Who, Me Discouraged?

The minority whip of the House of Representatives, Roy Blunt resigned his post last week. He thought ten years of encouraging people to do things they didn’t want to do was enough. Sometimes believers get discouraged too.

We should take heart. There are some bright spots around, where God is really blessing the efforts of the faithful. My son just arrived home from a mission trip to the Philippines. During the first meeting there, 340 people responded to faith in Christ. You don’t see much of that in our nation. While God is doing greater works elsewhere in the world, the trend here is to growing unfaithfulness and dropping out. It is difficult to “whip up” much more than lip service to the things of God these days.

What shall we do? The only thing we can do is to keep preaching the Word. I encourage my flock to stay on their knees, in the Word, and close to one another. Reading in Acts the second chapter, we see that is the very environment the Lord used to begin the wonderful work called Christianity.

So, we will keep doing our part the way believers always have. It takes a little over forty of us (per capita) to win one soul in America. But every soul counts. Amen?

Have you read Luke 21:25-28? You should. We are getting closer to the day.

GBY
Bro Robt

Is God Pro-Choice?

You will likely raise some eyebrows in most churches if you say God is pro-choice. I don’t think I offended anyone when, in a recent sermon, I made that very point. God is pro-choice. Please excuse my play on words but in Joshua 24:15 we read, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (NKJV)

God gives us our own free choice but we are responsible to Him for the decisions we make. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)

God’s will matters and what He is against should influence our choices. Consider for example Proverbs 6:16-19, “ These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” (NKJV) Again, it is our choice to make. But what God hates so should we.

If you have read this far, I trust you hear me say God is not pro-choice in the way it is used by our culture. God is Pro-Life. Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”(NKJV) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)

God takes no pleasure in the misery of sinners. He prefers that all should come to repentance (2 Peter3:9). It’s our choice. There will be no unwilling participants in heaven.

I hope this very day you will choose life.

GBY
Bro Robt

Answered Prayer

Someone posed the question, “What if the Lord’s Prayer was truly answered in our lives?” I wondered what our lives would be like if we truly went beyond just a recitation of the prayer model given to us by our Lord (Matthew 6:13f).

We certainly would reverence our heavenly Father. I admire people who honor their parents. How much more we need to honor our Father in Heaven. It would make us better children and witnesses to His greatness. The Father we know as Christians is not Allah. He is the one and only true God and Savior of the world. So, why do we not reverence and defend His name as the Muslims do their god? Why does the Bible say to abstain from ever appearance of evil? What we do reflects on our Father in heaven.

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done reminds us that God is King and we are not His equal. His will matters as much on earth as in heaven. His will matters in my life, in my home, on my job, at school, in my budget and on my calendar. There are things happening on earth that I should refuse to do. If God is king of my life and his will uppermost in my intentions I will be faithful to Him as He is to me. The model prayer is laid out in perfect order, first things first. If it seems God isn’t hearing our prayers, perhaps we should first attend to His holiness and Lordship in our lives.

One who lives according to the model prayer will trust God for daily sustenance. I note the prayer requests daily bread and not weekly or monthly. I wouldn’t want to make this a test of faith but if you prayed for today’s bread and received more than enough, would you share it? What if your neighbor has also prayed for daily bread and The Lord wants you to be his supply line? Thy will be done? (See Matthew 25:31f)

We need God’s forgiveness. We also need forgiveness from one another. Forgiveness is difficult but it gets easier with practice. This is a two-faceted prayer in which we actually ask for forgiveness and for ability to forgive. We are most like Jesus when we forgive. How can we be all He wants us to be if we won’t forgive? Grudges are un Christian.

Ran across this in My Documents. I don't know if I have shared it before but it is so good.

Are We Fishermen?

Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. And the fish were hungry.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year. Those who called themselves fishermen met to talk about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.

Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.

Continually they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. They sponsored costly nation-wide and world-wide congresses to discuss fishing, promote fishing, and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, the fish calls, and any new bait.

In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. All the fishermen seemed to agree that what was needed was a board which could challenge fishermen to be faithful to fishing.

Large training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years, courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology. But the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. And those who were sent out did exactly as those who sent them. They formed groups and held special meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to declare how important fishing was. They talked about the great need for fishing. They prayed much that many fish might be caught. They analyzed the fish and discussed what is necessary in order to catch fish. But one thing they did not do, they did not fish.

Now it’s time that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen’s clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen, yet never fished.

Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don’t catch fish are not really fishermen. Is a person a fisherman if he never catches a fish?

Source unknown

I met a woman who had recently divorced her husband of more than forty years. I heard her say she just couldn’t take anymore of the verbal abuse she had endured for all those years. She could never do anything right. The constant criticism finally took its toll. Less than a year later I was working her estranged husband’s funeral. Who was most devastated by his passing? She was. I wondered if she felt guilty for leaving him and how cruel it was that even in death his abuse came back hit her one more time.

My heart goes out to people who live in such awful circumstances. Physical abuse is a terrible thing but the wounds of verbal abuse endure long after flesh has healed. How can we be so cruel as to emotionally beat up on people who crave our adoration? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? Nothing hurts like a wounded spirit. This is a pain that will not go away.

My dad was a bad tempered man whose life was controlled by liquor. He gave me some pretty severe spankings. No, he whipped me good. There were times he would call me to him as he sat on the couch and then kick me across the room. He would hit me on top of the head with the clippers when I wouldn’t hold completely still for a haircut. I remember hearing my dad say that I was bound to wind up in jail before I was sixteen. He left my life when I was seven but my self esteem was pretty well wrecked by then. When I grew to be a teenager and old enough to blow it in some things, it just seemed natural. My daddy’s words were prophetic. He said I was bound for no good. I recovered well but not until the course of my life was set by low expectations instilled in me by the words of my father. I don’t blame my parents for my own failures but a little encouragement would have left me with fewer regrets.

When I became a father I began to learn a little about my own impatience and I blew it as a dad many times. I was too strict and my temper won out too often. But I am thankful to have had the sense to try to protect my children’s self-esteem. My wife and I were always careful not to say or even insinuate they were inept in any way. Even so, if I could do it over again, I would practice more positive reinforcement. I would say I love you and am proud of you in every way possible to my children. I would explain why I said no and would apologize when I wronged them. I would learn to be soft. I wouldn’t allow frustration to deprive my children of the best dad they could have.

Good for Bad

Don’t say “huh” if you don’t want to be yelled at. And if you must raise your voice to a hard of hearing person, do it sweetly.

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Matthew 5:38-42 (NKJV)

It's not fair but someone sometime is going to hurt our feelings or harm us in some way we don't deserve. We are bound to encounter evil in the world we live in. Jesus said don't resist it. That is, don't get even. Difficult? You bet it is. And we have all gotten even. Hopefully, though, as we grow closer to Christ, vengeance will give way to patience and forgiveness. In fact Jesus said we should do good to those who do us wrong. An eye for an eye is not the way of Christ. The Apostle Paul advised that it is better to be wronged than to fight
(1 Cor.6:7) Returning good for evil is unnatural for us except for the supernatural presence of God in our lives. All things are possible with Him. Why not pray now for the strength to meet the next injustice with the love of Christ. You will be a better witness for it.

Accident or Design

Many of you read Our Daily Bread. So, if this is the second time you have seen this, I hope it blesses you again. I send it along with my commendation and a hearty amen. .

Accident or Design

The Bible opens with this magnificent statement: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). How simple those words are and yet how fathomless!
Dyson Freeman, one of today's most brilliant scientists, writes that nature's laws are marked by "the greatest mathematical simplicity and beauty."
While I am not a scientist or a mathematician, I am intrigued by this statement. If there is no Designer—no Creator God—how is it that our universe can be a law-abiding system marked by beauty and simplicity? I wonder, why isn't our universe in chaos?
The only reasonable explanation to me is the God of the Bible. As it says in Romans 1:20, "Since the creation of the world [God's] invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that [we] are without excuse."
If it's only the reality of God's existence that explains the whole universe, that must also be true of our lives. We are not accidents but creatures designed by a Maker of limitless power and wisdom. Look for Him in what He has designed—you'll see Him there.
—Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Nov 29,2005)

Let us be patient with those who do not know that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Heb 11:1-3 (NKJV) May we also be faithful to teach our children the truth about creation. Nobody else is.