Sunday, March 30, 2014

WHO'S APPROVAL???


"Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval?
No indeed!  What I want is God's approval!  Am I trying
to be popular with people?  If I were still trying to do so,
I would not be a servant of Christ."
(Galatians 1:10 TEV)



************************

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Friday, March 28, 2014

TOASTED


Yes, that is a smoke alarm.  I put a new battery
in it a week or two ago and it works very, very well.

I am not a cook.  I freely confess it.
I can fry eggs.  Sort of.
I can make messed up (scrambled) eggs.  Sort of.
And I can reheat things in the Microwave.  Sort of.

The wife has been gone a few days leaving me on 
my own.  (She tried to have things ready for me.)
So yesterday I took a few pieces of fish out of the 
freezer.  The fish even had instructions with it.  How
can you miss.

Now experience has taught me that most food things
come with two sets of instructions.  One for microwaves
and one for regular ovens.  That is the one the wife uses
so much for me.  The oven.  You know, preheat for
xxxx minutes then cook for a whole lot longer.  Then
turn over and let cool or what ever.  But hay!  I
want to eat today - noon - not tonight.  So, I am a 
microwave boy.

Looking at the fish and the instructions with it, there
were two sets of instructions.  The bottom one was 
for the oven.  That's not the one I want.  So, the top
instructions it is.

I followed it to the letter.

In a couple of minutes I began to smell the fish.
That is good.  Then it began to not smell quite the
same.  But what do I know about cooking.

When the smoke alarm went off and the wife's cat
went wild I suspected something was not quite
right.  Correct.  Smoke was coming out of the 
microwave.  And the fish was just black stuff toasted
to the plate.

I went back and looked at the instructions again.  I had
done it right.  Except that these fish had no microwave 
instructions.  Only instructions for the stove top or the
oven.  I HAD FOLLOWED THE WRONG INSTRUCTIONS.
And things ended up toasted.

What instructions are you following for life???????

Some you have made up yourself?
You'll end up toasted.

Some world famous guru??????
You'll end up toasted.

Or the instructions of some outstanding,
do it this way and get rich, spiritual leader??
You'll end up toasted.

If you don't want to end up toasted,
you had better follow the instructions of the 
manufacture - Jesus Christ.  The one who
created you and gives you life.  They are found
in a book called "The Holy Bible".



Wednesday, March 26, 2014

TODAY'S PROMISE


"I am telling you the truth;
those who believe in me will do what I do -
yes, they will do even greater things,
because I am going to the Father.
And I will do whatever you ask for
in my name, so that the Father's glory 
will be shown through the Son.
If you ask me for anything in my name,
I will do it."
(John 14:12 - 14 GNT)


******************
"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver refined
seven times in the furnace."
(Psalms 12:6 GNT)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.
2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.
3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.
(William Gurnall)

Sunday, March 23, 2014

WAYS TO LIFE & DEATH


"Go in through the narrow gate,  
because the gate to hell is wide
and the road that leads to it is easy,
and there are many who travel it.
But the gate to life is narrow
and the way that leads to it is hard,
and there are few people who find it."
(Matthew 7:13,14 TEV)

************************

Would you like a free download of
THE HOLY BIBLE

Go to the link below for a free
download of the
Updated King James Version.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

TODAY'S PROMISE


"And it is the will of him who sent me
that I should not lose any of all those
he has given me, but that I should raise
them all to life on the last day.  For what
my Father wants is that all who see the 
Son and believe in him should have eternal
life.  And I will raise them to life on the
last day."
(John 6:39,40 GNT)


******************
"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver refined
seven times in the furnace."
(Psalms 12:6 GNT)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.
2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.
3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.
(William Gurnall)


Friday, March 14, 2014

MY TWO CENTS WORTH



You have heard the expression, "living on borrowed time".
That's me. [Truly, all of us.]  I have out lived most of
my contemporaries and my days are numbered.  That throws
a different prospective on life.  Where did it go?  What do I
have to show for it????

What do I have to show for it?  This has been a concern
of mine for some time now.  I have not established any great
ministry, or been a philanthropist.  I can point to no great
exploits or accomplishments.  I have not even attained the status
of super saint or prayer warrior.  And my next step will
be to stand before God.  Is it to be empty handed?

The world teaches us to "hitch our wagon to a star".  To
set lofty goals and strive for great attainments.  Not how to
fail.  Where have I failed?

But God.  I love that.  But God has shown me something.
I have read all the way through the Bible more times
than the years you have been alive.  And nowhere in it
does it teach, instruct, urge or exhort us to establish goals
or plans for success, or seek great accomplishments, even for God.
[Yes, it does speak of planning - depending on the version
you are reading.  And the apostle Paul's goal was to please
Christ, as should be ours and our ambition is to be to lead
a quite life.  In fact the apostle Paul made plans a number
of times - but often God changed them.  Consider the
Macedonian call.

But, all the way from Genesis to Revelation it does
exhort us walk with, live, love, and obey God daily.  That
is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" etc.

Let's face it.  If you or I, every day do or go where God
wants us to.  Step by step we are going to end up where God
wants us to be, and accomplish what God wants us to.
Also, we will have gotten there the way God wants us
to, not the way we think we should.

And, all the way from Genesis to Revelation it does exhort
us to do good, good deeds, help our fellow man etc.
"And thou shalt love they neighbor as thy self" etc.

Remember the woman who broke the vile of perfume
on Jesus.  The disciples rebuked her.  But Jesus said
to leave her alone.  "She has done what she could."
Have I done what I could???

Or, in the Temple rich people were throwing in lots
of money.  [That's what I wanted to do.] But a poor widow
 put in two (2) copper coins.  And because that was all she
had, Jesus said she put in more than the rest.  (That's where
I get my "MY TWO CENTS WORTH".)

Consider several Scriptures,

"Not every one who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will
of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will
say to me 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name'
and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty
works in your name?'  And then will I declare to them,
'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'"
(Matthew 7:21-23 RSV)
[Notice that, 'I never knew you..."  There was no
relationship with Christ."]

and in contrast,

"He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"
(Micah 6:8 RSV)

Jesus said,
"You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink
of cold water to one of the least of these my
followers because he is my follower will certainly
receive a reward."
(Matthew 10:42 GNT)


When the creator was here on earth he also said,

"... If one of you wants to be great,
you must be the servant of the rest;
and if one of you wants to be first,
you must be the slave of all."
(Mark 10:43, 44 TEV)

Joseph C. Aldrich said,
"Do what God has gifted you to do."
Gentle Persuasion
p.59

That speaks to me.
Apparently God did not gift me to do great things.
With the "skills" he provided me with,
a wrench fits my hand better. 

Now I feel like Bruce Larson expressed it 
 when writing to Keith Miller:
"...you were so excited about realizing that you didn't
have to do something 'big' for God?"
THE EDGE OF ADVENTURE
p.84

As Bruce, a minister, latter expressed it, 

"I do not believe that God holds us responsible for success,
but for obedience.  He will judge us by our efforts,
not by our successes."
THE EDGE OF ADVENTURE
P.182

Paul Rader that great evangelist of the late 1800's
and early 1900's made this comment about serving 
Christ.

"He is not asking you to do great things.
He is asking you to allow Him to do things."
Paul Rader's 
Stories of His Early Life.
p.46

And Oswald Chambers, that great saint of almost
a century ago said,

"It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional 
things for God; but we have not.  We have to be
exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean
streets, among mean people, and this is not learned
in five minutes."
My Utmost For His Highest
Oswald Chambers
p. 218

Isn't that great?
God does not call us to great accomplishments.
But simply to be obedient and faithful to him.

If God puts a dream in us, 
of course - go for it.  We would have to, to be
faithful and obedient to him.

But if he has not.....

My desire now would simply be,
when I stand before God to have a life time
of walking day by day with him and 
a string of good deeds left behind.

However,
I know human nature.  So when you are busy
making your plans consider these truths.

"A man's mind plans his way,
but the Lord directs his steps."
and
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will
be established."
and
"A man's steps are ordered by the LORD;
how then can a man understand his way?"
and
"I know, O LORD, that the way of man
is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct
his steps."
(Proverbs 16:9, 19:23, 20:24, Jeremiah 10:23 RSV)





PS.  

I started this post a long time ago.
But because it is so contrary to popular opinion
I was reluctant to post it.  In fact, I was beginning
to wonder if I had missed it altogether.  So while 
doing some searching of others writings. (Even
with "DR." attached to their names.) I found
none to lead me to a Scriptural exhortation to
set goals etc.  They did however give some 
examples of what they thought required goal
setting.

In the process I ran across the following link.
These folks seem to be the most level headed
of any that I have found after many years of 
Bible reading.  You might find it interesting.


Just be sure that you walk daily with God.
And may the Lord bless you in that walk.











Wednesday, March 12, 2014

TODAY'S PROMISE


"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to teach
them that they should always pray and never
become discouraged.  'In a certain town there 
was a judge who neither feared God nor respected
people.  And there was a widow in that same
town who kept coming to him and pleading for
her rights, saying, 'Help me against my opponent!'
For a long time the judge refused to act, but at
last he said to himself, ' Even though I don't fear
God or respect people, yet because of all the 
trouble this widow is giving me, I will see to
it that she gets her rights.  If I don't, she will
keep on coming and finally wear me out!'

And the Lord continued, 'Listen to what that 
corrupt judge said.  Now, will God not judge
in favor of his own people who cry to him
day and night for help?  Will he be slow to
help them?  I tell you, he will judge in their 
favor and do it quickly.  But will the Son of
man find faith on earth when he comes?"
(Luke 18:1-8 TEV)



******************
"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver refined
seven times in the furnace."
(Psalms 12:6 GNT)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.
2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.
3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.
(William Gurnall)

Sunday, March 9, 2014

HOW TO ENJOY LIFE


"As the scripture says,
'If you want to enjoy life
and wish to see good times,
you must keep from speaking evil
and stop telling lies.
You must turn away from evil
and do good;
you must strive for peace
with all your heart.
For the Lord watches over
the righteous
and listens to their prayers;
but he opposes those who do evil.'"
(1 Peter 3:10-12 TEV)




************************

Would you like a free download of
THE HOLY BIBLE

Go to the link below for a free
download of the
Updated King James Version.

Friday, March 7, 2014

WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA


SIMPLY AWESOME.

What a revolutionary ground breaking idea.
"Build On Your Land".
I wish I had thought of that.

Can you imagine the amount of conflict, misunderstanding
and hard feeling this principle would avoid.  Building on your
own land would be like avoiding war and being able to build
the way you want too.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Southwest homes for coming 
up with such a great concept.

Thank you Southwest homes.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

TODAY'S PROMISE


"Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you.
A branch cannot bear fruit by itself, it can do so only
if it remains in the vine.  In the same way you cannot
bear fruit unless you remain in me.

"I am the vine, and you are the branches.  Those who
remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit;
for you can do nothing without me."
(John 15:4,5 GNT)


******************
"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver refined
seven times in the furnace."
(Psalms 12:6 GNT)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.
2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.
3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.
(William Gurnall) ]

Sunday, March 2, 2014

DAY BY DAY RENEWAL


"For this reason we never become discouraged.
Even though our physical being is gradually
decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day
after day.  And this small and temporary trouble
we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal
glory, much greater than the trouble.  For we fix
our attention, not on things that are seen, but on
things that are unseen.  What can be seen lasts only 
for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 TEV)


************************

Would you like a free download of
THE HOLY BIBLE

Go to the link below for a free
download of the
Updated King James Version.