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READ GENESIS 21-24. “CONSIDER THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS—Part Three.” For Joy and her family the death of the little one was crushing. As a young pastor, what could I say to bring them some comfort? The HOLY SPIRIT gave me the word, “PRECIOUS.” All the most precious things are hid in Him: “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3); “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We may lose any of earth’s precious things, but we can never lose Jesus, our priceless treasure. Even death serves only to bring Him nearer. He is a Jewel of which neither Satan nor death can rob us. Heat can destroy even a diamond, but the fiercest heat of trial cannot separate the believer from Christ. He shares our sorrows, lightens our loads, and doubles our joys. DOES JESUS CARE? OH YES, HE CARES. HE IS PRECIOUSNESS. Embrace Him as He embraces you.
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READ GENESIS 18-20. “CONSIDER THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS—Part Two.” In the light of yesterday’s thoughts it is little wonder that Jesus is precious to a believer. Interestingly note that in 1 Peter 2:7 the word precious is a noun, not an adjective. Literally the verse should read, “Unto you that believe He is the preciousness;” i.e., He is preciousness itself. An adjective admits of degrees, but not a noun. To the believer He is the essence of all preciousness. CONSIDER THIS … HIS PRECIOUSNESS … AS YOU BOW YOUR HEART IN PRAYER TODAY. TAKE TIME TO BASK IN HIS LOVE. He is the cornerstone of our faith “disallowed indeed of men, but chose of God, and precious” (1 Peter 2:4).
I am not sure when, but it was early in my pastoral ministry, that the preciousness of Christ became fixed in my mind and heart. Although I was a Southern Baptist pastor (and we were pretty sure that our way was the only way), a fellow pastor from Big Hill Avenue Christian Church became a best friend. The friendship deepened when his daughter, Joy, became a member of Rosedale Baptist Church, Richmond, Kentucky, where I was pastor. God’s ways are not ours and ours are not His. In His providence, Joy’s infant daughter was suddenly taken into eternity, what was then called a “crib death.” It was then that “precious” became my thought to comfort the family. When Pastor and I connected he began by saying “precious” and thanking me for applying that word to his family and their experience.
“Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). Later I learned that the celebrated Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a lad of sixteen, preached his first sermon from this text. Could he have chosen a text more spacious and limitless to a lover of Christ? I think not. Christ was precious to His Father. “I was daily His delight” (Proverbs 8:30). “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” was God’s affirmation when Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3:17). Without a doubt Jesus was inexpressibly dear to His Father. “I’ve come to do Your will, O God.” Everything in His walk from Bethlehem to Calvary gave the Father infinite delight. CONSIDER THIS—THE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST. Go back to the hour you first believed. Relive those moments. Examine yourself. Can you sing “He is so precious to me” or any other hymn or gospel song? Take time to sing to the Lord! READ GENESIS 15-17. “CONSIDER JESUS.” The Bible tells us to watch the animals and learn from them, to inquire of nature and learn from its Creator. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). Remember the beavers from yesterday’s blog?? Dr. Morgan continues: “Whenever I am in New York, I like to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge which was constructed in the 1800s. After it was built, showman P. T. Barnum took 21 elephants across it to show everyone it was safe. But long before suspension bridges were built, spiders were building bridges and spinning webs that rival our greatest feats of engineering. By the time a web is completed, it’s a geometrical wonder. Scientists tell us that for its size, spider silk is stronger than steel.”
Think about radar, which was invented when a German physicist determined radio waves could bounce off solid object. Long before radar, bats were flying in and out of caves, emitting high-pitched sounds, which bounce off objects and echo back into the big ears of the creatures. A bat’s brain instantly processes the information and determines its flight plan… Long before helicopters, there were hummingbirds—tiny creatures with wings that beat an average of 50 times a second. They can hover or fly up and down, left and right, backward and forward, and even upside down. They are God’s little helicopters. These are examples of what animals can teach us. : READ GENESIS 12-14. “CONSIDER. The Bible tells us: “Ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you” (Job 12:7-8). Do you understand what the Holy Spirit inspired Job to share? God’s creatures are marvelous teachers. One of my favorite authors is Robert J. Morgan. I first became acquainted with his writings when we resided in Murfreesboro in Middle Tennessee. His ability to communicate attracted my attention and I became an avid follower. Remember, I do not have a degree from a Bible college or seminary. However, I have availed myself with men, such as Robert Morgan, whom God has gifted to unpack the Word. How much can we profit from God’s creation? Let Dr. Morgan teach us as we ask the animals.
“As a boy I visited Hoover Dam. It’s one of the most breathtaking construction projects of the 20th century, and I was frightened by its massive size. But long before anyone thought of building dams and creating lakes, do you know who was doing it? Beavers! They have huge, orange front teeth that can cut through a tree. Why orange? The teeth are reinforced with iron to make them strong enough for gnawing. Beavers know how to fashion sticks into a dam that can last for hundreds of years. These beaver dams contain different rooms for eating and for nesting, and they have underwater entrances. They are marvels of engineering.” ASK THE ANIMALS! Would you like to learn more? We will continue this thought tomorrow. What a mighty God we serve! READ GENESIS 10-11. “CONSIDER.” Among the interesting things that Jesus said was “Consider the ravens” (Luke 12:24). Sue and I have made our home at 1127 Lakeside Drive, Lynchburg, Virginia since April 2002. The house has two levels, an upper level and a terrace level. We choose the house knowing the lower level could house J. Gordon Henry Ministries and the upper level our living quarters. There is over 3,000 square feet between the two levels and plenty of windows. Coming in the entry from the two-bay garage, the upper level has a common mudroom and sunroom, a den (which now houses a work station for JGHM as well as a traditional den), a dining room, kitchen, living room, three bedrooms, a hallway and two baths. The sunroom provides a beautiful view of the Gethsemane Rock Garden featuring a rock seat, three crosses, the Angel of Patience, and a lot of rocks garnered from the property. There is a stairwell off the den leading to the lower level. There is a very large office area, a small office known as “The Eagle’s Nest, ” a guest bedroom, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a bathroom. An entry door is off the lower drive.
I have described our living and working quarters for one reason. We have walls everywhere and every wall tells a story. Birds and animals are everywhere. Every wall is covered by photos (people, family, Ray Harm Bird/Animal prints, events) and other features. There is a story behind each one that relates to our past relationships around the world. There is a giant world map as well as a large globe. We want to keep the [people of] the world (8 billion, 28 million, 504 thousand) on our hearts and in our prayers. These items serve as reminders to pray for people and events. If not you, who? If not here, where? If not now, when? Are you a Lighthouse of Prayer for your family, for your neighbors, for your city/town/village, for your state, for your nation, for the world? Arrange your home to keep you alert to the spiritual side of your life. The owl and eagle collections are special features on the lower level and the den of the upper level. READ GENESIS 6-9. “CONSIDER JESUS.” Do you remember the lyrics and music in REDEEMED? “I THINK of my blessed Redeemer, I THINK of Him all the day long; I SING for I cannot be silent; His love is the theme of my song.” Think about Jesus. Sing about Jesus. Sing to Jesus. And do not ignore the Father and the Holy Spirit as you sing. During the final two years of my twenty-seven year pastoral ministry, two guiding principles were followed. First, make prayer a priority; hence, the 24/7 Prayer Chapel Ministry on the campus of Immanuel Baptist Church, Newport News, Virginia; second, magnify Jesus remembering lifting Jesus up draws people to Him. We determined to SING about Jesus avoiding the “I, me, my” approach as so many songs were beginning to feature at that time, abandoning the hymns of the faith. I even asked the musicians to choose selections and arrangements for their preludes, offertories, postludes that would cause those present to think and talk to themselves about Jesus. The crowds came. The Holy Spirit always stirred hearts. People came to Chris. I personally baptized over one hundred believers each of the last two years of my pastoral ministry. GOD THE FATHER HAS NOT CHANGED! GOD THE SON HAS NOT CHANGED! THE HOLY HAS NOT CHANGED! WHAT IF CHURCHES/PASTORS WOULD SIMPLY MAGNIFY JESUS AND MAKE PRAYER A PRIORITY? Soul-winning should be one of our goals in all our meetings and music, carefully chosen, can be used to touch hearts. Almost every morning I go to the keyboard and simply play hymns and gospel songs that come to my mind. A-s you sing in your heart, you will be in good company. Heaven is filled with exaltations to our God.
READ GENESIS 3-5. According to the Scriptures we are instructed to CONSIDER JESUS (Hebrews 3:1). There are many realities worthy of our undivided attention but none so important as this one. Considering Jesus is life changing and crucial for a successful Christian journey from earth to Heaven, our eternal home. I suppose it would not be an exaggeration if I said that we could consider Jesus in each of the remaining three hundred sixty-three days in 2024 and we would only barely entered His realities. A serious believer would do well to consider Jesus as we begin a new year—beginning each day and several times throughout each day.
Sue (who will be 86 on February 9) and I (now living my 89th year of life) considered our witness after our passages to Heaven. We, with the help of our daughters, Mona and Melody, have made prearrangements of the time to come to the end of life’s journeys. For decades we have thought in terms of burial in the Henry burial plot in Sandy Ridge Cemetery, Jefferson County, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains. Sue pointed out a few years ago that we should reconsider since it is unlikely that many family members would make their way to East Tennessee. Our choice was Beulah Church Cemetery about four minutes from our home in Lynchburg, Virginia. A dear friend from our Kerby Knob Church (Kentucky) days helped design our marker some years ago and planned to install it in Tennessee. Using that design, the marker is now in place for all to see—our names, our birthdates, the names of our children (the three Ms—Mona, Mark, and Melody), the dates of our passing, sets of praying hands, AND two scriptures. One side honors our children—“Behold, children are a inheritance from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3) and the other side honors our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—“Looking un to Jesus the Author [Originator] and Finisher [Perfecter] of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). This is our final witness. May every blog that I write in 2024 cause us to CONSIDER JESUS. There is no doubt that God wants us to give His Word our full and undivided attention. In laying out His case against Israel, the Holy Spirit directed the prophet Isaiah to write: “My people do not consider” (Isaiah 1:3). Even the casual Bible reader is likely to remember these words. Thorough the Reflectors, we have asked our readers to “reflect” over thoughts God allowed us to reduce to the printed page.
However, “consider” is a far better word. A number of different Greek and Hebrew words are translated “consider” in the English version. The different Old Testament words translated “consider” carry these thoughts: “to see,” “to know,” “to think,” “to calculate,” “to discern.” In the New Testament “consider” covers “to take note of,” “to look carefully at,” “to reckon,” “to perceive,” “to reflect on,” “to ponder.” Thus “consider” in the Scriptures suggests careful examination with a view to discerning and coming to some conclusion. The word can focus on the process as in Jesus’ exhortation “Consider the ravens” (Luke 12:24) or on the conclusion reached as in Philippians 2:6, which asserts that Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at).” Dictionary definitions include “to deliberate upon, examine, study,” “regard, think, think carefully,” “judge,” “pay attention to,” “reflect,” “observe carefully.” As I share thoughts based on my daily time in the Word of God and my annual trek reading through the Bible that began in 1977 (reading for my spiritual food instead of a message to preach as I had done the previous twenty-four years), it is with the thought that you will “consider” implications for your own spiritual growth in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). |
AuthorDr J. Gordon Henry - the Founder of The Prayer Seminar shares thoughts for consideration Note from the AuthorMy Blog
Many of our readers have walked along beside us through articles in The Reflector. It has been a joy to share. After sixty-nine years of publication, the last issue of that publication was December 2023. Due to increased responsibilities as caregiver for Sue, my wife, who has ministered close by my side for over sixty-six years, a decision has been made to use the world-wide web as the tool and mode to continue sharing. The platform will be www.theprayerseminar.com. Entries will be made as time and events allow. Check out My Blog on the JGHM website, www,jgordonhenryministries.org and find past vignettes (word pictures) of my thoughts and actions as we carried out the mission God entrusted to us in 1984. Indeed these have been exciting times. Reflectors from 2006-2023 are available on the website. CategoriesArchives |
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