A prima donna golfer full of pride that is what I have been for most of my adult life.
Golfers, if you are still wearing a sun hat called "my own self-effort will solve all my problems thank you very much", repent for God wants to put a different hat on your head and fix up your mind and heart at the same time. Golfers obsessively interested in grabbing our attention by hitting the ball out of bounds or into the hole in one shot, have you not read Isaiah 43 : 7 which states that you were created for God's glory and not to boast in self glory?
Father, thank You for satiating our inner being with Your glory; so that we can place Your interests ahead of all other competing interests like hitting balls better than our fellow golfers and kicking balls better than our fellow soccer buddies. Delightful, gracious Father, our prayer today is to make glorifying You our primary purpose and goal.
Fellow golfers, dabbling with the false gods of communism, humanism, secularism, militarism and legalism is like putting yourself voluntarily in the path of an out of control bull. Don't say stupidly that this a worthwhile adrenalin rush. Don't flex your muscles and say all macho that you are not afraid. Run for your life and plead for God, Our Father, to lead You to His Beloved Jesus Christ.
Father, Our masterful Teacher, the ultra foolish need You desperately to teach them not to try to outrun or out fight bulls. Reveal to them the futility of their boasting; so they desire not ever again to boast that their gorge marks are better than those of their imaginary or fair weather friends.
O Father, have mercy on the ultra foolish of this world for they need You desperately to be Their highest Teacher; so that they can run away from cuddling up with their ears to deceitful dictators who only believe in kicking out militarily until their designated enemies are dead and decimated.
Repent ultra foolish of this world who are cuddling up to prostitutes, astrologers, mediums, and all those false teachers out there stubbornly avoiding to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God.
O holy Father God, even those that You have graciously decided to save are not guiltless in their walk before You. Help us nonetheless to be a voice of wisdom in the ear of the ultra foolish who are worshipping corrupt men and corrupt women instead of Their sinless Creator. Cherished Companion Creator God no one else but You can rescue the ultra foolish who snub their nose at Your righteous words from their daily, dangerous, life-threatening acts of stupidity.
Faithful Father, as You can see multitudes are waving golf clubs around that have engraved on them that self effort is their god.
Faithful Father, as You can see multitudes are praising names like Santa, Mohammad, Hitler and Stalin. Multitudes who consider themselves very religious are even doing a jig when they sink a one inch put whilst singing out for all to hear that popes are their golfing instructors when all the glory for their golfing prowess should be going to You. Help them to see that You, and not their designated teachers, are the true King to be worshipped in truth and spirit.
Lord God, inspire those You deem deserving to throw away their trust in such golf clubs; so that they can desire to start looking for a set of new clubs that have engraved on them "my heart's desire is to esteem and glorify God".
Teach us, Author of truth, Your not so good golfers, that we can't truly know You unless we hallow You and live for Your glory. O how we bless You Lord God that when we see You as You are that we can see that we are sinners. Assist us to continue to bless Your holy name Lord God; so that when we see Your glorious character our sense of worth is validated.
The prideful heart will dispute that the heavens and earth declare the glory of God. The prideful heart will dispute that the wages of sin is death. The prideful heart will dispute that there is a heaven and a hell. The prideful heart will dispute that the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. The prideful heart will dispute the truth that Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth and the life.
Jump for joy prayerless prima donna golfers and novice students of God's word. Jump for joy and make a big splash in God's sea of love, the Holy Bible; so that all those other prayerless prima donnas watching you can see that you desire to shed your suit or skirt of pride and grow in humility.
Do you want to know a secret? Jesus Christ has a golf club called "I am sacred, holy God". Ask Him reverentially to have a go with it and He will hear your request without answering it in the affirmative.
Natural man is like a golfer who needs instruction daily. Their dilemma is that their unredeemed human nature desires not without a gentle prod from God's golf club to discover and submit wholeheartedly to God.
I've always loved playing golf but when you club the ball away from, instead of to the hole that you are aiming for, you sort of begin to realize that you've got a problem with your soul.
For years and years I was a golfer who couldn't control my temper. You could say I was a hot head and when things went wrong I would take a swipe at the grass with my golf club.
In Ecclesiastes 9:11 we read that "the race (on the golf course of life) is not to the swift or the battle (on the golf course of life) to the strong..."
This wisdom runs contrary to the way of thinking that far too many people today embrace.
Fellow golfers if you want to get on with your golf game you don't need to run faster, struggle harder and compete more cunningly than your neighboring golfer. We are golfers so let us stop playing golf like almost completely empty-headed rats would if they had the volition to do so.
Golfer at crossroads: avoiding Jesus Christ, intentionally or unintentionally, is like playing golf in the fog. Eventually both golfer and golf ball are going to land with an inglorious thud in Satan's burdensome bunker.
And no matter how macho you consider yourself to be, sooner or later desperate cries for help will ascend to God Triune, Our Rescuer's ears. Somewhat lousy golfers, you can battle back and beat the blues but to do this you will have to decide to stop pushing Satan's knife sticking out of your back in even further. Yes, somewhat lousy golfers that's right. You will have to stop saying life in Satan's bunker is good.
Lovers of peace on the golf links, Adolf Hitler was and is no
golfer to emulate. He was a human vessel that Satan, our enemy, used for his
destructive purposes. He was a traitor to the
cause of peace. Never idolize such a person.
Only He can bring us peace with God. Golfers with lawless legs, those fig leaves of self-effort that you are attired in will not solve your problems with your putter completely.
Lovers of golf, Jesus Christ, God Almighty, is not a golfing
snob. When your cries for help to improve your game are sincere He will not
snub you.
Isaiah 53: 6
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him (Jesus Christ); he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin... the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Precious readers, help is available for you; so that you desire to limp home to God Triune, Our unique Creator and Author of the holy Bible. Our understanding is fast forwarded when we make an effort to learn about names and places.
Present day Jerusalem, as in the time when Jesus Christ was on earth, was and remains a city filled with great tension. Its inhabitants are surrounded by enemies and peace appears a distant prospect.
Jerusalem, however, when analyzed consists of two words city and peace. Jerusalem is God's city of peace because the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, offered (and still offers) us peace with God as we trust in Him and what He accomplished on the Cross. Even though Jerusalem's inhabitants and occupiers throughout history have ongoing mistreated and murdered God's messengers God has used this most violent of cities to do His most beautiful work of grace, mercy and love through Christ's suffering on the Cross.
The events of Calvary show us the type of God we have in Jesus Christ. So profound is His perfect love that He can take those who are vile and murderous and transform them into praiseworthy peacemakers. Soon when He returns to earth He will return to Jerusalem as Judge. He will soon recreate the heavens and earth to His own liking.
Battered and bruised golfer, with the ludicrous golf swing, don't be tempted to limp off somewhere else before you have given divinely compassionate Jesus Christ a fair go. Beware also golfers with battered and bruised egos, for God notices cheating on His golf links. Not very good high jumpers for excellence, if you are starting to realize that you are too knackered to high jump your way out of Satan's bunker you can begin to feel pleased with yourself; for you have taken your first step to safety. Turn then now with your second, third and fourth steps to Jesus Christ; for only in trusting Him can He launch the adventure of catapulting you safely to salvation.
Macho self-sufficient men and women, when will you stop imagining that you have seven daggers hanging out of your back? Do you not yet grasp that manhood isn't proved by a false imagination? Super tough guys and girls don't you yet understand that arming yourselves with knives, guns, grenades and a rebellious spirit is not the way to hallow the name of Your Creator God?
Don't you yet understand that danger runs through Satan's bunker where God's word is being trampled on? And don't you yet understand that the evergreen flower called true faith in Jesus Christ can't grow in corrupted soil?
Ladies and gentlemen stuck in Satan's dignity-destroying
bunker. Satan's bunker is a grim place where true faith, true hope and true
love can't blossom, yet miraculously rescue is possible for you just as much
as it was for me when I was in the same predicament. Do you know, neighbors
stuck in the soil of
secularism, that we have a God who is still willing to offer to rescue
the lawless who are legging it from one lawless act to another? Yes,
remarkable comebacks are still possible no matter how much you are limping,
but for this to happen, limpers will have to stop clinging to their current
collection of lunacies.
Look, spiritual lazybones, God didn't put us on earth for a life of spiritual inactivity. Let's pull no punches human beings must renounce their false belief of using guns to sort out trouble.
Haven't we learnt yet that terrorism is best fought with a pillow and pure prayer? The pillow is used to get a good sleep and prayer is used to beseech God to disarm terrorists. True enduring peace will only ever be procured without resorting to guns.
Jesus Christ, precious Rescuer of sinful mankind, help any inelegant golfer who desires to be helped. We turn to You; for only You can help the suffering climb back from being spiritually dead to being obedient to God's will. Precious Author of Grace, You know every living golfer who hasn't got his game all together.
Mark 5
2 And when He (Jesus Christ) was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man (Legion) with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no not with chains:
Loving Lord Jesus Christ, just as You helped and cured Legion we know that you can help those who behave like him on the golf course of life.
All golfers (whether they study the holy Bible or not) have the capacity to yell for help, so isn't it about time we started yelling for help? Can't you sense, golfers who never or rarely pray for divine guidance, that the soles of your shoes are stuck on the worthless chewing gum of secularism?
Pride which often takes the form of self sufficiency keeps us from studying God's word. Only someone wrapped up in their own world can fail to see that the Holy Bible is an astonishing book that couldn't be the work of man.
It's pride within the human heart that prevents us from knowing that its warm hearted Author is the Holy Spirit who is God Himself. Jump for joy for I know that you know how to do this. Jump for joy for Jesus Christ and He will empower you to stop jumping for joy for selfishness and indulging in all those I can sing better than you arias.
Jump for joy for joyful Jesus for He is soon to return to earth as Judge. One observation: if you have still got the flag of Satan flying in your soul get rid of it before you practise your jumps; for God wont miss seeing it when He comes for His next inspection of your heart.
Jump for joy at the prospect of loving Jesus Christ as Your Worthy Lord God. Jump for joy for Christ died for our sins...was buried...and rose again on the third day. Praise God and praise God again; for in John 2:9 Jesus told the Jews, "Destroy this temple (My body) and in three days I will raise it up.
O joy of joys Jesus Christ clearly predicted His own resurrection!
Prima donnas, can't you sense that the life of a godless golfer is very, very unnecessarily tough? Can't you see that Satan's soul tormenting bunker is a place of alcohol-fuelled, shameful incidents?
Golfers, if you are stuck in a lifestyle of lunacy my prayer is that you desire to grow to understand that the healing Christ has the power to transplant and transform you. Precious, precious Father God, Yours is a love that can wash off fear and terror etched on any face. Mighty glorious, healing power resides in Your precious being.
Golfers living life on two dodgy legs, no matter how wearied your body or soul is you can still pray. Pray now in the name of the good Samaritan, Jesus Christ; for God Triune longs to hear honest prayers.
A word of information for your good ear: you will need to start praying right now in order to stop dashing all over the place for fool's dust. Surely, misadventuresome golfers, by now you understand that there is no helmet that can keep you safe once you start gobbling down that dangerous food. Golfers inclining their ears to God's voice, we can't live God-honouring lives unless we are prayerful because God Himself says: "My house shall be a house of prayer". If we live a prayerless life it means that we are dwelling outside of God's house.
Prayerless golfers although the holes in your understanding are not small they can still be filled. Our prayer must be a prayer against self-will. Our prayer must be a prayer for God to reveal to our heart that we are His servants. Our prayer must be to relinquish all rights to live as our own king sovereignly in charge of our thought life and acknowledge that Our Creator Jesus Christ’s rightful position is Shepherd of our thought, emotional and decision-making life.
Future friends of common sense, whether you are imagining that you are a golfer on a runaway scooter or a golfer on stilts or skates God's word to you is be still and know that He is God.
Ladies and gentlemen, God owns our time and talents. Our challenge is to acknowledge this truth before Him.
Ladies and gentlemen, too many of us are living our lives swerving about on our own little "plans" looking for foolishness to crash into. God desires to remind us urgently that it is time we stopped blissfully shrugging our shoulders announcing that we are innocent of any illegal driving with our drivers on His highways. Dads and mums, God's word to you today is that you should stop stalking trouble.
Dads and mums, it is worth remembering that Satan operates in the battlefield of our mind. It is worth remembering that even after our mind has had a thorough shower in God's word and been blessed by a gracious, generous splash of deodorant from God's cleansing love we still stink of sin. Sheepish looking golfers, let us bow our head and pray for all golfers who are dying before our very eyes; because they have chosen to drive with golf clubs called "this suspect direction and no other". Studious golfers, speeding on your two legs through the door of science in preference to the door of Scripture, God's door of love, will result in you running out of the petrol of prudence. Where is the fun in that?
Heavenly Father, Our faithful God, it seems to me that one of the root causes of strife in today's world occurs because we are trusting in guns to solve our problems. Guns misused become tools of terror.
Heavenly Father, Our faithful God, in Exodus 20 You command us to love You.To love You will involve us having praise in our heart and mouth for You
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to demonstrate that we have faith in God's word His word must become our sufficiency. Just as God brings healing with His word; so too can we in this human body. Lovers of golf, you too can get up at the crack of dawn like me and start bellowing out, somewhat like a rooster, God's glad tidings. I have some encouragement for you. No matter how many prangs you've had on the golf course of life, you can still decide to hand over the steering wheel to Jesus Christ. Fellow golfers are you as silly as I was and still sometimes am? Then you'll have to stop thinking that you can ascend into the sky and drive through the atmosphere into heaven on that scooter called self sufficiency that you are refusing stubbornly to jump off from.
Trust Your Creator; for I know that some of you are starting
to long to understand that we were not designed to play golf independently
from God. Just take your eyes off your own scratches and bruises,
wisdom-seeking golfers, and remember, with praise in your heart, that Jesus
Christ endured an
Who then is a lunatic?
A lunatic is anyone who intentionally limps from one nightmare to another without asking the LORD for any help. If you sense that you are locked into lunacy now is the time to ask the Lord Jesus to set you free.
As you catch up with me you'll be aware that many a golfer, who looks
remarkably like me, is limping away from his round of golf, with a scowl on his face, and
is beginning slowly and somewhat resistantly to long to limp home, from more than
one act of foolishness in His preaching, teaching and all at sea game of golf, to His longsuffering LORD. The voice of a not always
wise golfer has had his say for now. I'm limping off the stage now to bury my
student's face in God's word to gain some much needed wisdom. Whether you are
a limping lunatic, a sometimes silly golfer or just plain lost and silly I
encourage you to be sensible and follow my lead. May God bless you with a limp
if you haven't got one yet; so that you can praise Him like
Jacob did. O yes may God bless you with a limp; so that you can find
laughter, consolation, assurance and increasing fulfilment in spite of
your challenging predicament.
Will you allow yourself to be catapulted from the bottom of Satan's bleak-in-prospects bunker to the foot of Calvary?
Whether it takes days, months, years or decades it is the only adventure that will bring you to the door of your rightful destiny.
Will you start searching for Our only reliable golfing Instructor, Jesus Christ, before everything you own rolls into Satan's bunker? I know as you study the holy Bible with great attentiveness and sincerity that God Himself will encourage and embolden you to follow His instructions.
Isaiah 53: 6 All we (God's creation) like sheep (golfers) hath gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him (Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him (Jesus Christ); he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin... the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
May God Triune always bless you, fellow golfers, as you
flutter around God's golf course like only a faithful, diligent student of
God's Word, in hot pursuit of increased faith can. Persevere patiently and
happiness will find a habitation in your heart as you keep your feet firmly
fixed in God's garden of grace, the Holy Bible. O privilege to remember with
gratitude that the sunlight of God's love is still shinning and wipes the
scowl off our far too often ungrateful-looking face! No brighter evidence of this is provided by the finished
work of Christ Jesus at Calvary. And what joy, what supreme joy awaits
all who learn to trust in Jesus Christ's triumphant victory.
Make a serious effort and you, too, can discover and experience the sparkling, life-fulfilling companionship of Jesus Christ who can change your life like no-one else. Study the Holy Bible and you will discover that Jesus Christ has a golf club called "I am the Shepherd of your soul".
Fellow golfers, what is stopping you from asking Your Creator, Jesus
Christ for some instruction? Go on, jump with two eager feet into God's Word,
and you will soon discover that Jesus Christ is a good Teacher. Go on, jump
with two eager feet into God's Word, today, tomorrow and for however long it
takes, until you are jumping for joy. Amen.