From Out of His Glorious Riches

 

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being…”

—Ephesians 3:16

Have you ever met someone who seemed so unbelievably generous that you could almost not process how generous this person was? In my life, I have met two men who were truly wealthy—what my dad would have called “filthy rich” although there was actually nothing at all “filthy” about these two men’s wealth.

In both cases, these businessmen extended great generosity to others in such a shy and unpretentious manner that I couldn’t help but watch them in amazement. Each man was a multi-millionaire. Each one had earned his riches through very hard work and clever investments. Each man lived in a way that many people would never have known the extent of his wealth.

On occasion after occasion, I observed each of these men reach out with kindness, empathy, compassion, and generosity. They did so without any fanfare. They never called attention to themselves. In fact, they both did everything possible to avoid others knowing what they had done. The only reason I knew was that I had become a close friend to each of them, and I had inside knowledge of their kindnesses.

The God we serve is One who has enormous wealth and power. Out of His storehouse He gives freely to those He loves. The Apostle Paul affirms this when he writes these words found in Ephesians 3:16:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being…

Paul’s prayer comes from his knowledge that God has unlimited resources that He will gladly make available to His dearly loved children. That’s why we can begin this new day in confidence, knowing that God will provide the strength and resources we need to serve Him effectively and faithfully.

If we struggle with a lack of resources, let’s devote ourselves to prayer this day. God will hear and answer in ways we cannot comprehend.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Gift of Strength

 

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

—Isaiah 40:29

During my years in junior high school, I had many embarrassing experiences. One of the most troubling events occurred when the huge folding doorway that separated the gymnasium into two equal parts jammed and would not close. For one miserable day, the boy’s gym class had to share the entire open space with the girl’s gym class. While most of the boys absolutely loved the opportunity to show off for the girls, I was mortified.

I had already painfully learned how disliked I was by most girls. Now, I had to be even more exposed to their disdain and ridicule. You see, the boy’s gym class was doing basic calisthenics. In particular, we were doing pull ups on an elevated bar. While most boys could jump up, grab the bar, and proceed to effortlessly pull themselves up a dozen or more times, I was unable to pull myself up even once.

Not content to allow me to hide in the back of the line, the gym teacher, who had already made it very clear on several occasions that he had a strong distaste for anyone like me who was so grossly overweight, insisted that I try over and over and over again to complete a pull up. He punctuated my humiliation by a running commentary, holding me up as an example of what would become of anyone who was lazy, foolish, and addicted to food.

While I excelled in academic pursuits, gym class was my daily time of torture, made all the more so by President John F. Kennedy’s “National Council on Physical Fitness” and the host of initiatives that it had pushed onto the local school systems. The phrase: “God give me strength!” had special meaning for me in those days.

In fact, God provides strength for all four of our human modalities. God is our source of strength: emotional strength, spiritual strength, intellectual strength, and physical strength. The Prophet Isaiah reminded the Southern Kingdom of Judah of this fact, as recorded in Isaiah 40:29:

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

As we launch off into another day, let’s remember that all the strength we need is readily available from the God who loves us. We can ask Him to increase our strength and empower us when we need to overcome our own weaknesses. He will gladly supply strength and power from His inexhaustible supply.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

My Loving Enabler, My Mentor, My Friend

 

“I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.”

—Philippians 4:13

“I think I could really learn Microsoft Word ^®, if someone would just show me some of the more useful tips and tricks.”

The person saying that could be almost anyone. To long-time users of personal computers, MS Word seems quite simple. But, to someone just getting his or her feet wet in the art of personal computing, there are so many features, so many tricks, so many undisclosed shortcuts that make working with this software easier, that most people really could use someone to enable them to use MS Word more effectively.

For example, when trying to format text in a way that makes it easier to read, people will do all kinds of work-arounds rather than learn how to properly set tabs and indents. The result is a mashup of confusing formatting that will easily drive another person, who later tries to edit that document, over the edge.

I have been a willing enabler for a number of individuals seeking to learn more about MS Word over the years. And, I am all the happier for having done it, especially when the person I’m helping shares information with me that I must use for some other purpose. It’s easier to help someone learn how to properly format a document in MS Word, than to try to decipher their typical work-around formatting, at a later time.

We all need enablers in our lives to learn the things we need to learn, to accomplish the things we need to accomplish, and to reach the goals we need to reach. I particularly appreciate it when someone knowledgeable sets aside some time to help me.

One of my very dear friends makes explanatory videos for the company where he works. He is a master at creating very useful and educational videos. He freely shares these videos on YouTube, so people who might need help understanding some of the very technical topics for which he is responsible can easily find the information. He is a natural teacher, a natural enabler. Some of the very significant success he has achieved in his chosen field comes from this gift that God has given him to enable others to use the products his company makes in the most efficient and most effective way.

In our spiritual lives, we need an enabler. And, God stands ready to enable us to will and to do the things He wants us to do. In fact, one of the roles that Jesus fills in our lives—through the in-dwelling Holy Spirit—is an enabler of our Christian spiritual formation, and an enabler of our ever-more-effective understanding of how to become an ever-maturing disciple. The Apostle Paul acknowledges this when he writes these words found in Philippians 4:13:

I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.

As we begin another new day, let’s recognize that we have no limits in the spiritual realm. God has given us all the strength we need to do what He asks us to do for Him and for His Kingdom. Let’s willingly allow Christ to enable us to activate the strength in and through us that He so lovingly supplies.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Oh! Those Itching Ears!

 

“For the time will come, when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

—2 Timothy 4:3

Most people do not want to hear bad or unpleasant news. That’s why so many of our news outlets, particularly on network broadcast television, have shunned hard news stories in favor of fluffy, feel-good tales that will make the viewing audience smile in a self-satisfied way. “See,” the viewers say to themselves, “things aren’t so bad, after all. We’re really nice people doing good things to make everyone happy.”

Of late, of course, someone has come onto the political stage who so many people fear that they have steeped the news in hostile hyperbole. Please understand, I’m not a fan of politicians. I think it takes a particularly self-aggrandizing personality to seek political office. Oh, I’m sure there may be an occasional exception to that rule. Generally, politicians have to be willing to do whatever it takes to get elected and stay elected. Often, a politician does not put the very best interests of his or her constituents first. Nevertheless, I suspect that the current target of so much negative news is not nearly as bad as many believe, nor as good as others believe.

Even in the pulpit, many pastors today have turned their backs on a whole host of attributes that the Bible uses to help us understand who God is. Instead, they have emphasized God’s love to the near exclusion of all of His other many admirable attributes. While our understanding of God will always appear to us as if we are seeing Him through a dirt-darkened window, the Bible—God’s written Word—does give us the picture of Him that He wants us to have. As He has revealed Himself to us, sometimes who He is makes us feel the sheer terror at His holiness. And, at other times, we literally bask in the warmth of His amazingly deep love for us.

On those rare occasions when a particular pastor does preach a sermon that talks about God’s holiness, God’s hatred of sin, God’s willingness to punish those who will not repent, and other such less than happy subjects, congregation members grumble and complain. They did not get their “happy jolt” from the Worship Service that they expected. They did not feel better about themselves. They may have even sensed the Holy Spirit convicting them of something in their lives that needs correction. And, they don’t want to do what they know they must do, in order to live as obedient subjects of our Great King Jesus.

So, woe to the pastor who presents the full counsel of God on the matter of who God is and how He wants us to live. There is increasingly little room for a broad spectrum of understanding that God is a perfect balance between holiness, judgment, and wrath on the one side, and His great mercy, grace, and love on the other side.

The Apostle Paul gave a warning to his “son-in-the-faith,” Timothy, about this very matter, as recorded in 2 Timothy 4:3:

For the time will come, when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

As we begin a new day, we need to ask ourselves: “Do we have itching ears?” Yes! “Do we want to know God for who He is in all of His complexity?” Or: “Do we want to fashion for ourselves an image of God based on our desire to shut out any of His more scary qualities and focus only on those qualities that make us feel good?” Those are questions worth asking. The answers give a good picture of where we are in our walk with the One who know us the best, and who loves us the most.

God is to be both feared and loved. And, that takes a faith that surpasses a mere feel-good version of who God really is. True faith recognizes that God is beyond our comprehension. True faith also embraces the reality that, in the Bible, we find plenty of evidence for who God is in all of His complexity. And that, dear ones, is a very good thing. As Richard of Chichester wrote: ¹

Day by day, day by day,
O, dear Lord, three things I pray:
to see thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly, day by day.

 

______________________

1 Richard of Chichester. “Day By Day, Dear Lord, of Thee Three Things I Pray.” A Hymn now in the Public Domain. The printing of this Hymn and the musical arrangements of this Hymn are often copyrighted by the publisher of the Hymnal in which the Hymn appears. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Our Response to Tough Times

 

“…keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

—Jude 1:21

These are tough times. I doubt if anyone would disagree with that assessment of where things are in our nation right at the moment. In spite of every effort to the contrary, we seem to still have divided into two very vicious and contentious political, social, economic, even spiritual camps.

On the one hand, we have the forces of evil trying to drag our once great nation into the sewer of debauchery, discontent, envy, and strife. On the other hand, we have the power of God through the Holy Spirit—expressed through the lives of those devoted to the life-transforming gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—holding back the total destruction of all that is holy and good. In our state of battle weariness, we need to take heart from the words of the Apostle Jude, as found in Jude 1:17-21:

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

As we begin another new day, let’s take comfort in this passage of Scripture, and let us also meet this day with a new determination. God has chosen us to belong to Him. He is using us to further the advancement of His Kingdom here on earth. He has enabled us, by the power of the in-dwelling Holy Spirit. So, let us claim this day for Jesus and allow His love to flow through us into the desperately needy world around us.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Please, Bring Your Offerings!

 

“My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

—Malachi 1:11

Please, bring your offerings! No, I’m not making this blog post a plea for your money. Instead, I am contemplating this verse of Scripture that records God’s own words through the pen of the Prophet Malachi, as recorded in Malachi 1:11:

“My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

On this particular day, the offering I’m soliciting from you, dear reader, is an offering of praise and thanksgiving to the God who loves us and sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place on the cross of Calvary. Truly, His name—God’s name—has been, is now, and will forever be, great among the nations of the earth. He has revealed Himself in His creation. He has revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus. And, He continues to reveal Himself through the precious Holy Spirit, the One who dwells within all those who follow Jesus.

Can you think of someone who, when you hear his or her name, you find yourself responding with a sense of deep respect, amazing awe, and even a deep love?

• Certain national leaders from the distant past come to my mind: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and Jane Addams.
  
  
• I have similar feelings of respect for Marconi, Edison, Katharine Burr Blodgett, Stephanie Kwolek, and other inventors.
  
  
• I also have esteem for authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, C. S. Lewis, and other great writers.
  
  
• I am have respect for certain spiritual leaders such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley, Harriet Livermore, Phoebe Palmer, Charles G. Finney, Charles H. Spurgeon, Olive M. Winchester, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, Donald Grey Barnhouse, Billy Graham, James Montgomery Boice, and others.
  
  

In each case, these ones I hold dear had numerous personal flaws and personal foibles. But still, each one contributed significantly in some way to the sphere in which he or she held influence.

Imagine now having respect for One who is perfect in every way. This One has, in fact, created all things and caused all things to hold together. He is the Creator and true Embodiment of Love. He is the Giver of Mercy and Grace. He is the Judge and Justifier of All.

Is it any wonder that God declares through the Prophet Malachi:

“My name will be great among the nations …”

How fortunate we are that God has loved us and chosen us to belong to Himself. He is our God and we are His people. Let us joyfully bring our offerings of praise and thanksgiving to our God.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Stay Close

 

“But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”

—Psalm 22:19

Many times during a television police procedural drama, when the protagonist is attempting to protect someone under his or her care, the actor will say these words:

“Stay close.”

In other words:

“If I’m going to protect you, I need you to stay close to me, so I know where you are at all times.”

Just as easily, the person being protected could make the same request of his or her protector:

“Please, stay close to me. If you stay right by my side, I know that you will protect me.”

King David understood this need for closeness, in order to have the protection he needed to survive the attacks by his enemies. Notice what he wrote in Psalm 22:19:

But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Each day, as we walk the pathway that God has laid out before us, we need to pray this prayer of David. It allows us to recognize anew our need for God to hold us safely in the hollow of His mighty hand. It gives ascent to the truth that if we try to walk alone, we will fall off the pathway. Our enemy, Satan, wants to do everything he can to poison our spiritual formation. But, with God alongside us, we will remain fully protected from whatever evil Satan sends our way.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}