This is from the book No Easy Road by Dick Eastman
Remember Enoch, a prime example. “And Enoch walked with God….” the Bible says (Genesis 5:22). What a thought-provoking epitaph! How could Enoch fail to know the will of God? He “walked with God”! When walking with God man understands unanswered prayer. He knows why problems often plague our way. How else could Paul accept his “thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7)? Satan buffeted him daily, but God’s grace was sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9). Perhaps Paul knows today, while resting in Paradise, why God permitted his thorn. Paul, no doubt, sees value in it all, sensing the beauty of God’s will.
Only when he denies himself and lives close to God does man learn His beautiful will. When one really understands God’s perfect will, the effectiveness of prayer is staggering.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 (KJV)
Some people think it takes mindless faith to believe in God, but it actually takes blind and reckless faith to look at this beautiful world and amazing universe and believe there is no God.
King David, a man after God’s own heart, said that only a fool says “there is no God.” He said these kinds of people become corrupt and “there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1). That’s because if there is no God, then there are no absolutes, no moral law, and no final restriction on behavior. They can make up their own law and change it whenever they want. They are definitely not motivated by love.
Moses said, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
Me: Sorry, sometimes I forget, but I know someone who does not.
This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope
Shepherds in the Middle East name their sheep. While an occasional lamb might be killed for a festive occasion, sheep are kept primarily for their wool. Shepherds develop a close and long-term relationship with the sheep under their care.
A man visiting the Middle East could not believe that sheep actually knew their own names, so he challenged a shepherd he met to call one or two of his sheep. The shepherd obliged and called out “Neriah.” One of the sheep grazing nearby stopped eating and looked up. When the shepherd called out, “Come here,” the sheep came immediately. He called another and another, and each did just as the first.
“But how can you tell them all apart?” the visitor asked. “To me, one looks just like the next.”
The shepherd said, “Oh, no two are alike. Look closely. That sheep has lost a little bit of wool. That one is a little cross-eyed, this one is a little bowlegged, that one has a black spot on its nose.” The visitor noted that the shepherd knew each of his sheep by their faults and failings. He didn’t have a perfect sheep in his flock. Nevertheless, he cared for them and loved them equally.
How comforting to know that our heavenly Father sees us as we are and still loves us and cares for us. He knows each of us inside and out. He delights in our uniqueness, including those qualities that still are being perfected! We are not “just another person with a need or a fault” to Him. We are His dear children, whom He is helping in every way He can to grow up and be like Jesus.
In all that we need, and all that we lack, may we turn to Him.
For all that He gives, and all that He calls us to do, may we thank Him.
With all that we are, and with all that we have, may we praise Him!
The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. John 10:3-4 (NKJV).
Some years ago, at Wellington, South Africa, where I live, we opened a Mission Institute–what is counted there a fine large building. At our opening services the principal said something that I have never forgotten. He remarked:
“Last year we gathered here to lay the foundation-stone, and what was there to be seen? Nothing but rubbish, and stones, and bricks, and ruins of an old building that had been pulled down. There we laid the foundation-stone, and very few knew what the building was that was to rise. No one knew it perfectly in every detail except one man, the architect. In his mind it was all clear, and as the contractor and the mason and the carpenter came to their work they took their orders from him, and the humblest laborer had to be obedient to orders, and the structure rose, and this beautiful building has been completed. And just so,” he added, “this building that we open today is but laying the foundation of a work of which only God knows what is to become.”
We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12
Prodigal: Mighty fine head covering you got there.
Me: I agree!
This is from the book God’s Psychiatry by Charles L. Allen
I will never forget what the coach said to us the first day I went out for football practice. He told us that football is a rough game and that if we expected to play it, we must also expect sometimes to get hurt.
So with life. If you expect to live it, you must also expect some bruises and hurt. That is just the way it is. And David, thinking of that fact, said in the Twenty third Psalm, “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
Sometimes, as the sheep grazed. its head would be cut by the sharp edge of a stone buried in the grass. There were briars to scratch and thorns to stick.
Then, some days the sheep had to walk steep paths under a hot, merciless sun. At the end of the day it would be tired and spent.
So the shepherd would stand at the door of the fold and examine each sheep as it came in. If there were hurt places the shepherd would apply soothing and healing oil. Instead of becoming infected, the hurt would soon heal.
Also, the shepherd had a large earthen jug of water, the kind of jar which kept the water refreshingly cool through evaporation. As the sheep came in, the shepherd would dip down into the water with is big cup and bring it up brimful. The tired sheep drank deeply of the life-quickening draught.
Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. 1 Kings 8:34 (KJV)
This is from the book The Great House of God by Max Lucado
You are someone of God’s kingdom. You have access to God’s furnace. Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don’t need to. But this much is clear: Actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth. What an amazing thought!
When you speak, Jesus hears.
And when Jesus hears, thunder falls.
And when thunder falls, the world is changed.
All because someone prayed.
After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, even unto the corner. Nehemiah 3:24 (KJV)
