Thought for the Day

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Faith-love connection

Thought for the day: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. It is so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” MARTIN LUTHER

“For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” GALATIANS 5:5-6 NASB

The apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia, addressed the problem of the Jewish Christians. They were trying to go back to their old customs of doing things to make God happy. Oh God wants us to do good things and all of our good works will not go unrecognized. But, this is not how we come to God. This is not how we are able to have a one on one relationship with God. It is only by faith in the finished work of the cross, that we are able to draw close to God. And how does this faith work? Scripture says that it works through love. This is so true. I can relate my own experience to this faith-love connection. My life had become hardened by the many choices that I made thinking only of myself. I started partying in the late sixties and right on through the seventies, most of the eighties, and half of the nineties. I had accepted Jesus into my life in 1983, but I didn’t know too much about faith, love, or how to really apply all of my new found beliefs to my life. I still thought that it was all about doing good, this I believed was why Jesus came, to make us good people. I now know that being a good person is a by-product of faith. And I also realize that sometimes I am not a good person. Does that mean that I loose everything because I screw up? Of course not, I will never be perfect. It’s not about what you do, circumcision or uncircumcision, it is about what your heart believes, your faith. When I came to the conclusion that it was a gift, this thing called faith. I came to understand that when God gave me the spiritual eyes to understand faith, this understanding traveled on the wings of love from Father God to me. I did not do anything to receive it but open my eyes. When I exercise the faith that has been given to me, it travels to and fro once again on the wings of love. My hardened self had to become brittle enough to crack, and so to let in the light of love. Today I find that God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself………………….JRE

“There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours that there is in the world in 365 days. I have tried them both.” R.A. TORREY

“Do not wait to do a great thing. The opportunity may never come. But since little things are constantly claiming your attention, do them for a great motive, for the glory of God, and to do good to others.” F.B. MEYER

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There is none like You

Thought for the day: “God walks with us…… He scoops us up in His arms or simply sits with us in silent strength until we cannot avoid the awesome recognition that yes, even now, He is here.” GLORIA GAITHER

“For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”
2 SAMUEL 7:22 NASB

These words come from the heart and mouth of David. Up to this time the Israelites had only had a tent for the priests to minister for the people and the worship of God. This was also a place for the presence of God to reside. David took it in his heart to build God a real house, a temple. But the prophet Nathan got a word from the Lord and told David that he was not the one to build the temple. The reason being that David was a man of war. This must have been a real blow to David. The prophet Nathan then continues on with the word of the Lord that had been given to him, he said that “He had taken him from the sheep pastures to being ruler and king over His people, and that instead He would build him a house.” The prophet Nathan also said that “after David died He would raise up his descendent and establish his kingdom forever.” This has happened with Jesus who is a descendent of David and is King of kings forever. God did not leave David down in the dumps because he rejected him from building a temple of praise. He had something better for him, and us, and God used David to accomplish His will. David’s life after God established His covenant with him was not a bowl of cherries. As a matter of fact David’s sin escalated, and his family never got along. My question is why after God bestowed such great favor on David, did things go sourer? One thing I do know is that God’s word is good. God did not withdraw his covenant with David because he screwed up. And today because God honored His word, David’s descendent Jesus picked up my burdens and replaced them with grace, forgiveness, love, kindness, and joy. What a trade-off. David penned the words, “There is none like You,” and today when I sing that song I know in my heart that:
“There is none like you, No one else could touch my heart like you do, I could search for all eternity long, and find, there is none like You.”
Today I find that God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself, “there is none like You”…………….JRE

“God wants nothing from us except our needs, and these furnish Him with room to display His bounty when He supplies them freely……..Not what I have, but what I do not have, is the first point of contact between my soul and God.” CHARLES H. SPURGEON

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"A frame to hang things on"

Thought for the day: “We don’t walk spiritually by electric light, but by a hand-held lantern. And a lantern shows only the next step, not several steps ahead.”
AMY CARMICHAEL

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.”
PSALM 119:105 NASB

Once again the Word of God is a lantern showing the next step I need to take. This morning in my prayer time I ponder the words of Jesus about using “meaningless repetition” in our prayers. Share this with me:

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:7-8 NASB

Jesus then went on to give the disciples an example of a prayer and how to use it. This prayer is known as The Lords Prayer, and is one of the few doctrines that is common to all Christians. He said first “do not use meaningless repetition,” and what have we done with the example? We have taken it, memorized it, and many say it over and over in vain repetition. We have done exactly what Jesus said not to. Last night I heard a sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, and I heard the preacher call this prayer “a frame to hang things on.” Oh how that opened my eyes to the prayer. I knew that this prayer was just an example of how we should pray, but I had never considered it a “frame to hang things on.” The preacher went on to say that we could spend much time that is not considered vain repetition with just the first few lines. “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” God’s name is hallowed and as we go through the list of all the wonderful attributes and names of Jehovah, if we meditate on each one we can come to a deeper understanding of how awesome God truly is. Some of the names that God is known by are: Eternal Creator, Sovereign, Provider, Banner, Healer, Peace, Righteousness, Sanctifier, Host, Present, Most High, Shepherd, Maker, Our God, Your God, and My God. I find no repetition in the hallowed name of God. By the time I acknowledge who God is, I find myself involved in a prayer that is more that just “Hallowed be Thy name.” And this is only the beginning, nothing shallow about this prayer if it is used as a “frame to hang things on.” God continues to show me how, and does for me what I could not do for myself………………..JRE

“Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it. If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, there is always another chance for you….You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.” MARY PICKFORD

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Seedtime and harvest

Thought for the day: “Live for today but hold your hands open to tomorrow. Anticipate the future and its changes with joy. There is a seed of God’s love in every event, every circumstance, every unpleasant situation in which you may find yourself.”
BARBARA JOHNSON

“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

GENESIS 8:22

“There is a seed of God’s love in every event.” Now there’s a positive thought that I can use. And if there’s a seed of love in every event, then I can stand on Scripture and believe that there will be a harvest. While the earth remains there will be seedtime and harvest. That is a promise from God. A harvest does not mean that if God sows one little seed of love, you will get in return one little seed of love. It means a harvest, abundance, enough to use, to share, and enough to plant again. Regardless of my situation I must learn to look for God’s seed of love. I must nourish it with the Word of God, water it with faith, and expect an abundant harvest. I believe that the harvest is where the work is located. We have a tendency to think that harvests just come to us. But the harvest means work. Planting, nourishing, and watering are the easy part. When the seed of God’s love is ready for harvest, something has to be done with it. The Love that has been extended to me from God must continue to be extended from me to others. You can’t store up love it will go stagnant. You’ve got to keep it stirred up, keep it swirling around and spilling over. The harvest must be used even if it’s spilled.
Today is a day of harvest for me. When I say that the harvest takes work I use today as an example. Two months ago I planted onion sets, potato starts, yellow wax beans and green beans. This afternoon I will dig a few onions and new potatoes, pick and snap my beans, wash my jars, get my pressure cooker up to steam, and can my harvest to be enjoyed this fall and winter. Sowing the seed and watering was the easy part, the work is today at the harvest. And so it is with the seeds of love that God’s sows into every situation, we must take the harvest and work with it. I will get the work done today, because God will help me by doing for me what I could not do for myself……..JRE

“In material things, you must rely on your own wisdom and that of others. In spiritual things, you cannot rely so much on your own wisdom as on God’s guidance. In dealing with personalities, it is a mistake to step out too much on your own. You must try to be guided by God in all human relationships. You cannot accomplish much of value in dealing with people until God knows you are ready. You alone do not have the power or wisdom to put things right between people. You must rely on God to help you in these vital matters.” HAZELDEN………………Twenty-Four Hours A Day

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Don't put your elbows on the table!

Thought for the day: "The greatest fault of the day is the absence of stillness. Stillness is nowadays often taken as leisureliness or as slowness. Modern man lacks concentration and carries with him an atmosphere of restlessness; with all his knowledge and progress he feels uncomfortable himself, and unintentionally brings discomfort to others. Stillness is therefore the most important lesson that can be taught to the youth of today." HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN (1882-1927)

“Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.”
PSALM 4:4 NASB

I was eleven years old before I really got into television. It’s not that I am old enough to have been around before the invention of television, but my father was in the military and we lived in Europe for seven years and we did not have it. In the early fifties there was no television in Germany. In the mid fifties there was television in France but because we were American we could not understand it so we didn’t have one. There was a period of a year or so around 1953 when I was seven years old and lived in Washington D.C., and I remember television at that time, but there was not really much there for a child. When we came back to the states in 1958 and moved to San Antonio. Television had become a pretty big deal. I remember coming home from school at three o’clock, and the first thing I did was turn on the tube and watch cartoons. The Three Stooges, Our Gang, Popeye, and then at four o’clock there was The Mickey Mouse Club. In the evening there was shows like The Rifleman, Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun will Travel, This is Your Life, and Perry Mason. My family life changed back in those days. The center of the family became the television. We even ate our meals in front of the tube. The television cannot take all the blame for our modern lack of family time. I think the TV tray had a lot to do with it. When we got away from the dinner table we got away from important family time that was used to teach, and discipline. I remember certain rules at the dinner table that my mother taught me. She learned them from my grandparents. I want to pass these on, we are all mostly aware of them from our own teachings. Share this with me:

Wash your hands before eating
Wear a shirt and no hat at the table.
No singing at the table (I never understood this one).
Don’t eat before the prayer is said.
Don’t put your elbows on the table.
Don’t reach across the table, ask for food to be passed, and say please and thank you.
Eat what food you take.
Never just get up from the table, ask to be excused.

Today I am reminded that we as a society have trouble being still. We go all the time, and when we do find time for stillness we turn the television on. Are we missing the fact that we “Don’t put our elbows on the table?” Today I still, even when alone, don’t put my elbows on the table. In my mind I can see my grandfather reaching across the table with his fork and poking my elbow. I don’t know where this was headed today, but I do remember one thing, and that is that God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………………JRE

“The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosure of life that only fear allows to entrap us.” JOHN EMMONS

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Asleep on guard duty

Thought for the day: “Remember that sharing means more than cutting a piece of cake I two equal slices. It involves your whole attitude toward the other person. Remember all the ways you are equal persons in God’s estimation; then equalize your life to fit His opinions, not that of society around you.”
PAT GRUNDRY

And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
MATTHEW 26:40-41 NASB

Jesus had gone a little distance to a quiet place to pray, and He left the disciples on guard duty. Jesus knew that He had been betrayed by Judas, and that there was a large crowd with swords and clubs coming to arrest Him. So He left the disciples on watch, He put them on guard duty. In the military guard duty is taken very seriously. If a person leaves their post or falls asleep, they will be punished. When you’re on guard duty the lives of others depends upon you being alert and aware of the situation at hand. People don’t deliberately fall asleep on guard duty. The spirit is willing to stay awake and be on guard, but the flesh relaxes in the quiet stillness, and pulls the spirit with it into a point of rest or sleep. When I was in Vietnam I was a member of a recon unit and we would spend the daylight hours looking for and in observation of the enemy. We did this in order to relay information back to the to the main element. At night we often set up in a night ambush position and all would stay alert until late in the evening. We then we would take turns staying awake while the others slept. This was done so that someone could wake us if there was enemy activity. Everyone staying awake all night would defeat the purpose in being alert the next day. I remember on more than one occasion where someone fell asleep on watch and we all slept through the night. In the morning I found myself disappointed at our weakness, but grateful that we were not stumbled upon by the enemy. Nobody deliberately fell asleep taking the chance that we all might be killed. The flesh was weak, and pulled us into a dangerous situation. The answer to giving the flesh strength can be found in the words of Jesus, “Keep watching and praying.” Don’t just watch, but pray also. Sure up the flesh with the spirit, don’t let the flesh pull the spirit away with it, but have the spirit strengthen the flesh. The spirit and flesh must work together, why? Because the flesh is the weaker of the two. Gloria Copeland opened my eyes to this morning by something she wrote. Share this with me:

“Have you ever been frustrated with the weakness of your flesh? Have you ever resolved never more to yield to a particular sin, yet when the temptation came, you fell right back into it?
It’s happened to all of us. Even the disciple Peter. He swore he would never deny Jesus….but he did it anyway, time and time again.
There is, however, something we can do to keep from falling prey to temptations like that. We can ‘watch and pray.’ That’s what Jesus told Peter and the other disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that the weakness of their flesh would overcome them if they didn’t strengthen their spirits through prayer.”
GLORIA COPELAND

It is by the grace of God that I can see this spiritual principle today. I am grateful, because God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE

“Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterward.” anonymous

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The medium of grace

Thought for the day: “Gratitude……….is not something we do at all. Rather, it is a medium of grace, a gift of God that softens the heart and enables it to see and hear and receive the things that come to it from God.”
ROBERTA BONDI

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
“Do not quench the Spirit.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-19 NASB

Gratitude is a medium of grace. Without the acceptance of grace from a loving God, we would have no spiritual gratitude. Oh, we could have gratitude and thankfulness for things that are material, and obtained through worldly means, but to be truly grateful spiritually requires grace. Grace is the medium, the substance that gratitude flows on. It’s like electricity, it exists and the results of it can be seen, but it takes the medium of a conductor like the copper wire for it to travel from one place to another. If grace is the spiritual conductor or medium that gratitude travels on, then what is this medium, what is grace, what is its substance? Webster has some mighty fine definitions of grace, share this with me: “pleasing quality, favor, thanks, beauty or charm or form, an attractive quality, a sense of what is proper and right, thoughtfulness towards others, good will, and favor.” I like how grace is defined in some of my Bibles, “unmerited favor.” Something that is done for me that I did not and could not earn. When I accepted Jesus Christ into my life I received grace, there was nothing I could do to earn what was given to me. Forgiveness, oh how wonderful that was, traveled to me on the medium of grace, and I in turn am very grateful, and this gratitude returns to God on that same medium of grace. Grace is the “live wire” from God. It stays plugged in, through this medium of grace God does for me what I could not do for myself………………….JRE

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
2 CORINTHIANS 9:8 NIV

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Healing words

Thought for the day: “Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.” HENRY WARD BEECHER

The wise in heart will be called understanding, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the discipline of fools is folly.
The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
PROVERBS 16:21-24 NASB

Did you know that pleasant words heal? I had never thought about this. I have always considered healing to come from Jehovah-Ropheka the Lord our healer, from God given knowledge about medicine, from the prayers of believers in agreement, and from our own faith as we apply the promises of God to our lives. I have not thought about pleasant words having any healing power in them, but they do. Do we not use soothing words to comfort someone when they are not feeling well? How about when we are praying with someone for healing, are these not words of healing reaching to God and also to the soul of the one being prayed for? How important our words to each other are, many times we realize not the power they have to turn the tide to wellness. I am learning that attitude, prayer, and faith, have much to do with healing. Doctors today see improvement in patients that pray and have a support group of prayer partners. In some ways medicine is catching up with believers, and also believers are catching up to medicine. Faith and medicine will work together hand in hand if used together. I believe that Jehovah-Ropheka meant for us to use everything that God has given us for good. All the way from the single aspirin, to a nation in unison praying for healing of many. Today may I remember that pleasant words heal both ways, to those who listen and those who are speaking. Today I also am finding that God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………..JRE

“Adams choice cost him Eden; Esau’s, his birthright; Achan’s, his life; Lot’s, his home and heards; Absalom’s, his fathers throne; Saul’s, his kingdom; the rich young ruler, the companionship of Christ; Judas lost his apostleship; Demas his discipleship. Pilate, Agrippa, and Felix chose wrong and missed immortality. Ananias’ choice fooled no one but himself. Caleb and Joshua chose well, while Jonah’s first choice nearly shipwrecked himself and the crew.
“Ye older ones, what would your answer be as a father, a mother, as a Christian leader, if concerning our young people, God would say to you today, ‘Ask what I shall make of these young people’? Would your answer prove you know how to choose the things that matter most?”
ROBERT G. LEE
“Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even for the moment you do not see.”…………………BILL W. from a letter dated 1950

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Joy and strength

Thought for the day:
“Indeed, one step taken in surrender to God is better than a journey across the ocean without it……Perfectly to will what God wills, to want what He wants, is to have joy; but if one’s will is not quite in unison with God’s, there is no joy. May God help us to be in tune with Him.”
MEISTER ECKHART

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7 NASB

“If one’s will is not quite in unison with God’s, there is no joy.” What a statement! Eckhart did not say that you wouldn’t experience some happiness, some pleasure, some temporary good feeling. He said “there is no joy.” What a difference I find between happiness and joy. The English word happy finds it’s root in the word hap, and Webster defines this word as, “convenient, suitable, to be fitted to, chance, luck or an occurrence.” Then as I find the word joy, Webster defines as, “a very glad feeling, great pleasure, and delight.” Joy does not seem to have anything to do with outside circumstances, or the word “hap” or something happening, or chance, or luck. Joy has to do with what is going on inside our hearts, an inner feeling of delight and pleasure. Something that takes place in the spirit of man, or the inner part of the spiritual heart. Since joy comes about not by happenings, but by spiritual awareness and spiritual experience, it cannot be moved or removed by things that happen one way or another. When good things happen, joy is not increased, when bad things happen joy is not decreased. Joy takes up residence and becomes a part of the spiritual life of a person. And joy and God’s will in our lives walk together with us on our path. One of my favorite Scriptures is found in Nehemiah 8:10, “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” I have found that many places in Scripture the words joy and strength can be interchanged. Where you find the word joy or rejoice, substitute the word strength and read again. Where you find the word strength, substitute the word joy and read again. Try it, it works just fine. Happy is a worldly term, joy is a spiritual term. Happy is timely, joy is eternal. Thanks for letting me share today, God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE

“Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people were weeping when they heard the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’” NEHEMIAH 8:9-10 NASB

“The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” FREDERICK BUECHNER

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Keyhole to the kingdom

Thought for the day: “The accumulation of vast wealth while so many are languishing in misery is a grave transgression of God’s law, with the consequence that the greedy avaricious man is never at ease in his mind: he is in fact a most unhappy creature.”
POPE JOHN XXIII

“Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people…………..When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He open His mouth and began to teach them saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”
MATTHEW 4:23, 5:1-3 NASB

Jesus began to teach His disciples about kingdom living. He had been going throughout the land proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, and now He was getting down to explaining it to those who followed Him most closely, His disciples. The disciples that Jesus chose were not super spiritualist of their day, they were everyday people just like the multitude that followed Him wherever He went. The people probably did not understand how it was happening that this man could heal every kind of sickness, but they saw it taking place and knew that they wanted to be wherever He was. The disciples saw this, and at this time were probably as much in the dark about what was going on as everyone else. As Jesus began to teach the disciples in particular about the kingdom and kingdom living here on earth, the first lesson was on the human spirit. What a place to start, the source of all our ups and downs. Jesus said blessed, which means happy, is the person who is poor in spirit. This does not mean poor in the Holy Spirit, but poor in our own spirit. One example of a spirited being would be a horse who won’t let you near it, and it runs, kicks, throws it head, and just does what it wants. We would say, “look how spirited that horse is.” Some children have a greater spirit of their own. Others will be more on the quiet side. We all have a human spirit and they are like fingerprints, they are all different. Jesus knew that the key to the door of the kingdom of heaven was in the human spirit. That is why He dealt with it first. You can’t open the door without a key, and keyholes are not large. A large human spirit won’t fit in the keyhole. The key must fit the hole, or it won’t open to kingdom living. Jesus did not say blessed are those who have “No” spirit, but “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” A spirit that is not haughty, egotistical, self-centered, selfish, greedy, mischievous, envious, lustful, cruel, revengeful, and prideful. Boy, what a list, and you know where I got it from? It came right from my own spirit. Today may learn from every word on this page, and may I meditate on “poor in spirit.” When I am poor in spirit, God is able to do for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE

“’Blessed are the poor in spirit’ means: ‘Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God.’ If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put his whole trust in God, there will enter into his life two things which are opposite sides of the same thing. He will become completely detached from things, for he will know that things have not got it in them to bring happiness or security; and he will become completely attached to God, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength. The man who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things mean nothing, and God means everything.”
WILLIAM BARCLAY
How good is that? It kind of hits the spot on everything I had in mind this morning. May God bless (happiness) all of you today…….jre

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Free love

Thought for the day: “There are more people who wish to be loved than there are willing to love.” S. R. N. CHAMFORT

If this statement is correct then there is a shortage of love in this world. Forty years ago we had a generation of young people bloom that had at the center of their philosophy “love.” I speak of this generation from experience. I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s, went to the Vietnam War in 1967, came home in 1968, and by association became a part of that generation of love. We had many mottos that you don’t hear much about today; “Make love not war,” Sex, drugs, and rock and roll,” “free love,” “Peace and love,” “if it feels good do it,” and many others that seem to be lost in some sort of fog. During those days, and I speak from experience, there were many who were advocates of spiritual love. They spoke of the Truth and of true love from the Father, but they had to take a back seat in the love movement of the day, because the love they spoke of cost you something, it was free but it cost you obedience to the spiritual principle of love. You had to give it away. As I look back from today’s view I see where the “free love” that many of us were attracted to was not really love but lust, and it was not free at all but had a great cost that would have to be paid someday. Free love brought about many sexually transmitted diseases, infestation of parasites, and a lack of personal hygiene. There were also many broken hearts that became fuel for drug addiction. Drug addiction led to depression and after a few years many were under a doctor’s care and taking prescription medications. I still recall many who took their own lives because of having lost all hope. Then there were the ones who died accidentally because of over-dosing on drugs. As time moved on to the 1970’s and 80’s, many changes took place in the lives of the generation of love. One of the first behaviors that I took note of was greed, which fueled violence. At first many were willing to share all that they had, later you had to pay for it. Stealing and people being ripped off became a common occurrence. Many people had started going to prison, and the term “free love” faded. After thirty years of drug addiction and alcoholism, spent in search of free love, I have come to know a truly free love. Free love is that “God so loved the world that He gave.” Free love is the love that comes from a family that stands by when the going gets tough. Free love is having friends that encourage and lift you up when others are only critical. Today I know that True Love is Free Love, it travels on a one-way street. God is Love and the originator of all love, it must travel from God, to and through us to others. Today I find god’s love doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him………..Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 JOHN 4:7,8,9, 11 NASB

No voice of prayer to Thee can rise,
But swift as light Thy Love replies;
Not always what we ask, indeed,
But, O most Kind! What we most need.
H. M. KIMBALL

“The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.” Alcoholics Anonymous page 77

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Salt and Pepper

Thought for the day: “Spring is God thinking in gold, laughing in blue, and speaking in green.” FRANK JOHNSON

“Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to respond to each person.”
COLOSSIANS 4:6 NASB

The Greek word that the apostle Paul used for seasoned is “artuo” and it means spice or seasoning. Paul went onto say that our speech should be seasoned with salt and not just spice. I am so grateful that he clarified that some. Salt is a preservative and it also makes some things easier to take in. With our speech seasoned with salt the words will be easier to take in to the mind and heart, and with a seasoning of salt they could be preserved some, so that they linger in the minds and thoughts of a person. Too much salt makes anything hard to take in, but just the right amount eases even the harshest substance to be swallowed and even enjoyed. Most of us season our speech with something. We all try and be interesting when we converse with those around us. I have found in my life, at various times when I felt insecurity and possibly some anger, that I season my speech with substances other than salt. When my self-centeredness allows only one view and one concern, my speech will often be seasoned with pepper, often hot pepper. A little too much salt can be tolerated, but too much pepper leaves a sting and it becomes difficult to even make amends without some passing of time to ease some of the bitter sting of using the wrong words. Today my prayer for myself is to allow the Holy Spirit to screen each word of my conversations that I may use just the right amount of salt with those I may come in contact. If God edits my speech, God will do for me what I could not do for myself……………………….JRE

“Let your speech be always spiced and seasoned with answers that will oppose sin and preserve from corruption thereof. Let it be holy, wise, gracious, Christian, savoury, wholesome, courteous, respectful, desirable, and worthy of being kept in the memory of others.” THE DAKE BIBLE page 221

“In comparison with this big world, the human heart is only a small thing. Though the world is so large, it is utterly unable to satisfy this tiny heart.
Our ever growing soul and its capacities can be satisfied only in the infinite God.
As water is restless until it reaches its level, soothe soul has no peace until it rests in God.” SADHU SUNDAR SINGH

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Troublems

Thought for the day: “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 NASB

I heard this Scripture verse yesterday evening in church, it crossed my mind this morning, and as I type this small page it is as good of a starting place as any I can think of at the present time. The last two Sunday evenings I have been blessed to hear messages on the words of Jesus that He spoke in what is called The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus addresses many problems and troubles that we all experience as we learn to live together. I will address them as troublems from here on, this is a word my cousin Margaret came up with that covers a broader scope. Many of the troublems we have in dealing with others seem to originate right within ourselves, in the part of us we call the heart. Not the physical cardiac pump for the blood supply, but the spiritual center of our being. The place where our spirit resides, and the Spirit of God may reside if invited. Out of this place come thoughts, many of which can be driven by natural instincts of security and survival. If left unchecked these natural desires can develop into self-centered ideas which when received by the mind can become words. These words when spoken without love and compassion attached to them many times become troublems. Troublems that we have to deal with sooner or later in our walk with the Lord and our fellow man. The Psalmist David understood this when he spoke of the “meditations of my heart,” and the “words of my mouth.” Many times our troublems involve only ourselves and God, but when we allow them to become words of our mouth, others become involved. My prayer today is to invite God and God’s love to be part of the meditations of my heart, and that my words may be tempered with love and compassion. These words that I type this morning are dealing with my attitudes first. May I learn from the Word of God, so that God can do for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE

“It was pride that caused the fall of Lucifer and Adam. If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is still humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give but humility, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.”
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

“God is always ready to pour His blessings in to our hearts in generous measure. But like the seed-sowing, the ground must be prepared before the seed is dropped in. It is our task to prepare the soil. It is God’s to drop the seed. The preparation of the soil means many days of right living, choosing the right and avoiding the wrong. As you go along, each day you are better prepared for God’s planting, until you reach the time of harvest. Then you share the harvest with God, the harvest of a useful and more abundant life.” HAZELDEN……………Twenty-Four Hours A Day

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Head and Heart

Thought for the day: “Enjoy your life without comparing it with that of others.”
Marques De Condorcet

Since I dislike you, how can I then fulfill the law of love?
Your speech, your ways, your very image in my eye,
These all revolt me…..(and it is little help that I am sure
you care no whit the more for me!)

Thus battle head and heart, the one reverberant with pique,
The other incandescent in the light of love.
But both, I think, must surely be of God, and so an acrid lesson says
That head must love whom heart insists it cannot like.
God help me try!
SAMUEL J. MILLER


“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
MATTHEW 6:19-21 NASB

The battle between heart and head; the head says hold on to everything for yourself, and the heart says help others who have need. I don’t think that Jesus in His words meant not to save up for a rainy day, but not to store up treasure where it is only for yourself, and never probably ever to be used. Scripture tells us to take care of the widows and orphans, Scripture also tell us to take care of our parents, and Scripture also says when someone asks of you to give. It would be impossible to do well in these areas of giving without some preplanning and preparation. We are to store up treasures in heaven, and these treasures come about by being able to give and minister here on earth. Our heavenly treasures begin in our heart right here on earth as we reach out to those that we may help. We take nothing with us from this earth, except what we have done for others. May I learn to use earthly treasures to build heavenly treasures, and God will do for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.” A. W. TOZER

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Filled with the Spirit

Thought for the day: “Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’ we mean that we believe there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.”
J. B. PHILLIPS

“So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”
EPHESIANS 5:18-21 NASB

Just what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? How much of the Holy Spirit can we receive? How do you know when you are filled with the Holy Spirit? These are questions that I am sure many others have asked also. I will never forget the first week in my life that I called myself a Christian. I had started reading the Bible and believed the Word of God. It was causing a profound personality change in me that family, friends, and the authorities could not bring about by discipline. I was very much aware of the change in me. I had never looked at life this way before. I was thirty-seven years old and everything seemed brand new. The Holy Spirit was giving me new eyes. Within time everything seemed to get dull and old again, and I went back to my old life. Oh I spent years trying to get back that feeling of a brand new life, but it evaded me. I still believed in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Word of God, but I was not filled with the Spirit. Oh I had the Spirit in me, it took the Holy Spirit to bring me to faith and belief, but I was not filled as in the meaning to be overflowing with the Holy Spirit; Filled to the brim, and spilling out on others. It wasn’t until around fifteen years after I became a Christian that I experienced this overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit, only to have it leave the next day. I then realized that this “being filled with the Holy Spirit,” was an experience that was meant to happen again and again. It was different than the initial receiving of the Holy Spirit, which brought about faith and belief. Of course it was the same Holy Spirit but it was manifesting itself in a different way. The second blessing of the Holy Spirit brought about renewed strength and a boldness to proclaim God’s workings in my life. Today I understand more of how the gifts of the Holy Spirit work, and I am willing to receive and new filling. I try and keep my vessel turned upright so as to be filled again, and again and again. I find that God does for me what I could not do for myself…..JRE

5:18 be filled with the Spirit. Paul has taught in this epistle that all believers are sealed with the Spirit when they believe, but not all are filled, since that depends on yieldedness to God’s will. “Filling” describes an experience that can be repeated, and here, as in Acts, it is connected with joy, courage, spirituality, and Christian character. Though contrasted with drunkenness, the filling of the Spirit compares the idea of control, either of wine over a person or the Spirit over the believer.
RYRIE STUDY BIBLE page 1883

“If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades.” OSWALD CHAMBERS

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Believing in others

Thought for the day: “It is the Christians business to believe in others until they learn to believe in themselves.” Gilbert R. Martin

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through al and in all.” Ephesians 4:4-6 NASB

To “believe in others until they learn to believe in themselves;” I find this not only to be Christian business but the business of grandparents, parents, friends, teachers, mentors, judges, and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. That is how AA works. As the newcomer comes and sits at the table having used up all of their options and with no where else to turn, we who have seen the miracle of God changing the lives of those who seek Him, we believe in them. These newcomers don’t even believe in themselves, how could they, they are spiritually drained. But we believe in them, we have seen it work in ourselves, and others. We have seen fear turned to faith, we have seen despair turned to hope, we have seen sickness turned to health, we have seen poverty turned to prosperity, we have seen self-centeredness turned to compassion for others. Those around us see these miracles, before we ever see them in ourselves. As we turn to a loving God for strength, very subtle changes start happening. As the light given to us becomes brighter and our vision and dreams become real, we suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves………………JRE

God laid upon my back a grievous load,
A heavy cross to bear along the road.

I staggered on, and lo! One weary day,
An angry lion sprang across my way.
I prayed to God, and swift at His command,
The cross became a weapon in my hand.
It slew my raging enemy, and then
Became a cross upon my back again.

I reached a desert. O’er the burning track
I persevered, the cross upon my back.
No shade was there, and in the cruel sun
I sank at last, and thought my day was done.
But lo! The Lord works many a blest surprise,
The cross became a tree before my very eyes!

I slept, I woke, to feel the strength of ten,
I found the cross upon my back again.
And so through all my days from then to this,
The cross, my burden, has become my bliss.
Nor ever shall I lay my burden down.
For God some day will make my cross a crown.

AMOS R. WELLS

“On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, page 86