Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

Are You Still Sleeping and Resting

Just before Christ was arrested and falsely accused He had gone with his friends to the garden of Gethsemane to pray.  He had asked the disciples to also watch and pray.  Matthew 26:43-46 reads, “And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, Let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” 

There definitely is a time to sleep and we are even commanded to rest.  We are even encouraged to come unto (Jesus) all who are weary and are heavy laden and He will give us rest.  However, there also comes a time we need to be rested, ready and prepared.  Often we get so involved in “things” we neglect our spiritual selves.  As they are neglected we can become weak and tired so that it becomes difficult and near impossible to stay in the will of God.  

We have all at one point been in darkness before we believed in Christ and came “into the Light.”   Ephesians 5:8-16 informs us to not to be unwise, but to understand what the will of the Lord is. “For you were once in darkness but now you are in the Light of the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.  But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.  Therefore He says, “Awake, you who sleep.  Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk carefully, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” 

It was 1994, twenty-eight years ago I wrote a poem called, “Sleeper Awake,” but not until this year I have really shared much about it. I felt that back in May of this year God was going to give us (my family and I) the opportunity to go around to different churches to proclaim this message. So far from June until the date of this entry (10/16/22) we have been invited into different churches each week to do just that. We often get so busy in the world that our spiritual life has fallen asleep. It’s time for each individual and the church as a whole wake up and be prepared. If you have never trusted in Christ then you are spiritually dead and just as Jesus spoke the words to Lazarus to rise from the dead, He too will call out your name to rise. Sleeper Awake!

For anyone interested in The Kinsman Redeemed visiting to minister in your church you can contact me via email as well as subscribe to this blog at timstocktonrohi@gmail.com

Recently I have been reading in the Book of Jeremiah and read about how the people had become “dull-hearted.”  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to have a dull heart means to “lack in sympathy, or understanding: unfeeling and/or having no pity.”   This definitely is the opposite of Christ in that throughout His entire ministry He was “moved with compassion.”  

Researchers from Berkeley who studied emotions conclude that compassion literally means, “to suffer together; as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.”  

From college days I remember one of my professors describing to us his thoughts on the differences between sympathy and empathy.  We were taught that sympathy is walking along and seeing someone down in a pit and feeling so bad for that person that we choose to get in the pit with them.  Unfortunately, when we do this it puts us in a position just like them and now we both may be in need of help.  However, to have empathy is seeing someone in a pit and then finding a way to help them out of it.  This is what true compassion would be to be motivated to help relieve the suffering of someone else.  

Those at Berkeley disagree with my former professor slightly in that they describe empathy as just the “feeling of being able to identify with the other person and understand their perspective, but that compassion is the motivating factor to help others “out of the pit.” Either way they need to work hand in hand to inspire us to help those in need.  

We are all in some kind of need at some point in our lives. When we are at that point is when we can benefit from other’s help.  Sometimes we become too independent for our own good and often refuse the help of others when we really do need it.  Anyone who has breath in their lungs has been, is, or will be in a situation where no other can truly help but God alone.  Psalms 147:3 states, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds us their wounds.” 

He is able to do this because of what He did do according to Isaiah 53:5, “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  Christ not only had empathy for His creation but was moved with compassion, being motivated to do something about it.  

If you find yourself being dull-hearted or past feeling for others just remember the pits of life you have been pulled from and then find ways to “throw a rope” to others that are still down in the pit. If you are still in the pit yourself just look and see the ropes of grace and mercy and allow yourself to be lifted up.

~TRS written 9/11/22

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

Those who are raising kids are to give them the instruction and guidance needed so when they are adults themselves they can be productive citizens.  King Solomon was the wisest person of all times including the present time.  In the Book of Proverbs 22:6 it instructs parents to “Train up a child in the way they are to go and when they are old they will not depart from it.”   It becomes the adults obligation to do this training to their own kids; or the kids in their care.  It is not the responsibility of the schools or church.  Hopefully the three can work together, but often they are on opposing teams. 

Working with families and children for almost 30 years I have heard many times a parent make the horrific statement that they will never teach their kids about “religion” or spirituality that they will let them decide that on their own.  In saying that you might as well say that you are teaching them the ways of the world and how to be stunted in their faith. The Bible teaches that all is given a measure of faith and we all have a free will choice on what we place our faith in.  Some do trust in God.  Others put their faith in “religion,” or people, or money, fame, popularity, or just in their own selves.  

Proverbs 6:20-22 reads, “My child, keep your father’s command and do not forsake the law of your mother.  Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you.”  If you have ever had a dog on a leash you should understand the importance of these verses.  The purpose of a leash is to keep the dog with you.  While on the leash a dog has boundaries and the “master” has control because the master knows where the dog can and cannot go or needs to be.  

Until the dog is trained, if it gets off the leash it will more than likely go places and get into things that otherwise it would have been saved from if it still had the leash bound about its neck.   In the same way a child growing up needs boundaries, rules, and guidelines to go by.  The “world” will teach anything that is not of God because that is what that means.  If it is not the Word of God, then it is of the world that opposes God.  As your children have grown up, how often have they heard you speak of God, read your Bible, pray out loud, or attend a worship service?  

As they leave the nest we all want our kids to be successful, but ultimately it will not really matter what their GPA was, how popular they may have been, what college they attend, or career they have if they never know their true purpose given to them by their Creator. Their Creator and yours gave you the responsibility to guide them in His ways.  Worldly things are temporary but our spirits within us are eternal.   A thought to think is when they leave home how well trained will they be? 

TRS originally written for The Wayne Weekly 6-12-22

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

Have you ever been somewhere and later realized that you being in that spot at that moment in time was exactly where you needed to be?  Some people would say when things like that happen it is just a coincidence.  A definition of a coincidence is “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection”, or a simpler way to say it is a “situation in which things happen at the same time without planning for it.”  

We recently drove 3 hours to go to a Tim Hawkins, “Christian Comedian” concert.  As we were standing in the line to go in we had to wait about another 20 minutes before the doors opened.  There was a lady just a few feet behind me who was talking to some other people in line, but being that close I could hear their conversation.  I don’t know who the lady is or where she is from.  If I was to see her again I can’t promise I would even know it was her.  As she talked about things God had been revealing to her about her own life it was very interesting ways that I needed to be reminded of.

I’m sure this lady never thought that what she was sharing with some friends in line at a concert would end up being overheard by me and used not only in a message at church, in a few different counseling sessions, in my column for the Wayne Weekly and now on this blog.  We may never know what we share will impact others.  

The lady shared about how she knew that God could prevent things from happening.  However, because of free will He will prepare us for what may come about through other’s free will choices.  She didn’t go into great detail of what bad experience she had gone through but explained in hindsight she can see where God had been preparing her for what would happen.  

She had attempted to rationalize and explain away how she was being treated thinking, “this (person) would never be like that or treat me this way.”  Those could have been attempts to “prevent” even worse from happening, but her not heeding that God still prepared her for it.  

What I learned through eavesdropping was that even when God may not prevent a bad thing from happening He will prepare us to walk through it and gain greater faith because of it.  Maybe I needed to be there in that line 3 hours away from home to overhear encouraging words from a stranger who wasn’t even talking to me.  It is also encouraging to know when we share what God is doing for us we can spread the faith without even realizing we are.  

Originally written 8/28/22

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

How often have we said or at least thought how we would love to be like someone else?  We think that because others have this or that then we too must surely have it too.  Last week we learned that it is important who we choose to align ourselves with.  Now we can learn that we should never align ourselves with others just because everyone else is doing it.

In 1 Samuel chapter 8 we can read about how Samuel’s sons did not walk in the ways that he taught.  This lets us know that just because parents raise their kiddos to hopefully make good choices it does not mean that they will.  Verse 3 states, “his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.” This was opposite of how their father did and role modeled for his children.

They were supposed to be fair and Godly men of integrity, but they chose to align themselves with their own selfish desires rather than the will of God.  When the elders of Israel saw how they chose to act and be, they went to Samuel to confront him and demand that instead of his son’s being judges over them to make them a king like all the other nations around them.  

It was good that the people didn’t want to align themselves with the corrupt judges but it was not God’s will for them to have a king, but Him.  God informs Samuel that the people’s request was not them rejecting Samuel, but they were rejecting God Himself not to reign over them.

God let the people know that they would eventually regret having a king over them and that they would cry out because of it, but God would not hear them because of the choice they made not to align themselves with Him when they had the chance.  Be careful not to do things just because everyone else is doing it.  Choose to model your life after those who make good choices and seek God and not follow after your own selfish desires.  Know that if you choose to make someone or something king of your life other than God then you just might get what you ask for and regret it. 

*Originally published in the Wayne Weekly August 7, 2021

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

If anyone ever thinks that those who wrote the Bible didn’t have mental health issues then apparently they have never really read the Bible.  Many of the Psalms were written by King David who suffered from depression and in “book two” of the Psalms starting with chapter 42 were written by others who also dealt with signs of being severely depressed.      One of the sons of Korah wrote in Psalm 42:1-7 “As the deer pants for the water brooks so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?  My tears have been my food day and night.” Some sure signs of depression are losing one’s appetite and not being able to eat, as well as crying often.  Verse 5 continues, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?”  A translation of being cast down means to be depressed, dismayed, or down-hearted.  Disquieted means to be worried, uneasy, or full of anxiety. 

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America as of June 27, 2022 “nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.”  Verse five continues with a ray of hope stating, “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance.”  The one dealing with this depression and anxiety realizes that true hope comes from the presence of God and that even though he feels this negative way he will still praise God nonetheless.  This is not to say that people who deal with any mental health issue should never seek medical attention.  There are unfortunately many  that will look down upon those who may seek treatment by way of medicine or counseling for mental health issues, yet take medicines for diabetes, their blood pressure, or wear glasses to see.   If those are going to think it is a lack of faith to seek treatment for mental health, then they also have to believe that would mean the same for their physical well-being.  So as Christian Comedian Chonda Pierce would say, “If you are going to down me for taking depression medicine, then take your glasses off and drive home.”  

We live in a fallen world where not everyone is healed from their mental and/or physical issues.  We can read about Paul who had his own “thorn in the flesh” whatever it may have been. Even after praying and we know he was a man of faith, yet still had this struggle.  But, God let him know that through this struggle God would give him the strength to deal with it.   

~TRS written 8/6/22

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton

In Galatians 6:9 we are encouraged, “Let us not grow weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  First, what exactly is well doing?  It is doing the right thing.  Doing what is virtuous and/or having good conduct.  Some may say this is all relative, but not really.  All that is good and right is found within the Bible.  It is absolute truth and to go against the truth of it is not being virtuous, nor having good conduct. We are encouraged to not grow weary in doing these such “good things.” This means there is a possibility that we can grow weary being very tired and even exhausted. 

There have been times that we may have tried and tried to be good to others and get nothing good back in return.  Just because we are good to others doesn’t mean people will show the same kindness back.  There are a couple irrational beliefs that we could have that can lead us down some faulty ways of thinking such as; “everyone should always be nice to me especially if I am nice to them; or Life should be fair and therefore if I treat others kindly then they will be kind back to me.” 

We are to treat others the way we want to be treated and as much as it is possible we are to live at peace with others.  When we put out good and things that are positive we shall reap back ways that are positive.  Possibly not from the ones we have given it out too, but from others.  God Himself will be the one to bring about blessings to us even if people don’t reciprocate it. 

We are to “faint not” which means a loss of temporary consciousness that can cause us to fall.  Due to our bad choices and possible sins that can so easily beset us we can grow weary in well doing and temporarily fall.  However, we have to trust in the Lord and remember Psalm 37:24 which lets us know, “The steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in their ways. Though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord will uphold them with His hand.” 

~TRS Originally written August 2021

Trusting to be Confident

When we hear or read about real life historical figures who helped change history and hear the names such as Moses, Gideon, and Jeremiah we usually do not equate the words: insecure, inadequate, untrustworthy, lazy, or coward.  However, before they fully trusted in God to have the faith that God would work through them they each struggled with such negative characteristics.

Moses believed  “Who am I?, no one will believe me. I have a speech problem. Lord please, send someone else!” How often do we try to make excuses and rationalize why we can’t do what God has purposed within us to do. Gideon was told by an angel of the Lord that he was a mighty warrior and would have victory, yet he felt as though God had abandoned him and struggled with feeling inadequate.  He reasoned and tried to make excuses, “we are the weakest among all the tribes.”  Maybe you are feeling very weak and unable to share what God has done and is doing, but we have to trust that we will have victory over any battles we may face.

Then there is Jeremiah the prophet who thought he was too young for people to take him seriously. Like Moses, he too tried to make excuses.  He thought because he was young he wouldn’t be a good public speaker and wondered about what he would even say.  The Lord assured him saying, “Do not say I am just a youth, for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.  Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:7-8).   

This should give us hope that we can trust God to give us the confidence that we need to accomplish His will for our lives.  It is when we allow God to guide our paths that we can rest assured in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” 

TRS written 7-24-22

Whether some believe it or not it is a fact that a man had died, been buried, raised from the dead after 4 days, and not long after that others were plotting to put him back to death.  The account of this real event in history is about a man named Lazarus who had two very loving sisters who cared for him.  He had been sick for a while, but they had seen Jesus heal many other people and knew that if He made it to their home on time Lazarus would also be healed from the sickness that he had.  

Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick but stayed in a different place for a couple of days knowing that he had already died. He waited to make sure he would already be buried, wrapped in his grave clothes.  Once Jesus and the disciples made it back into the town where Lazarus and his sisters lived at different times each sister came to Jesus in love, but confused about how had He came before he died they believed Lazarus would have lived.  They did not understand what Christ was going to do.  

In the Gospel of John chapter 11 one can read the account of Jesus being taken to the tomb where Lazarus lay dead.  Jesus cried out his name in a loud voice telling him to “Come forth!”  The Scriptures explain that he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth so Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”  Because of this testimony of being brought from death to life many people believed in Jesus.  This caused joy and increased faith for most, but some it only caused anger and hatred.  Those are the ones who plotted to kill Jesus, but not only did they want Christ dead, but Lazarus too.  John 12:10-11 reads, “The chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on the account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” 

Once a person believes in Christ it is told that the “old life passes away and is raised to new life” evidenced by a transformation in the attitudes and character of a person.  This new changed life becomes a testimony and there are some who would like nothing more than to see us put our “grave clothes back on.”  Those in darkness want nothing more than to try and “snuff out” the light within us.  

Jason David who is an award winning storyteller, minister, and singer, and cancer survivor is one who has an awesome testimony one can listen to on YouTube.  He will also be at Steubenville Baptist Church July 17th at 6:00 pm.  All are invited to attend to be blessed and encouraged. 

~TRS originally written 7/9/22

Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton 

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus uses an analogy about someone who sets out to build a tower but doesn’t count the cost of what it will take to have enough to complete it.  He went on to also tell that would be about like a king wanting to set out to war against another king, but doesn’t sit down first and consults whether he is able to withstand an army of 20,000 against his 10,000.  “Likewise, whosoever of you that doesn’t forsake all that he has, cannot be His disciple.” 

Most could probably think of a time when something didn’t go quite like they had first anticipated.  If someone intended to build something and then not have enough to finish it you can say things did not go as planned.  Just think of times in your own life when things in life have not quite gone like you had hoped for.  What feelings and thoughts are associated with that?  Have you used it as a stepping stone to greater things or has it continued to be a hindrance in your life?  

Just a few examples throughout the Bible of situations that didn’t go quite like the person had hoped for.  Lucifer became prideful and thought that he could overthrow his Creator.  Being cast out of heaven with hell to be his eternal destination was not quite the goal he was thinking would happen.  

Adam and Eve never anticipated that their being deceived and making a bad choice to disobey God’s command would get them kicked out of the Garden of Eden and bring death to the human race.  That is not what they had planned on.  

The disciples had hoped and longed for a new earthly king to rise up to “save them” from the Romans.  When Jesus came on the scene and his plan of salvation of becoming the King of Kings through his sacrificial death was not what the disciples had planned for.   

Peter never thought that he would deny Christ and told Jesus that he would go with Him even to death.  However, when Jesus got betrayed and arrested Peter soon was denying that he even knew Him.  Though he later repented and was restored for this denial this was not at all what Peter had planned would happen.  

In the Old Testament Joseph had some dreams that he would one day rise above his older brothers, but never really planned on what he would have to go through in order to get to the position of being second in command of all of Egypt.   This is something we need to think about when things do not go as planned in our own lives.  We may not realize all of the troubles and struggles we may have to endure in order to get to the place the Lord wants us to be in order to fulfill the ministry God has called us to.  Things may not go the way we had planned, but if we trust in God things will eventually go even better than planned. 

~TRS written 3-27-22