Pages

To Subscribe: Email request to dlw@gracepointcounseling.org

Second Quarter
TGP Volume 14
(April/May/June 2014)

 Week 26

Support for Surviving in a Dangerous World

We live in a dangerous world ruled by an evil enemy.

Satan is the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4). Dominion over the earth was lost to him when Adam and Eve chose to disregard God’s provisions in the Garden of Eden. (So, the song has it wrong: This is not our Father’s world.)

But it was purchased back (redeemed) when Christ died on the cross. However, God will not take back possession until the Second Coming of Christ to establish his Thousand Year Rule on Earth. Until then, the whole creation groans under the weight of Satanic rule (Romans 8:18-23).

In the meanwhile, God has a plan for our immediate protection and prosperity (health and happiness). It is for us to be

  • Immersed into spiritual union with Christ (when we trust the provision of his death/Blood for us as our only hope for going to Heaven), so that he indwells our inmost being (the spirit) and
  • Filled/renewed daily with his presence (during our quiet-time worship), so that he is living in our hearts/souls (mind, emotions, and will) to sanctify/heal us and enable us for making wise choices.  
The psalmist wrote, “Surely he will save you and protect you.” Read Psalm 91.

This means, the protection God promises us is not based on

  • us (or others on our behalf) requesting it from him, or
  • our religious performance to win his favor, including fasting or giving money to the poor.  
Rather, it is based upon us taking time each day to be renewed in our experience of Christ who transforms our hearts to value his provisions and to include them daily in our lives.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F28

My Most Earnest Advice to Men and Women Before They Marry

According to the Scripture (including Ephesians 5:22-33 and John 15:1-8), the husband in the home is the

  • vine,
  • support resource, and
  • servant leader. 
On that basis, my most earnest advice to men and women before they marry is:

(To Men) Before proposing marriage, a man should be

1. Making wise decisions that establish him in health and 
2. Connecting daily to functional resources that support him for making those decisions.

(Otherwise, he will be a broken man and not competent to be the support person in the marriage. Any woman who marries this man will suffer disappoint and will need to be especially supported and renewed daily by her experience of Christ's love for her.)

(To Women) Before saying I DO in marriage, a woman should be

1. Making wise decisions that establish her in health and 
2. Connecting daily to functional resources that support her for making those decisions.

(Otherwise, she will be a broken woman. Any man who marries this woman will need to be especially enabled and renewed daily by the love of Christ in his heart for her.)

This is my most earnest advice to men and women before they marry to save them much pain and frustration in their marriage.

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F24

 Week 25

Performing Good Deeds to Please God: A Failed Hope for Health, Holiness, and Heaven

The young lady insisted to the tv news reporter that God will answer her “prayers” for healing because she has done good deeds in her community (giving to the church, helping the homeless, etc.).

According to our understanding of Scripture, however -

1. We have good health, not because we want it or ask God for it or think our good behavior deserves it, but only because of the choices we make each day to include God’s provisions in our lives which make good health possible according to his law of sowing and reaping/cause and effect which he ordained to govern outcomes in creation (Galatians 6:7-8).

2. Also, we go to Heaven, not because of “works of righteousness we have done” (Titus 3:5) which we think please God, but because we trust in God’s provision of Christ’s blood/death on the cross as the only payment he will accept to satisfy his judgment against the human race (because of Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden – Romans 5:12-19).

3. And, we increase in holiness (competence/usefulness in redemptive service to others), not because of our “going and giving” but because of our “coming and receiving” – that is, we open the door of our hearts each day during our quiet-time worship in order to receive the flow of Christ’s Resurrected Life into our minds, emotions, and will.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F20

Where to Go to Church, Who to Marry, What to Read: Connecting to Need-Specific Resources Thru Which God’s Provisions Flow

1. God, in his mercy and wisdom, has provided support resources (for example, a church or school, leadership person, or even a book) through which his provisions of grace flow to meet the redemptive needs of every person.

2. These resources are need-specific to each one of us. That is, God has in mind the specific needs of specific persons when he births every resource.

3. The Holy Spirit identifies for us (gives conviction/faith concerning) the specific resources God has prepared for us.

4. He providentially draws each of us to those resources.

5. He effectually calls us to open the door of our hearts/lives to those resources to receive the provisions which flow from him/through them into our lives. 

6. We take care not to connect to resources for superficial reasons (including curiosity or to meet social or codependent needs) because, although at first they may seem interesting, in the long-term they will disappoint.

7. We will be effectually supported and increased long-term only by our connection to those specific resources God has prepared for us and calls us to. 

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F17 

 Week 24

Contentment and Joy: Blessings a Billionaire Cannot Buy

The news media reported this week that Michael Jordan is the latest to become a billionaire. But to put it in perspective, according to another report, in the early 1900’s, the ocean liner, Henry Hudson, was built for a million dollars; today, a million dollars will only buy a luxury sailboat. The cost to build the largest private residence in Chicago in the late 1800’s was also a million dollars; today, a million dollars will buy a condo on Lake Michigan.

Money managers really have no interest to work with clients who have less than $100K to invest. One such person sent me an email to say how he could help me invest a million dollars so that I would be secure in my later years. He has me confused with someone else. Carole and I are far from qualifying for that (mainly because we have invested 50-75% of our income since 2002 in GracePoint to make possible the work we do).

Well, not that I don’t have a million dollars, because I have at least that. But it is invested in eternity where the dividends are “to die for” (as they say) and don’t depreciate.

Mostly to say here, though: Not all the billionaires on earth together can buy the experience of health and happiness, contentment and joy, God gives to those of us who are being increasingly renewed each day by the flow of his provisions into our lives.

“How certain and unfailing will they reign in life who remain connected to Christ to receive his abundant provisions of grace (his support to meet our redemptive needs for health and happiness)” – Romans 5:17 (GracePoint Interpretive Paraphrase)

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F13

 Helping the  Hungry: Ministry That Misses Doing the Most Good

If food was a person’s greatest need that he could not provide for himself, GracePoint would be on mission to find ways to help with that need.

But experiencing God for salvation (justification and sanctification) is the most essential need of every person.

Three points:

1. If work was not God’s plan for us to have food to eat, the Bible would not say, “If a man won’t work, he should not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Of course, there are exceptions when a person cannot work, including because of disability (not the same as laziness), but they are rare. People of integrity will rake a lawn, clean a house, stock groceries, work a field, or wash cars to earn money for food. The problem with that solution, however, is, if we are so loaded down with debt buying non-essentials (including entertainment, recreational, and social feel-good devices), a small job won’t help that much, so we look to government or charity programs for help - which make us dependent.

2. Handouts do not bring addicts closer to God (although it will bring them closer to the church and its performance-based programs); instead, they feed their addictions which feed other addictions which further barricade them from experiencing God.

3. The mission God has called GracePoint to is to support hurting people for experiencing God which will transform their values which will support them for making choices that will heal their addictions and help established them in health and happiness.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F10

 Week 23

Christ Life Emanating Through Us to Enable Wise Choices: The Ultimate Grace

Consider these three points:

1. Outcomes in our lives are the result of the choices we make. (Teaching this concept is the single most difficult challenge for the counseling I do.) Competing with that concept are the notions that outcomes are the result of
  • God’s will – that God (or a supreme being) makes things happen according to a sovereign plan,
  • our religious performance (for example, praying, giving to the poor, supporting church programs),
  • fate – or natural forces over which we have no control (for example, where the wind blows or lightning strikes), and
  • Astrology - the alignment of the stars on the day we were born. 
But the Bible says that good and bad outcomes, including health and disease, are the results of the choices we make (Deuteronomy 30:15-20), that we reap whatever we sow (Galatians 6:7).

2. Our choices are motivated by

  • satantic/demonic oppression (The Bible warns about this power because of our tendency to underestimate it.),
  • the opinion of others (the need for acceptance),
  • fear and anger,
  • the religious need to win God’s favor, to stay out of trouble with him,
  • information/knowledge,
  • inborn talents,
  • habits,
  • addictions (to chemicals and experiences, including sexual), the result of the wrong choices we make to deal with the pain of our unmet needs. 
3. However, there is a power (the Ultimate Grace) against which no other power can prevail (even addictions) to motivate our choices: It’s the power (dynamic) of Christ’s Life (his love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance)

  • birthed in our spirits,
  • “flowing up from deep within us like rivers of living water” (John 7:38) during our Quiet Time worship, bringing health
    • to our hearts (the mind, emotions, and will) and psychosomatically
    • to our bodies, and
  • enabling us to
    • value/receive God’s provisions,
    • first, in behalf of ourselves (to support our health/redemptive needs), and
    • then, in behalf of others (to support the health/redemptive needs of those we are called to serve as a resource).  
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14F03 

Week 22

Enabled by the Heart of Christ to Unconditionally Value Every Person’s Uniqueness

People are different: Genders are different; races are different; temperaments are different; skills and gifts are different; and appearances are different.

Bigotry, by definition, is not the wholesome/valid preferences we have because we have identified who and what best supports our redemptive needs, but preferences we have based on our opinion that our gender, race, temperament, skills and gifts, and physical form are superior to others in every way and for every purpose.

Bigotry is at the rotten core of every person’s sinful nature. Anyone who insists his sinful nature is not afflicted by bigotry is in denial. This means, we can trust more that a person is not bigoted who

  • does not insist/assert he (or she) isn’t (because strength never asserts itself) but
  • confesses that it is only by the work of God in his heart to birth and renew Christ in him that he increasingly values unconditionally (as Christ does) every gender, race, temperament, skill and gift, and physical form.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E30 

 Grace: Support for Taking Steps in the Right Direction

1. God promises to guide us with his counsel,

"You guide me with your counsel." - Psalms 73:24

and to lead us in the paths that accomplishes his redemptive purpose.

"He leads me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of his redemptive purpose." - Psalm 23:3 (GracePoint Interpretive Paraphrase)

2. He does this by
  • identifying for us (during our quiet time for reading the Scripture) the steps we should take, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go." - Psalms 32:8
  • calling/drawing us (like a magnet) to those steps, and
  • empowering us (by his Life in us) for taking them. "God works in you (by his Life) both the desire and the enablement to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." - Philippians 2:13 (GracePoint Interpretive Paraphrase)
3. We wait for the enablement God gives before moving in the direction he has identified for us and is calling us to.

"Without me," Jesus said, "you can do nothing (of redemptive or eternal value)." - John 15:5

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E27

Week 21

Our Greatest Need: The Power That Enables Us to Receive

There is a faith that moves/removes mountains (accomplishes great feats/overcomes great obstacles). But it is not the “faith” sometimes understood as positive thinking or positive speaking (“word of faith”), which is a mental ability humans can cultivate.

Rather, it is the conviction 

  • God births in us (the fruit/product of the Seed of Life he sows into our innermost being when we are born again) and then renews (waters) in us (during our quiet-time worship – Romans 10:17)
  • concerning Truth (who God is, his love for us, who we are, and our need for him) 
which enables us to

  • hope (the confident expectation God will accomplish his redemptive purpose for our lives), which enables us to
  • trust him (“If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” – Romans 8:25), which enables us to
  • obey him – that is, to 1) come to him, 2) open the door of our hearts to receive his provisions, and then 3) serve others as a resource to meet their redemptive needs.
But, there is a need we have greater than for faith!

Paul wrote,

“If I have a faith that can move mountains and have not love, I am nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:2

“Faith, hope, and love: The greatest of these is love (agape: God’s love).” - 1 Corinthians 13:13

That’s because,

  • Christ’s love for us is expressed by him giving to meet our redemptive needs,
  • His love in us for the Father (and his redemptive resources/provisions for our lives) is expressed by us receiving, and
  • His love in us for others is expressed by us giving to meet their redemptive needs.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E23

 Week 20

Christ, the Answer

The songwriter wrote, “In a world of sin and turmoil, Lord Jesus come.” This coming is not only his return to earth at the end of the Church Age, but also at this time into our hearts (from his residence within our spirits) during our quiet-time worship each day.

This presence of Christ, experienced in our hearts and manifesting into the world, is the Answer to

Rifts in Relationships

The closer two persons are in relationship to Christ, the closer they come into relationship with each other.

Reactions to Adversity (people and circumstances):
  • Ranting, Rage (anger),
  • Rudeness (unkindness, disrespect), and
  • Restlessness (fear, anxiety) 
Racism (the opinion, not that people have different strengths, weaknesses, and preferences, but that one race is superior to another)

Ruin (eternal judgment [separation from God], broken health)

“For if, when we were enemies against (opposed to) God, we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son, how much more certain and unfailing will we be saved (made whole) by the presence of his Life within us.” - Romans 5:10 (GracePoint Interpretive Paraphrase)


DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E16

 Early Morning Choices to Extend the Days of Your Life and the Quality of Your Days

When you are sleeping, you are renewing life/energy in you. When you wake, you immediately begin dying (because you begin expending the life in you). That is, unless you begin immediately to make the choices that continue to renew life in you – for example:

  • movement to get out of bed renews life in you;
  • 4 ounces of lemon water renews life in you;
  • brewed green tea (with stevia or unsweetened) renews life in you;
  • 30-45 minutes for reading the Scripture, confession of need, and quiet-time worship in order to hear and experience God, especially and most essentially renews life in you.
  • a high-protein breakfast renews life in you;
  • movement to exercise in order to get your heart rate up for a sustained 20-30 minutes renews life in you;
  • hygiene in the bathroom renews life in you; 
and then, throughout your day,

  • 7-9 servings of raw fruits and vegetables renews life in you;
  • 64–100 ounces of purified water renews life in you;
  • 7-8 hours of regularly scheduled sleep renews life in you. 
This is the reason Jesus instructed us to pray, “Give me (I receive) today my DAILY BREAD (that which is absolutely indispensable for my well-being).”

When you bypass these choices in order to rush immediately into the duties of your life (or even to do nothing), you begin expending life/energy – first, from the fuel tank of your strength (which has a 24 hour expiration time), and second (when the fuel tank is empty), from the reservoir of your strength (the life reserves with which you are born and in which you invest during your formative years [childhood to early adulthood]). At this point (when you are not taking time daily to make the choices which renew strength), you are reducing not only the days of your life, but the quality of your days.

I hope this is helpful!

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E13

 Week 19

 Satisfied Living Good, Dying Strong

A recent news report seemed to want to minimize the need for drinking purified water. In a street poll, passersby were asked which sampling tasted better – tap water or purified water. A majority said the tap water. The report’s conclusion was that, since tap water tasted better, purified water was a waste of money.

Now comes another research to study longevity – this one also giving little weight to making wise choices for health. The conclusion was that no particular factors were essential to extend our years, except maybe heredity or our “lucky stars.” Drinking wine was also given a good score. Nutritional supplements and exercise were only given token consideration.

Totally ignored, however, was this: Whatever might be understood and appreciated about longevity, living long is not even the goal – at least not from God’s perspective. Rather, the goal is quality of life. Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” Abraham died “an old man and full of years (years filled with good with which he was satisfied – so much so that he was ready for another world).”

Also, the “surpassing experience” (Philippians 3:8; Ephesians 3:19), the “prize to which God is calling us” (Philippians 3:12-13), and “the crown of life” (James 1:12) is wholistic health, not longevity.

I am not opposed to longevity, but I will gladly give back whatever number of years I could live that exceeds my health and especially my usefulness in redemptive service to others.

Especially when I consider what I know about life on the other side.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E09

 Flowing Fully, Faithfully, and Freely, We Don’t Plead for God's Mercy, We Receive It

When you are overwhelmed with trouble, you really do not need to cry out in desperation to God to have mercy on you in the sense it is commonly understood – that is, to anxiously plead with God to intervene in your circumstances to help you. This, no more than you need to beg him to love you (which is the meaning of the word “mercy”). 

That’s because God is merciful to us (loves us) by virtue of his nature. God will always be God, even more certainly than the morning will come or the sun will shine. God cannot be or act differently than who he is.

Again, God expresses his mercy/love for us (through giving – John 3:16) because of who he is (He is God!). It is not because of who we are, how deserving we are, or even because we are sincere or energetic to plead with him.

When the tax collector (Luke 18:13) pounded on his chest and cried out “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” he was not pleading with God to do for him what God was not already doing; rather, he was expressing the openness of his heart to receive God’s mercy which flows fully, faithfully, and freely to every person without consideration of their worth.

“If anyone lacks anything he needs for healing and recovery, let him open the door of his heart to receive it from God who gives to everyone without consideration of their worth” is the meaning of James 1:5-8 (in the context of verses 1-18).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E06

 Week 18

 Redemptive Resources: Need-Specific Support for Making Wise Choices

1. We can trust God to provide us resources to support us for living out his purpose and plan for our lives. He will also call us to them. This is more than just an invitation, but an effectual call - somewhat like the drawing of a magnet or the calling of water up from the earth by the sun to form rain clouds. He does this by the Holy Spirit especially during our quiet time to read the Scripture.

2. There are also powers/influences which call/draw us away from God’s resource for our lives, including

  • our sinful nature (lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride of life),
  • addictions (physical and psychological),
  • sometimes, even friends and family members,
  • the world’s culture and systems, and, of course,
  • Satan and the demonic world. 
3. We will be supported redemptively (for making wise choices that establish us in health) only by the resources God calls us to - because the support God gives through each resource is need-specific to each person he calls to it.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14E02

 Grace: Support During Severe Times

Severe weather is currently sweeping across the country leaving large parts of several towns and many lives devastated. During such times we are reminded that The Day of the Lord often spoken of in The Scripture will be that future event when God shakes (sifts) every thing on earth so that nothing remains but him and his provisions. The feel-good, taste-good experiences which feed superficial goals and values will suddenly either lose their appeal or be removed leaving those who have no growth to a fuller measure of Christ to suffer the pain of unmet addiction needs.   

For this reason, our counseling (unlike any other I know about) calls counselees to take time daily to connect to the essential resources which support them for making the essential choices which renew them in health and happiness.

"God's provisions will keep you strong so that you will not be devastated on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ." - from 1 Corinthians 1:8

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D29

Week 17

Grace: Enablement for Making Wise Choices

God identifies for us the behaviors and attitudes that do not have good outcomes. (They are called sins.) God served us well to provide this information. (Someone has to do it!) But the purpose God has for naming sins (choices that make us sick and ultimately result in death) is more than to

1) warn us about them (“That road drops off into a river!”), or even to
2) call us away from them, but it is also to
3) give us opportunity to recognize our weakness and need for his enablement so that we can make better choices.  

That means, we do not make wise choices just because we know what they are, or even because we have a great desire to make them, or even because others expect us to make them, or even because of our great commitment and determination to make them. We can make them only as God enables us to by his Life birthed and increased in us each day by the Holy Spirit during our extended times for Scripture reading, confession of need, and quiet-time worship to experience Christ.

Jesus said, “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D26

 Giving Weight to Influence: Dressing our Best for Dining at Church

We celebrate Easter by dressing up and attending church. That’s good, including the dressing up.

I understand calling the lost to Christ from wherever they are, at any time, ragged as they may be. But I consider that church leaders have made a mistake encouraging members to come as they are to ministry programs of the church, the same as they would to a sports event. This is included in the meaning of the Scripture to “give double honor” to those who provide ministry (1 Timothy 5:17). The word “honor” means “to give weight to (opportunity for) influence.”

The workplace and public schools have discovered that our attire reflects the disposition of our minds - that production and learning are best supported when the rules, décor, and dress codes are not relaxed.

Also, when we go to visit family and friends and others we care about, we take special care to look our best. We also dress up, not down, for a doctor’s appointment, at a court hearing or business meeting, or for a funeral or wedding. The issue seems to be respect.

Jesus prepared a meal of fish and called his disciples to “come and dine (receive).” This must have been a very special occasion to the Disciples to be invited to a meal prepared by the Resurrected Lord. And if God’s purpose for instituting the church is to feed us, we are highly motivated for the preparation we make for coming to the table to receive it.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D22


 Week 16

 Christ LIVING in You: How Healing Happens

The moment you receive/trust (say I DO to) God’s provision of Christ’s death on the cross (as the only payment he will accept to satisfy his judgment against the human race because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden), he immerses (joins) you into spiritual union with Christ (illustrated by immersing a sponge into a bowl of water) so that you are IN CHRIST. It’s on this basis you are secured for going to Heaven (have eternal security). 

But there is another status you have in relationship to Christ. Not only are you immersed into Christ (illustrated by the sponge in the water), but also, because of that reality, CHRIST IS IN YOU (your spirit, the innermost chamber of your trichotomous being) (illustrated by the water in the sponge).

There is also a third status you have in your relationship to Christ which is the specific occasion for our celebration on Easter Sunday: It is your experience of CHRIST LIVING IN YOU – that is, in your heart (the soul – mind, emotions, and will), the psychological dimension of your being.

(Note: God’s placement of you into Christ and also Christ taking residence in your spirit is a one-time event; but your experience of Christ LIVING in your heart [incrementally/increasingly/to fuller measure] is an ongoing process.)

It is from his residence within your spirit that Christ knocks (calls) at the door of your heart proposing/seeking entrance into your mind, emotions, and will - to which you say I DO (during quiet-time worship) so that he can LIVE IN YOU.

It is by virtue of CHRIST LIVING IN YOU (your heart/soul) that your heart and also your body are supported for healing.

“And if CHRIST IS IN YOU (your spirit), your body is dead, but your spirit is alive (regenerated/born again) because of his righteousness (imparted to you). AND, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is LIVING IN YOU (not only present within your spirit, but now also LIVING IN YOUR HEART [the soul – mind, emotions, and will]), he who raised Christ from the dead will also give LIFE (healing) to your mortal body.” – Romans 8:10-11

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D18

Grace: Secured for Senior Years, Support for Serving Others

Financial advisors challenge Baby Boomers to prepare for later years. The average Social Security Insurance payout is too little, they say, to support retirement. That may be true for some, but not for those of us who are living out God’s redemptive plan for our lives. We have this promise: “God is able to make all grace (his provisions) abound to you, so that at all times, in all things, having all you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

This means, God’s redemptive plan for us does not focus first on making money, but on learning how to receive God’s provisions for our lives which

  • establish us in health and holiness, and then
  • support us to serve as a resource to hurting people for doing the same.  
Jesus also said, “Seek first (Receive) the kingdom of God (God’s redemptive purpose for your life and his provisions that accomplish it) and all these things (that support health and happiness) will be added to you (as a “sowing and reaping” outcome) (Matthew 6:33).

Part of the explanation for how this works is: The provisions (grace) we receive from God establish us in wisdom and integrity so that we are not subject to spend money foolishly in order to deal with personal boredom and unhappiness. We have found that no purchase, relationship, recreation or entertainment, or any other experience on earth can add anything to our experience of God every day.

That’s the meaning of “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D15

 Week 15

 Unmet Needs: Understanding the Cause of Broken Behavior

 We increasingly have reasons to be brokenhearted by reports in the news, most recently the stabbing of 21 students and a security guard by a 16-year old classmate at a Pennsylvania high school. The Bible says the world would increasingly become a dangerous place to live (2 Timothy 3:1).

Of course, the seed of evil present in the young man's heart is part of the reason for his attack. But at the deepest level, the reason for violent behavior against innocent others in the world is really not what's present within humans that makes us angry, hateful, and violent, not even the people and circumstances which are adverse to us, but the absence within us of the essential inborn needs which support us.

Broken people behave differently than people who are in health.

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D11

 Support for a Wife’s Health and Happiness: God’s Purpose for Husbands

God’s plan is for husbands to serve as a resource support to their wives.

This concept is understood from John 15:1-8: Jesus said he is a Vine and his Father is the gardener who supports him to be a resource (husband) to the branches (wife) connected to him to support the service they provide to the fruit (children). Notice the levels of support leadership beginning with the gardener.

A husband cannot really make his wife healthy and happy; he can only invest/sow into her life (in the way his resources have invested/sown into him) to support her for making the choices that result in her health and happiness.

This means, if a wife is broken and unhappy, the reasons are two-fold:
  1. She is making poor choices for herself;
  2. She does not have a functional resource to support her in the way God provided for when he ordained leadership (parents, husbands, and pastors) in the home and church.
This is the reason quiet time to read the Scripture every morning is so important to wives: It is through the Scripture that God calls her to
  1. Make wise choices for her health, and then to
  2. Connect to functional resources which support her for making those choices. 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D08

 Week 14

Romans 5-8: Support for Understanding Outcomes

Paul wrote, "If you live (make choices) according to (influenced by) the passions of the sinful nature, you will die" (Romans 8:13a).

But the question is:

Is this outcome of death the result of us making God mad because of our misdeeds, maybe in the way a child disobeys a rule-oriented parent and gets punished as a result?

Or, is the punishment the outcome of making choices that disregard the laws of cause and effect (sowing and reaping) which God ordained to govern outcomes in an organic world?

Also, Paul wrote, "But if (enabled) by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live" (v13b).

The question is the same:

Is this outcome of life (health and happiness) the result of us making God happy because of our good behavior, maybe in the way a child pleases a parent and gets a reward?

Or, is health and happiness the outcome of making choices that comply with the laws of cause and effect (sowing and reaping)?

Your understanding of Romans chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 will help with the answer.

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D04

A Not So Funny Notion About Prayer

I asked my wife if she would do my early-morning exercise workout so that I could do something else. She said she would not be able to do that. I ask her about taking my supplements so that I would not need to. She said no. What about my quiet-time? Would she do that for me? She said no.

"Would you at least ask God to bless me with health anyhow?" I asked. She shook her head and said I was being silly.

Yes I was. But it’s a not-so-funny notion that we can ask God for health and healing (called "blessings and miracles") - even if we ignore/disregard his provisions which make them possible.

The message of Scripture is: 

"How certain and unfailing will they reign in life who RECEIVE God's abundant provisions of grace." - Romans 5:17

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14D01

©GracePoint, AGRC. All Rights Reserved