The Melody of the Holy Spirit

On April 16 of this year, I was a guest in a live studio with Holly Bott, a former felon who did eight years of hard time in a Minnesota prison, and her life changed on a dime when she met Jesus in there. Now she tells as many people as she can about her personal transformation for His glory. If God could change her, He can change anyone. You can find out more about her on https://hollybot.me/.

That interview is now live at https://hollybot.me/podcast/a-thousand-chances-the-story-of-a-corrections-chaplain/. If you want to know more about my life, my bout with profound depression, and my jail ministry, you won’t want to miss this podcase. It’s bit on the long side, but it encapsulates who I am (in Christ) and what I’ve done in surviving through His intervention in my life and my serving Him now. It also features the book I wrote on addictions called Finding the Safest Place on Earth.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by Jill Martin on Rescued by Faith, a podcast site that explores people who have faced dire circumstances and are rescued by their faith in Jesus Christ. She lives in South Florida, so it wasn’t a live interview. She told me it will air this coming July or August, at which time I’ll provide a link.

So I’m famous being interviewed on all these podcasts and want everyone to know, huh? Not so at all! I’m an example of what can happen when a person as unnewsworthy and infamous as me turns his life over to Christ. He deserves all of the glory. He just happened to use me for reasons that escape my logical mind. And He is really the author of the book that was released this past January – Finding the Safest Place on Earth.

The Trinity

The Father is supreme in the Trinity; the Son carries out the Father’s will; the Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to point us to Jesus, communicate God’s truth, apply His salvation to people, and remind us of God’s love for us and His holy Word.

The Father is the main character in the Old Testament, Jesus is the main character in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is the main character after Jesus’ resurrection.

Holy Spirit, turn my eyes toward Jesus today as I live my life in Him and He lives His life through me. Let His will by my will. Let His thoughts be my thoughts. May His Kingdom be manifest in me, and may I advance His agenda wherever I am.

There is at any point in time …

My mind in the flesh or my mind in the Spirit.

My will in the flesh or my will in the Spirit.

My emotions in the flesh or my emotions in the Spirit.

My body in the flesh or my body in the Spirit.

My heart in the flesh or my heart in the Spirit.

How about you? Are you spending more time thinking your own thoughts, choosing your own way, letting your emotions run amok, seeking the pleasures of your own body, and valuing yourself above all else? That’s the flesh.

Or, are you aligning yourself with God’s thoughts, His will, His emotions, His holiness, and putting Him first in your heart? That’s the Spirit.

Most of us are addicted to something or another. Some are rather obvious and well documented – drug use, alcoholism, pornography. But there are many more subtle addictions – needing to have our own way, always needing to be right, impatience, anger, judging other people harshly, gaming, and even our political viewpoints. Few of us are immune from addictions.

Yesterday (Monday) I had a second guest spot on Coffee on the Couch. We talked about addictions and my book, FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH. This coming Saturday, I have an early morning guest spot on sober.coffee to discuss the same topics. Why am I finding my way as a guest on podcasts that have to do with addictions? It’s because addictions are a hot topic right now. You only have to watch the news unfolding each day.

I believe that being aligned with Jesus, being a branch in His vine, and partaking of his very life sustenance is for many people not only the best way to defeat an addiction, it’s the only way. I am unapologetic when I’m being interviewed about my Christian approach to addictions. I am not ashamed of the gospel as the answer to the problems, awful situations, and bad choices experienced by men and women everywhere.

That’s what my book FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH is all about. The more you are filled with Jesus, the safer you are. The more you are filled with yourself and the world culture, the more danger you are in. It’s as simple as that. This book is about an alcoholic named Jack, but it’s also about all of us who need to find a safer place to live than where we are, who need to find peace and joy – no matter what circumstances we are in.

Here is a link that will get you to the Amazon page if you want to purchase a copy. bit.ly/SafestPlaceonAmazon

Sitting on a Bench by an Athletic Field in the Confines of
Trinity College. October 1, 2018

The Lord let me know that He and I would meet at various and sundry places, such as St. Fin Barre’s in Cork and this place in Dublin.

We will talk as one man speaks with another, except I will be more engaged in listening than in speaking. I have a sense I will live out my life in this pattern. I feel this is what He wants, though He didn’t say it explicitly.

Lord, show me the places and the spaces where You want to meet with me one-on-one. Tell me, “Here it is. Pray here.” Let my life be one of praying at every turn.

Holly Bot is a woman and a felon who did nine years of hard time in a Minnesota prison. She refers to it as a living hell, until she met Jesus there. Now, her life ministry is to tell as many people as she can about her personal transformation for His glory. If God could change her, He can change anyone. You can find out more about her on https://hollybot.me/.

Part of her ministry is a podcast called From Surviving to Living. I’m going to be on her show today at 2:30 talking about my book, FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH. This is not going to be an on-line discussion. She only does in-person live interviews. So I’ll be driving into downtown Minneapolis to a studio on 24th Street, exactly four blocks from where I lived some fifty years ago. It will be an hour interview, and I’ll let you know later how you can access it.

My book is of interest to podcasters and those who want to know more about addictions and otherwise finding the safest place on earth by staying as close to Jesus as possible. The book is fiction, but the background of it is the hundreds of addicts I’ve met with one-on-one over the past 19 years and the thousands I’ve presented to in groups. If you want to discover more about the book or purchase a copy, you can do so at https://bit.ly/SafestPlaceonAmazon.

This is Holly’s statement of faith. Not bad for a felon who did hard time.

“Above all else, our desire is for each individual to leave here not only with knowledge about Jesus, but with a profound and personal relationship with Him. We echo the words of Jesus himself, who promised that those who love Him and keep His commands will be embraced by the Father, and that He will reveal Himself to them in a tangible and transformative way (John 14:21).

In embracing this relationship with Jesus, we acknowledge our need for His guidance, correction, and instruction. We recognize that His love compels Him to convict, convince, and discipline us, urging us to repent and realign our hearts with His will (Revelation 3:19).

“We celebrate the invitation extended to each of us by Jesus himself, who stands at the door of our hearts, knocking and waiting for us to open and welcome Him in. In doing so, He promises to enter into intimate communion with us, sharing in fellowship and nourishing our spirits (Revelation 3:20).

“We distinguish between merely knowing about Jesus and experiencing a genuine, personal relationship with Him. While knowledge about Him is valuable, it is through heartfelt belief and confession that we are justified and saved (Romans 10:9-11). We affirm that salvation is a gift of grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

“As we journey together in faith, let us hold fast to the good news of the gospel, proclaiming with joy that through Jesus Christ, we are redeemed, justified, and made righteous in the sight of God. May our lives be a testament to His transforming love, as we seek to live out His commands and share His message of salvation with all whom we encounter!”

I went to a No Regrets conference at my church a couple months ago, and took notes from a speaker named Kenny Luck about The Kingdom of Heaven.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is a supernatural kingdom alongside the natural world, come down from heaven.

“Christ followers advance the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the ministry of all believers. Kingdom men and women advancing the Kingdom in all the places and spaces on earth.”

How about you? Are you advancing the Kingdom of Heaven in all the places and spaces on earth? In God’s Kingdom, there is no sitting on the fence. You are either advancing His Kingdom or you are not.

This is an excerpt from my new book – FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH.

The First Lesson

After ten minutes of listening to the sound of si­lence, Jack heard footsteps entering the chapel. The footsteps stopped, and he felt the presence of someone standing next to his pew.

Jack dropped to his knees as a signal for the stranger not to disturb him. That didn’t work.

A cheerful voice said, “Hello Jack.”

Jack looked up and saw someone who triggered no prior memory of existence. He observed the phys­ical dimensions of the man as if he’d be filling out a report later for the civil police.

The intruder was about six feet tall and had a sturdy athletic build with broad chest. His hands were large and strong, like those of a football player. He had an oval face, a long straight nose with narrow bridge, light olive skin, and dark brown eyes set deep between a prominent forehead and high cheekbones. His curly, dark brown hair was medium cut, accompanied by a short well-tailored beard. He wore a light-blue wind­breaker and dark navy pants.

Jack was shorter by two inches and less defined in the body, like someone who’d maybe played sports in the past but spent too much time in bars of late. His face was somewhat square with a fleshy nose on the short side parked in the middle. His eyes were green and his hair was black, cut short, with no facial hair.

Jack pushed himself to the back of his own bench. The stranger sat down in the next pew forward, turned around, and looked at him with eyes that penetrated like lasers into the depths of his soul.

“I don’t know you,” Jack said, “but you seem to know me. Who are you?”

“Manny,” he answered, “and I do know you, but, as you say, you don’t know me.”

Jack’s face wore a look of perplexity. “How do you know me?”

Manny smiled. “That’s not important right now. What’s import­ant is that you have a troubled soul and came into this church to find answers to your perceived problems.”

And so starts the relationship of Manny and Jack, with Manny being a mentor to Jack. Do you have someone in your life you can go to for guidance and encouragement? Do you have someone to help you with your troubling issues and unpleasant circumstances?

On February 19 of this year, the Lord spoke into the interior of my being with His still small voice. The occasion was the morning after five days of intense work on two books I was publishing at the time.

“You say that you will follow Me, and then you don’t.

“You say that you love Me, but then you focus on the world and yourself much of the day.

“You say that I am your number one priority, but that’s really your books.

“Pick a side! Don’t default through the day. Choose Me!”

FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH is starting to draw attention. This Thursday at 10 a.m., I’ll be interviewed by Chris LaFreniere of Coffee on the Couch, a Christian podcast that features guests that have done or written something of note and are “generally interesting people” (blush, blush). The taped interview will be in-depth, as in an hour to an hour and a half, and will air some two weeks later. I’ll attach a link at that time.

Even Spider Man purchased a copy of my book on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/2kja6u7s and, as you can see, couldn’t put it down.

Link for March 6 Central Valley podcast

For those of you who missed the live Briggs on Books interview last week, here is a link to view it at your leisure. https://youtu.be/WMRoVCdNtCg