Friday 27 September 2013

Nothing matters!!


Lord, it's getting to be desperate times
Why do you seem to delay
In responding to my pressing needs
That I remind you of each day?


In my mind I know that you
Will come through in the end,
But in my heart emotions rise
And I worry and fret again

Help me, Lord, at those times
To give it again to you,
Help me know deep in my heart
That you will pull me through

And that you fully understand
Exactly where I’m at,
Though circumstances do not change,
In you, I shall not lack

Everything when given to you
Will work out for my good,
For when I cast my care on you,
It's then, that it's understood

That it's just a matter of your timing
In responding to my need,
For often it's because you're doing
A deeper work in me

So all that's left for me to do,
The one thing that is sure,
Is to put my trust in you each day,
For nothing matters more.

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Self!!

My parents are bugging me. They just don't seem to understand me or how I feel."

"I hate my parents. I know I shouldn't, but I do."

"I am a very hot tempered person, and I have some family problems. I get mad at the least little thing, and that bothers me. I yell like it's going out of style."

The three young people who wrote those statements are really having a rough time. Is it like this with you, too? If so, I can tell you some other problems you are probably having.

You are not only having trouble at home, but you are also having trouble with some of your teachers. You can't stand some of your friends and when you pray it seems that God doesn't hear.
 
Maybe you go to church but you don't get anything out of it. It seems that you have one problem after another.

Why? Why do you have these problems? It's easy to blame other people, but the real trouble is deep down inside. The real problem is Self. Self is on the throne of your heart. To be honest about it, we all have the problem of Self.

What is Self like? Self is a born rebel. It hates to take orders! It wants no one, not even God Himself, to rule over it. Where does that kind of spirit come from? It comes straight from Satan!

Self is full of pride. Self always wants to be Number 1, to be looked up to, and to be praised.

Self is always selfish. It doesn't care what happens to others, as long as it has its own way.

Self is easily offended and "hurt." Self always feels like it is the one who is getting the "raw deal." Whenever it is criticized, Self rushes to its own defense. Self will never admit that it is wrong—it always blames somebody else.

Self is the spirit of Satan. When Self is on the throne of your heart, you are controlled by Satan.

Jesus gave us the solution. He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) What did the Lord say? He said that we must deny Self. To deny Self means to say "No" to it, to refuse to give in to it.

If Christ is ruling in your life, you will respect authority. You will have a spirit of obedience. Let Christ rule in you!!

Amen! Hallelujah!!

Wednesday 4 September 2013

An eye opener!!


It was 1818 in France, and Louis, a boy of 9, was sitting in his father's workshop. The father was a harness-maker and the boy loved to watch his father work the leather. "Someday Father," said Louis, "I want to be a harness-maker, just like you." 

"Why not start now?" said the father. He took a piece of leather and drew a design on it. "Now, my son," he said, "take the hole- puncher and a hammer and follow this design, but be careful that you don't hit your hand." 

Excited, the boy began to work, but when he hit the hole-puncher, it flew out of his hand and pierced his eye! He lost the sight of that eye immediately. Later, sight in the other eye failed. Louis was now totally blind. 
A few years later, Louis was sitting in the family garden when a friend handed him a pine cone. As he ran his sensitive fingers over the cone, an idea came to him. He became enthusiastic and began to create an alphabet of raised dots on paper so that the blind could feel and interpret what was written. 

Thus, Louis Braille opened up a whole new world for the blind--all because of an accident! 

Tuesday 3 September 2013

On the winning side!!


Christian teens have one of the toughest jobs in the world—living up to their convictions. They love the Lord Jesus and want to live for Him. But trying to live the Christian life is a battle and much of the time they find themselves on the losing side. They can sing and smile in church but they are slaves of a thousand things of which they are ashamed.

They don't want to be hypocrites but they just cannot live up to what they believe. In short, to them the Christian life is a beautiful thing but they can't make it work. They get plenty of advice on what they ought to do but nobody gets around to telling them how to do it.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins 
Is there an answer to this problem? 

Yes, there is! God doesn't just save us and then leave us here to be battered by the devil until we die and pass on to the next world. To be sure, the Christian life is warfare, but we are on the winning side, not on the losing side.

The first step toward a life of victory is to know that you are in Christ. You can't win the battle against sin or the devil until you know your new relationship with Jesus Christ. To be in Christ is to share all that He has. The Christian life is not only a changed life—it is an exchanged life.

Remember: God's Word will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from God's Word.
What do you do when you sin? Confess it to God and get going again for God. Your position in Christ hasn't changed. You are still in Christ, and He is still in you. However, sin does break your fellowship with God. The way back is plain. The Bible says,

 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) 

But the more we learn to trust and obey the One who lives in us, the more we will be able to say with the Apostle Paul,

 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ…" (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Monday 2 September 2013

Pay back!!

Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night
truck stop. 

The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it.

How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night. 

When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot."