The Grands Letter

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.”

Dear Grands,

Psalm 121:1-4, “I Will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From whence shall my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Every day seems to bring more and more trouble. The psalmist

has a choice: he can drop his head and look downward, and think

of all the troubles that surround him, or he can lift up his head and

his eyes and behold help. We can do the same. Ellicott explains

this in classical expression:

“The hills evermore summon us to look up. The influence of the world begets a downward look,

a sort of set of the eyes and heart downwards. We are in the world; in a thousand subtle ways

we are kin with the world. We are subject to its influences, caught by its wind of excitement,

absorbed by its pressing claims, and then we may easily be of the world as well as in it. But

everything the world presents to us is below us, beneath us, and it so keeps us looking down that

at last the habit of down-looking grows upon us. The world offers the attraction of its riches, but money is all below us, and we must look down upon it. The world fascinates us with its learning

and its science, but books and experiments are all below us, we must look down upon them. The world bids the siren pleasure float on golden wing before us, winning us to her pursuit; but she

ever flies low, and we must look down upon her. Even the better things that the world may give

us, the things of family life and love, are still all below us; we look down even on the children about our feet.”

But, as with the psalmist, so with us: “My help comes from the LORD.” Is He able to help?

He “made Heaven and Earth.” How’s that for a start? Further, “He will not allow (our) foot

to slip.” But His help is not when we’re looking downward at our feet, but when we’re look

upward toward Him. He’s always awake and alert to our needs. Just keep looking upward

toward Him!

You are in our daily prayers; please keep us in yours,

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.”