The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 11:1, “…’LORD, teach us to pray…”

There are several fundamentals we need to understand about prayer. First, all prayer that reaches the Father, reaches Him through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit has already initiated all prayer that reaches the Father through Christ. Thus, the only prayer a lost person can pray to the Father that the Father hears and answers is the prayer: “God be merciful to me a sinner,” or a meaning to that effect. The prayer must come from a sincere and repentant heart.

When a lost person offers a prayer confessing sin, believing upon Jesus as the Father’s sacrifice for one’s own sin, the LORD saves that person by affecting the covering of his sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. Immediately, with the life cleansed of its sin, the Holy Spirit enters and takes up residency within the individual.

From that instant onward, the Holy Spirit is the Person who burdens the believer to pray. A believer’s burden is the Holy Spirit’s call to prayer. A believer, who is living outside the realm of the Father’s perfect will, hinders the divine power of the Spirit in the initiation of prayer and all else that is spiritually and righteously potential in the individual’s life.

Therefore, for you or me or anyone. true prayer is the outgrowth of a righteous life before the Father. Christian prayer is not a mantra that is repeated over and over and over again with the hope that what is requested will be given. In fact, Jesus seriously warned against “vain repetitions.”[1] Prayer may be and ought to be persistent. The Father wants to know that we’re serious about the things we bring before Him. But, being persistent in praying is quite different from empty and meaningless phrases that become mindlessly, continuously repeated.

Examine the multiple prayers in the Bible –prayers of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Elijah, David, Solomon, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, to name but a few. All of these men, while inherently sinful from Adam, were supported by righteous lives that led to their prayers being answered.

The Psalmist saw a connection between the incense on the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle’s Holy Place and the prayers of those who loved and served the LORD. David wrote:

May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering (Psalm 141:2).

Another of the more interesting facets of prayer comes to us from the Book of Revelation. It is there that we learn from the Apostle John, who was caught up into Heaven, that true prayers are never lost to God.

And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8,

Indeed, the LORD hears all of the prayers of the righteous. Being initiated by the Holy Spirit, the Father answers with “Yes” or “Wait.” All petitions that lack the Holy Sprit’s impetus or initiation, the Father does not hear with the intent to respond. Such petitions result in a, “No,” from our perspective.

Many Biblical personalities received no divine response to their prayers. Careful examination reveals that where no response results, the character of the inquirer was out of step with the will of God, his Creator.

Do you pray? Is it the Holy Spirit who burdens you to pray? Are your prayers answered?

If they are, do you express thankfulness to the LORD? If they are not answered, have you looked to your life for the answer?

I am praying earnestly for you!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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.”

________________________________

[1] Mathew 6:7

Dear Grands,

Luke 11:1c, “’Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

When I am leading someone to receive Christ as LORD and Savior of his life, I always start by using Romans 6:23,

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

After explaining that “wages” is something we are given for work we have performed, while “gift” is that which God gives freely of Himself, I ultimately move to Romans 10:13,

Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved.

At this juncture, I always ask the one to whom I’m witnessing, “What does it mean to you to ‘call upon the Name of the LORD’?” Having asked this of a young girl, she looked me straight-in-the-eye and said, “It means to pray.” She was right.

But, what does it mean to pray? Simply stated, prayer is talking with God. Over the years, I’ve had many people say to me, “I don’t know how,” or “I don’t know what to say.” My response has always been, “Just tell Him you’re sorry for being a sinner and ask Him to forgive your sin –to save you.” The difficulty in praying is, in many cases, not so much knowing how or what to say as it is being embarrassed before God for our sin. And well we should be. Still, the LORD is not one of whom we should be afraid; rather, He is the One who loves us with an undying love –a true love that never weakens or wears out. With that in mind, no one ought to be afraid to come to the LORD in prayer.

Experience has taught me that, although a person receives Christ in this simple way, he often fails to realize the fullness of what has occurred until he prays and says, “Thank You” to God. Since I learned this, I have sought to lead the newly-born again Christian to recognize the LORD’s salvation as a gift and pray saying, “Thank You, LORD, for saving me.”

If you know the LORD as your Savior, and if your life is being lived for Him, you can be an effective witness and bring a lost person to faith. Just use the Scriptures I’ve noted above. Then, after the person has repented and asked the LORD for salvation, ask, “What do you do when someone gives you a gift?” They will likely say, “You accept it.” You then say, “Yes, but is there anything else?” If the person doesn’t figure it out, you can say, “What do you say to someone when you receive a gift?” They will reply, “Oh, you mean ‘Thank you.’” Let’s pray again. You pray first and say “Thank You”; then I’ll pray.

Think it through, then reach out to someone who needs Jesus. You’ll be as thrilled as they are when you see them come to Christ. I’ll be praying for you!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Ephesians 1:18-21, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.”

When I was a kid, I wolfed down food at every meal. Many times, however, I took more on my plate than my stomach could stand. My mother used to say, “See, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” She had a lot of sayings that matched or came close to matching words in the Bible.

The Apostle Paul said things like my mother. He prayed that the “eyes of (the Ephesians’) heart (might) be enlightened.” He wanted what they saw in the Word of God to be understood. There are rich rewards coming to the ones who have received Christ as their Savior. The strength of the LORD’s might is what raised Jesus from the dead, and He is now seated at the Father’s right hand in Heaven itself. What’s more, He is Coming again to receive us!

Of all the great religious leaders, only Jesus Christ arose from the dead. Mohammed, the Buddha –all died and are in their graves. Only Jesus arose from the dead and is living in Heaven today! He is

“far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.” Those who believe in Jesus, those who renounce their own self-authority, repent of their sins, and believe upon Him, will be saved. Heaven

will be their eternal home.

We who know Him care for the souls of those who don’t. If you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ, this

short letter is my care for your eternal soul. If you have embraced Christ as your Savior and LORD, you and I have a responsibility to love and care for those who have not received Him.

But, how does one come to know Jesus? Pray this simple prayer and trust Him to save you:

Lord, I know that I am a sinner. I know I’ve done many wrong things in my life.

I’m sorry for my sin. I know that Jesus loves me, and that He died and rose again

to save me from my sin. Right now, in my heart, I willingly turn from my sin. And

by faith I receive the LORD Jesus Christ as my Savior. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Now, if you sincerely prayed that prayer, take God at His Word and believe that you are a “born again” Christian! Jesus said, “…him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn. 6:37). Nor can you ever again be lost outside of Christ. Jesus said, “I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish…” (Jn 10:28). As a born-again believer, you are thoroughly and forever secure in Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

P. S. If you prayed that prayer, email me and let me know. I will be praying for you to “grow

in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

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,

Acts 1:6-8, “And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’

7 He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”

Something like three hours prior to my typing this Letter, the power in my house went out! It was not yet dark, but it was less than a minute from getting my supper into the microwave. Suddenly, there were no lights, no heat, no electric power. The only things that continued to run without immediate power were my cell phone and my Apple watch. And even these derived their power from electricity.

As a child, we often had power outages. It didn’t seem so bad then. We laughed about being in the dark, and about having to wear warmer clothes because the furnace was not producing heat. But, when the television doesn’t work and all computers don’t function and digital clocks throughout the

house have to be reset, we come face-to-face with our dependence upon electric power.

All of that prompted me to consider how vital spiritual power is to our lives!

1. We need spiritual power. Sometimes we jockey through life thinking little to nothing about spiritual power or our need for it. Then, like a rocket, trouble invades us with it’s blackness and we instinctly cry out for help. Everything has gone awry! And when no one comes to answer our cry, we turn to God.

2. We cannot ourselves produce that power. Anytime we cry for help, it is an admission of self-worthlessness in the situation. When those trained and conditioned to help us are themselves as worthless as we to conquer the malady we face –that’s when things get really scary.

3. God alone produces the power we need. His Word says, “…you shall receive

power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The Bible teaches us that God

has made every person aware of His being, “so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20). When any individual recognizes his need for God and cries out for Him, the LORD lovingly and graciously enters that indivual’s life in the Person of the Holy Spirit. From that

instant, that person belongs to the LORD! The Holy Spirit is the mark that identifies the person as belonging to the LORD God. The Spirit indwells the new child of God and directs his understanding of the Word of God (the Bible), enabling the new child of God to live “to the praise of the glory” of the LORD Himself (Eph. 1:14).

All this is to say two basic things: one, if you have never met the LORD personally, you are

without spiritual power. You stand in need of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself on the Cross

to die for your sins against the true and holy God.

It also says that if you know Him through the new birth, you have a responsibility to live for Him so that He is praised by your life as well as by your words. His power is resident within you because you have the Holy Spirit indwelling your life. If the Spirit’s power does not show through your life, something is seriously wrong, and you need to get it fixed quickly!

One day soon He is Coming! You will not want to meet Him unless you have been made right.

My prayers are for you if you do not know Him, and for you who do, but need His power.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(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,

Acts 17:11-12, “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

12 Many of them therefore believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

Some of you may be old enough to remember Ark Linkletter on radio. He used to interview youngsters he had on the show with sneaky questions like, “Did your parents tell you anything not to say today?” Kids, of course, said, “Yes,” and Linkletter asked them what it was. It was great fun, and Linkletter used to say, “Kids say the darnest things.” Well, it’s not only kids, it’s much older kids, too.

The verses above crept into some studies in the School of Biblical Apologetics lessons and one student wrote,

Like the Bereans, we are to have a “readiness of mind” and to “search the Scriptures” for our own learning and study, and to check the teachings of others to see if they are truly consistent with the whole of Biblical teaching. Scripture is like a tapestry where the threads of doctrine and historical accounts, personal accounts and prophecy, songs and poetry are all interwoven and relate to one another. If someone is teaching a doctrine that does not comport with – logically adhere to – the whole of Scripture (on that topic, and all related to it – which does encompass the entirety of the Bible) they are not teaching Truth. The whole tapestry unravels with even a single thread removed.

Laura is right! It is vital that we understand the whole of what is said in Scripture. And that comes from “examining the Scriptures daily” with the purpose of understanding what they say. It is then that we will know whether the teachings we are receiving from others are truly biblical. When we come to understand the truth of Scripture and share it with others, many people will come to believe. And through our witness and the faith of others in the LORD, He Himself is glorified!

Is that where you are? If you’re in the Word daily, you are witnessing. If you’re witnessing, those who do not know Christ, will come to know Him. So, study, pray, learn, teach! One day, He’s Coming back! And it could be sooner than you think.

Prayerfully yours in Christ Jesus,

(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.”