The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 84:11-12, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He

withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12 O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!”

These two verses literally overflow with meaning! The psalmist praises

the LORD as the One who illuminates and invogorates mankind. Where

would we be without the sun that warms and produces life? Where would

we be if we had no relief from continual sunlight and its scorching heat?

The LORD balances everything so that we might receive His grace and

acknowledge His glory.

It is both a truth and a promise that He will not withhold any of His goodness

from us as we walk uprightly in honesty and love. Thus, when we discover

the absence of His blessing in our lives, we should examine our footsteps.

Are we walking with Him? Are we living in His Word, the Holy Scriptures?

They are indeed the spiritual food we need for the life He wants us to live.

Are we trusting Him for the provisions we both need and desire? We often

accurately recognize what we need, but we fail to look to Him for the

provision of it. The LORD wants to bless us just as our parents (and we as

parents) want the best for their children. Yet, to reward us with blessing when

we behave contrary to the will of the Rewarder, is to overlook justice. Parents

sometimes do that. God never does that!! Sin always has consequences.

And although consequences are grevous, they are necessary teachers to

bring us to righteous living.

So, don’t despair when you get “spanked” for doing wrong or neglecting to do

right. Just tell the LORD you are genuinely sorry (repent), and He will forgive

you and strengthen you for living in His sunlight.

Love and prayers for each of you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 66:16-20, “Come and hear, all who fear God,

And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

17 I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;

19 But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His lovingkindness from me.”

What a great peace it is to be delivered from the troubles we encounter in life! “Hey, let me

tell you about what almost occurred in my life, and how I was rescued!” We’ve all experienced those moments of escape. Whew! When it’s over, we want to share the escape, but only with others, who will understand and rejoice with us.

Those anxious moments are multiple: sickness, accidents, fears of all kinds –those moments

when we cried out to the LORD for help and deliverence. In those moments, we repented of

every sin we could recall. We knew at that moment that the LORD would not hear us unless

we admitted to evil we had allowed to enter into our hearts and lives. In desperation, we pled

with God to forgive us of those sins and to hear our prayer for deliverence from the fears that

plagued us in that moment.

But how do we know when we’ve been forgiven? How do we know that the LORD even heard

our prayers? Yes, we prayed in faith that He would hear, but how could we know with certainty that He heard us? The internal release from anxiety that He gives to our innermost being is His assurance that He has heard and answered our prayer. How do we know with assurance the word of a friend who says, “It will be safe with me. I will guard it. I will protect what you have

given me.” What greater friend do we have than Jesus? If we cannot trust Him, there is no such

thing as trust with anyone anywhere. It is He alone who releases us from the anxities of life. But His release requires our repentance and agreement to stop sinning, whether in our minds or by our hands. How gracious He is to release us when we pray!

We continue to pray for you every single day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 56:9b-13, “This I know, that God is for me.

10 In God, whose word I praise, In the LORD, whose word I praise,

11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

12 Thy vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to Thee.

13 For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling,

So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.”

There are times in all of our lives when it seems that everything and everyone is against us. We go to bed thinking that in the morning all will be better, if not completely well. Yet, the morning light only awakens us to the reality of the trouble we prayed would be erased.

David had the same problems –even worse—than those we face. His very life was in jeopardy! No one it seems would believe his words. The LORD was his only advocate.

“All day long they distory my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

They attack, they lurk. They watch my steps.

As the have waited to take my life.”

Yet, despite the gravity of his situation, David grasped and held securily to the hope he had in God.

“This I know, that God is for me…

“In God I have put my trust,

“I shall not be afraid.

“What can man do to me?”

I have on numerous times been in similar situations, but never in fear of my life. I was once

threatened by a demon-possessed man, who said that one of us (him or me) would be dead

by a certain time he designated. Knowing it to be demonic, I took it seriously and prayed.

Yet nothing occurred, except the man’s strange, subsequent confession to a mutual Christian friend: “He truly is a man of God.”

Yes, there are circumstances that at the moment seem to overpower us. But the shouts and

screams of Satan’s most vocal patriots are just that: shouts and screams. They threaten, but

they have no power that can overpower the power of Almighty God! Remember that God is

for His own and we are kept safe in the confines of His promises. “What can man do to (us)?”

What, indeed!

You are covered daily by our prayers, as well as the prayers of others.

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

Everything that occurs in our lives is known and allowed by the LORD for a purpose.

They are “burdens” or troubles that God has allowed. They are all different in their own way;

they fit His purpose for our lives. Just as in sports, each of us plays the position the coach assigns

us. It may not be our choice, but we are not the coach.

I remember a man who came to me with an earnest desire to witness to lost people. As we

talked, I said to him, “George, are you sure the LORD hasn’t called you to preach?” His reply

was, “Pastor, I would give anything in the world if He had called me to preach, but He hasn’t.”

Yet, that man witnessed to the lost more than many preachers. He had the position for which

the LORD had called him.

The psalmist says that we are to turn the “burdens” the LORD has called us to bear back on

Him. They are circumstanes that out-weigh our human abilities. If that is so, why does He give

them to us? His ways are not always known to us; He only promises that He will sustain us –He

will bear the burden and never allow us to slip or fail in the assignment. His strength is far above

ours. Remember that the burdens are His plan for us. He wants us to depend upon Him.

So, when things just seem beyond us – when they seem too heavy – the LORD is there to help!

It is His joy to see us depend upon Him. He never assigns us things we cannot do with His help.

Keep us in your prayers, as we keep you in ours,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

Dear Grands,

2 Thessalonians 2:2-4, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,

2 that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

One of the most vital things for all believers today is to always be saturated with God’s Truth! Be in a church where that Truth is proclaimed. Weigh everything you hear or read carefully and compare it with biblical Truth. There is a pastor in southern Arkansas (this is in the news) who is telling his people that Hell is a myth like Santa Clause. He is a deceiver! He has been led astray; now he is leading others astray.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is dealing with misinformation someone has given them concerning “the day of the LORD.” That phrase depicts the day of God’s wrath that will fall upon all unbelieving people. Someone had misled the Thessalonian church, saying that that day of wrath had already come. Paul urges them not to be deceived. The Day of the LORD’s wrath will not come until “the apostasy comes.” The apostasy is mankind’s falling away from God’s Truth.

There’s a lot of that in our world today. They’re on radio, television, in blogs on the internet –they’re everywhere, proclaiming ideas that are contrary to the Bible! They’re not all scrufs. They come across as really knowing the Bible –but THEY DON’T!! They’re in it all for themselves, not for the glory of Christ!

These deceivers are setting everything up for the coming of the Antichrist. Thus, it is VITAL that you read the Bible daily and listen to sound instruction from godly pastors and teachers. The Holy Spirit lives within every born-again believer, and He will give you pause when you hear teaching that is contrary to Scripture. This is SO important! Just as you don’t want to discover that the airplane you’re on is going to a destination you did not intend, it is even more serious that you not be led astray from the teaching of the Bible. May the LORD lead you daily in His ways!

You are in our prayers; and we need to be in yours,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”