Archive - September 2014

Inviting God In

Confession admits wrong and seeks forgiveness. Amnesty denies wrong and claims innocence! Many mouth a prayer for forgiveness while in reality claiming amnesty. Consequently our worship is cold—why thank God for a grace we don’t need? …and our faith is weak—I’ll handle my mistakes myself, thank you. 

We are better at keeping God out than we are at inviting God in. Sunday mornings are full of preparing the body for worship, preparing the hair for worship, preparing the clothes for worship—but preparing the soul? Am I missing the mark when I say that many of us attend church on the run? Am I out of line when I say many of us spend life on the run? Am I overstating the case when I announce, “Grace means you don’t have to run anymore?” It’s the truth! Grace means it’s safe to turn ourselves in.

From In the Grip of Grace

Knowing God is more than having a religious experience with Him or saying that you somehow feel Him. To know Him is to enter into a relationship with Him so that He is the dominant influencer of your thoughts and actions. –Tony Evans

Now that they are retired, my mother and father are discussing all aspects of their future. “What will you do if I die before you do?” Dad asked Mom.

After some thought, she said that she’d probably look for a house-sharing situation with three other single or widowed women who might be a little younger than herself, since she is so active for her age.

Then Mom asked Dad, “What will you do if I die first?”

He replied, “Probably the same thing.”

Received from GCFL

As a humorist, it is my privilege to speak to thousands of people each year. Many are Christian groups; some are not. But I’ve made a surprising discovery lately—Christians laugh harder. I have seen them fall off benches, ask for oxygen, and hyperventilate. Perhaps the world laughs to forget, but Christians laugh because we remember. We remember that the most serious issues were dealt with at the cross. Death was swallowed up. Eternity was promised.

Surely the greatest punchline in all of history is this: that a holy God could love the likes of me. This truth bids me live life with thanksgiving. And sometimes you may see me laughing. It is the laughter of one who deserves the worst and is offered the best. It is the laughter of the forgiven.  –Phil Callaway

Daphne asks for prayer for two specific South African churches and has an urgent request for prayers for one family whose brother was murdered in a home robbery. Also both of these churches are in need of spiritual and financial needs, wisdom and guidance from God. Daphne also requests prayers for her and her family’s health and spiritual growth.

Peace with God

As a monk and his apprentice walked back to the abbey, the younger man was unusually quiet. But when asked if anything was wrong the student responded, “What business is it of yours?” When the abbey came in sight, the monk asked, “Tell me my son. What troubles your soul?” “I’ve sinned greatly,” he sobbed. I’m not worthy to enter the abbey at your side.” The teacher putting his arm around the student said, “We’ll enter the abbey together. And together we’ll confess your sin. No one but God will know which of the two of us fell.”

Doesn’t that describe what God has done for us? When we kept our silence, we withdrew from him. But our confession of faults alters our perception. Romans 5:1 says, “Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God.” God is no longer a foe, but a friend!

From In the Grip of Grace

They are happy to report that the Waiapi Indian tribe of northern Brazil received their new testaments this year. However they ask that we keep them in our prayers, because the lack of workers in one of the bases, it may have to close. Also please continue to keep Ebba in your thoughts and prayers, she has been having trouble sleeping at night they are unsure of the cause. And thank everyone for keeping her in your prayers.

We join them in praising God that from southern Ethiopia there were over 2100 new converts this year. They ask for our prayers for God’s guidance concerning their Perazim project to send people out to make oral Bibles. They have not received the response they were expecting. They have several speaking engagements during this and next month please pray for the Holy Spirit to move during these seminars.

Because of God’s grace, there is nothing we can do that will make Him love us more than He already does. And there is nothing we can do or have done that will cause Him to love us any less.  

–Steven Curtis Chapman (Singer/Songwriter)

God does not waste suffering, nor does He discipline out of caprice.  If He plows, it is because He purposes a crop.  –Oswald Chambers

I took my two oldest boys somewhere recently that they enjoyed so much they didn’t want to come back home.

It was a place where there were all kinds of rides and fun things to see, do and play with. Every town has one of these places no matter how small.

I know people are on a tight budget nowadays, but I truly believe this is a place everyone can afford if they really wanted to.

I can remember my parents carrying me to this place many times and how much fun I had as a little boy, and I’m sure you do too.

Even though it seems like you could stay there all day and night, they do have a closing time and then you have to go home.

The place I am talking about is outside.

No I’m not talking about a town fair or carnival that is outside.  I am simply talking about just plain old outside.

The rides I was referring to are tricycles and bicycles. The fun things to see, do and play with are flowers, dirt, sticks, and pine cones. The closing time is when the lights turn down (the Sun).  The memories are priceless, but the cost is also priceless.

That’s right; it is free to go outside. I took my kids outside the other day and what a time they had!

The older we get in life the more it takes to entertain and fascinate us. Most adults would not get the same thrill out of an amusement park as kids get out of going outside.

Many times what we think our kids want and need are not what they actually want and need. A child would grow tired of playing with a $1,000 remote-controlled helicopter by themselves faster than they would just blowing daffodils into the wind and watching its miniature parachutes land. You see with kids, it’s not just what they have or do more so than it is with whom they are with.

Children value time and attention from parents much more than gifts. I bought each of my young boys their own set of drums. Sure they played with them a lot the first week, but after that they had more fun when I got down on the kitchen floor with them and turned over three pots as if they were drums and beat on them with them with spoons and spatulas.

Don’t mistake me, I never said Mom enjoys hearing the “noise,” nor does she enjoy the thought of us beating on her good pots and pans. But it warms her heart just to know her kids have a tight bond with their father.

I bought my kids the best brand new $300 video game with extra controls, the latest games and even got extra memory to save the place in the game. A week later, I packed it all up and took it back to the store. I had just spent over $500 on a game that had the latest 3D graphics. I was frustrated on one hand but learned a valuable lesson on the other.

I took them outside, got some pine cones and handed them a stick. I was the pitcher and they were the batters. No game on the expensive console could match the laughter and enjoyment that my kids showed while knocking a home run (hitting the pine cone out of the yard) with a stick.

The next time you want to give your kids the very best in entertainment, try a neat place called outside.

 A MountainWings Original by James Bronner; lovingly passed on by Kim at Cup O’Cheer

God wants us to seek Him more than anything else, even more than we seek answers to prayer.  When we come to God in prayer, sometimes our hearts are so full of what we want that we leave God out.  Our minds become consumed with the gift rather than the giver.    

–Charles Stanley

1Timothy 1:12 – And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry

Devotional

Recently, I had the privilege of working with a dear lady, who would say “Thank you Jesus” often. I began to notice that she actually was talking, as if Jesus were listening and right beside her. Such sincerity, gratitude and genuine thankfulness was expressed by her, that I began to realize she had much to be thankful for. It was if she was acknowledging that God was responsible for all the good things, just as the bible says, every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights.  Because of what I learned from this lady, I have started to express my thankfulness to God by saying “thank you Jesus” periodically throughout my day. I have so many troubling things to focus on, BUT by focusing on the things I am thankful for, I am recalling Gods faithfulness over the past several years that I have been staying close to Him. With every trial there is a victory to be won. “Thank you Jesus” that I am on the winning team and you, my Lord, are working all things for the good!   

As seen in Prayer for Youth, and passed on via Cup O’Cheer

Think about these facts: Thirteen percent of the teachings of Christ are about judgment and Hell.  More than half of His parables relate to God’s eternal judgment of sinners.  Of the twelve times that the word Gehenna — the strongest biblical word for hell — appears in Scripture, there is only one time in which Jesus was not the speaker.  No one spoke of Hell more than Christ did.  –Max Lucado

If I proclaim Jesus to be Lord of my life, then He’s Lord of my bank account, my speech, my sexual appetites, my eating habits, my thoughts and all the minutia of details that I encounter each and every day.  He is Lord of all.   –Rebecca Lusignola

They ask for continued prayers for the volatile situation in Israel and Gaza, and the hurting people from these places will come to believe in Jesus Christ. Also keep in prayer that the teachers in the school in Bethlehem will continue to work effectively and reach their goal of students competent in Arabic and English. Also pray for the school in Hebron can live up to the high expectations from the parents in the area and others nearby.

How kind the Lord is! How good He is! So merciful, this God of ours!

Adversity stirs us up and causes us to look at life differently. We are forced to deal with things on a deeper level. Nothing causes self to cave in like suffering. And once our religious facade begins to wear thin, God moves in and begins teaching us what real Christ likeness is about. – Charles Stanley

As a new grandmother, I am very protective of my daughter Meredith’s baby girl. One cool afternoon I dropped by to see my grandchild. Meredith and a friend had taken little Allison for a walk in her stroller and were just coming up the street.

As soon as they reached me, I bent down to admire Allison and, in my fussiest voice, remarked, “Your little head is cold. You should have a hat on.”

My daughter looked knowingly at her friend and said, “You owe me ten bucks.”

From Clean Laffs, and passed on by GCFL