11242024 Faithful Shelter

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our Faithful Shelter. If we try, I think that every day we could find stories in the news about shelters that were not faithful: buildings collapsing or burning down or being washed away. Those aren’t very reliable shelters.

But this is God. “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).

This verse includes two very different pictures of shelters.  The first is that of a mother bird, probably a chicken, based on similar descriptions in other verses. The second is of a shield.

Both are thorough or broad. When a chick is hiding under its mother’s wings, covered by them, as this verse describes, that tiny chick is invisible under the much larger wings of the mother. The shield and buckler are both large shields, meant to protect the entire person.

Both are also surrounding. The chick is tucked between the warm body and the soft, covering feathers. The buckler, in particular, is a rounded shield that surrounds the soldier.

One is soft and gentle, while the other is tough and fierce. It is a blessing that God is both. In one we see His love and tenderness, and in the other we see that He has the raw power and impermeability to withstand any attack.

God’s “truth” that shields us is probably the idea of truthfulness or faithfulness, the fact that he is always right and sure. It comes from a word that refers to the stability of a building, which circles back to my opening paragraph. When God shelters us, He does it in a way that no earthly shelter can. He is a shelter that can be relied on. Soft, yet strong, and always sure.

May God shelter your bodies, minds, spirits, families, and ministries. Rest in Him.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

11172024 A Living Sacrifice

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God who deserves our eternal service. After all that He has done for us, it is fitting for us to faithfully serve Him with all our being.

There is an enjoyable old movie, called “The African Queen,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. It is set in German East Africa at the beginning of World War I. The main characters are a spinster sister Rose who serves as a missionary alongside her brother (who dies early in the plot) and a rough and uncouth riverman Charlie who makes deliveries while serving himself.

When World War I spreads to the African continent, Charlie helps Rose to escape her village. While he is content to wait out the war in hiding, she is determined to fight back. With insufferable pestering, she convinces him to take his boat down the unnavigable river to destroy a German gunboat. The journey down the river is just as impossible as Charlie had predicted, but against all odds, they somehow make it to the lake and prepare the boat as a weapon.

At this most critical and dangerous time, Rose asks Charlie if he is scared about what might happen when they attempt the sabotage. His answer, somewhat cynical but also tellingly honest, is “I gave myself up for dead back where we started.”

I haven’t watched this movie in several years, but it came to mind recently because of the above quotation. I think it is because I was pondering the idea of sacrifice and Romans 12:1. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I was thinking about what it means to be a living sacrifice, and the quotation came to mind. I thought it stated the matter very well – it is to give ourselves up for dead back where we started. As others have described it, it is a blank check, signed and handed over to God so that He can fill in the amount.

With this mindset and determination, we can (by God’s grace) continue serving and living for God regardless of what happens. Why? Because we already decided back in the beginning that we were willing to give Him everything. He might not take everything, but even if He does, it is no more than we had consented to in the beginning.

The movie has a successful ending, but it is nothing compared to the successful ending that awaits us as servants of God. The most important differences are that our successful ending is on an eternal level and within a divine plan. When we give ourselves in total surrender to God, we have the hope of eternal reward and of hearing His words, “Well done.” We also will have the blessing of seeing His eternal plan come to fruition as He finally redeems this earth and draws everything to the right conclusion. (Or beginning, depending on how you look at it.)

May God give each of you the grace to faithfully live out your commitment to Him, no matter what happens. A living sacrifice, continuing on until the end. God bless.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

11102024 Unstoppable God

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the unstoppable God. I pondered several adjectives: unstoppable, invincible, successful. What I mean by that is that if God sets His mind to something, it will happen. Nothing can thwart His plan.

In Jeremiah 47, God reveals His plan of judgment against the Philistines. It will be devastation, a complete conquest. Someone dares to raise the question, “O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still” (47:6). The speaker perceives that the judgment has been sufficient and calls out for God to suspend additional judgment.

What is the inspired response? “How can it [the sword] be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? There hath he appointed it” (47:8). What the people ask for is impossible. God’s sword cannot be retired, because it has been given a commission by God. A charge. An appointment. It must comply.

This is a negative example, that of judgment, but the same is true in the positive. If God puts forth an objective that He intends to accomplish, nothing can stop it. I’ve been reading a lot in the prophets lately, and once again I am amazed by the incredible boldness of God’s plan regarding Israel. God is intent on restoring that nation and bringing it to Himself in submission and worship. When we look at history and at the world around us, it seems nearly impossible. But when God has determined it to be so, it will be done.

This same truth applies on so many other levels, both grand and small. God will do the work that He has determined to do. That includes the salvation of souls. It includes His work of sanctification in us. It includes global control and the events of time and eternity.

God uses tools. Jeremiah 47 pictures a sword. Much of Jeremiah is filled with prophecies about how Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) will serve as the sword of the Lord. That sword, which we view as a wicked man and nation, served God’s purposes, and as such, could not be stopped.

As devoted servants of God, we can likewise have confidence that the work He has determined to do through us is not capable of being stopped. As flawed and frail as the tools sometimes are, God’s work through them is powerful and unstoppable. Does your task seem at times large and overwhelming? Remember that the tools God has commissioned must accomplish their purposes. When they are given a charge and an appointment by God for something that He has determined to do, they cannot be silenced or stilled.

May you continue to boldly serve God in all the ways that He has determined, and may He accomplish His great objectives through you.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

11022024 Promise of Life

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the only one who can promise life. Paul opened his second letter to Timothy with these words: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus” (1:1).

What is the “promise of life” that is found in Christ? At the minimum level, no one exists without Christ. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). I believe the meaning behind Paul’s greeting goes much deeper, however. After all, every person on earth exists.

Throughout this short letter, I believe Paul refers to three deeper levels of life that are promised in Christ. First, in Christ, we have the promise of true life, of spiritual life. The appearing of our Savior “abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (1:10). This eternal life is certain, because “the Lord knoweth them that are his” (2:19). Eternal life is when God gives to those who believe “repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2:25-26).

The second level of life that Christ provides for Christians is abundant life, which far surpasses life without Christ. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Paul describes this as a life “of power,” and not “of fear” (1:7). It is a life of purpose, a “holy calling … according to his own purpose and grace” (1:9), a “good thing” committed to Timothy as a minister of the gospel (1:14). It is a life of “grace” that provides strength for ministry (2:1). It is a life of “honour” for those who are cleansed and set apart “for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2:21). It is a truth-filled life, unlike unbelievers who are “ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (3:7) and who are deafened by “fables” (4:4). It is a life under the care of the Savior who can rescue, as he did when “the Lord stood with [Paul] … and strengthened” him (4:17). “Out of them all the Lord delivered me” (3:11). It is a life of Scripture-infused wisdom, knowing “the holy scriptures” which profits in “doctrine, … reproof, … correction, … instruction in righteousness” and “thoroughly furnish[es]” the man of God” (3:15-17).

Third, in this letter Paul encourages Timothy to look forward to eternal life. Paul confidently declared, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (1:12). Paul knew that day was coming, based on the example of Christ. “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead” (2:8). Not just for himself, but for all believers, Paul anticipated “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2:10-12). Paul looked forward to “his appearing and his kingdom” (4:1) and knew that God would preserve him “unto his heavenly kingdom,” where there would be “glory for ever and ever” (4:18).

Paul’s personal testimony reflected his confidence in the promise of life to be found in Christ. As he looked toward the end of his earthly life, he rested in this knowledge: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (4:6-8).

Thank God for the promise of life through Christ. Not mere existence, but spiritual life, in which we are rescued from death and the devil. Abundant life, filled with divine enablement and focused on purpose, truth, and usefulness in God’s work. Then blessed eternal life with Him, absolutely certain, and waiting for each one of us. When God promises life through Christ, it is an amazing promise!

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA