Help Me!

 

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

—Psalm 121:1-2

You’ve all likely seen the television commercial that begins with these words:

“Help me! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Lots of comedians have made much of that scenario. I used to laugh a bit at it, too. Then, I became someone who, if I fall, literally cannot get up on my own.

I can remember the first time it happened. I had decided to attend an evening worship service on the shore of Lake Erie at Presque Isle State Park. I’m not certain that I realized we were actually going to meet on the beach. This was in the summer of 2002. For over a year, I had used two canes in order to walk. I didn’t think about how difficult it might be to walk on sand with two canes.

I arrived at the designated spot. Got out of the car and began to walk across the sand to where the other worshippers had gathered. Just a few steps and down I went. Within seconds I realized I could not get up by myself. Fortunately, a very kind man saw my plight and —because of my extreme obesity, with no little amount of difficulty—he helped lift me back up, so that I could stand alone. If I had been alone, I would still be stuck in the sand.

Since that time, I have fallen only four times in the intervening 24 years. In each case, I have needed help getting back up. I am so concerned about falling, that I take every precaution to guard my steps.

The truth is that, for one reason or another, we all need help at some point in our lives. Whether we need help in our physical lives, we most certainly need help in our spiritual lives. That’s why the verse at the beginning of this blog post is so important.

On this day, as we consider the terrible tragedy 25 years ago in New York City, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, we must understand that the Psalmist declares when he needs help he looks to the one source from which genuine help comes:

… the Lord who made heaven and earth.

This day, let us follow the example of the Psalmist. When we need help in our lives, let us look quickly to the only One who can truly help us. God loves us with His everlasting love. He waits patiently for us to call upon Him. Let’s be quick to do so.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Please, Carry Me!

 

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

—Isaiah 46:3-4

One of the great joys of a little child comes when a mom or dad picks the little one up and carries him or her. Yes, children like the freedom to run wherever they want to run and do whatever they want to do. But, there always comes a time when a child becomes tired, or needs the comfort of his or her parents. At such a time, to have mom or dad gather the little one into loving arms and lift them up into a loving embrace brings such comfort and joy to the child.

It is this kind of joy and comfort that God expresses through the Prophet Isaiah, in the Scripture verses at the beginning of this blog post. The people of Israel have had free reign for quite some time. They have wandered far away from the protection of God’s perfect will for them. It is high time that they returned to God and sought the comfort that only He can give.

Look closely at what God promises Israel in these verses. He reminds them that He is the One who has brought them into being and sustained them all throughout their lives. He now extends to them the truth that He will bear them up, He will carry them and save them. No longer do they need to run about without His divine protection. His love will enfold them and keep them safe from all harm.

What God has promised to the nation of Israel, He has also promised to those whom He has called to Himself and redeemed through the precious blood of His one and only Son, Jesus. God has grafted we “Christ’s-ones” into the vine of Israel. We Gentiles have become one with God’s chosen people, the Jews. (see Romans 11) Just as God enfolds Israel, carries them, and saves them, so He will constantly do the same for you and for me.

One of the reasons why we carefully study the “whole counsel of God” by meditating upon both the Old Testament and the New Testament, stems from the fact that the whole of Scripture applies to us in our walk with God. While God has given a new covenant in the incarnation, life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, His promises to Israel apply to us today. And, there is much we can learn from observing how patiently, kindly, and lovingly God has dealt with His first-chosen people.

Let’s determine to seek to have God carry us and save us. And, let’s make certain we do so every moment of every day.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Necessary Qualities

 

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

—Titus 2:2

If we’ve never met, you have a distinct advantage over those who have met me. As you read this blog post, you can take my words at face value without making a mental reference to the person whom you know wrote them. Let me share a secret with those of you who have never met me. Most people do not like me—at least that’s what some very close “friends” have told me in an unguarded moment of truth.

Apparently, to the vast majority of the people who know me, I come across as arrogant, or angry, or unkind, or standoffish, or … Well, in your imagination, you can formulate your own list of my undesireable qualities. When my very close “friends” first told me this about myself, it surprised me and wounded me deeply. As I have become used to their assessment, I don’t revel in the fact that people don’t like me. But, no matter how hard I try to behave differently, I still always end up being exactly who I am. And, who I am seems, apparently, unacceptable to the vast majority of people who know me.

So, when I read the verse at the beginning of this blog post, I am moved to tears. Apparently these very important and necessary qualities of a normal older man elude me, and this makes me feel ashamed. Nevertheless, I know that these words of the Apostle Paul ring true.

God expects His beloved followers to become mature in their faith in Him. He wants them to grow up and into maturity. As mature believers, God expects older men to display sober minds, self control, a soundness in their faith, a soundness in their love, and a soundness in their steadfastness, and to also display an appropriate dignity.

Perhaps, like me, you find yourself lacking in one, or all, of these important qualities. If so, you likely need to join me in asking God to continue to do a renewed work in our lives that will result in these quallities coming alive within us. That seems like the best thing we can do. Otherwise, we will just keep failing to measure up.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Level Ground

 

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

—Psalm 143:10

When we were learning to walk as small children, nothing challenged us more than trying to walk on uneven ground. Eventually, as we gained more confidence and developed a greater sense of balance, we could walk on even the most uneven ground without any difficulty whatsoever.

Imagine my surprise when, at age 54 in 2001, I began to experience difficulty walking on the most simple uneven ground. Admittedly, my extreme obesity played a role in this growing challenge. I also found myself three years into what eventually became a 19-year-long fight against a chronic infection in my right foot. But, the most significant contributor to my increasing inability to walk came from the osteo-arthritis that had begun to afflict my legs, hips, and back. I had seemingly become an “old man” before my time.

Now, 25 years later, I can only walk with the aid of a walker. In 2017, a very skillful surgeon amputated my right leg below the knee, in order to rid my body of that long siege of chronic infection. Even though a very competent, talented, and highly trained prosthetist has fitted me with a prosthetic right leg, with the effect of osteo-arthritis still raging, I cannot keep my balance well enough to walk without a walker. In fact, for travel more than a few dozen feet, particularly when I am out of my home, I use a powered-wheelchair.

Please understand, I am not writing these words to gain sympathy—quite to the contrary. I am very grateful to God that He has seen my through the many physical trials with which I have struggled over the past 28 years. I am also keenly aware that my own difficulties pale in comparison to the health issues that many others face in their own lives. I have written the above paragraphs because I believe they give me particular insight into the words the Psalmist wrote in the verse quoted at the beginning of this blog post.

The Psalmist has issued words of prayer, asking God to teach him the importance and absolute necessity of doing God’s will. And, in order to accomplish that goal—so necessary for proper Christian spiritual formation—the Psalmist asks God to let His good Spirit lead him on level ground. This short prayer contains words that illustrate profound truths.

First of all, God created us because He wanted to have fellowship with a created human being who could love Him and serve Him. His very act of creating us stands as an act of His divine, unfailing, undying love. God-breathed (agape) love flows out from God and into us through the very act of His having created us. The easiest thing for us to do would be for us to love God in return. Yet, the first created human beings chose to ignore God’s simple requirement of not eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowlege of Good and Evil. Their sin errected a barrier that prevented them from properly loving God.

And yet, this sinful act, which has passed down to us through our parents, did not prevent God from continuing to love us. In fact, He loves us so very much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to become a human and to die on the cruel cross of Calvary in order to pay the penalty for our sin. His birth, life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension secured for us victory over sin, death, and Satan.

With our sins forgiven, we can now love God through absolute obedience to His perfect will for our lives. But wait! In this world we still bear the curse of sin from Adam. We call this curse our “sin nature.” Even in our forgiven state, we still possess a natural bent toward sin. So, the only way we can walk in obedience to God’s perfect will for us is to receive the help of God’s blessed Holy Spirit.

This brings us to the second part of the verse above. The Psalmist prays:

“Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

In other words, David prays:

“Please allow the Holy Spirit to make the pathway of my life as smooth, straight, and level as possible. Please let the Holy Spirit keep the ground level beneath my feet, so that I will not stumble and fall. Please let the Holy Spirit keep me moving forward on the pathway He has laid out for me, so that I will be able to obediently do God’s perfect will.”

I can no longer physically walk on my own without the help of my walker, even on perfectly level ground. Yet, I can pray this prayer of the Psalmist for my walk of Christian spiritual formation. And, because of my infirmity, I know the very important role level ground plays in successful walking.

I invite you to join me in praying the Psalmist’s prayer:

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Warn Everyone!

 

We proclaim Him [Jesus], warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

—Colossians 1:28

Having spent the last half of my working career in fire protection engineering as a developer of educational materials, and later as the Director of Training for the large Highly Protected Risk insurance company where I worked for 30 years, I became exposed to a great deal of philosophy and psychology related to educational processes for adults. Eventually, we redesigned our entire trainging program, transforming it from a fact-based lecture/demonstration-type program to a certification-based program, with very specific concept-based goals and enabling objectives for each goal.

In learning how to make such a transformation, I spent many hours studying the research on adult learning. I observed how the various concepts of trying to understand how adults learn had shaped various educational methodologies. I saw how typical classroom instruction—such as the type of instruction I experienced in junior high school, high school, and college in the late 1950s through the late 1960s—had changed over the intervening years.

Over time, the lecture/demonstration method was out. Learning in study groups was in. Educational program developers moved from lists of facts that must be memorized and repeated to specific problem-solving activities. At the same time, educational psychologists researched how environmental conditions, personal background, race and gender influences, home life stability, and other factors affected how adults learn.

Someone whose teaching career spanned the early 1950s through the early to middle 1980s would be astonished at how the packaging of educational programming has changed. Whether or not all the changes were truly beneficial is a matter for some debate. Nevertheless, teachers from the so-called “old school” would be lost in today’s goal-based classroom.

The one place where training and education has not changed—at least has not changed as rapidly—is within the church. Yes, many teachers of Christian Education classes use PowerPoint™ as a basis for visual-enhanced learning. But, the underlying educational philosophy of how to teach people about God, His Kingdom, and His written Word have not really changed all that much.

I do realize that some providers of educational materials for the church have attempted to update the educational methodologies on which they base their offerings. But, a close examination of those materials soon reveals that most materials rest on a foundation much more similar to the construction of related materials from the 1950s and 1960s.

Let me hasten to add that I am not intending to criticize either the church or the developer of adult Christian education materials. Rather, I am intending to offer a bit of background to my main assertion of this blog post. I believe that the verse printed at the beginning of this blog post contains a valuable clue as to how God expects those individuals who teach adults to go about the task of sharing His divine truth with the people under their care.

Notice what the Apostle Paul writes to the “Christ’s-ones” gathered at the church in Colosse. Paul’s statement includes the overriding goal:

… that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

So, maturity in the Christian faith becomes a critically important goal for Christian spiritual formation.

Instead of having countless numbers of so-called “baby Christians” running around the church and the world, God shares, through the voice of His Apostle, that He desires mature Christians. Why? One reason we can seem to discern from other passages of Scripture emerges: so that the mature Christians can face the trials that Satan and the world will heap on them in an attempt to destroy their faith and make them wholly ineffective as faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

With Christian maturity as the goal, what steps does a teacher employ to motivate the adults listening to his or her teaching? The Apostle Paul gives us an answer when he writes:

We proclaim Jesus, warning everyone with all wisdom.

In considering Paul’s words, how should we respond? Some might say:

“What? Are you suggesting that one teaching adults in the church should warn those under his or her care? And, specifically what should that warning include?”

Yes! I am precisely suggesting that the Apostle Paul urges those reading his words to warn fellow believers. When one warns someone, that warning usually comes in a very direct, very emphatic form of expression. If you plan to step out into on-coming traffic, I may warn you with a shout. I may even try to restrain you from your forward movement. That is exactly the kind of warning that Paul urges those teaching others to give them.

As to what teachers should warn their adult learners, I would answer that the learners need to comprehend and fully understand every positive and every negative teaching of Scripture. Adult Christians who seek to move into full maturity as followers of Christ do not need feel-good pseudo-psychological self-help messages. They need “iron-sharpening-iron” admonitions and testimonies of what God expects of them and how to begin doing exactly what God expects.

I don’t know how you may feel about my analysis. But, I do know that I am more fully convinced, with each passing day, that a distinct kind of deep-love-motivated, fear-of-the-Lord-encapsulated, packed-with-wisdom teaching must begin to find a place in our Evangelical churches. This will become especially true if the world around us continues to slide more deeply into sin.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Guarded Deposits

 

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

—2 Timothy 1:13-14

Have you ever entered your local bank in order to make a deposit or receive a withdrawal? While you were inside the bank, did you notice the bank vault? Even the smallest of branch banks has a vault. Every time I see a bank vault I think about some of the mystery stories I’ve read where criminals go to great lengths to try to breach the vault and steal the contents.

Each bank vault exists to guard the contents, whether money, gold, jewelry, or precious documents housed in safe deposit boxes. The physical design of the vault serves to keep the contents safe from harm.

God has promised His dearly love children that He is the One who guards every aspect of our being that He has entrusted to us at birth. And, insofar as our relationship with Him is concerned, before the foundation of the earth, God has chosen each one that He loves—each one that He will call to Himself through the wooing of the Holy Spirit. No wonder God guards that which He has entrusted to His dear ones.

When we recognize that God literally guards every aspect of our being, including the four critical modalities of our existence—emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical—we can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that we venture out into this world surrounded by divine protection.

As we begin another new day, let’s rejoice in the knowledge that, in response to the great love and protection that God displays towards us, we can love Him back by following the pathway He lays out before us. Our joy will bubble up to the surface when we live our lives in the center of His perfect will for us.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Master Teacher

 

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.”

—Isaiah 48:17

Teaching is a wonderful profession. It takes a special person with special skills to become a really great teacher. Most of us can identify someone who, during our formative years, contributed a great deal to who we have become because of the skills that individual had as a teacher.

A really great teacher has a number of personal skills that enhance that individual’s knowledge and makes the transfer of information most effective. Such skills include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Patience. A truly great teacher has a high degree of patience, in order to allow the student to stumble around until he or she finds the way through the “jungle” of information that the teacher is trying to convey. This patience allows the teacher to let the student find his or her own way. This patience never tires of answering the same questions over and over again. This patience promotes a sense of security between the teacher and the student that allows learning to take place over an extended period of time.
  
  
• A sense of humor. A truly great teacher takes even the most serious subject and punctuates it with just enough humor to make it palatable to the student. Such humor disarms any tension the student might feel. It creates a learning environment that promotes the free exchange of ideas and gives the student confidence in whatever knowledge he or she is seeking.
  
  
• Relaxed control. A truly great teacher recognizes that it is necessary for him or her to maintain control of the learning environment. Yet, he or she instinctively knows that this control must be meted out in a relaxed and carefully measured manner. This control keeps the learning on track. But, the relaxed way in which the control is extended gives students the freedom to learn in a more comfortable setting.
  
  
• Creativity. A truly great teacher employs creativity in order to find the best way of explaining the information that comprises the learning. Such a teacher knows that a single example will not work for all students. Rather, the teacher knows that he or she must craft examples and illustrations that will engage the student in a manner that matches the learning style of the student.
  
  
• Goal-oriented. A truly great teacher never loses sight of the goals toward which the transfer of knowledge leads. This teacher understands what the end-game is for each learning encounter. He or she understands the goals and, for each goal, the objectives through which a student must travel in order to reach the goals. In addition, the teacher has a clear set of learning strategies that will help the student move through each objective. Said another way, such a teacher understands the complexity of learning because he or she clearly sees the logical pathway that will move the student from ignorance to comprehension.
  
  

In the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, when God says to His people: “I am the God, who teaches you to profit …” we can clearly see that God is, indeed, the Master Teacher. Whenever God teaches His dearly loved people, He does so intending for that learning experience to bring His people to a place where they can profit from the learning experience. I have seen this happen in my own life.

Many individuals have a far more significant testimony than my own. Most people have had to deal with overwhelming issues in their lives. Tragedy strikes almost every person. These times of great trial can offer enormously important lessons for us to learn. In the midst of trial and sorrow, the testimony of God being the very best teacher a person can have shines through.

As another day begins, let’s remain thankful that God is the Master Teacher. He possesses all of the qualities that the most excellent teacher always has. We are truly thankful that we are the recipients of His instruction. We are the ones whom He teaches us to profit.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}