Where Can God Be Found? - Martin Wiles

What I’m looking for isn’t always found where I’m looking.

I’m always looking to discover more friends through my writing. Along with pointing others to Christ and helping them deepen their walk with him, it’s also nice to establish acquaintances along the way. 

Sometimes I find them in the most unlikely places. Just recently I received a letter from a reader forwarded to me by a publisher. This person was in prison and had read one of my devotions in a quarterly publication. He wanted to make contact and ask for prayer and guidance. So I wrote back, and we’ve been corresponding ever since. 

Prison wasn’t the place I was looking for a friend, but I discovered one nevertheless. And it doesn’t matter what he’s done in the past; only what God can do in his present and future.

Nathanael, future follower of Jesus, didn't expect to find the Messiah in the insignificant town of Nazareth. “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied (John 1:46 NLT).

Since God loves to confound us, I’ve learned to look outside the box when I search for him. And sure enough, I often unearth him in places I wouldn’t think to look. While he’s present in the normal places—the pages of his Word, the prayer closet, in corporate worship experiences--he also makes himself known where I might not think or want to look.

I’ve uncovered God at what appeared to be youth rock concerts. However, the lyrics were Christian and so were many of the attendees. Teens praised God, made important decisions, and gave their lives to Christ. Surely, God must have been there. Jesus demonstrated God could be located in the presence of children, in the home of those considered chief sinners, and even among the outcasts of society.

Where is God found? Wherever love is displayed. Are you overlooking him?

Prayer: Father in heaven, may we learn to see You and manifest Your presence through our acts of love in all the places we go to.

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Enough Is Enough - Martin Wiles

So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 1 Timothy 6:8 NLT

Enough is enough when focus is correct. When it’s not, it’s called discontent.

Every time I make an order from Amazon, I see the all-familiar words: “Customers who bought this item also bought…” Then I see the picture … or pictures.

When my wife and I updated (a word that’s all too common, meaning we did something we didn’t need to do) to a new smartphone, we didn’t stop with simply purchasing—or financing—the phone. The salesperson was more than happy to show us other gadgets customers normally purchase when they buy the phone. Such as a screen protector, an otter box, a holder for the back, a car charger. They even offered us a few bonus dollars so we could afford to purchase them.

Upgrade is the new 21st-century word for not enough. Paul disagreed. He lived in a time when people kept things until they broke. And if possible, they then repaired them and kept them a little longer. Coming from a man who once had wealth before he met Christ and decided to follow Him, Paul now said his contentment only depended on food and clothing.

Where Jesus stayed on a regular basis is anyone’s guess. He traveled about teaching, healing, and caring. He once said foxes have dens and birds have nests but that the Son of Man (Himself) had nowhere to lay His head. Yet, He had enough because He focused on doing God’s will.

Discontent comes when my enough is not enough. And my enough is never enough when I’m not focused on the right things. Jesus said the right things were loving God with my entire heart and others as myself. He did that, and so did Paul after meeting Christ on the Damascus Road.

Focus is the key. Rather than seeing the upgrades and longing for them, I must content myself with what God gives me. He promises to provide food, shelter, and clothing. I don’t have to worry about them. He normally gives much beyond that—or upgraded models of them.

The key is what we do with things. We can use them selfishly or selflessly. When we choose the latter, enough will be just what God gives us—along with the satisfaction of knowing we have used our things to advance God’s Kingdom by loving and serving others.

Let God’s enough be enough for you.

Prayer: Father, focus our attention on loving You and others so our enough will be enough.

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Flashback Friday - Centered on God - Martin Wiles

Centered on God

Appearances are all that matters to me; to others exactness is important.

“Does it look like it’s in the middle?” I asked my wife as I held a large mirror in my hand, a nail between my teeth, and a hammer between my knees. “To the right just a fuzz,” was her Southern response. Then “Right there.” So I made a small indentation with the nail, passed the mirror to her, and drove the nail into the Sheetrock. After placing the mirror on the nail, I consulted her again, “Is it straight?” “Move the bottom to the right a little.” I did, and we were finished. We center by eyeballing. Not so when my dad hung paraphernalia. He measured to center and used a leveler to level. Too much trouble for me. Appearances will suffice. After all, who’s going to come into my house and measure to determine if my pictures are centered? Read more...

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Until the End - Martin Wiles

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:14 NLT

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

My dedication to exercise almost parrots a mail person’s commitment. In my younger years, I mixed up my exercise regimen by jogging, running, cycling, and walking. Now that I’m older and the joints achier, I stick to walking only.

If I were an inside exerciser, the outside temperature or what was falling from the sky wouldn’t worry me. But I’m not an inside exerciser. I prefer the outdoors where I can breathe fresh air, gaze at the various patterns of clouds, and listen to the birds. And I walk, regardless. Well … almost.

A common saying among hikers and backpackers is “Rain is not a deterrent, just an inconvenience.” When it comes to exercising, I believe the saying and have the notches on my backpack to prove it. As long as lighting isn’t popping, sleet or hail isn’t falling, or temperatures aren’t plunging into the teens, I walk. I enjoy it, know it’s good for my health, and realize I could easily find excuses not to if I wasn’t determined.

Paul encourages the same kind of perseverance in obeying Christ and living a holy life. He planned to press on until he reached heaven—or met Christ at His second coming.

Persevering to the end takes a determined mindset, such as the one I have about exercising. If I wanted, I could easily find excuses every day not to exercise. Too hot, too cold, raining, tired, too much to do. But I am determined to stay as healthy as possible so I can enjoy the life God has given me.

On my own, I can’t manage the type of perseverance this takes. The courage comes from God who is more than able to supply the determination I need to obey Him in my actions, my words, and the practice of my spiritual disciplines.

Paul knew the benefits of persevering in God’s calling on his life. Exercise has benefits. That’s why I keep doing it, whether I feel like it or not. I know living as God wants me to brings peace, assurance, and joy. Doing so may not always be easy—it wasn’t for Paul—but it’s the best exercise around.

Don’t let discouragement, laziness, or other things keep you from persevering until the end for God.

Prayer: Father, give us the strength we need to follow You faithfully until the end.

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Too Near the Sting - Martin Wiles

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak! Matthew 26:41 NLT

I was as close as I dared to get.

Dog kennels, chicken coops, barns, and old sheds surrounded my maternal grandparents’ old farmhouse. And each place provided ample room for wasps and hornets to construct their nests.

Not having much to do, my cousin and I dreamed up games and adventures. One of them involved taking rocks or dirt clods and throwing them at wasp nests. At least we had the good sense not to get too close when we did. Since we stood at a safe distance, the wasps never flew far enough to find and sting us. Had we stood closer, they surely would have taken their anger out on us—perhaps more than once.

Jesus warned His disciples about getting too close to the sting of sin. He agonized in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just prior to His arrest, crucifixion, and death. The disciples, on the other hand, slept. They lingered too near the sting and gave in, tired though they may have been.

A commonsense approach—although easier said than done—for avoiding the sting of sin involves staying away from situations, and sometimes people, that make it easy to fall into sin. Just as my cousin and I weren’t forced to throw objects at wasp nests.

Each of us has our weaknesses. If we don’t know what they are, experience will show us. Once we learn them, avoiding tempting situations keeps us from being stung. James says to resist the devil, and he will flee from us (4:7). Through the power of God’s Spirit, we can resist. God also promises not to let the temptation get so severe that we can’t resist it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Flirting with evil is foolish, just as throwing rocks at wasp nests was. Fortunately, I never got stung, but I’ve not been so lucky with sin. When I’ve flirted with it, I’ve often been stung by it.

Although God forgives when we’re stung, He often allows the consequences to linger—as does the pain of a wasp’s sting. To avoid the consequences, I must avoid the sting. Pursuing holiness helps me achieve this. Our bodies are temples of God’s Spirit and should be kept clean from stinging thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

Ask God to help you avoid the daily stings of sin. His power will give you success.

Prayer: Father, lead us onto the paths of righteousness so we can evade the stings of sin.

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Throwback Tuesday - What Do You Need - Martin Wiles

What Do You Need? 

“Dad, I need a new pair of shoes.” As I scanned over the pair dangling on my son’s feet, I wondered how he could need a new pair so soon. I saw no holes in the cloth. His toes weren’t pricking the end, nor were his soles protruding through the rubber bottoms. “Why do you need a new pair?” I queried. “I just do,” he replied. As I probed and pointed out the sufficiency of his present shoes, he finally admitted: “Well, all my friends are wearing _________.” (You fill in the blank with the brand.) New shoes weren’t a need; they were a want. So I took the opportunity to explain the difference between a want and a need and also about peer pressure and the danger sometimes involved in following the crowd. Read more...

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Held by the Anchor - Martin Wiles

Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your instructions. Psalm 119:61 NLT

She may have drifted a tad, but overall her anchor held.

My maternal grandmother loved to fish in the Santee River, but not in the big open water. She hunted the nooks and crannies. Places where the bream bedded and the catfish trolled. And with one small and one large cane pole, she spent most of her days fishing for fish she’d never eat.

Her anchor was often a bush. With a piece of string, she tied on. The waves from passing boats rocked her small craft, but it would never move from the spot she anchored it.

Occasionally she’d fish in the open areas, and when she did, she used another anchor. Not a fancy one, or one even shaped like an anchor. Her anchors were pieces of heavy metal tied to a string and then secured to her boat. This anchor didn’t hold as fast as the string, but her boat drifted little, if at all.

Regardless of which anchor my grandmother used, the purpose was the same: keeping her boat where she had it so she could catch fish to sell to her neighbors.

Others attempted to drag the psalmist into sinful behavior, but God’s principles kept him firmly anchored.

Growing up with a dad who was a preacher, I had God’s commands and principles instilled in me from an early age. Before I could read the Bible, Dad read Bible stories to me. And when I learned to read, he encouraged me to read the Bible for myself—and I did. And I’ve continued doing it for the past fifty years.

While I can’t say I’ve come across anything new in God’s Word, God’s Spirit takes what I already know and shows me different applications and understandings for it and then helps me relate it to the world’s ever-changing culture. This practice keeps my thoughts and actions anchored in obedience to Christ.

If I don’t stay anchored in the teachings of God’s Word, I’ll do what my grandmother’s boat would have done had she not anchored it: drift. Drift into patterns of thinking or acting that displease God and prevent Him from accomplishing His best for me. His word holds me in His will.

Tie on to God’s Word so you won’t drift into forbidden actions or thoughts that prevent you from enjoying the abundant life Christ wants you to have.

Prayer: Father, keep us tied to Your Word so others won’t be able to drag us into sin.

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The Wrong Word the Wrong Way - Martin Wiles

You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. Exodus 20:7 NLT

The wrong word in the wrong context conveys the wrong message.

As a Language Arts teacher and freelance editor, I see students and writers confuse several groups of words. Among them: they’re, their, there; wear and where; let’s and lets; and your and you’re.

My attempted solution to get students to use the correct word is to make them write sentences using the various words in the correct context. Even then, they sometimes continue to make mistakes. 

Seasoned writers occasionally use the wrong word too. When editing their articles, I simply make the correction and move on without telling them. I assume they know better but just didn’t catch the error when proofing their work.

God warned about misusing a word too: His name. Doing so would being punishment.

Dad always taught me that saying the really bad curse word, the GD word, broke this command. So even when I was a rebelling teenager who cussed like a sailor, I avoided that word. Doing so crossed a line I didn’t want to cross. God might strike me dead.

As I matured spiritually, I came to understand there were many other ways I could misuse the Lord’s name without saying that word. Such as not speaking up for God when I encountered situations where I should have. Not reflecting the light Jesus said I was as His child. Instead of correcting friends, or strangers, when they did or said things that violated God’s principles, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to lose friends—or be thought of as a Jesus freak.

I also came to understand I could misuse the Lord’s name in my thoughts. Thinking was just as bad as doing. I discovered this when I read and studied Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. If I thought a curse word, I was as guilty as if I had said it. Thinking words that misused God’s name but substituting another word that technically wasn’t a curse word placed me in the same camp.

Making unwise or sinful choices or walking around with a negative attitude misused God’s name before others too. Doing these things demonstrated I didn’t think God could give me the wisdom to make good choices or that I didn’t really think He controlled my circumstances.

God’s name is holy. Let Him give you the power not to misuse it in your speech or actions.

Prayer: Father, may we keep Your name holy in the things we do and say.

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Flashback Friday - When the Earth Moves - Martin Wiles

When the Earth Moves

The house trembled, and a cold fear slithered across my body. 

With the exception of a few years, I’m a life-long South Carolinian, but I’ve never felt what I did on Valentine’s Day, 2014. As my wife and I enjoyed a leisurely evening in our recliners, a low rumble began and grew louder. Then suddenly the house shook for the longest five seconds I’ve ever encountered. Since I’d never experienced an earthquake before, I wasn’t sure what this was. Shortly thereafter, the local newscast revealed the story: a 4.1 magnitude earthquake had registered a mere 25 miles away. Two days later, a smaller aftershock briefly quivered our house again. My wife’s sentiments were mine: “That was kind of creepy.” While South Carolina experiences many small earthquakes every year, this one informed me of its presence. Read more...

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Give until the End - Martin Wiles

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT

He gave until the end.

As a teenager, he was caught up in the Holocaust and separated from his family. He nearly died but amazingly survived his experience in a Nazi death camp. After the war, he made his way to America where, in 1950, he was drafted into the Army and fought in the Korean conflict.

Henri Landwirth’s giving career began in 1952 in New York City. Later, he managed the Starlite Motel in Coca Beach, Florida. Then he purchased a Holiday Inn franchise in Orlando and offered rooms to the Make-a-Wish foundation for terminally ill children and their families.

His giving took on a new nature when he heard of a terminally ill girl named Amy who wanted to see Mickey Mouse before she died. She didn’t make it. So in 1989, Landwirth opened the Give the Kids the World Village. At this Kissimmee resort, critically-ill children and their families could enjoy a week’s vacation. 

When Landwirth died at the age of 91, Pamela Landwirth, president and CEO of Give the Kids the World said of him, “Henri was a remarkable man who worked tirelessly to help our precious children and their families.”

Though we have no record in the Bible of the quote Paul uses, Jesus certainly exemplified that God loves a cheerful giver. He gave sight to the blind, healed legs to those who had crippled legs, cleansed skin of lepers, hearing to the deaf, forgiveness to those who asked, instruction to those who desired it, and life to the dead. 

Some give because others have coerced them to. Pressure isn’t a proper motive for giving. God wants us to give because our heart prompts us to—and He is the one behind the prompting. We give willingly because God has given so much to us.

God doesn’t want us to give because we fear His judgment if we don’t, because we are following tradition we’ve been taught, or because we’ll feel guilty if we don’t. He wants us to give because we’ve been given to. No greater gift can be given than for a person to lay down their lives for others. And Jesus did this through His ultimate act of giving on the cross.

Ask God for opportunities to give as well as the means to do it. You’ll be surprised at what He sends your way.

Prayer: Father, may our giving be as cheerful as Yours was to us.

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Protected from Evil - Martin Wiles

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT

The presence of evil surrounded me.

Darkness had another hour before the morning light drove it away. And me? I had a job to do for a fellow college student. He opened the college in the morning and raised the American and Christian flags to their respective places. Since my wife was working, I strolled our infant daughter with me.

As my daughter lay fast asleep in her stroller, I unlocked the front door of the college, picked up the American flag lying on an inside chair, hooked it to the pole, and prepared to raise it. Suddenly, I noticed a haggard-looking young man walking up from nowhere. He saluted the flag. 

Feeling the presence of danger yet knowing I had a duty to do, I told him I had another flag to raise. I feared his reaction. I feared for my daughter if something happened to me. But I knew it was an opportunity to stand for Christ. I raised the flag. He made a derogatory remark and walked off. Rather disappeared. After raising the flag, I looked across the parking lot to where he should have been, but saw no one. God had protected me from evil.

Paul declares God is faithful and will guard His children from Satan, the evil one … the enemy of our souls. In another place, he says God will not allow us to be tempted to the degree that we have no choice but to give in (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Declaring God will protect us doesn’t mean bad things can’t or won’t happen to us. Christians in many parts of the world pay for their beliefs with persecution and death. They did when Paul wrote these words. Jesus Himself paid with His life. In a strange way, the evil of persecution multiplies Christians instead of stamping them out.

We can’t always explain why God allows evil to temporarily triumph, but this we can know. Others may kill the body, but they can’t destroy our soul or spirit. This part of us is protected by God Himself and will inherit the blessed eternal life He promises to His children. Sometimes God delivers us from evil—as He did me—while at other times He delivers us through it. In either case, He gives the wisdom we need to respond appropriately, not foolishly.

Don’t fear evil. Instead, trust the One who has power over it.

Prayer: Father, we entrust our lives to You, believing You have power over our enemy.

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Throwback Tuesday - Where Are You Headed - Martin Wiles

Where Are You Headed? 

If you don’t know where you’re headed, how will you know when you arrive?

My car sits in the driveway, waiting patiently for my arrival. Eventually, I make my appearance, open the car door, insert the key into the ignition, and crank the car. Slowly I back out of the driveway, put the gearshift in drive, and proceed to the stop sign at the end of our subdivision. After making a left turn, I travel 500 yards to the next stop sign, and then turn left again. Now I have a straight shot for as far as I want to travel. What my eventual destination would be, I’m not sure. And is it even the direction I really want to travel? If I haven’t planned where I’m going, how will I know when I get there? And where is there? How do I know I’ll enjoy myself when I get wherever there is? Read more...

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