Archives by: Gary Hoag

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

“I have just returned from a walk alone, a walk so wonderful that I feel like reducing it to a universal rule, that all people ought to take a walk every evening all alone where they can talk aloud without being heard by anyone, and that during this entire walk they all ought to talk with God, allowing him to use their tongues to talk back-and letting God do most of the talking. For this seems to be the very thing for which I have been feeling all these weeks. You have followed my experiment and have seen many confessions of daily failure, as I tried to keep God in mind in the second person.

Well, today has not been a failure. The thought of God has drifted out occasionally but not for long. But this day has been a different day from any other of my life, for I have not tried to pray in the sense of talking to God but I have let God do the talking with my tongue or in my inner life when my tongue was silent. It has been as simple as opening and closing a swinging door. And without any of the old strain the whole day passed beautifully with God saying wonderful things to me.

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “As simple as opening and closing a swinging door.”

I loved this reading because when I am at home, I love to walk alone, mostly listen, and sometimes speak audibly to God.

When I travel, I rarely turn on the TV. I love solitude to listen and talk with God out loud. Often I cannot walk unless there is a hotel treadmill because in many cases it is not safe to go outside, like tonight in Mykoliav.

I am in a tiny hotel crammed with American Red Cross emergency workers. Why? Most of the hotels in this city have been bombed, including the one I stayed at last year. No kidding, it was bombed just 2 hours after we left. No kidding.

The threat of danger is real but the presence of God is powerful. If I were to sum up my first two days it would be that people seem to have lost all hope. No one visits. Aid has largely ceased. Most feel forgotten.

The response to the REFUGE devotional has been huge! For example, today in the Kherson Oblast we visited a church that had been blown to pieces. While they continue to meet in a tent, we ministered tonight to a group from Chernivtsi.

They came with a team of ten to help rebuild the church. We saw them lay the concrete foundation. I shared remarks after dinner and they shared a song. And the pastor just messaged me.

“Thanks for REFUGE! I want to read it to our team as our morning devotion time. I was glad to meet you! May God bless you for your kind heart for our people!” I was not sure what to say to them. God gave me the words.

It looked simple, like Laubach says. When they asked me to speak to this team spontaneously, I whispered a prayer and God took care of the rest. He gave me just what they needed. I know that’s the case because I actually got a couple laughs out of them.

Before I visit another war-torn area under shelling at the moment, Odessa and Chornomorsk, I must comment on the header photo. God whispered to me on the long drive today. Stop the car. Snap a photo. I shot it as we traveled across Ukraine.

I saw abundant life. I saw it bursting forth from the ground. It reminded me that God had not forgotten these people and would supply what they needed. If you look at the header photo next to the Ukrainian flag, you will understand my joy.

Anyway, everywhere I go, I am proclaiming peace in Ukraine. I remind everyone that peace is not the absence of war, for war will always be with us. Peace is abiding in the presence of God.

Abide with me in perpetual surrender. It’s simple.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:21

“Last Monday was the most completely successful day of my life to date so far as giving my day in complete and continuous surrender to God is concerned – though I shall hope for far better days – and I remember how as I looked at people with a love God gave, they looked back and acted as though they wanted to go with me. I felt then that for a day I saw a little of that marvelous pull that Jesus had as he walked along the road day after day “God-intoxicated” and radiant with the endless communion of his soul with God.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “I looked at people with a love God gave.”

Yesterday was indescribably good. It was a God-intoxicated day.

Milan and I met at 6:30am and met with the board of Hosanna Church in Lviv. It has sprouted since 2022 and has 150 people and no financial structure or budgeting. I provided teaching and templates.

Think about it, how many church boards do you know willing to meet from 6:30-8:30am?

Then a driver collected us and drove us to Ternopil where I preached at Strong Faith Church at 11am. Afterwards I met a nuclear physicist who had fled Kharkiv two years ago, landed in Ternopil and came to faith in Jesus.

Pastor Mykola Semenov serves 700 internally displaced families a week out of Strong Faith Church. That’s not a typo. But he needs help with bringing order and oversight to the ministry.

I thank God he’s our driver along with Sasha Volyanyk, GTP Country Coordinator for Ukraine. To provide coaching whilst we travel to Kherson, Odessa, and Kyiv.

And last night preached at New Church at 5pm. Everyone there was under 30 years old. And they were like dry sponges, soaking up truth and coach. But I felt all worked well only because of surrender to Jesus.

And they wanted Milan and I to stay with them all night. Got to the hotel after 10pm. And I forgot to add that people seem bereft of hope. Thankful that “endless communion” fills us to minister to so many with seemingly empty cups.

Have you tasted this? Give yourself in complete and continuous surrender. It’s the only way to live!

Headed to Kherson today from Ternopil. War zone. Pastor Mykola admitted to me yesterday that our travel there last year was his only visit to the war zone.

And he came back with such joy from the journey his wife wants him to return with us this week. And Milan and I have perfect peace. Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything.

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

“Inwardly this has been a very uneven week. As a whole my end of the experiment has been failure for most of the week. My physical condition and too many distractions have proven too much for me, and God has not been in the center of my mind for one-fifth of the time, or perhaps one-tenth. But today has been a wonderful day, and some of yesterday was wonderful. The week with its failures and successes has taught me one new lesson. It is this: “I must talk about God, or I cannot keep Him in my mind. I must give Him away in order to have Him.” That is the law of the spirit world. What one gives one has, what one keeps to oneself one loses. Do you suppose that through all eternity the price we will need to pay for keeping God will be that we must endlessly be giving Him away?

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “One Mew Lesson.”

I boarded this train at the Przemyśl Główny stations in Poland yesterday and have safely arrived in Lviv to proclaim peace in Ukraine in the name of Jesus and call everyone to take refuge in God.

Click to download my latest book authored with Dr. Michael Cherenkov, Refuge, in English or Ukrainian.

I am so stoked about my first meeting today. Because I am preaching in Ternopil at 11am and 5pm, my meeting with five humble servants at Hosanna Church runs from 6:30am-8:30am. What will we talk about?

The church is growing to 150+ with most of the people new converts during the war. But the church has no budget or financial accountability and transparency measures in place.

Doing an early morning seminar for the overseers of the church, praise God.

Then I will “talk about God” and finding refuge in Him in two churches in Ternopil today and I have peace. The more I make Christ known fearlessly, the more I will know life in Him without fear. The more I give Him away, the more I have Him.

This illustrates life in the economy of God. We only grasp what we give away. What can you give away today or this week?

Jenni will give herself to 20 students at the seminary here in Lviv this week, and undoubtedly the gain will exceed 20x of the effort and sacrifice. I will serve 3 churches today in Lviv and Ternopil and more stops on the docket by car and train.

Appreciate your prayers this week. On the move, unafraid of danger, and praying for peace.

Praising God that the more I sacrifice, the more I gain. Let me know if you want to join me on a trip sometime to experience the abundant economy of God firsthand. Milan Hluchý is with me for the second time from Czech Republic.

I am serious. He would say that it’s life-changing and the only way to live.

Give the Lord a chance to show you how good He is. Great blessings belong to those who depend on Him! The Lord’s holy people should fear and respect Him. Those who respect Him will always have what they need. Psalm 34:8-9

“The “experiment” is interesting, although I am not very successful, thus far. The idea of God slips out of my sight for I suppose two thirds of every day, thus far. This morning I started out fresh, by finding a rich experience of God in the sunrise. Then I tried to let Him control my hands while I was shaving and dressing and eating breakfast. Now I am trying to let God control my hands as I pound the typewriter keys. If I could keep this morning up I should have a far higher average today than I have had for some time.

This afternoon as I look at the people teeming about me, and then think of God’s point of view, I feel that this mighty stretch of time in which He has been pushing men upward is to continue for many more millions of years. We are yet to become what the spiritual giants have been and more than many of them were. Here the selection favors those who keep themselves wide open toward God and wide awake. Our possibilities are perhaps not limitless, but they are at least infinitely above
our present possibilities of imagination.

There is nothing that we can do excepting to throw ourselves open to God. There is, there must be, so much more in Him than He can give us, because we are so sleepy and because our capacity is so pitifully small. It ought to be tremendously helpful to be able to acquire the habit of reaching out strongly after God’s thoughts, and to ask, “God what have you to put into my mind now if only I can be large enough?” That waiting, eager attitude ought to give God the chance he needs. I am finding every day that the best of the five or six ways in which I try to keep contact with God is for me to wait for his thoughts, to ask him to speak.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Open toward God and wide awake.”

I think about giving daily, but rarely have had the notion of “give God the chance He needs” on my radar. It makes sense. Many people are moving about but few attuned to Him.

Those who try, and I will rank myself among them, fail even to stay connected the majority of a day. Too many actions of others or distractions around us shift our focus, redeploy our energies, capture our attention.

I hear today, the repeated clack of a train moving on the tracks as I move from Warsaw to Lviv. The faces of people tell stories. One reflects pain, another joy, another sadness, another mystery.

What does your resting face say? My often says focus! Today, I want it to say peace. Fill my heart with Your peace, Lord. Make me a conduit of your love. I wrote a book, that releases to the world today for this trip. I wrote it with my friend, Dr. Michael Cherenkov.

It’s called, REFUGE. Click to download it in English and in Ukrainian. Pray for me as I seek the heart of God as I travel. I want to give God the chance to speak through me to people when I preach twice tomorrow in two churches in Ternopil.

How might you give God a chance today?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:19-24

“This conscious, incessant submission to God has proven extremely difficult, and I have surrendered for the past few days. And today and yesterday I saw evidences of the result. In an effort to be witty I have said biting things which have hurt the feelings of others, and have been short and impatient. I tremble, for I have told at least one of these men of this experiment, and he will think this is the result. It is very dangerous to tell people, and yet, I must tell and I must start over now and succeed. This philosophy that one can begin all over instantly at any moment, is proving of great help.

If this record of a soul struggle to find God is to be complete it must not omit the story of difficulty and failure. I have not succeeded very well so far. This week, for example, has not been one of the finest in my life, though it has been above the average. I have to make a greater effort next week. I have undertaken something which, at my age at least, is hard, harder than I had anticipated. But I resolve not to give up the effort. Yet strain does not seem to do good. At this moment I feel something “let go” inside, and lo, God is here! It is a heart melting “here-ness,” a lovely whispering of father to child, and the reason I did not have it before, was because I failed to let go. And back of that failure there was something else. A crowd of people arrived who, when they are in a crowd, wish to talk or think nothing of religion. I fear I have not wanted some of them to think me religious for fear I might cease to be interesting.

Fellowship with God is something one dare not cover, for it smothers to death. It is like a tender infant or a delicate little plant, for a long nurturing is the price of having it, while it vanishes in a second of time, the very moment indeed, one’s eye ceases to be “single.” One cannot worship God and Mammon for the reason that God slips out and is gone as soon as we try to seat some other unworthy affection beside Him. The other idol stays and God vanishes. Not because God is “a jealous God” but because sincerity and insincerity are contradictions and cannot both exist at the same time in the same place.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Incessant submission to God has proven extremely difficult.”

I am awake at 3:00am local time in Warsaw experiencing a bit of jet lag. It happens with travel. Rather than toss in bed, I determined wake up, read, and sit with the Lord. It has been a sweet time.

And I chose this post because it reflects the ups and downs of the human reality of following Jesus. Laubach alerts us that some weeks are better than others. That’s the truth!

Some weeks we feel in sync with God. Other weeks, if we examine our lives with honesty, we fail miserably to reflect the love or the generosity of God. Is that you today?

If so, this statement is for you: “But I resolve not to give up the effort.” Begin all over again today, right now, this minute. Forget your successes and failures and move on relying on God’s grace.

I praise God for an awesome meeting from about 11am to 3pm yesterday with the head of an influential network of European pastors and a few of his close colleagues. Today I speak to about 38 of them.

I pray to be in sync with God when I do, to begin again today. And then for my many speaking engagements and strategic visits across Ukraine to go well. Afresh God is reminding me just to focus on Him.

The best part about fellowship with God is the sincerity of it. He never turns us away when we fix ourselves to Him rather than Mammon which can represent anything else, any time. Let me give an example in real-time.

My iPad, which I use to teach, has quit working on this trip. It won’t recharge. I could allow that to derail me. He reminded me that I need nothing but Him. He will help me deliver His truth and love without the iPad.

I don’t know if Laubach’s vulnerability or my own helps you but I know this: “strain does not seem to do good.” If you feel strain, let it God. Draw near to God today and He will draw near to you.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6

“I have tasted a thrill in fellowship with God which has made anything discordant with God disgusting. This afternoon the possession of God has caught me up with such sheer joy that I thought I never had known anything like it. God was so close and so amazingly lovely that I felt like melting all over with a strange blissful contentment. Having had this experience, which comes to me now several times a week, the thrill of filth repels me, for I know its power to drag me from God. And after an hour of close friendship with God my soul feels clean, as new fallen snow.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “The possession of God has caught me up.”

The writing of Laubach continues to resonate with my experience of God, especially in my travels.

Let me explain. I dropped in bed last night in Warsaw exhausted. I prayed for 8 hours sleep after getting only a couple hours of rest the night before in my crossing of the Atlantic.

But I knew I had work to do in the morning, writing and some complex situations to sort.

So rather than fret or worry, I asked God for the rest I needed and entrusted to him the writing and complex situations. When I woke, I determined to go to the treadmill to walk and pray.

I felt it was more important than diving into work. Two things happened.

I experienced Him in a powerful way as my possession and I felt He gave me clarity on the situations I had to sort beyond my ability.

What’s my point today?

The most generous thing we can do, may not be to get up and work, but to give ourselves to God afresh and from Him get more than we need to sort our responsibilities.

And I can relate to the word picture of new fallen snow. See it in the header photo.

It snows 11 months of the year in Denver. I love it when it snows. Like a blanket over everything. Then the next day the sun shines and it’s gone. But few things are more beautiful and pure to see.

Sit with this post today. As God to help you taste the thrill of blissful contentment with God as your possession.

Pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

“You and you and you and I do experience fine fresh contact with God sometimes, and do carry, out His will sometimes. One question now to be put to the test is this: Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in His presence, can we attain that? Can we do His will all the time? Can we think His thoughts all the time?

Or are there periods when business, and pleasures, and crowding companions must necessarily push God out of our thoughts? “Of course, that is self-evident. If one thinks of God all the time, he will never get anything else done.” So I thought too, until now, but I am changing my view. We can keep two things in mind at once. Indeed we cannot keep one thing in mind more than half a second. Mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles. We do not think of one thing. We always think of the relationship of at least two things, and more often of three or more things simultaneously. So my problem is this: Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an after image, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and percept?

I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.

Someone may be saying that this introspection and this struggle to achieve God-consciousness is abnormal and perilous. I am going to take the risks, for somebody ought to do it, in this day when psychological experimentation has given a fresh approach to our spiritual problems. If our religious premises are correct at all then this oneness with God is the most normal condition one can have. It is what made Christ, Christ. It is what St. Augustine meant when he said “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

I do not invite anybody else to follow this arduous path. I wish many might: We need to know so much which one man alone cannot answer. For example:

“Can a laboring man successfully attain this continuous surrender to God? Can a man working at a machine pray for people all day long, talk with God all day long, and at the same time do His task efficiently?”

“Can a merchant do business, can an accountant keep books, ceaselessly surrendered to God?”

“Can a mother wash dishes, care for the babies, continuously talking to God?”

“Can a politician keep in a state of continuous contact with God, and not lose the following of the crowds?”

“Can little children be taught to talk and listen to God inwardly all day long, and what is the effect upon them?”

Briefly, is this a thing which the entire human race might conceivably aspire to achieve? Do we really mean what we say when we repeat “the highest end of man is to find God and to do His will” all the time?

If you are like myself this has been pretty strong diet this afternoon. It may even prove discouraging. So I will put something simpler and more attainable:

“Any hour of any day may be made perfect by merely choosing. It is perfect if one looks toward God that entire hour, waiting for His leadership all through the hour and trying hard to do every tiny thing exactly as God wishes it done, as perfectly as possible. No emotions are necessary. Just the doing of God’s will perfectly makes the hour a perfect one. And the results of that one perfect hour, I believe, will echo down through eternity.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Can we think His thoughts all the time?”

I can relate to this as I arrive in Poland today to speak at a conference with pastors and ministry workers from across Europe and then enter Ukraine on Saturday for meetings in many key cities.

In settings where I feel like a proverbial fish out of water I pray continually. Do I do any good for God? As you can imagine, I do my best work when I am attuned to Him. I see God work like in the Book of Acts.

But in my comfort zone, I can function on autopilot. I can easily forget about God or think I can sort the day on my own strength.

But when I pray continuously, I discern by the Holy Spirit when to remain silent, when to speak, and what words to say. I have no agenda but what I sense from the Lord. I feel this on most every trip.

But it can happen in domestic settings. I was watching my granddaughters the other day, which is less familiar than speaking at a conference for me, and God helped me know what to do in the moment.

Most people like to stay in their comfort zone. There our tendency is to trust in ourself to navigate life. We need to get off the couch. Or as I will tell them in Ukraine, get out of the foxhole.

Surrender five minutes or an hour looking to God and offering to doing His will. You might just make your best contributions ever and decide to make it a way of life.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

“Last Thursday night I was listening to a phonograph in Lumbatan and allowing my heart to commune, when something broke within me, and I longed not only to lift my own will up and give it completely to God, but also to lift all the wills in the world up and offer them all in utter surrender to His will. To feel this great longing as I felt it then with all my being, to desire to put one’s shoulder under all the world’s hunger and need, and to carry it all to God, is not this the highest longing one can ever feel? Probably not, but it is the climax of my spiritual experience to this date. God, be the thought within my brain, and be the thought in every brain in the world, so that no thought save the thoughts of God shall take birth in any human mind. And this will be heaven!”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Meeting God soul to soul and face to face.”

I confess, the first time I read this I thought, “What were you listening to on the phonograph?” Then I pondered and something profound came to my awareness. Ponder with me.

What Laubach did that day basically matches what Jesus wants all of us praying every day: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s the heart of the Lord’s prayer. So the giving that comes into view today relates to lifting my own will up and giving it completely to God.

Hang with me a little longer. The implications are huge.

A will of a person is the decision-making part. It’s the part that decides whether we will choose to live generously and serve as a conduit of blessing or not. Jesus gives us insight along these lines. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38

The will drives everything for you and me, including our generosity. This leads me to pray with Laubach.

Father in heaven, I lift all the wills in the world up and offer them all in utter surrender to Your will. I want each one to follow the example of Jesus and do Your will, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. In your mercy, hear this prayer for the world, in Jesus name. Amen.

And pray for safe travel with my wife Jenni to Poland today and Ukraine by Saturday. Details to follow. Thanks.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

“I feel sure now that our thoughts flow around the world even when we do not express them. So I mean to make a contribution with my thoughts every hour. I am making a strenuous effort of will to concentrate upon people, those in my presence and those out of sight in order to send to them my thoughts of Christ.

I propose to think as hard of God as I can when in crowds, in the confidence that really dynamic thought will influence many others. Perhaps you have begun to suspect what tremendous dynamite lies hidden in the idea. If the Christian people, the really Christian people of the world began to comprehend the power of thought, they could use it as a lever to lift the world!”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “A lever to lift the world.”

It’s Easter Monday and the beginning of life after Lent. We have spent a season focusing on in giving, prayer, and fasting and examining our hearts along the way. The season has shaped us to live every moment of like Christ.

Today, Laubach uses two powerful word pictures that link to generosity. First he beckons us to make a contribution with our thoughts. This mirrors the exhortation of the apostle Paul to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

When we do this, we experience victory. We demolish the spiritual forces of evil with dynamite. We grasp the lever that moves the world. Remember the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us.

Only really Christian people live like they believe this. Do you?

He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25

“I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me. To know this gives a sense of security and assurance for the future which is also new to my life. I seem to have to make sure of only one thing now, and every other thing “takes care of itself,” or I prefer to say what is more true, God takes care of all the rest. My part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will. To make this hour gloriously rich. This seems to be all I need think about.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Only One Thing Now.”

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you like the new header photo of our tulips covered by a tub and preserved from the blast of a Spring snowstorm. Jesus certainly has everything covered for you and me. Praise the LORD!

The implications of the resurrection of Jesus for humanity are so vast, all the books in the world could not contain them. And I can imagine going a thousand different directions with today’s post.

But I will not. I will keep it simple. On this special day, let’s focus on one thing from the perspective of the man born blind, because we are all just like him. We are all born blind. Only Jesus gives us sight.

This reading from Laubach reminds me of my favorite centering prayer. It came to me from John Stanley who got it from Dolindo Ruotolo. I offer it to you, the Surrender Novena: “Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!”

The only thing that matters today and everyday is living a life of surrender to the risen King, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That takes shape as “continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will.”

Wherever He leads I will follow. Whatever He commands I will do. And related to generosity, I have found that He’s not ever trying to rob me but help serve as a conduit of divine blessing and trust Him to care for me when I do that.

Join me in this. “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” I see why I am on this planet. Jesus, help me grow in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to your will. Amen.