Prodigal: Why do you think I should think about it?
Me: Look at what I found.
This is from the book Growing Up Social: Raising Relational Kids In a Screen-Driven World by Gary Chapman and Arlene Pellicane
A 2010 study in the journal Pediatrics, found viewing more television and playing more video games were linked to attention problems in schoolchildren and college students. Researchers found that children who exceeded two hours per day of screen time were one-and-a half to two times more likely to be above average in attention problems. College students showed a similar association, suggesting that exposure to screens has lasting consequences into adulthood.
The attention a child brings to a video games is unlike the concentration they need to succeed in regular life. A child like Keith can pay attention to a game fueled by frequent changes, constant rewards, new levels, points being racked up, and boosts of dopamine to the brain. When a child’s brain grows accustomed to that fast pace, no wonder the real world becomes underwhelming and boring.
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. Job 15:19 (KJV)
James looked down from where he stood, balanced carefully at the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem. Far below, he could see that the streets were filled with people. It was Passover, and Jews from all over the known world had come to the Holy City.
A hand grabbed his arm, pulling him off balance. “Get on with it!” a voice threatened. Behind him, a safe distance from the dangerous ledge, stood the chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees. “Deny that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah! Before all these people, deny that Jesus was the Son of God and that He was resurrected from the dead,” they demanded.
James the Just was one of Jesus’ younger brothers, as was Jude. It appears that James was skeptical of Jesus’ claims during His ministry as was the rest of Jesus’ family, until he saw Jesus alive again after His crucifixion and resurrection. James never backed away from following Jesus after that.
James risked another glance at the street below. Many of the people down there knew him. For thirty years, he had been the bishop of the church at Jerusalem. During that time, he wrote a book of the Bible, the Epistle of James. He had openly preached Jesus as the Messiah and the resurrected Son of God on almost every street corner. How could he deny what he had seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and touched with is own hands: his risen Lord!
Through his preaching, his prayers, and his example, James converted many people to Christ. He was on his bare knees so often, worshipping God and praying for forgiveness for the sins of the people, that his knees became numb and calloused, like the knees of a camel. This also earned him the nickname of “James the Just.” He was respected by everyone, even many who opposed what he taught and believed.
Feeling threatened by the rapid growth of the church, the chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees came up with a plan. They would force this well-known church leader to deny his faith before the multitude. But James refused to cooperate.
From his place at the top of the temple, he preached with more boldness than ever. Every person in the crowd below looked up as he proclaimed, “Jesus is the promised Messiah! He is sitting at the right hand of God, and shall come again in the clouds of heaven, to judge the quick and the dead!”
When the crowd below saw his courage and heard his bold words, they loudly praised God and magnified the name of Jesus. Enraged, two or three of the religious leaders jumped forward and pushed James off the temple roof.
Miraculously, James was not killed by the fall; only his legs were broken. Then the priests, scribes, and Pharisees said, “Let’s stone the ‘just man’ James.” They picked up rocks to stone him to death. James, kneeling on his broken legs, prayed, “Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
One of the priests, when he heard James’s praying, begged the others to stop, saying, “What are we doing? ‘The Just’ is praying for us. Stop the stoning! Stop the stoning!”
While he was shouting this, another man ran up with a big, heavy stick in his hand and struck James in the head. James died instantly from the blow, still in prayer.
In all their affliction He was afflicted. Isaiah 63:9 NAS
This is from Pat Chen in Intimacy with the Beloved
I do a lot of teaching on different types of fasting, and people are always amazed when I encourage them to fast from talking. We fast and deny our bodies food, bringing our bodies under subjection to the will and purposes of God. Why not fast from talking?
The Lord says we’re going to give an account one day for every word that comes out of our mouths. There is a safety in silence as we guard our tongue. Most of us tend to finish someone else’s sentences for them. I’m a much better listener now than I used to be. But I still need work in this area. Our tendency is not to really listen to someone thoroughly. We are thinking ahead before they finish and not listening to their heart. When we’re with God, we need to listen to His heart.
Being silent helps put our tongue in subjection to the Holy Spirit. Bringing our tongue under control is a form of self-discipline. Why do you feel we always have to speak? Why do we always think about the next thing we will say during our conversations? Let’s allow God to speak to us instead; let’s allow Him to fill our minds with His thoughts.
When you become truly quiet, a song of worship will often rise up in your spirit. The more we look at Jesus, the quieter we become and the more we stop thinking about what we can do and say next. After a while, we discover that Jesus consumes our whole mind. At that point all we can think about is the Lord.
On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:7-8
This is from The Strong Family by Charles Swindoll
Benjamin West, a British artist, tells how he first became aware of his artistic skills. One day his mother went out, leaving him in charge of his little sister, Sally. In his mother’s absence, he discovered some bottles of colored ink and to amuse her, he began to paint Sally’s portrait. In doing so, he made quite a mess of things….spilled numerous ink splotches here and there. When his mother returned, she saw the mess, but said nothing about it. She deliberately looked beyond all that as she picked up the piece of paper. Smiling, she exclaimed, “Why, it’s Sally!” She then stooped and kissed her son. From that time on, Benjamin West would say, “My mother’s kiss made me a painter.” “God gave the talent, but a very secure and wise mother gave the gift of wings.”
Proverbs 30:18-19
There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of the serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid.
God’s laws and commandments are there because He loves us and He wants what is best for us. He gives us rules for our benefit.
Just like any loving parent, God gives us boundaries for our own good. Indulgent parents, who let their children do anything they want, raise kids with serious problems. You see it all the time. Children without boundaries are unstable. They get out of control. And they feel out of control. They misbehave without consequences, so they believe there are no consequences for breaking the rules. Parents who allow children to not follow rules that exist for their protection don’t do any favors for their children. People generally don’t like children like that and don’t want to be around them. And such children sense that they are not liked and that affects their personality. They develop less than optimal behavior, which leads to more rejection. This happens all because a parent does not love their children enough to give them rules with a requirement to obey them.
All children need to know what boundaries are in order to survive and do well in life. We are God’s kids, and we, too, need boundaries in order to survive and do well. Without God’s Word, we will be influenced by the anti-Christ formed relativism of ht world more than the God created revelation of the Holy Spirit.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. Psalm 95:4 (KJV)
One morning while a prisoner at Ravensbruck, Corrie ten Boom awoke with a bad cold. Back in her homeland, with a hankie to use for blowing her nose, she would have easily adjusted to the infirmity. But in the concentration camp, without so much as a hankie, she felt she could not bear her cold and runny nose.
‘Well, why don’t you pray for a hankie?” suggested her sister, Betsie.
Corrie wanted to laugh. There they were imprisoned in a camp where thousands of people each week were being executed or put through unbearable suffering. “And Betsie suggests I pray for a hankie!” she thought. “If I were to pray for anything, it would be for something big not something little like that.”
Betsie, however, immediately and simply prayed: “Father, in the name of Jesus I now pray for a hankie for Corrie, because she has a bad cold.”
Corrie shook her head and walked away. A short while later she was standing by the window of her barracks when she heard someone call her name. Looking out, she spotted a friend and fellow prisoner who worked in the camp’s hospital approaching her.
“Here you are”, the woman said to Corrie in a matter-of-fact tone as she extended a small package to her. “Take it. I bring you a little present.”
Corrie could hardly believe her eyes when she opened the small parcel–it contained a handkerchief!” “How did you know?” she queried. “Did Betsie tell you? Did you know I had a cold?”
The woman shrugged, then revealed, “I know nothing. I was busy sewing handkerchiefs out of an old piece of sheet, and there was a voice in my heart saying, “Take a hankie to Corrie ten Boom.” So, there is your gift, from God.”
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1 (KJV)
This is from the book No Man Is An Island by Thomas Merton
Hence I do not find in myself the power to be happy merely by doing what I like. On the contrary, if I do nothing except what pleases my own fancy I will be miserable almost all the time. This would never be so if my will had not been created to use its own freedom in the love of others.
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler: Ecclesiastes 10:5 (KJV)
