Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Remember the former things, those of long ago;
    I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.

• Isaiah 46:9

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

• 2 Corinthians 3:17

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

• John 14:15-18

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

• Ephesians 5:18

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

• Philippians 3:12

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

• Matthew 26:42

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

• John 4:34

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

• John 6:38-40

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
    or weighed the mountains on the scales
    and the hills in a balance?

Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
    or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
…
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and fashions silver chains for it.
…
“To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

• Isaiah 40:12, 13, 19, 25

The Boilerplate

My wife took a Bible Study in 2011.  (There was a note in the study guide that identified September 2 and that the study was being held on Friday mornings, or I might not have ever figured out what year.)  My wife had become a Christian in 2000. She greatly respected the pastor’s wife who was also a pastor.  The pastor’s wife spent time as the interim associate pastor, and this Bible study might have been during that time.

My wife passed away in March 2023, and I found this study guide as I was cleaning up.  It is a Beth Moore study guide.  Most of the questions are close-ended, mostly fill-in-the-blank.  But my wife was eager to learn.  She wrote her thoughts in the margins, sometimes encouraged to do so by Beth Moore.  I will use her comments as I did once before, calling this a “with a little help” series in that my wife contributes.  There is more to follow in that she wrote Scriptures and prayers in a notebook.  Probably what she found in her personal Bible study, giving her encouragement through the long illness that took her life.

So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I am going to write on my wife’s comments in the Study Guide. It may follow the study guide topics, but it may not.

Discussion on this topic

What does 2 Corinthians 3:17 say about freedom?

“That Jesus is the Spirit.  There’s a close relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit that gives us life.”

• My wife’s response

What establishes you as a child of God?

“If you love Jesus and do what is asked.”

• My wife’s response

The “doing what is asked” would be keeping His commandments.  We mess up a lot.  My wife may have been feeling guilty about some sin in her life at that moment.  So, she softened the blow a little.  We talked a lot, but she still had that immigrant mindset, to keep the bad stuff that you think of to yourself or you might get deported.  Funny how she had that fear and she immigrated legally, but those who crossed the border illegally have their hand out, wanting the government to give them freebees.

When have you seen freedom in your life while still in bondage?

“Family – Letting them make a decision for me.”

• My wife’s response

My wife was known by some as “super mom.”  It was not a nice epithet, but those who used it did not respect us as parents.  But she did as the Bible instructs.  She ran the household.  She did the grocery shopping.  She created a menu for the week based on what we had on hand, and she ensured we ate from all the food groups.  She wasn’t the neatest housekeeper, but she was good enough that we could invite someone over on the spur of the moment.  Everything was in place if it was a planned gathering, like hosting a small group from church with a meal.

But then, while still under the self-imposed yoke of doing all that, she would have the boys go with her shopping and they got to pick out a meal.  Rather than hear “fish sticks” and then plan the meal in her head, she would ask them what goes good with fish sticks.

It was still her domain, but she let the boys make some of those decisions.  She could feel the bondage, of sorts, but feel free of some decisions.  And our son never makes a simple dish for his family.  He makes an elaborate meal.

How can you apply Philippians 3:12 to an obedient life?

“To seek and hold onto Jesus because He’s the reason to free me.”

• My wife’s response

The sentence might work a little better with “the reason that I am free,” but I knew not to correct my wife’s English.  She was fluent in three languages (English, Dutch, and German) and conversant in a few more.  I only speak one language, and I make as many mistakes as she would make.

What was the attitude of Jesus toward His Father’s desires in Matthew 26:42?

“He prayed to His Father – absolute commitment and love for His Father.”

• My wife’s response

What was the attitude of Jesus toward His Father’s desires in John 4:34?

“Jesus lived off the will of the Father – sustenance for His body.”

• My wife’s response

I wonder if my wife thought of the same thing that I think of when the word “sustenance” comes to mind.  I think of Sylvester the Cat on the Looney Tune cartoons who sees Tweety Bird and says, “Ah, Sweet Sustenance” with his proverbial lisp.  We thought alike in many ways…

What was the attitude of Jesus toward His Father’s desires in John 6:38?

“He came down from Heaven to do His Father’s will – not His.”

• My wife’s response

And what is God’s will, according to John 6:39-40?

“So that the true believer will persevere, that Christ will hold onto him.”

• My wife’s response

My wife learned that lesson, but she liked comfort also.  She knew that God allows trials to come, and when those trials come, she knew to run to Jesus so that He could hold her and help her through the trial.  With no trials, after a time, we might think we could manage on our own for a while.  If we feel that way, it rarely ends the way we want it to end.

Get to know your Heavenly Father in Isaiah 40:12.

“Trust in God. He has the ability, strength to restore people.”

• My wife’s response

What good are idols in Isaiah 40:19?

“False gods – nothing.”

• My wife’s response

And what about your Heavenly Father in Isaiah 40:13?

“He is the one who has all of everything because He made everything.”

• My wife’s response

And what about your Heavenly Father in Isaiah 40:25?

“He can’t give a human characteristics of the image of Him because God is God and nothing compares to Him.”

• My wife’s response

She was thinking of a Bible study at a different church where someone had prayed with such an attitude that it made my wife uneasy.  We may be created in God’s image, but we fall far short of God.  When we think we have arrived at perfection here on earth, we have missed the boat entirely.  R.C. Sproul said in a question-and-answer session after a conference that his own sanctification was far from complete and the biggest chunk of sin in his life will be left behind when he dies.  God does not like pride that elevates the person toward Him, and when we think we are at that kind of level, we are beyond arrogant.

And I am in agreement, if I had to argue with anyone about me being the best, I might pick the Apostle Paul who claimed to be the chief of sinners.  God has forgiven me, but that was His Mercy, nothing that I did.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory