How to See Clearly - Martin Wiles

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

~1 Kings 19:9 NLT

None of us had ever experienced what we were about to do.

Eight couples from our church traveled to a cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for a marriage retreat. My wife and I had stayed in several cabins over the years—some we enjoyed, while others were misrepresented by the rental agency. Not this one.

Our little convoy turned off the main road and ascended a narrow road until we reached Summit View Lodge—a four-story cabin nestled on the side of a mountain. Everyone wanted to visit the top level to see the view. Surrounding us were mountain ranges folded upon mountain ranges. Sadly, trees, smog, and low-hanging clouds kept us from seeing clearly what we might have otherwise observed.

Elijah had a sight problem as well, but trees, pollution, and clouds had nothing to do with it. He had defeated hundreds of pagan prophets in a mountaintop contest, but the wicked queen wasn’t pleased with his efforts. A twenty-four-hour death sentence sent him running. His first stop was a broom tree where he asked God to take his life. Then he traveled to a cave where once again depression overshadowed him like a lurking animal. But amidst his despair, God helped him see clearly.

Fear, anxiety, and depression kept Elijah from seeing what God wanted to do in his life—just as clouds and smog kept us from seeing the totality of our mountain view. Adopting Elijah’s solution, running, is an easy escape point when things aren’t going our way or when we can’t see which way they are going at all.

Taking advantage of the abundant life Jesus offers requires a clear view—even when circumstances are against us. And this requires several steps, which Elijah eventually took.

First, we must believe God is with us and is concerned. Elijah’s running was unnecessary. God could handle a wicked queen. 

Second, we must ask God to help us understand the situation fogging our sight. God gave Elijah understanding in the cave. 

Third, we must accept our circumstances by faith. We won’t always understand what God is doing or why.

Finally, we must release despondency to God. Discouragement and depression will only further cloud our vision. Releasing it by faith clears things up.

Regardless of what clouds your view, God can help you see clearly.

Father, when the situations of life keep me from seeing clearly, help me to trust you to clear things up.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

The Cure for a Sin-Sick Heart - Martin Wiles

No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins. Job 22:5 NLT

“Have you anointed her and prayed for her healing?”

My wife suffers from various physical ailments—too many, in fact, for her years. She has undergone numerous surgeries to remove tumors that could have turned malignant. Then came surgeries to repair hernias, remove a gall bladder, remove plantar warts, and repair carpal tunnel. She still suffers from herniated disks in her back and neck. To top off these issues, she suffers with fibromyalgia, degenerative arthritis, and neuropathy. Every trip to the doctor seems to entail another medicine or a further diagnosis.

Had my wife lived in Job’s time, she would certainly have been classified as a notorious sinner by any number of pious church folks. Although a righteous man—declared so by God and himself—Job faced real accusations, not hypothetical ones. Several fair-weather friends accused him of sinning against God. Why else would he be afflicted by boils and have lost most of his family and possessions? Even his wife told him to curse God so he could die and get his miserable life over with.

Job, however, maintained his innocence, and at the end of the story God corroborated his testimony. Sickness is the bane of living in a world tainted by sin. The world God originally created was free from sickness—and all the other results of sin—and the new world he will create at the end of time will be identical.

While sickness came when sin entered the world, all sickness is not the result of individual sins. If this were true, my wife would be one of the greatest sinners in the world—when, in fact, she is quite saintly. God can and does use sickness as a means of disciplining or punishing those who revel in willful sin, but having a cold, flu, COVID, or some other illness or disease doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve committed a particular sin.

When my friend asked whether I had anointed and prayed for my wife, I answered, “Yes.” But she hasn’t been healed. Just as sickness is not always the result of sin, so God doesn’t always choose to heal our sicknesses when we ask. He is sovereign. We must trust his plan.

If you’re sick, examine your spiritual life. If it’s in order, pray for healing, but leave the results to an all-wise God.

Father, we entrust our health-related matters to you. If sin is the cause, convict us. If it’s not, then give us the courage to trust you and endure. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Downsizing … of Sorts - Martin Wiles

Then he said, “I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.” Luke12:18 NLT

“Where are we going put it? I think we’re turning into hoarders.”

My wife and I both have asked the question and made the statements. Our love for antiques—especially furniture—keeps us adding to our collection and trying to fit them into a small home. But on one of our moves, we decided we would downsize, of sorts. Not that we were going to sell anything. We would simply transfer some things from our home to our storage shed.

There were a few items we decided we could live without seeing or using. We loaded them into the back of our SUV and transported them several miles away. Perhaps our kids will want them someday. Or, maybe we’ll once again live in a larger place before we die. And of course, all of our stored pieces were assets we could sell if we needed money.

Jesus told about a rich man who was a hoarder, but he wasn’t into downsizing. He was into upsizing. His crops produced more than usual. His barns were full. There was nothing for him to do but build larger barns, store his goods, and eat, drink, and be merry. Life was good … or so he thought ... until God confronted him and told him his life would end that night.

Whether we downsize in actuality, we need to at least downsize in our thinking. Possessions are for this life. I will always love antiques and continue collecting them—and sell a few along the way. But I’m intelligent enough to know I can’t take them to heaven with me.

God gives us things of this life to enjoy, but they are for earth, not heaven or the new earth. Possessions are tangible, corruptible, breakable, and susceptible to theft. Placing our security or faith in them will always lead to disappointment.

Possessions can bring joy, but God expects us to use them to help others and also advance his Kingdom. Seeing what we have as temporary helps us do this with the right attitude, avoiding the rich man’s. He was selfish and thought only of himself. And, if by chance, our possessions turn our focus from God, we need to downsize.

Don’t let your possessions possess you. Downsize.

Father, I thank you for all you have given me. Help me use them to glorify your name and advance your work in this world. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Age Doesn’t Matter - Martin Wiles

Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. Psalm 92:14 NLT

I couldn’t imagine what a sixty-year-old person was doing in my college classroom. I soon found that age doesn’t matter. 

 

Eight years after graduating high school—and finally succumbing to God’s call to enter full-time ministry—I enrolled in college. I wasn’t excited about attending a traditional college where most of my classmates would be newly graduated high school students. Fortunately, I found a college that accommodated people in my age category who were also entering ministry. 

But when a retirement-age student walked into the classroom, I couldn’t help but wonder why God would call someone that late in life. For a person in their late 20s—as I was—a person in their late 60s was near dead. Now, that I am near that age, however, I no longer hold the same opinion. 

Age Is Relative 

 

Attending college with some older students taught me the truth of what the psalmist wrote. Age is relative and doesn’t keep anyone out of God’s service. Even now, I have a Canadian friend who is in her 80s and in a nursing home, but still writing for God.

God Has No Requirement Age

 

In God’s work, there is no retirement age. Some places of employment might require us to retire at a certain age or after we’ve worked a certain number of years with their company, but God never will. He offers the best retirement plan, but he’ll never ask us to retire early, or at all.

 

Age brings certain limitations, but it never takes away all possibility of serving God. He always has something we can do that will trump any physical limitations age may place on us. If nothing else, we can pray or send a card of encouragement to someone. We could even find someone to mentor in the faith.

 

I plan to eat right (well, most of the time) and stay in good shape so I can serve God with vigor for as long as possible. Then when it comes time to enjoy his retirement plan, I can die satisfied—knowing I did all I could for as long as I could.

 

Don’t let age—along with its limitations and ailments—keep you from serving God.

Father, thank you for the years you give me to serve you. Encourage me to give you my all until I take my final breath.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

God’s Grasshoppers - Martin Wiles

We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that’s what we looked like to them. Numbers 13:33 NLT

Quan struggled with a foreboding sense of insignificance. His people were celebrating a feast for their gods because they didn’t want them to send evil spirits to punish them. Quan, however, wasn’t participating. He would rather spend time with the local Christian missionaries, the Folicks. They had arrived on his island two years before to tell his people about a greater God. Only a few listened. Quan was one of them. His life had radically changed, but he felt insignificant. What could one person do to influence the actions of so many?

Joshua and Caleb no doubt felt insignificant as well. Among twelve spies Moses had sent to spy out the Promised Land, they were the only two who returned with a favorable report. Yes, the cities were walled, and yes, the people were fierce, but they had God on their side. They could conquer the land. God rewarded their diligence. Joshua was chosen to lead the new generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, and Caleb was given a parcel of land.

I—like Quan, Joshua, and Caleb—have felt the creeping fingers of insignificance. I listen to media sources, and it appears evil is overwhelming good. What can I possibly do to stem the flow? Christians are in a minority, and I circulate in a very small part of the world. How much of an influence could I possibly exert?

Lack of trust will keep us feeling helpless, and this is exactly where Satan would love for us to camp. God, on the other hand, wants our faith. Faith—even as small as a mustard seed—can move mountains because it is placed in the One who can shift them. We can do great things because the One who lives in us is greater than the One who lives in the world. What appears small to us, He can use to make a major impact.

One thing we have that Quan, Joshua, and Caleb knew nothing about is technology. With the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger, we can send the gospel—along with spiritual encouragement—across the world.

Think of one way you can use your technology to overcome feelings of insignificance.

Father, when I feel insignificant, remind me who I am in Jesus Christ. 

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God at a Distance - Martin Wiles

But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8 NLT

Sitting silently, it waited to be picked up to talk to people who were far away.

Telephones have changed drastically during my lifetime. The first phone I remember was solid black with only a receiver and perched on my grandmother’s buffet in her dining room. To make a call, I picked up the receiver and, if no one was talking, waited for the operator’s assistance. This was called a party line.

The next phone looked similar but had a dial so I could place my call without the operator’s help. Then the push button phone arrived. The cordless phone followed. Now I wasn’t bound by a cord and could move about while talking. Finally, cellular phones revolutionized communication. I could talk while traveling. At present, I can carry my phone (computer) with me anywhere I go. Distance is no longer an issue.

While distance was once a problem when using a phone, it never has been for God. This Roman officer knew this long before the idea of communicating by phone ever entered an inventor’s mind. His servant was paralyzed and needed healing. He approached Jesus who offered to come to his house and heal the servant. The officer suggested Jesus do it long distance. Jesus was amazed at his faith. 

Sometimes, I forget distance isn’t a problem for God. I imagine when praying that my prayers drift up to heaven and then vie for God’s attention—among the millions of others being offered at the exact moment. Then God has to schedule when he’ll take care of mine. And I wait.

To begin with, God is Spirit and omnipresent. He’s not bound by time and is everywhere simultaneously. He can hear my prayers and millions more at the exact time and in the same moment. He isn’t confined by chronos time but operates in kairos time. While he can answer our prayers from a distance, from God’s perspective, distance is never what we perceive it to be. He is as close as the breath we breathe to utter our requests.

God is never too busy or far away to answer your prayers and supplications. Go to him often, believing he will answer any prayer made in faith.

Father, I thank You for being as close as the air I breathe and for Your willingness to answer my prayers.

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I Thought I Knew You - Martin Wiles

He’s just the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us. Mark 6:3 NLT

I’d known him thirteen years before. But then he was a baby; now he was a teenager.

I once took a high school teacher’s position at a local private school. As I called the roll in my ninth-grade class, I immediately recognized the name of one of my students. His parents were members of a small country church my father had once pastored.

Since this young man was a baby when I last saw him, I could only judge his character by his parents. They were hard-working, honest people who had been good friends to my family and me. They were dedicated to the church and faithfully supported it. Surely, this young man would mimic his parents. In this case, he did, but he could have misrepresented his family entirely. I judged him by what I knew about his parents and expected as much from him.

Jesus’ hometown was Nazareth. He had grown up as a carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph. Years later—when he returned claiming to be God’s Son—the people scoffed. They knew him as the carpenter’s son but nothing more. Their preconceived ideas kept them from believing the truth about him. They missed the Savior. Prejudice blinded them to the truth.

There have been a number of occasions when I’ve been disappointed by those I thought I knew. They’ve let me down, gossiped about me, and betrayed me when I needed them the most. I knew the parents of some and expected better but was disillusioned. Stereotyping has also occasionally kept me from seeing the person behind the facade.

God creates everyone in his image. Prejudice, stereotyping, and erroneous first-time impressions can keep us from seeing others’ inner potential and helping them realize it. There’s nothing we can’t do or be with God’s assistance, and the same is true of all people. Many whom we think we know often surprise us by being more than we ever imagined. We see a cheater; God sees a business owner. We see a troubled teen; God sees a future preacher or missionary.

We are all masterpieces in the making. God wants us to see others as he does.

What blinders do you need to remove so you can know others as God does?

Father, help me see others as You do so I can love them as You do. 

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A God My Size - Martin Wiles

Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1 NLT

She was never a hoarder—and isn’t now—but sometimes, I wish she had been. Perhaps, I would have learned more about a God my size. 

Mom was known for throwing things away. As I visit antique stores and auctions and see the value of things I once had, I think, “Why didn’t Mom keep this?” She only kept a few of my baby items: my baby book, musical phone, musical ball, musical piano, and a baby blanket.

Looking at the blanket reminds me it was just my size. Had it been full, queen, or even king-size, it would have swallowed me. But since it was just my size, it covered me exactly and allowed my body heat to keep me nice and warm.

According to the psalmist, those who say there’s no God—atheists—are fools. They have made God their size. In fact, they have reduced him to nothing but a mere concoction by their minds—which are weak, superstitious, and unable to handle life. Since they feel they can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, without help from a higher power, they disregard him entirely.

Some people worship a small God. One who can handle the small details of their lives but not the major items. One who might intervene if it’s convenient or if he has the desire. One who is harsh and unfeeling. One who is just waiting for them to make a mistake so he can relish in punishing them.

I have chosen a larger size for my God. And not because I’m weak and afraid to face life but because God presents himself as a big God. He can tame the tornado and hush the hurricane. He can install leaders and bring them down. He can govern the world and nurture creation.

My God, however, is re-sizable. When I need him to be, he can be small. He can comfort me when I don’t get a promotion, drive away the fear of peer pressure, and help me decide my life course. God can give us the wisdom to rear our children, love our spouses, and care for aging parents. He can tell us which college to attend and where not to go on vacation. He can—and wants to—govern every detail of our lives.

How can you let God be the size you need for your life’s decisions?

Father, I thank You that You are always just the size I need. 

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Infinitely More - Martin Wiles

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Dropout wasn’t a word with enough negative connotations to keep me from becoming one.

By the midpoint of my senior year of high school, I’d had enough. Education had disgusted me for quite some time. I could now legally decide whether I wanted to continue. I chose not to. But after several months in the work world, I saw how important a high school diploma was.

Reluctantly, I returned and graduated. A few years later, God confronted my “I hate education” attitude by calling me into the ministry, which required I attend four years of college. Several years later, he allowed me to earn my master’s degree. One year later, he put me in touch with a gentleman who offered to pay the tuition and book fees for me to earn my Doctor of Christian Ministry degree. By God’s strength, I was able to accomplish infinitely more than I ever could have by myself.

Sometimes I forget about the mighty God I serve and about the presence of His Spirit within me. Occasionally, I launch out into tasks with the plan mapped out, thinking I have all the answers. Periods of failure remind me I control nothing but myself and that even the best laid-out plans can go awry. God also has a habit of reminding me I can only do all things through Him and His power—not my own.

Underestimating God’s power and being satisfied with less than He wants to give or accomplish is tempting. This verse reminds me He can do infinitely more through me than I could ever imagine. God’s power over the world is limitless, and it is unlimited in believers as well. When our focus is where it should be, and when our faith is great and pure, God will take us to new heights and greater accomplishments for His Kingdom.

Don’t sell God short. Let Him achieve more through you than you could ever dream of.

Prayer: Father, prepare our hearts so that You might accomplish more through us than we could ever imagine. 

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