Archives by: Gary Hoag

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

“These souls turn back at such a time if there is none who understands them; they abandon the road or lose courage; or, at the least, they are hindered from going farther by the great trouble which they take in advancing along the road of meditation and reasoning. Thus they fatigue and overwork their nature, imagining that they are failing through negligence or sin. But this trouble that they are taking is quite useless, for God is now leading them by another road, which is that of contemplation, and is very different from the first; for the one is of meditation and reasoning, and the other belongs neither to imagination nor yet to reasoning.

It is well for those who find themselves in this condition to take comfort, to persevere in patience and to be in no wise afflicted. Let them trust in God, Who abandons not those that seek Him with a simple and right heart, and will not fail to give them what is needful for the road, until He bring them into the clear and pure light of love. This last He will give them by means of that other dark night, that of the spirit, if they merit His bringing them thereto.

The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is to devote themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is not the time for it, but to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear to them that they are doing nothing and are wasting their time, and although it may appear to them that it is because of their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything. The truth is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience and persevere in prayer…”

John of the Cross (1542-1591) in Dark Night of the Soul, translated and edited by E. Allison Peers (New York: Image Books, 1959) 10.2.

Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics.

This classic book reminds readers that dark times provide margin for contemplation. Such times are sometimes painful but simultaneously necessary for our growth. This book really ministered to me yesterday!

When I woke, the year-end need for GTP was still about $86,179. Then I read and meditated on Chapter 10 of this book entitled, “Of the way in which these souls are to conduct themselves in this dark night.”

I was contemplating. How should I conduct myself with two days to go? Perhaps you can relate? For a project or goal, you did everything you could to help achieve a goal, and it seemed like it was not enough.

The temptation is to lose heart, to get discouraged, or to overwork. I have done each of these things in the past. But I resolved yesterday to pray, trust God, wait for Him and abide in His love. It changed me.

God graciously reminded me that He will provide “what is needful for the road” because He knows the road ahead for me. Download the ebook. Take time to contemplate and rest in His love.

And, would you wait on the Lord with me, persevere with me, pray with me for God to release “what is needful for the road” to respond to needs in these countries?

Ukraine, Poland, Czeckia, Slovakia, Romania, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Brazil, Malawi, Argentina, Philippines, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Zambia, and India.

Click here to make a year-end gift to GTP. The remaining need is $65,414 with one day to go. Thanks for trusting God with me to provide “what is needful for the road.”

Together we are empowering national workers to build trust and grow local giving, so they don’t need support from outsiders. Your support helps turn dependency into discipleship.

And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

“What we give to our brethren in the exercise of charity is a deposit with the Lord, who, as a faithful depositary, will ultimately restore it with abundant interest. Are our duties, then, of such value with God that they are as a kind of treasure placed in his hand? Who can hesitate to say so when Scripture so often and so plainly attests it? But if any one would leap from the mere kindness of God to the merit of works, his error will receive no support from these passages. For all you can properly infer from them is the inclination on the part of God to treat us with indulgence. For, in order to animate us in well-doing, he allows no act of obedience, however unworthy of his eye, to pass unrewarded.”

John Calvin () in Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.18.6

Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. It a lengthy important work of systematic theology that includes this section on giving.

The exercise of giving is rooted in the grace of God. His grace knows no limits, and, as Calvin notes in this classic work, every “exercise of charity is a deposit with the Lord, who, as a faithful depositary, will ultimately restore it with abundant interest.” And no act of well-doing will “pass unrewarded.”

As 2022 draw to a close, please do three things linked to your giving. Firstly, avoid year end keeping, as His eye sees everything you do. Instead, give more than your capacity because He is a faithful depositary. You’ll ultimately get it restored to you with abundant interest. Know that a reward awaits you.

I want to share a quick story on this. Yesterday, I said to my wife, “How much do we have to give at year-end?” She looked at the budget and shared a number. I replied, “How about if we give even more than that?” I suggested a number even hired. She agreed. I am thankful for a wife willing to give sacrificially.

Secondly, align your giving with Scripture and what it attests. That means show charity, or unconditional love in action, like the Good Samaritan. He did not give a handout that created a dependency; he gave a hand up and built a disciple. He helped get a hurting person on his feet with love in action.

On this note, please click here to make a year-end gift to GTP. As I stated yesterday, God has opened doors for work in a host of countries. We empower national workers to build trust and grow local giving, so they don’t need support from outsiders. This follows the pattern of the Apostle Paul.

Your year-end gift will advance GTP work in 2023 in Ukraine, Poland, Czeckia, Slovakia, Romania, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Brazil, Malawi, Argentina, Philippines, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Zambia, and India.

Thirdly, see giving as a duty that you perform without hesitation. Assess the needs at your church and the charities you support. GTP is praying for another $86,179 by 31 December 2022. When we each do our part, and put to work what we have, our God sees and will reward each of us, and the reward will ultimately come with interest.

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:7

“Abba Anthony said, “Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it, a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labour in vain.”

Anthony the Great (251-356) in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1984) 8

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. This classic work contains a collection of wise sayings from the Desert Fathers.

Today’s Scripture reminds us to grow in many virtues and to include giving in the list. Abba Anthony takes this one steps further. He examines what he has, namely, a lump of iron, and exhorts hearers to make something of it. It’s a powerful word picture.

I want to encourage you today to see what you have. From there, consider growing your year-end giving and minimizing your year-end keeping so you make something of what you have. Don’t make the labor of earning those funds be done in vain.

In the words of Anthony the Great: Make up your mind. And please include GTP in your giving list.

God has opened doors for us to deliver program online and to deploy our global staff to do onsite program work in these countries in 2023: Ukraine, Poland, Czeckia, Slovakia, Romania, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Brazil, Malawi, Argentina, Philippines, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Zambia, and India.

I won’t go to all those countries but hope to deploy our staff to serve in those places. Our remaining year-end need is $91,747. Please click here to make a gift. Thanks.

You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him. Acts 10:37-38

“The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 297-373) in On the Incarnation (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1946).

On the Incarnation is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. This important work helped the early church understand the identity and deity of Jesus Christ.

Let me set the scene. It was the middle of the third century. Arius was taking the church toward mythology and polytheism in his views about Christ. So, God raised up a young and brilliant theologian,  Athanasius, who confidently refuted Arius.

In this excerpt which echoes today’s Scripture, we see that Jesus did not come to make a display. He did not aim to be a hero of mythology. He came “to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him.” He did not come to be served but to serve.

At GTP this year, our staff has grown from 5 to 10 workers. They live and serve in Australia, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, and USA. They don’t aim to make a display but to put themselves at the disposal of those who need them.

Today the church faces similar challenges as it did in the days of Athanasius. The world needs to know who Jesus is and how He wants His workers to serve. Pray with me for resources to deploy the GTP staff in 2023 to strengthen Christian workers in 110 countries. Click here to support them.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

“Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom” (Psalm 145:3; 147:5) And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation.

Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight to praise Thee, for Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee. Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who can invoke thee, knowing thee not? For he who knows thee not may invoke thee as another than thou art. It may be that we should invoke thee in order that we may come to know thee.

But “how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher” (Romans 10:14)? Now, “they shall praise the Lord who seek Him” (Psalm 22:26), for “those who seek shall find Him” (Matthew 7:7), and, finding Him, shall praise Him. I will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son, and through the ministry of thy preacher.”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Confessions, Book One, Chapter One, translated and edited by Albert C. Outler. (Dallas: SMU, 1955) 11.

Confessions is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. It is an autobiographical work by Augustine that outlines his sinful early years and conversion to Christianity. It contains 13 books written around the years 397-400.

Augustine starts this famous work with praise. Then we find this oft quoted statement: “For Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.” This sets the tone for the entire work. We are restless apart from Christ, and in Christ we find the rest for which our souls long.

Today’s Scripture spells out Christ’s pointed invitation to find rest in Him. It’s a learning process. We take his yoke upon us and in figure it out as we live it out that His way is good and leads to life. The first disciples learned from Jesus. All followers after that learned from some “preacher” who came and pointed the way.

Wherever you are, enjoy rest in Christ this Christmas week leading up to the new year. And I pray you make a gift to GTP, as we send “preachers” to proclaim good news to the poor and to set captives free. Our staff and volunteers empower 5,590 stewards to serve as “preachers” in 110 countries.

Give generously here as we are praying for $158,000 by year end to deploy staff in 2023 to deliver programs online and onsite in new places like Ethiopia, Jamaica, Honduras, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Argentina. In these places, national workers cry for help to activate locally sustained gospel ministry.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

“We ought all of us always to give thanks to God for both the universal and the particular gifts of soul and body that He bestows on us. The universal gifts consist of the four elements and all that comes into being through them, as well as all the marvelous works of God mentioned in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God has given to each individual. These include wealth, so that one can perform acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in need and undertake work worthy of God; sickness, so that one may earn the crown of patience; spiritual knowledge and strength, so that one may acquire virtue; weakness and ignorance, so that, turning one’s back on worldly things, one may be under obedience in stillness and humility; unsought loss of goods and possessions, so that one may deliberately seek to be saved and may be helped when incapable of shedding all one’s possessions or even of giving alms; ease and prosperity, so that one may voluntarily struggle and suffer to attain the virtues and thus become dispassionate and fit to save other souls; trials and hardship, so that those who cannot eradicate their own will may be saved in spite of themselves, and those capable of joyful endurance may attain perfection.”

Peter of Damascus in Book 1 “A Treasury of Divine Knowledge” in the Philokalia (730).

Philokalia is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. It’s an ancient Christian collection of “good and noble” thoughts.

This collection almost assuredly contains the kinds of ideas the Apostle Paul had in view when he instructed the Philippians to focus on good, pure and praiseworthy things. By this way we maintain a posture of gratitude.

As I rest and reflect this Christmas, I consider my own situation and people I know who may be experiencing the host of circumstances that Peter of Damascus sketched today for which ought to always give thanks.

Some have wealth. I hope they perform acts of charity. Others have poverty. I pray they endure it with patience and charity. Some have come into positions of authority. I pray they exercise righteous judgment.

The list goes on. Some have sickness and trials. Others have gained spiritual knowledge and strength while others have experienced unsought loss of goods and possessions due to the war.

Notice how Peter of Damascus gives us good and noble insight on how to respond to these situations. He speaks pointedly so that we can have the right perspective and inspire others to good and noble Christian living.

Encourage everyone you touch this Christmas season and into the new year to good and noble Christian living. How we navigate life can touch others generously and help them learn lessons from our Lord through the situations of life.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

“To trust [Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity (1952 edition scanned in 2002) 73.

Happy Christmas.

On many evenings from Thanksgiving to Christmas we watch Christmas movies in our home. A common theme that surfaces in the movies goes something like this: fewer people act as though they believe so the Christmas spirit is fading.

Then, as the movies continue, when people start believing, magical things start happening. A new story unfolds. People experience joy they never imagined. Watchers feel good and determine to watch the movie annually.

Where am I going with this? As I stated a few days ago, weariness and worry are leading hindrances to generous living, giving, serving, and loving. So, what’s my Christmas counsel today?

Enjoy a restful celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it’s over, let’s all get off the couch and go do the works that Jesus did. When we do, as He has promised, even greater things will happen through us.

But we have to believe and act on those beliefs.

As Lewis reminds us (in what may be the best book written in the last century), we do these things in a less worried way because we can trust Jesus. And we don’t do them to be saved, but because He has begun to save us already.

And in so doing, that “faint gleam of heaven” that is already inside us shines. Like in the movies, this brings joy to all those around us. But it’s not a Hollywood production. It’s the real deal.

Whoever believes in Jesus will do the works Jesus did. Will you?

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:15-16

“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect.

Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things.

One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.

Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls.”

Thomas à Kempis in “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love” chapter 5 of The Imitation of Christ.

The Imitation of Christ is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Thomas proclaims the good news of the Love of Jesus which “spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect.”

If you want to grow in generosity this Christmas season, focus on the love of God. Love came down that first Christmas! Love did not send help. He came. He is the source of all that is good and the only thing that can free you from worldly affections which seek to captivate our hearts.

When Love consumes us, we can live, give, and serve generously because we know we have everything we need from the one from Whom all good flows. I pray you have a blessed Christmas focusing on the love of God. Nothing is sweeter. Nothing is better. It’s the best Christmas gift.

Behold the man that made not God his strength, but put confidence in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his avarice. Psalm 52:7

In this Canto, Dante and Virgil make their way down to the Fourth Circle of Hell and come upon the demon Plutus. This Canto describes the punishment of the Avaricious and the Prodigal, with Plutus as their jailer. Enjoy this excerpt.

“Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me
What people these are, and if all were clerks,
These shaven crowns upon the left of us.”
“
And he to me: “All of them were asquint
In intellect in the first life, so much
That there with measure they no spending made.

Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,
Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,
Where sunders them the opposite defect.

Clerks those were who no hairy covering
Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,
In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.

And I: “My Master, among such as these
I ought forsooth to recognise some few,
Who were infected with these maladies.”

And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;
The undiscerning life which made them sordid
Now makes them unto all discernment dim.

Forever shall they come to these two buttings;
These from the sepulcher shall rise again
With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.

Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world
Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;
Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it.

Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce
Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,
For which the human race each other buffet;

For all the gold that is beneath the moon,
Or ever has been, of these weary souls
Could never make a single one repose.”

“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also
What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,
That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?”

And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,
What ignorance is this which doth beset you?
Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.

He whose omniscience everything transcends
The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,
That every part to every part may shine.”

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in Divine Comedy-Inferno, Canto 7, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Josef Nygrin, 2008) 46-48.

Divine Comedy-Inferno is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Dante shakes and wakes readers to the regret that awaits the avaricious.

In today’s Scripture the psalmist writes with sobering clarity. A person who trusts in riches does not trust in God. Jesus later echoes this saying that you cannot serve God and wealth.

Dante illustrates for us the ultimate destination that awaits the avaricious. It’s dark and dismal. I hope it scares the avarice out of every person reading this. Let me highlight four segments that got my attention.

Firstly, if “Popes and Cardinals” can be guilty of “excess” in this area, we can all fall prey. Jesus warned the disciples about avarice, which is the desire for gain or more. It’s the opposite of contentment. Be warned.

Secondly, it was “the undiscerning life which made them sordid.” In other words, the avaricious failed to be watchful with money and instead became just like the world. Don’t let your discernment grow dim.

Thirdly, avarice leads us the “ill giving and ill keeping” of goods. I wondered if Ananias and Sapphira found themselves in this fourth level of hell. We must give cheerfully to God and hold anything back!

Fourthly, notice that “all the gold that is beneath the moon, or ever has been, of these weary souls, could never make a single one repose.” In short, money can’t save us, only God can.

Why post such a strong post only two days before Christmas? Tomorrow, our tradition is to watch a movie called, It’s A Wonderful Life. Perhaps you know and love it too?

I won’t give away the storyline, but George Bailey almost throws away his life over the loss of $8,000. He discovers that many things in life matter a lot more than that money. He learned this the hard way.

In the end, however, the town he served selflessly, comes to His aid. They all share with him in his time of need. Watch the movie. It’s an antidote to avarice. And then go give generously.

Remember, let’s make 2022 a time of year-end giving not year-end keeping. Remember that our ill keeping merely shows where we have misplaced our trust.

Spirit, convict us to weed out our avarice. Show us any ways we have a desire for gain. Teach us contentment. Help us discover in giving generously that we have all we need in You. Amen.

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25

“A rich man, without son or heir, loses part of his property, but still has more than enough to keep himself and his household. If this misfortune grieves and disquiets him as though he were left to beg his bread, how can our Lord ask him to give up all things for His sake? This man will tell you he regrets losing his money because he wished to bestow it on the poor.

I believe His Majesty would prefer me to conform to His will, and keep peace of soul while attending to my interests, to such charity as this. If this person cannot resign himself because God has not raised him so high in virtue, well and good: let him know that he is wanting in liberty of spirit; let him beg our Lord to grant it him, and be rightly disposed to receive it.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) in Interior Castle 3.4-5 (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 35.

Interior Castle is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Teresa inspires reluctant givers to ask the Lord for liberality or generosity of spirit.

Our Scripture sets forth the outcome of lacking or having liberality of spirit. Those who’ve got it will give, be refreshed, and flourish. Those who don’t have it,  will withhold, and come to poverty.

Perhaps you know people like the rich man described by Teresa above? This person has a lot of money and withholds it, comes to poverty, and exclaims that he or she would have given it to the poor.

Whether or not it is true, is irrelevant! What matters for every steward is what we do with what we have, not what we don’t do. And acceptable giving is giving to God what we have (see 2 Corinthians 8:12).

To such, Teresa urges conformity to God’s will for peace of soul to attend to charity with liberality. For those who are not there yet, she urges to pray for this spirit of liberality or generosity.

Yesterday, I stated that I feel led not to speak of “year-end giving” per se, but rather, “year-end keeping.” In light of today’s biblical text and quote, I remain in that place. I urge you to conform to God’s will with regard to charity.

You lose when you withhold. You gain when you give. This is not gaining for amassing personal riches but replenishment for liberal generosity. With Solomon, I say, “give freely” rather than “withhold.”

And this year-end, please include GTP in your giving. Your gift will be used to empower national workers to build trust and grow local generous giving to God’s work.

We are praying for God to supply $149,000 by 31 December 2022, to deploy 10 staff and numerous volunteers and deliver program onsite and online serving 5,575 workers in 110 countries. Give today.