by Randy Willis

Christmas is my happiest time of the year. But for many, it is the loneliest time often with increased stress. This is especially for you.

Have you ever felt the harder you try, the worse things get? You pray, plead, and promise God you will change if He will deliver you this one time. You wonder if He even cares. You suggest ways God can rescue you from your pit. Your hopes and dreams are crushed. You conclude there is no way to escape from this free fall into despair and disappointment. And no one understands.

You are not alone. Many biblical scholars believe King David wrote Psalm 102:6: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness.” He said, “I am like an owl of the desert.” A pelican nor an owl belong there. Nor do you.

I’ve been there too. But there is hope. There is a way, but it is not found in a pill or bottle. You won’t find it in entertainment or a “how to pull yourself up with your bootstraps’ book.” No, it’s not positive thinking, although I’m all for that. It’s not found in a mystical higher power, cosmic energy, or religion. There are a million ways online that offer solutions, but few are God’s way.

The scriptures warn us in Proverbs 14:2, “There is a way that seems right to a man. But its end is the way of death.”

And again in Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

You will be offered answers numerous times when you come to these critical crossroads in your life. Realize you have an enemy, Satan, the father of all lies, with all the wrong answers. As the inventor of lies, Satan is the master of them, often lacing them with truth. But a hundred legitimate dollar bills do not make a counterfeit one real.

Satan may innumerate your sins in your thoughts, for the Bible says he is our accuser. And the list may be accurate. But then here comes his lie, “God doesn’t love you. Look at what you’ve done. How could he love you? You are not worthy of love.”

Don’t believe it. This is why Christ shed his lifeblood on the cross for you. He loves you and wants to forgive your sins and spend eternity with you. Christ loves you.

Jesus spoke of him.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

So where, then, do I find the answer? The answer is found in a love letter to a friend. The love letter is addressed to you. It is printed in the Word of God, the Bible. It is repeatedly recorded in the Book of all books how to overcome what seems impossible. The love letter is written by the One who loves you most. The One who always has your best interest in mind. The One who died for you. The One who has never made a mistake, including creating you.

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The love letter is for young and old. This love story is about a teenager named David. He is alone under the starry sky, tending sheep. He became the most remarkable King of Israel and forefather of the Messiah, Jesus.

A chosen middle-aged man named Joshua had a significant task. He followed a man who received his marching orders from God in a burning bush. Then, he’s told to lead hundreds of thousands of people with a massive learning curve. That would perplex anyone. And is instructed to walk around the Walls of Jericho, the fortress of the most barbaric people on earth. And yes, the walls came tumbling down without a shot being fired. I named my middle son Joshua Randall Willis after the Biblical Joshua and me. We all three made the same decision. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

It can be found in the story of an old man, Daniel. Daniel, who was over 90, was thrown into a den of lions despite being past his prime. Your age does not matter; God can use you.

I’ve been there, you have too, and so have these young, middle-aged, and old men in the Bible. Learn from their stories. You can slay the giants in your life and have weapons to spare. Walk through fire without the spell of smoke on you. Sleep in peace with your enemy’s hungry lions as a pillow. Walk on water amid your storms of life.

The Lord will do all this in a way you never dreamed. You want to read history’s number one best-selling “motivational how-to book.” Open your Bible.

My favorite is a leader, Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, who is facing three insurmountable enemies at once. I’ve been there more than once. I suspect you have, too. He cries. I don’t have the might or foggiest {my adjective} idea of what to do, but…

What follows the word “but” contains the answer to what to do. It is the answer to what to do when your world falls apart. It is the answer to how to get through your seemingly insurmountable situation. It is what to do when problem after problem after problem is overwhelming you. You want to scream, “I give up!”

David picks up 5 stones because Goliath has 4 brothers. Is this confidence? Yes, but not in himself, but in the Lord. The teenage Sheppard boy faces a nine-foot-plus giant named Goliath. God can defeat the giants in your life, too, no matter how big or how many.

David pursues God in worship. He dances before the Lord all night. The house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord. They did so with shouts and the sound of trumpets. (2 Samuel 6:12:15) When David received discouraging advice from everyone about facing Goliath, he recalled his previous victories. He said, “I work as a shepherd for my father.” Whenever a lion or a bear attacked one of his lambs, he went after it and struck it down. (1 Samuel 17:35-36)

I’ve claimed few words more than David’s in Psalm 51:10-12. This was after David committed adultery and manslaughter. Perhaps the more accurate word is murder.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Over the decades, I have walked in the forest and sat under a cliff by a crystal clear stream. I always begin my prayer with David’s words in Psalm 42:1-2.

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

God calls David “A man after his heart.” Have you fallen? Get up and become a man or woman after God’s heart. You can start by focusing on Christ, not your failures. Set your mind and heart not on your mistakes but on the One who is the God of second chances. And third, and…

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. (Romans 5:20)

Daniel refuses to focus on the lions but on the Light of his heavenly Father. God can close the mouths of your enemies, too. You, too, will be thrown in a den of lions.

The rulers take Daniel and cast him into the dungeon (Daniel 6:16). Why?  Daniel refused to change his habits of worship.  He refused to change his prayers to God.  He refused to close his windows, open toward Jerusalem.  And he refused to obey the decree that would separate him from the Lord God (Daniel 6:10).

You will not win a popularity contest with your faith in the Lord of Heaven. It will be challenged. It will be offensive to many. You will lose many trusted friends you’ve never met on Facebook. I call it narcissism on steroids.

You will be thrown into a den of lions. When you are, God will send an angel to protect you.

God knows from eternity past, you will face a den of lions. He has already prepared a response. The Lord God Almighty of Heaven sent an angel. He shut the lions’ mouths. Daniel spent the night in quiet rest (Daniel 6:21-22). What is Daniel to do now? Go to sleep. But what about a soft pillow? A lion will do. Daniel was at rest in the den of lions. His captures were less at rest in the palace with all its comforts and luxuries (Daniel 6:18). “He gives His beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:2). One angel slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers on one night. Sleep well, my friend. He will give His angels charge over you. Read Psalm 91.

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No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. (Psalm 91:10-11)

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We all are in a den of lions during our lives. We should not speak to youngsters as if the Christian life is only a primrose path. It is not always a bed of roses. It is difficult. The Christian faces the ultimate antagonist in all literature, Satan, through trials and temptation. His weapons are deception and discouragement.

Satan will try everything to paralyze you with fear. He wants to hinder you by causing disappointment. This discourages you from sharing the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Stand on God’s promise, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17)

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Isaiah 54:17

Satan will remain a thorn in your side until the Second Coming of Christ. However, he was defeated at the cross of Calvary. Take up the sword of the Holy Sprint, the Word of God. It’s sharp; swing it wisely.

 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:10

Simon Peter on the storm-tossed Sea of Galilee is all of us at times. You, too, can walk on water atop the storms in your life.

No one in the Bible reminds me more of me than Simon Peter, and that’s not a compliment. I speaking of the time before Peter became the great Apostle Peter who preached at Pentecost. No, I have no desire to be crucified upside down as the Apostle Peter was.

Peter denied knowing Christ three times. I have denied Christ in my behavior way more than that. Peter walked on water during the mighty storm on the Sea of Galilee. Then he took his eyes off Jesus and turned them towards the winds and waves. And began to drown. How many times have I taken my eyes off Jesus and almost drowned? How often have I started to sink in the storms of life? I have had to cry like Peter, “Save me,” speaking of learning curves.

I have been brash and braggadocious. I’ve wondered if Peter, like me, wrote these traits off as being self-assured or perhaps the power of positive thinking. Indeed, he was like me; he was full of himself. I admired him when he cut off Malchus’s ear. This happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when they came to arrest Jesus.

Now, Peter was no swordsman. Nor am I. I suspect he was swinging for his neck. My sword has often been my words which I aim at the head too.

If Jesus had not miraculously healed Malchus’s ear, there may have been four crosses, not three, on Calvary’s hill. How often has the Lord delivered me from bad choices in my youth? Who knows, not even Mama, for I dared not tell her. Jesus rebuked Peter, although I doubt as many times as He has me.

But Jesus said to him, Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Matthew 26:52

Who better to writes these words than the Apostle Peter.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter: 5:5

Peter could walk on water as long as his eyes were upon Jesus. When he began to look at the wind and waves, he sank

They soon discover the safest place to be is the fiery furnace. The reason is that the “Fourth Man” is there, the pre-incarnate Christ. You, too, can walk through the fires of life with not even the smell of smoke on you. The only things that burned that day were the people who threw them into the fires. Additionally, the ropes that bound them burned.

Three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to compromise their faith. They were thrown into a fiery furnace and turned up seven times. The safest place to be is a fiery furnace if the 4th man, Christ, is there too.

Jehoshaphat is my favorite story of victory over impossible circumstances. He acknowledges to God he has no power against the three armies coming against him. Nor does he know what to do.

The turning point is in 2 Chronicles 20:12-15. He cries out to God and says, “For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us.” Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.

This is a great lesson I have learned in my life. I should place my eyes upon Jesus and not my problem. The hardest part is the “be still” command. I too often wish to pick up my favorite weapon, my spoken words.

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you. 2 Chronicles 20:17

Jehoshaphat overlooks his three enemies in safety as they destroy each other. Our role is to take our eyes off our problems and place them firmly on the Lord.

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

Our Image of God

Is God a gray-bearded old man sitting on his throne, waiting for you and I to mess up? Does he then grab our collar and jerk us as if we are rag dolls? Not hardly.

Instead, He is our loving father waiting for his son or daughter to “come to themselves.”

The son insisted on going to a foreign land to blow his inheritance. The father watches and waits patiently for his son “to come to himself.” The “Prodigal Son,” who was Jewish, took on the most offensive job for a Jew, slopping pigs. In the pig pin he finally came to himself.

When he does, there is a grand celebration for him at home. The Father rejoices because his son, who was dead in rebellion and sin, is alive again. Where is a foreign land? A place where you and I don’t belong. We belong home where our Heavenly Father watches with open arms for our return.

The “Prodigal Son,” who was Jewish, took on the most offensive job for a Jew, slopping pigs. You were not created to be in a pig pen: physically, mentally, morally, or spiritually.

“For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.“  Luke 15:24

What I Did When My Whole World Crumbled Around Me

In 1986, I divorced. On a business trip, I met a lady in Corpus Christi two years later.

The lady and I went our separate ways but kept in touch by phone. We soon discovered we had much in common, including golf and church. I invited her to fly into Austin and play with me at the Austin Apartment Association’s annual golf tournament.  She was a much better golfer than me—which is not saying much.

As our romance intensified, we decided she should move to Austin.  I rented a house for her, and she began to help me with my business ventures.

We realized our love was not a passing fancy, so we got engaged, but not all was well. When I first met her, I noticed she was thin. I also noticed she barely ate anything on her plate—just a few small bites.

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On New Year’s Day, 1989, we watched a movie premiere on TV entitled The Karen Carpenter Story. As the movie progressed, she began to cry, saying repeatedly, “That’s me.”

I knew nothing about anorexia. Karen Carpenter died in 1983. Her death was attributed to heart failure because of anorexia nervosa. There was no social media then to sound the alarm. The Karen Carpenter Story did that.

Within two weeks, my fiancee died of a heart attack in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.

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I fell apart and lost 30 pounds in 30 days. I blamed God and could not function.  Within six months, I filed Chapter 7 for bankruptcy. I cried out to Christ, “Lord, where are you?”

I could not understand how a Christian girl and someone so young and kind could die. I’d go to the Scriptures to try and find answers. The first verse, the Good Lord, led me to change my life forever.

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

That seemed simple enough; whoever finds his life will lose it. Okay, Randy, life is not about finding, acquiring, and accumulating things like success and notoriety. But that’s not what it says.  

“What have I been seeking?”  I asked myself.  I wrote down a list on a yellow tablet. It included success, education, health, wealth, social status, entertainment, pleasure, friends, family, children, and even religion.  These are the things I’ve focused on. “Surely they are not all bad?”

The scripture did not end there. What about the part that reads, “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  

I’m a little slow sometimes, “So Lord, life is not in the getting but in the giving?” I surmised.

He then led me to, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Now, that began to make sense. I’ve spent all these years seeking and acquiring. But, I still do not have the joy and peace You spoke of, Lord.

Even your universe is that way. The sun gives to the grass. The grass gives to the cow. The cow gives me milk. My part is to feed the cow. I don’t pretend to know how a brown cow gives me white milk. I reckon that part is called faith.

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That made me want to know Him more. I read Jeremiah 29:13, which offers a powerful promise from God.

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

“Lord, how do I do that?” The most fervent of your apostles, Peter, denied you. Another betrayed you after seeing your miracles. The others, except one, fled swiftly when you hung on a tree.

Nicodemus, the most pious of religious leaders, couldn’t understand.  The supreme religious body, the Sanhedrin, with Pharisees and Sadducees, didn’t know. Although it was within their grasp in the books, they held as truth.

What hope is there for me to know You if these great men didn’t get it? You, Lord Jesus, are the Lord of Creation who spoke the Universe into existence. I set out on a quest to see who got Jesus’ attention in the Bible? It was not whom I suspected.

I found the answer in Scripture. As Jesus left Jericho with His disciples, a great multitude joined him. A blind man named Bartimaeus sat begging along the roadside. When he discovered the clamor was about Jesus, he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” When the crowd warned him to be quiet, he cried louder.

When Jesus heard him, the Bible says, “Jesus stood still.” What does it take to stop God in the flesh, the Lord of Creation, in His tracks? The cry of a blind beggar. Not the mighty Roman army, the pious religious leaders, or the political elite but a blind beggar. And yes, there is a criminal next to Him on a cross.

Christ first promised paradise to a lowly thief on the cross. Jesus hears the cry of a baby. He takes our tears and puts them in a bottle. He attends the funeral of every sparrow. Our hairs are not counted, but each has a number. Where am I getting that from, the Bible.

Touch the hem of His garment as a woman did with an issue of blood. Jesus felt power leave Him. Where did it go? Into a woman hemorrhaging for 12 years, on her hands and knees, placing her hope and faith in Him. Once again, not the high and mighty, but the humblest of humble.

Reach out to the last, the least, and the lost in His name. And you will learn His kindness, gentleness, and goodness. Experience His love, peace, mercy, and grace. And you will know Him. Give your life away in His name, and you will find it. The Bible says God resists the proud.

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As time crept by, I became oppressed and depressed to the point where I could not pray anymore. I gave up.

I was in despair. I figured that the Lord either was not hearing my prayers. Alternatively, He had chosen not to answer them. Why would He care about someone like me who had misused everything He had given me?

 I was wasting my time asking Him for anything, I surmised.  He’s not a divine ATM. He hears the prayers of the righteous, and thousands in Austin are way more virtuous than me. 

His words would not leave me alone. “He who finds his life will lose it. He who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

 In my despair, I wrote in my Bible, “Lord Jesus, I’m broke, alone, and sick, but I agape you. All I have left is my salvation and my three sons. If you slay my three sons tonight and cast my soul into hell, I will still praise your Holy Name.”

His Glory filled my room. I do not have the words to explain. From then to this day, Christ is as real to me as the skin on my bones. He, too, can be that real to you if you surrender your life to Him.

I know the Lord is never late, but I discovered He’s never early. That’s what is difficult. That is when you have to walk by faith. Everything changed that night, although I had no idea at the time.  During my next visit to the doctor, I discovered the illness had vanished.

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I’ve been blessed to have read and heard some of the best preachers of Jesus since the Apostle Paul. Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist since Paul, was the first famous one to influence me. As a teenager, I never missed his Crusades on TV. They still never get old.

I visited a print shop on Hopkins Street in San Marcos. This happened during my first year at Southwest Texas State College, now Texas State University. I went there to have copies made.

While I waited, I thumbed through a chrome metal bookshelf you could twirl 360 degrees with 99-cent paperback books. I debated if I could afford one. When my Xerox copies were ready, I said, “What the heck” and bought three. They were Peace with God, The Jesus Generation, and World Aflame. I devoured them.  They are still on my bookshelf near my desk.

My mother preferred Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Graham’s books. Mother read them all and loved them. I later did, too, and her daughter, Anne Graham-Lotz’s books, especially her book The Magnificent Obsession.

I discovered Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s All of Grave and his other books in my early twenties.

Another person was influenced by Spurgeon. He was born on the same day as I was, December 19, precisely 40 years before. W.A. Criswell became my favorite famous pastor. I never met him, but he has over 4,000 sermons online, so I feel like I know him. I’ve never read or listened to anyone with his intellect in the Word.

I’ve heard Dr. Criswell’s sermon, Whether We Live or Die, more than ten times. It includes a brief summary of Spurgeon’s “The Downgrade in the Churches.” The message is more valid today than ever.

Dr. Criswell’s The Scarlet Thread Through the Bible runs throughout the Bible, which is another favorite.  He traces the scarlet thread of redemption from the blood of covering after the fall in the Garden of Eden. Then it follows to Calvary’s Cross and the blood-washed multitude standing before the throne of God in eternity. It has blessed me numerous times. It will bless your life.

Adrian Rogers would be a close second to W.A. Criswell. J. Vernon McGee, Mark Bubeck,
Charles Stanley, E.V. Hill, Scott Tatum, D.L. Lorrie, and others have blessed me. All of these men are in Heaven except D.L. Lowrie. He is another one of my favorites. You can follow him on Facebook. He is still preaching Jesus.

Dr. Charles Stanley’s six-part series After Brokenness Then What changed my life.  Dr. Jody Unruh with Hyde Park Counseling Center loaned me a copy after my fiancée died of anorexia. My Pastor, Dr. Ralph Smith (Hyde Park Baptist Church) recommended Dr. Unruh to me. Dr. Smith built Hyde Park Baptist into the largest church in Central Texas with over 14,000 members. In 35 years of counseling, one word had come up in every session. The word is “if.” Forgetting the “ifs” are very difficult for me at times.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. Isaiah 43:18

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward… Philippians 3:13-14

If you have ever experienced a significant loss of a loved one, this series will guide you through the pain. Nothing else compares to its guidance except the Bible which it is based on. Dr. Stanley said, “After brokenness, you get a new view of God’s purpose for your life.” I found that to be true.

Dr. Unruh helped me move on from the tragic loss of my fiancée through Christian counseling. Dr. Smith told me she was “spiritually blessed,” and she was. Dr. Unruh was the only counselor I ever saw. She had studied at Dr. Charles Stanley’s church. I recommend finding a local Christian counseling center rooted in a Bible-believing church.

Epilogue

You should write down the previous victories in the margin of your Bible. Remember, God, has given these victories often when you face incredible odds. And remember, He can and will do it again. When the Lord gives me a promise from the Bible, I date the scripture. When the promise comes true, I date the answered promise in scripture. It is a reminder of how faithful He is. I stand amazed as I read over them from over 60 years.

I listen for the Holy Spirit speaking to my spirit when I pray. Then, if I feel He has, I ask the Lord to lead me to a scripture to confirm it. He is not insulted by this, for He knows I have been down a few rabbit trails. Why? Because I can’t trust my feelings. I can’t trust my emotions. I can’t trust my mind or a falling star from the sky. Satan will use your feelings and emotions to deceive you. He even quoted scripture to Jesus in the wilderness, although Satan misapplied the scripture. Sound familiar.

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Dedicated to my six grandchildren: Baylee Coatney Willis, Corbin Randall Willis, Presley Rose Willis, Olivia Grace Willis, Juliette Rebecca Willis, Violet Jean Willis, and my future grandchildren. May you always look towards our Blessed Hope, Jesus. Titus 2:3

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The most famous 25 words ever written: “For God so loved the world. He gave His only begotten Son. Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

If these words are how you feel in your heart, then pray:

“Heavenly Father,

I pray to You, asking for the forgiveness of my sins.

I confess with my mouth. I believe with my heart that Jesus is Your Son. He died on the cross at Calvary, so I might be forgiven.

Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I ask Jesus to come into my life as my personal Lord and Savior.

I turn from my sins and will surrender to your will throughout my life.

Your word is truth. I confess with my mouth that I am born again. I am cleansed by the blood of Jesus!

In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen!”

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Give Your Life Away and Find It

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

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#randywillis #aaronwillis #adamwillis #joshwillis #corbinwillis #bayleewillis #presleywillis #oliviawillis#juliettewillis #violetwillis #jessahwillis #alanawillis