Thought for the Day

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What is truth?

Thought for the day: “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom instruction and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:23)

“This means to acquire the truth by all rightful means, and then cleave to it, guard it, and defend it even to the risk of your life.”(Finis Jennings Dake)

The great question is “What is truth?” As Pilate was trying Jesus, he asked Jesus if He was a king. Jesus responded with, “You say I am……….for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” Pilate then asked the question, “What is truth.” In that day and age just as in this day people search out for the truth. My question is, is it possible for truth to change? I think so, some things that are true today, were not true yesterday. But when it comes to spiritual truths, they never change. A spiritual principle that works today will work any day. One example of this would be as we give, we receive. Sometimes when we give our attitudes might not be right, and therefore we do not receive like we should, but we may receive something if we are willing. Just as Solomon said, “Buy the truth,” many of us have paid dearly to have truth in our lives. As we go through life we learn from our experiences and what comes out established in the end is truth, or at least we hope it is truth. I spent years of hardship and pain coming to the truth that even one little sip of alcohol could lead me to the threshold of death. The fact that after one drink I lose all control of my consumption of alcohol is a truth in my life. This is not true in the life of many other people, but in my life it is true. For years it bothered me that other people could drink, do recreational drugs, and take prescription drugs when I could not. I am not saying that these behaviors are right. What I am saying is that when I was in a struggling state of wanting recovery but not willing to give up, I found myself envious of other people. To overcome this I had to buy some truth, hold on to it, and not give it up. There are no dues or fees for membership in Alcoholics Anonymous; they say we have paid the highest dues for membership of any organization. And so it is, Solomon is truly right, I can’t afford to sell the truth that I paid so dearly for. I must give it away. Today with this truth deep in my spirit, and a loving God in my life that forgives, I do not have the desire to drink or use any form of mind-altering substance. God has done for me what I could not do for myself. In my daily reading today in the Book of Acts, something the apostle Paul said once again had touched my heart. “I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Thanks for letting me share……………JRE

“As we begin to focus upon God, the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-32). It will give acute perception enabling us to see god even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel God, who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shinning of ‘the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world’ (John 1:9). More and more, as our faculties grow sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His presence the glory and wonder of our lives.” A.W. TOZER………….The Pursuit Of God, page 56

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Intrusive

Thought for the day: “Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies.”
A.W.TOZER

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV)

“The intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls.” A.W. Tozer wrote this sometime around 1960 when we were making great strides in technology. He died in 1963 so he didn’t get to see men on the moon, microwave ovens, personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and many other things that we have today. But he could see how “things” have a way of being intrusive. To fully understand how intrusion works I go to Webster’s dictionary for the definition of the word intrude. Share this with me: “to thrust, push or force something, or oneself and one’s thoughts upon others without being asked or welcomed.” Today we have an invasion of things in our live that we don’t ask for and many times don’t even want. Not only can things be intrusive, but thoughts also can be very intrusive. We don’t ask for certain thoughts, they just seem to pop up at times. My first experience with intrusive thoughts was right after my return from Vietnam. I found myself thinking about Nam all the time. Us vets called these thoughts “flashbacks,” but the shrinks called them “intrusive thoughts.” I remember when I would hear fireworks and explosions, immediately I would think of Vietnam. When I heard sirens I would think of Nam. When I would hear or see a helicopter, or a jet, I would again think of Vietnam. When I would see soldiers in uniform I would think of Nam. If I was walking in the woods and would see a vine I would think of trip-wires. I did not ask for these thoughts to appear, they were intrusive and made an appearance with out being asked. These intrusive thoughts still occur today, but by the grace of God and the peace that I have found in knowing Jesus Christ they are not a threat to my mind, spirit, or body. It has taken some work though. I located a few Christian counselors at the VA hospital that I was able to confide in and share my experiences with. We don’t always talk about the Lord, it is not government policy. But I do find there to be something about being in the presence of another Christian that brings about a third element of spirituality, whether it is mentioned or not. Today as I have learned from my experience with intrusive thoughts, I try to place intrusive “things” in their proper place also. They are just things. If they start to control my life I need to back up a bit and take a self-examination. For me I have found great solace in reading the Word of God. In the actual turning of the page, and underlining with my own pencil, this simple “thing,” the written Word, keeps the light that Jesus brought into world burning. As long as I fan the flames regularly and kindle the fire with words from God, things will be just that, things. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………….JRE

“But know the words ‘Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works’ began to carry bright promise and meaning.” Bill W. …………………….AA 12X12 page 75

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Somebody nobody

Thought for the day: “We are made to reach out beyond our grasp.”
OSWALD CHAMBERS

“Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.”
Galatians 6:1-3 NLT

Those are some pretty heavy words that the apostle Paul used. “If you think you are too important to help someone in need……….you’re fooling yourself…….you’re a nobody!” When I read this Scripture verse in the New Living Translation, I thought surly the King James is not this blunt, but it was. Share this with me……….. “For when a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” My drinking buddies and I used to have a little saying that would spring up from time to time. It was something like this, “Let’s go get drunk and be somebody.” Today I get a clear picture of what the apostle Paul meant. You want to be somebody? Help someone in need. Truly great people whether they be spiritual or not, are those who have done something for the less fortunate, or those who have stumbled on their own somehow. A person might be worth billions, or have great wisdom and knowledge, but if they keep it all to themselves you never hear about them except possibly in a negative way. I can see that in my own life my desire to “be somebody,” needs to be tempered with humility and love. If I am not reaching out to help someone in need, then whatever position I may hold means nothing, and therefore I am nothing also. I have learned from attending AA meetings that if a person is willing to work with others, then God will qualify that person and put just the right situation in front of them as an avenue to help. I am learning that my growth comes only when I am watered those I am willing to help. Can’t do much by myself………God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE

“Paul told the Galatians to share their troubles with one another. This would bring healing to hurting people and provide opportunities for the believers to help each other. Paul included a special not to encourage those who might be too proud to admit their problems. An essential part of recovery is admitting to others the exact nature of our wrongs. As we share with others, we will discover that much of the burden of our painful past or our addictive tendency will be lifted. With their encouragement and call to accountability, we can shed our painful past and move on to a productive future.”
Life Recovery Bible, page 1418

“God doesn’t call the qualified, but qualifies the called.” (Heard in church and around the tables of AA)

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Pruning away the bars and taverns

Thought for the day: “To live is to be slowly born.”
(Antonine de Saint-Exupery)

In the last conversation that Jesus had with the eleven disciples, Judas had already left; He told them much about how it had been, how it was, and how it was going to be. As I find myself studying over His teaching at that particular time, I am overwhelmed at all that Jesus had to say. I can understand why the disciples did not fully understand what Jesus had been teaching them. It wasn’t until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came on them and in them that they were able to grasp the complete meaning of His teachings. Jesus compared the disciples and us to grape vines that require pruning. Share these verses of Scripture with me.

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit. And he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you.” (John 15:1-4 NLT)

Pruning cost something to the one who is being pruned. It cost a piece of our life that is cut away. But God, will allow new growth to sprout and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit it will grow in the proper direction that will allow it to produce the most fruit. I remember when I first came back into recovery how God pruned away parts of my life. I used to go to the bars. I had been going to bars since I was six years old. My dad used to take me to the taverns and give me a hand full of nickels to play the jukebox while he drank. When I was twelve I remember going into a bar in Mexico and drinking. Then when I was fourteen I had an uncle that would take me to the tavern with him and even give me a short glass of beer. When I was sixteen and started driving I would go into Kansas where the drinking age was eighteen and get into the bars with some success. At eighteen I was legal, and could go on my own with no problems. At nineteen I was drafted into the Army and allowed to go to the taverns on the military post. At twenty-one every bar, club, and tavern was available to me if I had the money. At thirty-five when I was in the grips of alcoholism, I found that I did not even need money in the bars. I had become a con artist in the art of talking someone out of a drink or two. Bars always seemed to be a place where I could go when I had nowhere else to go. The theme song from the TV show Cheers stated, “It’s good to go where everyone knows your name.” And sometimes that might have been the reason I went. When I surrendered to my addictions and made a decision to turn my will and life over to the care of God, God did some pruning. In recovery the old saying is that we have got to change our playmates and playgrounds. Bars were my playgrounds. I immediately knew by insight from the Holy Spirit that bars were not the place for me to be, unless Of course, I had a reason to be there, and I didn’t. God pruned the taverns from my life, and as soon as the cut was made, new growth appeared. I found that I could enjoy the same type of fellowship by going to AA and NA meetings, except I found it to have a positive influence on my life instead of a negative. At the same time I came to the realization that I needed spiritual growth and God opened up the doors of a loving church. Today many in church are as close to me as my own family. Over the past eight years, God has continued to prune away parts of my life, and with each cut the new growth offers a better opportunity, I don’t want to go back to the old dead vines that made up my life. God has done for me what I could not do for myself……………………….JRE
“But I will send you the Counselor, the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me.” (John 15:26 NLT)

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Shalom

Thought for the day: “The beauty of the sunbeam lies partly in the fact that God does not keep it; He gives it away to us all.” (David Swing)

I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27 NLT)

I am noticing a direct link between joy and peace. After all they are listed side by side in the fruit of the Spirit. Love first, then joy and next peace (Galatians 5:22). Jesus said that He was leaving us a gift, which means that it is free and you don’t really have to work for it. You do have to believe that you can receive it though. When Jesus told the disciples that they would receive peace of mind and heart, they were not very peaceful. He had just told them that He was going to die. They were going to lose their best friend, and couldn’t do anything about it. When reading the Scriptures I some times close my eyes and in my mind place myself at that time and place in history. At this place in the ministry of Jesus and the disciples I find no laughter. The only thing I can compare it to would be sitting by the bedside of a loved one who was dying. You pray that they don’t die, but sometimes the end comes, and we have been expecting it. I am not saying this to promote doubt in my prayers or anyone else’s; it’s just that this does happen. I still continue to pray for healing. I am sure also that the disciples who were taught how to pray, prayed that the death of Jesus would not happen, but it did. Jesus said the He would give us a peace that was not like the peace that the world gives. Exactly what kind of peace does the world give? When we say we have peace, it is when we are not at war. The peace the world gives is absence of conflict. Therefore the peace that Jesus gives must be different. It is a peace that we can experience even when there is conflict around us. I remember when I was a brand new Christian of around two years, how my mother went into the hospital for surgery. Her body was weak and she did not recover the surgery. She lived for seven days after the operation. That whole time there was a remarkable peace that was surrounding my life. I did not understand it, and at the time I referred to it as the presence of the Lord. Which it was, but the presence brought peace. I asked the minister at the hospital why I felt such a strong presence of the Lord, and he said it was because the Lord was needed. Today I understand that peace is a spiritual force just as joy is a spiritual force. Joy is not happiness and can be experienced when there is no happiness. Spiritual peace is not absence of conflict and can be experienced even in conflict. Joy and peace are spiritual strengths and have nothing to do with what the world gives to us. Today I am so grateful that Jesus left us these gifts. May I understand that as gifts I must receive them, to have them. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………………JRE

“The idea of endlessness is to the kingdom of God what carbon is to the kingdom of nature. As carbon is present almost everywhere, as it is an essential element in all living matter and supplies all life with energy, so the concept of everlastingness is necessary to give meaning to any Christian doctrine. Indeed I know of no tenet of the Christian creed that could retain its significance if the idea of eternity were extracted from it.”
A.W. TOZER………………. The Knowledge of the Holy

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Spiritually lonely

Thought for the day: “Each man can interpret another’s experience only by his own.”
Henry David Thoreau

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT)

How can we come boldly to the throne of God when we’ve been beat up and are crawling? Well let me tell you, it can be done. When we’re hurting bad enough, even if we have to crawl we will move away from the source of the pain. That is if we want to live. I’m not talking so much about physical pain as I am about the pain that comes from living our lives only for ourselves. The quote from Thoreau, “Each man can interpret another’s experience only by his own,” is the way I interpret coming boldly to the throne of grace and what led me there. There are consequences when we live our lives only for ourselves. In my case the fruit of my selfishness was substance abuse, which led to addiction. This led to what I would call a state of being spiritually lonely. When I was in the grips of my addiction I believed in God. There was no doubt in my mind that God existed and that I could turn to God at any moment and receive deliverance and healing. The problem was that it was easier to continue in my pitiful existence. Even at the very bottom thoughts of turning to God brought spiritual shame. No one ever led me away from God, I walked away of my own choice, and I knew that no human power could relieve me of the bondage that I had put on myself. I had walked into a spiritual prison and shut the door myself. As I began to crawl and made the first effort reaching for a better life, God reached the rest of the way and touched my broken heart. I boldly crawled and was lifted up. I am forever grateful for the grace of God. At this point I want to tell you of something I saw last night. Our church has been in revival for the last four days. Last night was the final service. We have seen many great healings and deliverances take place in the last few days. At the very end of the last night of the revival two young people came forward and confessed being in the grips of addiction. I saw the mighty hand of God sweep over them as they boldly came to the throne of our gracious God. It took courage on their part to get up and humbly come to the front. I have learned from my experiences that coming boldly to the throne of grace, is a process that must be continued daily in my life. I am humbled this morning as I enter into a new day receiving new mercy. God has done for me what I could not do for myself…………JRE

Three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, page 60

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Cross-wired in a Chinese toy factory

Thought for the day: “In order that we finite beings may apprehend God, He translates His glory into multiple forms, into stars, woods, waters, beasts, and the bodies of men.”
C. S. Lewis

You are forgiving and good, O, LORD, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
Psalm 86:5-7 NIV

The eighty-sixth psalm is a prayer, a prayer of surrender. Not surrendering to our enemies, but surrendering to God. When we come to God at a point of brokenness in our lives, in order to receive forgiveness, we must first give up our shortcomings. These shortcomings are defects in our lives that cause us to rebel against our fellow man. We all seem to be born with certain defects of character, even the very young child can at times be seen as selfish and possibly hurtful to others. I like what my AA sponsor says about his defects. He says, “I was born with a defective character, cross-wired in a Chinese toy factory.” As we mature and grow with training, we learn to be more considerate of others. As we become aware of their feelings, compassion will seep in teach us. Today some of the character defects that I struggle with are the same ones that have plagued me for years. God has removed many of my defects but it is a continuing work of progress. I am learning that as I raise my hands to surrender, and say “O LORD,” I am giving up my authority to be the commander in chief of the battles in my life. I might have won a few small firefights in my life when I was in charge, but I always lost the battles. Today I surrender to win. Through defeat I am victorious as I allow God to direct the battle. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself. As I read the Word of God I am strengthened by the many examples of men and women who through their experiences have left a legacy for us to learn from. Thanks for letting me share………………JRE

AA Step Six: “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”

“Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of His grace change the way we feel about others? Absolutely!” MAX LUCADO

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Taking dominion

Thought for the day: “Tell me whom you love and I'll tell you who you are.”
Author unknown

“And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepth upon the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 KJV

I love revivals. My church is in a revival at the present time and last night I had some light shed on the concept of dominion. We as humans clearly have dominion over things. At times it might not seem like it, but we do. We have dominion over animals. The example was told last night of the farmer who loads up his cattle to take to the market. The cattle don’t say, “Now hold on! I don’t want to go.” No, they have no choice. We have dominion over them. We have dominion over our pets, even though sometimes it might not seem like it. We also have dominion over the plant kingdom. When we plant a tree somewhere that is where it grows. It does not get up and move. Weeds come up in our yards but we exercise our dominion over them and pull them, cut them, or get rid of them some how. We have dominion over the earth, but if we don’t use our authority the earth will have dominion over us. The evangelist brought up a few examples last night of plants having dominion over us when we allow them to. The first example that he gave was nicotine. I have been smoke free for four and a half years, but for 44 years, nicotine had a hourly pull on my life. I had to take dominion over tobacco and become in charge of my life to win the battle. I am so grateful today for the victory, because tobacco is such a subtle foe. There are many other examples of plant life having dominion over people. We have heron, morphine, cocaine, and marijuana, grains used in making alcohol, coffee, tea, coco, and one sneakiest of all plants, the ones that supply sugar. When the evangelist hit on coffee and sugar, he stepped on my toes. Most of my mornings are started with a little caffeine, and most of my evenings are ended with a little sugar. I keep some Hershey’s chocolate and mini Milky Ways in my frig and I must confess as I open the frig door scanning for munchies, they take dominion. Today plants that take dominion over me are being whittled down one by one. Eight years ago today at almost this same hour (noon), I took my last pull off a bottle of alcohol. I was on the way to treatment, and I remember as we crossed the Current River, that I tossed the empty pint bottle out the window and said, “there’s another dead soldier.” I picked that term up from my dad who was also alcoholic. That might have been a dead soldier, but by the grace and power of a loving God, a new soldier was resurrected. One that took dominion of the plants that go into making alcohol. Today I must exercise my dominion daily. Alcohol is also a subtle foe, and if allowed could slip back into my life. Not only do I recognize the right to have dominion, but I also have the authority to use the name of Jesus, which gives me the double insurance against losing dominion. Today by realizing who I am in the Word of God I am able to take back my life and live it in abundance. God has done for me what I could not do for myself……………………JRE

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
“But we are descendants of Abraham,” the said. “We have never been slaves to anyone on earth. What do you mean, ‘set free’?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:31-36 NLT)

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Love gave me back my serenity

Thought for the day: “Have patience with all things but first of all with yourself.”
Saint Francis of Sales

In four days I will be clean and sober for eight years, and you know what? I still struggle with getting along with others. When by the grace of God, I stopped using and drinking I began a journey of getting to the real problems of my life, self-centeredness. I am learning not to open my mouth as much with these struggles, but I still feel the tug in my mind of wanting things to go my way all the time. While I’m here, I’m going to use this time to admit that I am wrong sometimes when it comes to dealing with others, and do a little fifth step at the same time. Do you like yard sales? I’m not a big fan of them. I have a neighbor that lives about a half mile down the road from my house. They have been living there for around two years or so, and they have yard sales often. They put up these little signs all the way from the highway and at every corner. One of their signs they place about ten feet past my driveway. I get people circling through my drive thinking the yard sale is here. What I usually do is go out and take the sign down after a few unexpected guests looking for a yard sale. Well, my neighbor puts a new sign up and I take it down. Once they nailed a nice piece of plywood to a power pole for a permanent sign holder. Today I use it for a bird feeder. Once they put up a metal sign that sticks in the ground and it wound up in the ditch. Early this week they put up another sign and as I watched I decided I was not going to lose my serenity over it. I decided I was going to accept it and “live and let live.” That serenity lasted for about four hours, until someone drove through my driveway. I then went out and took the sign down which cost me my serenity. I would like to add here that I have never really talked to these neighbors. I just wave at them as they pass on the road as I ride my bicycle. This morning as I began my day, I observed as they were putting up another sign, and I got bent. I decided to talk to them and called their closest neighbor to get their phone number. Well, they didn’t have it, and they only knew their first name. One thing they did was speak kind words about them. I was told how they watched each others houses, fed each others pets when gone, and how they shared food from the garden. I was told of “these people” bringing Christmas gifts to their neighbors and just being good people. Well, I was trying my best to be a jerk, but the kind words of love cut right through my self-centeredness and healed my pain. I saw my neighbors, all of them, in a different light. A light burning with love. Love gave me back my serenity. I will let the sign remain, and wish them well in their yard sale. I am learning that in my recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, the abstinence of chemicals is just a starting point. The real work comes as I plug along one day at a time attempting to get along with my fellow man. I am grateful for the grace of God that has given me time to grow along spiritual lines. Today through my neighbors, God has done for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE

Share with me these words of Jesus.
“Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5 NLT)

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Caring and sharing

Thought for the day: “Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealings.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

The first non-Jewish person to accept salvation and forgiveness of sins, through faith in the finished work of the cross by Jesus, was the Roman army officer Cornelius. Cornelius was a devout man who gave to the poor, prayed and fasted, all of which were to no avail in his personal life without faith in Jesus. God used an angel with Cornelius and a vision with Peter to bring together two men who had absolutely had nothing in common. Within a couple of days, Peter and Cornelius had hooked up, and Peter began to explain to Cornelius and his family Jesus Christ and what had happened before, on, and after the cross. Peter went on to tell his audience that after the resurrection of Jesus from death to life that Jesus did not appear to all men, but to only some men and women. As I study these Scripture verses this morning, I wonder why Jesus did not go on tour as the risen Savior and give all an opportunity to see Him. Share with me these words of Peter, written by Luke and found in Acts.

“And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, but God raised him to life three days later. Then God allowed him to appear, not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen beforehand to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all, the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:39-42 NLT)

If God wanted to get our undivided attention today He could. God could appear as a blinding light in front of every living person, with a voice that says “I am,” but my experience tells me that God doesn’t work that way even though He could. Jesus also did not appear to all, but left the message of forgiveness to be passed on from one person to another. And after over two thousand years this is still being done. There have been many divine appearances over the centuries and today God still appears, but mostly what I have experienced comes to me through others. Just as Peter told Cornelius and his family, and they received the Holy Ghost. The same principle of caring and sharing is used today in AA and NA. If God wanted He could visit each drunk and addict with a loud voice and command that they get clean and sober, but that doesn’t happen. We must pass it on from one to another. Share with me what the Dake Bible has to say about this.

“This simply means that He did not appear to the ungodly multitude that slew Him. He did not make a show of Himself and gloat before His enemies that their crucifixion did not profit them in getting rid of Him. This would have caused more confusion and rebellion. He chose such witnesses whose testimony was impeccable and who would risk their very lives to preach what they had seen and heard.” (Finis Dake)
God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself, even if it is through a still small voice in my heart. I am more than grateful for that alone…………..JRE

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Taking off without Jesus

Thought for the day: “God gets down on His knees among us; gets on our level and shares Himself with us. He does not reside afar off and send diplomatic messages, He kneels among us……..God shares Himself generously and graciously.”
EUGENE PETERSON

Share with me these Scripture verses from the New Living Translation:

That evening his disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed out across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them as they rowed, and the sea grew very rough. They were three or four miles out when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “I am here! Don’t be afraid.” Then they were eager to let him in, and immediately the boat arrived at their destination! (John 6:16-21 NLT)

I had a revelation this morning reading these verses of Scripture. It came from the commentary I found in the Life Recovery Bible. Please share this also with me:

“It was a dark and stormy night on Lake Galilee. The disciples were cold, wet, and exhausted from rowing almost four miles in storm tossed waters. They had been impatient and left the safe shores without Jesus, but he came to their rescue anyway, walking on the stormy sea toward their boat! When Jesus got in the boat, he brought them safely to shore. We would be wise to stay with Jesus and his plan for us. Going off on our own will inevitably lead us into some stormy situations. When we leave Jesus behind, however, he will still rescue us if we look to him for help.”
Life Recovery Bible, page 1263
The disciples took off without Jesus. Now why did they do that? He had been in the process of teaching them about the love of the Father for His children. He had healed many. That same day Jesus had ministered to a large crowd of over five thousand, healed many of them, and feed them all. So why did the disciples take off without Him? I don’t have an answer for that question, but I can put myself in their shoes and come up with why I would do something like that, and that is, thinking only of myself. Have you ever had to sit and wait for someone? And you wait, and you wait, and you wait some more. And then finally you get tired of waiting and you leave without them. I am sure many of us have experienced this at some time in our life. For me I don’t even have to wait very long before I get impatient. Just last night as I was waiting for a ride to go the prison down the road where we take AA meetings, I became impatient. I was supposed to meet this guy at 5pm, and at 4:59pm I started wondering. At five sharp I started calling around trying to find his cell phone number. He showed up at about five after five and it was no big deal. When I got home in the evening I found a message on my answering machine where he had called and said he would be just a little late. Here I was starting to come unglued over a few minutes. What I was actually doing was thinking only of myself. I have done the same thing in my spiritual walk with Jesus. There have been times when because of my impatience, I have ventured forward (or what I thought was forward) and walked out of the Light that I had been given. When I get away from the Light, I always stumble. The further from the light, the harder the fall. Today my desire is to be patient and wait for Jesus. Then and only then, is God able to do for me what I could not do for myself……………………….JRE

jralphengland@yahoo.com

My greatest battle

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

“You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.”
Psalm 18:35-36 NIV

David wrote the song that we call the eighteenth Psalm when the Lord delivered him from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. God had brought David safely through many years of being on the run from King Saul and the army of Israel. God had told Samuel to anoint David as King even though Saul was still on the throne. It must have been a confusing time for the young man David. David knew all along that the battle belonged to the Lord, and after Saul had died in battle and David had become King, he gave credit where credit was due. The outward battle in David’s life had been victorious; it was the inward battle that he now faced that would turn out to be his greatest life-long challenge. There was a time in my life when I had overcome a great outward challenge only later to be defeated by my inward battles. I came home from Vietnam in 1968 after having spent a tour of duty as an airborne sergeant in a long-range recon unit. I completed one year of college in 1969 and decided to work for a while before I went back to school. I found a good job that required some walking, so I decided to exercise more to stay in shape. I bought a ten-speed bicycle and stared riding every day. I was soon riding 30 to 50 miles a day. In the summer of 1971 I decided to take a cross-country bicycle trip from Boulder to Kansas City. I planned a trip going north from Boulder, over into Nebraska, down into Kansas and across to Missouri. I made the ride in six days and on the last day I rode 170 miles. At that point in my life I felt like I could do anything. I had survived Vietnam, and was in great physical shape, I thought there was no obstacle to great for me. I remember one Saturday afternoon, the week I finished the bike trip, sitting in a bar and bragging on my trip. I felt like nothing could harm me so I bummed a Camel Cigarette, which led to picking up cigarettes again. I remember getting real drunk that day. I record in my memory that day as being the start of my inner battle that led me to complete defeat at the hands of alcohol and drugs. For the next twenty-five years the person that was so confident, and thought he could overcome anything, became a fearful drunken addict that could not keep his head above water for very long. There were times when I thought I was swimming pretty good, but then I would struggle and find myself once again gasping for air to stay alive. In the middle of my twenty-five year downward slide in life, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I thought my life will surly improve now, and it did. My spiritual life took direction and started to grow, but there were some thing in my personal life that I did not want to let go of. Smoking pot was one of them. That alone over the years kept me from having many blessings from God, and in time it always brought me back to alcohol and shooting dope. I was able to overcome great outward struggles, but the inward battle of self was being lost daily. Only after coming to complete defeat was I able to pick up the pieces of my life and move on. I knew of course that as I picked up the pieces that there were some pieces that I needed to leave lay. With the grace of a loving God, family that cares, an understanding church, AA and NA, and a sponsor that I can confide in, I have been able to continue in the grace and abundant life of God. 9-11 it will be eight years since I took a drink, smoked a joint, or shot any dope, I am truly grateful. God has done for me what I could not do for myself………………………………JRE

“Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think is the root of our troubles.” Alcoholics Anonymous, page 62