LAST LESSONS #151 — STORIES — 1

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!” Psalm 119:18-19

OK, so I am not finished writing blogs! But the ones I post from now on will be different because you have heard enough from me, and I want to spend most of my time praying.

But many of your birthday notes and responses to my last blog were fascinating. Therefore, I got the idea that you could write my blog! I’m sure you know that my passion has always been for people to study the Bible and these days I urge people to use the Rafiki Bible Study (RBS). Putting together the Rafiki Bible Study is the most significant thing I did in Rafiki and according to David Wells, the RBS is the best group Bible study available. I can agree because I did not write it!

However, RBS or wherever you have studied, I know there are stories you could tell of how the study of the Bible has affected your life. I believe your stories would encourage others to study the Bible.

Would you like your story to encourage others? Then write your story, email it to me, and I will choose some to post on my blog.

• It needs to be no more than two pages.
• It should praise the Bible, not an organization.
• Make it about how the Bible helped you in all kinds of circumstances, good and bad.
• Keep it about you, not about how God changed your family!
• You can attach your name if you want to, it’s up to you.
• I would appreciate it if you would tell me if you are over 75 years old. I am thinking of putting together a little book especially for seniors who may not have computers.

I am excited to see what God may do with yours and my blog now. We really want God to use it for his glory, don’t we?

Rosemary Jensen
Last Lessons
RMJ@rafikifoundation.org

LAST LESSONS #150 — LAST REWRITES — PRAYER

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

Today is my birthday (July 20)! I am now 94 years old, and I believe that it is time for me to discontinue to write blogs. After all, I have written 150 of them, and I am not sure I have anything more to say. But if you want to talk to me, you can email me. Here is my address: RMJ@rafikifoundation.org.

I hope to continue for as long as I can with my ROSEMARY JENSEN BIBLE FOUNDATION where I give Bibles and Bible commentaries to Africa, and there are a couple of other things I will do, but my intention is to spend more time in prayer. I am rejoicing in the prospect.

I have begun to read again a couple of classic books on prayer—E. M. Bounds’ and R. A. Torrey’s books are both worth reading more than once.

But mostly I want to pray. Now that God has put me in a position where I cannot do I can ask God who can do.

So, I will set up specific times, I will make lists, I will receive prayer requests, and I will PRAY—for my family and friends, for my church, for Rafiki’s activities in Africa and in the USA, for other ministries that I support, and for our government leaders. But mostly, I will pray for a new awakening in our world where it is so desperately needed.

By God’s grace, I want to spend my last years (or days!) in prayer for others. I do not need to pray for myself because God will meet all my needs.

God’s blessings and my love to you, my blog friends.

Rosemary

LAST LESSONS #149 — LAST REWRITES — TRUTH

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32-32

When I read these words, I think of classical Christian school students. In their school the students concentrate on truth, beauty, and goodness. Truth comes first and must come from abiding or living in God’s Word. I wrote these words 30 years ago.

“Truth is that which is accurate and agrees with reality, and truth characterizes God’s Word. I must know it, seek it, choose it, believe it, love it, walk in it, live it, obey it, worship in it, and speak it. And if I do so, what does truth do for me? It protects me, guides me, sets me free, sanctifies, and purifies me.”

What disturbs me today is that most children are not in classical Christian schools, and thus, they are not taught only truth. Some schools indoctrinate children with lies particularly about history, gender, and morals. Children are confused when they go to school and their teachers teach them something different from what their parents teach them at home. Their libraries contain books that contain lies about what a family is and when the United States became a country and what is right and what is wrong. It’s no wonder that parents are unhappy with their children’s schools.

Furthermore, today because politicians do not always tell the truth, children grow up not trusting their own government. This morning I heard that even AI can be taught to lie. Mercy!

So what are we to do when our schools, our politicians, and our culture teach lies instead of truth?

We must return to the Word of God—the Bible. And, sadly, we must even be careful which Bibles we read. In Rafiki we use the English Standard Version because we know we can trust it. Some Christians use the King James Version and it is trustworthy. However, be careful that you do not pick up a Gay Bible published by the LGBTQ people called “The Queen James Bible”!! This is blasphemy—the unforgivable sin. I tremble to think of how God will judge these people.

As Christians, you and I must abide in God’s true Word and teach it to our children and then we and our children will know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

LAST LESSONS #148 — LAST REWRITES — FEAR

“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Matthew 10:31

Thirty years ago I wrote: “Fear is my apprehension in a frightening situation…But Jesus shields his own from what frightens us. He gives us peace in the midst of a storm or when the world seems against us. He commands us, in fact, not to fear when he is near.”

During that time I recommended a book called Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I have read it several times in my life when I needed to hear “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

But I believe that there is much more to fear in our world today than there was 30 years ago. Who would have thought then that we would be afraid of:

• War with China
• Rampant crime in our streets
• Drugs like Fentanyl
• Human trafficking
• Schools that indoctrinate our children with sinful sexual behavior and hatred for our country

These things are very real but the answer to our fears is still the same: we need not fear when Jesus is near.

That does not mean that we do nothing about the things that frighten us. We are to do what we can to alleviate the fearful situations. For example, we can at least

• Vote for the leaders who will keep us out of war
• Support the police and obey the laws in our city
• Learn what we can about illicit drugs and make sure our children are not being tempted
• Warn our children not to talk to strangers
• Send our children to classical Christian schools or homeschool them using Rafiki curriculum

When we have done what we can, then we trust that Jesus is near and he will protect us.

I must confess that I am afraid of spiders and snakes and I’m afraid of death because death is an unknown. But when I begin to fear death, I say aloud the 23^rd Psalm, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me.”

Do you have a relative or a friend who is afraid of death because they have not put their faith in Jesus Christ? If so, you can pray for them, but you can do more than pray. You can give them the good news—the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them and rose again so that they can be with him forever.