Christian Living
It is so amazing what lessons we learn every second that we live before we return to our creator, so long as we are WILLING!
The Bible is deep and full with all sorts of life’s lessons and if we will, OUR GUIDELINE FOR LIVING
The addition below was received through Email from a friend who runs a web ministry and I could not help but share it with you all
I believe you will be blessed as you peruse and digest the full meaning thereof.
“The bottom line is that anger causes pain. AS LONG AS WE ARE TRYING TO TREAT THE PAIN, THE ROOT CAUSE-WHATEVER IT IS that's annoyed or infuriated you—WILL REMAIN.”
— Liesl Schillinger
.............When I spoke at a winter conference in Canada, the word cold took on a whole new meaning to me. It was 40 degrees below - that's Fahrenheit, not wind chill temperature! We added the wind chill in just to make it a little more exciting. It was the coldest, sustained temperature I have ever been in.
Now, I'll tell you, I hate to wear hats. I hate to wear hoods. Oh, but I learnt fast. I was talking to a teenager in the dinner line, and he told me that two days before, he had been out for one minute in that weather, he'd come in, tried to warm up his ear and literally broke the cartilage in his ear. It had quick-frozen; freeze dried in one minute. Right after that, I had about a three-minute walk ahead of me. Guess what? Even though I had come in with my parka hood off, after hearing that, I could love a parka hood. Oh, I wore it; you bet I did. I didn't realize that you could do such permanent damage in no time!
Our word for today from the Word of God comes right out of the life of King David. It's in 2 Samuel 11:1-4. "In the spring at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful." Now, we know that David sent for her and it says in verse 4, "David sent messengers to get her. She came to him," and then these tragic game-changing words, "and he slept with her."
These are probably some of the sorriest verses in the Bible. Here's David, the man who is described as the man after God's own heart. And up to this point there is one glorious victory after another. And then, suddenly he freezes spiritually, and it didn't take long to freeze--one night. Later David repented; he was forgiven, but the glory of his life would never be the same again. From that moment on his life was marred by death, and guilt, and a prodigal son, a litany of heartaches, tragedy after tragedy in his family, and it did not take long--one spiritual day off.
Now, if it could happen to David it could happen to me and it could happen to you. Oh, it may or may not be a sexual sin that could capture you, although that's a pretty powerful one. It could be an act of bitterness or revenge, maybe just one dishonest deal that's so tempting right now, a momentary relaxing of your convictions--just once, a harmless flirtation. But a lifetime of honor can be lost in a night time. What took years to build can be torn down in moments. It happened to David; it could happen to you.
The moral is simple: you can't afford one day off spiritually. Begin each day...begin every day in the personal presence of your Savior, Jesus, who is mighty to save and mighty to save you from the sin of that day. A busy day, a boring day, a day you're away from home, a down day, a vacation day, a special day.
No matter what sort of day it is, begin it in the presence of Jesus whether you feel like it or not. If you don't feel like it, you probably need to even more.
Keep your confessed sin up-to-date as of that morning.
Anticipate the temptations that you may face that day.
Consecrate your weaknesses to Him and then turn on your spiritual radar so it's working that entire day.
Be sure you don't leave without your spiritual armor on, or your spiritual hood up if you prefer, because believe me, it doesn't take long to freeze.
Ron Hutchcraft
--
Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. —Jeremiah 6:16
Too many of us are low-voiced and shallow-streamed in our gratitude. We are like the boy who had been swimming in a tiny pond, and who was taken for the first time to the ocean. His little bathing-suit was put on him, and he was asked to wade in. But he looked aghast at the vast blue expanse, and shrank back.
"Why don't you take a dip?" urged his mother. "Because," he said with a great deal of dignity, "I don't think this was made for little boys; it was made for big ships." We have either got to get into deeper water with our expressions of gratitude or else admit that we don't know how to swim.
Twenty centuries ago, Jesus, the Son of God, was walking through the human experience. One day, close to Jerusalem, he ran across ten lepers. The nationality of the entire group is unclear, but we know one of them was a despised Samaritan. Recognizing Jesus, perhaps only as a healer, they called to him, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" Jesus simply said, "Go show yourself to the priests." Miraculously, on their way, they were totally healed. But sadly, only the Samaritan returned: "He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him" (Luke 17:16 NIV).
Is there someone in the course of your life you have forgotten to thank?
In the United States of America, there is a bank holiday for Thanksgiving. I wonder how many people actually utilise this opportunity to say thank you to others. I wont be surprised if the delights of most hearts will be the holiday from work so they can labour at the cornucopia of digestible delights. Yet, folks are still waiting for their thanksgiving to them.
Take this week and survey your life. Ask God to bring instances to your mind when you completely forgot to thank some benefactor. Maybe it was a small favour. Perhaps you were just one of a group to which the gift was given. Make an effort to thank at least one person you failed to thank earlier. That one will be surprised, delighted--and thankful.
Remember: Why don't you be the "one" in ten who is always grateful.
One year when Christmas Day came on a Sunday, a farmer decided to go to church. (Like some people, he thought he was fulfilling his religious obligation by going to church twice a year--at Christmas and Easter!)
The sermon that day was preached from the text, "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's manger: but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isaiah 1:3). Isaiah is saying that man is dumber than the animals.
After church the farmer returned home and stood among his cows. One of them began to lick his hand--a practical demonstration of the sermon he had just heard. Strong man though he was, the farmer began to weep as he thought, "God did much more for me, and yet I never thanked Him. My cow is far more grateful than I am. What do I ever give her other than grass and water?"
Will you give thanks to God for His goodness towards you, even when you are going through difficult times?
Are you so blessed that small gifts are inconsequential to you? When you wake up in the morning, do not forget to give thanks to the Lord for the gift of another day. Oh that men and women will praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works.
Wait! I thought Humpty Dumpty was just a nursery rhyme. You know, the big egg who sat on a wall, but had a great fall. Turns out he's got a lot of company these days - sitting on a high wall, and smashed by a big fall. Take one of the world's most powerful financial figures, for example, in a $3,000-a-night Manhattan hotel suite one night, and then the next night, in a tough New York jail. He stood accused of serious sexual violation of a hotel maid. Now, those accusations had to be proven in court, but they did resonate with a reputation for mixing power with sexual aggression.
But then that story isn't what we want to focus on. That's just the latest of many high-profile stories of a powerful man who has taken a precipitous Dumpty crash. You can think about athletes, politicians, financial high-rollers, yeah, and even prominent men in ministry.
Now, at the root is a time-bomb mindset identified by a man who knows this scenario all too well - Tiger Woods. After his darkest secrets spilled out of the closets for all the world to see, here's what he said: "I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I felt I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me." Now, listen to this key word: "I felt I was entitled."
Entitlement: that's the gateway to moral disaster. "My position means the rules don't apply to me. I have a right to go out of bounds." You know, in 2 Chronicles 26:16, our word for today from the Word of God, The Jewish king Uzziah had led his nation to a new pinnacle of greatness, all the while, he was deeply reliant on God until it says, "He became successful" and "pride became his downfall." He walked into the temple and began to take privileges that God had clearly given only to His priests. And like Icarus flying too close to the sun, Uzziah came crashing down.
Even the great King David must have felt that he'd won so many victories and done so much good that, well; he was entitled to sex with the wife of a trusted friend.
His life was never the same.
It's just all too easy to succumb to that feeling of entitlement.
Some feel entitled because of the position they've achieved, or some because of the pressures they face.
"If you only knew what I'm going through." Some because of the pain they're going through. It can be a high-flying leader, a lonely wife, a much-loved Pastor, or a very busy, very tired man who believes he is entitled to some relief, some attention, some affection, some stolen pleasure, some reward, a spiritual "day off."
And it is those detours at Entitlement Junction where lives, families, reputations and ministries are ripped apart.
God really is "no respecter of persons." And, as Warren Wiersbe says, "A lifetime of obedience will not buy you one hour of disobedience." Just ask King David.
God has made it clear: "your sin will find you out." He loves you too much to let you keep getting away with what will ultimately destroy you. We have to build our walls high around the places where we're vulnerable. And fall to our knees in repentance where we've strayed out of bounds before any more damage is done.
Sins of entitlement are not just some harmless "three-hour tour." They're a surging tide that will carry you and those you love right onto the rocks. Steer clear before you do damage to your destiny.
Ron Hutchcraft
Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. —Jeremiah 6:16
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