The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 4:1-6, “Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father,

And give attention that you may gain understanding,

2 For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

3 When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

4 Then he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast my words;

Keep my commandments and live; 5 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!

Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

6 Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.’”

It is obvious to all who will think, that a child is given to parents,

just as parents are given to a child. The parents love the child,

and the child learns to love the parents. Parents that behave

as the LORD intends, are by their very behavior training the

child, who will someday become a parent.

I understand how Solomon looks back on his childhood. He

draws wisdom from the sound teaching and instruction he

received from his father. I find myself doing the same. As you

get older, you will more and more look back on what you learned

from your parents –even more, what you learned from the LORD

and His Word. Solomon in his own wisdom urges us to pay close

attention to the wisdom of the LORD. Pay attention! The only

protection and love you will ever have comes from the LORD.

On my grandfather’s gravestone are these words:

“I have taught you in the way of wisdom;

I have led you in right paths.”

I loved him dearly, just as we love you.

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

I Chronicles 16:34-36, “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

35 Then say, ‘Save us, O God of our salvation,

And gather us and deliver us from the nations,

To give thanks to Thy holy name, And glory in Thy praise.’

36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,

From everlasting even to everlasting.

Then all the people said, ‘Amen,’ and praised the LORD.”

“O give thanks to the LORD…”

I awoke this morning with that phrase on my mind. There are nine

other verses (all in the Psalms) that say virtually the same thing.

The words “Thank you” are slowly slipping out of our culture.

Selfishness causes us to believe we are “owed” what someone

gives us; hence, “Thank you” is an unnecessary reply. But that

is fundamentally wrong. What does it cost to say “Thank you”?

We thank God first because of who He is: “He is good.” Who He

is has no dependency upon whether He gives us anything. He is

simply good because He is. And we are to love and thank Him

for that. “His lovingkindness” speaks of what He does. It never

runs out; therefore, we are to continually thank Him for that.

When we have sufficiently and genuinely thanked Him, we can

then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation…and deliver us

from the nations…(that we might further) give thanks to Thy

holy name, and glory in Thy praise.”

Years ago, I noticed a comparison of Daniel’s prayers with the

Model Prayer. I put the two in a graph that I am attaching, and

hope it will benefit you and increase your prayer life. Notice

that everything emphasizes the LORD’s greatness and power;

nothing points to us. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We love and give thanks for you every, single day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 3:13-15, “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom,

And the man who gains understanding.

14 For its profit is better than the profit of silver,

And its gain than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than jewels;

And nothing you desire compares with her.”

Solomon is the author of the Proverbs. He is known as the

“wisest man who ever lived,” with the exception, of course,

of our LORD Jesus Christ. Solomon was arguably the wealthiest

man of his day. But what he treasured most was wisdom. Do

you want to be happy? Find wisdom. And alongside wisdom

find understanding.

I can recall a number of people over the years, who have

come to me for counsel. I gave them the best counsel I could,

but they summarily rejected it and continued to endure the

situations that had made them uncomfortable. Some people

are just not wise; they elect to believe the wrong counsel.

Genuine wisdom is more profitable that silver or gold. Solomon

says true wisdom is even more precious than fine jewels.

Nothing in this world that you or I desire is comparable to

godly wisdom.

A lady died, and I saw huge diamonds worth thousands of

dollars on her fingers, as she lay in her coffin. But they were

useless and worthless to her then. How much more valuable

wisdom would have been to her! It might have lengthened

the days of her life. Choose carefully the things of true value.

We pray for you daily, and that you may know His wisdom,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 145:1-3, “I Will extol Thee, my God, O King; And I will bless

Thy name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless Thee, And I will

praise Thy name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and highly

to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.”

We always look to the LORD when we are in trouble; but do we

ever just praise Him? David has nothing in mind here except to

just praise the LORD. To extol is to lift up, to hold is high esteem.

It is to praise the LORD. He has given you another day to live! He

has provided everything necessary for life and its enjoyment.

Why should we becloud our minds with troubling things? He wipes

away trouble and devastation. He is worthy of our praise, not only

for today, but for tomorrow and throughout the extent of our lives.

Whatever befalls us, He is always there. He loves and cares for us

in every conceivable situation. How great is He? “His greatness is

unsearchable!” Our minds will not –cannot—begin to embrace

His greatness! Keep Him in mind throughout this day. Let everything

that you encounter cause you to praise Him! He is working for your

benefit, for you well-being. Praise the LORD!

Only the LORD do we love more than we love you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 123:1-2, “To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens!

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid

to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He shall be

gracious to us.”

What do you need? How important is it? Where do you go for the satisfaction of

That need? There is only one Person to whom you can go with the guarantee of

utter satisfaction: “To Thee…” the psalmist says, to the LORD, who is abides in

the heavens! Don’t children look to their parents when they have needs? Doesn’t

everyone look to someone in authority over him, asking that he satisfy the need?

Those who do not recognize the LORD as their Lord (i.e., those who are not saved),

look to themselves. But what we appropriate to ourselves is never satisfactory. If

it were, would we ever have to look to anyone else? Some needs are simply far

out of our human reach. And our failure to reach them only frustrates us further.

We simply have no answer within ourselves. We must look to the LORD!

“But, I’ve asked and asked and there’s no answer,” you say. The word until reminds

us that the One in Authority directs the timing. Like a physician, He knows what we

need and when we should receive it. His timing is always accurate! Patience teaches

us trust. Just remember that our eyes must always be looking to the LORD our God.

Trust and obey,

For there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus,

But to trust and obey.

We love you and pray earnestly for you every day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”