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:-) :-) :-)
Life Lessons
"It's frustrating when you finally know all the answers, but
nobody bothers to ask you the questions."
(Taken from Healing Through Humor
by Charles & Frances Hunter)
:-) :-) :-)
"The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and
He
said to me, 'Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you."
(Ezekiel 3:22) (New International Version)
"Have
you ever heard of anyone being greatly used by Christ who did not experience a special time of waiting, or a complete upset
of his plans at first? From the apostle Paul's being sent into the Arabian wilderness for three years - during which time
he must have been over-flowing with the Good News - down to the present day, it seems those who will be
used will have
a time of waiting. Have you been
looking forward to telling about trusting Jesus, but instead He is asking you to show
what trust is, by waiting?
My own expererience is far less severe than Paul's but reveals the same principle. Once when
I thought the door was being thrown open for me to enter the literary field with a great opportunity, it was just as quickly
shut. My doctor stepped in and simply said, 'Never! You must choose between writing and living, for you cannot do both.' The
year was 1860, and I did not come out of my shell of isolation with my book Ministy of Song until 1869. By then
I saw
the distinct wisdom of having been kept waiting for nine years in the shade.
God's love is unchangeable, and He is just
as loving even when we do not see or feel it. And His love and His sovereignty are equal and universal. Therefore He often
withholds our enjoyment and awareness of our progress, because He knows best what will actually
ripen and further His
work in us."
(Frances Ridley Havergal - Streams In The Desert)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Father, may your name be honored. May your
Kingdom come
soon. Give us our food day by
day. And forgive us our sins - just as we
forgive those who have sinned against us.
And don't let us yield to temptation."
(Luke 11:2-4) (New Living Testament)
"Notice the order in this prayer. First
Jesus
praised God; then He made His requests.
Praising God first focuses our thoughts on
His greatness and glory
before we begin our
requests. Too often our prayers are more
like shopping lists than conversations."
(Taken from
Living Words of Jesus)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your
consent." (I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14)
"Three women on a hike came upon
an unlocked cabin deep in the woods. Receiving no response to their knocks, they went inside to find one room,
simply furnished. Nothing seemed unusual except that the large, potbellied, cast iron stove was hung from the ceiling,
suspended in midair by wires.
The psycholosit said, 'It is obvious
this lonely trapper has elevated his stove so he can curl up under it and experience a return to the womb.' The engineer
responded, 'Nonsense! This is thermodynamics. He has found a way to distribute heat more evenly in his cabin.'
The theologian interrupted, 'I'm sure this has religious meaning. Fire 'lifted up' has been a religious symbol for millennia.'
As the three debated, the cabin owner
returned. The hikers immediately asked him why the stove was hung by wires from the ceiling. He replied succinctly,
'I had plenty of wire, but not much stove pipe.'
Others may try to second-guess your
motives, downplay your ideas, or insult you, but only you know why you do what you do, what you think and feel, and
how you relate to God.
Stay true to who you are in Christ
Jesus!"
(God's Little Devotional Book for
Women)
^^^^^^^
"The world wants your best; but God wants your all."
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matthew 22:37)
"Janette Oke, best-selling novelist with more than 40 books
to her credit, is considered the modern 'pioneer author' for Christian fiction. Her books have sold millions of copies
since her first novel was published in 1979.
When she first decided to write, she said to God, 'Lord,
I'm going to write this book. If it works, and if I discover I have talent, I'll give it all to You.'
Janette sensed God was not pleased with the bargain she
was trying to strike with Him. She felt in her heart as if He was responding, 'If you're serious about this, then I
want everything before you start.' Thus she gave Him her ambitions and dreams, and trusted Him with the outcome of her
efforts. She left it up to Him to teach her, whether she was successful or not.
Out of that resolve came a second resolve. She refused
to compromise her principles. Although she would write realistically, her stories would be 'wholesome and good and encouraging.'
Many thought that approach was doomed to failure at the outset; but a shelf of novels later...Janette Oke has proven "God
can teach spiritual truths through fictional characters."
(Taken from God's Little Devotional Book for Women)
^^^^^^^
"Some people act as if God were out to
reform them, to take all their pleasures
away. But what He really wants is to
direct us into that true pleasure
that
brings lasting fulfillment and satisfaction.
When we seek God's will, we find that He
helps us make the right
decisions. He opens
and closes the doors that will lead us in
the right direction. He shapes our interests
and
desires so that we will not stumble and
fall into the pitfalls along the way.
Has it ever occurred to you that you
could
be much happier if you would stop trying to
run things your own way, and would let Christ
have complete
control of your life? God's will
is that you and I be happy! There is absolutely
no reason to be afraid of His direction
in our
lives. Remember, Paul wrote to the Christians
at Rome of 'that good, and acceptable, and
[even more, that]
perfect, will of God'
(Romans 12:2). This is what God wants for us.
We all at times, says Paul Little, make the
mistake
of thinking that our choice is between
'doing what we want to do and being happy, and
doing what God wants us to do
and being miserable.'
There is always that feeling that maybe God is
going to shortchange us. Let me say again, nothing
could be further from the truth!
Dr. Oswald Huffman has said, 'Having given us the
package, do you think God will
deny us the ribbon?'
How ridiculous! God does not give us a new life in
Christ and then try to make us miserable in
it.
Jesus raised a similar question one day as He spoke
to His disciples. 'What man is there of you, whom
if his
son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or
if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye
then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which
is in heaven give good things
to them that ask Him?'
(Matthew 7:9-11) (King James Version)
Most of us are inclined to give our children too
much
- sometimes more than is good for them. Why?
Because we love them! They are our own flesh and
blood, and we want to
show our affection for them.
Jesus was simply saying, in Matthew 7, 'Don't you
think that your heavenly Father, who
is the personi-
fication of all that is good, is able to give you
much greater things? Don't you realize that He is
much more concerned about you than you are about
your own children?' God the Father loves you, God
the Son died
for you, and God the Holy Spirit
indwells each believer forever. The Trinity is
for you. He who has created us and
sustains us
from day to day is not going to make us unhappy
if we accept His will. He wants what is best
for us.
God wants us to be happy in His will."
(George Sweeting - How To Discover The Will of God)
**************************************************************
"Jesus told His disciples a parable
to show them that they should always pray and not give up." (Luke 18:1)
"The failure to persevere
is the most common problem in prayer and intercession. We begin to pray for something, raising our petitions for a day,
a week, or even a month; but then if we have not received a definite answer, we quickly give up and stop praying for it altogether.
This is a mistake with deadly consequences
and is simply a trap where we begin many things but never see them completed. It leads to ruin in every area of life.
People who get into the habit of starting without ever finishing form the habit of failure. And those who begin praying
about something without ever praying it through to a successful conclusion form the same habit in prayer. Giving up
is admitting failure and defeat. Defeat then leads to discouragement and doubt in the power of prayer; and that is fatal
to the success of a person's prayer life.
People often ask, 'How long should
I pray? Shouldn't I come to the place where I stop praying and leave the matter in God's hands?' The only answer is this:
Pray until what you pray for has been accomplished or until you have complete assurance in your heart that it will be.
Only when one of these two conditions has been met is it safe to stop persisting in prayer; for prayer not only is calling
upon God, but is also a battle with Satan. And because God uses our intercession as a mighty weapon of victory in the
conflict, He alone must decide when it is safe to cease from petitioning. Therefore we dare not stop praying until either
the answer itself has come or we receive assurance it will come.
In the first instance, we stop
because we actually see the answer. In the second, we stop because we believe; and faith in our hearts is as trustworthy
as the sight of our eyes; for it is 'faith from God' (Eph. 6:23) and the 'faith of God' (Rom. 3:3 KJV) that
we have within us.
As we live a life of
prayer, we will more and more come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance. We will know when to quietly
rest in it or when to continue praying until we receive His answer. (from The Practice of Prayer).
Wait at God's promise
until He meets you there; for He always returns by the path of His promises. (selected)
(Taken from Streams In The
Desert - L. B. Cowman)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the (consistently) righteous man (upright and in right standing with God) runs
into it and is safe, high (above evil) and strong." (Proverbs 18: 10 The Amplified Bible)
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