Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 5010 December 11, 2010
Thought for the week: "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." – Mother Teresa
"Christmas means Christ-mas. In Spanish 'más' means 'more' so in English may Christmas mean and be 'More Christ.'" – Jade Gates
As a Christian, I hope I can lead the kind of life that makes others look at me and say, 'What is missing in my life that she has?' That's a greater testimony than anything I can say." – Marilyn Quayle
"Many people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could." – Author Unknown
"Look closely at the present you are constructing; it should look like the future you are dreaming." – Alice Walker
"To some degree, you control your life by controlling your time." – Conrad Hilton
"A mother understands what a child does not say." – Jewish proverb
"With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?" – Jay Leno
"I only know the names of two angels, Hark and Harold." Gregory, age 5
"Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it." Olive, age 9
"It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to Heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes." Matthew, age 9
"Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else." Mitchell, age 7
"My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science." Henry, age 8
"Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows." - Jack, age 6
"Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead." Daniel, age 9
"When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there's a tornado." Reagan, age 10
"Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter." Sara, age 6
"Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter." Jared, age 8
"All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it." Antonio, age 9
"My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth." Ashley, age 9
"Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it." Vicki, age 8
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied,
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one
Who wouldn't say no till he tried.
So he buckled right in, with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done & he DID it!
I read a very alarming report earlier this year which stated that 40% of children in the U.S. are born out of wedlock—that's up from 18% in 1980! This is stated in a report by the National Center for Health Statistics (http://tinyurl.com/ovoemt).
According to Kaiser Family Health Facts.org, in 2006 there were 4,265,555 births in the USA. Thus, each year some 1.7 million children are born to single moms. In 20 years this will equal 34 million more "fatherless" children (http://tinyurl.com/27avvxn).
Can you imagine what these upcoming generations will be like with millions of children growing up fatherless? Understandably, many fatherless children have major personal problems and insecurities, and so many are involved in crime.
Tragically, as a nation, the more we have eliminated God from the public arena, the faster has been our moral decline. Having children out of wedlock, the shocking record of abortion for almost any reason (not to mention barbaric partial-birth abortion), the growing acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle and gay marriage, with even some churches not only accepting the homosexual lifestyle, but also ordaining homosexual pastors (and very recently an Anglican bishop)—all of which are behaviors that God's Word condemns because they are destructive of those whom God loves—us! If ever there were a day when the Church—and we individual Christians—needed to do everything in our power to greatly increase the communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the only hope for our sin-sick world—it is TODAY!
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth" (Psalm 33:12-14, NIV).
"Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies; For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:6-7, NKJV).
"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things" (Philippians 4:8, NKJV).
In the early 1900s, a little-known philosopher named James Allen wrote a powerful essay called "As a Man Thinketh" in which he argued that we are what we think, that a person's character is simply the sum of his thoughts. He went further to declare that our power to control our thoughts (whether we use it or not) is the power to mold our character and shape our destiny.
This is a profound insight, making us personally responsible not only for our conduct but for our circumstances.
He wrote, "As a plant springs from the seed, our actions, character, and even our circumstances spring from our thoughts." As long as we believe we're the creatures of outside conditions, we will fail to become the rightful masters of our lives. But if we do the hard work of reflecting continually to identify and modify our negative beliefs and attitudes, we'll be astonished at the rapid transformation it will produce in the material conditions of our lives.
Our thoughts and actions can be either jailors, imprisoning us in degrading circumstances, or angels of freedom, liberating us to achieve our noble potential.
The relationship between attitudes and circumstances is now well recognized, captured in aphorisms like "Change your attitudes and you change your life" and "It's not your aptitude but your attitude that determines your altitude."
But it's Allen's connection between thoughts and character that's especially interesting. Yes, our destiny is determined by our character, but our character is not determined by our destiny.
We can't always control when bad thoughts and negative impulses enter our minds, but we can decide to either nurture or reject them.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"When you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent."1
Melody Beattie in her book, The Language of Letting Go, emphasizes the importance of contemplating what is on your mind first thing when you wake up in the morning? What is it in that half-asleep, half-awake place? Are you troubled about something? Is there some responsibility you have neglected and is bothering you? Is it a project you've wanted to start but have kept putting it off? Is it an unhealthy relationship you are in and you know that you need to either resolve or end it? Is it a destructive habit or sin that you feel convicted about?
Whatever is on your mind at this time is coming from your inner self, your unconscious mind, or it may be from God's Spirit. It may be revealing an issue you need to deal with, or a project you've been thinking about starting for months. Listen to that voice and do what you know you need to do about it. Don't put it off. Take care of it each day.
It can help to keep a pad and pen at your bedside and each morning jot down the thing that is pressing on your mind when you first awaken. Sometimes the same issue may come to you in a dream.* It just may be a matter you need to pray about and act on.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you have given me a heart (an inner self) for insight and intuition as well as a head for thinking and knowing. Please help me use both in harmony with the leading of your Holy Spirit. And help me to search my heart and hear your Holy Spirit might be saying to me. Give me discernment to know what is valid, and the courage to act on that which is. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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