Strengthen your brothers!

Luke 22: 31,32 says: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Tomorrow morning I start the last of two and one half years of chemotherapy for a blood cancer called Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It has been a rough ride and it is not over yet. The doctor says that the studies on the type of drug they use for my therapy only have about a 3 year history thus far. So they will complete this last one and then stop ALL treatment. Sounds a little scary but I am confident in God that all will be well.

After this treatment and because there is no cure for my type of cancer, they will simply wait for the symptoms to return again and test to decide whether I am strong enough for the Bone Marrow Transplant.

On the day of my diagnosis I explained to the Oncologist that there was nothing that she could do outside of God’s will for my life. I explained that she was welcome to treat me but my life was in God’s hands. I have lived the last 2 ½ years with that attitude and God has blessed me beyond the measure that I expected. I have had the pleasure of praying with and leading a precious old lady to Christ, with a chemo needle stuck in my chest. God has been with me through all of it so far, and I don’t expect Him to leave me, ever.

It has taken me these 2 ½ years to develop my testimony and it is “ever changing” but it is available if anyone wishes to read it at www.nowwhataz.org.

After this treatment, my family and I will celebrate Christmas together and then Barb and I will try to do some traveling. We love to just “be gone” so we will try to do as much as we can until it becomes necessary to start treatment again. Your prayer support is primarily why we are where we are today. I could not be more grateful for those prayers and they cannot stop now. I am following the lead of the passage above and I lean totally on God’s love and grace to see me through.

Now that Rest Ministries is publishing some of my devotions, I will continue to write as much as I can. Thank you and my God show you the kindness He has shared with me.

Dave Stallings lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife of 36 years, Barbara, and their dog, Captain Jack…along with their kids and grand kids ! Dave is a semi-retired pastor and loves to blog on his personal web page since being diagnosed with Stage IV incurable non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma two years ago..his motto is “It is what it is and God is not surprised”….his website is www.nowwhataz.blogspot.com and can be reached by email at dstallings2@qwest.net.

Adendum to November 25, 2007 Post

I have been in touch with a precious new Christian friend who has shown me how to "block" certain types of advertisements from google.com without the need to severe our relationship. So the ads will remain and I will continue to monitor them closely as I can now block as I wish.

I do not need to reclaim my position. I know God loves us all, however, I am confident that He does not want us to associate with some ideaologies. If while surfing on my blog, you find something in these marketing squares that you would question, please feel free to click on the word "comment" below and express your concerns to me. I will address them immediately.

By God's Grace,

Dave

Not My Will but Thine, Oh Lord!

I heard a christian man once say "You know your depressed when the only hope you have is that you ARE GOING TO DIE, and you start winning the battle!" Obviously things were so difficult in his life that his thoughts were only directed to his reunion with the Father. I had to take a close look at that thought and wonder if this was from God or was he being "duped" by the devil once again in his mind.

The chronically ill experience so many difficult and despairing times that it is sometimes hard to tell where these thoughts sometimes come from. Then I was directed to First Thessalonians 5:16-18 which offer the simplest directive to the will of God for each of us, no matter what the circumstances are. The verse reads: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1. Rejoice always: whatever the circumstances, whatever the condition in life, God says to "Rejoice always".
2. Pray without ceasing: always live life in an attitude of pray, whether it is for yourself or someone God has placed on you heart, God says to "Pray without ceasing".
3. In everything give thanks: I can think of hundreds of situations in my own life that I am NOT thankful for and here God says "give thanks".

Here God has given us the simplest of recipes in life for His will. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. How difficult can that be? When I am laying in bed and cannot move from the pain, "Rejoice, pray, give thanks". Guess what? I tried that last night as I lay on my bed, unable to drift off to sleep and before I knew it, I was looking at my clock beside my bed and it was 6:17am and I had slept through the night.

I must give credit to a church and pastor I met last week in California for this verse application. His church is called "Set Free Church" and he is pastor Willie Dalgity and he shared this impressive, yet simplistic approach to God's will for our lives. "Rejoice always...not just some of the time (when things are going well); "pray without ceasing"...allow our minds to be in a constant attitude of prayer; "in everything give thanks"...Thank you Lord that I'm not in as bad shape as some of the people I know. And God's promise is "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." How simple can it get? Don't know God's will for your life? Try this simple 3 verse application and see if God doesn't start to reveal, not only His love for you, but His will for your life as well.

And yes, if you live in the Calimesa area of California and you are not going to church somewhere, you really should check this one out.

Dave Stallings lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife of 36 years, Barbara, and their dog, Captain Jack…along with their kids and grand kids ! Dave is a semi-retired pastor and loves to blog on his personal web page since being diagnosed with Stage IV incurable non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma two years ago..his motto is “It is what it is and God is not surprised”….his website is www.nowwhataz.blogspot.com and can be reached by email at dstallings2@qwest.net.

New Gay Bible Advertisement

Dear precious Saints of God. This morning as I was searching through my blog, I ran across an advertisement (that is, evidently, on my website as Christian materials) for a New King James Bible and it states "This Free Bible Download contains all of the great text of the King James Version and a new book entitled God's New Law describing the prophecy that was declared in 2000". It also advertises

"New Additions:
- Homosexuality and Fornication Forgiven
- Gay Marriage in God's Kingdom."

By the time I finish this blog and publish it, the advertisement will be gone as these advertisements circulate every few minutes.

Concerning this bible, I must review my relationship with Google Advertisers to see if I will continue based on the content of these "New Additions", however I want anyone who reads this blog to know that even though I believe that God can and does forgive these sins, I DO NOT support homosexuality under ANY circumstance, and I DO NOT support the advertisement of any additions to God's Holy Word.

I have to do some extraordinary research as I am unwilling to "click" on the downloads from my computer to read what is prophesied, however, we who take God's Word at face value understand that there is NO NEW PROPHECY to be written and added to God's Word so without even downloading this product, I am "at odds" with it in its original description.

My best advise to any of you who might run across this advertisement is that you just simply let it pass and not help its cause by clicking on it. If I cannot get this type of advertisements separated from the Christian Genre which I requested, then I will be forced to terminate my relationship with Google AdSense.

I hope I have made my position clear "in love" as I know the power of forgiveness and also know the power of God's Wrath upon those who would try to subvert the Holiness of His Word.

Dave

How Long Is "Long Enough"?

"When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! and He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit" (John 19:30). The Bible indicates that Christ hung on that cross for about 6 hours. Some would argue longer and some, shorter. It doesn't matter because the point is that He was on the cross until the job He was sent to earth to do was completed.

Here we have a part of the Trinity that was there at the creation, was there in the garden, was there at the Red Sea, and was there until His friends and loved ones came and took Him down from the cross and wrapped and laid Him in the tomb. He was there when Mary came to the tomb to care for Him even in His death. He was there long enough to finish the task.

Most of us who suffer from a chronic illness often ask the question "How long is long enough"? How long do we suffer with the disabling difficulties of the illness or injury we have? Will there come a time, Jesus, when you tell us that we have suffered enough? We think of Job in the Bible and the terrific suffering he went through and continued to stand strong for Christ. What about the disciples who, after Pentecost, withstood the suffering and martyrdom for the sake of Christ?

What about Paul in the New Testament? In Second Corinthians 12:7ff he says, "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me - to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me." I'm personally not one who daily appreciates the Lord's response to Paul because it means the same thing for me and when I am suffering in pain and sickness, the last thing I want to do is get on my knees and pray for or minister to someone who needs a touch from God. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Know what that means? When we are weak, He is strong. I have never seen more of Christ in my life than I have since my diagnosis, since my injury, since my illness settled on my life.

How long is long enough? I pray every day "Maranatha" which means "Come quickly, Lord Jesus". And everyday He put an opportunity in my life. Sometimes I take the opportunities and run with them. Sometimes I run from them. But every time God speaks to me and lets me know that "His grace is sufficient for me"! Is His grace sufficient for you? Only you can answer that.

How long is long enough? You may not find out this side of Heaven but thank God He had prepared a place for us!

Dave Stallings lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife of 36 years, Barbara, and their dog, Captain Jack…along with their kids and grand kids ! Dave is a semi-retired pastor and loves to blog on his personal web page since being diagnosed with Stage IV incurable non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma two years ago..his motto is “It is what it is and God is not surprised”….his website is www.nowwhataz.blogspot.com and can be reached by email at dstallings2@qwest.net..

Whatever Works!

Jesus has an encounter with a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (Jn.3:3)

After 56 years of looking over the world we live in, I have discovered that we live mostly among the philosophical "pragmatist". The ideology of a pragmatist is that "whatever works" is what the game plan is. Today we see so many people, young and old with that philosophy. "Yeah, if that works, let's do it that way". We want to be ahead of the competition so let's do it this way. Disturbingly, I see it in the Christian world as well. "The Bible has dried up somewhat, so let's use some other materials to draw people into the pews". Let's modernize the church services and offer benefits that make people more comfortable. I've even seen, in my lifetime, a "Drive-in" church. They remodeled a drive-in theatre and the church goers would drive up to the speaker, place it in the window and listen to a message, then replace the speaker and just drive away. Please don't get me wrong. I love good worship music and praise songs. Don't even mind a cup of coffee with my message. I just see the church getting away from using the Bible as its primary teaching material.

Remember the passage in Matthew where Jesus tells the rich young ruler that it would be..."easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"(Matt.19:24)? Jesus has been telling us for hundreds of years now that this philosophical ideal of pragmatism just won't work. You can't just put together your own ideas and plan an eternity in Heaven with Jesus. Early on in His ministry, He made it very plain..."You must be born again!"

Things are, and have been happening in the world that indicate that Jesus is planning His return. He promised that He would come back for His own and it looks like someday soon, that will become a reality. Where will we be when He returns? Will we still be looking for that "nitch" that the world thinks will work? Or will we be declaring to the world "You must be born again"? As Christian men and women, we have an obligation to the "lost" in the world. Jesus commanded us to "Go" and to "Tell" the world about Him and His return for the church.

Let's all try to do our part.

P.S. I am writing devotions for Rest Ministries Online Magazine so look for me at www.restministries.org

Do you have a troubled heart?

"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (Jn. 14:1-4,6)

I was lying in bed tonight thinking about the activities of the last couple of years and I just had to take a moment to thank the Lord for the strength and courage He has given to Barb and me. On April 19, 2005 I had a major surgery that would eventually lead to the discovery of an "incurable" form of cancer within my body. Having had to prepare and endure treatment for this cancer, without the ability to recover from the back surgery, has certainly brought the need and ability to put my faith in God.

In the middle of pain I have never experienced before, I have been introduced to more people, needy people, struggling people, that I would never have known without being taken down this path. I have already lost one of those dear friends during this past year and was privileged to share Christ at his "going home" celebration just a few short months ago. With well over 100 friends and family members present that day, who's to say they would have ever heard the plain and simple Gospel of God without God directing me there. I have seen "overwhelming" fear in the faces of a lot of people I have met, that just seemed to disappear with just the "mention" of His name!

So laying in bed trying to get to sleep (it's 2am) I heard the voice of God telling me to share a little something with those of you who experience some of these trials.

I have been truly blessed over this past 2 years with the opportunity to be used of God, trying to stand in the gap, and be a faithful servant to Him and tonight I can feel God's smile. And believe me when I say, I have done nothing in my own power through it all. Oh, I know that there is a tremendous amount yet to be done, but tonight I feel the Lord's joy.

Over the last 30 plus years of walking with the Lord (most of the time, ahead of Him), we have always looked forward to the Lord's Second Coming. In fact, I believe that we are close, so close to His return that sometimes, I swear, I can "feel the brush of angel wings" on my cheeks.

If your reading this and feel you have some "unsettled issues" that need God's attention, please take the time to go to Him and let Him find that "soft or wounded" spot in your heart, and when He does, rest assured that He, and only He, can cover it with His love and make you whole.

Dave