening in the Book of Job – the clearest look behind the curtain in the Bible. Two titans, God and Satan, were engaged in warfare, and Job was the grass that got trampled.

This whole understanding of spiritual warfare has been very helpful to me whenever I find myself having to play the role of grass. When I sense that I’m in the throes of spiritual warfare, I ask myself two questions. Question 1: What is God trying to accomplish in this situation? Question 2: How is Satan working to keep it from happening?

Let me illustrate. A mother once approached me and asked, “Aren’t you Russell Mckinney?” When I answered, “Yes,” she proceeded to tell me how much she enjoyed my Sunday morning radio broadcast on one of our local stations. In particular, she was enjoying the series Life Lessons from Proverbs that I was broadcasting at the time. She was enjoying those sermons so much that she asked if I could get her some cds of them for her teenage son. I said, “Sure. Give me your phone number and I’ll call you when they’re ready.”

A couple of weeks later, I called the number but got no answer. So, I left a message saying that the cds were ready. All the mother had to do was call me back so that we could agree to a meeting place where I could give them to her. But several days later I still hadn’t received that callback. I thought that seemed kind of odd because she had seemed so genuinely interested in getting those sermons. My first instinct was to call her again, but then I got to thinking that I didn’t want to pester her. Perhaps she had changed her mind. I certainly didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself by forcing my own preaching onto her!

So what did I do? I took the matter to God in prayer and asked Him if I should make another run at contacting the woman. He answered by reminding me of what Dr. Corts had taught about spiritual warfare. I asked the two questions. What was God trying to accomplish in this situation? Answer: He wanted that teenage son to hear the spiritual truths of those life lessons from Proverbs. And how was Satan trying to keep that from happening? Answer: He was somehow keeping the lines of communication broken down between me and that mother.

Well, once I had that information, I called the mother again. I was disappointed to have to leave another message, but this time she called me back pretty quickly. We worked out a plan for how I could get the cds to her, and she got them. She also explained why she hadn’t called me back the first time. It hadn’t been anything personal. She had meant to call but, for whatever reason, just hadn’t gotten around to it. I didn’t tell her that I truly believed that Satan had assigned some of his troops to her case and was actively working to keep her son from getting those sermons. I didn’t want to scare her.

And now we come to the application portion of this post. Do you feel like you are currently under spiritual attack? Is the aura of spiritual warfare hanging heavy around you right now? If the answer is yes, please take some time right now to ask yourself the two basic questions about the warfare: “What is God trying to accomplish in the situation?” “And how is Satan working to keep it from happening?” You’ll probably be surprised at how straightforward and simple the answers are. Then, once you have those answers, you’ll be able to move forward wisely concerning the situation. Understand that you are the grass upon which two elephants are engaged in battle and keep doing your part to help God accomplish His will.

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Demons, God's Will, Personal, Prayer, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, Trials | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bobby Leach

Posted on September 8, 2011 by russellmckinney

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13, N.K.J.V.)

Englishman Bobby Leach lived an interesting life. On July 25, 1911, he became the second person to pull off the stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Of course, the feat didn’t come without some injury. He spent the next six months in the hospital recovering from two broken kneecaps and a broken jaw.

Upon his recovery, Leach, who had once been a performer with the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey circus, toured as a celebrity throughout Canada, England, and the United States. He made a good living speaking in the vaudeville shows and lecture halls of the day. For his act, he would show off his steel barrel, talk about his experience at Niagara Falls, and pose for pictures.

In 1920, Leach attempted to boost his declining fame by swimming Niagara Falls’ whirlpool rapids. He made several attempts to pull off the feat but was unsuccessful each time. What made those attempts all the more incredible was the fact that, by then, Leach was his sixties.

Then came 1926. While on a publicity tour in New Zealand, Leach slipped on an orange peel, took a bad spill, and broke his leg. Infection set in, and eventually the leg became eaten up with gangrene. The leg was amputated in an attempt to save Leach’s life, but it was to no avail. He died two months afterward.

Isn’t it ironic that Bobby Leach survived his daredevil attempts at Niagara Falls but saw the end of his life begin when he slipped on a simple orange peel? In Knight’s Book of Illustrations, Stewart Anderson uses Leach’s life as an illustration of spiritual truth. He says:

Some great temptations, which roar around us like Niagara, may leave us unharmed. But a little, insignificant incident may cause our downfall simply because we are not looking for it.

The truth is, each of us runs the risk of getting into trouble anytime we drop our spiritual guard up, stop paying attention, and assume we’ve got everything under control. That’s just when some “little” temptation will bring us down. Keep this in mind as you move through life, and be sure to watch out for those orange peels!

Posted in Backsliding, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment