Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 10 – No. 1208 March 22, 2008
Thought for the week: "I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.'" – William Penn
"Has it ever struck you that the vast majority of the will of God for your life has already been revealed in the Bible? That is a crucial thing to grasp." – Paul Little
"Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes He calms the child." – Unknown
"What a world this would be if we could forget our troubles as easily as we forget our blessings." – Unknown
"What the world throws at us as temptation, God uses as a test to transform us." – Tod Bolsinger
"To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate." – John Glenn, astronaut
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal." – Henry Ford, Ford Motor Founder
"Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even." – Ann Landers
We had invited our friends, William and Samantha, to our home to watch a video, and William's 94-year-old mother accompanied them. During the show we noticed William nodding off. As his head dropped lower, it startled him awake. He jumped up and told his wife it was time to leave as his mother must be getting tired. Grandma tapped his hand and pointed out to him who was really tired. She then looked at me. "Dear," she said, "the next time you invite me, I'll be sure to leave the children at home."
"A man leaves all kinds of footprints when he walks through life. Some you can see, like his children and his house. Others are invisible, like the prints he leaves across other people's lives: the help he gives them and what he has said—his jokes, gossip that hurts others, encouragement. A man doesn't think about it, but everywhere he passes, he leaves some kind of mark."
The interesting thing about a pessimist and an optimist is that they are both right...
Just ask them. They will be more than happy to share their evidence.
We all tend to find what we are looking for in life. It's the old adage "Is the glass half full or half empty?" The answer is "Yes." Happiness, peace and success in life are determined, not by circumstances, but by your attitude.
If you look for problems, you'll find them. If you look for solutions, you may or may not find them, but you will find the strength to endure through your problems. And endurance quite often brings the solution.
The difference between a pessimist and an optimist is that an optimist focuses on the future and a pessimist focuses on the immediate circumstances. If that's true, then we as Christians have every reason to be optimistic. Our God has promised us an incredibly bright future. And we trust Him. That's what the Bible calls faith.
Every pessimist considers himself to be a "realist," the implication being: "If you are optimistic, you are ignoring the facts!" But one can be optimistic even in dire circumstances, if he believes that someone who 1) loves him and 2) is powerful enough to control every situation IS, in fact, IN CONTROL. However, if you believe that things are truly out of control, and/or that God doesn't truly love you, there is no basis for optimism. So when we find ourselves becoming pessimistic, we need to focus on those two things.
I'm an optimist. And, I like to believe that I'm also a realist. That means that when it looks like things are out of control in my life, or in the world, I need to remind myself that what I'm really feeling is that things are out of MY control. And I pray for faith to remind me to be at peace knowing that my loving Father is in control.
I don't always understand His ways. That's because He's bigger than I am. I'm thankful for that. He can see all the way to the end of my life and He certainly knows that I need some struggles to give me reason to trust Him.
Shirley continually complained that she didn't make enough money, couldn't afford the things she wanted and, therefore, wasn't ever going to amount to anything. A counselor said to her, "You're throwing your energy away complaining instead of using it to get ahead."
"But you don't understand. The job is the problem, not me," Shirley countered.
The counselor said, "Your low-paying job may be a problem, and your boss may demand too much, but if you are continually that upset, you are causing yourself more harm than either the job or the boss."
"What can I do?" she asked.
The counselor said, "You can't control your boss or the job, but you can control how you feel about them. Change your attitude."
Shirley took her advice. When she stopped whining about her life, people around her noticed. She got a promotion, and with her new job status, she was more marketable. Within several months, she was transferred out of the department into a position with even higher pay and a more supportive boss.
Awful is a state of attitude. Remember that a change in attitude will change the state of things!
I love maxims, those concise capsules of worldly wisdom. I collect them and write them and, of course, love to share them. Here are 18 random rules of life worth posting on your mirror or, better yet, using as dinner-time discussion starters:
Find the lesson in every failure, and you'll never fail.
The likelihood that you're right is not increased by the intensity of your conviction.
Real friends help you feel worthy and make you want to be better.
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
Don't confuse fun with fulfillment, or pleasure with happiness.
Refusing to let go of a grudge is refusing to use the key that will set you free.
Hating hurts you more than the person you hate.
Counting on luck is counting on random chance; your odds are much better when you plan and work.
It's better to be kind than clever.
Don't underestimate the power of persistence.
The easy way is rarely the best way.
It's much easier to burst someone else's bubble than to blow up your own.
You can't avoid pain, but you can avoid suffering.
Self-pity is a losing strategy; it repels others and weakens you.
Shortcuts usually produce short success.
Control your attitude or it will control you.
It's more important to be significant than successful.
The world is waiting for you to heal it.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"I attend church regularly," one person said to me, "but I don't necessarily believe in God. He seems so distant."
The difficulty for many of us, even when we believe in God, is feeling close to him and experiencing his presence and love. When we can't, as Cecil Osborne points out, it is our receptivity that is at fault. God is constantly broadcasting his love, power and blessings to all of us, but when we can't feel these, it's the barriers in our life that block God's love getting through.
The barriers can be unresolved negative emotions such as anger, resentment, hurt, grief, fear, feelings of inadequacy, guilt and so on. Another barrier can be caused by any impaired relationship with a loved one or friend, by unconfessed sin, living out of harmony with God's will, or by not making the effort to daily spend time with God in prayer and listening to his Word. When we starve our souls, it feels as if God is far away.
Another reason God can seem far away is because of a lack of sufficient human love, connection, and meaningful fellowship with fellow Christians. We were created for relationships—with God and people. Both are essential for emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. As John, the beloved disciple of Jesus put it, "If we love one another, God's love is perfected or made complete in us."2
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, whenever I feel that you are distant, help me to realize that I'm the one who has moved, not you. Help me to see any barrier/s in me and lead me to the help I need to resolve these. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Paul the Apostle (Acts 17:27, NIV). 2. 1 John 4:12.
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