The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 22:39-46, “And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.

40 And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’

41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,

42 saying, ‘Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done.’

43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

45 And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,

46 and said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

Sleep is a natural condition of rest for the body. When we get sufficient sleep, we find ourselves refreshed and ready to attend to the affairs of another day. When we don’t get sufficient sleep, we find ourselves tired and depressed and unwilling to undertake the day’s tasks.

Jesus warned His disciples to engage in prayer, so they would be strengthened to resist any solicitation to give in to the devil. Jesus’ own prayer was so intense that an angel from Heaven came and strengthened Him. Just imagine how you would pray if you were facing the agony of a cross and death the next day.

The disciples, however, yielded to sleep. How could they sleep on the eve of the agony Jesus was to face?

Sleep to them was caused “from sorrow.” Lupe means pain of the body or the mind. Grief is the mental unwillingness to face an undesirable situation. They were unwilling to face what was intended for Jesus. It was the equivalent of a small child covering his face and hiding his eyes to sheild them from something unpleasant. Prayer would have solved the disciples’ problem. They chose sleep instead.

Life is filled with situations that often discourage us. Prayer is God’s means of encouraging us! Neglecting to pray is neglecting to trust Him. It’s that trust, that relaxed willingness to face any situation, that refreshes us and gives us the victory. Some things need to be accomplished in the daytime instead of the night. Night is the time of darkness; and it is all-too-often the time of discouragement. You can refuse to be discouraged!

You can make up your mind to yield to the Holy Spirit’s strength. It’s when we “give up,” that He “takes us up” and victory floods the situations we encounter. Pray earnestly and faithfully. Sleep peacefully. Awaken excitedly! Victory is yours!

We pray faithfully for you every 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,

Luke 22:2-6, “And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.

3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.

4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 And he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the multitude.”

An “agreement” requires two parties exchanging ideas and coming to a mutual conclusion. A “merger” requires each party to give up something of value and accepting something of lesser value in exchange.

Suppose I need two ten dollar bills, but have only one twenty dollar bill. You have two tens and agree to accept my twenty for your two tens. That’s a fair exchange. But suppose you lack one dollar. Together, we have only 19 dollars. We might agree to combine our money, but I have to want what we intend to buy together more than I dislike my loss of one dollar in the exchange. That would be called a “merger.”

In a merger, each side gives up something he considers of greater value in exchange for something he considers of lesser value. In the betrayal of Jesus, Judas Iscariot valued the chief priests’ money more than he valued Jesus friendship. As for the chief priests, they valued the death of Jesus more than they valued the 30 pieces of silver. Would you consider what they did a “fair exchange” or a “merger”?

Either way, Judas allowed Satan to persuade him to betray Jesus. Beware of Satan’s attacks! He is subtle and cunning. Judas was influenced to do something that he later regretted enormously! Satan is still on the attack. He leads us to compromise our convictions –just a little at first; but like a small tear in a piece of cloth –unless it is repaired quickly, it will tear even more, ultimaetly rendering it useless.

Have sound, spiritual convictions –convictions based on solid, biblical teachings. Then know with certainty that there is nothing of value anywhere that supersedes the value of Christ Jesus and His teachings in the Bible! No mergers, not even exchanges! Hold fast to biblical teachings, whatever the immediate cost. There is an ultimate reward for which there is no equal value!

God bless you daily, is our prayer,

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,

Luke 19:1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho.

2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

4 And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.

7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

8 And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Fault-finders are everywhere! With some people, there is no such thing as “doing right.” They simply cannot be pleased with anything. Give them a cold drink of water on a blisteringly hot day, and they look at you as if you had a “hidden meaning” in it. They don’t trust anyone about anything at anytime. They grumbled at being born, and they will likely grumble in their graves. Know anyone like that? Who’s kidding who?

The multitudes liked Jesus. It was He whom they had come to see. Zaccheus, being short of stature, climbed up a tree for a clear view of the One who was to pass that way. The people despised Zaccheus. He was a tax-collector, the lowest on the employment scale in the minds of the people. You would think that they would be hopeful that Jesus could do something to straighten Zaccheus out, but some probably grumbled at his even being there.

Our culture today has developed grumbleitis. We don’t like our political leaders. We don’t like our spiritual leaders. We don’t like our academicians. We don’t even really like ourselves. It’s a grumble, grumble culture. We get upset over the least of things –things that are truly none of our business. A friend and I went into business some years ago. A banker we did not previously know lended us thousands of dollars just on our names. But, an out-of-state company with whom we were dealing kept dragging their feet on delivering what they had promised. I became truly argry! It was proof that I myself was not immune from grumbling.

Grumbling affects us more severly than we might think. It affects our digestive system, our ability to think clearly on other things; it causes the best of friends to withdraw from us because we never have anything pleasant about which to think or talk. Jesus did not allow the people’s grumbling affect Him in the least. He accepted Zaccheus’ invitation to dinner and led him to faith that turned his life completely around. The next time you’re tempted to “blow your top” over something, just relax and know that there is a better way. Jesus is still in the business of turning things around; and the worst of the worst can be brought to faith in Him!

Prayer is our weapon against grumbling. We love you and pray for you daily.

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.”