forgiveness

Some of life’s hurts are so deep and painful that to forgive the people who caused them seems impossible. Yet Jesus says that we can’t experience His forgiveness if we have an unforgiving spirit.

In World War II, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie were arrested for concealing Jews and were sent to a German concentration camp. Betsie died a slow and terrible death as a result of the cruel treatment.

Then, in 1947, Corrie spoke about God’s forgiveness to a church in Munich. Afterward, a man sought her out. She recognized him as one of the guards who had mistreated her and Betsie. 

He told her that he had become a Christian, and with extended hand he asked for her forgiveness. Corrie struggled with her feelings, but when she recalled the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:15, she knew she had to forgive. She silently prayed, “Jesus, help me!” and thrust her hand into the hand of her former tormentor.

Someone has said, “Forgiveness is not a case of ‘holy amnesia’ that wipes out the past. Instead, it is the experience of healing that drains the poison from the wound.”

God asks us to do for others what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. He’ll give us strength to forgive.

Lord Jesus, give us grace each day
That we may follow in Your way,
Especially when some unloved soul
Needs our forgiving to be whole. —DJD

Since we all need forgiveness, we should always be forgiving.

-dennis j de haan

.......now

Cold terror gripped the heart of a GI as mortar rounds whistled overhead, rifles cracked, and the Vietcong closed in. Suddenly he felt ripping pains as a bullet tore into his chest and arm. Yet it wasn’t the end for this soldier. 

According to an article in The New York Times, the bullet was slowed by a New Testament he was carrying in his shirt pocket. Years later, the young man still treasured the blood-stained book with the ragged hole through the middle. He believes it saved his life.

This is a nice story, but it says nothing about the life-saving spiritual help the Bible was designed to give. In Ezekiel 33, we read that the ancient Israelites used the words of the prophets to make them feel good but not to change their lives. They took passages out of context to support their confidence (v.24). They found pleasure in listening to the words of the prophet (v.30), yet the Lord said, “They hear your words, but they do not do them” (v.31). The result? They came under divine judgment.

Then as now, God’s Word is not to be cherished as a good-luck charm or to soothe the mind by bringing temporary relief from anxiety. It was given to be obeyed so that its help would not be just for this life—but forever.

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path alway,
To guide and to save me from sin
And show me the heavenly way. —Sellers
© Renewal 1936 Broadman Press.

We don’t really know the Bible until we obey the Bible.

-Mart De Haan

charge

Eli Black was a brilliant business man best known for two events in his life: He masterminded the multimillion dollar takeover of the United Fruit conglomerate, and he jumped to his death from the 42nd floor of the Pan Am building in New York City.

In the book An American Company, an executive described a business lunch he had with Eli Black. When the waitress brought a plate of cheese and crackers as an appetizer, Black reached out and took them, placed them on the table, blocked them with his arms, and continued talking. The executive hadn’t eaten for hours and hinted that he would like a cracker. But Black acted as though he hadn’t heard him and went on with the business meeting.

After a while, Black placed a cracker and cheese on the tips of his fingers and continued to talk. Several moments later, Black placed the cracker on the executive’s plate and then blocked the rest as before. It was clear that Black was in charge, manipulating others as he pleased.

When you play “follow the leader,” check to see who is at the head of the line. Eli Black, for all his power, ended up a suicide. Jesus Christ, in all His humility, ended up the Savior of the world.

Controlling other people’s lives
Is many a leader’s trait,
But serving other people’s needs
The Lord considers great. —Sper

Only the one who serves is qualified to lead.

bedtime

In his book The Best Is Yet To Be, Henry Durbanville recalled that as a boy, when the shadows of evening lengthened and darkness fell, he would hear his mother call, “Henry, it’s bedtime!” Typical of all small boys, he resisted the idea of leaving his friends, putting his toys away, and going to his room for the night. Yet deep within his heart he knew very well that sleep was necessary.

Durbanville made this spiritual application for the Christian who senses the end of life drawing near: “Death is both affectionate and stern. When the right moment comes, she says to us, ‘It’s your bedtime.’ Oh, we may protest a little, but we know very well that the hour for rest has come, and in our hearts we are actually longing for it.”

The thought of dying can fill even a Christian’s heart with mixed emotions. When we think of leaving our loved ones, it may cause the tears to flow. The breaking of close human ties does hurt. On the other hand, there is the anticipation of resting from our labors.

If we have placed our faith in Christ, we can look forward to the joy and release that will be ours when we hear at His second coming, the evening call, “Come Home. It’s bedtime!”

In life’s eventide, at twilight,
At His door I’ll knock and wait;
By the precious love of Jesus
I shall enter heaven’s gate. —Blom

For the Christian, dying is the last shadow of Earth’s night before heaven’s dawn.

-richard de haan

hear

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he wasn’t able to buy it.

Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it. 

Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. “Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?” he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred.

“I have no right to keep that to myself,” he exclaimed. “It’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it.”

To sinners saved by grace, the gospel is like the rapturous harmonies of heaven. We have no right to keep it to ourselves. Jesus tells us to take it out into the world, and let it be heard.

I’ll tell the world how Jesus saved me
And how He gave me a life brand new;
And I know that if you trust Him
That all He gave me He’ll give to you. —Fox
© 1958, 1963 Fox Music Publications

Someone told you about Christ. Have you told anyone lately?

-vernon c grounds

pressure

Politicians sometimes decide issues on the basis of majority pressure rather than on the principle of right and wrong. Some time ago a state governor declared that he personally believes abortion is wrong. But he said that as a public official he would support the will of the majority.

Pilate acted in much the same way regarding Jesus. Although he knew there was no truth to the charges leveled against Christ, he caved in to the pressure of the crowd. Consequently his name is recorded in infamy.

Few of us are in the position of appointed and elected officials who must please the majority to keep their jobs. Yet we are subject to the same kind of pressure. 

A Christian college student told me that one day he was driving three companions home after a football game. They wanted to stop at a bar known for indecent activities, but he didn’t want to. The three students came from good homes and were popular at college. He wanted to please them, and he felt tremendous pressure to go against his conscience. For a moment he hesitated, but with the Lord’s help he resisted the temptation and drove instead to a family restaurant.

Lord, help us to resist majority pressure when it would lead us down the path of sin.

If we would do what’s good and right,
We must be true within;
If we give in to what is wrong
We dull our sense of sin. —DJD

Unless we rely on God’s power within us, we will yield to the pressures around us

-herbet vander lugt

all

One controversy in professional sports today is the matter of prayer on the field. Sometimes after a big play or a victory, a player will drop to his knees and thank God. Some people object to this practice.

One newspaper writer suggested that the playing fields should be off-limits to such religious practices. He said that anything having to do with God should be confined to church. To him, it’s “absolutely ridiculous” for people to talk to God anywhere else.

As Christians, we would disagree with this kind of thinking. But we sometimes give the impression by our behavior that we believe it. We set Saturdays aside to worship and serve God but act as if the rest of the week is ours to do with as we please.

For the believer, however, living for God is a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week proposition. Notice Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5. When he talked about walking “as children of light” (v.8), he wasn’t referring only to the way we behave in church on Sundays. When we are filled with the Spirit, we will exemplify compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness, thankfulness, and love all the time.

The Christian life is not for Saturday only. It’s a day-to-day, all-the-time way of life—even on the playing field.

Do others know from how we act

At home, at work, at play,

That we have Jesus in our heart

And live for Him each day?

Being all-out for Christ means living for Him at all times and in all places.

still

God is present everywhere and participates in all the circumstances of our lives. It is not necessary to shut down the rest of your life or retreat to a distant mountaintop to be with him. Driving down the highway, in hospital waiting rooms, at dinner, greeting clients - God's presence fills every moment of the day.

We can't fix ourselves. We can't find our own way. We certainly can't control life's twists and turns. But we can gradually learn to sense God's presence with us in all things. His love - and His peace. But I must confess to having a problem doing it.

As I've tried to figure out why I have the problem, at least this much is clear: I am more comfortable with noise than silence, with activity than stillness, with struggling than surrender, with trying to be strong than admitting my weakness.

It was the French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal who said, "All human miseries come from not being able to sit in a quiet room, alone."  Could he possibly be right?  Do we humans need more reflection than we permit ourselves?  Time to take our thoughts and feelings seriously?  The courage to bring them honestly before God to see what he may want us to learn?  Or to be?

Last week I was forced to sit still in weather-bound traffic for a while. For Type-A personalities, that is nerve-jangling, finger-drumming time!  I had a schedule.  There were things to do. So... something told me to pray instead of churn. And I did -- about a host of things. The time passed quickly. When I was able to get going on the road again, there was no haste or panic. Just gratitude for an unanticipated time for prayer.  And a sense of peace about what lay ahead.

Perhaps it would be wise to book a half-day each month for silence before God. To use dead time in airports to be alone with God. To turn off the noise of a radio or Ipod for the chance to hear God while driving to work.

Perhaps you live at such a hurried pace that a half day or even a half hour of silence with God seems impractical. For today, put just five minutes of silence between appointments or work two five-minute periods of quiet into your morning.

At the end of the day, you may have discovered the meaning of this text from Scripture: "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted amoung the nations.  I will be exalted in the earth.  The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:10-11)

-steve blair

toleration

     At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

     In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

     It's amazing, isn't it, what we tolerate in some things we use (like Microsoft Windows) that we would never tolerate in other things we use (like our automobiles)?  Then again, it shouldn't be too surprising because I find that there are many things which I tolerate in some people that I would never tolerate in others.

     For example, if someone I don't particularly like passes me on the street and doesn't wave or say "hi", I get easily offended and assume that he is just being snobby.  If a good friend does the same thing, though, I assume that he must have something on his mind and he was merely distracted.  If someone I love dearly accidentally trips and kicks me in the shin, I think nothing of it.  If someone else does it, though, I quickly assume they're clumsy and inconsiderate.  I t's true, isn't it?  We tolerate things from people we love that we would never tolerate from people we don't love.

     Could it be that one of the reasons we have so many conflicts in the church is that love is lacking?  When love is missing, we are quick to assume the worst, we tolerate nothing and we are quick to find fault.  Patience is non-existent.  Forgiveness is difficult.  Love, however, truly does "cover a multitude of sins." (I Peter 4:8)

     I like the way GOD'S WORD translates this passage from Paul's writings:  "As holy people whom God has chosen and loved, be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.  Put up with each other, and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  Above all, be loving.  This ties everything together perfectly." (Colossians 3:12-14)

     Are you having trouble "putting up" with folks around you?  May your love for others increase so that your level of toleration may increase as well.

-alan smith 

miracle

Moses and the Israelites were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to a Quartermaster in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have had to have 1500 tons of food for each day.

Do you know that to bring that much food each day requires two freight trains, each a mile long. They would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And, just think about it, they were forty years in transit, in a desert.

And oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!

And then another thing! They had to cross the Red Sea at night. Now, if they wanted a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So, there had to be space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.

But then, there is another problem. Each time they camped at the end of each day, a camp ground two-thirds the size of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long. 

 

Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not!! You see, Moses believed in God and God took care of these things for him.

Now, do you think God has any problem taking care of all of your needs?

"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

-author unknown

? church

Why go to Church? 

A Church-goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. 

But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher.

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. 

But I do know this: 

They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!  "Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!" Thank God for your physical AND your spiritual nourishment!

reasoning

"You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you. shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him." (Deuteronomy 13:4)

When we read a command in the Bible, whether we understand it or not, we ought to obey it. The Bible is not first and foremost a book to be explained, it is a book to be believed and obeyed.

So many times we want to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early apostles when they first met Paul persecuting believers. 

Those well-meaning Christians could have been praying for God to strike Paul dead - But what did God do? He struck him alive! And aren't you glad He did?

Don't substitute human reasoning for obedience. 

God says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

-Adrian Rogers

regrets

place

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:7-8)

Dwight L. Moody told about a story about a young man who was called to serve in Napoleon Bonaparte's army but didn't want to go. A friend volunteered to go in his place and was accepted as his substitute. Unfortunately, the friend was later killed in battle.

However, because of a clerical error the same young man was called up to serve again. "You can't take me. I'm dead. I died on the battlefield," he told the astonished officers.

After checking the records, the officers found documentation of his name and alongside it the name of the friend who died in his place. The case was presented to Napoleon who, after examining the evidence, said, "Through a surrogate, this man has not only fought, but has died in his country's service. No man can die more than once, therefore the law has no claim on him."

And that's exactly what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did for you and me. He died in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins so we could be freely forgiven and given the gift of eternal life. When we accept God's pardon, we will never have to pay the price for our sins because Jesus did that for us. He died in our place. 

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

road

A bend in the road is not the end of the road... 
unless you fail to make the turn. 
- Unknown 

grace

For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Rom. 5: 17.

God has an abundance of grace and power awaiting our demand. But the reason we do not feel our great need of it is because we look to ourselves and not to Jesus. We do not exalt Jesus and rely wholly upon His merits.

The provision made is complete, and the eternal righteousness of Christ is placed to the account of every believing soul. The costly, spotless robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has been provided for the repenting, believing sinner, and he may say: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61: 10).

Abundant grace has been provided that the believing soul may be kept free from sin; for all heaven, with its limitless resources, has been placed at our command. We are to draw from the well of salvation. . . . In ourselves we are sinners; but in Christ we are righteous. Having made us righteous through the imputed righteousness of Christ, God pronounces us just, and treats us as just. He looks upon us as His dear children. Christ works against the power of sin, and where sin abounded, grace much more abounds.

We may make daily progress in the upward path to holiness and yet we find still greater heights to be reached; but every stretch of the spiritual muscles, every taxation of heart and brain, brings to light the abundance of the supply of grace essential for us as we advance.

The more we contemplate these riches, the more we will come into possession of them, and the more we shall reveal the merits of Christ's sacrifice, the protection of His righteousness, His inexpressible love, the fullness of His wisdom, and His power to present us before the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

We are living in the day of preparation. We must obtain a full supply of grace from the divine storehouse. The Lord has made provision for every day's demand.

-egw

....wings...

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage.  One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at

  the base of a tree.  Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a  stick.  When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings.  The loving mother, keenly

  aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively  knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.  She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies.  Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast...because she had been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live.

  'He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find
  refuge.' (Psalm 91:4)

  Those who are faithful can always count on the Lord, even more than these
  chicks could count on their mother.

  Gods care for those He has created.

  Isaiah 55:7-8 (KJV) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
         man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will
         have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
         For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
         ways, saith the LORD.

  Psalms 37:28 (KJV) For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his
         saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked
         shall be cut off.

  2 Chronicles 15:2 (KJV) And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him,
         Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you,
         while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you;
         but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

  Proverbs 3:3-6 (KJV) Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about
         thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou
         find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
         Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
         understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct
         thy paths.

  Hebrews 13:5-6 (KJV) Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be
         content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never
         leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord
         is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

  Isaiah 42:16 (KJV) And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;
         I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make
         darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These
         things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

  Psalms 27:10 (KJV) When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD
         will take me up.

  Psalms 94:14 (KJV) For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will
         he forsake his inheritance.

  Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV) Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be
         afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with
         thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

  Deuteronomy 31:8 (KJV) And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he
         will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee:
         fear not, neither be dismayed.

  Psalms 121:4-8 (KJV) Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
         nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy
         right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
         night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall
         preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy
         coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

  Time waits for no one.  Treasure every moment you have.  You will treasure
  it even more when you can share it with someone Special.
 -j pillay

home

A pastor had been on a long flight between church conferences.  The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on:  Fasten Your Seat Belts.

Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive.

Later, the voice on the intercom said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.  The turbulence is still ahead of us."  And then the storm broke . . .

The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines.  Lightning! lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean.  One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him.  He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying.  The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm."

"Then, I suddenly saw a little girl.  Apparently the storm meant nothing to her.  She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and everything within her small world was calm and orderly."

"Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world.  When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid."  The minister could hardly believe his eyes.

It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.

Having commented about the storm and the behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

The child replied, "Cause my Daddy's the pilot, and he's taking me home."

There are many kinds of storms that buffet us. Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement.  We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at 

rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.

Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot.  Don't be anxious - don't worry!  He is in control and He's taking us home!

-Author Unknown

thief

After years of wandering, Clint Dennis had come to that point in his life when he knew he had been missing something important. And for months he had felt he could find what that something was in that church on the hillside in North Phoenix.

He arrived at Phoenix First Assembly of God on an unusual day. 

The choir room was filled with members putting on long robes, tying ropes around their waists, wrapping headdresses around their head. "Come be part of the mob," a stranger told him.

It was Palm Sunday and the church was reenacting the Crucifixion in costume. Like others in the congregation, he would be part of the crowd that yelled, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Hesitantly he agreed.

Then another stranger hurried up to him. "The man who was supposed to play one of the thieves on the cross didn't show up," he said. "Would you take his place?"

Again he agreed and was shown to the cross where he would look on as Christ died. Just then, though, something about Clint's manner caught a member's eye. He turned to Clint and asked, "Have you ever asked Jesus to forgive your sins?"

"No," Clint replied softly, "but that's why I came here."  There beneath the cross, they prayed, and Clint asked Jesus to come into his heart. His life was transformed.

What the church didn't know then was that Clint had been in prison for ten years. Even after his release he had gone on stealing cars and trucks until he knew he had been missing something in life. He was a real thief, but at last he was welcomed into God's kingdom by the same Jesus who welcomed another thief two thousand years ago.

-jo hart

step

"Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." (Psalm 37:5)

Catherine Marshall was a woman of luminous faith. She was a member of the Guideposts family for almost three decades during which time she helped readers -- and those of us on the staff -- to learn more about the limitless variety of prayer, about finding divine guidance in the day-to-day, about the robust and joy-filled Jesus Whom she knew.

For all her deep spirituality, Catherine was a practical Christian who wrote from her experience. And the foundation of her faith, the touchstone she always kept at hand, was the soul-deep change she underwent many years before she had published a single word.

Catherine was a young wife and mother -- married to the much-admired pastor, Peter Marshall -- when she fell ill with what she always described as "a wide-spread lung infection." She never used the word "tuberculosis." She languished in bed for months, and the months turned into years. As her body grew thinner, so did her spirit. Then came a day of decision. Catherine stopped struggling. She stopped beseeching God to do as she asked and let Him do as He desired.

"I gave Him a blank check," she told me once. Catherine surrendered her vanity, her willfulness, her sins, her worries, her happiness and, yes, her life. From that point on, she began to recover.

"The crisis of self-surrender" -- that's what the great Philosopher William James called it long before Catherine discovered it for herself. James described it as the vital turning point of religious life. It was, for Catherine Marshall, the SUREST STEP toward God that a human being can take.

"Lord, help me to know the victory of surrender..."

"I Surrender All" 

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

-van varner

knees

"The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. 

I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer... 

I mean those who take time and pray." -- S.D. Gordon

It all began ten years ago when our son, Aaron, contracted the flu. Standing up to his strong will, we urged him to stay in bed throughout the weekend. On Saturday morning I went to church by myself while my wife stayed home with Aaron and our daughter, Shannon. It was an uneventful morning -- until I arrived home from church.

As I walked into our front door, my wife rushed to meet me with these words: "You wouldn't believe what happened this morning. Aaron's fever shot up suddenly and he began to have a seizure." While I was enjoying worship at church, our house was filled with firemen and paramedics. It was a terrifying moment for Susan and our daughter as they witnessed this six-year old boy shake with convulsions. What a relief it was to us when the seizures stopped and the medical personnel felt it was safe to leave him.

The one incident that stands out for me that morning is when Aaron first began to have the seizure. Susan immediately turned to Shannon, who was three at the time, and said, "Start praying for your brother." This miniature prayer warrior promptly leaped up, ran to our bedroom, got on her knees and began praying for her big brother. Realizing Aaron was in danger, Shannon fervently prayed for God to heal him. She took prayer very seriously.

I want you to keep before you that vivid image as we think about wrestling from our knees. I want you picture our young daughter on her knees, pleading with God to take care of Aaron. Then imagine yourself kneeling by your bed, entering the throne room of the living God, and pleading on behalf of a person you love whose soul is endangered.

"On His Knees Before God"

Tucked away in the book of Colossians is the name of a man whom the apostle Paul held in high esteem. This man wasn't known necessarily for his great teaching. Paul didn't commend him for how he preached or for the many souls he won to Jesus Christ. His notoriety came not from how he stood before crowds and talked about the resurrected Lord, but how he knelt before the King of Kings and prayed for others.

His name was Epaphras. Paul mentions him three times. The apostle called him "a faithful servant of Christ" (Colossians 1:7) and "a fellow prisoner with Paul" (Philemon 1:23). The description of this godly man that stands out to me in bold print is that he was known simply as a man who was "always wrestling in prayer" for others (Colossians 4:12).

What about you? How would others describe you? How would they describe your prayer life? Are you wrestling in prayer for those you love? Why not start right now? Get a notepad and begin to keep track of those who need your prayers and begin praying for them every day.

-jim clark

weary

"Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." (Exodus 32:1)

Archibald Rutledge wrote that one day he met a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire. Heartbroken, the man explained to Rutledge how it happened. Because he worked outdoors, he often took his dog with him. That morning he left the animal in a clearing and gave him a command to stay and watch his lunch pail. A fire started in the woods, and soon the blaze spread to the spot where that dog had been left. But he didn't move. He waited right where he was and perished.

The Israelites, on the other hand, quickly grew weary of waiting. Moses had been gone only 40 days when they began to pressure Aaron to find "gods" that could lead them into the Promised Land. Their only thought was of the pleasures that awaited them in a land "flowing with milk and honey." They 

grew restless under the need to wait.

Christians face the same temptation. Often we are eager to get on with it. We have so much to do; so many tasks beckon us forward. We don't want to sit and wait, so we lurch forward with gods of our own making. Weuse our own wisdom and strength to try to reach goals that only God is adequate to 

achieve.

If you find yourself straining to go forward when God doesn't seem to be in a hurry, hold back and wait. Perhaps He has an entirely different plan for your life. Concentrate on what you must do now and let God move you ahead when the time is right.

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psalms 27:14)

-woodrow kroll

decide

Did you know that there are three levels on which God can deal with you and that we must determine that level? You must decide: Is God going to treat me like a thing, like an animal, or like one of His own children? 

You will find this in Psalm 32. God had to treat David like a thing (a sponge), and God's hand was heavy on him (v. 34). David was rebelling. He was not acting like God's child. Instead of confessing his sin, he was covering his sin. But the Bible says, "He who covers his sins will not prosper" (Prov. 28:13). So what did God do? He had to treat David like a thing. He just put His hand on David and began to squeeze all the life out of him. David finally woke up and confessed his sin.

God also had to treat David like an animal. (Ps. 32:9). God warns us, "Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you" (v.9). David had acted like a horse when he sinned. Impulsively he rushed ahead and sinned. And then he became stubborn like a mule and would not confess his sin. So God had to deal with him...

But God wants to deal with us like children. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye [on you]" (vs.8).  God doesn't want to control us with bits and bridles, although sometimes He has to do that.  Sometimes He...[allows] sickness or a handicap, or an accident to break our wills. He says, "I'd much rather guide you with My eye on you. I'd much rather instruct you." You can instruct a horse or a mule to a certain extent -- but not the way you can a child....

Oh, how much He loves you! He wants to work in you and through you and for you to bring about His very best in your life today.

How is God dealing with you today? Are you being rebellious or stubborn?  Will you choose to submit to Him and confess your sins?

-Warren Wiersbe