The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Philippians 4:4-7, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard

your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul really knows how to pack things together, doesn’t he? He begins

by saying, Rejoice, always be glad. Don’t get discouraged about anything.

People will either see you as glad or depressed. Don’t be depressed!

The word near means near in time, not near in space. Every day we are

nearer to the time of His coming –an excellent reason to rejoice!

Don’t worry about anything, just pray. And don’t just pray once, keep

on praying (supplication). The LORD wants to know we are serious in

what we ask. Also, there is nothing like God’s peace. It is so superior,

it is far above all human understanding. Moreover, His peace protects

our hearts and thoughts –our purposes!—and keeps everything focused

on Christ Jesus! You say you don’t understand all of that? Well, didn’t

Paul say it was beyond our human understanding? Remember when

you were saved? It came by belief, didn’t it? Did you understand it all

then? No, but your experienced it! So it is with life in Christ. Don’t

worry about what you don’t understand, just rejoice!

May the LORD guide the thoughts of your mind today!

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 5:16-17, “Therefore, be careful how you walk,

not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time,

because the days are evil. 17 So then, do not be foolish, but

understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Paul has written a lot of instruction to the Ephesian Christians

–and to us!—in these fourth and fifth chapters. He’s not finished

when he writes the two verses above. Be careful how you live!

Be wise in all you do! Make the most of your time! When Queen

Elizabeth I of England lay dying, her final words were: ‘All my

possessions for a moment of time.’ Hardly a godly woman,

she was undoubtedly thinking, ‘If I had just done this instead of

that.’ Paul is telling us to live so that we never have any regrets.

Don’t engage in foolish things. Focus on what the LORD wants

for your life –how He wants you to spend your time.

Paul’s focus was not fame or wealth for himself. He wanted to

live in such a way that one day, when he would stand face-to-face

in the presence of Jesus Christ, he might hear Christ say, “Well

done, good and faithful servant.” Those are the words we want

said to us, as well. But we have to start now if we are ever to hear

them.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me,

bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1).

We love you immensely!

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,

4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”

There are some today who believe that our nation is truly at war. It may be so,

depending upon how we define “war.” The Apostle Paul declares that, as believers,

we are always engaged in war. It’s just that we don’t use guns and bombs; we use

“divinely powerful” weapons that are far more destructive of the enemy Satan!

Speculations (???????? logismos) are thoughts and reasonings, human efforts that

are weapons provided to us by our enemy: wrong, illogical beliefs and systems of

belief that fly in the face of the revealed “knowledge of God.” How do we defeat

such things as these? We take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Our minds, our eyes, our hands, our feet, our mouths –all must be dedicated fully

and completely to the things of Christ. When they are, HE conducts the battle!

Job (31:1ff) made a “covenant with (his) eyes.” He asks, “Does (God) not see my

ways and number all my steps?” He reasons that the LORD knows and governs

his ways. Therefore, if Job is to prosper, he must live in the way of the LORD. To

do otherwise, is sure destruction. That principle still operates with us.

We love you all and you are constantly in our prayers,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved,

let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit,

perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

I’ve been teaching at Liberty now for more than 10 years. One

of the courses requires all students to give an account of their

salvation in Jesus Christ. Almost more than I can count, have

stated that even after the LORD saved them, they returned to

lives of sin and shame, often involving themselves in the grossest

of sin. Satan’s first attack is to keep us from coming to Christ

at all. He wants to control and govern our lives, so that we lose

all thought of God and His love and indulge ourselves in sin.

When that doesn’t work, and we’ve honestly and earnestly

committed ourselves to Jesus Christ, Satan then attempts to

get us to indulge ourselves, mind, soul, body, into sin. This

has always been his plan. It has not changed. It will not change!

Paul pleads with us to “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of

flesh and spirit.” We CAN overcome sin! The LORD gives us

the power to think cleanly and live cleanly. And when we allow

the power of Jesus Christ to enable us to live holy lives, we

feel clean within ourselves. Failure to live for Him brings

consequences! Don’t fool with God. You should read what

some of my students say.

We love you and pray for you every day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For momentary, light affliction is producing

for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things

which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal,

but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, life is filled with difficulties. Things

go wrong. Plans we’ve made, go awry. People disappoint us. And

more often than not, we despair. Paul tells us first that these are

momentary experiences. They don’t last long. Also, they are

incidental, light, non-destructive things that bother us only for a

very short while. The bright side of these afflictions is that they

are working for us, while they appear to be working against us.

We cannot grasp it all, but the little hurts and disappointments

we encounter are spiritually producing glorious things for us!

And the truth of all of this is because the LORD is not asleep.

He is allowing these little, short-term hurts and disappointments

to build character within us. We view things from a human

perspective; God views things from an eternal perspective.

So, CHEEER UP! The LORD has won the victory! And so have

we, if we will only believe.

Our love and prayers encompass you all,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas