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!”

Did you ever have someone make a promise to you –and

then break it? Did you ever make a promise to someone

and then break it? Well, we never have that problem with

the LORD! What He promises, He keeps! The Psalmist

calls Him “a sun and shield.” He is both provider and

protector. He possesses the power to provide everything

we need, and simultaneously, He protects us from everything

that would harm or destroy us.

What does He provide? Grace and glory. He favors us (grace)

Because we are His, just as our parents favor us because we

belong to them. He honors us (glory) because we are His.

Who is so blessed as an upright Christian? Yet, we may not

receive everything we want; but we will receive everything

we need –everything that is beneficial to us and everything

that ultimately brings glory to Christ. But we must walk (live)

uprightly (blamelessly, without defect). How blessed are we

when we put full faith and trust in the LORD Jesus Christ!

Who is more faithful to a promise than He? Who has more

spiritual, physical, or emotional resources than He? Thus,

what we ultimately receive is exactly what we deserve.

We love you and pray 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,

Psalm 73:26-28, “My flesh and my heart may fail,

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For, behold, those who are far from Thee will perish;

Thou hast destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee.

28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell

of all Thy works.”

Sometimes we foolishly think we have it all together.

I can handle this. I don’t need any help from anyone.

But the Psalmist says otherwise. Those related to us

–our flesh– and we ourselves –the inner self—may

not accomplish all we believed we could. The LORD

Himself is our strength within and without. Others,

who are not His (or those who are, but are not faithful

to Him and His purpose), have been (or will be) silenced.

Note, too, that it is not our nearness to God, but His

nearness to us. The initiative is His. We are to view

the LORD as our “refuge” –our shelter in all matters.

The ultimate purpose is that we “may tell of all (His)

works.”

How often we accept compliments as if they were

deserved. It may be our extraction from a difficult

situation or something nice we received as a gift. Do

we credit the LORD with providing us such things?

Or do we smugly act as if some “powerful” friend

were responsible? Of course, the supreme gift we

have received has been salvation! It is the gift of

the LORD alone! This is His ultimate work! And

it is for this that He extracted us from peril. He

wants us to tell others of Him! Let’s get started!

Love and prayers to and for you all,

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 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.”

Aren’t we all excited to show something someone has done for us? In this

Psalm, the writer is encouraging everyone to hear what the LORD has done

for him.

A student of mine wrote how her newborn son’s liver was dead, and yet, after

her praying all night, the doctors’ tests found it functioning at an almost

normal level –something they had never before seen! The LORD only does

those things for those who have forsaken and repudiated all wickedness from

their lives. Answered prayer is the assurance that we have repented of even

the very thoughts of wickedness. It is then time for us to openly share with

others –lost and saved—how the LORD has blessed us!

Just stop and think for a minute. The LORD who designed the entire universe,

who named each star (Psa. 147:4), who fashioned Earth and created man –He

has taken note of you and is ready to answer your prayers if and when your

heart is right toward Him. WOW! What a Savior and LORD we have!

Our loving prayers for you reach out to Him 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,

Hebrews 5:7-9, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and

supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from

death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son,

He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having

been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of

eternal salvation…”

This is a passage about Jesus. As He hanged on the Cross, He prayed more

urgently than we can imagine. The word “supplication” (????????) is literally

“an olive branch, entwined with white wool and filets” and is carried like a

white flag of peace. At the same time Jesus cried loudly with tears (“My God,

My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Mat. 27:46) The Father heard Him

because of His reverent submissiveness. Why then, did He not deliver His

Son from this horrible death? He was to “learn obedience from the things

which He suffered.” None of us has ever suffered like Jesus. Oh, we have

disappointments, minor hurts, little things that jerk us around; and we think

we’ve suffered. But, we’ve never known suffering like Jesus encountered

on that Cross. Besides the horrendous physical suffering, He was taunted

by the crowd, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself” (Mar. 15:31). Why?

Why all of this, when He fed 5000, stilled the waters on the Sea of Galilee,

healed the sick, the blind, the lame? He was learning obedience. And we

get out-of-joint when we’re told to do something menial –because it interferes

with something we want to do. Shame is not enough for us. We deserve the

suffering.

When Jesus had passed the Father’s test, “He became to all those who obey

Him the source of eternal salvation.” Think of the blessed opportunity He

has given us! We are privileged to tell the lost how He saves everyone who

forsakes his sin and believes upon Him for salvation! Have we passed the

Father’s test for us? We must be about the Father’s business while it is still

day.

Our prayers of love are still offered for each of you daily,

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,

Philemon 1:7-11, “For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do that which is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you– since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus– 10 I appeal to you for my child, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, Onesimus, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.”

There is no book in the Bible that is as clever as Philemon. You simply must read

the entire 25 verses to grasp the genius of it all. Onesimus was a slave of Philemon.

He had escaped and ministered to Paul, who was imprisoned. Paul ultimately sends

him back to Philemon with a carefully worded letter that disarms Philemon completely.

Paul plays upon his own age and his imprisonment, as he “appeals” for the “child.”

Further, Paul puts Philemon back in the “driver’s seat,” saying “without your consent,

I did not want to do anything…” and “if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything… I will repay it” (vv. 14, 19). Just don’t forget how much you owe me (v. 19).

Then, comes the capstone, when Paul says to get things ready for a visit. He’s going to

see whether Philemon has dealt rightly with Onesimus! This is pure genius!

All of this reminds me what Dr. Pounds’ shared with me many years ago.

HOW TO CRITICIZE SOMEONE WITHOUT OFFENCE

1. Compliment them – You are a very intelligent person.

2. Hint at a criticism – Yet, even the most intelligent have flaws in areas of their thinking.

3. Criticize them outright – Your problem is that you think you know everything

when you don’t!!!

4. Relate the criticism to yourself – I know, because I was just as egotistical as

you at one time.

5. Complement them – You still have a very intelligent mind and will come to the Truth.

What is amazing is that with all of the above being said, what the person remembers are numbers 1 & 5! Truly, it works!

God bless you all abundantly,

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.”