A New Way to Pray

Posted on January 9, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his book No Common Task, Anglican Bishop George Reindorp tells the story of a nurse who once taught a patient how to pray. Before learning the nurse’s lesson, the patient was an angry, gloomy, bitter type whose life had no real purpose. But after he learned the lesson, his life, to say nothing of his prayer life, took on a whole new meaning.

The key to the nurse’s prayer lesson was her hand. Each finger stood for someone for whom she prayed. Her thumb was the nearest to her, and so it reminded her to pray for those who were closest to her. Her index finger was the finger she used for pointing (as in a teacher pointing at a student to call upon that student), and so it reminded her to pray for all the teachers in her nursing school and in the hospital where she worked. Her third finger was the tallest, and so it reminded her to pray for the leaders in every area of life. Her fourth finger was the weakest — any piano player will attest to that — and so it reminded her to pray for people who were in trouble and pain. Finally, her little finger was the smallest, and so it reminded her to pray for the least important people (people who didn’t seem to have any immediate prayer needs), a list upon which the nurse always placed herself.

Perhaps you might try using the nurse’s exact formula. Then again, maybe you’d like to start with her basic premise but customize it to suit your own prayer life. For example, you might consider this alternative:

  • Like the nurse’s lesson, your thumb can remind you to pray for your family and your closest friends. It’s pretty hard to do better than that symbolism.
  • If you can imagine your enemy pointing a menacing index finger at you, your index finger can remind you to keep the Bible’s command to pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-28).
  • I like the nurse’s take on the third finger, which is the tallest one on most people’s hands. That finger can remind you to keep the Bible’s command to pray “for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
  • Your fourth finger is the one that you think about the least, which can remind you to make a point of praying for someone for whom you’ve never prayed. It can be a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a person you used to know but haven’t seen in years, a celebrity who has been in the news recently because of some trouble, your mailman, your doctor, your dentist, your mechanic, your insurance agent, the kid who bags your groceries at the store, etc., etc., etc.
  • I also like the nurse’s application of the fifth finger. By making that one the reminder to pray for yourself, your “wish list” of requests for yourself lands in last place during your prayer session. This will help you keep things in proper perspective.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not telling you how to pray. If you’ve got a system that works well for you, that’s fine. You keep right on using it. But if you are like me in that you don’t always get around to praying for your enemies, for those who are in authority, or for people who don’t normally come to mind, using your fingers as reminders can help. If nothing else it can get you out of the rut of praying the same old prayers about the same old people involving the same old situations. That, of course, is a good thing because prayer is supposed to be a great adventure that we take with God, and when any adventure becomes boring or routine, it’s no longer an adventure.

Posted in Intercessory Prayer, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

He Will Make It Plain

Posted on January 7, 2026 by russellmckinney

In his wonderful little book, The Red Sea Rules, Robert J. Morgan shares a story from the life of William Cowper. Cowper was a famous English poet and hymn writer who struggled with severe mental issues, bordering on insanity, until he became a Christian. Even after his conversation, he still struggled at times with bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide.

One night, while Cowper was experiencing a particularly bad bout of depression, he called for a carriage (this was the year 1774) and ordered the driver to take him to the Ouse River, which was only three miles from Cowper’s home. What Cowper didn’t tell the driver was that he planned to commit suicide in the river that night. But the driver suspected anyway. After all, who requests to go to a river in the middle of the night?

So, the driver had to think fast. How could he do his job and yet keep his passenger from carrying through on such a tragic plan? Providentially for the driver, a fog began to settle over the entire area, a fog thick enough for the driver to use the excuse that he had gotten lost in the fog.

Around and around the driver drove in that fog, up one meaningless road and down another, oftentimes going in circles, always avoiding the river, as Cowper fell asleep inside the carriage. Finally, after several hours had passed, the driver pulled the carriage up to Cowper’s home and woke him from his deep sleep. Once Cowper was fully awake and recognized where he was, he asked, “We’re back home? How is that?” The driver answered, “Got lost in the fog, sir. Sorry.”

After paying the driver and dismissing him, Cowper went inside and began to ponder how God had used the fog and the driver to keep him from ending his life. That same night he wrote an autobiographical hymn that contained the following words:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread; Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.

I especially like those words “God is His own interpreter.” Tell me, have you found that to be true? I sure have. Unfortunately, I’ve also found that He doesn’t always feel the need to share His interpretation with me, at least not until some time has passed.

The good news, though, is that I’ve also found those words “And He will make it plain” to be just as true. It might not happen today, next week, next month, or next year, but somewhere along the way God will make plain to you the reason why He’s either allowed or caused that certain something to come to pass in your life. You just need to hang in there with Him, trust Him, and keep asking Him for the explanation. It’s there, and He’s got it, and one day, when the timing is right and the process of waiting has accomplished its helpful work, He will share it with you.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Timing, God's Guidance, God's Mercy, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Patience, Perseverance, Suffering, Suicide, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Joy Comes in the Morning

Posted on January 5, 2026 by russellmckinney

…Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5, N.K.J.V.)

English missionary James Hannington was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa. His initial missionary visit to Africa only lasted a few months because he was stricken with a high fever and dysentery which forced him to return to England. But a couple of years later he returned to Africa and set himself to the task of organizing and supervising a road-building project that would build a new road into the Ugandan kingdom of Buganda. At the time the only road into Buganda was an Arab slave route that was filled with danger.

The problem the project faced was Buganda’s king, a man named Mwanga. Despite the fact that his father, King Mutesa, had been open to foreigners and had even granted them favor, King Mwanga was known to be highly suspicious of outsiders and quick to put them to death. Once Hannington reached Busoga, which was an area of great strategical importance to Buganda, King Mwanga sent word to Hannington forbidding him from going any further. Hannington, however, was determined and continued on with his mission. A short time later, under the order of King Mwanga, a group of Busoga’s local chiefs captured Hannington along with 50 of his men and imprisoned them.

After eight days of cruel treatment, during which Hannington himself was exhibited as a trophy, the whole party was killed on October 29, 1885. Hannington was only 38 years old and died by being speared in both sides. Purportedly, his last words to his Busogan captors were, “Go tell your master (King Mwanga) that I have purchased the road to Uganda with my blood.”

We know so much about Hannington’s story because he faithfully kept a daily journal. Upon his death, the Ugandans kept the journal and sold it to a later expedition. And what is the journal entry for October 29, 1885, the day of Hannington’s martydom? He wrote:

I can hear no news, but was held up by the 30th Psalm, which came with great power. A hyena howled near me last night, smelling a sick man. I hope it is not to have me yet.

Later that same day the hyena didn’t get Hannington but the spear did. His “night” of weeping was now finished and the “morning” of his joy had come. As Charles Spurgeon wrote in his commentary, The Treasury of David:

And so, when life with its struggles and toils and sins, bringing us perpetual conflict, ends at last in the fierce struggle of death, then God “giveth his beloved sleep.” They sleep in Jesus, and wake to the joy of a morning which shall know no wane — the morning of joy. The Sun of Righteousness is beaming on them. Light is now on all their ways. And they can only wonder when they recall the despair and darkness, and toil, and violence of their earthly life, and say, as they have often said on earth, “Weeping has endured only for the night, and now it is morning, and joy has come!”

Along the same lines, Harry Ironside wrote in his Studies on the Psalms:

My mother told me that when my dear father was dying he was suffering terribly and a friend of his leaned over him and said, “John, you are suffering terribly, aren’t you?” “Oh,” he said, “I am suffering more that I thought it was possible for any one to and live, but one sight of His blessed face will make up for it all.”

And so whatever we are called upon to endure here, whatever we are called upon to suffer here it is for only a moment, comparatively. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Finally, I love John Phillip’s take on the verse, and it’s his words that I’ll offer as the close to this post. In his Exploring the Psalms, Phillips writes:

It is significant, surely, that God’s day begins with an evening and ends with a morning. Thus all the way through that creation chapter of Genesis we read: “The evening and the morning were the first day…the evening and the morning were the second day…” Right now we are hurrying through the nighttime of our experience. The shadows often are dark and menacing; but the morning comes, and with it a day that will never end! The night through which we are passing is only temporary. When the morning comes there will be no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more sickness, no more separations. “One glimpse of His dear face all sorrows will erase.” Joy cometh in the morning!

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Comfort, Courage, Death, Depression, Disappointment, Encouragement, Eternal Security, Eternity, Heaven, Human Life, Inner Peace, Missions, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Restoration, Reward, Salvation, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When You Know What to Do But Don’t Do It

Posted on January 3, 2026 by russellmckinney

“And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” (Luke 12:47, N.K.J.V.)

It’s one thing when you honestly don’t know what to do about a situation. It’s something else entirely when you know what to do but choose not to do it. That second category is the one to which our text verse applies.

The verse comes on the heels of a parable that Jesus offers about stewardship. In Bible times a steward was a servant who was placed in charge of managing his master’s household goods and distributing provisions to the rest of the servant staff. The main character trait the job required was faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:2). Not only did a steward need to be faithful to his master, he also needed to be faithful in the performance of his duty toward his fellow servants.

In Jesus’ parable a steward’s master goes away for an undetermined amount of time, leaving the steward in charge of the estate. At that point the steward could respond to the assignment in one of two ways. Option 1: He could carry out his duty faithfully. Option 2: He could use his delegated power to turn himself into a little dictator that enriches his own life while making life miserable for his fellow servants.

While the steward gets to choose his course of action, what he doesn’t get to choose are the consequences of his choice. The returning master will see to those. If the steward is found faithful when the master returns the steward will be rewarded handsomely by way of a promotion (verses 43 and 44). But if the steward is not found faithful, he will be punished severely, even to the point of being put to death (verses 45 and 46).

Immediately following the parable Jesus explains that any servant who knows his master’s will but doesn’t do it will be punished. Jesus describes the punishment as involving “stripes” (verse 47). Why is the punishment so harsh? It’s because knowing what you are supposed to do brings major accountability. You see, having a knowledge of God’s will can be dangerous thing if you don’t do that will.

So, let’s say that you are right now in the midst of a difficult situation, and let’s also say that God has revealed to you what He wants you to do about it. My question to you is simply, “Have you done what God told you to do?” If you have then stop stressing out about the situation. Seriously, how you could have done any better than God’s will? For that matter, since God rewards obedience, you should be in line for some kind of a promotion. That is what the parable teaches.

Ah, but what if you haven’t done what God told you to do? Oh, well, now we’re on another subject. If that’s the case my question to you would be, “What’s stopping you from doing what you know to do?” Perhaps it’s fear. Perhaps it’s procrastination. Perhaps it’s outright rebellion. Perhaps it’s something else.

Whatever your reason may be just take this post as a warning that it’s high time that you got God’s job done. Until you do you are a steward who has been handed an important assignment — the doing of God’s will — and you are failing miserably at that assignment. And unfortunately for you, if your disobedience continues there will be some “stripes” in your future. You say, “Russell, are you trying to scare me?” Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do! It’s better that you heed my word of warning and obey God than it is for you to suffer the consequences when your Master inspects your work and finds it lacking.

Posted in Backsliding, Choices, Coming Judgment, Conscience, Conviction, Decisions, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Fear, God's Will, Obedience, Problems, Rebellion, Seeking Advice, Stewardship, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Going Back Home

Posted on January 1, 2026 by russellmckinney

New York’s Bowery Mission was founded in 1879 and still serves today as a rescue mission and men’s shelter. Sam Hadley was once the superintendent there and told a certain story about the place. I’d like to share that story with you right now.

One summer day, on a Wednesday just before noon, Hadley was standing outside the door of the Mission when a teenage boy about seventeen or eighteen years old approached him. The young man asked him, “Mister, do you live here?” Hadley answered, “Yes, son. My name is Hadley. I’m the superintendent of this mission. What do you want?” To Hadley’s surprise, the young man said, “Would you mind getting me a needle and a piece of black thread?”

Curious, Hadley asked, “Why?” to which the young man replied, “I tore my pants on a park bench, and they look bad. Please get me a needle and thread.” Hadley said, “Son, I’ll do better than that. You see those steps? Go upstairs, and my wife will fix them for you.” “No,” said the boy, “I don’t wanna bother her.” “Never mind that,” said Hadley, “you just go upstairs and let her fix them.”

So, the young man did as he was told and not long afterward came back down wearing a mended pair of pants. He looked at Hadley and said, “Mr. Hadley, you’ve sure got a good wife. She fixed these pants so good that I can’t even see where the tear was.” But rather than embrace the compliment, Hadley went straight to the heart of the matter by asking, “Son, how long have you been out of jail?” Flabbergasted, the young man said, “Jail? How did you know I was in jail?” Hadley answered, “The jail smell is on you, son.”

Now the young man was afraid and quickly launched into his defense. “Mister, honest to God, I didn’t do nothing. Honest to God, they locked me up for nothing.” Seeking to calm the young man, Hadley said, “Son, I didn’t say you did anything. What did they lock you up for?” The young man answered, “Night before last, Monday night, I was asleep on a bench in Central Park. A policeman came along, woke me up, and asked me where I was from. I told him. He asked if I had a job. I told him I didn’t. He asked if I had any money. I told him I didn’t. He asked if I had any family in New York. I told him I didn’t. Then he locked me up for vagrancy.”

Hadley kept probing. “And when did they let you out?” “Yesterday morning,” said the young man. Hadley then asked, “Have you had anything to eat?” At that point the young man started crying and said, “Mister, I ain’t begging.” Hadley, still trying to help the young man, replied, “I didn’t say you were. I merely asked if you had had anything to eat lately.” Again, the young man said, “I ain’t begging.” This time, however, Hadley got a little sterner. “Son, get off your high horse. I’m not asking whether or not you are begging. I’m asking if you’ve had anything to eat lately.” Finally, the young man confessed, “I ain’t had a bite to eat since yesterday morning in jail.”

That’s what Hadley had figured and he immediately took the young man into the kitchen and rustled up a bowl of beef stew. That stew didn’t stand a chance as the young man not only wolfed it down but also two subsequent bowls and most of a box of crackers. He couldn’t have been more appreciative as he wiped his mouth and told Hadley, “Well, I guess I had better be going.”

Hadley asked him, “Where are you going?” “I don’t know,” said the teenager, “to look for a job I guess.” Hadley didn’t like the sounds of that and sought to keep the conversation going. “Where are you from?” he asked. “Philadelphia,” answered the young man. “How long have you been in New York?” “Five weeks.” “Then why don’t you go home?” “I can’t.” “Why not?” “I just can’t.” “Well, why can’t you?”

Now the young man started crying again and upped his efforts to leave by standing up from the table. He said, “Mister, I won’t bother you anymore. Thank you for your help.” But Hadley was having none of it. “Sit back down and answer my question,” he said. “Why can’t you go home?” Finally, the teenager came clean. “Well, to be honest with you, my father owns a grocery store, and I stole $10 (a decent sum of money back then) from him. I took that money to the horse track, lost it gambling on a horse, and now I can’t go home.”

Of course, Hadley just couldn’t believe the young man’s father would never want to see his son again because of $10. The young man, however, was quite sure of it. He said, “Sir, you don’t know my father. He would kill me.” Hadley responded, “No, I don’t know your father, but I know fathers. What’s your dad’s name and address?” Reluctantly the young man told him and Hadley wrote down the information. Then he instructed the young man to stay right there until he got back.

Hadley walked over to the nearby Western Union office and wired the young man’s father in Philadelphia. The wire read: “Your son is in my mission — hungry, sorry, heartsick, homesick. Will you let him come home?” Hadley then went back to the mission to talk with the young man some more and await a reply telegram. One o’clock came, but there was no reply. Two o’clock came, still no reply. Three o’clock. Four o’clock. Five o’clock. Six o’clock. Seven o’clock. No reply.

It was almost eight o’clock and the Wednesday night service at the mission was in full swing when a Western Union messenger came in, found Hadley, and handed him a telegram. Hadley signed for it and opened it right there on the spot while standing in the aisle. Then he walked over to where the young man was sitting and asked him to follow him into his office. The teenager obliged and Hadley let him read the telegraph. There were only three words written on it. They were: “COME HOME. FATHER.”

And now I ask you, reader, are you like that troubled runaway? Have you committed some sin or sins terrible enough in your mind to cause you to think that God hates you and never wants to see you again? Have you decided that it’s best if you just get away from Him altogether and never speak to Him again? Well, friend, you’re wrong. Just wrong. All God wants you to do is come home. Now.

If you have never placed your belief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, such belief is your path home. If you have placed your belief in Jesus, but find yourself in a backslidden condition, your path home is confession and repentance of your sins. Either way, the point is that God the Father stands ready to forgive you, accept you, and embrace you in Christ. You see, you don’t have to spiritually limp into the new year the way you have finished up this one. Instead, you can claim the forgiveness offered in Christ and boldly march forward with Him. The choice is yours, but don’t delay. Why choose to be homeless even one more day when God Himself is longing for you to come home and has provided a way in Jesus for you to do so?

Posted in Abortion, Addiction, Adultery, Alcohol, Backsliding, Belief, Brokenness, Change, Children, Confession, Conviction, Disobedience, Family, Fatherhood, Fear, Forgiveness, God's Love, Grace, Guilt, Love, Missions, New Year, Parenting, Problems, Rebellion, Reconciliation, Repentance, Salvation, Seeking Forgiveness, Sin, Youth | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Classified Falsely

Posted on December 30, 2025 by russellmckinney

Private First Class Alan Barton, an American soldier fighting in the Vietnam War, was reported missing from his base in South Vietnam on July 28, 1970. 32 days later his commanding officer notified his mother that her son was now officially classified as a deserter. Since Barton’s father was a 20-year army veteran, the news of the desertion was especially embarrassing for him.

In reality, though, Alan Barton had not deserted. He had been killed by the steel pellets from either a landmine or a booby trap that had been hidden along the perimeter of his base. The problem was that his skeletal remains would not be discovered until March 28, 1972, and even then the army would be unable to identify the soldier to whom they belonged. Consequently, those remains would be sent to a military morgue in Honolulu, Hawaii. Meanwhile, through it all, Alan would continue to be classified as a deserter.

Nevertheless, Alan’s mother never gave up fighting to clear his name. She didn’t know what had happened to him — she suspected that he had been captured and was being held in a prisoner-of-war camp — but she could not make herself believe that he had deserted. For 13 years she fought for Alan until the army finally rechecked the Honolulu morgue records and were able to correctly identify Alan’s remains by use of dental records. Truth be told, various personal belongings that would have helped to identify him had been found with his remains in 1972, but the army had somehow lost them. All that was left of those belongings was a fragment of an envelope that was postmarked from Alan’s hometown in Michigan.

In February of 1983, Private First Class Alan Barton was finally given the full military funeral that he deserved. A 21-gun salute was sounded, taps was played, and his mother was handed the folded American flag that moments earlier had draped her son’s coffin. Her fight was now ended. She had her closure. Her son’s good name had been vindicated.

The story of Alan Barton reminds us that this world is filled with injustices and false accusations. Unfortunately, Christian, you are not immune from such things. You can take heart, though, in the promise that God always knows the truth and in eternity everything will be revealed, classified accurately, and set right. As Jesus said of eternity, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30, N.K.J.V.). That means this world’s distorted classifications will not continue into the afterlife. And I, for one, am grateful for that and long more each day for that better world to come.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Coming Judgment, Criticism, Deception, Eternity, God's Judgment, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, Heaven, Justice, Patience, Persecution, Reward, Suffering, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

God the Trinity

Posted on December 26, 2025 by russellmckinney

God being a Trinity means that He is one God who exists in three distinct persons. He is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit, and yet these three distinct persons are one. God is one God, not three. As it says in the Constitution & Bylaws of many a Baptist church: “The one God is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

The fact that God is a Trinity really is taught in the Bible. Unfortunately, however, there isn’t one umbrella passage that spells it all out for us. That means we must consult many different passages, study what each of the passages is saying, and compare passage with passage in order to understand the holy Trinity.

With this in mind, I want to use this post to provide a lengthy list of many of the passages that teach that God is a Trinity. By referencing all of these passages, I’ll just let the Bible speak for itself. I’ll cite the passages in the order in which they are found in scripture, and with each passage I’ll include just a touch of commentary to explain how the passage shows that God is a Trinity. So, if you’re ready, let’s get started. (All references from the N.K.J.V.)

  1. Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (The Hebrew word translated in this verse as “God” is Elohim. What’s significant about that is the fact that Elohim is a plural word. You see, from the very first verse of the Bible, God is laying the groundwork for the idea that He is a triune being.)
  2. Genesis 2:26: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Note the words “Us” and “Our.”)
  3. Genesis 3:22: Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil….” (Here again God uses the word “Us” concerning Himself.)
  4. Genesis 11:7: “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (God spoke these words about the building of the Tower of Babel and again He used the word “Us” in reference to Himself.)
  5. Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (These words are the opening words for the Jewish prayer called the Shema, which is the most famous prayer in Judaism. Notice that the Lord our God is ONE.)
  6. Psalm 2:7,12: “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’”….Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in Him. (Pay attention to the capitalized titles in this Messianic passage. They indicate that God the Father has a Son who is fully divine Himself and in whom we should place our trust.)
  7. Proverbs 30:4: Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know? (This is another Old Testament passage that teaches that God has a Son.)
  8. Isaiah 6:8: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” (Here again we see God using the word “Us” in reference to Himself, even though in this instance He also uses the word “I.”)
  9. Isaiah 9:6: For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (New Testament passages such as Luke 2:11 and John 1:45 leave no doubt that the Messiah spoken of in this passage is none other than Jesus. That’s important to understand because this passage calls Jesus not only “Everlasting Father” but also “Mighty God.” Both of those titles can also rightly serve as titles for God the Father.)  
  10. Matthew 3:16-17: When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (This passage finds the Trinity on full display as God the Son is baptized, God the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven to rest upon Him, and God the Father speaks from heaven.)
  11. Matthew 17:5: While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (As He had done at Jesus’ baptism, here God the Father speaks directly from heaven concerning Jesus and calls Him “My beloved Son.”)
  12. Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Notice here that Jesus commands His followers to baptize in the SINGULAR “name” of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.)
  13. John 1:1-3,14: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (These verses teach that not only was Jesus with God in the beginning but that He was God. He was the Creator.)
  14. John 5:22: “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” (Jesus taught that the divine Judge of the Universe is none other than Himself, and that certainly speaks to His divinity.)
  15. John 8:58: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (No Jew had to be told what Jesus meant in claiming the title “I AM.” Moses had asked God, “What shall I say to your people when they ask me, ‘Who sent you to us?’” And God had responded by saying, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). Jesus claimed to be that same God, and that’s why the Jews immediately took up stones and attempted to stone Him to death for blasphemy.)  
  16. John 10:30: “I and My Father are one.” (By Jesus’ own teaching, He and God the Father are one even though they are each a distinct person. The Jewish religious leaders certainly took His statement that way, which explains why they immediately tried to stone Him for the blasphemy of making Himself God.)
  17. John 12:41: These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. (This verse hearkens back to the vision that Isaiah has of God in Isaiah 6:1-13. John’s use of the capitalized words “His” and “Him” in reference to Jesus shows that Jesus was the God in Isaiah’s vision.)
  18. John 14:9: Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” (Even though God the Son and God the Father are each distinct persons, their oneness means that, in essence, to see one is to see the other.) 
  19. John 15:26: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” (The capitalized title “Helper” is a reference to God the Holy Spirit. Notice that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father and testifies of God the Son.) 
  20. John 17:5: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (Here Jesus speaks of having a divine glory with God the Father in a time before Genesis 1:1.) 
  21. John 20:28: And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (Thomas called Jesus “my God” and Jesus didn’t correct him.)
  22. Acts 2:32-33: “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (These verses teach that Jesus is right now seated at the right hand of God the Father. He’s not God the Father, but He is seated on His right side, which was always the side of favor in the Jewish placements.)
  23. Acts 5:3-4: But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Notice the way that Peter interchangeably uses the titles “the Holy Spirit” and “God.” First, he says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, but then he says that Ananias lied to God. The logical conclusion to be drawn is that the Holy Spirit is God.)
  24. Acts 7:55-56: But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (This is another passage that places Jesus in a seat of divine prominence at the right hand of God the Father. The classic interpretation of the passage is that Jesus had stood up to receive the soul of the soon-to-be martyred Stephen.)
  25. Acts 13:2: As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (This verse equates the Holy Spirit to “the Lord” and speaks of the Holy Spirit doing God’s job of calling people to the mission field.)
  26. Acts 20:28: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (This is a significant passage because it speaks of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as each being God. According to Paul’s words, the Holy Spirit had made these men the overseers — the shepherds, the pastors — of the church of God. That implies that the Holy Spirit is God. But Paul also says that God purchased the church with His own blood. That, of course, is a reference to Jesus dying on the cross and shows that Jesus is God as well.)
  27. Acts 28:25-26: So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying…” (Paul quotes verses 9 and 10 of the familiar Isaiah 6:1-13 Messianic passage. But whereas John 12:41 proves that Jesus was the God in Isaiah’s vision, this passage teaches that it was the Holy Spirit who actually spoke the Lord’s words in that vision. The clear indication is that Jesus and the Holy Spirit, though distinct from each other, are one.)
  28. Romans 9:5: of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. (Not only is Jesus “over all,” Paul also called him “the eternally blessed God.”)
  29. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6: Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (Paul doesn’t mention God the Holy Spirit in these verses, but he does specifically name God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet still affirms, “…there is no other God but one.”)
  30. 2 Corinthians 3:17: Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (Here we see that the Holy Spirit is the Lord. In other words, He is God.)
  31. Galatians 4:6: And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (All three members of the Trinity are mentioned in this verse. First, Jesus is God the Son. Second, God the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Jesus. Third, God the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the Christian allows the Christian the right to refer to God the Father as “Father.”)
  32. Colossians 2:9: For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (The term “the Godhead” refers to the Trinity.)
  33. Titus 2:13: looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Here again Paul doesn’t hesitate to call Jesus “our great God.”) 
  34. Hebrews 1:1-2: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. (This is a parallel passage to John 1:1-3, both passages teaching that Jesus is the Creator mentioned in Genesis 1:1.)
  35. Hebrews 1:8: But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” (The teaching is that Jesus, the Son, is God.) 
  36. Hebrews 10:12: But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. (This verse is yet another one that places Jesus in a role of divinity at the right hand of God the Father.) 
  37. James 2:19: You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! (You see, we do well to believe that God is a singular God.)
  38. 2 Peter 1:1: Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Peter refers to Jesus as “our God.”)
  39. 1 John 5:7: For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. (The title “the Word” is a title for Jesus.)
  40. Revelation 22:8-9: Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (This passage is significant because of the angel’s words, “Worship God.” First, that indicates that there is just one God. Second, Jesus receives such worship in Revelation 5:8-14.)
Posted in Bible Study, Scripture, The Bible, The Holy Spirit, The Trinity, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s Make Sure the Right One Wins

Posted on December 24, 2025 by russellmckinney

Approximately 300 years or so after the death of Jesus, in a town in what is today called Turkey, a baby boy was born. The child was born into a wealthy, well-educated family, and he grew up in an atmosphere of luxury and higher education. To his credit, though, he did not become an arrogant, self-absorbed, intellectual snob. Much to the contrary, he was exceptionally kind.

This young man’s name was Nicholas, and he would ultimately become the Bishop of Myra. Even more than that he would become Saint Nicholas. Not only were miracles associated with his life, he was also renowned for unmatched generosity. The best-known story regarding his generosity involved the three unmarried daughters of a very poor man who lived in the same town as Nicholas.

According to the story the life goal for each of the girls was to marry, but their father didn’t have enough money to provide them with dowries. A dowry was money, land, or some type of treasure a bride would give to her husband. Any girl who didn’t have a dowry faced the possibility of being sold into either slavery or prostitution.

Well, as the story goes, Nicholas heard about the plight of these three daughters and decided to help them. So, when the oldest daughter reached marrying age, he secretly delivered a bag of gold to her to use for a dowry. And not long afterward she got married.

When the next oldest daughter came of marrying age Nicholas secretly delivered a bag of gold to her as well, and a short time later she got married. That left only the youngest of the three girls unmarried. Of course, by now the father was wildly curious to learn the identity of his daughters’ benefactor.

Then came the time when the youngest daughter reached marrying age. The father, expecting another bag of gold to somehow arrive in his home, made a point of being on the lookout for the deliverer. And who did he catch in the act? It was none other than the wealthy, well-educated Nicholas. The father thanked him for his generosity, and the youngest daughter was soon married.

You see, if we can believe the legend, a man named Saint Nicholas not only lived but during one season of his life brought unexpected gifts in the night. Furthermore, the legend goes on to say that he spent the rest of his life displaying that same degree of charity and kindness. As his reputation for generosity grew, any time someone received an unexpected gift from an unknown source that person assumed it was from Saint Nicholas.

It was Dutch immigrants who brought the basic story of Saint Nicholas to America. Our name for Saint Nicholas is simply a corruption of the Dutch name “Sinterklaas.” As for the idea of Santa Claus leaving gifts in stockings, that detail comes from different versions of the original story. In one version, St. Nicholas throws a bag of gold for each of the first two visits through a window, but he throws the third bag down the chimney and it lands in a stocking that had been hung by the chimney to dry. In another version, he throws all three bags down the chimney and each time the bag lands in a stocking. But whichever version of the story gets used the outcome is always the same: St. Nicholas provides a dowry for each of the daughters, thus setting them up for marriage.

It is from these beginnings that the story of Santa Claus has grown and evolved into the one we know so well today. In 1809, Washington Irving wrote a story about children leaving stockings out for Saint Nicholas to fill. A few years later, in 1821, Irving wrote a book entitled “The Children’s Friend,” in which he said that Santa traveled by a sleigh that was pulled by reindeer. That was different from earlier versions of Santa’s story, which said that he traveled by wagon with the assistance of a magic white horse.

One year later, in 1822, a New Yorker named Clement C. Moore wrote “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” It began, “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…” That story inspired an artist named Thomas Nast to draw a cartoon of Santa for the popular magazine Harper’s Weekly. That cartoon depicted St. Nicholas as a jolly, fat man. On and on the legend rolled, picking up new bits and pieces to it as it went, until we arrived at the full-blown version that is on display today in movies, tv shows, commercials, etc.

While it might be argued that Santa Claus is just clean, harmless fun, the problem we have at Christmastime is that he has become bigger than Jesus. The battle between Santa and Jesus was once depicted in a comic strip I saw in my local newspaper. (This was back when hold-in-your-hand newspapers were still a big deal.) As the comic strip’s two characters stood in front of a nativity scene, one of them said to the other, “Where does Santa fit into that nativity scene?” The other character answered, “He doesn’t. There are two separate Christmas traditions.” To that the first character said, “Ah, a little competition.” Then came the last frame of the strip, a frame that placed both characters sitting on a hill overlooking a shopping mall. On top of the shopping mall there was a giant Santa Claus with a giant reindeer beside him. The parking lot was filled with cars and there were all kinds of people rushing into the mall. As the characters stood there taking in the whole scene, one of them said to the other, “I wonder which one’s winning.”

Unfortunately, we don’t have to look very hard to see which Christmas tradition is winning, do we? Nevertheless, let us as Christians make sure that the right one wins in our lives. I figure that even Saint Nicholas himself would be embarrassed at what his name has come to represent, and we don’t need to throw any more fuel onto that fire. Just as you can’t spell “Christmas” without “Christ,” we should do our best to make the holiday a holy day. Even though I don’t expect that we will ever knock Santa Claus off his perch atop the world of Christmastime, we can do our part to begin that job until Jesus comes back to finish it once and for all.

You see, the winner of the war between Santa Claus and Jesus is already decided. This world is just waiting for the day when the one who was once the babe in the manger will become the King on His throne. That will put an end to the battle between Santa Claus and Jesus, and if Saint Nicholas was the devout Christian he is purported to have been, I’m sure that he will have no problem at all bowing the knee to the rightful King.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christmas, Christmas Traditions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Changed Heart

Posted on December 22, 2025 by russellmckinney

Each year at this time thousands of people participate in Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program. The names of the children of inmates are placed as “angel ornaments” on Christmas trees in churches, businesses, and shopping malls. Along with each name is a short list of the “gift wishes” that child has requested. People take the ornaments from the trees and purchase the Christmas gifts for those children. The idea is that the individual who takes a name is, in essence, purchasing a Christmas present on behalf of that child’s incarcerated parent. The gospel is also shared with the child. What makes Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program different from the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program is the fact that the Prison Fellowship program specifically caters to children whose parents are incarcerated.

What most people don’t know is that Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program began with a woman named Mary Kay (no, not the cosmetics queen). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she was a notorious safecracker and bank robber who wound up on the list of America’s Most Wanted. She and her husband became so infamous that they earned the nicknames “the Bonnie and Clyde of Alabama.”

Even after Mary’s husband abandoned her and went his own way, she continued with her criminal career. All of that ended, though, in June of 1972 when she was arrested, charged with 35 charges and 11 federal indictments, and sent to prison. She was 27 years old at the time.

Mary spent the first five months of her imprisonment in solitary confinement. Those months gave her a lot of time to think about her life. When she was moved out of solitary confinement she began attending the prison’s weekly Sunday church services. Having grown up in the deep south, she had heard the gospel in Sunday School, and so hearing the familiar story of Christ once again made no major impact on her. But what did impress her greatly was the dedication of the volunteers who organized the services. Since the Sunday service started at 7:00 a.m. those volunteers had to get up around 5:00 a.m. to give them time to drive to the prison, get through all the security, and get things set up for the service. Such dedication baffled Mary. She couldn’t figure out why anyone would get up at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning to go and visit prisoners.

On a particular Sunday she curiously asked an elderly volunteer, “Why do you bother?” The woman answered, “Well, Jesus loved you enough to go all the way to Calvary. So, we love you enough to come in here and tell you about Him.” That answer pierced Mary to the core, and over the next few weeks God began to convict her of her sinful, wasted life. One night, as she sat alone in her small cell, she opened up the Bible that one of the volunteers had given her and began flipping through its pages. One passage in particular caught her eye. It was Ezekiel 36:26-27:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (K.J.V.)

Upon reading that passage Mary knew what she needed: a changed heart. So, right there in that cell she prayed for the first time since she was a little girl. She said, “God, if you can do all that — if you can really change my heart — I’ll give my life back to you.” And God really did change her heart as she placed saving belief in Jesus. Afterward, she began to study the Bible more and grow in her relationship with Christ.

Each year at Christmastime when Mary was in prison, local church groups would bring the inmates gifts of shampoo, soap, and toothpaste. While Mary was always glad to receive these gifts, she noticed that many of her fellow inmates would save their items, crudely wrap them up, and give them to their children as presents when those kids came for Christmas visits. As Mary would say later, “Most children wouldn’t think much of such small gifts, but in prison there was such joy on their faces! It really didn’t matter to them what they got; it was from Mama.”

In all, Mary ended up serving 6 years in prison before being released on early parole. After her release, and with her new heart that Jesus had changed, she joined Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship staff, agreeing to become the ministry’s first Alabama State Director. One of her assignments was to create a Christmas project for the inmates, but it was during one of her speaking engagements that a conversation with an ex-inmate’s daughter changed the direction of that assignment. The woman asked, “What about the inmates’ kids? They are the real victims.” That conversation took Mary’s mind back to the toiletries she had seen her fellow inmates pass along to their children as Christmas gifts.

Then she hit upon an idea. She paid a visit to the same prison that had once held her, Alabama’s Julia Tutwiler Prison, and asked the women for the names of their children and where they lived. Next, she contacted the caretaker of each child and asked what the child wanted for Christmas. That provided her with the first 100 of what would become her “paper angels.”

Mary then took those 100 names and placed them on the first Angel Tree, which was set up in Birmingham’s Brookwood Mall the day after Thanksgiving. An advertisement in the Birmingham News paper notified readers about the project, and many of the store owners in the mall agreed to offer a 10% discount to shoppers who bought their Angel Trees gifts in their store. Much to Mary’s delight all 100 paper angels were gone in four days.

Well, she knew exactly what to do after that. She visited more prisons, collected more names, contacted more caretakers, and put more angels on the tree. The gifts were wrapped by volunteers, after which each child’s caretaker would come pick up the gifts for the child. Mary enlisted the aid of the Gideons organization and the mail-carriers of the Birmingham News to deliver the gifts for the children who lived far away. Everything went smoothly, and that first year 556 children received gifts.

Additionally, to Mary’s surprise, the effects spread much further than she could have ever dreamed. For some time she had been offering various Bible study groups in her former prison, and the attendance at these doubled beginning in January. Who were all the newcomers? They were the mothers of the children who had received gifts. Now these women would get to hear the same gospel that had so miraculously changed Mary’s life. The following year Mary’s Angel Tree program extended out to twelve states and was off and running. It is now Prison Fellowship’s most recognized and popular program and reaches the children of prisoners in no less than 90 countries besides the United States.

So, when you are out and about during the Christmas season, if you run across a Prison Fellowship Angel Tree, consider taking an “angel” and making that child’s Christmas. And when you do, think of a roughneck woman from Alabama named Mary Kay. Better yet, think of Jesus Christ, the Savior who marvelously changed that roughneck’s heart and made her a new creation:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17, N.K.J.V.)

(p.s. In 1984, Mary Kay married Don Beard to become Mary Kay Beard. He had served 9 years in prison for embezzlement and, like Mary, had given his life to Christ in prison.)

Posted in Bible Study, Change, Children, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Doing Good, God's Word, God's Work, Grace, Influence, Ministry, Missions, Motherhood, Restoration, Salvation, Scripture, The Gospel, The Heart | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’m with You

Posted on December 19, 2025 by russellmckinney

An elderly grandfather took his little grandson for an afternoon walk. After they had walked a while, the old man asked the boy, “How far do you think we’ve walked?” The boy answered, “I don’t know, grandpa.” The grandfather asked, “Well, where are you right now?” Again, the boy answered, “I don’t know, grandpa.” At this point the grandfather chuckled a bit and said, “It sounds to me like you’re lost.” To that the little fellow replied, “No, I can’t be lost, grandpa. I’m with you.”

Hebrews 13:5 says to the Christian:

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (N.K.J.V.)

Those words “I will never leave you nor forsake you” quote a promise that God once made to the Israelites through their leader, Moses, regarding their conquest of the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 31:1-6). A short while later, following Moses’ death, God made the promise specifically to Joshua, the man who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites and led them in the actual conquering of Canaan (Joshua 1:5). But what’s wonderful about the passage in Hebrews is that it lifts the promise out of the Old Testament storyline and places it firmly down upon the life of the Christian.

The immediate context of the promise, as it is offered in Hebrews 13:5, involves the sin of covetousness. Why is covetousness a sin? It’s a sin because it shows a lack of contentment, which indicates that you aren’t trusting God fully regarding your circumstances. And what other sin usually rides on the back of a lack of contentment? Worry. You worry that what you have won’t be enough.

So, the point of Hebrews 13:5 is this: If you are a Christian, you should eliminate covetousness, a lack of contentment, and worry from your spiritual resume. After all, you are a child of the King. And the King’s kids don’t go around lacking!

Christian, because you know Christ as Savior, you have the Creator of the universe in your corner. That means that you have unlimited resources at your disposal through Him. The One who makes sure the birds of the air are fed will make sure that you are fed (Matthew 6:25-26). The One who makes sure the lilies of the field are clothed will make sure that you are clothed (Matthew 6:27-30). If you will seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, He will add to you all the necessities of life (Matthew 6:31-34).

Really, though, the Christian can apply this promise “I will never leave you nor forsake you” to any area of life. Perhaps you are contented right now but confused about your current station in life. Jesus promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Perhaps you haven’t reached a state of worry yet but you do find yourself in a very difficult circumstance. Jesus promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Perhaps you are even standing at death’s door. Jesus promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and that promise extends into the afterlife.

Christian, like that little boy who was walking with his grandfather, your job is simply to trust in the One who is doing the leading. Just place your hand in His and know that He is never lost. He always knows the way into places and out of places. Most importantly He knows the way home. And when you truly grasp this profound truth, then you’ll be able to genuinely say with confidence, “No, I can’t be lost, Jesus. I’m with you.”

Posted in Adversity, Assurance of Salvation, Comfort, Contentment, Doubt, Eternal Security, Eternity, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Guidance, God's Provision, Greed, Money, Needs, Problems, Prosperity, Sickness, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment