Wednesday, August 31, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “There is a native, elemental homing instinct in our souls which turns us to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.”
RUFUS M. JON
“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last days.”
JOHN 6:41-44 KJV
There is a spot within our spirit that is spiritually like a highly refined and polished piece of stainless steel. This spot constantly feels the magnetic drawing power of the Father, and the direction that we are being pulled is toward the Son Jesus. The force and power that draws us to Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The power of pure love has a drawing affect that can only be resisted by exercising a strong self-will. Other than that, we are naturally drawn to this greater love. The power of God through the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus, and when Jesus becomes a part of out everyday life the Holy Spirit will take up residence in the very spot that is so drawn to God. Luke recorded in the Book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8 that when the Holy Ghost is come upon us we will receive power, that same magnetic power to be witnesses for Jesus. How true it is that when a person has a life changing spiritual experience through belief in Jesus, that new power within them will draw others. Being a witness for Jesus is easy when there is a supernatural magnetic power within us drawing others to us. My AA sponsor tells me that, “one tear is worth a thousand words.” Oh my, how this has been true in my life. When I see those who have gotten a hold of that magnetic drawing power, and out of pure love and joy their eyes water up when they share. One tear has the magnetic drawing power of a thousand words. We can walk away from the drawing power of God, but we can’t stop the pull. I am so grateful that God does not give up on me, and that I am learning to live my life in the flow of God drawing power. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……JRE
“Deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power Greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 55
“In a sense we are all, in some way, outcasts until we meet the Lord. We are thirsty for people to love and accept us. We drink from many wells to try to satisfy our longings, but eventually, we tire of always having to draw water to get our needs met. Each of us asks, Isn’t there someone who will give me water without manipulating me or requiring me to jump through hoops for it? Isn’t there someone who will love me just for who I am? Then Jesus appears at high noon.”
CYNTHIA HEARLD…….A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God
A tear is worth a thousand words
Thought for the day: “There is a native, elemental homing instinct in our souls which turns us to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.”
RUFUS M. JON
“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last days.”
JOHN 6:41-44 KJV
There is a spot within our spirit that is spiritually like a highly refined and polished piece of stainless steel. This spot constantly feels the magnetic drawing power of the Father, and the direction that we are being pulled is toward the Son Jesus. The force and power that draws us to Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The power of pure love has a drawing affect that can only be resisted by exercising a strong self-will. Other than that, we are naturally drawn to this greater love. The power of God through the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus, and when Jesus becomes a part of out everyday life the Holy Spirit will take up residence in the very spot that is so drawn to God. Luke recorded in the Book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8 that when the Holy Ghost is come upon us we will receive power, that same magnetic power to be witnesses for Jesus. How true it is that when a person has a life changing spiritual experience through belief in Jesus, that new power within them will draw others. Being a witness for Jesus is easy when there is a supernatural magnetic power within us drawing others to us. My AA sponsor tells me that, “one tear is worth a thousand words.” Oh my, how this has been true in my life. When I see those who have gotten a hold of that magnetic drawing power, and out of pure love and joy their eyes water up when they share. One tear has the magnetic drawing power of a thousand words. We can walk away from the drawing power of God, but we can’t stop the pull. I am so grateful that God does not give up on me, and that I am learning to live my life in the flow of God drawing power. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……JRE
“Deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power Greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 55
“In a sense we are all, in some way, outcasts until we meet the Lord. We are thirsty for people to love and accept us. We drink from many wells to try to satisfy our longings, but eventually, we tire of always having to draw water to get our needs met. Each of us asks, Isn’t there someone who will give me water without manipulating me or requiring me to jump through hoops for it? Isn’t there someone who will love me just for who I am? Then Jesus appears at high noon.”
CYNTHIA HEARLD…….A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: " “It makes a great difference in the force of a sentence whether a man be behind it or no.” RALPH WALDO EMERSON
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be come conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, he also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who could be against us?”
ROMANS 8:29-31 NASB
The apostle Paul was totally behind the statement, “If God is for us who could be against us.” Paul knew from experience that it was hard to go against the grain when it came to God. It was also hard to go against the grain when it came to the work that was being accomplished through the cross. Paul tried to go against God, and had some success at it for a couple of years. The apostle Paul before he was called to the ministry was what I would call a special prosecutor. He had arrest orders and was having the followers of Jesus imprisoned and executed. Then one day while on the job headed to Damascus to imprison more followers of Jesus, he was floored, and I mean floored big time. God’s light shone and blinded Paul, and a voice spoke to him. Paul had an instant conversion. I really don’t understand too much about this kind of experience, all I know is what I read in Scripture about them. In my life my spiritual experience has been a gradual, growing, learning type of experience, but of no less importance to God than the blinding light type. Paul was predestined to come to a saving grace and work for God. I my self was predestined to come to a saving grace and to be of service to God. That word predestined can really take us places that are hard to understand. I have heard some say that predestined means some will make heaven and some won’t, just the way it is. I don’t buy that. I know from Scripture that Jesus said whoever believes shall not perish. Whoever, not some, and some not, but whoever. That means that we all have been predestined to come to a saving grace through Jesus, but the choice is ours. We can walk away if we want, we are not forced. If we accept what has been predestined for us by God through belief in Jesus, then we are called into some service. Being called we are made through faith, not guilty of our past life, or justified. Being justified we are glorified. All the way from our surrender of self and saying yes to Jesus, to glory. Quite a step, of course God helped us span the distance. Paul understood the change that took place in his life, and penned the words, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” Paul was behind these words all the way, and it makes a difference to me when I read them. Like Paul, God has done for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
“‘The eternal God is thy refuge.’ He is a sanctuary, a refuge from the care of life. You can get away from the misunderstanding of others by retiring into your own place of meditation. But from yourself, from your sense of failure, your weakness, your short-comings, whither can you flee? Only to the eternal God, your refuge, until the immensity of His Spirit envelopes your spirit and it loses its smallness and weakness and comes into harmony again with His.”
HAZELDEN……………..Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Predestined, called, justified, glorified
Thought for the day: " “It makes a great difference in the force of a sentence whether a man be behind it or no.” RALPH WALDO EMERSON
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be come conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, he also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who could be against us?”
ROMANS 8:29-31 NASB
The apostle Paul was totally behind the statement, “If God is for us who could be against us.” Paul knew from experience that it was hard to go against the grain when it came to God. It was also hard to go against the grain when it came to the work that was being accomplished through the cross. Paul tried to go against God, and had some success at it for a couple of years. The apostle Paul before he was called to the ministry was what I would call a special prosecutor. He had arrest orders and was having the followers of Jesus imprisoned and executed. Then one day while on the job headed to Damascus to imprison more followers of Jesus, he was floored, and I mean floored big time. God’s light shone and blinded Paul, and a voice spoke to him. Paul had an instant conversion. I really don’t understand too much about this kind of experience, all I know is what I read in Scripture about them. In my life my spiritual experience has been a gradual, growing, learning type of experience, but of no less importance to God than the blinding light type. Paul was predestined to come to a saving grace and work for God. I my self was predestined to come to a saving grace and to be of service to God. That word predestined can really take us places that are hard to understand. I have heard some say that predestined means some will make heaven and some won’t, just the way it is. I don’t buy that. I know from Scripture that Jesus said whoever believes shall not perish. Whoever, not some, and some not, but whoever. That means that we all have been predestined to come to a saving grace through Jesus, but the choice is ours. We can walk away if we want, we are not forced. If we accept what has been predestined for us by God through belief in Jesus, then we are called into some service. Being called we are made through faith, not guilty of our past life, or justified. Being justified we are glorified. All the way from our surrender of self and saying yes to Jesus, to glory. Quite a step, of course God helped us span the distance. Paul understood the change that took place in his life, and penned the words, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” Paul was behind these words all the way, and it makes a difference to me when I read them. Like Paul, God has done for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
“‘The eternal God is thy refuge.’ He is a sanctuary, a refuge from the care of life. You can get away from the misunderstanding of others by retiring into your own place of meditation. But from yourself, from your sense of failure, your weakness, your short-comings, whither can you flee? Only to the eternal God, your refuge, until the immensity of His Spirit envelopes your spirit and it loses its smallness and weakness and comes into harmony again with His.”
HAZELDEN……………..Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Monday, August 29, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “God is infinite in His simplicity and simple in His infinity. Therefore He is everywhere and is everywhere complete. He is everywhere on account of His infinity, and is everywhere complete on account of His simplicity.”
MEISTER ECKHART
“Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean.”
2 KINGS 5:10 NASB
This morning in my reading I read the story of Naaman who was a great military general for Aram, a country north of Israel. The whole story is about obedience and understanding the simplicity of God. Naaman was a leper, and had no human cure. There was a young girl from Israel who had been taken captive and she worked for Naaman’s wife. She said, “I wish my master were with the prophet in Samaria he would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman needed help so he got permission to go to Israel and meet with the prophet. When he saw Elisha, who is one of my all-time favorite hero’s of the Bible, Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman took offense, and was furious at this. Naaman expected Elisha to come out in person and call on God and wave his hand over the place and some big miracle would take place, but it didn’t happen that way. Elisha only sent a messenger and said to go wash in the Jordan. The rivers in Damascus are clear and, the Jordan was a small muddy little stream. He said are not the “rivers of Damascus better than this?” Then the servants of Naaman came and said, “If he had asked you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” The light came on and Naaman realized the simplicity of God working through the prophet. Naaman was obedient and was cured of his leprosy. This story reminds me of the simplicity of being obedient to what God says. Simple things like baptism and communion. They won’t save you; they are only an outward _expression of an inner change. Last night my church went down to Bryant’s Creek, one of the clear streams that are found in southern Missouri. We had our Sunday evening service right at the creek bank. We sang a few songs, several were baptized, we all took communion, and then we fellowshipped with food, swimming and a little fishing. What really touched me was when some of the adults who had come out of serious life threatening situations were baptized, how the tears they shed flowed freely to the stream below. It was an outward _expression of a profound inner change. No one got saved because of the baptism, they just shared with us what God had and is still doing for them. God also worked a work in me last night; I am closer today to God and my fellow man. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……..JRE
“We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.”
T. S. ELIOT
An outward expression of an inner change
Thought for the day: “God is infinite in His simplicity and simple in His infinity. Therefore He is everywhere and is everywhere complete. He is everywhere on account of His infinity, and is everywhere complete on account of His simplicity.”
MEISTER ECKHART
“Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean.”
2 KINGS 5:10 NASB
This morning in my reading I read the story of Naaman who was a great military general for Aram, a country north of Israel. The whole story is about obedience and understanding the simplicity of God. Naaman was a leper, and had no human cure. There was a young girl from Israel who had been taken captive and she worked for Naaman’s wife. She said, “I wish my master were with the prophet in Samaria he would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman needed help so he got permission to go to Israel and meet with the prophet. When he saw Elisha, who is one of my all-time favorite hero’s of the Bible, Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman took offense, and was furious at this. Naaman expected Elisha to come out in person and call on God and wave his hand over the place and some big miracle would take place, but it didn’t happen that way. Elisha only sent a messenger and said to go wash in the Jordan. The rivers in Damascus are clear and, the Jordan was a small muddy little stream. He said are not the “rivers of Damascus better than this?” Then the servants of Naaman came and said, “If he had asked you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” The light came on and Naaman realized the simplicity of God working through the prophet. Naaman was obedient and was cured of his leprosy. This story reminds me of the simplicity of being obedient to what God says. Simple things like baptism and communion. They won’t save you; they are only an outward _expression of an inner change. Last night my church went down to Bryant’s Creek, one of the clear streams that are found in southern Missouri. We had our Sunday evening service right at the creek bank. We sang a few songs, several were baptized, we all took communion, and then we fellowshipped with food, swimming and a little fishing. What really touched me was when some of the adults who had come out of serious life threatening situations were baptized, how the tears they shed flowed freely to the stream below. It was an outward _expression of a profound inner change. No one got saved because of the baptism, they just shared with us what God had and is still doing for them. God also worked a work in me last night; I am closer today to God and my fellow man. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……..JRE
“We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.”
T. S. ELIOT
Friday, August 26, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “A quiet morning with a loving God puts the events of the upcoming day into proper perspective.”
JANETTE OKE
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
PSALM 34:18 NIV
What is it to be crushed in spirit? The Hebrew word used for crushed is “dakka” and it comes from the root word “daka” which means to crumble; to bruise (literally or figuratively): beat to pieces, break (in pieces), bruise, contrite, crush, destroy, humble, oppress, smite. It is also used for the powdering of something, to crush something until it is powder. Have you ever felt like you’ve been beat down, and then right on top of you comes another load, which grinds you, even finer. Well praise be to God, because that’s when God draws close to you. It’s not that God is farther away at other times, it’s just that during times of having our spirit crushed, God’s presence becomes a light in the darkness. This Scripture I find to be tried and tested in my life. When I am most broken, God is close. When load after load seems to grind me down and I become powdered in my spirit, God lifts me up and helps me rise above the problems so that I can find new directions. I came to God almost seven years ago crushed to powder because of the abuse of meth and alcohol. God helped me to rise above my addictions and to set my house in order, but I have found that this will only continue if I perform daily maintenance on my spiritual condition. I tried for years to stay sober with little success until I learned to start my day off right. Like Janette Oke said, “A quite morning with a loving God puts the events of the upcoming day into proper perspective.” This has been the key to my sobriety yesterday, and today I have learned from yesterday to continue in a daily maintenance today. May I always remember that it is not what you quit that is important, but what you start. Today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself….JRE
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to and end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 NRSV
“What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.” ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 85
Dakka
Thought for the day: “A quiet morning with a loving God puts the events of the upcoming day into proper perspective.”
JANETTE OKE
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
PSALM 34:18 NIV
What is it to be crushed in spirit? The Hebrew word used for crushed is “dakka” and it comes from the root word “daka” which means to crumble; to bruise (literally or figuratively): beat to pieces, break (in pieces), bruise, contrite, crush, destroy, humble, oppress, smite. It is also used for the powdering of something, to crush something until it is powder. Have you ever felt like you’ve been beat down, and then right on top of you comes another load, which grinds you, even finer. Well praise be to God, because that’s when God draws close to you. It’s not that God is farther away at other times, it’s just that during times of having our spirit crushed, God’s presence becomes a light in the darkness. This Scripture I find to be tried and tested in my life. When I am most broken, God is close. When load after load seems to grind me down and I become powdered in my spirit, God lifts me up and helps me rise above the problems so that I can find new directions. I came to God almost seven years ago crushed to powder because of the abuse of meth and alcohol. God helped me to rise above my addictions and to set my house in order, but I have found that this will only continue if I perform daily maintenance on my spiritual condition. I tried for years to stay sober with little success until I learned to start my day off right. Like Janette Oke said, “A quite morning with a loving God puts the events of the upcoming day into proper perspective.” This has been the key to my sobriety yesterday, and today I have learned from yesterday to continue in a daily maintenance today. May I always remember that it is not what you quit that is important, but what you start. Today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself….JRE
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to and end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 NRSV
“What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.” ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 85
Thursday, August 25, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “By nature I was too blind to know Him, too proud to trust Him, too obstinate to serve Him, too base-minded to love Him.”
JOHN NEWTON
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”
ZECHARIAH 4:6
“I once was lost, but now an found; was blind, but now I see.” These words are from the song Amazing Grace written by John Newton. Something happened to John that brought about a miraculous change in his life and it wasn’t natural. In the quote he says that by nature he was too blind, proud, obstinate, and base-minded to know Jesus, but later he penned the words of the most famous Christian hymn ever, in which he spoke of God’s amazing grace. Something happened to John and it wasn’t of nature, or natural, or by his own might and power. It was a profound personality change brought about by a spiritual awakening that came to John through prayer, the prayer of a very sick man physically who was at the end. John’s life had been up to that point had been one of the pursuit of worldly desires and many disappointments. John’s mother died when he was very young and at a young age he went to sea with his father who was the captain of a merchant ship, the time was the mid 1700’s.
Share this quote with me from Lindsay Terry: “From that day Newton began a decline into rebellion and degradation that lasted until his twenty-fourth year. His willful and wanton disregard for all that is right and holy led him into a life plagued with despair, dangers at sea, abuse, public floggings, destitution, depression, near drownings and miraculous escapes. Newton’s misfortunes were largely the result of his own choosing, except that is, for the miraculous escapes.” Something happened to John and it wasn’t natural. John went on to work on a slave ship, after that he worked on a merchant ship that had trouble at sea and they all thought they were going to starve. That was when he decided to change his life and come to God, but the change did not happen quickly. Sometime later he was on a small island off the coast of North Africa and became deathly sick with fever.
Here is a quote from his own autobiography, “Weak and almost delirious, I arose from my bed and crept to a secluded part of the island; there I found a renewed liberty to pray. I made no more resolves, but cast myself before the Lord to do with me as He should please. I was enabled to hope and believe in a crucified Savior. The burden was removed from my conscience.” There it is, his spiritual awakening came about by complete surrender and prayer. What happened to John did not happen by might or power but by the loving Spirit of the Lord. I can relate to old John Newton, I also experienced public floggings, not of the physical type, but of the social type, I was a drunk. I experienced despair, and depression because of the abuse of drugs, and I also engineered many escapes that allowed me to continue on in my lifestyle. Then I reached a point where I was sick, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I had to give up. My, how God answers the simple prayers of need. The prayers with no demands, just a simple “I can’t do it by myself.” Today God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be the firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.” A.A. 12X12 page 21
John "Amazing Grace" Newton
Thought for the day: “By nature I was too blind to know Him, too proud to trust Him, too obstinate to serve Him, too base-minded to love Him.”
JOHN NEWTON
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”
ZECHARIAH 4:6
“I once was lost, but now an found; was blind, but now I see.” These words are from the song Amazing Grace written by John Newton. Something happened to John that brought about a miraculous change in his life and it wasn’t natural. In the quote he says that by nature he was too blind, proud, obstinate, and base-minded to know Jesus, but later he penned the words of the most famous Christian hymn ever, in which he spoke of God’s amazing grace. Something happened to John and it wasn’t of nature, or natural, or by his own might and power. It was a profound personality change brought about by a spiritual awakening that came to John through prayer, the prayer of a very sick man physically who was at the end. John’s life had been up to that point had been one of the pursuit of worldly desires and many disappointments. John’s mother died when he was very young and at a young age he went to sea with his father who was the captain of a merchant ship, the time was the mid 1700’s.
Share this quote with me from Lindsay Terry: “From that day Newton began a decline into rebellion and degradation that lasted until his twenty-fourth year. His willful and wanton disregard for all that is right and holy led him into a life plagued with despair, dangers at sea, abuse, public floggings, destitution, depression, near drownings and miraculous escapes. Newton’s misfortunes were largely the result of his own choosing, except that is, for the miraculous escapes.” Something happened to John and it wasn’t natural. John went on to work on a slave ship, after that he worked on a merchant ship that had trouble at sea and they all thought they were going to starve. That was when he decided to change his life and come to God, but the change did not happen quickly. Sometime later he was on a small island off the coast of North Africa and became deathly sick with fever.
Here is a quote from his own autobiography, “Weak and almost delirious, I arose from my bed and crept to a secluded part of the island; there I found a renewed liberty to pray. I made no more resolves, but cast myself before the Lord to do with me as He should please. I was enabled to hope and believe in a crucified Savior. The burden was removed from my conscience.” There it is, his spiritual awakening came about by complete surrender and prayer. What happened to John did not happen by might or power but by the loving Spirit of the Lord. I can relate to old John Newton, I also experienced public floggings, not of the physical type, but of the social type, I was a drunk. I experienced despair, and depression because of the abuse of drugs, and I also engineered many escapes that allowed me to continue on in my lifestyle. Then I reached a point where I was sick, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I had to give up. My, how God answers the simple prayers of need. The prayers with no demands, just a simple “I can’t do it by myself.” Today God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be the firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.” A.A. 12X12 page 21
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “God is to be seen in the light of a cottage window as well as in the sun or the stars.” ARTHUR G. CLUTTON-BROCK
“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” The NIV uses the term “jars of clay.” The idea here that the apostle Paul is conveying is of the power of God and the Light of knowledge that shinned through the face of Christ can also be found to shine through our lives. The greatness of the power that works through the lives of us that believe in Jesus and the finished work of the cross is not from ourselves. I think many times in my life when I have been empowered to accomplish some task, the first thought I would have would be “see what I’ve done.” As I grow older I realize that I can do very little that is worthwhile or lasting on my own. Paul tells us in these verses that we only can keep this power from God in the containers we have, that is our earthly vehicles, our jars of clay, our earthen vessels. Some of the most beautiful earthen vessels I have met have been people who have been dropped, cracked, broken and put back together, and those who maybe had a piece or two missing. My how the light of God shines through the imperfections of these earthen vessels. They become quite beautiful as God uses them despite their flaws. Today I am grateful for the many earthen vessels that have been part of my life, and especially the ones that the Light of knowledge was able to shine brightly through. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Many of us in the AA program lost a loved one this week. Truman was in his late seventies and passed Monday of heart failure. His heart never stopped loving those that still suffer, it just gave out physically. Because of Truman many small town meetings in my county were kept open because he cared and wanted to be there for somebody if they needed help. He will be missed. I dedicate this devotion to Truman………….JRE
“Nothing in their lives took precedence over their response to a call for help from some alcoholic in need. They would travel miles and stay up all night with someone they had never laid eyes on before and think nothing of it. Far from expecting praise for their deeds, they claimed the performance a privilege and insisted that they invariably received more than they gave. Extraordinary people!” ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 274
Truman
Thought for the day: “God is to be seen in the light of a cottage window as well as in the sun or the stars.” ARTHUR G. CLUTTON-BROCK
“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” The NIV uses the term “jars of clay.” The idea here that the apostle Paul is conveying is of the power of God and the Light of knowledge that shinned through the face of Christ can also be found to shine through our lives. The greatness of the power that works through the lives of us that believe in Jesus and the finished work of the cross is not from ourselves. I think many times in my life when I have been empowered to accomplish some task, the first thought I would have would be “see what I’ve done.” As I grow older I realize that I can do very little that is worthwhile or lasting on my own. Paul tells us in these verses that we only can keep this power from God in the containers we have, that is our earthly vehicles, our jars of clay, our earthen vessels. Some of the most beautiful earthen vessels I have met have been people who have been dropped, cracked, broken and put back together, and those who maybe had a piece or two missing. My how the light of God shines through the imperfections of these earthen vessels. They become quite beautiful as God uses them despite their flaws. Today I am grateful for the many earthen vessels that have been part of my life, and especially the ones that the Light of knowledge was able to shine brightly through. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Many of us in the AA program lost a loved one this week. Truman was in his late seventies and passed Monday of heart failure. His heart never stopped loving those that still suffer, it just gave out physically. Because of Truman many small town meetings in my county were kept open because he cared and wanted to be there for somebody if they needed help. He will be missed. I dedicate this devotion to Truman………….JRE
“Nothing in their lives took precedence over their response to a call for help from some alcoholic in need. They would travel miles and stay up all night with someone they had never laid eyes on before and think nothing of it. Far from expecting praise for their deeds, they claimed the performance a privilege and insisted that they invariably received more than they gave. Extraordinary people!” ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 274
Monday, August 22, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered……Remain spiritually tenacious.”
OSWALD CHAMBERS
“Behold a sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 13:3-9 NASB
Tenacity, refusing to believe my hero is going to be conquered. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tell us how not to be conquered. It’s a matter of how well the soil of our heart is prepared to receive the seed of the Word of God. In my own life over the past forty years I can relate to each of the four places that the seed landed. The first fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up. When I was a young man my heart was not prepared spiritually and my life revolved around me, and my self-centeredness. When I would try and understand God, and the message of Good News sent to me by others, I found that I could not get away from the direction I was headed because of the influence of the many people I ran with. We were like fish in a school moving and turning as one large body. We were all on the same road, and that seed was sown by the roadside. Later after my military service and a few years of college, because of a few things I had read and the influence of drugs and alcohol in my life, I started to think of myself as becoming deeper in my thought processes. I was a legend in my own mind with these thoughts. I was truly very shallow and my heart was the “rocky place” that Jesus referred to. When the Good News of a better life was spoke to me, I immediately received it and with joy it sprouted. But having no depth in my spiritual life the sunshine of everyday living withered what little spiritual growth there was. Later when I became entangled in the vicious cycles of alcohol and drug addiction my life was spent living with the thorns. I myself was a thorn in the side of my family, friends, neighbors, and the legal system. Whenever someone would bring the Good News of a better life it would get no further than right on top of the thorns, it got choked out before it ever had a chance to get planted. It was during one of these times when a bunch of us thorny types were incarcerated together that prison guard named Smith began to tell of the Good News of a better life and as he did, his tears began to flow. They went down through the thorns, through the rocky places, past the roadside and landed on the soil of my heart. Just like a spring shower after a long cold winter, those tears of joy softened the hard soil of my heart and let a seed of Good News take root. For the next twenty-two years there have been many come along and water that same spiritual plant. Just a little of the crop that it has yielded can be seen in these words. I don’t ever want to go back to my old way of life. By the grace of God and living life one day at a time I don’t have too. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…….JRE
“Knowing a truth intellectually is only half the battle. So what’s to be done? I have no certain cure, certainly no quick cure, but I know it’s important to rehearse the lovely, rich truths and promises that remain when other things change. Keep telling these truths, in all their many-sided glory, and one day, walls already cracked will crumble and fall.”
Jim McGuiggan, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is
Thorny types
Thought for the day: “Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered……Remain spiritually tenacious.”
OSWALD CHAMBERS
“Behold a sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 13:3-9 NASB
Tenacity, refusing to believe my hero is going to be conquered. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tell us how not to be conquered. It’s a matter of how well the soil of our heart is prepared to receive the seed of the Word of God. In my own life over the past forty years I can relate to each of the four places that the seed landed. The first fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up. When I was a young man my heart was not prepared spiritually and my life revolved around me, and my self-centeredness. When I would try and understand God, and the message of Good News sent to me by others, I found that I could not get away from the direction I was headed because of the influence of the many people I ran with. We were like fish in a school moving and turning as one large body. We were all on the same road, and that seed was sown by the roadside. Later after my military service and a few years of college, because of a few things I had read and the influence of drugs and alcohol in my life, I started to think of myself as becoming deeper in my thought processes. I was a legend in my own mind with these thoughts. I was truly very shallow and my heart was the “rocky place” that Jesus referred to. When the Good News of a better life was spoke to me, I immediately received it and with joy it sprouted. But having no depth in my spiritual life the sunshine of everyday living withered what little spiritual growth there was. Later when I became entangled in the vicious cycles of alcohol and drug addiction my life was spent living with the thorns. I myself was a thorn in the side of my family, friends, neighbors, and the legal system. Whenever someone would bring the Good News of a better life it would get no further than right on top of the thorns, it got choked out before it ever had a chance to get planted. It was during one of these times when a bunch of us thorny types were incarcerated together that prison guard named Smith began to tell of the Good News of a better life and as he did, his tears began to flow. They went down through the thorns, through the rocky places, past the roadside and landed on the soil of my heart. Just like a spring shower after a long cold winter, those tears of joy softened the hard soil of my heart and let a seed of Good News take root. For the next twenty-two years there have been many come along and water that same spiritual plant. Just a little of the crop that it has yielded can be seen in these words. I don’t ever want to go back to my old way of life. By the grace of God and living life one day at a time I don’t have too. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…….JRE
“Knowing a truth intellectually is only half the battle. So what’s to be done? I have no certain cure, certainly no quick cure, but I know it’s important to rehearse the lovely, rich truths and promises that remain when other things change. Keep telling these truths, in all their many-sided glory, and one day, walls already cracked will crumble and fall.”
Jim McGuiggan, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is
Friday, August 19, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the creator.”
LOUIS PASTEUR
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
PSALM 103:12-14 NASB
When I read this Scripture about our transgressions being removed from us, I am always reminded of the revelation I had some years ago about east and west, and north and south. There are two points on the earth where north and south meet. The North Pole and the South Pole. If you walk north you can only go so far. Then when you cross the point where the directions meet, if you continue on you will change directions. You can only go north so far and then you will head south. Then if you continue south, you can only go to the southern tip of the earth and once again you will start heading north. There are actual geographical points where north and south meet. Where they are close. Not so with east and west. They never meet, if you head out going east and you continue in that direction you will never meet west. The only way to head west from a easterly direction is to turn around and go the opposite direction. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions,” what a promise from God. That means that God has removed my transgressions from me to a point that does not even exist. Why then, if they are removed from me do I still remember my transgressions? Why do I sometimes when reminded of my past say “God I am truly sorry for what I did ten years ago.” God has the power and gives me the power through faith to remove my transgressions, so why do I hold on to them. It must be an insult to God to have forgiven someone and have them continuously ask for forgiveness for the same transgression. I know that if I forgave someone for something they had done against me, and they kept coming back saying, “I’m sorry, will you forgive me,” I would think they must not take me seriously. Does God think that I don’t take Him seriously? I don’t think so. God know my every weakness and this is one of my weaknesses. God won’t give up on me, He will finish what He has started in me. The Bible says that, “God’s Mercy is brand new each day.” I am so grateful for this, most days I need a new start, a fresh beginning, I need the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit to help ease my way. As far as east is from west, now that’s a long way. Thanks for letting me share, God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself…………………..JRE
“Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the simple things always. Life can become complicated if you let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty can be either solved or ignored and something better substituted for it. Love the humble things of life. Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never be the world’s standard of wealth and power.”
HAZELDEN………………Twenty-Four Hours A Day
“Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 164
As far as east is from west
Thought for the day: “The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the creator.”
LOUIS PASTEUR
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
PSALM 103:12-14 NASB
When I read this Scripture about our transgressions being removed from us, I am always reminded of the revelation I had some years ago about east and west, and north and south. There are two points on the earth where north and south meet. The North Pole and the South Pole. If you walk north you can only go so far. Then when you cross the point where the directions meet, if you continue on you will change directions. You can only go north so far and then you will head south. Then if you continue south, you can only go to the southern tip of the earth and once again you will start heading north. There are actual geographical points where north and south meet. Where they are close. Not so with east and west. They never meet, if you head out going east and you continue in that direction you will never meet west. The only way to head west from a easterly direction is to turn around and go the opposite direction. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions,” what a promise from God. That means that God has removed my transgressions from me to a point that does not even exist. Why then, if they are removed from me do I still remember my transgressions? Why do I sometimes when reminded of my past say “God I am truly sorry for what I did ten years ago.” God has the power and gives me the power through faith to remove my transgressions, so why do I hold on to them. It must be an insult to God to have forgiven someone and have them continuously ask for forgiveness for the same transgression. I know that if I forgave someone for something they had done against me, and they kept coming back saying, “I’m sorry, will you forgive me,” I would think they must not take me seriously. Does God think that I don’t take Him seriously? I don’t think so. God know my every weakness and this is one of my weaknesses. God won’t give up on me, He will finish what He has started in me. The Bible says that, “God’s Mercy is brand new each day.” I am so grateful for this, most days I need a new start, a fresh beginning, I need the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit to help ease my way. As far as east is from west, now that’s a long way. Thanks for letting me share, God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself…………………..JRE
“Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the simple things always. Life can become complicated if you let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty can be either solved or ignored and something better substituted for it. Love the humble things of life. Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never be the world’s standard of wealth and power.”
HAZELDEN………………Twenty-Four Hours A Day
“Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 164
Thursday, August 18, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.” OSWALD CHAMBERS
“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”
ISAIAH 25:4 NIV
Jail house religion, I’ve heard that term used for the ones that find God in jails, prisons, and institutions. I’ve heard it said that, “it’s easy to look up when you’re surrounded by four walls.” Have you ever wondered why those whose lives are the bleakest seem to latch on to God? And the ones, not all but some, who are the most affluent and live trouble free lives seem to be further from God. This is just something to think about, I really don’t have an answer except the Scriptures say that God will be “a shelter from the storm.” I do know that God sends worker to places where no one else will go. Prison ministry is an awesome work. Almost every jail and prison in this country has those who go in and try and help, expecting nothing in return except the possibility of making or meeting a friend of God. God sends many to work in food pantries to help distribute something to eat to the hungry, expecting nothing in return except to be of service to God. God sends many church’s and other organizations to open shelters for the homeless, they expect nothing more than the hope of seeing someone get back on their feet. It is a true spiritual experience when we get the revelation of hope and love in our lives. Especially when we feel as if the world is coming against us from all directions. The revelation of hope for a better life and the awareness of those who truly are concerned and love us, does not just happen. Most times hope and love come to us on the wings of those who are about the Father’s business. People who are God’s messengers sent to carry the message of hope and love. I got jail house religion in 1983. It sure was easy to look up, when I was surrounded by four walls. For the next fifteen years I was in and out of church many times trying to shake off that jail house religion. But I could not, I could not totally walk away from what God had done for me. It was impossible for me to forget that feeling of being all alone, and at the same time surrounded by God’s love. No human power could have relieved my loneliness, there was an empty spot in me that only God could fill. Like the quote from Oswald Chambers, today I like to “leave room for God.” The emptiness that used to be there is gone, because today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………….JRE
“So how do I act as if You’re alive? How do the cells of my body, the same ones that sweat and urinate and get depressed and toss and turn in bed at night, how do these cells carry around the splendor of the God of the universe in a way that leaks out for others to notice? How do I love even one person with the love You came to bring?
PHILIP YANCEY
These are some very good questions that the author Philip Yancey asks. One answer that I have found is that I don’t do it alone. I have the Father with me, and I have those who are in service also to help. We must be about the Fathers business………JRE
“The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer………ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 17
Jail house religion
Thought for the day: “Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.” OSWALD CHAMBERS
“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”
ISAIAH 25:4 NIV
Jail house religion, I’ve heard that term used for the ones that find God in jails, prisons, and institutions. I’ve heard it said that, “it’s easy to look up when you’re surrounded by four walls.” Have you ever wondered why those whose lives are the bleakest seem to latch on to God? And the ones, not all but some, who are the most affluent and live trouble free lives seem to be further from God. This is just something to think about, I really don’t have an answer except the Scriptures say that God will be “a shelter from the storm.” I do know that God sends worker to places where no one else will go. Prison ministry is an awesome work. Almost every jail and prison in this country has those who go in and try and help, expecting nothing in return except the possibility of making or meeting a friend of God. God sends many to work in food pantries to help distribute something to eat to the hungry, expecting nothing in return except to be of service to God. God sends many church’s and other organizations to open shelters for the homeless, they expect nothing more than the hope of seeing someone get back on their feet. It is a true spiritual experience when we get the revelation of hope and love in our lives. Especially when we feel as if the world is coming against us from all directions. The revelation of hope for a better life and the awareness of those who truly are concerned and love us, does not just happen. Most times hope and love come to us on the wings of those who are about the Father’s business. People who are God’s messengers sent to carry the message of hope and love. I got jail house religion in 1983. It sure was easy to look up, when I was surrounded by four walls. For the next fifteen years I was in and out of church many times trying to shake off that jail house religion. But I could not, I could not totally walk away from what God had done for me. It was impossible for me to forget that feeling of being all alone, and at the same time surrounded by God’s love. No human power could have relieved my loneliness, there was an empty spot in me that only God could fill. Like the quote from Oswald Chambers, today I like to “leave room for God.” The emptiness that used to be there is gone, because today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………….JRE
“So how do I act as if You’re alive? How do the cells of my body, the same ones that sweat and urinate and get depressed and toss and turn in bed at night, how do these cells carry around the splendor of the God of the universe in a way that leaks out for others to notice? How do I love even one person with the love You came to bring?
PHILIP YANCEY
These are some very good questions that the author Philip Yancey asks. One answer that I have found is that I don’t do it alone. I have the Father with me, and I have those who are in service also to help. We must be about the Fathers business………JRE
“The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer………ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 17
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Don’t let your past determine your destiny or influence your self-image. See yourself the way God sees you. Picture yourself experiencing the wonderful things God has in store for you.” JOEL OSTEEN
“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, ‘I will never be moved.’ O LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong.” PSALM 30:5-7 NASB
“See yourself the way God sees you.” Learning to see myself the way God sees me is not easy. My whole life I mainly saw myself the way I though others saw me. It starts at an early age when our parents start disciplining us to be the way they think we should be. This is not bad, as children we need instructions to learn. I can remember my mom telling me to wash behind my ears and to wash my elbows. Also I had to be reminded to brush my teeth and comb my hair. Today these habits come naturally because of early training, but when I was being trained I can remember thinking that I must be dirty since I have to be reminded to wash all the time. Praise God I out grew that image and began to see myself differently. Differently though, was not always better. I remember my elementary and high school teachers telling me “Jerry, you can do much better.” I heard this so much that I thought of myself as not being good enough scholastically. It wasn’t until I went to college that I grew out of that image of myself. In college the instructors didn’t care if I made the grade or failed, most never said a word about doing better. I learned that it was up to me and without the negative criticism I actually did much better, but at the same time I realized that my elementary teachers were right, I could do much better. It only happened when I changed my self-image from what others thought of me to what I could do on my own. Today I am learning to see myself the way God sees me, and not the way other people see me. This is not easy because we are influenced so much by those around us, people that we see everyday. So I ask myself how does God see me? I know from experience and from the study of the Scriptures that God sees me as His child, God sees me as healthy, God sees me living in prosperity, God sees me having compassion, God sees me being joyous and happy, God sees me as helping others who might have a negative self-image because they see themselves as they think others see them. When I realize that I can’t fall beyond God’s great love, and that no matter what I’ve done in the past God will still see me the same way. My image of myself on the inside changes from the way I see myself and the way others see me, to the way that God sees me. Now that makes me shout for joy……..God is doing for me what I could not do for myself….JRE
“Our hearts beat excitedly over stories of people like Abraham and Moses, yet we fail to recognize that they were as frail and nervous as we are. We stand in awe of Moses at the burning bush: ‘Now theirs is a bush that burns,’ we say. ‘I would like to be a bush like that, but I’m just a heap of ashes.’ And that’s as far as we get. We discuss the phenomenon of what God can do in a life, tell amazing stories about it, praise it, but then resign ourselves to being nothing more than a bystander, resigned to sitting in the balcony among the spectators. But it is not the bush that sustains the flame. It is God in the bush, and so, any old bush will do!” TIM HANSEL, Holy Sweat
Don't let your past determine your destiny
Thought for the day: “Don’t let your past determine your destiny or influence your self-image. See yourself the way God sees you. Picture yourself experiencing the wonderful things God has in store for you.” JOEL OSTEEN
“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, ‘I will never be moved.’ O LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong.” PSALM 30:5-7 NASB
“See yourself the way God sees you.” Learning to see myself the way God sees me is not easy. My whole life I mainly saw myself the way I though others saw me. It starts at an early age when our parents start disciplining us to be the way they think we should be. This is not bad, as children we need instructions to learn. I can remember my mom telling me to wash behind my ears and to wash my elbows. Also I had to be reminded to brush my teeth and comb my hair. Today these habits come naturally because of early training, but when I was being trained I can remember thinking that I must be dirty since I have to be reminded to wash all the time. Praise God I out grew that image and began to see myself differently. Differently though, was not always better. I remember my elementary and high school teachers telling me “Jerry, you can do much better.” I heard this so much that I thought of myself as not being good enough scholastically. It wasn’t until I went to college that I grew out of that image of myself. In college the instructors didn’t care if I made the grade or failed, most never said a word about doing better. I learned that it was up to me and without the negative criticism I actually did much better, but at the same time I realized that my elementary teachers were right, I could do much better. It only happened when I changed my self-image from what others thought of me to what I could do on my own. Today I am learning to see myself the way God sees me, and not the way other people see me. This is not easy because we are influenced so much by those around us, people that we see everyday. So I ask myself how does God see me? I know from experience and from the study of the Scriptures that God sees me as His child, God sees me as healthy, God sees me living in prosperity, God sees me having compassion, God sees me being joyous and happy, God sees me as helping others who might have a negative self-image because they see themselves as they think others see them. When I realize that I can’t fall beyond God’s great love, and that no matter what I’ve done in the past God will still see me the same way. My image of myself on the inside changes from the way I see myself and the way others see me, to the way that God sees me. Now that makes me shout for joy……..God is doing for me what I could not do for myself….JRE
“Our hearts beat excitedly over stories of people like Abraham and Moses, yet we fail to recognize that they were as frail and nervous as we are. We stand in awe of Moses at the burning bush: ‘Now theirs is a bush that burns,’ we say. ‘I would like to be a bush like that, but I’m just a heap of ashes.’ And that’s as far as we get. We discuss the phenomenon of what God can do in a life, tell amazing stories about it, praise it, but then resign ourselves to being nothing more than a bystander, resigned to sitting in the balcony among the spectators. But it is not the bush that sustains the flame. It is God in the bush, and so, any old bush will do!” TIM HANSEL, Holy Sweat
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Formidable is that enemy that lies hid in a man’s own heart.”
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
1 PETER 2:16-17 NASB
“Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil.” When I study this statement by the apostle Peter I realize first that he is referring to submitting ourselves to the authorities and the governments. But if we are in a place of authority, not to use the freedom we have in Christ Jesus as a covering for evil. Sometimes I wonder if any of our politicians are hiding under the cover of being Christians? Even the king must honor the King. I know that I am not to judge (easier said than done), and to submit to those in authority over me. I understand this; strife and dissension are not from God. But even Peter himself said, “We ought to obey God rather than man,” so where do we stand? “Formidable is that enemy that lies in a man’s own heart.” If the end in what we want is all about us, then maybe we need a little self-examination and look inside to see exactly where we are coming from. In my daily recovery from alcohol and drug addiction I must surrender to self. I have to let go and let God work in my life. Many times when things don’t go exactly the way I think they should I find that what is blocking my progress is the big I, the big me, and the big myself. My feelings sometimes puff me up, and I block the whole path that God and I are walking on together. When there is only room for one on the path I find God to be polite and not push in, God gives me my way. Oh how I wish I could go back many times to that spot and let the hot air out of big fat Jerry so God could have some room. When the air pressure starts to rise in my ego many times I can ventilate before I blow up. Honest brothers and sisters I find to be pressure gauges for my life. I have heard many time in AA people say that on their mirror they have a little sign that reads, “The Enemy.” How true this is, my problems are not with others, but within myself. With no where to turn, I find God to be doing for me what I could not do for myself…………...JRE
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
EPHESIANS 6:12 NASB
“We exist to provide love and care for one another, through sharing each others needs, burdens, and joys; through serving each other in a sacrificial way; through learning how to love and to be loved. God in His grace, has given us to each other. An integral part of our life as His body is caring for and supporting each other.”
From the Mission Statement, Crossroads Community Church
“...praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 96
Enemy that lies hid
Thought for the day: “Formidable is that enemy that lies hid in a man’s own heart.”
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
1 PETER 2:16-17 NASB
“Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil.” When I study this statement by the apostle Peter I realize first that he is referring to submitting ourselves to the authorities and the governments. But if we are in a place of authority, not to use the freedom we have in Christ Jesus as a covering for evil. Sometimes I wonder if any of our politicians are hiding under the cover of being Christians? Even the king must honor the King. I know that I am not to judge (easier said than done), and to submit to those in authority over me. I understand this; strife and dissension are not from God. But even Peter himself said, “We ought to obey God rather than man,” so where do we stand? “Formidable is that enemy that lies in a man’s own heart.” If the end in what we want is all about us, then maybe we need a little self-examination and look inside to see exactly where we are coming from. In my daily recovery from alcohol and drug addiction I must surrender to self. I have to let go and let God work in my life. Many times when things don’t go exactly the way I think they should I find that what is blocking my progress is the big I, the big me, and the big myself. My feelings sometimes puff me up, and I block the whole path that God and I are walking on together. When there is only room for one on the path I find God to be polite and not push in, God gives me my way. Oh how I wish I could go back many times to that spot and let the hot air out of big fat Jerry so God could have some room. When the air pressure starts to rise in my ego many times I can ventilate before I blow up. Honest brothers and sisters I find to be pressure gauges for my life. I have heard many time in AA people say that on their mirror they have a little sign that reads, “The Enemy.” How true this is, my problems are not with others, but within myself. With no where to turn, I find God to be doing for me what I could not do for myself…………...JRE
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
EPHESIANS 6:12 NASB
“We exist to provide love and care for one another, through sharing each others needs, burdens, and joys; through serving each other in a sacrificial way; through learning how to love and to be loved. God in His grace, has given us to each other. An integral part of our life as His body is caring for and supporting each other.”
From the Mission Statement, Crossroads Community Church
“...praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 96
Monday, August 15, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day:
“Most new discoveries are suddenly seen things that were always there.”
SUSAN K. LANGER
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” ROMANS 8:1 NIV
“Most new discoveries are suddenly seen things that were always there.” This statement this morning is speaking to me in many different ways. When I first read it I thought about the physical world and how there always seems to be a new discovery. I often wonder how man could have advanced so far and missed some of the things that are just being seen. Just within the last two weeks I’ve heard of the discovery of a new planet. Even though it is mostly ice they are still calling it a planet. How could all the astronomers have missed it up to now? I’m not criticizing the people that keep an eye on the stellar heavens, what they do is way above my head. It’s just that I find it strange how from the early days of the first telescopes up to 2005 we missed it, and it was here all along. After pondering the statement in the physical sense I realize that in the spiritual sense the same is true. Spiritual discoveries in my life have been there all along, I just reach a point where my eyes open to the discovery or revelation. These revelations have come in many different forms. Some have come by way of painful experiences. Some have come by way of those who cared and took the time to help open my eyes. Many have by reading the Scriptures, at times God shouts to me through the Word the path to victory. I was set free from my life of sin and self-centeredness all along, but until I reached out and embraced the “law of the Spirit of life” I stayed in bondage. I was set free of my alcoholism and drug addiction all along, but until someone who had traveled the same path came along to help, I was in bondage. I have discovered the only way I can stay free is to reach out, otherwise I find myself building walls of self-centeredness and greed. Today through the help of others that care, God was able to do for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
THE REALITY OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
From a talk given by Bill W. in 1960
“Perhaps you raise the question of hallucination verses the divine imagery of a genuine spiritual experience. I doubt if anyone has authoritatively defined what an hallucination really is. However, it is certain that all recipients of spiritual experiences declare for their reality. The best evidence of that reality is in the subsequent fruits. Those who receive these gifts of grace are very much changed people, almost invariably for the better. This can scarcely be said of those who hallucinate.”……..Bill W.
INCARNATION
Breath becoming speech through teeth and tongue,
Spirit becoming word,
Silence becoming prayer,
The holy dream becoming the holy face.
FREDERICK BUECHNER
Discovery
Thought for the day:
“Most new discoveries are suddenly seen things that were always there.”
SUSAN K. LANGER
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” ROMANS 8:1 NIV
“Most new discoveries are suddenly seen things that were always there.” This statement this morning is speaking to me in many different ways. When I first read it I thought about the physical world and how there always seems to be a new discovery. I often wonder how man could have advanced so far and missed some of the things that are just being seen. Just within the last two weeks I’ve heard of the discovery of a new planet. Even though it is mostly ice they are still calling it a planet. How could all the astronomers have missed it up to now? I’m not criticizing the people that keep an eye on the stellar heavens, what they do is way above my head. It’s just that I find it strange how from the early days of the first telescopes up to 2005 we missed it, and it was here all along. After pondering the statement in the physical sense I realize that in the spiritual sense the same is true. Spiritual discoveries in my life have been there all along, I just reach a point where my eyes open to the discovery or revelation. These revelations have come in many different forms. Some have come by way of painful experiences. Some have come by way of those who cared and took the time to help open my eyes. Many have by reading the Scriptures, at times God shouts to me through the Word the path to victory. I was set free from my life of sin and self-centeredness all along, but until I reached out and embraced the “law of the Spirit of life” I stayed in bondage. I was set free of my alcoholism and drug addiction all along, but until someone who had traveled the same path came along to help, I was in bondage. I have discovered the only way I can stay free is to reach out, otherwise I find myself building walls of self-centeredness and greed. Today through the help of others that care, God was able to do for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
THE REALITY OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
From a talk given by Bill W. in 1960
“Perhaps you raise the question of hallucination verses the divine imagery of a genuine spiritual experience. I doubt if anyone has authoritatively defined what an hallucination really is. However, it is certain that all recipients of spiritual experiences declare for their reality. The best evidence of that reality is in the subsequent fruits. Those who receive these gifts of grace are very much changed people, almost invariably for the better. This can scarcely be said of those who hallucinate.”……..Bill W.
INCARNATION
Breath becoming speech through teeth and tongue,
Spirit becoming word,
Silence becoming prayer,
The holy dream becoming the holy face.
FREDERICK BUECHNER
Friday, August 12, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfect in love.”
JOHN 4:18 NASB
The more that I study the Scriptures the more I realize that love is the main Ingredient, love is the Way, the Key, the Door, the Hope, the Help, the Finish and the End. As a young man growing up I did not realize any of this. I had a concept of love that came from a loving mother and father, and loving grandparents. But this love was directed toward me and I in turn gave back as best that I could. As I began to mature I began to realize that love was something that could exist between two people. I believe that the ideas I had of this kind of love came from the movies and TV. Growing up and watching this love displayed on the screen taught me that love was passionate, demanding, jealous, resentful, aggressive, and vindictive. Many of my first attempts at being involved in relationships used these traits that I had come to understand as being love. I thought that if you demonstrated jealousy, which is fear, that you could show that you loved them. It took years for me to understand that this did not work. Like the apostle John has told me, “there is no fear in love.” I have come to believe and understand this. The second part of this statement “but perfect love cast out fear” I don’t understand how it works, but believe it to be true. It has been demonstrated in my life before. When you know that you know that someone loves you just the way you are no matter what, there is no fear in that relationship. Today I have a loving God in my life that has cast out the fear of loneliness, has cast out the fear of jealousy, cast out the fear of loving. That’s right the fear of loving, the fear of loving someone because I might get hurt. Today I am learning that there is no fear in love, if there is fear it is not love………….thanks for letting me share, god has done for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“You have not been sprinkled with forgiveness. You have not been spattered with grace. You have not been dusted with kindness. You have been immersed in it. You are a minnow in the ocean of His mercy. Let it change you!”
MAX LUCADO
Immersed in love
Thought for the day: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfect in love.”
JOHN 4:18 NASB
The more that I study the Scriptures the more I realize that love is the main Ingredient, love is the Way, the Key, the Door, the Hope, the Help, the Finish and the End. As a young man growing up I did not realize any of this. I had a concept of love that came from a loving mother and father, and loving grandparents. But this love was directed toward me and I in turn gave back as best that I could. As I began to mature I began to realize that love was something that could exist between two people. I believe that the ideas I had of this kind of love came from the movies and TV. Growing up and watching this love displayed on the screen taught me that love was passionate, demanding, jealous, resentful, aggressive, and vindictive. Many of my first attempts at being involved in relationships used these traits that I had come to understand as being love. I thought that if you demonstrated jealousy, which is fear, that you could show that you loved them. It took years for me to understand that this did not work. Like the apostle John has told me, “there is no fear in love.” I have come to believe and understand this. The second part of this statement “but perfect love cast out fear” I don’t understand how it works, but believe it to be true. It has been demonstrated in my life before. When you know that you know that someone loves you just the way you are no matter what, there is no fear in that relationship. Today I have a loving God in my life that has cast out the fear of loneliness, has cast out the fear of jealousy, cast out the fear of loving. That’s right the fear of loving, the fear of loving someone because I might get hurt. Today I am learning that there is no fear in love, if there is fear it is not love………….thanks for letting me share, god has done for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE
“You have not been sprinkled with forgiveness. You have not been spattered with grace. You have not been dusted with kindness. You have been immersed in it. You are a minnow in the ocean of His mercy. Let it change you!”
MAX LUCADO
Thursday, August 11, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Life…..gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” HENRY VAN DYKE
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
1 JOHN 3:16-18 NASB
“Life gives us the chance to love and to work.” When I read this quote and then compare it to the writings of the apostle John I find that love and work can be the same. If you lay down your life for your brothers and sister, this would be a work of love. Webster defines work as: “physical or mental effort exerted to do or make something.” If we have a work of love in our life then we will have an “effort exerted” to get-r-done. Lovin’ ain’t easy. A question I find myself asking this morning is who are my brother and sister. I know that everyone is my neighbor because we have the same earthly home, but is everyone my brother or sister? Everyone is my neighbor, but not everyone is in my spiritual family, or are they? So if I see someone in need and don’t help out because I don’t consider him or her my spiritual sibling, is this okay? I think not! I think that a work of love would reach out and try and find some common ground for association and if it can’t be found to make a place for common ground to exist. That takes work. Once a place is established where two people are able to communicate then with a little more “effort exerted” we might be able to have that person become our brother or sister. Over the years there have been several who worked at loving me. There were times when my family sweated in this work of love. There were times when my preacher prayed for me and encouraged me to keep on keeping on in order to obtain the victory. There were times when my AA sponsor went out of his way to invite me to lunch and to visit when he though that possibly something might be a thorn in my side. This work of love I have found could surgically remove the thorn in my side without much pain. Contrary to what a lot of popular songs say, love does not hurt. I am grateful for those who have exerted an effort to love me when I was not very loveable. May I learn to return to love. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“Your real work in life is to grow spiritually. To do this you must follow the path of diligently seeking good. The hidden spiritual wonders are revealed to those who diligently seek this treasure. From one point to the next, you have to follow the way of obedience to God’s will until finally you reach greater and greater spiritual heights. Work on the material plane should be secondary to your real life’s work. The material things that you need most are those that help you to attain the spiritual.”
HAZELDEN………………….Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Work of love
Thought for the day: “Life…..gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” HENRY VAN DYKE
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
1 JOHN 3:16-18 NASB
“Life gives us the chance to love and to work.” When I read this quote and then compare it to the writings of the apostle John I find that love and work can be the same. If you lay down your life for your brothers and sister, this would be a work of love. Webster defines work as: “physical or mental effort exerted to do or make something.” If we have a work of love in our life then we will have an “effort exerted” to get-r-done. Lovin’ ain’t easy. A question I find myself asking this morning is who are my brother and sister. I know that everyone is my neighbor because we have the same earthly home, but is everyone my brother or sister? Everyone is my neighbor, but not everyone is in my spiritual family, or are they? So if I see someone in need and don’t help out because I don’t consider him or her my spiritual sibling, is this okay? I think not! I think that a work of love would reach out and try and find some common ground for association and if it can’t be found to make a place for common ground to exist. That takes work. Once a place is established where two people are able to communicate then with a little more “effort exerted” we might be able to have that person become our brother or sister. Over the years there have been several who worked at loving me. There were times when my family sweated in this work of love. There were times when my preacher prayed for me and encouraged me to keep on keeping on in order to obtain the victory. There were times when my AA sponsor went out of his way to invite me to lunch and to visit when he though that possibly something might be a thorn in my side. This work of love I have found could surgically remove the thorn in my side without much pain. Contrary to what a lot of popular songs say, love does not hurt. I am grateful for those who have exerted an effort to love me when I was not very loveable. May I learn to return to love. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“Your real work in life is to grow spiritually. To do this you must follow the path of diligently seeking good. The hidden spiritual wonders are revealed to those who diligently seek this treasure. From one point to the next, you have to follow the way of obedience to God’s will until finally you reach greater and greater spiritual heights. Work on the material plane should be secondary to your real life’s work. The material things that you need most are those that help you to attain the spiritual.”
HAZELDEN………………….Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Life is a promise, fulfill it.”
MOTHER TERESA
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.”
JEREMIAH 29:11-13 NKJV
How could Mother Teresa say that life is a promise? From her eyes life must have looked totally different than what we of the Western cultures see and think. She spent her whole life living in the ancient civilizations of India, helping the multitudes of poor and starving. How could you watch someone die of starvation, which was beyond their ability to help themselves, and call life a promise? Only by Divine revelation could she see this as true. “Life is a promise” did not come from this world but from beyond human suffering. What love she expresses in this simple statement. Mother Teresa must have seen many die, and also she no doubt saw many who had God work a miracle in their life. She must have seen their eyes brighten when they got it down deep inside that God is for them and not against them. When they received the inner image of prosperity regardless of how life looked on the outside. Then the realization of the promises of God allowed them to rise above their bleak situations and to see the way to a better life. Sometimes before lives can change we need someone to come along side and help us to look up. To help others to look up, we ourselves need at times to lower our sights. Even in the small rural community that I live in I notice many; myself included who have their sights aimed just a little above the suffering of others. If Mother Teresa could have come to my town, she probably would have been found at the Love Center where they pass out free food and clothes. She probably would have gone to the square where the unemployed and the disabled gather daily. She might have even been found at an AA meeting where she could help explain “Life is a Promise.” Today many of the promises of God have come true in my life, but first I had to set my sights above my circumstances. As we walk with God, looking ahead down the road improves our vision. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
“You can measure what you would do for the Lord by what you do.”
T. C. HORTON
“As we made spiritual progress, it became clear that, if we ever were to feel emotionally secure, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us. We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demand for repayment. When we persistently did this, we gradually found that people were attracted to us as never before. And even if they failed us, we could be understanding and not too seriously affected.”
BILL W. ……………………A.A. Twelve and Twelve, pages 115-116
Lowering your sights
Thought for the day: “Life is a promise, fulfill it.”
MOTHER TERESA
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.”
JEREMIAH 29:11-13 NKJV
How could Mother Teresa say that life is a promise? From her eyes life must have looked totally different than what we of the Western cultures see and think. She spent her whole life living in the ancient civilizations of India, helping the multitudes of poor and starving. How could you watch someone die of starvation, which was beyond their ability to help themselves, and call life a promise? Only by Divine revelation could she see this as true. “Life is a promise” did not come from this world but from beyond human suffering. What love she expresses in this simple statement. Mother Teresa must have seen many die, and also she no doubt saw many who had God work a miracle in their life. She must have seen their eyes brighten when they got it down deep inside that God is for them and not against them. When they received the inner image of prosperity regardless of how life looked on the outside. Then the realization of the promises of God allowed them to rise above their bleak situations and to see the way to a better life. Sometimes before lives can change we need someone to come along side and help us to look up. To help others to look up, we ourselves need at times to lower our sights. Even in the small rural community that I live in I notice many; myself included who have their sights aimed just a little above the suffering of others. If Mother Teresa could have come to my town, she probably would have been found at the Love Center where they pass out free food and clothes. She probably would have gone to the square where the unemployed and the disabled gather daily. She might have even been found at an AA meeting where she could help explain “Life is a Promise.” Today many of the promises of God have come true in my life, but first I had to set my sights above my circumstances. As we walk with God, looking ahead down the road improves our vision. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself……………….JRE
“You can measure what you would do for the Lord by what you do.”
T. C. HORTON
“As we made spiritual progress, it became clear that, if we ever were to feel emotionally secure, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us. We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demand for repayment. When we persistently did this, we gradually found that people were attracted to us as never before. And even if they failed us, we could be understanding and not too seriously affected.”
BILL W. ……………………A.A. Twelve and Twelve, pages 115-116
Monday, August 08, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.”
C.S. LEWIS
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
1 JOHN 1:5 NASB
“God is Light,” what does this mean? Is the apostle John referring to God as an actual glowing source of illumination? Or how about an inner spiritual light that gives us wisdom and enlightenment? Or maybe we can understand both? God created all light and the absence of light is called darkness. Did darkness need to be created or did it exist before there was light? Since God is light and in Him there is no darkness, how did darkness get here? If I study these spiritual questions long I find myself confused. I will choose to think on the brighter side of life and walk down the sunny side of the street. God is light and in Him is no darkness, that’s all I need to know right now. I don’t really care for the darker side of the street anyway. I remember when I was lost in my self-centered life of active alcohol and drug abuse, how the dimmer the lights were, the better it felt. I remember how depression thrives and grows in darkness. Staying in bed, and pulling the covers over my head to keep the light from shinning on my spiritual sickness, this was the answer to my problems and kept me from exposing myself to me. Funny how today with a loving God in my life, I enjoy the light. Not only the natural and electrical light but also the spiritual light in my life. It all started with a spark of hope of a better life that was fanned into a light giving flame by the Word of God and by the encouragement of family and friends. Today when I find myself headed for the darker side of the street, God’s light allows me to redirect my path and to step back on the sunny side. My choice today is to walk in God’s light even if I feel the pain of exposure to my darker feelings. Light will bring about growth. God’s light has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“God as the source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and truth cannot have the least degree of ignorance, imperfection, sinfulness, and darkness. God is to man what the sun is to our world, hence the importance of the message that God is light and no darkness at all.”
THE DAKE BIBLE, page 275 New Testament
“Is sobriety all that we are to expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning; it is only the first gift of the first awakening. If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life, the one that did not work, for a new life that can and does work under any conditions whatever.”
BILL W. ………The Grapevine, December 1957
“Withholding forgiveness until an offender understands or acknowledges the emotional pain they have inflicted is a subtle form of revenge. Why? Because it’s hoping that the offender would hurt a little too, in order to understand. But this type of revenge robs you of your freedom and allows the offender to keep control of you.”
DR. CHUCK LYNCH
The sunny side of the street
Thought for the day: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.”
C.S. LEWIS
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
1 JOHN 1:5 NASB
“God is Light,” what does this mean? Is the apostle John referring to God as an actual glowing source of illumination? Or how about an inner spiritual light that gives us wisdom and enlightenment? Or maybe we can understand both? God created all light and the absence of light is called darkness. Did darkness need to be created or did it exist before there was light? Since God is light and in Him there is no darkness, how did darkness get here? If I study these spiritual questions long I find myself confused. I will choose to think on the brighter side of life and walk down the sunny side of the street. God is light and in Him is no darkness, that’s all I need to know right now. I don’t really care for the darker side of the street anyway. I remember when I was lost in my self-centered life of active alcohol and drug abuse, how the dimmer the lights were, the better it felt. I remember how depression thrives and grows in darkness. Staying in bed, and pulling the covers over my head to keep the light from shinning on my spiritual sickness, this was the answer to my problems and kept me from exposing myself to me. Funny how today with a loving God in my life, I enjoy the light. Not only the natural and electrical light but also the spiritual light in my life. It all started with a spark of hope of a better life that was fanned into a light giving flame by the Word of God and by the encouragement of family and friends. Today when I find myself headed for the darker side of the street, God’s light allows me to redirect my path and to step back on the sunny side. My choice today is to walk in God’s light even if I feel the pain of exposure to my darker feelings. Light will bring about growth. God’s light has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE
“God as the source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and truth cannot have the least degree of ignorance, imperfection, sinfulness, and darkness. God is to man what the sun is to our world, hence the importance of the message that God is light and no darkness at all.”
THE DAKE BIBLE, page 275 New Testament
“Is sobriety all that we are to expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning; it is only the first gift of the first awakening. If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life, the one that did not work, for a new life that can and does work under any conditions whatever.”
BILL W. ………The Grapevine, December 1957
“Withholding forgiveness until an offender understands or acknowledges the emotional pain they have inflicted is a subtle form of revenge. Why? Because it’s hoping that the offender would hurt a little too, in order to understand. But this type of revenge robs you of your freedom and allows the offender to keep control of you.”
DR. CHUCK LYNCH
Thursday, August 04, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “Having a friend who keeps you accountable, is like hearing the voice of a prophet of God, it does not lie.” …………………JRE
I need to make a correction on the page that I sent out yesterday. Last night as I was talking to my friend Murray on the phone, he pointed out that I spelled “pealed banana” wrong. It should be “peeled.” Webster’s definition of the word I used “pealed” is: the loud ringing of a bell or set of bells; any loud prolonged sound, as of gunfire, thunder, laughter, etc. So the truth is that I could have used both words. The “banana that gets away from the bunch gets pealed.” When you get away from the bunch and are standing all alone with out the support of God, family, friends, and neighbors, you can get pealed. As I made decisions on my own without any words of wisdom from those who cared about me, thinking only of myself I headed down a path of destruction, the final destination was the grave. During this downward spiral I got pealed many times. There was the loud yelling of those who disliked what I was doing, there was the loud laughter of others who didn’t care and were amused by my foolishness, then there was the thunder as the steel jail doors slammed shut. If you get away from the bunch you can get peeled or pealed, or both as in my case. Today I am grateful for the gift of recovery and for a loving God that will never leave or forsake me. I long for the pealing of the Bells of God because God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation……”
PHILLIPIANS 4:12 NIV
“Some years ago I visited a man who was wealthy and successful, the envy of all his friends and business associates. But as we talked, he broke down in tears, confessing that he was miserable inside. Wealth had not been able to fill the empty place in his heart.
“A few hours later I visited another man who lived only a few miles away. His cottage was humble, and he had almost nothing in the way of this world’s possessions. Yet his face was radiant as he told me about the work he was doing for Christ and how Christ had filled his life with meaning and purpose.
“I went away convinced that the second man was really the rich man. Although he had very little, he had learned to be thankful for everything God had given him. A spirit of thankfulness makes all the difference.”
BILLY GRAHAM
A.A. STEP TWO: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Peal vs. Peel
Thought for the day: “Having a friend who keeps you accountable, is like hearing the voice of a prophet of God, it does not lie.” …………………JRE
I need to make a correction on the page that I sent out yesterday. Last night as I was talking to my friend Murray on the phone, he pointed out that I spelled “pealed banana” wrong. It should be “peeled.” Webster’s definition of the word I used “pealed” is: the loud ringing of a bell or set of bells; any loud prolonged sound, as of gunfire, thunder, laughter, etc. So the truth is that I could have used both words. The “banana that gets away from the bunch gets pealed.” When you get away from the bunch and are standing all alone with out the support of God, family, friends, and neighbors, you can get pealed. As I made decisions on my own without any words of wisdom from those who cared about me, thinking only of myself I headed down a path of destruction, the final destination was the grave. During this downward spiral I got pealed many times. There was the loud yelling of those who disliked what I was doing, there was the loud laughter of others who didn’t care and were amused by my foolishness, then there was the thunder as the steel jail doors slammed shut. If you get away from the bunch you can get peeled or pealed, or both as in my case. Today I am grateful for the gift of recovery and for a loving God that will never leave or forsake me. I long for the pealing of the Bells of God because God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation……”
PHILLIPIANS 4:12 NIV
“Some years ago I visited a man who was wealthy and successful, the envy of all his friends and business associates. But as we talked, he broke down in tears, confessing that he was miserable inside. Wealth had not been able to fill the empty place in his heart.
“A few hours later I visited another man who lived only a few miles away. His cottage was humble, and he had almost nothing in the way of this world’s possessions. Yet his face was radiant as he told me about the work he was doing for Christ and how Christ had filled his life with meaning and purpose.
“I went away convinced that the second man was really the rich man. Although he had very little, he had learned to be thankful for everything God had given him. A spirit of thankfulness makes all the difference.”
BILLY GRAHAM
A.A. STEP TWO: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “The banana that leaves the bunch, gets pealed.”
DALE BEGLEY
“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
HEBREWS 10:24, 25 NASB
Once again I have taken this Scripture out of context, but these words relate to the direction I am headed this morning. Where would I be without my support groups? Yesterday was my birthday and I received several cards and phone calls from friends and family. Even this morning I received a phone call from a friend who wanted to wish me a happy belated birthday, and said that I had been on their mind and they were praying for me. My support groups have grown and I pray that they will continue to grow. I had a hard lesson to learn in life. It was the fact that if you want friends you have to be a friend. Ten years ago I was the banana that left the bunch, and boy did I get pealed. I was a miserable, selfish, self-centered drunk and meth addict, who cared only about myself. To have this “me only” attitude I had to leave the bunch, otherwise I had to share. As I pulled out from the bunch my family started to peal me. Even my grandmother who loved me dearly told me not to come to her house drunk, which I was all the time. I went months without seeing her because of this pealing. Then my so-called friends, really frienemies, pealed me by not coming by, it was because I had a bad attitude most of the time, and there wasn’t anything in it for them. Then I got a real good pealing by the legal authorities. They kept me in the courts for several years, had me paying all sorts of fines, and took my drivers license for ten years. You talk about being humbled, a fifty-some year old man having to ride a bicycle to get around town is a constant reminder of getting away from the bunch and getting pealed, although the benefits of riding a bike are a curse and a blessing at the same time. Physically, mentally, and spiritually I have grown because of this pealing. When I reached a point where I stood alone, pealed of my cover of defenses, I realized that I had to change my life-style or die alone and naked. My first support group was there all the time but I could not see because of spiritual blindness. When I surrendered to my addictions and reached out for help, the strong hand of God lifted me up. As I began to not walk alone, a decision I made myself, my family once again gathered with their unconditional love and gave me strength and support. In order to stay sober I sought out the support of Alcoholics Anonymous. What a blessing this has been, without my sobriety I am lost. Next friends started encouraging and inviting me to worship with them. The opportunity was given to me to become a friend, to sow friendship, and as a result I have reaped a harvest of friends. As I get older I realize that success is not measured by our material possessions, but by the quality of our support groups that encourage and love us. I am truly blessed and have prospered by being part of the bunch. God did for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“Piety cannot consist of specific acts only, such as prayer or ritual observance, but is bound up with all actions, concomitant with all doings, accompanying and shaping all life’s business. Man’s responsibility to God is the scaffold on which he stands as daily he goes on building life. His every deed, every incident of mind, takes place on this scaffold, so that unremittingly man is at work either building up or tearing down his life, his home, his hope of God.”
ABRAHAM HESCHEL
Wow, the Rabbi tells it like it is………..thanks for letting me share……….jre
Banana's
Thought for the day: “The banana that leaves the bunch, gets pealed.”
DALE BEGLEY
“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
HEBREWS 10:24, 25 NASB
Once again I have taken this Scripture out of context, but these words relate to the direction I am headed this morning. Where would I be without my support groups? Yesterday was my birthday and I received several cards and phone calls from friends and family. Even this morning I received a phone call from a friend who wanted to wish me a happy belated birthday, and said that I had been on their mind and they were praying for me. My support groups have grown and I pray that they will continue to grow. I had a hard lesson to learn in life. It was the fact that if you want friends you have to be a friend. Ten years ago I was the banana that left the bunch, and boy did I get pealed. I was a miserable, selfish, self-centered drunk and meth addict, who cared only about myself. To have this “me only” attitude I had to leave the bunch, otherwise I had to share. As I pulled out from the bunch my family started to peal me. Even my grandmother who loved me dearly told me not to come to her house drunk, which I was all the time. I went months without seeing her because of this pealing. Then my so-called friends, really frienemies, pealed me by not coming by, it was because I had a bad attitude most of the time, and there wasn’t anything in it for them. Then I got a real good pealing by the legal authorities. They kept me in the courts for several years, had me paying all sorts of fines, and took my drivers license for ten years. You talk about being humbled, a fifty-some year old man having to ride a bicycle to get around town is a constant reminder of getting away from the bunch and getting pealed, although the benefits of riding a bike are a curse and a blessing at the same time. Physically, mentally, and spiritually I have grown because of this pealing. When I reached a point where I stood alone, pealed of my cover of defenses, I realized that I had to change my life-style or die alone and naked. My first support group was there all the time but I could not see because of spiritual blindness. When I surrendered to my addictions and reached out for help, the strong hand of God lifted me up. As I began to not walk alone, a decision I made myself, my family once again gathered with their unconditional love and gave me strength and support. In order to stay sober I sought out the support of Alcoholics Anonymous. What a blessing this has been, without my sobriety I am lost. Next friends started encouraging and inviting me to worship with them. The opportunity was given to me to become a friend, to sow friendship, and as a result I have reaped a harvest of friends. As I get older I realize that success is not measured by our material possessions, but by the quality of our support groups that encourage and love us. I am truly blessed and have prospered by being part of the bunch. God did for me what I could not do for myself………………JRE
“Piety cannot consist of specific acts only, such as prayer or ritual observance, but is bound up with all actions, concomitant with all doings, accompanying and shaping all life’s business. Man’s responsibility to God is the scaffold on which he stands as daily he goes on building life. His every deed, every incident of mind, takes place on this scaffold, so that unremittingly man is at work either building up or tearing down his life, his home, his hope of God.”
ABRAHAM HESCHEL
Wow, the Rabbi tells it like it is………..thanks for letting me share……….jre
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day:
The word sarcasm comes from the Greek word meaning “to tear flesh.”
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 5:37 NASB:
“But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is evil.”
Here’s what Webster has to say about sarcasm. “From the Greek word sarkasmos, to tear flesh like dogs, speak bitterly. A taunting, sneering, cutting, or caustic remark.” I find that I am guilty of being sarcastic. I am also guilty of gossip, and I find that many times during the act of gossip remarks will be made that are sneering and cutting. I have also been on the receiving end of sarcasm, and I understand how it can come from the words “to tear flesh.” That’s exactly what it does it cuts the heart. It wounds us spiritually and sometimes we remember these wounds long after we have forgiven those who have used sarcasm against us. I would describe sarcasm as being a “smart-aleck” remark that is made without concern for someone else’s feelings. The thing about sarcastic words that I find to be true of many words and their use, is that they cut and tear flesh both ways. The person that is the object of the sarcastic remark is hurt. And, the person who made the remark is also hurt once they realize that what they have said caused someone pain. In my life I have found that my sarcastic statements have been made more or less on the spare of the moment. I don’t sit down and say to myself, “I’m going to say something that I know will hurt them.” Usually my mouth opens up, and out fly these words that I think are cute or funny. They are always at the expense of someone else being the joke. Many times sarcasm can be a “yes statement” meaning to be “no.” Or a “no statement” meaning to be “yes.” Jesus had a way of keeping life simple. Be honest with yourself and others at the same time. If you say yes let it mean yes. If you say no let it mean no. Anything beyond that is not right! Today may I learn from the Scriptures and from Webster that tearing flesh hurts both ways. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself………………..JRE
Lord,
I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup
Uncertain
In asking any small drop of refreshment.
If only I’d known You better
I’d have come running with a bucket.
NANCY SPIEGELBERG
“In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has.”
BILL W. …………….A.A. 12X12 page 79
Tearing flesh
Thought for the day:
The word sarcasm comes from the Greek word meaning “to tear flesh.”
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 5:37 NASB:
“But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is evil.”
Here’s what Webster has to say about sarcasm. “From the Greek word sarkasmos, to tear flesh like dogs, speak bitterly. A taunting, sneering, cutting, or caustic remark.” I find that I am guilty of being sarcastic. I am also guilty of gossip, and I find that many times during the act of gossip remarks will be made that are sneering and cutting. I have also been on the receiving end of sarcasm, and I understand how it can come from the words “to tear flesh.” That’s exactly what it does it cuts the heart. It wounds us spiritually and sometimes we remember these wounds long after we have forgiven those who have used sarcasm against us. I would describe sarcasm as being a “smart-aleck” remark that is made without concern for someone else’s feelings. The thing about sarcastic words that I find to be true of many words and their use, is that they cut and tear flesh both ways. The person that is the object of the sarcastic remark is hurt. And, the person who made the remark is also hurt once they realize that what they have said caused someone pain. In my life I have found that my sarcastic statements have been made more or less on the spare of the moment. I don’t sit down and say to myself, “I’m going to say something that I know will hurt them.” Usually my mouth opens up, and out fly these words that I think are cute or funny. They are always at the expense of someone else being the joke. Many times sarcasm can be a “yes statement” meaning to be “no.” Or a “no statement” meaning to be “yes.” Jesus had a way of keeping life simple. Be honest with yourself and others at the same time. If you say yes let it mean yes. If you say no let it mean no. Anything beyond that is not right! Today may I learn from the Scriptures and from Webster that tearing flesh hurts both ways. God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself………………..JRE
Lord,
I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup
Uncertain
In asking any small drop of refreshment.
If only I’d known You better
I’d have come running with a bucket.
NANCY SPIEGELBERG
“In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has.”
BILL W. …………….A.A. 12X12 page 79
Monday, August 01, 2005
jralphengland@yahoo.com
Thought for the day: “We are always in the presence of God……There is never a nonsacred moment! His presence never diminishes. Our awareness of His presence my falter, but the reality of His presence never changes.”
MAX LUCADO
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…..But delights in the law of the Lord….He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.”
Psalm 1:1-3 NASB
I took these Scriptures out of context, I used the first part of verse one and the first part of verse two and three. What really speaks to me is being a “tree firmly planted by streams of water.” As I look out my window this morning I observe the large trees by the creek. I am sitting no more than 15 feet from the place where there used to be a bedroom, and the place where my mother gave birth to me 59 years ago. I didn’t grow up in this house, but coming from a military family my grand parents home was the only place constant in a life that was always changing. We lived here when we were in-between being stationed from one place to another, and many summers I remember staying with Granny and Papa and Sharron and Jimmy, my aunt and uncle that are closer to my own age. My mother was born here on the property, and my father was born just a few miles north of here, so even though I did not grow up here, my heritage and many memories as a young boy are centered here. My Granny measured me on a post in the barn by notching it with a knife from the time I was three until I returned from Vietnam at the age of twenty-one. I have seen many changes in the house and farm over the last fifty-some years. One of the changes are the trees by the creek. When I was a kid the cattle kept the area down by the creek clear of the foliage. The clear water would flow over the large flat rocks in the creek bed. Today without the help of grazing cattle, the bank of the creek has trees growing along its side. There is one sycamore tree that is “firmly planted by the stream of water,” that over the last thirty years has reached a height of seventy feet. I have seen the creek rise very high in the springtime and that tree just stands as the water flows around it. It is firmly planted and it reminds me of how I should be in my faith. If I do not walk in the counsel of the un-godly, if I delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, I have the promise that I will be like a tree planted firmly by the streams of water. Even though the roaring waters of life rush on me, I will not be moved. My roots are not planted on the surface but in the deeper levels of the promises of God. I cannot be moved, but I must avoid the counsel of the un-godly. Thanks for letting me share. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……….JRE
“What will it profit a man if he gains his cause, and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of His presence is made!” John Newton
Firmly planted
Thought for the day: “We are always in the presence of God……There is never a nonsacred moment! His presence never diminishes. Our awareness of His presence my falter, but the reality of His presence never changes.”
MAX LUCADO
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…..But delights in the law of the Lord….He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.”
Psalm 1:1-3 NASB
I took these Scriptures out of context, I used the first part of verse one and the first part of verse two and three. What really speaks to me is being a “tree firmly planted by streams of water.” As I look out my window this morning I observe the large trees by the creek. I am sitting no more than 15 feet from the place where there used to be a bedroom, and the place where my mother gave birth to me 59 years ago. I didn’t grow up in this house, but coming from a military family my grand parents home was the only place constant in a life that was always changing. We lived here when we were in-between being stationed from one place to another, and many summers I remember staying with Granny and Papa and Sharron and Jimmy, my aunt and uncle that are closer to my own age. My mother was born here on the property, and my father was born just a few miles north of here, so even though I did not grow up here, my heritage and many memories as a young boy are centered here. My Granny measured me on a post in the barn by notching it with a knife from the time I was three until I returned from Vietnam at the age of twenty-one. I have seen many changes in the house and farm over the last fifty-some years. One of the changes are the trees by the creek. When I was a kid the cattle kept the area down by the creek clear of the foliage. The clear water would flow over the large flat rocks in the creek bed. Today without the help of grazing cattle, the bank of the creek has trees growing along its side. There is one sycamore tree that is “firmly planted by the stream of water,” that over the last thirty years has reached a height of seventy feet. I have seen the creek rise very high in the springtime and that tree just stands as the water flows around it. It is firmly planted and it reminds me of how I should be in my faith. If I do not walk in the counsel of the un-godly, if I delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, I have the promise that I will be like a tree planted firmly by the streams of water. Even though the roaring waters of life rush on me, I will not be moved. My roots are not planted on the surface but in the deeper levels of the promises of God. I cannot be moved, but I must avoid the counsel of the un-godly. Thanks for letting me share. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……….JRE
“What will it profit a man if he gains his cause, and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of His presence is made!” John Newton
