The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 119:77-78, “May Your compassion come to me that I may live,

For Your law is my delight.

78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie;

But I shall meditate on Your precepts.”

Sometimes when I read the Psalms, it seems as if they repeat

themselves. Have you noticed that? Have you wondered why?

It could be that the LORD who inspired the Word knows how

fickle we are (Yes, He knows!). So He repeats and repeats and

repeats, just as our mothers keep telling us things. (Nana even

repeats things to me! Imagine!)

Some days ago, I noted for you Psalm 109:4, “In return for my love

they act as my accusers; But I am in prayer.” In the verses above,

as in this verse, the believer is under attack. He has two weapons

against the evil that has him in the crosshairs: The Word and Prayer.

That’s it! So, as the psalmist repeats himself, I am repeating him

for you. Set aside some quality time for prayer and Bible reading.

Start every day with it. Let the Word speak to you and challenge

your heart and life. Pray earnestly, confessing your sins –the

things you have thought and done and things you have failed to

do. Satan is real. He has you in the crosshairs of his intention.

But you have God’s granted power and can win the victory!

Love and prayers always,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Psalm 119:9-11, “How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Your Word.

10 With all my heart I have sought You;

Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,

That I may not sin against You.”

Our view of life should parallel that of the psalmist.

Three simple words encompass all he has said in

these verses: purity, pursuit and purpose.

The Word of the LORD is pure and it purifies us

as we read and meditate upon it. We cannot

approach it, however, in a cavalier manner; we

must pursue it vigorously. A casual, infrequent,

hurried approach will not do. We must savor it,

as we would a delicious and succulent meat.

The purpose overall is that we might not sin against

the LORD. Sin is diametrically opposed to God.

Satan wants to fill our minds with rubbish! Jesus

died to rescue us from that! We discredit His

death when we meditate upon sinful acts. Some

people do not have what we have: the ability to

refuse Satan’s filth! The LORD has provided us a

way of escape. It is His Word! Read it often!

Love and prayers always,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Psalm 119:1-3, “How blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the law of the LORD.

2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,

Who seek Him with all their heart.

3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.”

A Liberty student of mine last term had a small boy whom the

doctor X-rayed as part of an examination. When it was over,

the boy aske the doctor, “Did you see Jesus in there?”

The psalmist had no knowledge of X-rays; nevertheless, what

he envisioned was clearly similar. Those whose ways are

blameless (sound, upright, without blemish) are those who

walk (live) in the law (instruction) of the LORD. The righteous

observe (watch, guard) the LORD’s testimonies. They “seek

Him with all their heart,” and they abstain from all sinfulness

and walk (live and act) only as He wills.

Do others see Jesus in your life? Do they see Him in mine?

Or do they need an X-ray to find Him?

We love you immeasurably and pray for you daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

Psalm 109:1-4, “O God of my praise, Do not be silent!

2 For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me;

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,

And fought against me without cause.

4 In return for my love they act as my accusers;

But I am in prayer.”

There is probably nothing more exasperating that having

someone tell lies about you. If you think it only happens to you,

think again! Whenever we seek to live godly lives, Satan raises

up someone to spread malicious things about us. Why would

anyone do that? There’s just no figuring out some people.

It could be jealousy; it could be a resistance to the truth and

love we’ve shown them. Some people think they exalt

themselves when they tear other people down. They resent

anyone who loves them and seeks to help them. What are

we to do? The psalmist says, “I am in prayer.” He has not

ignored them (they won’t allow that!); he just prays for them.

Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and

persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you

falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for

great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the

prophets who were before you” (Mat. 5:11-12).

May the LORD bless and strengthen you today for His glory!

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,

4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction

of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the

knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

You probably don’t often think of yourself as being in war. But you are –we all are.

No, it’s not a war of guns and bombs. Those are the implements of the flesh. We

are engaged in a spiritual warfare. The implements we have and with which we fight

are “divinely powerful.” We are equipped with power from God –power with which we

fight and destroy reasonings and thoughts that are contrary to God and His will.

Satan seeks to work against God in every, possible way. He wants to destroy what

the Bible teaches us to be. But we win when we take “every thought captive to the

obedience of Christ.” Think about this: you control your mind. When Satan open

the way for you to think bad thoughts, you can resist by taking control of you mind

and refusing to think of evil things. You literally take your own mind captive, so that

it thinks only good and righteous thoughts. There is no excuse for thinking evil.

Satan cannot control any aspect of your life unless you allow him to control it.

Soldiers have to keep their rifles clean. Dirty rifles can jam and that can lead to the

death of the soldier. As spiritual soldiers, we must keep our minds and lives clean.

Reading the Bible cleans our minds. Serious prayer cleans our minds. Switch off

anything that you would not want to hear or see if Jesus was watching, because

He IS!

You all are fast becoming adults. Learn to think for yourselves as Christ would

have you do.

Love and prayers daily,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas