Fear God

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mark McMillion

“The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo

Fear is a fascinating subject. In modern times, almost everyone, if asked, will say that fear is bad. But then if you look in the Bible, it says we should “fear God”. So then some people think we should have this paralyzing, morbid, terrifying, debilitating fear of this awesome monster of a God who’s just licking His lips at the potential of sending us all to hell.

A real favorite verse of mine from the Bible is “the fear of the Lord is clean” (Psalm 19:9). But then an opposite thought to that is “The fear of man is a snare (or a trap)” (Proverbs 29:25). I’ve certainly had my share of horrible, soul-sapping fear in my lifetime. But also I’ve had experiences where that verse, “the fear of the Lord is clean” has really proven true.

One time when I was a young Christian, I was at a training camp for missionaries. I’d recently come out of a life of spiritual darkness and I was really new and raw to the things of the Lord. One morning I woke up before dawn and felt a strong urge to go out into the nature to pray. I’d read verses about “seeking the Lord with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13) so I was down on my knees in prayer at dawn, crying out vehemently to God. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and saw the elder of the camp sternly looking down at me. He’d tapped me with his cane on my shoulder.

He said, “Son, you don’t have to yell at God. God can hear you. God’s not deaf. You’re waking up the whole camp.”

“Oh my God! That Christian elder hit you with his cane! What a monster! It must have just scared you to death and scarred you for eternity!”

No, actually it didn’t. Before I became a Christian I’d experienced dominating, bullying, brutish people and I knew what fear that can generate. But this was totally different. What this elder said was totally right. He wasn’t yelling at me or belittling me or threatening me; he was sternly but loving me telling me the truth. I’ve always marked that experience with the verse, “the fear of the Lord is clean”. That experience changed my life and I needed it. It changed my relationship with God and certainly it changed my prayer life.

And it showed me that there is a good fear. The fear of God is a good fear. Because He means to do well for you. Solomon said “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8).

Certainly one of Satan’s greatest tools is fear. That’s the kind of fear that’s talked about when it says, “Fear has torment” (I John 4:18). But that’s totally different from the fear we should have for God. The fear of God involves respect and a recognition that He knows what’s right and best for us, better than we do. So we fear Him because we want to stay close to Him, not only for His sake but, frankly, for ours as well.

I guess it’s almost a selfish thing. When you realize you are what Jesus called His people, sheep, then you realize you need a shepherd. You’re not as smart or tough or invincible as you’d like to think. You are a little bit dumb at times and weaker than you’d like to be and you just need the help, wisdom, power and blessing of God. So you fear getting out of His will or out of close communications with Him. And if He has to take sometimes a bit of a drastic action to get you in line, that’s just what’s needed. Maybe that’s why King David said to the Lord, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me” in that most famous of Psalms, Psalms 23.

I surely don’t recommend you go around taping folks on their shoulder with your cane. That was certainly an exception. But it was an amazing experience for me that taught me a lot and helped me to get to know my heavenly Father a lot better and to know His loving ways. The fear of man is a trap and brings torment. But the fear of the Lord is clean.

Is there not a cause?

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Mark McMillion

david and brothers flat 2 One of the most touching and stirring verses in the Bible to me is what David said when he was probably just a young teenager, “Is there not a cause?” (I Samuel 17:29) I’ve never read anything written about that verse by anyone so I’ll tell you about it.

You don’t have to believe in God to have heard about David and Goliath. David, a young teenage shepherd boy, killed the leading fighter of the enemies of David’s people. The 9 foot tall giant, Goliath, had a spear and armor; David just had some rocks and a simple sling. And in the power and will of God, David slew Goliath. But David had to fight a tremendous spiritual battle with his own family before he ever faced Goliath.

King-Saul Goliath’s people, the Philistines, had been overlords and oppressors of the Jewish people for generations. But changes were in the air. God had raised up a very devout and faithful high priest, Samuel. And God had led Samuel to anoint a king for the first time in Israel, Saul.

The Philistines and the Israelites were again about to clash. But when it came time for battle, the Israeli fighters were in fear and awe of the champion warrior of the Philistines, Goliath. In modern times the tallest any person has been known to be is around 8½ feet tall. But the Bible says that in those times 3000 years ago there were giants and they were taller than any people are today.

David, who later became Israel’s most famous and Godly king, was the youngest of 8 brothers. His father had him tending flocks of sheep on the countryside outside his hometown of Bethlehem while his three oldest brothers were away as combatants in Saul’s army which was facing Goliath and the Philistine army.

David’s father told his son to go to the army camp of Saul to take food to his brothers and to see how things were going. So David left the sheep in the care of a servant and journeyed to Saul’s camp. While David was there, he heard the bellowing taunts of Goliath from across the battle lines, challenging any of the soldiers of Saul to meet him in single combat.

And this is where things get almost weird. Remember, David at that time was probably around the age of a modern day 7^th grader or 8^th grader. When David found that no fighter of Saul was ready to meet Goliath in battle, he told the ones there that he would face Goliath in combat. At length, King Saul gave David permission to go out to face Goliath.

But before David faced Goliath, he had to overcome an unexpected confrontation with his own brother. You’d think his brothers would rejoice to hear of David’s incredible faith and conviction. But sadly, as the human condition so often is, he was harassed vehemently. In I Samuel 17:28, when David’s oldest brother heard of his little brother’s faith and conviction, he had this to say to him:

“Why have you come here? Who did you leave the sheep with? I know your pride and the naughtiness of your heart! You’ve just come here to see the battle.”

So did David collapse under his big brother’s withering accusations and condemnations? Did he loose heart and head back home in defeat and confusion? No. Before he faced the physical battle with Goliath the giant, he had to first withstand the spiritual attacks from his own flesh and blood family and “the accuser of the saints” (Revelation 12:10), Satan speaking through his own brother. And David answered his brother,

“Is there not a cause?” ( I Samuel 17:29)

What vision, what conviction, what determination. “Is there not a cause?” Is there not an utterly valid reason? Isn’t this worth fighting for? So David had to stand alone, not only on the battlefield with Goliath but before that, with his own family and people. He had nothing but the hand of God on him and virtually crazy faith that gave him the courage to do the humanly impossible.

Have you ever had to make that kind of stand of faith? Have you had a vision or cause that burned in you so strongly that you not only were ready to risk your life for it, you were willing to suffer the mocking slanders of those you were closest to? It’s that kind of vision in a higher cause, a purpose and noble endeavor that’s captured men’s hearts and souls to go beyond the normal and mundane, to right wrongs, to champion the defeated, “to march into hell for a heavenly cause”.

david-and-goliath Sometimes “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Jesus said so. In David’s case, he stood up to his brother and then went out to win the most unlikely victory in the history of all battles. Because of David’s faith and certainty in the faithfulness of God to help him win a just battle against all odds, he not only slew Goliath, he went on to be Israel’s greatest king. And his words in the Psalms in the Bible have given hope and courage to countless millions for 30 centuries.

Do you have a cause? Do you have a burning vision in your heart? A glorious quest? A calling from God that you know is just and worth living your life for? If so, don’t let anyone dissuade you, even those you’re closest to. “Is there not a cause?”

The end of the world?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Mark McMillion

A Russian friend of mine has had many people asking him about “the end of the world”. He asked if I could write a small tract on this subject which he could give to others. Here’s what I sent him.

Have you heard people talking about the end of the world? Lots of people said it was supposed to happen on December 21, 2012. It had something to do with the calendar of some South American Indians, the Mayas. But then nothing happened. So there’s nothing to worry about, right?

Well, if you look at the world today, politically, economically or environmentally, there certainly seems to be a lot to be concerned about, even to seriously worry about. But, really, “the end of the world?”

If you have faith in the God of Abraham — the God of the Christians, the Jews and the Muslims — then you can know from the prophets that God doesn’t say there’s going to really be an “end of the world” in the way some people say or the way some movies portray it.

On the other hand, the Bible certainly predicts a future awesome ending of this age that will bring in the Kingdom of God on earth. And from the way the Bible describes those events, it could certainly almost seem like the end of the world. Because, as Jesus Himself and the prophet Daniel described that future time, it will be “a time of trouble such as was not since the beginning of the world.” Matthew 24:21, Daniel 12:1.

It will be a time of great, even horrific trouble. But it won’t be the end of the earth and mankind. That’s what the Bible prophets have predicted for the end of this age. And, strangely, the Koran has similar things to say about a future time like this.

To go into all the details right here is not possible. But of the many specific signs that are predicted to happen just before this mighty change, there are a couple of things that you could look out for. The New Testament says that in the last 3½ years before the return of Jesus to rule the earth, a demon possessed dictator will come to power who will attempt to rule the whole world. In the last 100 years we’ve seen some of the most powerful, deadly dictators in all history. These men have savagely ruled empires and been responsible for the deaths of 10’s of millions of people. But this dictator to come will be worse than them all and will ultimately demand that all the people of the world worship him. See II Thessalonians 2:3&4, Revelation 13:5-8

Another thing is clearly predicted. In the final days before the return of Jesus, this world dictator, that the Bible calls the AntiChrist, will bring in a new world political and economic order. Part of this will have to do with an economic system requiring some kind of implant or chip that links all people into a central system of control. The Bible predicts that “no man could buy or sell unless they have this mark in their hand or forehead.” See Revelations 13:16 & 17.

But this time of “great tribulation” that will last 3½ years will be followed by the return of Jesus to separate those who believe in Him from those who’ve followed the satanic AntiChrist. The Bible says that God will pour out for a brief time His wrath on the earth to cleanse it and to destroy the evil and decadence that has been so built up. But after that, Jesus and His followers will establish His kingdom on earth and rule over those who survived on earth into this heavenly time.

What about you? You might think like so many do, “Aw, everything’s going to be ok. That’s not going to happen in my lifetime.” Maybe so, maybe not. There are so many signs right now and things could easily move into these very final days almost at any time.

But the truly safest and wisest thing to do, no matter what happens, is to have a personal relationship with the One who God sent to save us from whatever happens in our lifetimes. That of course is Jesus of Nazareth who came to earth as a man, even though He was the Son of God who’d been with God from all eternity. His death and resurrection made it so that we can be restored to fellowship with God and with Jesus.

You may not understand it all but you can experience it by praying a short prayer right now. “Dear Jesus. I need your love and power within me. Please come into my heart, forgive me of my sins and give me the new life you promised you would give to those who call on You.”

If you prayed that, He promised He would answer. He said “If any man hear My voice and open the door (to your heart) I will come in to them.” Revelation 3:20. It’s the beginning of a new life, an eternal life. So whatever may come on this earth, you’ll be one of God’s children and He said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

A Powerpoint of “So You Have To Go Home”

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Recently I posted an article called “So You Have To Go Home”. This was about the experiences of Ruth and Naomi in the Old Testament and how some of us in these times can find significance in how things worked out for them when they had to “go home.”

Some dear missionary friends of mine in Ukraine took this story and turned it into a Powerpoint presentation to use with folks they minster to and have classes with. I thought to add it in here as they’ve found ways to illustrate it all very well and it could be a blessing to some of you.

Here it is: So You Have to Go Home

Cannot come down

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Nehemiah said to his sly enemies from the walls of Jerusalem. “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should I come down to you and the work cease?” (Nehemiah 6:3) It probably sounded unreasonable, extreme, perhaps unsociable. But Nehemiah was not only filled with a vision and conviction about what he was called to do. He also knew how to recognize distractions and subtle attempts to get him away from God’s highest and best.

In approximately 440 BC, Jerusalem was in ruins, a virtual ghost town compared to the glory that it had been in the hundreds of years before its destruction. Nehemiah had received permission from the Persian king to go back to Jerusalem as the governor there with the specific vision to restore and build the walls of the city.

But then the local enemies of the Jews wanted Nehemiah to “Come down into the plain of Ono and talk to us.” (Nehemiah 6:2) Their cunning line of reasoning was, “Let’s talk this over, Nehemiah. Now be reasonable; we’re your friends and you need to listen to us.” Don’t get me wrong, there can certainly be a time to listen to people and discuss things. But in this case, Nehemiah knew that these enemies at the gate were utterly and totally “Wolves in sheep’s clothing.” (Matthew 7:15).

So Nehemiah boldly told them, “I’m doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I come down and talk to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3) Nehemiah was not tricked and duped by the deceit of the Devil. He wasn’t sidetracked and tripped off into a trap, lured by the lies of the Lucifer.

Where there is faith, reverence and obedience to God, the Devil is always going about in one form or the other to try to destroy God’s plan and His people. This is a constant throughout history and it’s shown in this amazing way in the book of Nehemiah. We often think of Satan “Going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” ( I Peter 5:8). But, believe it or not, more often the Devil will go about as a sly, slithering serpent, like his temptations at the beginning in Eden.

In the book of Nehemiah, the enemies of God never openly, physically attacked the fragile remnant of the Jews who were attempting to fortify their city. Instead, it was all with words; doubts, fears, questions, accusations, whatever might be thrown against their faith was tried by the local enemies of Israel in an attempt to defeat the faith and reborn convictions of the Jews.

Often this is the Devil’s first line of attack. If he can dissuade you from believing and obeying God through his words which sow fear, confusion, doubt or whatever it takes to turn you away from your faith and obedience, then he doesn’t need to try any kind of physical attack on you. Like with Eve in the garden, the devil can just lie to you. And if you believe the lie, rather than God’s Word, Satan has won.

While the book of Nehemiah is a history book and not considered especially spiritual in content, there are key verses which show that the returned Jews were a chastened, humbled, believing people, focused on living repentant lives in obedience to the God of Abraham. Even a little verse like Nehemiah 4:6 “For the people had a mind to work” is a short glimpse into the regenerated soul of the inhabitants of Jerusalem as they banded together in thankfulness that God had allowed them, as He had promised He would, to return to their homeland and rebuild their capital.

And those words, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down” are ones that we too can claim, remember and even quote back to the Devil if need be when we are being besieged by temptations, allurements, doubts, fears or confusion that the Enemy of God throws at us daily to try to get us to cast away our confidence, surrender our joy and lose our crown to the words of Satan and the wisdom that is not of God. Don’t come down from the wall of God’s will and high calling into the “plain of Ono”! God help us all to stay strong on the wall of God’s will.

No Millennium?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Mark McMillion

A few days ago I had a brief dialog with a missionary friend of mine in Europe about the subject of the Millennium. He wrote this:

Millennium – a word not found in your Bible, denoting a mythical time period somewhere in the far future when all we don’t have faith for now will suddenly happen as if by magic…

So I wrote a note back to him:

While the literal word “Millennium” is not in the Bible, just as the word “Rapture” is also not there, Revelation chapter 20 does specifically refer six times to a period of 1000 years of Christ’s reign on earth…

And he wrote back:

Neither Jesus nor the apostles preached a millennial gospel . . . No other scriptures [other than the ones in the book of Revelation] speak of a temporary kingdom to be set up when Christ returns . . . The Millennium was not a part of Jesus’ gospel…

So I decided to leave it at that for right then.

But it did certainly get me thinking. As a Christian and Bible teacher, I definitely believe in the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. If any of us are believers at all, we’ve prayed the prayer He taught us to pray which includes, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) We who love the Lord have that kingdom in our hearts already. But is it really here on earth right

In other posts such as “Did He Really Say That?” I’ve gone into the sayings of Jesus where He clearly stated that He was going away, but that He would return here. One simple and clear place to see this is in John 14: 1-3.

Personally, I feel uneasy about beginning to dismantle and dismembered the Word of God. Since God’s plan has always been a progressive unfolding of the truth, I find no problem at all with the book of Revelation having a more complete and detailed explanation of the future than what we find in the Gospels.

If we are to remove Revelation 20 from the Bible, shall we also take the next two chapters away, the last ones in the Bible? These two talk about the “New Heaven and the New Earth” which are to come at the end of the Millennium, talked about in Revelation 20. And then we find back in the Old Testament that Isaiah foretold the same thing perhaps 800 years before the writing of Revelation, speaking of the coming “…new heavens and the new earth…” in Isaiah 66:22.

In my video on Daniel Chapter 2, I emphasis what seems to be the highpoint of that chapter, verse 44, which says:

“In the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other peoples, but it shall crush and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. “

Then in the video on Daniel Chapter 7, again this coming kingdom on earth is highlighted in verse 27 which says:

“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

Elsewhere in Revelation, not just in chapter 20, it talks about a coming of God’s kingdom on earth immediately after the Second Coming of the Lord. In Revelation 11:15 it says “…the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior…”, which is at the time of the 7^th trumpet. In Revelation 5:10 the 24 elders say “…you’ve made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall rule on the earth.”

There are oodles more Scriptures like this. Isaiah saw “…the lion shall lay down with the lamb…” (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25) and “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares…” (Isaiah 2:4). Or in Zachariah 14: 9-17 where those being ruled on earth during the Millennium by the Lord and His people will receive no rain if they refuse and rebel from His rule.

To say that Jesus never mentioned a 1000 year rule on earth is what is called “arguing from silence.” In other words, “He never said it personally Himself on earth so it must not be true.” Jesus doesn’t have to have said it personally Himself for it to be true. There are all kinds of things He never personally talked about when He was on earth. But they are found elsewhere throughout the Bible.

So I am going to stick to what I believe is taught in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. There’s even a pretty sober warning at the end of Revelation about all this. It says “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:19) Seems like John the Beloved’s Revelation, which is actually “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), is not something we are suppose to discard.

Miracles Per Hour

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Mark McMillion

I was thinking tonight about the idea of “miracles per hour”. I’d just told one of the teachers at school about what happened to me last week. I wrote up that and posted it here under the title “God’s Little Miracles.” So she said, “Wow, you were really lucky.” That’s often how people look at such things when they don’t have a life based on faith in God.

But it got me thinking about what happened last week. It wasn’t luck, it was a miracle. And I thought about how I’ve been in places where the “miracles per hour” were pretty high. But in other places and at other times, there really didn’t seem to be very many miracles happening at all.

And I sort of envisioned some place in the heavenlies where the “Angels’ Regional Command Center” is, or even the local command. It’s pretty clear from the Bible that there are different ranks and orders of angels and I can only assume they must have organization and communications of all kinds. And I assume angels must even be able to measure quite a lot of things that we hardly even have names for. Do you think they have some gauge somewhere that measures “miracles per hour”? Do they determine between “miracles that were recognized” and the ones that went unrecognized?

Let’s face it, there are oodles of miracles every day that we don’t recognize or that don’t appear to us as miracles. I drive 30 miles a day on one of the busiest highways in the US. Every day I get home safely, I know it’s because of the protection of the angels of God. All the things that don’t happen every day, the crazy drivers we don’t encounter, the germs that don’t take root in our bodies, so many things are part of God’s supernatural protect which we don’t usually acknowledge or even think about.

But at other times in my life, I’ve been in situations where there was a pretty high “miracles per hour” reading. And that’s fascinating to me. Why are some times and places seemingly more spiritual than others? I spent the summer of 1971 witnessing daily on the streets of Berkley, California and it was one of the most spiritual times, full of miracles, that I’ve ever experienced. The “miracles per hour” were really high and the friends I worked with back then just almost took it for granted that miracles would happen that day. The spiritual world just seemed much closer and more real, regularly manifesting itself, both the good spirits of God and the evil spirits of Satan. So many people were coming to crises and life-changing experiences at that time and for those of us who were working for the Lord, it was a very busy time. And I think the angels and their local and regional commanders were really busy, really working overtime, if that’s the right way to express it, because there were lots of spiritual manifestations back then. Another time like that for me was eastern Europe in the 1990’s.

In the early church, it says at times “many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” (Acts 4:23, 5:12, 14:3) It must have been that miracles were almost commonplace and just expected daily, because they were happening so often. The “miracles per hour” meter at the angels’ office was really buzzing. Maybe they have one to register “recognized miracles” too? Those are the ones that not only help people but they’re also recognized by folks here in this world and we’re struck with awe at the power of God and our faith is increased, often dramatically.

But equally, and sadly, it seems our unbelief has almost a power to halt the Lord’s miracle working power. It says of Jesus, “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:58) Think of it. Jesus Himself was hindered by the unbelief he encountered in some people. But when He was to do some of His greatest miracles, He put everyone out of the room except Peter, James and John, His closest disciples with the greatest faith. (See Luke 8: 51-54) He created an atmosphere of faith around Him. Of course with Jesus the “miracles per hour” were just at the maximum since it was the Lord Himself here on earth in His ministry. But the early apostles carried on the ministry of miracles. And if you know anything of some of the great people of God after that, Saint Patrick for example or St. Francis and many other lesser know people of God, miracles were a regular part of their lives.

So often we’re like the ones of old, “their eyes were closed” (Luke 24:16) and we just don’t recognize and see spiritually what’s happening right in front of us: an astounding act of God. But He’s still very much the God of miracles. And you may find yourself in situations sometimes where the “miracles per hour” at the local angels’ headquarters is really rising. God bless you with faith for, and the eyes to see, miracles.

Teaching in Jakarta

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Mark McMillion

After a year in Jakarta, I made a trip back home to the US in the spring of 2004. Then, back again in Indonesia, I made this Fields newsletter which highlighted the classes I’d been having with young people there. And these ones I had classes with were themselves learning to be teachers and ministers to their own people.

Hello and greetings yet again. It’s been around 6 months since the last Fields newsletter and I’ve visited quite a number of you in Europe and Texas during that time. In April I traveled from Jakarta to Sweden to see my kids and former wife. The two weeks I spent there was really great, doing almost nothing but just having time with my family, catching up with what’s been happening in their lives.

From Sweden I flew to Austin, Texas, basing there at my parent’s house. They are now in their 80’s and are both doing well. I was able to bring back from Austin, a series of vinyl “banners” that I’ve been using in the classes I teach here. These banners are something I’ve been working on for over two years. But producing them here in Indonesia has proven to be very expensive. So it was a thrill for all the pieces to come together when I was in Austin and to have these done at last.

The new banners that are used in classes, one on the book of Revelations and the other on the book of Daniel.

In the pictures here you can see some of the young people who have been coming to the classes, mostly ones in their teens and twenties. Some of these regular attendees are the people I wrote you about who recently made a “road trip” far into the jungles of the Borneo (now called Kalimantan) to witness to some of the small villages there and to try to bring the “good news” to those of their own nation.

This is during one of regular weekly classes that I would have with friends in Jakarta.

It’s been very rewarding to see these students with whom I’ve been having classes and personal time over the last year begin to blossom into teachers themselves and being able to do much more to minister to people. A good example of this has been Steve and Wulan, the young people who’ve faithful come here to do typing and proofreading for around a year. I’ve started going with them to an orphanage that focuses on the very worst case situations with young people in the city: abandoned kids, living under bridges, beggars and the worst.

Many of my students seen here went on the trip to the villages in Borneo, featured in another newsletter.

The main orphanage has around 100 kids like this. The folks who run the place have rather radical views as Christians so we fit in quite well, ha! They say the thing they need most is inspiration and spiritual input for the young people. Steve and Wulan both come out of a similar background to these new kids but their background was more a foster home type place rather than being real rough cases themselves. So they know how to relate to these street kids and the kids can see them as examples to look up to.

Steve & Wulan (center) sharing songs in an institution for children just off the streets

And the main thing that it looks like we are going to try to be specializing in is music. A lot of these kids are 12 or 14 and they can’t read. But I’m really encouraged about this new project and part of that is just that Steve and Wulan are now getting a chance to pour out and use all that they’ve been learning over the last year. We’ve been working on songs they can play and it’s neat to see these young Indonesians finding their feet and being used as they want to be.

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In some ways I’m continually amazed at how the Lord has led in my life over the last few years. At times this is not an easy place to stay in. It’s somewhat off the beaten path and not what “I would have chosen”. Having had so many changes so often for many years, it’s rather strange for me that this place and calling seems to remain stable as I begin my second year here. And there seem to be some interesting things up ahead which I’ll let you know about soon, hopefully in the next newsletter.

Your friend, Mark

God’s Little Miracles

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Do miracles happen? Do angels exist? I’ll tell you what happened to me last night. You decide.

After my evening’s English teaching was finished around 8:30 PM, I was asked to be the last one out of the building and to lock up. But last night, when I set the automatic locking and alarm, it just didn’t work. The door didn’t lock. I was alone outside a building full of expensive equipment, located in the midst of a low income housing project in a high crime part of my city.

I phoned my boss to tell her what had happened. It went to voice mail. I looked around outside the building to see any familiar face from the school or the students. There was no one around except a tall African-American stranger in his twenty’s, talking on his phone 10 yards away. I asked him if he lived in the housing complex or knew who was in charge. He was friendly but told me he didn’t. I basically was at a loss as to what to do. I felt I couldn’t just drive off and leave all within the building open to anyone who would wander in overnight.

I talked a bit more with the African-American guy, the only person anywhere around. At length he offered to phone the city emergency number. I ended up explaining things to the police. They told me they could notify police that patrolled that part of the city that there was a door opened. But beyond that there was nothing they could do. I was really on my own and it was getting later. I phoned my very elderly parents to tell them why I wasn’t there by now and about what had happened.

As it got later and later, I introduced myself to the guy who was still there and had made the call for me. He said his name was Dontre. I was counseling with him and asked what he thought would be any idea. So he said I could try to go to the housing complex office and see if anyone was there. I was getting desperate and I told him I could try that. Dontre said to walk about 50 yards one direction, then go to the far end of that parking lot, turn right and farther down that way was the office.

I headed out, 50 yards in the dark, left turn and another 70 yards, turn right and I as I walked on, I could see the office up ahead. Then I heard a voice.

“Hi Mark!” No, it wasn’t the audible voice of God. But over on a bench in the dark was one of the teachers who teach in the English school I work at. I nearly dropped my teeth. I went over to her as she was for some reason outside in the very late evening alone, on her cell phone. It turns out she lives there at the housing complex. She knew how to get hold of the maintenance guy in order to find some way to lock the building up.

She and I walked back to the unlocked door. I’d only been gone barely 5 minutes but when we got there, Dontre was no longer anywhere to be seen. He’d been there on his cell phone for around 45 minutes right there before that but then he was gone.

“Mark, is that all?! You call that a miracle?! That was just happenstance, a coincidence!”

Oh, yeah? If you’d seen this in a movie, you’d roll your eyes and say, “Sure, sure; that’s so totally unlikely that he’s going to meet up with a woman teacher from his school out in the parking lot 200 yards away from the building in a high crime part of town late at night!”

For me it was a real act of God and His love and providence. I was in a fix and felt torn between my responsibility to my parents and my responsibility to see that the building was locked up. So that was one heck of a “coincidence” that I’d run into one of the main teachers in the school in the late evening so far away from where I’d been. She was able to take over getting the maintenance crew there to safely lock up the school and I could drive home.

And it’s funny how Dontre just disappeared like that, no? Angels do that. OK, I’m not utterly sure he was an angel. But if not, he sure was used of God at that time to really be a help to me. Earlier, while he was still around, I was getting on to the fact that the young man I was talking to was possibly not really a normal human being as he looked to be. So I asked Dontre, “What do you think I should do?” He immediately answered, “You should think about your family, always put your family first.”

I am certain that the Lord miraculously led me last night to get out of a difficult and dangerous situation. As for Dontre, it’s like the Bible verse that says, “Don’t forget to show kindness to strangers for by doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13.2) And the whole event last night reminds me of another verse about angels. “The angel of the Lord encamps around them that fear God and delivers them.” (Psalm 34:7)

Spiritual Habits: Humility

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Humility is a funny thing. When you think you have it, you probably don’t. But it’s easy to not think of humility as a good thing. Certainly in the secular world, humility is normally equated with weakness and even with being a loser. But this is one of the clearest places where the Lord’s ways are not our ways and certainly not the ways of the world. Jesus said of Himself that He was “meek and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

Today someone shared some needed correction with me. They did it very politely, they were totally right and I needed to hear what they said as I was in the wrong. Still, it was hard to take. It’s kind of destabilizing. Your inner self is offended and wants to answer back, defending and justifying yourself. And of course that’s what is the usual reaction for most people all over the world. Your pride is hurt, your self-esteem has been wounded and you just want to fight back.

I was getting feelings like that but then I remembered a Bible verse I memorized years ago, something Solomon said in Proverbs 9:8, “Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” Only pride hurts, humility doesn’t really feel it. And if you are any student of Scriptures or of the great people of God in history, you’ll certainly know that they were all not only people of faith, but people of humility.

An obscure, fascinating verse, Isaiah 57:15 says, “So says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and lofty place, with him that is of a humble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones.” The great God on high dwells with the humble, not the proud. Peter in the Bible said, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (I Peter 5:5)

But how do you get humility? Do you work really hard for it? Someone said one time, “That takes humility of the kind only God can give you, because your own self is always trying to justify itself, exalt itself and protect itself.” Like Job said, “If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me.” (Job 9:20) Sadly that’s so true. But the good news there is that God can give you the humility you need and that He wants you to have. We are to “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (I Peter 5:6) We should cultivate humility in our heart, just like a precious little plant, while we try to recognize and root out the sins of pride and arrogance.

Today it was a humbling experience for me to have my faults and errors pointed out, even if it was done nicely. It was almost like when I’ve had to go to the dentist. I don’t like it but I have to just tell myself rather strongly, “This is for your good. You need this; this is doing something good for you, even if it hurts a little right now.”

But I did have an encouraging thought at the time it was happening, “At least I can recognize this as something good and for my good. I can try to get a grip on this pride that is trying to rear its head right now and make me offended and discouraged by being exposed like this.” I basically ended up putting off what I’d planned to do today and just got quiet before the Lord to try to let Him work in my soul and to take to heart what had rather surprisingly been shared with me.

Honestly, it’s taken a lifetime of similar situations and experiences from time to time (many of them not as easily acceptable as what happened today) to get me to where I can try to let the Lord do the work in my heart of teaching me some things about myself that are a bit unpleasant or discouraging. Some people think the solution is to continue to keep their head, “bloody but unbowed”, as it says in an old poem. But that’s really not what the Lord wants. He wants to teach us and help us grow in our hearts and spirits. Jesus said, “Every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (John 15:2) Purgings, humiliations, corrections from Godly brethren, even exposures are not easy to take. But if you are to be clay in the master’s hand, if you are to be purified gold, then embracing the humility that God wants us to grow in is utterly essential.

If you are a little uncertain about humility and honestly don’t even know if you like the whole idea, I suggest you make a Bible study on the subject. Humility is one of the most essential essences we need to have if we want to stay alive in the Lord and grow in His presence. Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself as a little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4)

Mark McMillion

Creeds and Deeds, Facts and Acts