| 7/28/96 | 7/21/96 | 7/14/96 | 7/07/96 | 6/30/96 | 6/23/96 | August/Sept Issues | This Week's Issue |
(Psalm 91:7)
I had intended a different message for this Sunday, but I have been impressed to change that by the events of the past couple weeks.
Last night, like many Americans, I watched with sadness and anger as dead and injured people were carried out of the Olympic Park in Atlanta. While this was going on, the FBI and NTSB were still busy retrieving the victims and wreckage of Flight 800 from the depths of the Atlantic. This of course all comes on the heels of the bombing in Saudi Arabia. The world seems to be a more dangerous place every day. It is.
Every week I try to impart hope and faith through this little spot on the World Wide Web. I still want to do that. The good news is you have nothing to fear if you make the Lord your refuge. The bad news is that the same medium that is bringing you this message now can also provide you with information on how to build a bomb.
My intention is not to make anyone more fearful. I am for doing all that we can to prevent terrorism, domestic or foreign. There is much that can be done. But it cannot be entirely stopped. And even though, unlike many Christians, I am very optimistic about the future of our country, I feel that we are likely to see a rise in acts of this kind. So what do we do? How do we deal we this growing fear that surrounds us?
For me it's actually very straightforward. I don't fear.
While that does sound incredibly simplistic, it isn't. My lack of fear is based on a (working) knowledge of God's Word and a complete reliance on the veracity of it. I'm not talking about whistling in the dark, but really knowing that God actually has put His angels around me and is protecting me wherever I go. He really is my Refuge. He is my Shield. Those lines from Psalm 91 that are quoted at the top of this page are firmly fixed in my mind and in my heart. When fear tries to overtake me, almost inspite of myself, the knowledge that God is my Deliverer wells up inside me. And then I simply agree with that thought and stop the fear.
Again, this is not some kind of self-hypnosis, some kind of denial of reality. There is danger. But I believe that God is true to His Word and His Word says not to fear. This is more than a suggestion. For believers it is virtually a commandment. I really believe that fear, like worry, is sin. It implies that God is a liar and He can't really be trusted with my life. I refuse to worry when I get on a plane that it is going to be blown out of the sky. I will not live in fear. Not fearing is a matter of will as well as faith. As David said in Psalm 23, "I will fear no evil."
Honestly, I haven't always felt this way. Even though I was aware that God had saved me from danger (and death) countless times, I still wrestled with a host of fears. Then I started really getting into the Word. I began to listen to men and women who preached faith as a verb. I began to apply the promises of God in other areas of my life and saw them work. I read Psalm 91 for the first time realizing that it is a promise to me. And the more Word I put in me, the less room there was for fear.
This will work for you. If you struggle with fears of any kind, read Psalm 91. Read it every day. It outlines the "safety plan" God has already established for those who love Him. And more than just reading it, believe that this is your inheritance and confess it. Claim it. Even though it seems that the whole world is shaking in terror, you can be fearless. .
(1 Peter 3:9)
I'm departing from our study of the 23rd Psalm (for now) to go on to other things. Actually, I had an interesting experience with the above verse that I want to tell you about.
Tuesday morning, as part of my daily Bible study, I read 1 Peter 3. As I do every day, I wrote down the verses that seemed to be especially necessary for me to remember. 1 Peter 3:9 was one of these. The more I looked at it, the more amazing it became. Now I know we're supposed to "bless those that curse us." Jesus Himself said so. But look: we're called to this. Why? So we may inherit a blessing! God is so intent on blessing His people that He just keeps coming up with ways to do it. Does this sound like a mean, angry, stingy God? He knows that this is a tough thing for some of us to do, blessing people who think we're slime, but He says to do it anyway so He can bless us. In fact it seems that everything He tells us to do (or not to do) is so that He can just keep on blessing us. I really like that.
Well, I filed this thought away and began my morning workout, part of which includes a run down the road to the bay. About halfway down I passed the plumeria farm, and seeing a man working with his two little kids, I smiled and cried cheerfully, "Good morning!" The man looked at me with a look about as close to "stink eye" as I've had in a while and gave a barely perceptible nod. The kids ignored me. Of course my first reaction was to think, "What a jerk! I was just trying to be friendly." I ran on my way.
Thankfully, however, that verse from Peter came right into my mind. Immediately as I ran I began to ask God to bless him and his family. I apologized to the Lord for my initial reaction and thought no more of it.
The next morning I was again jogging down the road to the bay. As I passed the plumeria farm the incident of the previous morning came back to me. Just as I was passing the last few feet of the farm, I saw one of the little kids on his bike. I was going to run by him but he rode right up to me and before I could get by, he shouted "Hi!"
I returned his greeting and kept running down the road. Then it hit me. 24 hours ago this child's father had snubbed me. The children had ignored me. Obviously they had been raised with some degree of prejudice toward haole (Hawaiian word generally used to refer to Anglos, often preceeded by an expletive). Now one of them races up to say hello to me? Then in my mind I heard Jesus say, "See?"
I thought, "This is because I did 1 Peter 3:9? Because I prayed for these people when they were rude to me yesterday instead of getting mad at them?"
"Of course."
When I got home I went to write this down in my Bible study journal. I turned to the previous day's page and looked at the verse that had caused all this. As I skimmed through my notes I saw that I had also written down a verse from Proverbs 16 right after it. " When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."
How wonderful to "inherit a blessing" from this angry man's child. By not returning "reviling for reviling" I received something, though it may appear small to some, precious. More importantly, once again God showed me by illustration that His Word works. Did this incident change the world? No. Just two people.
.
Before I tell you this remarkable story, just what is your soul? Many people assume that soul is the same as spirit. It's not. I've heard it explained this way: you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Your soul is your mind, your will and your emotions. For instance when a person is "born again" their spirit is reborn. That is the part that is created anew. You still weigh the same. Your hair color hasn't changed. And very likely you still have the same mind, will and emotions, although these can be greatly affected.
David says, "He restores my soul." Notice that the word 'restores' is plural. He means that daily the Lord restores his mind, his will and his emotions. The Lord can take the anxious mind and bring it peace. He can strengthen your will to do what is right. And He can help you bring your emotions under control so they don't control you. I don't know about you, but I need this every day, (okay,sometimes I need it twice a day) even though I have a reborn spirit.
The knowledge that this is God's will for us, to have our souls restored, should be very encouraging to you if you suffer from any mental or emotional disorders. Which brings me to this story.
We have a very good friend who for years fought serious depression. Her childhood had been dominated by an abusive alcoholic father. She was deeply scarred by this but dealt with it as best she could. However, she kept sinking deeper and deeper into a world of total darkness. She surrounded herself with images of death and blatant evil. Her friends all wore black. She hated anything that had to do with God, especially Christians. Her marriage began to suffer and she slipped further down.
Then her father died. All her unresolved anger at him and even her love for him had to go unspoken. She became so ill she had to be hospitalized. She was suicidal. Her husband was at a loss to help her, though he tried to stand by her. The doctors tried numerous combinations of drugs, once almost killing her, to combat what had become severe clinical depression. When she finally got out of the hospital, she was basically a zombie. She was on so much medication that she had to quit working. Her marriage was over.
What she didn't know, however, was that a lot of people were praying for her. Her ex-husband had become a Christian. We prayed for God to send Christians into her life and that she would be totally healed. We didn't doubt God's will. We knew this was not what He had planned for her life. He restores souls.
A couple months went by and we stood on God's Word for her healing and believed that Lord of the Harvest would send laborers across her path. (Sorry, that's kind of Christianese for 'people to lead her to Jesus'). One day my phone rang. I didn't recognize the voice at first. It was my friend. She said something really strange had happened. It seems that everywhere she went she was surrounded by Spirit filled Christians. She couldn't get away from them. They were everywhere. And what's more, they were kind to her. They listened to her. She knew these people cared about her.
Finally one of them brought her to their church. During a regular service, she received total healing of her illness. (Thank God she went to a church that still believes in such things).
That was a couple years ago. She has never needed any more drugs. Her mind is totally restored. Her sense of humor is back. She smiles and laughs. A lot. She was always very beautiful, but now she positively glows. God didn't just give her a new spirit, He restored her soul.
Please realize that this is not an isolated instance of someone receiving a "lucky" healing. I could give you many more stories like these, all true and from my own experience. What God did for my friend, He will do for you. He is the Restorer. Ask Him to do it. Pray this psalm, just like David did and believe that it is God's will is for your mind, will and emotions to be restored.
(Psalm 23:2)
Aloha and welcome to the 3rd edition of Rise & Shine. Last week I took a break from studying this psalm to give some brief background on the who and why of this page. With that out of the way, let's get back into it.
Two weeks ago we covered verse one (see back issues at the bottom of this page) and saw that the Lord is our guide, protector and provider. That is the job of a shepherd. There is no want (lack) with the Lord's shepherding.
This is reinforced in verse two. What is more necessary for sheep than grass? The shepherd
knows that the sheep need to eat. But this isn’t ordinary grass. It’s not dry or coarse or full of burrs and
stickers. The literal translation of "green pastures" is pastures of tender grass. The best kind for
eating, if you’re a sheep. And guess what? There’s so much they can lie down in it. 
I would call that abundance. I might even suggest a more dangerous word: prosperity. You know, there are many well meaning people out there who believe that God wants them to have just enough to scrape by. They get indignant at the so called "Prosperity Gospel", and yes, there have been some well documented abuses. Man can mess up anything he gets his hands on, Scripture or otherwise. But these are undoubtedly prosperous sheep. Let's not over spiritualize this. We are talking about sheep and their number one priority, namely grass. It's taken care of. And it's not just good grass, it's excellent grass. There's a whole mess of it. When they get full they can lie down in it.
Obviously, our needs are a little more complicated than those of a sheep. But remember that this psalm is not about animal husbandry. It's about people allowing Jesus Christ to rule in their life. If we allow Him to lead us, we will have our needs met and then some. You know, I'm not a millionaire. I would welcome a little more cash flow. But if I go into my kitchen I see a full fridge and stuffed cupboards. I have a beautiful place to live. I'm not scraping by, barely making it. I'm prospering. And I have confidence that I haven't yet enjoyed all the great things the Lord has planned for me if I let Him lead. Note to myself: leading implies movement.
In the next line we see that He is still leading, this time "beside the still waters". I’ve
heard it explained by people who know much more about sheep than I ever hope to, that this is a very
good thing because sheep will drown in fast running water. (It’s the wool. It gets
waterlogged). However, this is not the Marines charging through the surf at Omaha beach. The sheep are being led
beside the still waters. The literal translation of this phrase is the waters of rest. The Hebrew word for water here is mayim and in this context relates to life, sustenance, fertility, blessing and refreshing. This water gives life to those dying of thirst. It sustains them in the dry places. It brings forth fruit. It causes its surroundings to prosper. It rejuvenates what it touches like rain on wilted leaves. The Hebrew word for rest in this verse is menuchah, which denotes resting place; place of stillness, repose, consolation, peace; a quiet place. In other words, what most people spend their lives looking for and seldom find. I want that. I want the abundant life that comes from allowing the Lord to shepherd me. I want to rest in a place of peace everyday. Green pastures and still waters. Sounds good to me. .
(Philemon v.6)
Last week I launched this ministry in my typical "damn the torpedos, full speed ahead" fashion that characterizes so much of what I do. Not that this isn't preceeded by much thought and prayer, but once I know that I should do something, I just do it. Anyway, it occurred to me that a brief introduction as to who I am and why I am doing this would be in order.
Who I am is almost irrelevant, but for now let me say that my name is Kona Lowell. I am a musician and artist, living in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I am married to a fabulously talented and beautiful woman named Chee. I could give my "testimony", tell you all the incredibly stupid, dangerous and illegal things I've done and how God has miraculously rescued me time after time, but I plan to sprinkle those little nuggets (judiciously) throughout this magazine. I do not have a theology degree or any formal training in religious studies of any kind. I don't have a religious bone in my body. I'm just a guy who sees Christ working in his life and wants to share that happiness.
As to why I am doing this, see the above verse from that little epistle, Philemon. In fact, let's look at it in the Amplified translation: "[And I pray] that the participation in and sharing of your faith may produce and promote full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus [and unto His glory]." Yep. I'm doing it for me. When I share my faith with others, my faith grows. Of course I want others to be helped by this page. I'm also being obedient to Christ's mandate to "go into all the world". That's obvious. But the more my faith increases, the more help I can actually be to those who need it.
If you come back to this site again, aside from hearing about the cool things God has done in my life, and is still doing, you will hear that word "faith" pop up with (to some) alarming regularity. That's because we live by faith. Yes, we still have difficulties and challenges in our lives but we have the faith in God to overcome virtually anything that gets in our way. We regularly see and actually have come to expect the miraculous in our daily lives. You know, I could kick myself sometimes for spending so much of my life in doubt and unbelief when I could have been trusting God for His guidance, healing, provision, protection, and everything else He loves to do. Fortunately, it is never too late to get in on this. God can erase years of destructive and stupid behavior (see Lowell, Kona) and put you where you should have been all along. He can heal you: mind, body and spirit. I've seen Him do this so many times with friends, family and total strangers that I don't even wonder about it anymore. Not one person I've ever encouraged to put their complete trust in God has ever come back to me and said, "Man, this trusting God stuff doesn't work!" Not one.
Of course there are lots of folks out there ready to shoot you down when you get too caught up in this "faith thing". They wouldn't want you to really expect God to do anything. You might be disappointed. Let me ask you this: Do you have less disappointment in your life when you don't expect God's help? No, He's not going to do everything exactly the way you want Him to do it. He may not do things according to your schedule. He may make you wait (and wait and wait sometimes). But He rewards faith. It's the only thing that gets Him moving. You just can't please Him without it {Hebrews 11:6). I mean on my best day God isn't going to be blown away by my goodness. My knowledge of Scripture isn't going to impress Him. My concerted effort at loving everybody I meet isn't going to amaze the One who is love. My giving can't compare to the One who gave His Son's life for mine. But our faith in Him makes Him smile. It gets angels moving on our behalf. It made Jesus "marvel" {Matthew 8:10). That's what I'm shooting for. I want Jesus saying,"Wow! That's faith! You got it!" That's what I hope you will get out of this page in weeks to come.
(Psalm 23:1)
"Wow. There's something I haven't heard before." Right. I know most of us can probably finish this psalm. As a child, I had to memorize it for Sunday school. But years later, in those times when it seemed that God was a million miles away and I was up to my neck in trouble (usually of my own making), this short set of verses would cut through the fog and somehow ground me. I admit I really didn't know why. However, in recent years I’ve started to read this familiar set of verses with fresh eyes. In fact, I think it's so powerful that I pray it every day.
The first verse is one of the most complete statements in the entire Bible. You might even say it's the whole point of the Bible. If you really grasp this and take it to heart you have a good understanding of who God is and what He wants to do in our lives. First of all, "The Lord is". Hebrews 11:6 tells us that to please God we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Next we see that He is our shepherd. Remember that this was written by a guy who knew something about the job. David knew what a shepherd was supposed to do for his sheep, and he did it.
What does a shepherd do? Guide, protect and provide. The shepherd is responsible for 
the total welfare of the flock. (The sheep, by the way, do not choose him. He chooses them.) He
must guide them through rough terrain, storms and deserts. The shepherd must make sure the
sheep get to where they need to be. He doesn’t lead them into desolation and leave them, in
fact, if one sheep is lost he goes and finds it.
We know that David, in protecting his charge, killed a lion and a bear, at risk to his own life. (Try to imagine yourself being the age of a high school freshman and taking on lions and bears with a stick and a slingshot. Whoa.) But this was just part of David’s job. He didn't wonder about it.
And as for provision, the shepherd takes the sheep to the food. He doesn’t let them wander around hunting here and there for food and water. He knows where the food is, the sheep don't. He knows how far they can go until they get to the next watering hole or green pasture. Their life is in his hands.
"I shall not want (lack)". For guidance, protection or provision.
Of course David was just a little preview of the ultimate Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Jesus wants to do all these things for us everyday. He doesn’t want us lost, beaten up, eaten up or broke. And He went one step further than David did. He gave His life for His sheep. He will not disappoint you or leave you to fend for yourself. But we have to ask for and expect Him to shepherd us. He knows where you should go, He will protect you along the way and He will provide all you need and more .
| Email | Back Issues | About Kona | Chee & Kona's Homepage | 3 Friends in Kona | The Big Island, HI |