WISE AND HARMLESS

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep

in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore

wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

(Matthew 10:16 KJV)

What does it mean to be wise as serpents

and harmless as doves?

I certainly am not an expert on the subject.

But I have to wonder, what is it that Christ

is trying to tell me by using these critters as

an example and how can I apply it?

First, serpents or to most of us snakes.  Again

my knowledge is limited but I have had more

experience around them than most people.  If

I remember correctly I have had four "pet" snakes.

That is, if you can call a snake a pet, and ran across

numbers around the house and in the woods.  My

pets at different times and places were two different

"Gopher" snakes as we used to call them.  One "Boa

constrictor," and one "Hog Nose" snake.

Wise as serpents.

One snakes are quiet.  You hardly even hear

one "hiss".  If we want to be wise as a serpent we

will have to learn to shut our mouth.  I one time went

through the entire Bible noting down references about

talking.  If I remember correctly there were twenty three

references.  The essence of all of them was "Let your 

words be few".

Two.

You do not see snakes going around taking "selfies".

Even the very pretty snakes try to stay out of sight.

You never see a snake showing off how pretty or 

good looking it is.

Harmless as doves.

All my life I have loved to hear the doves as they

"cooed" to each other.  But the last few years while

my wife was trying to feed all the birds in the county,

I saw that of all the birds the doves were the most 

patient.  They would sit back and wait their turn.  

So what do I learn for myself about being as 

wise as serpents and harmless as doves?

l.  Keep my mouth shut.

2. Step back and let the others put the show on.

3. Be patient, sit on the sideline waiting my turn.

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

"And I am convinced that nothing

can ever separate us from God's

love.  Neither death nor life, neither

angels nor demons, neither our

fears for today or our worries about

tomorrow - not even the powers of 

hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the 

earth below - indeed, nothing in all

creation will ever be able to separate

us from the love of God that is revealed

in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

(Romans 8:38,39 NLT)

TODAY'S QUOTE

 

Edwin Conklin,

an eminent biologist of Princeton 

University said;

“The probability of life originating from 

accident is comparable to the probability 

of the Unabridged Dictionary resulting 

from an explosion in a  printing factory.”

HOW LONG IS A GOOD PRAYER?

I am not sure what brought this thought on.

Perhaps it was because Sunday we had a visiting

preacher who would not stop talking.  His topic was

"wisdom".  I forget where his text was from.  It was

from somewhere in the Old Testament - but not in 

Proverbs.

He used the same text in the morning and the evening.

In the morning he "preached" for forty five minutes

and in the evening for a full hour.  But after all that

 "preaching" I never did figure out what his point was.

This only proves the Scripture:

"The more words you speak, the less

 they mean.  So what good are they?"

(Ecclesiastes 6:11 NLT)

But my thought is prayer, not preaching.

Let me tell you about one of the most effective

prayers I ever prayed in my life.

Pride got me into trouble.  I had bought a old

motorcycle off of a friend.  He had not been able

to get it started so I wanted to be able to brag about

getting it going real easy the next time I saw him.

I was over zealous with starting fluid and the

motorcycle backfired and caught number four

carburetor on fire.  The flames were licking up

around the gas tank which was about one half

full of gas.

I have had things like that happen on cars back

when they had carburetors.  I ether snuffed the

fire out with a rag, or have even blown the fire

out with my mouth.  But I could not do it with

this motorcycle.  I blew and only singed my eye

brows.  I beat with a rag and only got tired.

I finally spotted my fire extinguisher.  I grabbed

it, pulled the pin and pulled the trigger - NOTHING.

The fire extinguisher had simply set around to

long and had lost it pressure.

I thought about pushing the motorcycle outside

the shop and simply let it burn up.  But, my car

was setting just out side the shop door.  And if

I pushed it past my car it would go over the drive

way and roll down by the house.

I was getting desperate.  I was wearing out beating

the flames away from the tank when I prayed perhaps

the most effective prayer of my life at the top of my

voice:

"JESUS HELP ME."

and the fire went out just like that.

A really good prayer is three words long.

"When you pray, don't babble on

and on as the Gentiles do.  They

think their prayers are answered

merely by repeating their words

again and again.  Don't be like

them, for your Father knows exactly

what you need even before you ask

him!"

(Matthew 6:7,8 NLT)

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Even before he made the world, 

God loved us and chose us in Christ

to be holy and without fault in his 

eyes.  God decided in advance to

adopt us into his own family by bring

us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do, and it 

gave him great pleasure.  So we praise

God for the glorious grace he has

poured out on us who belong to his

dear Son."

(Ephesians 1:4 - 6 NLT)

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

 

“We’re so busy with our own

plans, agendas, activities and

pleasures that we’ve lost sight

of the one and only purpose for

which Christ redeemed us.”

- K.P. Yohannan in

The Road To Reality

JUST USE IT.

All my life I have been interested in cars.

Even before I was old enough to own a

car I was tearing down engines and working

on them.  So, it should be no surprise to 

you that for over twenty five years I worked

as a technician in a Lincoln Mercury dealership.

Yes, I have had a number of hot rods.  But

do you know what.  Depending on my age,

my girl friend or my wife could care less

about all those neat details that make a 

car run.  All they wanted to do was "use it."

I am simply trying to say that by nature I

am interested in the technical aspect of 

things.

I have studied my Bible for over sixty

years, and the Lord willing I plan on it

for the rest of my life.  But this has allowed

me to see a disturbing trend among Christians.

A lot of us learn lots and lots of facts from

our Bible studies.  But, do we apply them?

Jesus said,

"No! The Scriptures say,

'People do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from

the mouth of God.'"

(Matthew 4:4 NLT)

Perhaps instead of using the Bible as a

technical manual we need to simply 

use it to feed out souls.

How many preachers with a "Dr." in 

front of their name do you see doing,

miraculous signs and wonders?  It seems

that the areas of the world where God is

working miracles is often where the people

are very simple, but they simply take God

at his word.

My point is,

quit worrying about the details, doctrines

etc. of the Bible and just start taking God

at his word and JUST USE IT.

Yes, yes, yes.  God had performed pure

miracles for me a few times in my life.

But not one of them was because I was

smart.  Each one was simply the result

of a desperate cry out to God in the time

of an urgent need.

 "Yes! I tell you that unless you change 

and become like little children, 

you won't even enter the Kingdom 

of Heaven!"

(Matthew 18:3 CJB)

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

"We can rejoice, too, when we run

into problems and trials, for we

know that they help us develop

endurance.  And endurance develops

strength of character, and character

strengthens our confident hope of

salvation.  and this hope will not

lead to disappointment.  For we

know how clearly God loves us, 

because he has given us the Holy

Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." 

(Romans 5:3 -5 NLT)

 

IT DIDN'T WORK

IT DIDN'T WORK.

My book came in yesterday afternoon,

about 20 hours ago.  So far I have read

115 pages.  And my blood pressure is still

the same it was yesterday.

Will it even do me any good to read the

rest of the 400 pages?

You see the problem as well as I do.

You have to read it AND apply it.  I

have not changed my eating habits

or life style habits - yet.

It looks to me like that is the way a lot 

of people read their Bible.  They read it,

only read it, but do not follow it's advice.

But they still expect it to do them some

good.

That is probably the reason Jesus said

to some of the people he was talking to;

"When you hear what I say,

you will not understand.

When you see what I do,

you will to comprehend.

For the hearts of these people

are hardened,

and their ears cannot hear,

and they have closed their eyes -

so their eyes cannot see,

and their ears cannot hear,

and their hearts cannot

understand,

and they cannot turn to me

and let me heal them."

(Matthew 13:14,15 NLT)

Do you read your Bible as a 

religious ritual, or to understand

it?

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

 

“In other parts of the world, where

Christians are often persecuted and

attacked for their faith, prayer 

meetings are the very center piece

of the church calendar.  Everyone

attends.  Prayer and worship often

last long into the night.  Prayer is the

powerhouse of their faith, and many 

believers rise before dawn for daily

prayer meetings.  Prayer is probably 

the best thermometer you will ever

have to measure your growth in 

Christ.  It drives all that is truly

spiritual, both in our church and

personal lives.”

- K.P. Yohnnan in

The Road To Reality -

NEW STRENGTH

 

"But those who trust in the LORD will

find new strength.  They will soar high

on wings like eagles.  They will run and

not grow weary.  They will walk and not

faint." 

(Isiah 40:31 NLT)

So, what does a verse of Scripture have to

do with some pictures of old tree stumps

around the yard?

Let me bore. you with a little back ground.

Then hopefully it will make more sense.

Back when I was younger - only 79 - my body

quit making blood.  You may not know it, but

you have to have blood to live.  They called

it "acquired aplastic anemia", what ever that

is.  I was in the hospital four different times

for a week each.  And I was living on other 

peoples blood for at least a year or more.

God gave me healing, but that is another story.

I am only 87 years old now, but lately I have 

been feeling like the end was coming.  I was

just running out of gas and wondered how long

it might before I followed my wife in death.

I try to pray about everything.  That of course

includes life it's self.  And the one verse of 

Scripture that kept coming to my mind was 

the one above.

I kept reminding the Lord that I needed strength.

And that I trusted, waited on, or hoped in him.

[Depending on what version you are reading from.]

I felt the need to get out and "get with it", or do

something.  So the last two weeks I have been

taking old tree stumps out of the yard.  Thus

far I have only taken out three.  

BUT PRAISE GOD,

it has made me feel like a new man.

God did supply the strength needed.