Coming Out Of The Swamp

By Norm Sawyer

With the grace of God and some willpower on our part, we can come out of any addiction, bad habit, or lazy existence. However, we have to take the steps and say, “Yes, Lord, I’m ready to come out from the mess I made of life. I’m ready to be separate and available for your use.” 2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

There is a special section in this book introducing some bloggers and writers I respect. Jami Rogers, Doug Glada, David Kalamen, and Larry Carruthers have written some articles for your enjoyment and spiritual growth. May you be as strengthened reading their inspired thoughts as I have been.

• Language: English
• Publisher: First Page Solutions
• Release date: Jul 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781988226255

Norm Sawyer

I have been in Christian ministry in one form or another for about forty years. I attended Commonwealth Bible College in Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia, in 1980. Ministry at that time involved prison ministries, preaching on the radio in a small town, and church-related works of all kinds. I have taught bible college courses and also have been involved in personal discipleship training. God has blessed me all along the way. Now I have the opportunity to write down what was experienced throughout the years. The Lord has blessed me with sound and forthright material to write a series of Christian devotionals. I have lived the testimonies on these pages and can attest to the fact that God is so faithful and good. My hope is that your soul will be enriched as you read my books. God bless you.

Book preview

Coming Out Of

The Swamp

Norm Sawyer

© 2020 Norm Sawyer

ISBN: 978-1-988226-25-5

Copyright © 2020 Norm Sawyer

All rights reserved. Norm Sawyer

Cover Art by Kane Sawyer

Front Cover graphics by Lee MacLennan

Photography by Norm Sawyer

Published By

First Page Solutions

Kelowna BC Canada

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Ethan and Tess.

Introductions

I would like to introduce some of my fellow Christian bloggers and writers who bring a positive message of hope to a lost and hurting people in this struggling world. These writers have been a wonderful support to me in my life and I honour their dedication to freeing people from the trials and tribulations of life. I hope you enjoy their articles as much as I have.

Jami Rogers

Doug Glada

David Kalamen

Larry Carruthers

Foreword; Coming Out Of The Swamp

I’ve known of Norm Sawyer for over 18 years, a man respected and esteemed highly as a man of God with a pastoral/teacher’s heart by many in my circle of friends. Although I heard him speak a few times over the years on a Sunday morning, I was never privileged to sit and enjoy the wisdom and heart of God this man emanates.

Recently Norm (or Sir Norm as many honour him with) mentioned he had completed a book. I was excited to get a copy so I could get a better understanding of this man, considering I had no idea what to expect as I had never followed Norm’s blog. Like a large funnel, I was caught in a vortex bringing me through the pages of that book Pride of the Worm.

With Wisdom only our Lord hands out, Norm walks us through many of life’s day to day crossroads where a decision is made to either do things our way, or know how the Lord would have us address the situation. He has a masterful way of introducing and applying God’s word to everyday living.

Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of all four of his books so far, and I’m privileged to write this foreword as I eagerly anticipate reading the contents of this book. There seems to be no limit to the wisdom God pours through individuals who seek after it. Norm is a testimony to this.

The Lord has given him many pearls. I believe as you read through these pages the Lord will deposit some of them deep within you as well. Blessings on your journey.

Brian Casavant

Kelowna

Table of Contents

Introductions

Foreword

Part One: Right Choices

Part Two: Wake Up!

Part Three: The Beloved

Part Four: Rescued

Part Five: Think About It!

Part Six: My Fellow Bloggers

Jami Rogers

Douglas Glada

David Kalamen

Larry Carruthers

About The Author

Part 1: Right Choices

Joshua 24:14 Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. We are all at a crossroads in life. Choose God and live.

Coming Out Of The Swamp

Proverbs 11:29 Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you. Paul, the Apostle, was crying from his heart when he was asking the Corinthian church to grow up and start making mature choices. 2 Cor. 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Why is the maturity of Christians such a sticking point in our personal growth in Christ? It seems that the same people with the same issues come forward week after week for prayer and deliverance for the same old thing. They can’t seem to get victory over the repetitive problem. Outside of being deceived, I think that personal will within God’s love has got to be expressed and exercised to be able to come out of the swamp and mire that many stay stuck in. Jesus has already done His part. We have to stand up by faith and come out of the world’s quagmire and be accounted for.

What is the pull in some people’s lives that cause them to choose self-destruction and make terrible life choices, keeping them chained in bondage to their circumstances? Why do some people who are given chance after chance to get up and do something right, just continue to fall flat on their face? According to the word of the Lord, God has delivered us from the pit of despair. Psalm 40:2 He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. Yet, many go right back into the pit and refuse the deliverance available to them. When will the stench of the swamp start to become disgusting in our lives and we finally want a real cleansing?

I was talking with an alcoholic who is showing signs of cirrhosis of the liver and becoming disfigured because of the effects of alcohol on the body. To me, the sad thing is that he has a strong church background and knows he is messing things up by the choices he makes. He always has excuses for his recidivistic return to the bottle. Like so many alcoholics, he is always sorry about the collateral damage he is causing his family and the few remaining friends who have heard it all before. Like most alcoholics, he doesn’t do anything about it; he just remains sorry. Prov. 11:29 Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

This continual destructive behaviour is a conundrum to me. Maybe it is because, with God’s help, I have overcome alcoholism and I wonder why anyone would want to stay in that state of ugliness. Prov. 23:35 And you will say, They hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can look for another drink? All I can do is hand him over to God’s grace and hope this scripture verse becomes a reality in his life. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.

Only God knows the deep reasons for destructive life choices, and only God can help people overcome when they are truly ready to do so. God will honour our personal choice to be miserable, but He will encourage us to choose life. Deut. 30:19 Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! Coming out of the world’s swamp has got to be a continual and daily choice of our will and heart. With the Lord’s help and divine power dwelling within us, we can make the righteous choice to choose God and live; however, we have to want it. Blessings.

As Sure As Hell

Proverbs 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

I was in an auction house fixing a piece of equipment for the owners of the business. I could overhear about five men sitting around a coffee table area as they were boasting and telling lies to each other with jovial camaraderie. The thing that got to me was the amount of blasphemy that was coming out of their mouths.

I noticed it, but the talk did not seem to disturb these men in any way. I then remembered that is what sinners do; they sin. This is why they also need Christ so they can be delivered from their sinful state of existence. Only the blood of Jesus can give us a righteous mind. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

As the men talked, one of them was trying to make an honest point and he said, No, really it happened to me. Gospel truth. That was it. Everyone believed him because he had brought in the gospel truth and that made it so. I thought about the gospel truth and realized it was for these very men the gospel was written.

They, too, were the reason for the gospel coming to mankind so they could also be part of God’s redemption plan. Mark 1:14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

As these men continued to shoot the breeze about their lives to each other, one of the men was also trying to make an emphatic point and said, I’m telling you the truth, sure as hell. Well, this guy might be an Evangelist in the making I thought. He was punctuating the validity of his statement with the fact that hell is a sure place. Matt. 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

As I worked on the piece of equipment, I thought of another saying that is thrown around without much thought: Jesus wept. John 11:35 Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the bible, but thousands of books could be written to try and explain the meaning and depth of its love and there would still be room for more explanation.

It is interesting how these sayings have slipped into the human vocabulary. We can take from them what we will. These workers did not realize it, but they had in a backward way preached a message to me that afternoon. In short, this was the message. Jesus came and saw our condition and wept for our souls. He then gave His life on the cross for us all. Jesus gave us a new gospel of truth so we could avoid the surety of hell. Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Yes, there is a saying As sure as hell, but we don’t have to go there. We have a more sure thing than hell and He is Jesus the Lord. Rom. 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The gospel truth will lead us to the surety of God’s love if we receive the gift and love God has given us through Jesus Christ. Some Christians are living lives on the border of sin where they sometimes feel the heat and flames of hell licking at their spiritual wounds. We do not have to live there. Hell is real, but the love of God is more real if I can say it that way. God’s truth and love grows and abounds every minute of the day.

The world says that death and taxes are the only sure thing in life. Taxes can be paid and death has been conquered through Christ, so as saints we have a more sure thing and He is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working a more sure eternity in our souls. Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. May we all be found in the surety of the Lord’s love and salvation. Amen!

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Prover bs 23:17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

Someone said, Don’t look back, you’re not going that way. I was sitting at an office function dinner and listening to a lot of the business people bemoaning the fact that they had lost out because they did not buy certain properties and investments way back in the day. Some were saying, If I had bought that property back then, I would be on easy street now. Someone else said, I could have retired by now if I would have bought that lot next to the golf course. I know I should have done it. Shoulda woulda coulda all dinner long.

Here we were eating plenty, living in a free and open society in a law-abiding country with clean air and water, plus so much more, and all that was coming out of people’s hearts was what they missed out on. There was no gratefulness for what was. I had to do an inventory of my own heart and wondered if I had the same attitude toward my life. Was I saying things were better back in the day? Was I looking back rather than forward and onward in the plan that God has for me? Eccl. 7:10 Do not say, Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions.

I realized that I had been saying things like I should have taken better care of my heart and maybe this atrial fibrillation would not have happened to me. I could have taken that course four years ago and would not be in the business slump I’m experiencing right now. Yup, I was doing it. I realized it was stopping me from thinking forward with anticipation. I was thinking forward with uncertainty, not sure of what was next. Feelings of no real purpose were floating around my conscience. It looked like I had a small touch of the shoulda woulda coulda syndrome. What to do? Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We can get caught up in the moment when things are