International Prayer Day First Monday each month 10 am

Joel Griffith 11/11/22 Joel Griffith 11/11/22

Seek first...

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" Matt. 6:33

In all that we do on this side of Heaven, we should always strive to seek first His direction for our plans. North American mission teams should not build Churches on ground that is not already owned by the congregation; the local congregation should purchase the land first and then construct the foundation before a mission team leaves North America.

These children attending school at Merrotte were not blessed with a Trinity HOPE feeding program until the Arcahaie District President, the school principal, teachers and parents fully understood what was expected of them to make the program work. The prayers of those attending this school were not answered overnight; it came about in His time and in His way.

Too often we imagine that we are the ones in control and that generally provides satan with an opportunity to stir up a mess. It can be a humbling experience to call upon Him when we have move forward relying upon our own wisdom and abilities. Today, Trinity HOPE is feeding over 61,000 children in Haiti daily in 268 schools throughout the country; this didn’t happen overnight. He continues to bless this program. I recently heard the hymn ‘Seek where ye may to find a way’ that was written by Georg Weissel in 1623 and I thought that its words are a fitting way to close this devotion.

“Seek where ye may to find a way that leads to your salvation; my heart is stilled, on Christ I build, He is the one Foundation. His Word is sure, His works endure; He doth o'erthrow my every foe; through Him I more than conquer. Seek whom ye may to be your stay; none can redeem his brother. All helpers failed, this Man prevailed, the God-man, and none other. Our Servant-Lord did help afford; we're justified, for He hath died, the Guiltless for the guilty. Seek Him alone, Who did atone, Who did your souls deliver; yea, seek Him first, all ye who thirst for grace that faileth never. In every need Seek Him indeed; to every heart He will impart His blessings without measure. My heart's Delight, My Crown most bright, Thou, Jesus, art forever. Nor wealth nor pride nor aught beside our bond of love shall sever. Thou art my Lord; Thy precious Word shall be my guide, whate'er betide. Oh, teach me, Lord, to trust Thee! Hide not from me, I ask of Thee, Thy gracious face and favor. Though floods of woe should o'er me flow, my faith shall never waver. From pain and grief grant sweet relief; for tears I weep, Lord, let me reap Thy heavenly joy and glory.”

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/10/22 Joel Griffith 11/10/22

Equipped for His service.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Ephesians 4:11-12

The ‘learned’ of this world will tell you that this little girl at the Bon Berger Lutheran School in Caredeux is not important, she is too small and lives in a Third World Country; the thinking of our sinful world is wrong. She is being brought up with the knowledge that she has a Savior who loves her and has conquered death and the devil; she will learn that the Holy Spirit has much more power than the evil spirits from the vodou priest. She is being fed daily in the Trinity HOPE school feeding program and will grow up to be a strong witness of Christ, equipped to do His service. Samuel J. Stone wrote the words to the hymn ‘The Church’s one Foundation’ in 1866 and these words seem to be a fitting way to close this devotion.

“The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died. Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth, her charter of salvation one Lord, one faith, one birth. one holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food, and to one hope she presses, with every grace endued. The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord, to defend, to guide, sustain, and cherish, is with her to the end. Though there be those that hate her. False sons within her pale, against both foe and traitor she ever shall prevail. Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed, yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, "How long?" And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song. Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war she waits the consummation of peace forevermore, til with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest and the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/9/22 Joel Griffith 11/9/22

Love one another.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

Be kind and compassionate to one another, are two qualities that seem to be in short supply these days...on this side of Heaven. Elections are now over and perhaps we can begin doing that in the coming days…to one another. When our fallen world tells us to look up to our sports stars, movie stars, political commentators and musicians, it becomes more evident that we are holding up the wrong people to idolize as the world tells us that if we are kind and compassionate instead of mean and always needing to be number one; than we are weak and not strong.

To forgive as God forgave us requires great courage and great strength; the ‘learned’ of this world tell us otherwise. The attached photo of a young girl at Labodrie seems to scream out the words ‘kind and compassionate’ when you look into her eyes. Serving His children in Haiti is a humbling experience and the fruits of your labor, and their labor, will bring more children and adults into the Kingdom. The hymn ‘All Depends on Our Possessing’ was written by an unknown author in Germany in 1673 and then translated by Catherine Winkworth in 1858 and words seemed like a fitting way to close this devotion.

“All depends on our possessing God's abundant grace and blessing, though all earthly wealth depart. He who trusts with faith unshaken in His God is not forsaken and e'er keeps a dauntless heart. He who hitherto hath fed me and to many joys hath led me, is and ever shall be mine. He who did so gently school me, He who still doth guide and rule me, will remain my Help divine. Many spend their lives in fretting over trifles and in getting things that have no solid ground. I shall strive to win a treasure that will bring me lasting pleasure and that now is seldom found. When with sorrow I am stricken, hope my heart anew will quicken, all my longing shall be stilled. To His loving-kindness tender soul and body I surrender; for in Him alone I build. Well He knows what best to grant me; all the longing hopes that haunt me, joy and sorrow, have their day. I shall doubt His wisdom never, as God wills, so be it ever, I to Him commit my way. If on earth my days He lengthen, He my weary soul will stengthen; all my trust in Him I place. Earthly wealth is not abiding, like a stream away is gliding; safe I anchor in His grace.”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/8/22 Joel Griffith 11/8/22

Joyful giving.

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.” Haggai 1:9

Back in the day, while living in Haiti, a large portion of my time was spent visiting the Lutheran schools and congregations in the nine Districts in Haiti and I was frequently asked by the District Presidents to give a message on Sunday morning to their congregation on the topic of tithing; not a great way to make friends but a wonderful way to plant seeds and share in the joy of tithing and the realized blessings that always came following.

Not everyone is a joyful tither. Back in the day, at my congregation back in Nebraska, there was this one man who was always angry at the world, angry at our country, angry at Christians and angry at God and the only time I had really seen him smile was when he stated that he had never given one dime to a Church. Sadly, he didn’t understand that what he was withholding from God was preventing him from enjoying a fuller and deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father and more abundant blessings.

The attached photo was taken at Bon Berger Lutheran Church on a Sunday morning; this was my home congregation while living in Haiti. At that time, the average person in Haiti had an annual income of roughly $350 and I would try to sit in the rear of the Church, like a North American Lutheran on Sunday, not because that is how I was brought up, but because I was curious to see what their offering plate looked like when it reached the last pew.

These people who had literally nothing to live on placed a few coins into the plate and to them, it must have been like you or I placing $500 in our offering plate. Our Heavenly Father's sovereign ways can cause our endeavors to succeed beyond our wildest dreams or they can defeat our plans to our own dismay and leave us looking for somebody to blame.

With a simple touch of His hand, God can steer our vessel into a profitable channel or He can allow it to run aground in poverty and bankruptcy. The Scriptures teach us that the Lord enriches the generous but leaves the miserly to discover that withholding their money only leads to poverty.

Over the years while worshipping at Bon Berger, the offering plate got fuller and fuller and even had paper currency becoming more prominent than coins; the congregation was being blessed. To the man that I spoke of earlier, there is a verse in Matthew that says “Selfishness will always look first to its own home, but godliness will seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness." May your tithing be a joy and not a hindrance as you return a portion of your daily blessings to the One who gave it to you. William How wrote ‘We give Thee but Thine Own’ in 1854 and its words seemed like an appropriate way to close this devotion.

“We give Thee but Thine own, whate'er the gift may be; all that we have is Thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee. May we Thy bounties thus as stewards true receive and gladly, as Thou blessest us, to Thee our first-fruits give! Oh, hearts are bruised and dead, and homes are bare and cold, and lambs for whom the Shepherd bled are straying from the fold. To comfort and to bless, to find a balm for woe, to tend the lone and fatherless, is angels' work below. The captive to release, to God the lost to bring, to teach the way of life and peace, it is a Christlike thing. And we believe Thy Word, though dim our faith may be: whate'er for Thine we do, O Lord, we do it unto Thee.”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/7/22 Joel Griffith 11/7/22

Be a blessing to others.

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” Acts 2:44-45

Back in the day, while living in Haiti, there were many times that the above words from the Book of Acts seemed to be living right before me. In the rural areas where small congregations met on the Sabbath to worship in their Pastors house. The families and neighbors met with and cared for each other. I can still recall when living on our farm in Seward County when families helped one another out when they faced challenges.

It doesn’t seem like too many today in our land does that. Not many of us living in the US, on this side of Heaven, have ever sacrificed like the early church in Acts. These early Christians didn’t give just their money. They were generous with everything they had. They were radically generous.

I am sure that many of you know by now that God doesn’t just give you resources for your own enjoyment but rather to make a difference in the world around you. God never blesses you just so you can sit on what you have. He blesses you so you can bless others.

The attached photo today is from Back in the Day, black and white, when my hair was longer and my daughters were attending Lincoln East High School. We were at the 4P Ranch north of Bridgeport, NE where my daughter’s maternal grandparents lived. My oldest was getting her Senior pictures taken there. I was 46 at the time and beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. Since today happens to be my birthday, I thought that it would be a good thing to knock off another item on my Bucket List and share a snippet of wisdom; four things that will prayerfully help you to remember as you use your blessings as God intended.

Your blessings should flow to others. This is the first law of blessing: It must flow outwardly. How do you bless others? By meeting a need, whether it is for physical or emotional support, financial help, or practical advice.

When you bless others, God takes care of your needs. Read Luke 18:29-30 that tells us not to worry about your needs. “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” When you focus on helping other people, God assumes responsibility for your problems. And that’s a real blessing, because He’s much better at handling your challenges than you are.

Your blessings to others will come back to you. The more you bless and help others, the more God blesses your life. You cannot out give God. There have been many times when I imagined God saying to me: “We’ll play a little game here. Let’s see who can give the most. But I’m always going to win! Because the more you bless others, the more I’m going to bless you in return.” You can’t out give God.

The more you’re blessed by God, the more He expects you to help others.

You are blessed to be a blessing. That’s a hopeful, encouraging truth to remember. In this sin filled world that urges you to just look out for yourself, number one, find ways to be even more generous to the people God has placed in your life.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/5/22 Joel Griffith 11/5/22

Saturday...I told you so.

“And when he had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” Luke 5:4:11 (ESV)

The Sunday morning adult Bible study group at Our Redeemer Lutheran in Bloomington, IL is going through the series ‘The Chosen’ and a few weeks ago we watched the session with the above story. Have you ever wondered if perhaps the Son of man said to Peter after his boat was overflowing with fish; “I told you so.” Peter didn’t need somebody telling him how to fish as he had been out on the water all night. Peter, listen to Jesus. The wedding at Cana is our video this week and I recall that Mary told the servants to “just do what He tells you”; the mother of Jesus knew.

I have been telling you about the troubles in Haiti this past year with the gangs making it difficult for the citizens to get fuel, food and medical care. We have been praying for our Heavenly Father to bring relief and unharden the hearts of the Haitian gangs. Canada and the U.S. sent some armored vehicles to Haiti a few weeks ago. Yesterday I read an article that the Haitian police had used the vehicles to raid the gang controlled fuel depot in Port-au-Prince and prayerfully begin to release fuel to the country. We pray, our Lord Jesus listens…we wait…and “I told you so”. Please continue to pray for Haiti. And, a simple reminder to set your clocks back tonight. If you go to church tomorrow an hour early…I told you so.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/4/22 Joel Griffith 11/4/22

Hope for the hopeless.

“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31

The children attending Lutheran schools in Haiti are in His Word daily and are being prepared to go and share the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Haiti who are foolishly clinging to the lies of the vodou priest or are hopelessly being tormented by gang violence.

When you look at the attached photo of a ‘Bib La’ resting on a Church pew in the Central Plateau of Haiti it is important for you to know that an estimated sixty percent of the people living in Haiti cannot read or write. On one of my visits to the Central Plateau while staying with a Haitian Lutheran Pastor, I saw a large cardboard box filled with new Lutheran Catechism’s that had been translated into Haitian Creole by the late Rev. Dr. Doris Louis from Petionville. I asked why they were in the box and not in the hands of the lay Pastors in the countryside and the reply was that they could not read them; the Pastors could read French, but not Haitian Creole as that language had been taught audibly.

It is truly important for you to understand just how valuable your support is to Trinity HOPE as over 61,000 children in these schools are learning to read and write; their impact upon the country of Haiti in the coming decades will truly be monumental. These children in Haiti will be the Pastors, teachers, mothers, fathers and missionaries who will share His Word with their home country as their gifts of literacy will impact so many for Him. Their witness will impact so many more than the witness of the present Pastors and teachers. The hymn ‘Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word’ was written by Martin Luther in 1541 and those words are still applicable today and close this message.

“Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word; curb those who fain by craft and sword would wrest the Kingdom from Thy Son and set at naught all He hath done. Lord Jesus Christ, Thy power make known, for Thou art Lord of lords alone; defend Thy Christendom that we may evermore sing praise to Thee. O Comforter of priceless worth. Send peace and unity on earth. Support us in our final strife and lead us out of death to life.”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/3/22 Joel Griffith 11/3/22

Too much pride.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

I recently went through a Chuck Swindoll Bible study online and he wrote this about pride; “Pride is a terrible trait, manifesting itself in our passion for the ‘best seats’; insisting on recognition, wanting to be noticed, longing for prominence, smarting when we’re not consulted or advised, dominating social situations. It displays itself when we resist authority or become angry and defensive when crossed or challenged; when we harbor grudges, nurse grievances or wallow in self-pity. It’s the drive behind our penchant for associating with the rich and famous rather than the little people who make up most of our world.”

The Haitian Creole word for ‘pride’ is lògèy. Pride rears its ugly head all over this fallen world as satan continues to encourage us about how ‘special’ we are and everything that we ‘deserve’ right this very minute; we are god’s children and we are as smart as and sometimes smarter than god. WE are number ONE. As I was typing Mr. Swindoll’s description about pride I was reminded of several people, sad to say that even a Lutheran Pastor, who had some of those traits. If I were to highlight the areas where my pride was described there would be several highlighted words; probably two pages. If you tried really hard, you too might be able to find just one word that would fit into your life. These children in Haiti also have lògèy. I take pride in my daughters and my grandchildren; they are blessings from God. I think very highly and sometimes even take pride in the work that Trinity HOPE is accomplishing in Haiti; it is all happening because of God. The parents of these Haitian children take pride in their accomplishments; again, gifts from God. Taking pride in what ‘we’ have done is ugly and can be dangerous to our relationship with our Triune God. Taking pride in what God has accomplished through us, relating that it is all from Him for His Glory is beautiful and fulfills His purpose for our lives. I close today with the words to the hymn ‘The will of God is always best’ that was written by Albrecht von Brandenburg in 1553.

“The will of God is always best and shall be done forever; and they who trust in Him are blest, He will forsake them never. He helps indeed In time of need, He chastens with forbearing; they who depend On God, their Friend, shall not be left despairing. God is my Comfort and my Trust, my Hope and life abiding; and to His counsel wise and just, I yield in Him confiding. The very hairs, His Word declares, upon my head He numbers. by night and day God is my Stay, He never sleeps nor slumbers. Lord Jesus, this I ask of Thee, deny me not this favor: when Satan sorely troubles me, then do not let me waver. Keep watch and ward, O gracious Lord, fulfill Thy faithful saying: who doth believe He shall receive an answer to His praying. When life's brief course on earth is run and I this world am leaving, grant me to say: "Thy will be done." by faith to Thee still cleaving. My heavenly Friend, I now commend my soul into Thy keeping, o'er sin and hell, and death as well, through Thee the victory reaping.”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/2/22 Joel Griffith 11/2/22

Last place?

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35

Looking at the rankings for NCAA football and volleyball teams recently, reveals the Top 25. It takes some searching to find the bottom 25; cellar dwellers. As a North American, the words of Christ to the twelve may be difficult to accept as our culture impresses upon us the need to be first and have everybody else in last place. The dictionary defines the word ‘servant’ as follows; “one that serves others; a public servant; especially one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer. The word is ‘Middle English’ and its first known use was in the 13th century.”

This word ‘servant’ has remained in my thoughts quite often since the earthquake rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010, hurricanes and now gang violence, while watching and reading news about service organizations and mission societies ‘rushing’ to Haiti to either provide assistance or just assess need when there is a calamity. Too often it seems that their initial focus is to provide well-meaning aid with a true ‘servant’ attitude and after seeing what other groups were doing next to their ‘space’ they wanted the world to know that they were ‘first’ and the rest of this world needed to look at them and see what they had done. The servant attitude had been replaced with a self-serving attitude.

The children in the attached photo attend the Lutheran school at Bas De Sceaut in the Artibonite District. This a small class of the 40 children who are fed daily in this school. These young servants are happy servants, going to school in this wooden structure with a dirt floor, no glass in the windows and a piece of canvas for a door.

They are learning the true meaning of Mark 9:35 and are receiving their only real meal of the day at this location. Too often we get our priorities twisted around and fail to see what is really important in this lifetime. Put down the wall that this world has placed around you, lower your guard and seek to follow the model of service that Christ has given you. Martin Luther wrote the hymn ‘Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord’ a long time ago but his words are a wonderful way to close today’s message.

“Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord! Be all Thy graces now out poured on each believer's mind and heart; Thy fervent love to them impart. Lord, by the brightness of Thy light, Thou in the faith dost men unite of every land and every tongue; this to Thy praise, O Lord, our God, be sung. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thou holy Light, Guide Divine, oh, cause the Word of Life to shine! Teach us to know our God aright and call Him Father with delight. from every error keep us free; let none but Christ our Master be that we in living faith abide, in Him, our Lord, with all our might confide. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thou holy Fire, Comfort true, grant us the will Thy work to do and in Thy service to abide; let trials turn us not aside. Lord, by Thy power prepare each heart and to our weakness strength impart that bravely here we may contend, through life and death to Thee, our Lord, ascend. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 11/1/22 Joel Griffith 11/1/22

Guide my ways.

“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” Psalm 119:15

Back in the day, while living in Haiti, many were the times that I was alone and if someone happened to be near to me, we didn’t share a common language or similar culture; there were many times when solitude was better than fellowship and when silence was wiser than speech.

I firmly believe that each of us would be better Christians if we spent a few more hours being alone, waiting on God and finding spiritual strength for service to Him by meditating on His Word. We should first consider the things of God because only then will we get real nutrition from them.

Consider these children in Cap Haitian, preparing to eat their daily meal; simply taking food into their mouths does not nourish their bodies; for it is the full process of digestion that supplies nutrients to muscles, nerves and bones. And it is through spiritual ‘digestion’ that outward food is brought into our inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening for a while to this and that ‘wisdom’ from this fallen world, and later to another portion of His Word. Hearing, reading, examining, and learning all requires inward digestion to complete their usefulness, and that inner digesting of the truth takes place primarily by meditating on it; dwelling upon His Word. We all need to be fed on His Word and His food daily. Isaac Watts wrote the hymn ‘Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways’ in 1719 and it seems a fitting way to close this message.

“Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways to keep His statutes still! Oh, that my God would grant me grace to know and do His will! Order my footsteps by Thy Word and make my heart sincere; let sin have no dominion, Lord, but keep my conscience clear. Assist my soul, too apt to stray, a stricter watch to keep; and should I e'er forget Thy way, restore Thy wandering sheep. Make me to walk in Thy commands, 'Tis a delightful road, nor let my head or heart or hands offend against my God.”

May God be with you,

Jay