Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 10 – No. 0908 March 01, 2008
Thought for the week: "The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve." –
Albert Schweitzer
"If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world." – Vance Havner
"Satan is not fighting churches; he is joining them. He does more harm by sowing tares than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation than by outright opposition." – Vance Havner
"Satan has no difficulty in making sin look innocent." – John Blanchard
"Don't worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they're always watching you." – Robert Fulghum
"The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." – Helen Keller
"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much You already have." – Unknown
"It is impossible to get the measure of what an individual can accomplish, unless the responsibility is placed on him." – Alfred Sloan
"The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of." – Blaise Pascal
Mother Teresa was once asked, "How do you measure the success of your work?" She thought about the question and gave her interviewer a puzzled look, and said, "I don't remember that the Lord ever spoke of success. He spoke only of faithfulness in love. This is the only success that really counts." – Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
Recently a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands made a pronouncement that people who call themselves Christians are perfectly fine to refer to God by the name, Allah, so as to ease tensions with our Muslim neighbors...
The God who created and sustains this world is ... the only true God. There is no other. Oh sure, people have referred to things as gods, from those who worshipped imaginary gods of the things seen in nature, to man-made idols, to the Mormon belief that male humans can become gods one day. None of these false gods are backed by reality. There is no truth in them. There is no truth in following after them.
Among these false gods is Allah. Early Meccans were pagan idolaters who worshipped the stars, the sun, the moon, as well as the planets, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. One of the gods was deemed to be superior to all the rest, the moon god, Allah. Mohammed selected him to honor, and having studied Judaism, pressed the claim that Allah is the only god. Allah is not the same as the Creator. The name, Allah, is not just another way of saying "God."
The true God wants us to know Him in a personal and practical way. He has revealed Himself through the Scriptures and through His Son, Jesus Christ.
"I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:5-6).
NOTE: This is best for readers whose first language is English.
Brain Stuff . . . reported to be from Cambridge University.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Marta was a hard-working single mother. When her minister sermonized about "living a life that matters," she worried that working to raise her kids and going to church wasn't enough. So on the bus to work she made a list of other jobs she could do and volunteer work she could try.
Sylvia, an elderly woman, saw the worry on Marta's face and asked what was wrong. Marta explained her problem. Sylvia said, "Oh my, did your minister say you weren't doing enough?"
"No," Marta said. "But I don't know how to live 'a life that matters'."
"You don't have to change jobs or do more volunteer work," Sylvia consoled her. "It's enough that you're a good mother. But if you want to do more, think about what you can do while doing what you already do. It's not about what you do, but how you do it."
"You don't understand," Marta said. "I sell hamburgers. How do I make that significant?"
"How many people do you deal with every day?" Sylvia asked.
"Two to three hundred."
"Well, what if you set out to cheer, encourage, teach, or inspire as many of those people as you could? A compliment, a bit of advice, a cheerful hello, or a warm smile can start a chain reaction that lights up lives like an endless string of Christmas bulbs."
"But that's just being nice," Marta protested.
"Right," said Sylvia. "Niceness can change lives."
Marta looked at the old woman. "What do you do?"
"I was a housekeeper until I retired," Sylvia said. "Now I just ride the bus talking to people."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."1
A few years ago I snapped my right Achilles tendon and was in a cast and on crutches for six weeks. After the cast was off I was anxious to get active again. Soon afterwards, when riding my bicycle, I got off my bike to safely walk across a busy street on the green light. When I stepped off the pavement, suddenly a car swung around the corner from my left without stopping. I got a fright and jumped out of the way—and snapped the same tendon again. Not fun.
True, it was unfortunate that this happened, but the fact is I really hadn't given myself quite enough time to heal properly before getting out on my bicycle.
Sometimes, when we pray for healing of a sickness, we want God to heal us without taking into account our responsibility in the matter. When we do this, we are looking more for magic than a miracle. As David Seamands put it, "I believe in miracles but not magic."
Furthermore, often we skip one of the fundamental requirements for healing. Many ills—physical, emotional, relational and/or spiritual—are caused or greatly aggravated by unresolved super-charged repressed negative emotions such as anger, resentment, bitterness, anxiety, stress, unconfessed sin, guilt, grief, fears, a failure to forgive and so on. These issues can and do cause many ills and, if unresolved, block healing.
Whenever I get sick, I always ask God to show me if there is anything in my life that may either be causing or making my sickness worse.
I was talking to a man yesterday who has major physical ills. It was quite apparent that he was a very angry man. It sure made me wonder. As Henry Cloud and John Townsend like to say, "God is merciful. When we have unresolved problems, he gives us symptoms."
If we want to be healed, it pays to do it God's way. Confession is a major key for considerable healing and greatly improved health.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me always to be honest with myself and with you, see all of my unresolved problems, admit when I have sinned, and confess these both to you and a trusted pastor, priest, counselor or friend—and thereby receive forgiveness and healing. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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