Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 18 – No. 2016 May 14, 2016
Thought for the week: "The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of verything. They just make the most of everything they have." – Anonymous
One night I was tucking my four-year-old son in bed and told him his nightly Bible story.
This night it was the story of the prodigal son. We discussed how he had taken his inheritance early, left and spent it all on living it up and partying until he had no money left and had to work on a pig farm where he couldn't even afford to eat what the pigs ate! He remembered his father and went back home to ask for a job and forgiveness. His father welcomed him home with much joy!
After we finished the story I asked my son what he learned and he immediately said, "Never leave home without your credit card!"
"Jesus has forced open a door that had been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done so." – C. S. Lewis
"When the hour came, He [Jesus] took His place at the table, and the apostles with Him. He said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood'" (Luke 22:14-20, RSV).
–This Day's Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784,
Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA
One night Joy and I were listening to gospel music and heard the song: "Did I Make a Difference?" The following lyrics were tremendously challenging:
"I can't help but ask myself when I lay down at night / Did I make a
difference in some body's life? / What hurts did I heal? / What wrongs did I right? / Did I raise my voice in defense of the truth? / Did I lend my hand to the destitute? / When my race is run, when my song is sung / Will I have to wonder, did I make a difference? /
Did I make a difference?"
The good news is that—working together—we can make a tremendous difference in thousands of lives every day of the year. This is because every weekday via Daily Encounter, ACTS is communicating a message from God's Word, including the gospel, to 373,000+ worldwide subscribers. Thousands more are being reached via ACTS web pages and Weekend Encounter. As the stats show, on average, people from194 countries and territories visit ACTS web pages every month!
Here are three suggestions for the parents of young teens, all learned through my own mistakes:
First, remember, with emerging demands for independence, worries about peer acceptance, pressures of school and extra-curricular activities and a continuous search for self-identity, adolescents are on a physical and emotional roller coaster. Like every generation before them (including yours), young teens are often arrogant and over-confident about their knowledge and your ignorance, and deeply insecure about most other things. They will make mistakes, behave badly and be thoroughly self-absorbed. Though they want you to be less involved in their lives, they actually need you more. And despite continuous battles, if you're open, you will experience glorious moments both of you will cherish all your lives.
Second, be firm but choose your battles carefully. Don't back down when you are dealing with an important principle but don't make every issue a hill you're willing to die on. Be willing to lose occasionally and even give in graciously.
Third, don't belittle or underestimate the importance of their feelings. It may seem like they are over-reacting, but teens feel emotions like embarrassment, loneliness, insecurity, frustration and love truly and intensely. It's horribly disrespectful to minimize or discount these feelings with useless advice like, "you'll get over it," or "everyone feels that way." Nor is it helpful to dismiss or invalidate an emotion by saying, "You shouldn't feel that way."
Teens can be hard to love, but be patient. Soon they will be the parents of your grandchildren.
7. You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Want
A sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes
"According to your faith will it be done to you."1
I read an interesting quote that said, "You can never get enough of what you don't want." I had to stop and think about this one. Why would I ever want what I don't want?
An over-simplification of what I believe this quote means is that if I have a craving for chocolate ice-cream, no matter how much vanilla ice-cream I get, it would never satisfy my hunger for chocolate ice-cream.
To apply this principle to a higher cause means that sometimes we settle for less than what is best for us because of the challenge to achieve what we truly want to achieve if we are determined to do so.
For the Christian, God wants the very best for us. The question for each of us is, Do we want what God wants for us?
God wants us not only to be members of his family, but growing members who are becoming more and more like Christ in every way, who don't settle for anything less than complete wholeness, complete recovery, a healthy lifestyle, a worthwhile work (either paid or voluntary) into which we can put our best efforts, loving relationships, and for us to discover and fulfill his divine purpose for our life.
It is no "chocolate ice-cream party" to achieve any of these goals let alone all of them. The half-hearted never make it. "Vanilla ice-cream living" is so much easier to achieve, but it has no "nutritional" (spiritual) value.
Are you and I settling for "vanilla ice-cream" when we could have the gold of God's "chocolate ice-cream" life?
Suggested prayer: "Oh God, please don't let me ever get satisfied with an abundance of what I don't want--anything less than all that you have planned and envisioned for me to become and do. Please give me faith and determination, and with your help, to achieve all your goals for my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Matthew 9:29 (NIV).
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Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey
Books:
Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing How to Mend a Broken Heart I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
Communications
Healing, Wholeness & Happiness by Dick Innes
Loving & Understanding People by Dick Innes
I Hate Witnessing by Dick Innes
God's Formula for Success by Dick Innes
Damaged Emotions by David Seamands
Healing of the Memories by David Seamands
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