TODAY'S PROMISE

"My dear children, I am writing this to you

so that you will not sin.  But if anyone does

sin, we have a advocate who pleads our case

before the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the one

who is truly righteous.  He himself is the sari-

fice that atones for our sins - and not only our

sins but the sins of all the world."

(1 John 2:1,2 NLT)

HOW TO LAY DOWN LIFE'S LOADS

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I have noticed an interesting phenomenon in my life a

few times that did not make sense to me at the 

time.  That of course is because I am not as smart

as you are.

However reading in my Bible a few days ago

I read one of the Psalms that stood out differently

this time and to myself explained why things 

worked the way they do.

You see I am not perfect like you are.  Sometimes

I plain old every day mess up.  And by that I mean

I do not always live the way God wants me to.  And

generally then things begin to drag or the luster of

life disappears and sometimes even my body just

don't feel as good as it should. 

But I have noted that when I went to God in a

really honest serious way and intended to do 

differently things changed.  Simply a "sorry"

God in passing does not do it.

Here is the portion of Scripture that helped 

me get a better grasp on the situation.  

"When I refused to confess my sin,

my body wasted away,

and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline

was heavy on me.

My strength evaporated like water

in the summer heat.

Finally I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, 'I will confess my rebellion

to the LORD.'

And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone." 

(Psalms 32:3 - 5 NLT)

I know from the Scriptures that there are some

"sins" that will actually effect our bodies.

So, there was not only the guilt of displeasing 

God by my actions, but it actually was "dragging"

my body down.

But when I took it to God in a really

serious honest way seeking his forgiveness

usually by the next day I was back on the 

top of life enjoying the goodness of God.

Is your life weighted down in one way or

another?  Is the luster and joy of life gone?

Then go to God and honestly turn it all over

to Him as it were, taking Him by the hand

with the full intent of walking and living 

with and for Him.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"He who loveth God with all his heart

feareth not death, nor punishment, 

nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect

love giveth sure access to God.  But he

who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if

he is afraid of death and judgment."  

-Thomas A. Kempis

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself

and God our Father, who loved us and by

his grace gave us eternal comfort and a 

wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen

you in every good thing you do and say."

(2 Thessalonians 2:16,17 NLT)

THE END

Years ago I left the confusion of California and moved

back into the hills for a more sensible life style.  Yes,

into true "red neck" country.  I have been grateful ever

since.

My daughters live in several different states.  Yes, they

have fled from California too.  But they come to visit 

their old "dad" once in a while.  Now one of these 

daughters is a writer and when she comes to visit dad

she often wants me to take her to some of these old 

cemeteries back in the hills.  It has something to do 

with her writing.

That of course is the reason for the photo above.   It

is a cemetery in a small community that is not even

incorporated.  And, my daughter wanted to look around

in the "old" part of the cemetery.  This part of the cemetery

is from back in the 1800 hundreds.

One of the things I noticed was that some of the head

stones were simply a rock.  Some of those people were

so poor they could not even afford a real head stone 

for their burial.  So that rock you see in the foreground

is the headstone or tombstone or whatever you want. 

 But, only a rock without a name or date, just a dead

 body in under it.

But notice the tombstone about ten feet behind it.

Wow!  It probably cost a ton of money.

My point is, whether you live in a mansion or are

homeless, we all are going to end up dead.

God himself through the Apostle Paul said:

"For we have brought nothing into the 

world, so we cannot take anything out of

it either."  

(1 Timothy 6:7 NASB)

But even beyond that God tells us;

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men

to die once and after this comes judgment,"

(Hebrews 9:27 NASB)

Our concern in life should not be how much money

we can make, or how much fun we can have - But

are we ready for that moment we come to the end

of this life and will have to stand before God, whether

we like it or not.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"The desire of power in excess caused

the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge

in excess caused man to fall, but in love

there is no excess neither can angel or

man come in danger by it."

- Francis Bacon

TODAY'S PROMISE

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is

useful to teach us what is true and to make

us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It

corrects us when we are wrong and teaches 

us to do what is right.  God uses it to 

prepare and equip his people to do every

good work."  

(2 Timothy 3:16,17 NLT)

THE POWER OF A WOMAN

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This picture almost demonstrates the power of a woman.

Some of you kids will not understand this.  But us 

grandfathers do.

Imagine that little girl as your granddaughter.  Or in my

case it would be a great granddaughter.  She walks up 

to you and puts on her "innocent helpless" look.  Be

assured, they know how to do it.  And when she looks

up into your face says; "Grandpaw".  Brother, you just

lost the battle.  That little girl just got anything in the 

world she wants if it is humanly possible for you to 

do or get it.

True, their mothers don't fall for that line like you 

and I do because they have been using it all their 

life.

Ladies.  Truly it is you that I am wanting to make 

a point to.  And my first couple of illustrations would

seem to be blaming the women.  Not so, they are just 

the first to pop in my mind.  There have been many

Godly women who have used their influence to 

change the course of life for their whole family.

Consider Eve.  The very first women there ever was.

She messed up and fell for a lie so she ate some fruit

she was not suppose to.  Then she looked up into Adam's

face and said, that was good, here try some.  And the 

whole human race has been messed up ever since.

Consider Jezebel the wife of Ahab who was the 

most evil king that was ever over Israel.  

Ahab was bad to start with but then he 

married that witch Jezebel and 

the Scriptures tell us:

"(No one else so completely sold himself to what

was evil in the LORD'S sight as Ahab did under

the influence of his wife Jezebel."

(1 Kings 21:25  NLT)

One more.

Remember the daughter of Herodias who danced for

king Herod  and he was so overwhelmed that he 

promised her anything she wanted up to half of

his kingdom.

All she wanted was the head of John the Baptist,

so God's prophet lost his head because of a girl.

Something you and I have both noticed.

You have watched boys of - every age -

make absolute fools of them self to get

a girls attention.

Ladies what I am saying is that God has given

you a power and an influence over males that

can be used for good, or evil.  Are you using it

for God, or the Devil.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.

To know is not to be wise.  Many men

know a great deal and are all the greater

fools for it.  There is no fool so great a 

fool as a knowing fool.  But to know how

to us knowledge is to have wisdom."

- Charles H. Spurgeon 

HOW TO BE USEFUL TO GOD

HOW TO BE USEFUL TO GOD.

No,

I am not an expert on the subject.

But I have picked up on the clue which

 is my desire to pass on to you.

Back ground, or research if that would

make you feel any better.  I have "attempted"

to live for God for over sixty years.  That does

not count my years of growing up.  And of 

course that includes a lot of experience and 

not all of that has been good.  A lot of that 

has been failure.  That includes many years

of observation of the lives of other people,

both successful and unsuccessful.

During those sixty or more years I have

been a diligent reader of the Holy Bible

having read it well over one hundred times.

No, that does not necessarily make me smart.

And of course have studied it for years 

attempting to teach it now and then.

But probably one of the most instructive things

I have run across, at least as far as my current

subject is, the reading of dozens and dozens

of biographies.  For myself, one of the most

encouraging things spiritually apart from the 

Bible is the biographies of successful men and

women of God.  Reading them is encouraging

to me.

But in all this reading something has stood 

out to me.  Some of these People were highly

educated.  And some could not read or right

enough to spell their own name.

Some of them came from wealthy situations,

and some were as poor as dirt.

Some of these people had very strong physical

constitutions.  And some these people were

sickly by nature.

Some of these successful people were outgoing

and charismatic by nature.  And some of these

successful people used of God were retiring quit

people who would make great hermits.

Some of these people "just" happened to be 

in advantages positions.  And some of these

people were totally disadvantaged.

The list could go on and on.  But that is enough

to see that the list could include you and me.

What was the one common denominator that

made them useful to God?

Jesus Christ himself said,

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, 

he must deny himself, and take up his

cross daily and follow Me."

(Luke (9:23 NASB)

Remember, the cross was a method of

execution.  A way to die.  And in this 

case to die to self.

The Apostle James says it another way;

"Submit therefore to God.  Resist the

devil and he will flee from you."

(James 4:7 NASB)

And the Apostle Paul one place when talking

on this subject said; "I die daily."

(1 Corinthians 15:31 NASB)

In short, If I want to be really useful to God,

no matter where I am or what ever my 

circumstances my be,

I have to die to myself and my

desires and give myself over to

God to let him use me however

he wants.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"There is treasure in the house of the godly,

but the earnings of the wicked bring trouble."  

(Proverbs 15:6 NLT)

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"Sight is not faith, and hearing is not faith,

neither is feeling faith; but believing when

we neither see, hear, nor feel is faith; and 

everywhere the Bible tell us our salvation

is to be by faith.  Therefore we just believe

before we feel, ad often against out feelings,

if we would honor God by our faith."

-Hannah Whitall Smith