Wise Thoughts for Doers: A Walk in Inspiration and Testimony

By Nathan W. Palus

Wise Thoughts for Doers is a book of inspiration, motivation, and instruction. It is a work of observation and remedy regarding church, human life, societal existence, and living. It uses the wisdom of the Bible in circumstantial and general situations to help clarify todays misgivings, missteps, joys, and disappointments. For in all things God is present! He may not cause all things to happen, but He is always observing. He sees all.

This book is an adventure in life past, present, and future. It bridges faith of the believer, hope for the unbeliever, and the invitation to a cohesive existence for the newly convinced. Jesus Christ is specified and glorified as the true Son of God in whom all will gain access to the father God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512729122

Nathan W. Palus

Born on the island of Jamaica, Mr. Palus migrated to the United States at age fifteen. His schooling included a mixture of Methodist and Catholic denominational teachings, but faith in God was most important in leading and guiding his current choice of nondenominational worship. Ordained as pastor, elder, and deacon, he has served in many roles of responsibility in the church and is founder and senior pastor of his own ministry. He is observant about the church, everyday life, and his own life and hopes that in sharing, you may be able to recognize your true self and to whom you belong. Mr. Palus is married to his wife, Marie, of twelve years, and together they are coparents of eight children. He holds several diplomas in television directing, production and studio operations, an associate’s degree in marketing, bachelor’s degrees in communications and organizational management, and other professional awards and recognition.

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Copyright © 2016 Nathan W. Palus.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2913-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2914-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2912-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016901727

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/08/2016

CONTENTS

Children of One God

New Year’s Resolutions vs. Resolutions of Faith

The What If Question

Oh, the Chatter!

Who Is the Thief?

Thievery Will Attempt Your Overthrow

Temptation Is Sin’s Call to Human Nature

Generational Things

When Good Intentions Come with a But

We Struggle with Ill-Conceived Plans

Acting without God

Strength in Passivity

My Testimony of God’s Promise

Why I Was Unconquerable

New in America

New Friends in Fulfillment

Graduating into Adulthood

Moving Forward in My Career and in Love

Strides in Hope and in Conflict

A Season of Ousting and Casting Off

Searching for the Elusive Ladder

Climbing the Ladder of Hope Again

The Ladder’s Many Steps

The Big Showdown

Notes

Resources

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7).

I f we are asked questions about life at age five or ten, our answers will be much different than if we are asked those same questions at age twenty or twenty-five.

As we gain insight into living, those questions should elicit answers of far greater clarity, depth, and complexity at age forty or forty-five.

That has been my experience, and the things I have learned helped provide the foundation for this book.

CHILDREN OF ONE GOD

E ven in this age of uncertainty, all of us human beings can be sure we were born of a woman. Granted, with today’s scientific and technological advances, some of us might have started in a test tube or a petri dish before being placed inside the womb. But the fact remains that the womb is the place best suited to nurture and to grow a fetus and to bring it to birth.

Darwin claimed humans evolved from apes, but in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God tells the story of how He created the human species. Man was created from the dust, and God breathed life into him. He then gave that first man, Adam, a companion or helper by placing him into a deep sleep and taking a rib from him to create Eve. This He did through His glory and majesty (Genesis 2).

The world is deeply divided over whether there is one sovereign God, many gods, or any God at all. With humanity splintered into many factions—including adherents of monotheism, polytheism, pantheism—there is a wide variety of religions and forms of worship. Atheists, of course, refuse to worship.

Religion and worship have spawned epic disagreements, splitting groups and societies throughout the world. The same questions have always plagued humanity. Who or what should be worshiped? And what methods of worship are the right ones?

Solomon rightly says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7). However, we have failed to see the truth of this.

Religion and worship have become the matches that have ignited tinderboxes around the world. The resulting strife has continually marginalized God and has prevented the recognition of His truth. In many places, people have replaced God’s supremacy with those powerless things that God Himself has made. Many societies have created anthropocentric systems with little discipline or wisdom. Some men and women of the cloth have established themselves as demigods and potentates, sitting in high positions over congregations large and small; they pontificate, polarize, and sometimes even poison the weak, who rely on them to show the way to obtain faith or regain it.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been moved out of the way. He has been placed on the sidelines as these prideful buffoons seek accolades and worship, never forgetting to hit up their followers for money. They can bring in donations at church services or online, with cash and credit cards eagerly accepted. Preaching the gospel is a lucrative venture for some. Although they may preach Jesus Christ as Lord, their prideful behavior makes them lords over their congregants.

The weak, who are already at a disadvantage, are lured into accepting these people as powerful men and women who can heal and bless them. Often no one mentions that Jesus Christ is the source of their power. The Lord can and does make miracles happen, and He can heal people by using flawed human beings. We must realize that these humans are only channels for such miracles. They are just as flawed as anyone else; we are all sinners and have come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

I would be remiss if I did not mention the sexual sinfulness in ministry. To some, sex is a natural benefit that comes with a position of power and leadership. Some who are being led derive satisfaction from being selected as the sexual partners of the rich and the powerful. Leaders will often fill the innocent and the unlearned with fear and shame to keep them bound and submissive.

Money and gifts are of no consequence to some givers, because these things do not come from their own earnings or accounts. In some ministries, finances are secrets closely guarded by the leaders or by a select few. This makes it easy to continue in sin. Certainly, it is not a bad thing to have the head of a ministry involved in making decisions about church funds; however, even those proclaiming the gospel are not immune to dishonesty.

So the key is to keep a level head and to make sure God resides in a leader. A good shepherd takes good care of the sheep and is a servant. The other key is to know the Word, because the Word is life. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). It is incumbent on all of us to know God.

We know that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman—Mary, a virgin girl—and who was perfect and without sin. Yet He bore our sins so that we could be redeemed from them.

Paul implores us to do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly (2 Timothy 2:15–16). Paul also emphasizes that bad teaching will spread like gangrene (2 Timothy 2:17).

Gangrene is a deadly infection that will spread once it takes hold of the body. It can kill you if it is not readily diagnosed and quickly treated. Gangrene is caused when dead cells are infected by bacteria due to a lack of blood flow. Methods of eradication must be precise; debridement and amputation of limbs are sometimes necessary to save lives.

The lifestyles of those who preach the Word of God and present themselves as models must meet with God’s approval, and therefore they should not infect or lead others to spiritual death by misleading them.

If we are searching for the truth and wish to serve the Lord in His beauty and holiness, we must take to heart Paul’s edifying words: Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’ (2 Timothy 2:19).

We who are Christians serving the true God in Jesus must recognize what has infected us and is stopping the redemptive flow of Christ’s blood within us. We ought to seek our cure in the only one who can cut away what is foreign and sinful in us. All human beings must seek Jesus. He is readily available. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the evil man his thoughts, let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon (Isaiah 55:6–7).

The Lord judges the non-Christian, but He also offers salvation. If anyone committing sin repents in earnest, the Lord, who sees the heart, will respond. The prophet Isaiah relayed the Lord’s words to his rebellious people, and those words still apply to anyone who goes astray. He said, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ (Isaiah 65:1).

So what do we say to our detractors, who continually deter others from finding or living the truth? What do we say when they rant and rave about how our God is a bloody and angry God? We can respond in truth, for God told Isaiah to remind His people of this: All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations (Isaiah 65:2). If those who disobeyed had taken His hand, He would not have had to shed their blood or to cast them into the pit.

It is not wrong to exercise our imaginations. However, if we have no foundation in God, we may find ourselves wondering off into oblivion without a compass to guide us back to the lighthouse of faith. Our imaginations should serve us. We ought not to serve our imaginations. We must not go beyond boundaries and into restricted areas that may not be safe. When we allow ourselves to become slaves to our imaginations, our spirits and our bodies become entrapped. Imagination manifests into actions, and unchecked actions become disasters.

Picture a hot-air balloon that is completely fueled and untethered, with the elements deciding where it goes, how long it stays afloat, and whether it lands or crashes. This is not a good scenario considering all that could go wrong.

God waits for all of His children. Because of His love for us, He sent his only Son to die for us on a cross at Calvary that we might have eternal life. Jesus Christ awaits our knock on that door to salvation. He will swing the door wide open to receive us. Consider John 3:16.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS VS. RESOLUTIONS OF FAITH

T oward the end of each year, many of us consider how we can change our lives. We make New Year’s resolutions and at the start of the year vigorously attempt to follow the path chosen to reach our goals. All too often, we fail and give up even before the first month has passed. A New Year’s resolution is very different from a resolution of faith. Attempting to discern these marked differences is a good thing. Discernment is a gift from God, and the ability to make a resolution of faith is a blessing. Doing this is a way to know God and His Word.

The New King James Version of the Bible aptly describes faith as something present and affirmative: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The New International Version offers a simpler description: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Both translations show the benefits of knowing the Word, which is the road map to our desired result.

What force drives us toward our goals? Can we discern that force? We have always heard that a positive force is better than a negative force since the wind drives our sails, and that is certainly true when it comes to making resolutions of faith. We can be sure of accomplishing our goals if we have faith in Jesus Christ and cultivate a relationship with Him.

Jesus Christ lived, died, and was resurrected from the dead, and though we were not present at these events, we still believe that they took place and that His sacrifice transcends our lives today. We are certain of what we did not see with the naked eye and certain of the things to come that we see in the Spirit.

Armed with this knowledge, we who are resolute in faith are being pushed forward and compelled by the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ, who is capable of moving every barrier we face. We often think that the only way to move a barrier is to pick it up and to toss it aside. But wisdom tells us that to believe this is the only solution is false and limiting. For example, we could climb over, jump over, go under, or walk around a barrier to get to our destination without lifting something that might be many times our weight and then trying to heave it out of our path.

Let us look in the Scriptures for instances of committed believing that brought remarkable results. In Exodus 3, we read that Moses approached the mountain of God, and on that mountain he saw a burning bush. After this had caught his curiosity, an angel of God appeared to him, and so he said to himself, The bush is burning but is not being consumed. I will go up and investigate this phenomenon. When Moses drew closer, the Lord God called out to him from inside the burning bush, Moses! Moses! (Exodus 3:4).

Moses answered, Here I am. God then began a conversation with him, first establishing His holiness by telling Moses, Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground (Exodus 3:5). God explained their connection through a deified lineage of father to children, patriarch to patriots, and a God who hurts when His children hurt. He told Moses,

I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:5–10)

God explained to Moses who He was and what His connection was to Moses and to the children of Israel enslaved in Egypt, assigning Moses the job of freeing the Israelites. If the Lord God demonstrated the truth as vividly and dramatically to you as He did to Moses, would you doubt anything He said to you or about you? If He gave you a task to do, would you believe that He knew you could do the task? His directives always come with the omnipotence He possesses. By his power He awakens innate abilities to complete any task He assigns. Do you believe in His power to transcend all and to bring about transformation in anyone?

You should believe that the Lord will make you fit for an assigned task, but as we venture further into Exodus we will see that if you do not believe this, you are not alone. Moses had the same misgivings. He was not convinced. Moses allowed his experiences, especially the last one he had in Egypt before fleeing into the desert, to sabotage his confidence. Moses had killed a man, an Egyptian task master who had been abusing a Hebrew slave. In that instant, Moses, recognizing that he too was a Hebrew, became an enemy of Egypt and its pharaoh. The abuse of the Hebrew people had affected his heart and his spirit. He had to do something to stop the abuse he saw, and that step was physical.

Moses felt terror upon hearing that Pharaoh sought to kill him. Fear in some situations freezes mind and body, but Moses was not paralyzed. He fled into the desert and reached as far as Midian where he took up new residence. For countless individuals though, fear can bring inaction, preventing success and stifling breakthroughs.

Still, Moses questioned his ability to carry out this task, asking God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11). Certainly