Thursday, March 31, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “How rare it is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak.”
FRANCOIS FENELON
“So He said, ‘Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.’ And behold the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was snot in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.” 1 KINGS 19:11-12 NASB
I like how the King James Version of the Bible translates this “sound of a gentle blowing.” It is referred to as a “still small voice.” Now this speaks to me, somewhere inside of my heart when I let all the wind die down, and I let all the earthquakes settle, and I allow the fire to burn its self out, then if I listen I can hear. But as long as all that other stuff is going on it’s hard to hear anything.
When the prophet Elijah experienced all of this, he was experiencing fear and self-pity because of Jezebel. He really feared this wicked woman. Elijah ended up in a cave hiding when God commanded him to “go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” The LORD then said to Elijah, “what are you doing here” (v 13), and Elijah went and sat on the pity pot and explained to the LORD that he had been doing all this good work for Him and how he was all alone. The Lord God soon told Elijah that he was not alone and gave him instructions to get back to work. I find this to be good advice for myself today when I am experiencing self-pity. Get back to work and do something for someone else. Once again I can find love and compassion to be an outward answer to an inward problem. Once again God through the Word is showing me how to survive by doing for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble. Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality. Pity is adrenaline for acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict.”
EUGENE H. PETERSON
“Understanding is the key to right principles and attitudes, and right action is the key to good living.” BILL W. ………AA 12X12 page 125
Stand on the mountain
Thought for the day: “How rare it is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak.”
FRANCOIS FENELON
“So He said, ‘Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.’ And behold the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was snot in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.” 1 KINGS 19:11-12 NASB
I like how the King James Version of the Bible translates this “sound of a gentle blowing.” It is referred to as a “still small voice.” Now this speaks to me, somewhere inside of my heart when I let all the wind die down, and I let all the earthquakes settle, and I allow the fire to burn its self out, then if I listen I can hear. But as long as all that other stuff is going on it’s hard to hear anything.
When the prophet Elijah experienced all of this, he was experiencing fear and self-pity because of Jezebel. He really feared this wicked woman. Elijah ended up in a cave hiding when God commanded him to “go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” The LORD then said to Elijah, “what are you doing here” (v 13), and Elijah went and sat on the pity pot and explained to the LORD that he had been doing all this good work for Him and how he was all alone. The Lord God soon told Elijah that he was not alone and gave him instructions to get back to work. I find this to be good advice for myself today when I am experiencing self-pity. Get back to work and do something for someone else. Once again I can find love and compassion to be an outward answer to an inward problem. Once again God through the Word is showing me how to survive by doing for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble. Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality. Pity is adrenaline for acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict.”
EUGENE H. PETERSON
“Understanding is the key to right principles and attitudes, and right action is the key to good living.” BILL W. ………AA 12X12 page 125
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “If you add little to little and do this often, soon the little will become great.” HESIOD
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”
PSALM 19:14 NKJV
Words and meditation, the inner workings of the soul. They kind of work together, have you noticed when you get a idea and think on it for a while, as soon as you run into somebody your mouth and your words will express the idea. Even sometimes when you really don’t want to talk about it you do anyway. The meditation of our hearts and the words of our mouth are hooked up together. There is a spiritual thread between the spiritual heart of a person and the way we use words, it doesn’t matter if it is our tongue, or a pen, or the keyboard, we are connected from the inside to the outside by this spiritual thread. I am learning to control the words that I use, I must admit I do this better at some times than at other times. Controlling the meditation of my heart is more difficult. Even though the words and meditations are connected, one is like the starting and the other is like the finish product. At some point in manufacturing process of the words I use, I am able to stop and alter and modify how it will come out. But going back to the raw material, the heart, I find it more difficult to change what is there. I am learning it is a matter of what I nourish the heart with that makes it what it is. It is how I hear things, things that I choose to look at, what I read, conversations that I take part in, all of these things add to and will make up the essence of my heart. If I could successfully determine what I put in my heart today, I would choose love, kindness, compassion, understanding, patience, thoughts of good deeds, and gratitude to God for having done for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“In the year 1627, there was a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit in several parts of England as well as in Scotland and the north of Ireland. But riches and honor poured in upon them as well, and their hearts began to be estranged from God and started to cleave to this present world. As soon as persecution ceased the Christians who were once poor and despised became invested with power, ease, and affluence. Riches and honor quickly produced the usual effects. Receiving the world, they quickly loved the world. They no longer panted after heaven, and lost all the life and power of religion.” CHARLES WESLEY
Words and Meditation
Thought for the day: “If you add little to little and do this often, soon the little will become great.” HESIOD
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”
PSALM 19:14 NKJV
Words and meditation, the inner workings of the soul. They kind of work together, have you noticed when you get a idea and think on it for a while, as soon as you run into somebody your mouth and your words will express the idea. Even sometimes when you really don’t want to talk about it you do anyway. The meditation of our hearts and the words of our mouth are hooked up together. There is a spiritual thread between the spiritual heart of a person and the way we use words, it doesn’t matter if it is our tongue, or a pen, or the keyboard, we are connected from the inside to the outside by this spiritual thread. I am learning to control the words that I use, I must admit I do this better at some times than at other times. Controlling the meditation of my heart is more difficult. Even though the words and meditations are connected, one is like the starting and the other is like the finish product. At some point in manufacturing process of the words I use, I am able to stop and alter and modify how it will come out. But going back to the raw material, the heart, I find it more difficult to change what is there. I am learning it is a matter of what I nourish the heart with that makes it what it is. It is how I hear things, things that I choose to look at, what I read, conversations that I take part in, all of these things add to and will make up the essence of my heart. If I could successfully determine what I put in my heart today, I would choose love, kindness, compassion, understanding, patience, thoughts of good deeds, and gratitude to God for having done for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“In the year 1627, there was a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit in several parts of England as well as in Scotland and the north of Ireland. But riches and honor poured in upon them as well, and their hearts began to be estranged from God and started to cleave to this present world. As soon as persecution ceased the Christians who were once poor and despised became invested with power, ease, and affluence. Riches and honor quickly produced the usual effects. Receiving the world, they quickly loved the world. They no longer panted after heaven, and lost all the life and power of religion.” CHARLES WESLEY
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Jesus Christ didn’t commit the Gospel to an advertising agency; He commissioned disciples. And He didn’t command them to put up signs and pass out tracts; He said that they would be His witnesses.”
JOE BAYLY
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” ROMANS 5:1 NASB
How have I come to believe what I accept to be the Truth, the Way and the Life in Jesus? It did not come about with a flash of light, or even one profound moment where I all of a sudden realized that I would never be the same again. My faith in the finished work of the Cross, has been a gradual progressive experience, and continues to be so. William James referred to this kind of spiritual experience as the “educational variety.” Each day as I continue to seek His presence more is revealed. There are days when I seem to take a step backwards, but if I continue to run the race I catch up. As I think back to my initial acceptance of Jesus as a grown person, I find that willingness was the key that opened the door to faith. There was a point where I had to be willing to give up some of my self-will to cross over the threshold of the door of faith. Reason had taken me to the point where I knew I needed a change in my life, but to enter the realm of the Spirit I needed to set these rational thoughts aside. They won’t fit through the door, extreme knowledge and all the different theories of how and why, make ones self too large. Only by the humbling of the self-will was I able to enter the realm of faith and the Spirit. Oh, there are times when I get all puffed up and blown out of proportion, and at these times I find myself outside the door that leads to spiritual blessings. Having been on both sides of the door, I prefer the realm of the Spirit to anything else. As I continue to grow, more is revealed of the Truth, the Way and The Life. God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself…………………..JRE
********************
Some of my spiritual experience, the educational variety, has been learned by program of Alcoholics Anonymous, share this with me:
AA Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Practicing Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: “This is the way to a faith that works.”
BILL W. AA 12X12 page 34
********************
“Meekness was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized, and still others to gain hope in God’s mercy. Thus, He bade us to be gentle and humble of heart.”
JOHN BOSCO
Willingness
Thought for the day: “Jesus Christ didn’t commit the Gospel to an advertising agency; He commissioned disciples. And He didn’t command them to put up signs and pass out tracts; He said that they would be His witnesses.”
JOE BAYLY
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” ROMANS 5:1 NASB
How have I come to believe what I accept to be the Truth, the Way and the Life in Jesus? It did not come about with a flash of light, or even one profound moment where I all of a sudden realized that I would never be the same again. My faith in the finished work of the Cross, has been a gradual progressive experience, and continues to be so. William James referred to this kind of spiritual experience as the “educational variety.” Each day as I continue to seek His presence more is revealed. There are days when I seem to take a step backwards, but if I continue to run the race I catch up. As I think back to my initial acceptance of Jesus as a grown person, I find that willingness was the key that opened the door to faith. There was a point where I had to be willing to give up some of my self-will to cross over the threshold of the door of faith. Reason had taken me to the point where I knew I needed a change in my life, but to enter the realm of the Spirit I needed to set these rational thoughts aside. They won’t fit through the door, extreme knowledge and all the different theories of how and why, make ones self too large. Only by the humbling of the self-will was I able to enter the realm of faith and the Spirit. Oh, there are times when I get all puffed up and blown out of proportion, and at these times I find myself outside the door that leads to spiritual blessings. Having been on both sides of the door, I prefer the realm of the Spirit to anything else. As I continue to grow, more is revealed of the Truth, the Way and The Life. God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself…………………..JRE
********************
Some of my spiritual experience, the educational variety, has been learned by program of Alcoholics Anonymous, share this with me:
AA Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Practicing Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: “This is the way to a faith that works.”
BILL W. AA 12X12 page 34
********************
“Meekness was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized, and still others to gain hope in God’s mercy. Thus, He bade us to be gentle and humble of heart.”
JOHN BOSCO
Monday, March 28, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day:
If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain;
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem, I wonder, just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder?
Should we pity where now we blame?
RUDYARD KIPLING
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” 1 JOHN 3:17 NIV
If we really understood the facts of what’s going on in the lives of many, would we still treat them the same? Probably not. How about the person who is rude to us and doesn’t seem to take the time to even say hello. Maybe I need to remember that possibly their day has not gone very well, and they might have very urgent business going on involving their loved ones, and maybe that little “hello” I expected to come my way, just didn’t get said. How about people that cut us off in traffic? Oh some of them probably are probably being fueled on self-centeredness and are thinking only of them selves. But how about the ones who are trying to get to some emergency situation? We don’t know for sure, we need the facts. Remember that old TV show Dragnet? And Sergeant Friday, who said, “Just the facts Madam, just the facts.” I am sure that if I had just the facts that many times I would change my attitude. My prayer is also that others could have compassion on me because possibly they don’t know all of the fact surrounding my life. I am so grateful for the love of God that has been given to me freely by faith. This love and the process of growing in love is teaching me that I don’t have all the facts, and need to have compassion until I understand more. And then I still need compassion even after I understand, and possibly my rights have been violated, because that is what has exactly been done for me. I was wrong and was forgiven anyway. Today may I continue to grow one step at a time, one day at a time. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, then all the world would be wise. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”
ANN MORROW LINDBERGH
Willingness to remain vulnerable, now there’s something to ponder for the next twenty-four hours. Willingness is the key that opens the door to pure love……thanks for letting me share today, may God bless and prosper you………..jre
“We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.” Alcoholics Anonymous……page 60
Just the facts
Thought for the day:
If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain;
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem, I wonder, just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder?
Should we pity where now we blame?
RUDYARD KIPLING
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” 1 JOHN 3:17 NIV
If we really understood the facts of what’s going on in the lives of many, would we still treat them the same? Probably not. How about the person who is rude to us and doesn’t seem to take the time to even say hello. Maybe I need to remember that possibly their day has not gone very well, and they might have very urgent business going on involving their loved ones, and maybe that little “hello” I expected to come my way, just didn’t get said. How about people that cut us off in traffic? Oh some of them probably are probably being fueled on self-centeredness and are thinking only of them selves. But how about the ones who are trying to get to some emergency situation? We don’t know for sure, we need the facts. Remember that old TV show Dragnet? And Sergeant Friday, who said, “Just the facts Madam, just the facts.” I am sure that if I had just the facts that many times I would change my attitude. My prayer is also that others could have compassion on me because possibly they don’t know all of the fact surrounding my life. I am so grateful for the love of God that has been given to me freely by faith. This love and the process of growing in love is teaching me that I don’t have all the facts, and need to have compassion until I understand more. And then I still need compassion even after I understand, and possibly my rights have been violated, because that is what has exactly been done for me. I was wrong and was forgiven anyway. Today may I continue to grow one step at a time, one day at a time. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, then all the world would be wise. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”
ANN MORROW LINDBERGH
Willingness to remain vulnerable, now there’s something to ponder for the next twenty-four hours. Willingness is the key that opens the door to pure love……thanks for letting me share today, may God bless and prosper you………..jre
“We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.” Alcoholics Anonymous……page 60
Friday, March 25, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer. His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.” JOHN NEWTON
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
ROMANS 2:1 NASB
I can hear an echo of Jesus in the words of Paul when he wrote these words to the church at Rome. Jesus said, “Do not judge, so you will not be judged.” The quote from Paul is from the second chapter of Romans, of course when Paul wrote this he did not use chapters so the whole letter was one continuous writing. To hook up with the meaning of this verse I must go back to the previous chapter to see what Paul meant by judging and who was judging. Paul ends up the first chapter with a list of many ungodly deeds, and I have heard many Christians quote the first chapter of Romans to condemn homosexuals. Some of the things Paul mentions are: unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Wow, what a list. Is there anyone who has not had one of these attitudes at some time? Possibly so, but I find myself not wanting to judge at this point in writing this. After running through this list Paul says if you “judge another you condemn yourself.” None of us are free from our own judgments of others (I am judging by saying this). So what is the answer? For me the only answer I see that can work is love. What brought about a change in my life was when I was unlovable and ungodly, someone loved me. When I was stinking and sinking in my own filth, someone took the time to share of their experience, strength and hope. Today I try and pass on freely what has been freely passed on to me. I find it to pay very well. It just keeps on paying as long as I keep passing it on. I am grateful this morning for the love of God and Godly people who took time for me rather than spending it on themselves. God continues to do for me what I can not do for myself……………………….JRE
“God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet by his grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey.”
WATCHMAN NEE
“During the day, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request “Thy will, not mine be done.”
If at these points our emotional disturbance happens to be great, we will more surely keep our balance provided we remember, and repeat to ourselves, a particular prayer or phrase that has appealed to us in our reading or meditation. Just saying it over and over will often enable us to clear a channel choked up with anger, fear, frustration, or misunderstanding, and permit us to return to the surest help of all, our search for God’s will, not our own, in the moment of stress.”
BILL W. ………………AA 12X12 page 102-103
Someone loved me
Thought for the day: “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer. His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.” JOHN NEWTON
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
ROMANS 2:1 NASB
I can hear an echo of Jesus in the words of Paul when he wrote these words to the church at Rome. Jesus said, “Do not judge, so you will not be judged.” The quote from Paul is from the second chapter of Romans, of course when Paul wrote this he did not use chapters so the whole letter was one continuous writing. To hook up with the meaning of this verse I must go back to the previous chapter to see what Paul meant by judging and who was judging. Paul ends up the first chapter with a list of many ungodly deeds, and I have heard many Christians quote the first chapter of Romans to condemn homosexuals. Some of the things Paul mentions are: unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Wow, what a list. Is there anyone who has not had one of these attitudes at some time? Possibly so, but I find myself not wanting to judge at this point in writing this. After running through this list Paul says if you “judge another you condemn yourself.” None of us are free from our own judgments of others (I am judging by saying this). So what is the answer? For me the only answer I see that can work is love. What brought about a change in my life was when I was unlovable and ungodly, someone loved me. When I was stinking and sinking in my own filth, someone took the time to share of their experience, strength and hope. Today I try and pass on freely what has been freely passed on to me. I find it to pay very well. It just keeps on paying as long as I keep passing it on. I am grateful this morning for the love of God and Godly people who took time for me rather than spending it on themselves. God continues to do for me what I can not do for myself……………………….JRE
“God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet by his grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey.”
WATCHMAN NEE
“During the day, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request “Thy will, not mine be done.”
If at these points our emotional disturbance happens to be great, we will more surely keep our balance provided we remember, and repeat to ourselves, a particular prayer or phrase that has appealed to us in our reading or meditation. Just saying it over and over will often enable us to clear a channel choked up with anger, fear, frustration, or misunderstanding, and permit us to return to the surest help of all, our search for God’s will, not our own, in the moment of stress.”
BILL W. ………………AA 12X12 page 102-103
Thursday, March 24, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself.” ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’”
Romans 1:16-17 NASB
As I read in my Ryrie Study Bible, it says “verses 16-17 is the essence of Paul’s theology: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” When Paul wrote this epistle he had not yet visited Rome, but he was writing to encourage those who had come to believe in Jesus. Many were converted on the Day of Pentecost, and possibly the church in Rome got its start from these believers. Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel. I understand this statement. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but there was a time after having been set free from the afflictions of this world, that I turned my back and was ashamed. I can remember when I was doing time in February 1983, and getting a hold of the Word of God, and the miracle of being set free of the burden that I had been living. That burden was a self-imposed prison of guilt and remorse brought about by self-centered choices. In the wake of my romp through life, living only for myself, many were hurt emotionally, physically and spiritually. When I became aware of God’s plan to set us free of ourselves, I looked back on my life with pain. But, by my faith in the plan of redemption, God forgave me. Oh, I still had to make amends to people in my life, but God and I were starting out new. Then came the time when I got out of jail in April of 1983 and as I went back to the environment where I came from. I got the feeling from those that I used to party with that it just wasn’t cool to be a Christian. This led to my cooling down spiritually and many more years of self-centered behavior, which in turn brought me back to the point of guilt and remorse. This time I knew that “my strength was in the joy of the Lord,” and I turned and ran back to where I belonged and where I felt comfortable, in the presence of the Lord. Today I am not ashamed of what God has done for me, I can’t be. I don’t want to go back to the way I used to be. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the Word of God, because you will have found in it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty.”
WOODROW WILSON
********************
A MEETING OF MOMENTS
[They] put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But this was God’s plan which he had made long ago. ACTS 2:23
The cross was no accident.
Jesus’ death was not the result of a panicking cosmological engineer. The cross wasn’t a tragic surprise. Calvary was not a knee-jerk response to a world plummeting toward destruction. It wasn’t a patch-up job or a stop-gap measure. The death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril.
No it was part of an incredible plan. A calculated choice.
The moment the forbidden fruit touched the lips of Eve, the shadow of a cross appeared on the horizon. And between that moment and the moment the man with the mallet placed the spike against the wrist of God, a master plan was fulfilled.
MAX LUCADO…………God Came Near
Not Ashamed
Thought for the day: “There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself.” ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’”
Romans 1:16-17 NASB
As I read in my Ryrie Study Bible, it says “verses 16-17 is the essence of Paul’s theology: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” When Paul wrote this epistle he had not yet visited Rome, but he was writing to encourage those who had come to believe in Jesus. Many were converted on the Day of Pentecost, and possibly the church in Rome got its start from these believers. Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel. I understand this statement. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but there was a time after having been set free from the afflictions of this world, that I turned my back and was ashamed. I can remember when I was doing time in February 1983, and getting a hold of the Word of God, and the miracle of being set free of the burden that I had been living. That burden was a self-imposed prison of guilt and remorse brought about by self-centered choices. In the wake of my romp through life, living only for myself, many were hurt emotionally, physically and spiritually. When I became aware of God’s plan to set us free of ourselves, I looked back on my life with pain. But, by my faith in the plan of redemption, God forgave me. Oh, I still had to make amends to people in my life, but God and I were starting out new. Then came the time when I got out of jail in April of 1983 and as I went back to the environment where I came from. I got the feeling from those that I used to party with that it just wasn’t cool to be a Christian. This led to my cooling down spiritually and many more years of self-centered behavior, which in turn brought me back to the point of guilt and remorse. This time I knew that “my strength was in the joy of the Lord,” and I turned and ran back to where I belonged and where I felt comfortable, in the presence of the Lord. Today I am not ashamed of what God has done for me, I can’t be. I don’t want to go back to the way I used to be. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the Word of God, because you will have found in it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty.”
WOODROW WILSON
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A MEETING OF MOMENTS
[They] put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But this was God’s plan which he had made long ago. ACTS 2:23
The cross was no accident.
Jesus’ death was not the result of a panicking cosmological engineer. The cross wasn’t a tragic surprise. Calvary was not a knee-jerk response to a world plummeting toward destruction. It wasn’t a patch-up job or a stop-gap measure. The death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril.
No it was part of an incredible plan. A calculated choice.
The moment the forbidden fruit touched the lips of Eve, the shadow of a cross appeared on the horizon. And between that moment and the moment the man with the mallet placed the spike against the wrist of God, a master plan was fulfilled.
MAX LUCADO…………God Came Near
Monday, March 21, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “The eyes of the world see no further than this life, as mine see no further than this wall when the church door is shut. The eyes of the Christian see deep into eternity.” JOHN VIANNEY
“The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.’” JOHN 18:19-21 NASB
When Jesus answered the high priest with this answer, one of the fellows that were standing by struck him. Where were Jesus’ accusers? They weren’t there. The whole trial of Jesus that took place with the Jews was illegal. The law said that a person had to be tried in the daytime, and with his accusers present. Sometimes I find it easy to be upset with the way that they handled the trial of Jesus, but when I take in all the history of Father God communicating with Israel and all the prophesy I see how it was supposed to happen just the way is did. Strange as it may seem, it was all done so that we could be set free. I am living proof that faith in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to set someone free from the world. At one time in my life I could not see any further than the wall with the door closed. Today I have a hope in something greater than I can fully imagine or explain. With the eyes of my heart, my vision sees beyond the natural, and into the spiritual which goes on and on and on. Thanks for letting me share this.
This morning at 4:30 am I got a phone call telling me of the passing of a friend, Tom H.. Tom and I had only been acquainted for around nine months. Tom died from lung cancer brought about by agent orange from Vietnam. I believe that God sent Tom into my life to help me see beyond the wall, and to understand more of eternity. Tom thought he might have pneumonia, and was being treated for it, when they found out it was lung cancer. That was two months ago. He was in the middle of building a house and had many unfinished projects going on at his passing. I remember talking to Tom the day he found out he had cancer. He showed no fear. He was grateful for knowing God and the purpose that Jesus went to the cross, and therefore he showed and expressed the greatest belief in the hope of eternity. Such courage he demonstrated, I will never forget his attitude toward death, and have learned much about life in the short two months that Tom was ill. Tom went to Vietnam in 1965 with the 1st Cav, spent 30 years in the military, 28 years in AA, and died a sober born-again Christian. His life is a testimony to the fact that, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Tom was a free man, I have learned from our short friendship, and look forward to seeing him again. God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself………….JRE
“The Christian is a person who makes it easy for others to believe in God.”
ROBERT M. McCHEYNE
Set free
Thought for the day: “The eyes of the world see no further than this life, as mine see no further than this wall when the church door is shut. The eyes of the Christian see deep into eternity.” JOHN VIANNEY
“The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.’” JOHN 18:19-21 NASB
When Jesus answered the high priest with this answer, one of the fellows that were standing by struck him. Where were Jesus’ accusers? They weren’t there. The whole trial of Jesus that took place with the Jews was illegal. The law said that a person had to be tried in the daytime, and with his accusers present. Sometimes I find it easy to be upset with the way that they handled the trial of Jesus, but when I take in all the history of Father God communicating with Israel and all the prophesy I see how it was supposed to happen just the way is did. Strange as it may seem, it was all done so that we could be set free. I am living proof that faith in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to set someone free from the world. At one time in my life I could not see any further than the wall with the door closed. Today I have a hope in something greater than I can fully imagine or explain. With the eyes of my heart, my vision sees beyond the natural, and into the spiritual which goes on and on and on. Thanks for letting me share this.
This morning at 4:30 am I got a phone call telling me of the passing of a friend, Tom H.. Tom and I had only been acquainted for around nine months. Tom died from lung cancer brought about by agent orange from Vietnam. I believe that God sent Tom into my life to help me see beyond the wall, and to understand more of eternity. Tom thought he might have pneumonia, and was being treated for it, when they found out it was lung cancer. That was two months ago. He was in the middle of building a house and had many unfinished projects going on at his passing. I remember talking to Tom the day he found out he had cancer. He showed no fear. He was grateful for knowing God and the purpose that Jesus went to the cross, and therefore he showed and expressed the greatest belief in the hope of eternity. Such courage he demonstrated, I will never forget his attitude toward death, and have learned much about life in the short two months that Tom was ill. Tom went to Vietnam in 1965 with the 1st Cav, spent 30 years in the military, 28 years in AA, and died a sober born-again Christian. His life is a testimony to the fact that, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Tom was a free man, I have learned from our short friendship, and look forward to seeing him again. God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself………….JRE
“The Christian is a person who makes it easy for others to believe in God.”
ROBERT M. McCHEYNE
Friday, March 18, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?” Luke 16:10-11 NASB
A little bit goes a long way, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, it goes a long way. A little bit of green paint on a white wall takes from the pureness of the overall brightness of the white. At the same time to someone who has sunk into total depression, a small word of encouragement or possibly a little bit of light humor which can bring about a little chuckle, can brighten the scene from dark to light.
I am in a little rush this morning, so I don’t have the time to write more, but I find that sometimes a little goes a long way…….thanks for letting me share…….god continues to do for me what I could not do for myself……………..JRE
“The whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha even in Bethlehem, where He was born; for to His tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as His cross at the last. His birth and His death were but one continual act, and His Christmas Day and His Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day.”
JOHN DONNNE
“Martyr’s are those who have done for Him what He did for them.”
REES HOWELLS
A little bit goes a long ways
Thought for the day: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?” Luke 16:10-11 NASB
A little bit goes a long way, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, it goes a long way. A little bit of green paint on a white wall takes from the pureness of the overall brightness of the white. At the same time to someone who has sunk into total depression, a small word of encouragement or possibly a little bit of light humor which can bring about a little chuckle, can brighten the scene from dark to light.
I am in a little rush this morning, so I don’t have the time to write more, but I find that sometimes a little goes a long way…….thanks for letting me share…….god continues to do for me what I could not do for myself……………..JRE
“The whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha even in Bethlehem, where He was born; for to His tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as His cross at the last. His birth and His death were but one continual act, and His Christmas Day and His Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day.”
JOHN DONNNE
“Martyr’s are those who have done for Him what He did for them.”
REES HOWELLS
Thursday, March 17, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “It is possible to have compassion without love, and it is possible to have kindness without love; but it is impossible for one who has put on love to be unkind and without compassion, for love itself is not just an accessory garment. Love is the complete garment that has all the others built into it, so that love is a total way of life.”
RAY ANDERSON
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
EPHESIANS 3:17-19 NASB
We can do all sorts of good things in this life and call them love, but it may not be necessarily so. Oh, we might head it up under the heading of love, but if there is one small bit of self as the reason for what we have done, then it would come under the heading of good deeds and not love. Like what Ray Anderson said above, love will have good deeds, but not all good deeds come from love. I have a desire to know the love of Christ, but I am finding that to allow this love to work through me I must be emptied of self. Otherwise motives might get in the way. The apostle Paul said that, “love does not seek its own.” What did he mean by this? The way I understand it is that love is unselfish and seeks only good of others. The key word that I find here is others. Love is all about others. Without someone to love is there love? My answer to this would have to be yes. God is love, so even without others there would still be love. But it would just exist. With out someone to receive love, it would just exist, and be almost useless. I am so grateful that many of the barriers in my life that kept love from entering my heart have been torn down, and are still being torn down daily. Sometimes it is difficult to learn to be graceful enough to allow others to demonstrate love. This morning I find myself once again sitting in the classroom of life trying to learn the basic tools of survival. Love appears to be the main one, and is my focus today. Thanks for letting me share. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………….JRE
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“Humility is the garment of the Deity. The incarnate Word was clothed in it, and through it, conversed with us in our bodies, covering the radiance of His greatness and His glory by this humility lest the creature be scorched by the sight of Him. The creature could not have looked at Him, had He not taken on some part of it and thus conversed with it. Therefore every man who clothes himself in garments of humility becomes clothed in Christ Himself.”
ISAAK OF SYRIA
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“Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility, a word often misunderstood….it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.”
BILL W…………… AA 12X12 page 58
Without someone to love is there love?
Thought for the day: “It is possible to have compassion without love, and it is possible to have kindness without love; but it is impossible for one who has put on love to be unkind and without compassion, for love itself is not just an accessory garment. Love is the complete garment that has all the others built into it, so that love is a total way of life.”
RAY ANDERSON
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
EPHESIANS 3:17-19 NASB
We can do all sorts of good things in this life and call them love, but it may not be necessarily so. Oh, we might head it up under the heading of love, but if there is one small bit of self as the reason for what we have done, then it would come under the heading of good deeds and not love. Like what Ray Anderson said above, love will have good deeds, but not all good deeds come from love. I have a desire to know the love of Christ, but I am finding that to allow this love to work through me I must be emptied of self. Otherwise motives might get in the way. The apostle Paul said that, “love does not seek its own.” What did he mean by this? The way I understand it is that love is unselfish and seeks only good of others. The key word that I find here is others. Love is all about others. Without someone to love is there love? My answer to this would have to be yes. God is love, so even without others there would still be love. But it would just exist. With out someone to receive love, it would just exist, and be almost useless. I am so grateful that many of the barriers in my life that kept love from entering my heart have been torn down, and are still being torn down daily. Sometimes it is difficult to learn to be graceful enough to allow others to demonstrate love. This morning I find myself once again sitting in the classroom of life trying to learn the basic tools of survival. Love appears to be the main one, and is my focus today. Thanks for letting me share. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………….JRE
********************
“Humility is the garment of the Deity. The incarnate Word was clothed in it, and through it, conversed with us in our bodies, covering the radiance of His greatness and His glory by this humility lest the creature be scorched by the sight of Him. The creature could not have looked at Him, had He not taken on some part of it and thus conversed with it. Therefore every man who clothes himself in garments of humility becomes clothed in Christ Himself.”
ISAAK OF SYRIA
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“Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility, a word often misunderstood….it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.”
BILL W…………… AA 12X12 page 58
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. If there are rats in a cellar, you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me ill-tempered; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.”
C.S. LEWIS
Words of Jesus found in Luke 6:43-45 NASB, share this with me.
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
You want to know what’s in my heart? Just let me stub my toe, mash my finger, let someone do me wrong, or have things go contrary to the way I think they should go. My mouth will amplify like a Marshall Amp what has been put into my heart. I put certain kinds of language and thoughts into my heart years ago, and exercised these words on a regular basis for many years. Even though for the last six and a half that I have been clean and sober, I have had a daily diet of the Word of God, I still find at times one of these rats coming out of the cellar. For me one of the most difficult aspects of changing my behavior through having Christ “In” my life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, has been changing how I talk. I am not just talking about the use of bad words, but I am talking about how I speak. I find the language that we use as Americans to be some what deceiving. We have a way of using words on a regular basis that we don’t mean. One example is the use of the word die and death. “I’m just dying to do it, it will just kill me if I don’t, and so on. Another example is our use of the word hate and love. We have incorporated them into our daily language when we really don’t mean them at all. Using words that I don’t mean to use goes back a long way in my life, all the way back to when I was a child and first was learning to talk. Today I find the process of retraining myself to be no more than thinking before I speak, and thinking, what would Jesus say? God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE
“We all like the twilight in spiritual and moral matters, not the intensity of black and white, not the clear lines of demarcation, saved and unsaved. We prefer things to be hazy, winsome, and indefinite, without the clear light. When the light does come difficulty is experienced, for when a man awakens he sees a great many things. We may feel complacent with a background of drab, but to be brought up against the white background of Jesus Christ is an immensely uncomfortable thing.” OSWALD CHAMBERS
Rats in the cellar
Thought for the day: “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. If there are rats in a cellar, you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me ill-tempered; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.”
C.S. LEWIS
Words of Jesus found in Luke 6:43-45 NASB, share this with me.
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
You want to know what’s in my heart? Just let me stub my toe, mash my finger, let someone do me wrong, or have things go contrary to the way I think they should go. My mouth will amplify like a Marshall Amp what has been put into my heart. I put certain kinds of language and thoughts into my heart years ago, and exercised these words on a regular basis for many years. Even though for the last six and a half that I have been clean and sober, I have had a daily diet of the Word of God, I still find at times one of these rats coming out of the cellar. For me one of the most difficult aspects of changing my behavior through having Christ “In” my life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, has been changing how I talk. I am not just talking about the use of bad words, but I am talking about how I speak. I find the language that we use as Americans to be some what deceiving. We have a way of using words on a regular basis that we don’t mean. One example is the use of the word die and death. “I’m just dying to do it, it will just kill me if I don’t, and so on. Another example is our use of the word hate and love. We have incorporated them into our daily language when we really don’t mean them at all. Using words that I don’t mean to use goes back a long way in my life, all the way back to when I was a child and first was learning to talk. Today I find the process of retraining myself to be no more than thinking before I speak, and thinking, what would Jesus say? God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE
“We all like the twilight in spiritual and moral matters, not the intensity of black and white, not the clear lines of demarcation, saved and unsaved. We prefer things to be hazy, winsome, and indefinite, without the clear light. When the light does come difficulty is experienced, for when a man awakens he sees a great many things. We may feel complacent with a background of drab, but to be brought up against the white background of Jesus Christ is an immensely uncomfortable thing.” OSWALD CHAMBERS
Monday, March 14, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
DALE CARNEGIE
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophesy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and still to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”
1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-11 NIV
I am at the present time reading the biography of Rees Howells who was a Welsh coal miner. Rees had a historical knowledge of Jesus Christ and was a Christian, but realized that he did not have a personal relationship or truly a personal Savior. He was attracted to America by the lure of money and while he was here he began to read different books and came to understand that there was a deeper spiritual level of worship that he had been missing. After hearing the testimony of a Jewish gentleman who had accepted Jesus, he came to realize that he also needed a closer walk with God through His Son Jesus. The Holy Spirit, visited Rees and gave him time to make to make a decision about His indwelling presence. Rees had to sell out to his self to make room for the Spirit to enter. Upon making this decision the Spirit demonstrated through him a profound love for our fellowman. Rees went back home to Wales and became involved in a revival that took place in Wales around 1906. With the Holy Spirit in his life Rees developed a burden for a man named Will Battery who had been sick and had taken to alcoholism. Rees became a friend to the man and spent time with him, not trying to persuade him, but just sharing from his own experience and just simply being his friend. This act of being a friend had a profound change on the life of Will Battery. Will accepted Jesus and was born again. This change did not happen in a few weeks or even months, but took time over a period of three years. Today I am learning a lesson in life that if I speak to someone about Christ and they don’t accept what I am saying immediately, maybe I should use the example of Rees Howells and just be their friend for years. What is three years compared to eternity?
Today I am grateful for spiritual advisers who see to it that I learn of the experiences of others by offering books to read, that I otherwise might pass by. Today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
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“It is not a question of how much we know, how clever we are, nor even how good; it all depends upon the heart’s love. External actions are the results of love, the fruit it bears; but the source, the root, is in the deep of the heart.”
FRANCOIS FENELON
********************
“You may live in a crowd, but you meet God and face eternity alone.” REES HOWELLS
Friendship
Thought for the day: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
DALE CARNEGIE
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophesy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and still to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”
1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-11 NIV
I am at the present time reading the biography of Rees Howells who was a Welsh coal miner. Rees had a historical knowledge of Jesus Christ and was a Christian, but realized that he did not have a personal relationship or truly a personal Savior. He was attracted to America by the lure of money and while he was here he began to read different books and came to understand that there was a deeper spiritual level of worship that he had been missing. After hearing the testimony of a Jewish gentleman who had accepted Jesus, he came to realize that he also needed a closer walk with God through His Son Jesus. The Holy Spirit, visited Rees and gave him time to make to make a decision about His indwelling presence. Rees had to sell out to his self to make room for the Spirit to enter. Upon making this decision the Spirit demonstrated through him a profound love for our fellowman. Rees went back home to Wales and became involved in a revival that took place in Wales around 1906. With the Holy Spirit in his life Rees developed a burden for a man named Will Battery who had been sick and had taken to alcoholism. Rees became a friend to the man and spent time with him, not trying to persuade him, but just sharing from his own experience and just simply being his friend. This act of being a friend had a profound change on the life of Will Battery. Will accepted Jesus and was born again. This change did not happen in a few weeks or even months, but took time over a period of three years. Today I am learning a lesson in life that if I speak to someone about Christ and they don’t accept what I am saying immediately, maybe I should use the example of Rees Howells and just be their friend for years. What is three years compared to eternity?
Today I am grateful for spiritual advisers who see to it that I learn of the experiences of others by offering books to read, that I otherwise might pass by. Today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
********************
“It is not a question of how much we know, how clever we are, nor even how good; it all depends upon the heart’s love. External actions are the results of love, the fruit it bears; but the source, the root, is in the deep of the heart.”
FRANCOIS FENELON
********************
“You may live in a crowd, but you meet God and face eternity alone.” REES HOWELLS
Friday, March 11, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “If only there were some evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN
“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” Romans 7:19-20 NASB
“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of god, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Romans 7:24-25 NASB
Some of the words of the apostle Paul are confusing to say the least. But as I study them over the years I find them to be truth, and through the understanding of these truths I am able with the help of my spiritual mentors to be a victorious over comer. Like Paul said, it all takes place in the mind. I must daily make the decision to surrender myself and to accept the will of God for my life. The battle goes on, it is a daily challenge and I find that if I let time slide by with me thinking only of myself, after a few days the battle becomes a war. I believe that wars are won by winning the small daily battles, not by some victory that happens once and only once. When I accepted Jesus into my life the war had only just started. I am assured of having victory, but I must fight the daily battles of my flesh. Today I choose to be in God’s Army and serve under the leadership of my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thanks for letting me share, I find God to be doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
********************
“God uses failure, sickness, breakdown, sin personal tragedy, and sorrow to reduce His people to usefulness. Unless the servant of God learns to depend utterly on God and to forsake self-dependence of any kind, he or she remains too strong to be of much value.”
ROBERT C. GIRARD
********************
REASON A BRIDGE TO FAITH
“We were squarely confronted with the question of faith. We couldn’t duck the issue. Some of us had already walked along the bridge of reason toward the desired shore of faith, where friendly hands stretched out in welcome. We were grateful that reason had brought us so far. But, somehow, we couldn’t quite step ashore. Perhaps we had been relying too heavily on reason that last mile, and we did not like to lose our support.
“Yet without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith? For did we not believe in our own reasoning? Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? What was that but a sort of faith? Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to the god of reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time!
BILL W………….As Bill sees it. The AA way of life, page 208
The daily surrender to win
Thought for the day: “If only there were some evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN
“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” Romans 7:19-20 NASB
“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of god, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Romans 7:24-25 NASB
Some of the words of the apostle Paul are confusing to say the least. But as I study them over the years I find them to be truth, and through the understanding of these truths I am able with the help of my spiritual mentors to be a victorious over comer. Like Paul said, it all takes place in the mind. I must daily make the decision to surrender myself and to accept the will of God for my life. The battle goes on, it is a daily challenge and I find that if I let time slide by with me thinking only of myself, after a few days the battle becomes a war. I believe that wars are won by winning the small daily battles, not by some victory that happens once and only once. When I accepted Jesus into my life the war had only just started. I am assured of having victory, but I must fight the daily battles of my flesh. Today I choose to be in God’s Army and serve under the leadership of my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thanks for letting me share, I find God to be doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
********************
“God uses failure, sickness, breakdown, sin personal tragedy, and sorrow to reduce His people to usefulness. Unless the servant of God learns to depend utterly on God and to forsake self-dependence of any kind, he or she remains too strong to be of much value.”
ROBERT C. GIRARD
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REASON A BRIDGE TO FAITH
“We were squarely confronted with the question of faith. We couldn’t duck the issue. Some of us had already walked along the bridge of reason toward the desired shore of faith, where friendly hands stretched out in welcome. We were grateful that reason had brought us so far. But, somehow, we couldn’t quite step ashore. Perhaps we had been relying too heavily on reason that last mile, and we did not like to lose our support.
“Yet without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith? For did we not believe in our own reasoning? Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? What was that but a sort of faith? Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to the god of reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time!
BILL W………….As Bill sees it. The AA way of life, page 208
Thursday, March 10, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “What matters in the church is not religion but the form of Christ, and its taking form amidst a band of men.” DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
“Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.”
Acts 17:1-4 NASB
The Apostle Paul reasoned with the Jews of Thessalonica. Just a short time before this Paul had been at the city of Philippi and found that he could not reason with the Jews there. As a matter of fact they stirred up the people and had Paul and Silas beat and thrown in jail. This was against their rights as Roman Citizens. When they were released they though it best to leave the area and went to Thessalonica. There they found Jews that they could reason with.
What exactly is this thing called reason? This morning I went to Webster’s Dictionary and have come up with some definitions. Share this with me:
An explanation or justification of an act, idea, etc.
A cause or motive
The ability to think, form judgments, draw conclusions, etc.
Sound thought or judgment; good sense
Normal mental powers; a sound mind; sanity
Also I found this:
To think coherently and logically; draw inferences or conclusions from facts known or assumed
To argue or talk in a logical way
So here are some definitions of what we call reason. I am so grateful that I am able to read the Word of God and to draw conclusions of it on my own. I can reason through it. I can see and reason with the fact that over a period of fifteen hundred years, and scores of different writers, how the Word of God is knit together to form one continuous plan of redemption. From the first thoughts of the Word to the last word in Revelation, Jesus Christ can be seen and reasoned. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit which has softened and opened the eyes of my heart to allow reason to become a way of life. I don’t want to go back to the way I used to be. Hail Reason, God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………..JRE
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“The demand that God should forgive such a [sinful] man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.
“In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.”
C.S. LEWIS
********************
“Man is suppose to think and act. He wasn’t made in God’s image to be an automaton.” BILL W. As Bill sees it. The AA Way of Life
Reason
Thought for the day: “What matters in the church is not religion but the form of Christ, and its taking form amidst a band of men.” DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
“Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.”
Acts 17:1-4 NASB
The Apostle Paul reasoned with the Jews of Thessalonica. Just a short time before this Paul had been at the city of Philippi and found that he could not reason with the Jews there. As a matter of fact they stirred up the people and had Paul and Silas beat and thrown in jail. This was against their rights as Roman Citizens. When they were released they though it best to leave the area and went to Thessalonica. There they found Jews that they could reason with.
What exactly is this thing called reason? This morning I went to Webster’s Dictionary and have come up with some definitions. Share this with me:
An explanation or justification of an act, idea, etc.
A cause or motive
The ability to think, form judgments, draw conclusions, etc.
Sound thought or judgment; good sense
Normal mental powers; a sound mind; sanity
Also I found this:
To think coherently and logically; draw inferences or conclusions from facts known or assumed
To argue or talk in a logical way
So here are some definitions of what we call reason. I am so grateful that I am able to read the Word of God and to draw conclusions of it on my own. I can reason through it. I can see and reason with the fact that over a period of fifteen hundred years, and scores of different writers, how the Word of God is knit together to form one continuous plan of redemption. From the first thoughts of the Word to the last word in Revelation, Jesus Christ can be seen and reasoned. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit which has softened and opened the eyes of my heart to allow reason to become a way of life. I don’t want to go back to the way I used to be. Hail Reason, God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………..JRE
********************
“The demand that God should forgive such a [sinful] man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.
“In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.”
C.S. LEWIS
********************
“Man is suppose to think and act. He wasn’t made in God’s image to be an automaton.” BILL W. As Bill sees it. The AA Way of Life
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Paralyze resistance with persistence” Woody Hayes
“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.”
Joshua 11:23 NASB
This is the last Scripture verse I read this morning. My daily readings in the Old and New Testaments are at unusual places. I am reading of Paul’s missionary voyages to Europe and at the same time I am reading of Joshua’s voyages into Canaan. They both appear to me to be missionary voyages. Joshua carried the Word of God with a sword of steel, while Paul carried the Word of God as a sword of love. Having spent some time in the military, I am impressed with the tactics that God gave to Joshua to overcome the enemy. Joshua was taught commando tactics of ambush, setting up night defensive positions, and the use of bait to draw the enemy out in order to be caught in an ambush. They no doubt refer to the Book of Joshua when teaching military leaders the art of war. Joshua was also persistent in his strategy, he had some problems at first with discipline and obedience of his troops, but after he took care of business his army functioned like a well-oiled machine.
Today I find that I need this same persistence in dealing with my own battles. There is a war going on in my mind at all times, I’m not saying I don’t have peace and serenity. I’m saying that there is always a pull between what is right, and what I find to be wrong. Persistence and being continually on the look out for an ambush by the enemy are keys to keeping a daily victory. I am also grateful that I don’t have to fight this battle alone. I have God and the Word of God as encouragement. I have Jesus my best friend who will never leave me. I have the Holy Spirit as an inner voice of love giving direction. I have the fellowship of friends who pray with me and for me, and I likewise for them. We have an army of soldiers, and with the anointing of the Holy Spirit we are well oiled. I am truly grateful for my deliverance and daily victory in my war with alcoholism and addictions. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself ……………….JRE
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB
********************
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that he will make things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Well oiled army
Thought for the day: “Paralyze resistance with persistence” Woody Hayes
“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.”
Joshua 11:23 NASB
This is the last Scripture verse I read this morning. My daily readings in the Old and New Testaments are at unusual places. I am reading of Paul’s missionary voyages to Europe and at the same time I am reading of Joshua’s voyages into Canaan. They both appear to me to be missionary voyages. Joshua carried the Word of God with a sword of steel, while Paul carried the Word of God as a sword of love. Having spent some time in the military, I am impressed with the tactics that God gave to Joshua to overcome the enemy. Joshua was taught commando tactics of ambush, setting up night defensive positions, and the use of bait to draw the enemy out in order to be caught in an ambush. They no doubt refer to the Book of Joshua when teaching military leaders the art of war. Joshua was also persistent in his strategy, he had some problems at first with discipline and obedience of his troops, but after he took care of business his army functioned like a well-oiled machine.
Today I find that I need this same persistence in dealing with my own battles. There is a war going on in my mind at all times, I’m not saying I don’t have peace and serenity. I’m saying that there is always a pull between what is right, and what I find to be wrong. Persistence and being continually on the look out for an ambush by the enemy are keys to keeping a daily victory. I am also grateful that I don’t have to fight this battle alone. I have God and the Word of God as encouragement. I have Jesus my best friend who will never leave me. I have the Holy Spirit as an inner voice of love giving direction. I have the fellowship of friends who pray with me and for me, and I likewise for them. We have an army of soldiers, and with the anointing of the Holy Spirit we are well oiled. I am truly grateful for my deliverance and daily victory in my war with alcoholism and addictions. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself ……………….JRE
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB
********************
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that he will make things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Monday, March 07, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping down, to get His bests gifts.”
F.B. Meyer
“And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.”
Acts 15:39-40 NASB
How could two Spirit filled Christian men, who had worked together for several years in a ministry of reaching out to the lost, have a personality conflict so great that it would split up the team? It just doesn’t seem possible to me that Paul and Barnabas could split up. Why they even had been beaten together for the cause of the Lord Jesus. As I read this chapter this morning I have become involved in the squabble between Paul and Barnabas, and fail to see the larger picture and how God was working out even the smallest details in each of their ministries. The reason for the personality conflict between Paul and Barnabas was Mark. Earlier when they had started out to tell the peoples on the European continent of the Love of Jesus and the great gift of grace and forgiveness given by God to all men, Mark bailed out right after they first got started. They had many hardships on that journey and Paul probably thought that they really could have used Mark along to help out. No doubt Mark was young and possibly got homesick.
As they started out again to visit the church’s they had started, Paul was against taking Mark, and therefore the conflict. As I look at the big picture I see how it would have been a major mistake to leave Mark alone and feeling rejected. He needed somebody on his side, even if he had been a bad boy. Barnabas “left the ninety-nine for the one.” What an act of grace to stoop down and encourage someone discouraged. It would have been easy for Mark after being rejected to just give up on the whole church thing. But Barnabas encouraged him and several years later we find Paul on death row writing a letter to Timothy asking that when he comes to visit to bring with him Mark “for he is useful to me for service.” (2 Timothy 4:11)
In AA we read something at every meeting that says we should “put principles before personalities,” how difficult this is. I am learning that I will not like everyone, but for my own serenity I must love and forgive everyone. This is something I must practice daily. I am so grateful for the Word of God that has shown me that even through conflicts of personalities, God’s purpose still is working. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28 NASB
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“I believe that each individual is precious to God, and that a divine undefeatable purpose is being worked out in every life; a life that goes on after death. A thousand things happen to us which are not ‘the will of God,’ but nothing can happen to us which can defeat His purpose at last.” Leslie D. Weatherhead
Personal conflicts
Thought for the day: “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping down, to get His bests gifts.”
F.B. Meyer
“And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.”
Acts 15:39-40 NASB
How could two Spirit filled Christian men, who had worked together for several years in a ministry of reaching out to the lost, have a personality conflict so great that it would split up the team? It just doesn’t seem possible to me that Paul and Barnabas could split up. Why they even had been beaten together for the cause of the Lord Jesus. As I read this chapter this morning I have become involved in the squabble between Paul and Barnabas, and fail to see the larger picture and how God was working out even the smallest details in each of their ministries. The reason for the personality conflict between Paul and Barnabas was Mark. Earlier when they had started out to tell the peoples on the European continent of the Love of Jesus and the great gift of grace and forgiveness given by God to all men, Mark bailed out right after they first got started. They had many hardships on that journey and Paul probably thought that they really could have used Mark along to help out. No doubt Mark was young and possibly got homesick.
As they started out again to visit the church’s they had started, Paul was against taking Mark, and therefore the conflict. As I look at the big picture I see how it would have been a major mistake to leave Mark alone and feeling rejected. He needed somebody on his side, even if he had been a bad boy. Barnabas “left the ninety-nine for the one.” What an act of grace to stoop down and encourage someone discouraged. It would have been easy for Mark after being rejected to just give up on the whole church thing. But Barnabas encouraged him and several years later we find Paul on death row writing a letter to Timothy asking that when he comes to visit to bring with him Mark “for he is useful to me for service.” (2 Timothy 4:11)
In AA we read something at every meeting that says we should “put principles before personalities,” how difficult this is. I am learning that I will not like everyone, but for my own serenity I must love and forgive everyone. This is something I must practice daily. I am so grateful for the Word of God that has shown me that even through conflicts of personalities, God’s purpose still is working. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28 NASB
********************
“I believe that each individual is precious to God, and that a divine undefeatable purpose is being worked out in every life; a life that goes on after death. A thousand things happen to us which are not ‘the will of God,’ but nothing can happen to us which can defeat His purpose at last.” Leslie D. Weatherhead
Thursday, March 03, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds; For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.”
PROVERBS 27:23-24 NKJV
As I think on this Scripture this morning I come to the realization that some things can go on for a long time and other things don’t endure for all generations. As I look out my window I see the creek and the large sycamore trees that have rooted themselves close to the water. And then I realize that fifty years ago when I was a kid playing on the creek bank, that these big trees weren’t here. Many things are in a constant state of change and other things like crowns, jewels and gold don’t really grow. They might increase in value, but in size, no. We must tend to and know the state of our spiritual flocks, and believe me; each one of us has someone who is looking up to us at this time in out lives for spiritual guidance. We may not realize that we are being watched, but we are. All we really carry with us after this life is the good we have done others. That dollar and seventy-five cents in my pocket will be in the hands of someone else. And praise God if I happen to give it to someone who needs it, then, I get to carry its value with me. I enjoyed what the Dake Bible had to say about this Scripture, share this with me:
“Do not trust your flocks to the shepherd only, but number them yourself and see that they are well tended and fed. Flocks will multiply generation after generation, but other riches and even the crowns of kings are temporary and will soon pass away.”
Some things in our lives we should keep track of ourselves, because they are always changing. This Scripture has given me food for thought today. I am so grateful for a loving God who was yesterday, is the same today, and will be the same tomorrow, this I can count and take to the bank. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………..JRE
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel form the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” PHILIPPIANS 1:3-6 NKJV
********************
“Because we cannot see Christ we cannot express our love to Him; but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do to them what, if we saw Him, we would like to do to Christ.” MOTHER TERESA
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“True ambition is not what we though it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.”
BILL W. ……………AA 12X12 page 124-25
Counting sheep
Thought for the day: “Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds; For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.”
PROVERBS 27:23-24 NKJV
As I think on this Scripture this morning I come to the realization that some things can go on for a long time and other things don’t endure for all generations. As I look out my window I see the creek and the large sycamore trees that have rooted themselves close to the water. And then I realize that fifty years ago when I was a kid playing on the creek bank, that these big trees weren’t here. Many things are in a constant state of change and other things like crowns, jewels and gold don’t really grow. They might increase in value, but in size, no. We must tend to and know the state of our spiritual flocks, and believe me; each one of us has someone who is looking up to us at this time in out lives for spiritual guidance. We may not realize that we are being watched, but we are. All we really carry with us after this life is the good we have done others. That dollar and seventy-five cents in my pocket will be in the hands of someone else. And praise God if I happen to give it to someone who needs it, then, I get to carry its value with me. I enjoyed what the Dake Bible had to say about this Scripture, share this with me:
“Do not trust your flocks to the shepherd only, but number them yourself and see that they are well tended and fed. Flocks will multiply generation after generation, but other riches and even the crowns of kings are temporary and will soon pass away.”
Some things in our lives we should keep track of ourselves, because they are always changing. This Scripture has given me food for thought today. I am so grateful for a loving God who was yesterday, is the same today, and will be the same tomorrow, this I can count and take to the bank. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………..JRE
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel form the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” PHILIPPIANS 1:3-6 NKJV
********************
“Because we cannot see Christ we cannot express our love to Him; but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do to them what, if we saw Him, we would like to do to Christ.” MOTHER TERESA
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“True ambition is not what we though it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.”
BILL W. ……………AA 12X12 page 124-25
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “The heart is rich when it is content, and it is always content when it desires are fixed on God. Nothing can bring greater happiness than doing God’s will for the love of God.” Miguel Febres Cordero-Munoz
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more: and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:19-22 NKJV
Paul and Jesus both had a habit of going places that many of the uppity up though they shouldn’t. Jesus ate meals and drank wine with sinners. Paul also hung out with those who were “without law,” or the gentiles who were not Jewish. While at the same time he could be at ease with the strict Jewish leaders because he himself had been there at one time. The part of this Scripture that really speaks to me is where Paul said to the weak he became as weak. To become weak for the benefit of others we must humble ourselves and set pride aside. For several years I have heard people say to me, “Why do you have to keep going to those AA meetings?” For me Paul hit the nail on the head when he said “I became as weak that I might win the weak.” When I go to meetings and share of my own personal weaknesses, I hope that someone will relate to my sufferings. And I also hope that someone will relate to my daily victory in overcoming my addictions through my dependence on God. When I share how it works I tell of how I have ceased fighting alcohol, how I have to surrender on a daily basis my will to God. I realize that I must follow in Paul’s footsteps and continue to become “all things to all men,” that I might by all means (help) save some. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…..JRE
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NKJV
********************
My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper and I the underside.
The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.
Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
Author unknown
All to all
Thought for the day: “The heart is rich when it is content, and it is always content when it desires are fixed on God. Nothing can bring greater happiness than doing God’s will for the love of God.” Miguel Febres Cordero-Munoz
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more: and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:19-22 NKJV
Paul and Jesus both had a habit of going places that many of the uppity up though they shouldn’t. Jesus ate meals and drank wine with sinners. Paul also hung out with those who were “without law,” or the gentiles who were not Jewish. While at the same time he could be at ease with the strict Jewish leaders because he himself had been there at one time. The part of this Scripture that really speaks to me is where Paul said to the weak he became as weak. To become weak for the benefit of others we must humble ourselves and set pride aside. For several years I have heard people say to me, “Why do you have to keep going to those AA meetings?” For me Paul hit the nail on the head when he said “I became as weak that I might win the weak.” When I go to meetings and share of my own personal weaknesses, I hope that someone will relate to my sufferings. And I also hope that someone will relate to my daily victory in overcoming my addictions through my dependence on God. When I share how it works I tell of how I have ceased fighting alcohol, how I have to surrender on a daily basis my will to God. I realize that I must follow in Paul’s footsteps and continue to become “all things to all men,” that I might by all means (help) save some. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…..JRE
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NKJV
********************
My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper and I the underside.
The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.
Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
Author unknown
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17 NASB
How do I increase my faith? As I search this out this morning in the Word of God I can’t find anywhere where it says to pray for increased faith. James does speak of the prayer of faith, but does not say to pray for faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing. As we read the word we hear the words sound in our inner ears of our heart. When others speak of Jesus Christ the Living Word of God, we once again hear with our physical outer ears and with the spiritual inner ears of our heart. Faith comes by receiving the Word. Just as muscles increase by exercise and use, our faith, once received, must be exercised and used to increase. As I study out how to use the faith I have received, and to make it increase, I find the Scripture found in Matthew 17:19-20 NKJV, where the disciples could not cast out a demon from a young boy, share this with me:
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’”
As I study this Scripture out I find that Jesus said to “have faith as” a mustard seed, not like the size of a mustard seed. The Greek word used here for “as” is Hos, and is translated always as “as, like, how, about, and after.” I think that Jesus used a mustard seed because the people were familiar with it. If He had been speaking here in Missouri He might have used a corn seed, or a soybean seed. Faith as a seed to me means that it has to be planted or used. Just holding on to a apple seed will never bring about apples. We must use the seeds given to us from hearing the Word of God. I am so grateful for the little Greek word “Hos” which has taught me to use what I have no matter how small. When I sow my faith in love, God will give the increase. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
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“Faith makes all evil good to us, and all good better; unbelief makes all good evil, and all evil worse. Faith laughs at the shaking of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf; unbelief starves the soul; faith finds food in famine, and a table in the wilderness. In the greatest danger, faith says, ‘I have a great God.’ When outward strength is broken, faith rests on the promises. In the midst of sorrow, faith draws the sting out of every trouble, and takes out the bitterness from every affliction.”
ROBERT CECIL
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“Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has place in our hands.”
BILL W. ………………….Grapevine, April 1961
Hearing and hearing and hearing
Thought for the day: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17 NASB
How do I increase my faith? As I search this out this morning in the Word of God I can’t find anywhere where it says to pray for increased faith. James does speak of the prayer of faith, but does not say to pray for faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing. As we read the word we hear the words sound in our inner ears of our heart. When others speak of Jesus Christ the Living Word of God, we once again hear with our physical outer ears and with the spiritual inner ears of our heart. Faith comes by receiving the Word. Just as muscles increase by exercise and use, our faith, once received, must be exercised and used to increase. As I study out how to use the faith I have received, and to make it increase, I find the Scripture found in Matthew 17:19-20 NKJV, where the disciples could not cast out a demon from a young boy, share this with me:
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’”
As I study this Scripture out I find that Jesus said to “have faith as” a mustard seed, not like the size of a mustard seed. The Greek word used here for “as” is Hos, and is translated always as “as, like, how, about, and after.” I think that Jesus used a mustard seed because the people were familiar with it. If He had been speaking here in Missouri He might have used a corn seed, or a soybean seed. Faith as a seed to me means that it has to be planted or used. Just holding on to a apple seed will never bring about apples. We must use the seeds given to us from hearing the Word of God. I am so grateful for the little Greek word “Hos” which has taught me to use what I have no matter how small. When I sow my faith in love, God will give the increase. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
********************
“Faith makes all evil good to us, and all good better; unbelief makes all good evil, and all evil worse. Faith laughs at the shaking of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf; unbelief starves the soul; faith finds food in famine, and a table in the wilderness. In the greatest danger, faith says, ‘I have a great God.’ When outward strength is broken, faith rests on the promises. In the midst of sorrow, faith draws the sting out of every trouble, and takes out the bitterness from every affliction.”
ROBERT CECIL
********************
“Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has place in our hands.”
BILL W. ………………….Grapevine, April 1961
