CHOOSING FRIENDS

CHOOSING FRIENDS

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character". 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

As parents, my husband and I stress to our children the importance of choosing godly friends who are willing to share in their joys as well as in their struggles. We want them to have steadfast friends -- people they know they can count on, no matter what happens.

It is important for all of us to choose friends who uplift and encourage us. However, we also need friends who will tell us when we stray from God's ways and lovingly guide us back to the right path.

I have been blessed with such a friend. When I need someone to pray with me or just listen to my joys and sorrows, she is the one I call. I often turn to her for wise and godly guidance. I can count on her to encourage me, but I also know that she will gently nudge me back on course if necessary. The friends we want for ourselves and our children demonstrate these qualities of love as well as those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13.

We have no friend greater than Christ. However, God also places godly people in our path to befriend us. We can be thankful for them and their influence on our lives. In turn, it is also our privilege as followers of Christ to be that same kind of friend to others.

Marcia Hodge

BLESSINGS OF FEAR

BLESSINGS OF FEAR

Read Psalm 128:1-6

We don't hear much these days about the fear of the Lord. All too often the Lord is looked upon only as a heavenly friend, someone who walks with us and smiles on us constantly. But verse 1 says, "Blessed is every one who fears the Lord."

What does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to be in reverential awe of Him. It means we don't tempt Him. We don't jest with Him. We don't try to make Him do things He will not do. The Israelites did not fear the Lord. They tempted Him. They played with His Law and tried to see how close they could get to the world. So God had to discipline them.

God blesses us in three areas of our life when we truly fear Him. First, He will bless us in our walk. "Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways" (v. 1). This means that our conduct and our character become holy.

Second, God blesses us in our work. "When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you" (v. 2) Some people are unhappy in their work. But if we are obedient to God, we are doing His work no matter what our occupation is and therefore can rejoice in it. When we fear the Lord, we can go to work and be happy.

Third, God blesses us in our homes. "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table" (v. 3). This does not mean that everybody is going to have a family, let alone a big family. It does mean that you'll be a blessing to your family. "Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord" (v. 4).

Never become so "familiar" with God that you lose your reverence for Him. He is your personal God, but He deserves your awe and respect. The fear of the Lord is the key to His blessings. Fear Him. Walk in His ways and receive His blessings.

Warren Wiersbe

BLESSING OF OBEDIENCE

BLESSING OF OBEDIENCE

Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Acts 9:17

One can understand the reticence of Ananias, the follower of Christ whom God instructed to go and visit Saul within days of his conversion. Saul of Tarsus, after all, was the hunter of believers, the killer of Christians.

Ananias even questioned the idea: "But Lord, I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name" (Acts 9:13-14).

But God told him, "Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake" (verses 15-16).

There will be times when God will put a burden on your heart to approach a certain person, say a specific thing, or go to a particular place. You have a choice in the matter. You can either go or not go. When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he got up and went in the opposite direction. Ananias, however, did what God told him to do.

You can be a Jonah or you can be an Ananias. You can go where God tells you to go or you can refuse. You can go and receive the blessing or you can refuse to go and miss it.

You are where you are right now for such a time as this (see Esther 4:14). God may ask you to do something that you feel hesitant to do. But if He tells you to go, then you should go. And if you choose not to, God will get the job done anyway - but you will miss out on the blessing of obeying Him.

Greg Laurie

BELIEF THAT SAVES

BELIEF THAT SAVES

The Bible says that not all who do great things for God will enter Heaven, but "only he who does the will of My Father" (Mat_7:21). The Father's will is "that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life" (Joh_6:40). We are given the gift of eternal life because of our belief in Jesus, not because of ANYTHING we do; "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isa_64:6).

Salvation can never be earned, it is a gift to those who believe. However, we must understand what it means to believe and what changes will occur when we believe. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder" (Jam_2:19). A saving belief is much more than just acknowledging God's existence or even the existence of His Son - even the demons believe this!

Belief in Jesus is never simply an intellectual understanding. Belief implies a humble surrender. We will never "look to the Son" unless we first recognize our eternally lost condition due to sin; and we will never truly "believe in Him" for salvation until we accept our complete inability to save ourselves. A drowning man will never reach up for help until he first understands and accepts his need to be rescued. To be rescued, we must believe so completely that we abandon all other "rescuers" and cling to the only One who can truly save; "any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple" (Luk_14:33). Giving up everything cannot save us, but true belief gives up all other sources of hope. It also reveals the trivial nature of our worldly attachments and creates an understanding that everything belongs to Him. We see our life as lived for Him and desire to do ALL for His glory.

Jam_2:14,17

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ... In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Belief must produce a change in our life or we know it is not a true belief - it is nothing more than dead intellectual understanding! At the moment we truly believe, we are "marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (Eph_1:13), and we become "a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2Co_5:17). Belief creates change through the work of the Holy Spirit! If we lack the evidence of a changed life, we must not focus on creating the change. This type of change becomes self-righteous "filthy rags". Rather, we must return to the cross and place ALL our trust in Jesus, believing He has paid the penalty for our sin and has granted us passage through the narrow gate to eternal life. As we completely turn over control to our Heavenly Father, fruit and good deeds will abound. Our life will be forever changed, but only when we begin with a belief that saves.

Steve Troxel

FULL BODY REPLACEMENT

FULL BODY REPLACEMENT

Oh my aching bones. But relief is coming, and it's not in the form of pills or creams or massages.

Old age is creaking up on me. And anything that doesn't creak, groans.

I'm scheduled for a knee replacement this month, so that will be one less joint to creak. But what I really need is a full body replacement.

I'm not alone in this, of course. Millions of dollars are spent on anti-aging creams, face lifts, nose jobs, liposuction, weight loss diets, and breast enhancement.

Regarding the last one, a young teen told her father she wanted breast implants. "Sure, Sweetheart," replied Dad, "but they're awfully expensive. 

We'll get one done this year, and the other later on."

When we're young we want to look older and sexier. When we're old, we want to look younger and sexier. For the women there's false eyelashes, botox, and facial scrubs. For the men there's Grecian Formula, hair replacements, and Viagra. Anything to make us appear what we are not. And if there were full body replacements, people would pay fortunes to have them.

There is a full body replacement available for those who want it. And it won't cost a cent.

Your Bible tells about it. There will be no more creaks and groans or arthritic pain. No crying over falling hair. No sagging boobs. And no cellulite! It's all there in Revelation 21:4.

Unlike the things we use to temporarily avoid the appearance of aging, the full body replacement is permanent. It will last longer than anyone can imagine. In fact, it will last forever.

We can put on makeup and lotions, kiss-proof lipstick, and other stuff to fool everyone at the class reunion, but it's still on the same old body. To have the full body replacement there's something else we need to put on, and it won't fool anybody. It's called immortality.

You've likely been taught that you are already immortal, but your Bible says otherwise. There's not an ever-living something inside you that goes to eternal bliss in heaven when you die, or to never-ending torment if you haven't lived a good life. Not at all. God's word says we must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

So how can you qualify to have this full body replacement? Answer: You can't. No amount of doing good deeds, or keeping God's law, will get you one step closer to putting on immortality (Ephesians 2:8-9). Nor can you buy it; it's the free gift of God (Romans 6:23). But there is something you must do. Let the apostle John tell the story.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish - be destroyed forever - but have everlasting life.

Well, that's simple enough, isn't it? Not quite. Eve believed in God: she had face-to-face encounters with him. But she did not believe him (Genesis 3:1-7). And that's where many church-goers are today. They believe in Jesus, but they don't believe him. When he says the law is not done away with (Matthew 5:18), they say it is. When the preacher says that dearly departed Aunt Mildred has gone to heaven, Jesus says otherwise (John 3:13). And when they're told not to eat pig meat, the church-goers say that's old testament and is no longer relevant. Yet, by the pen of the apostle Paul, a new testament writer, Jesus says the entire bible is for us (2 Timothy 3:16).

So God's gift of immortality - another word for salvation, or eternal life - is ours. But can we expect God to give it to us if we refuse to believe what Jesus says?

Be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-11), and search the scriptures to determine whether what you've always believed is what the bible says. That is, if you truly want your full body replacement.

Leslie A Turvey

AMAZING REASON WHY YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE

AMAZING REASON WHY YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE

It's hard to find any "good news" in the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer. But Ellen did, and she told me about it after a recent seminar I led in her area. I'm really excited about how God is using our “A Life That Matters” training events to help everyday believers help people they know be in heaven with them. Ellen told me she'd read my book about that when it came out, but she didn't really look for or see many opportunities to tell people the good news about Jesus... until she got cancer. Suddenly she was in the middle of many people who in her words were "facing their own mortality; people whose future was suddenly uncertain because of that chilling word - cancer. Now, because of what she was going through and they were going through, her cancer strangely qualified her to share the Christ who died and rose again to get us ready for eternity. Ellen said, "I went back and re-read your book so I'd know what to do." God has used Ellen in a powerful way. She said, "Ron, I've led so many cancer patients to Jesus - people from many different religions and people with no faith at all!"

It turned out there was an eternal reason - a life-saving reason that Ellen found for being a cancer patient. What she was going through uniquely qualified her to help some people around her be in heaven with her. That's the reason you are where you are. Jesus assigns us to places and situations to be, as Paul said, "...ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). If you have eyes to see, your personal situation right now is loaded with opportunities to bring up the difference that a relationship with Jesus makes.

You may feel like surely there's someone who could do a better job of representing Jesus. You'd better take that up with Him. You're His chosen representative, planted in the place you work, the place you live, the school you go to, the activity you're involved in. And people listen to people who are walking the same trail they are. Moms listen to moms, truckers listen to truckers, salesmen listen to salesmen, farmers listen to farmers, engineers to engineers, athletes to athletes, dads listen to dads, and students listen to students. You get it. You are uniquely qualified to reach people like you. You may, in fact, be their best chance to find Jesus, or maybe their only chance.

The prayer of Colossians 4:3-4, becomes a very significant prayer for you. The verse that follows, Colossians 4:5, says: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders" - that's people who are outside of Jesus - "make the most of every opportunity." Don't miss chances to be their spiritual rescuer, to bring up Jesus. Now, here's the prayer that paves the way for the rescue: "Pray... that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." It's a 3-open prayer, "Lord, open a door." A door is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Christ. Then, "Lord, open their hearts." Get them ready to hear about You, Lord. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words, the approach to use to present You clearly. Open a door, open their hearts, and open my mouth.

See, there's an eternal reason why you are where you are occupationally, geographically, situationally, parentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even medically. You've been given a stretch of spiritual beach where Jesus has assigned you as the lifeguard, and you can be sure there are spiritually drowning people there within your reach. There's a meaning in the situation you're in... forever meaning, life-saving meaning. You're there to rescue. Don't let them down. Don't let Jesus down.

Ron Hutchcraft

LIFE THAT MATTERS

LIFE THAT MATTERS

She was one of the most admired women in the world – Mother Teresa, that angelic woman who devoted her life to the least of the least in the slums of Calcutta, India. The world's greatest leaders wanted to meet her and to experience her love and her moral authority; just a diminutive woman who made such a difference in the world. Some years ago, a young man wrote a letter to Mother Teresa, asking her how he could make his life count as she had with hers. He waited six months for a reply from this very busy lady. When it came, it was just a postcard with four words on it - four very powerful words - "Find your own Calcutta."

If you do just what comes naturally, you'll live the kind of life most people do - self-focused, self-centered, self-serving. But a life that's only as big as you are is too small to live in. And you may be feeling that emotional and spiritual claustrophobia right now. Business as usual just isn't satisfying that restlessness in your heart. Your life is full, but not really fulfilling. Find your own Calcutta. Find some people who need you and start pouring your life out for them. The lid will come off your life.

Jesus gave us an immortal, indelible picture of the two ways to live life in His classic story of the Good Samaritan. It's in Luke 10, beginning in verse 30. "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side" - as, by the way, did another religious leader who came by next.

Jesus goes on: "But a Samaritan... came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds... He put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him." Jesus went on to say that the Samaritan paid all the expenses of the beaten man's recovery; and that this Samaritan was the kind of neighbor that He expects all of us to be.

And there in that simple story is a picture of your lifestyle - all about yourself, ignoring the needs of people in your path... or all about yourself, stopping for people's needs, bearing the burdens of a bleeding world. I was really touched by a news report about a man whose choice may help you step up to a life that makes a far greater difference.

I'm quoting from USA: "David Townsend's perspective changed profoundly on September 11th. That's in 2001 at the World Trade Center, altering the direction of his life. 'From that moment forward, I realized that we are not going to live forever,' says Townsend, 37, of Indianapolis. 'I felt an even greater sense of urgency, felt compelled to leave my mark on the world. It has changed my outlook totally and shaken me to the core.' Townsend has left his job to work in social services, with the homeless and with urban churches... 'September 11th reinforced in me (he said) the need to live a life that matters."

I believe that's the kind of life you want. So learn to wake up each morning asking, "Who needs me today?" not "Who can meet my needs today?" There are people in your personal circle - people in your community - who desperately need someone to care. Be there for them. And remember, there is no greater difference you can make in someone's life than to introduce them to Jesus Christ and to take them to heaven with you!

With however many or few years you have left, live to make the greatest possible difference with the rest of your life!

Ron Hutchcraft

FATHER -- SON -- DONKEY

FATHER -- SON -- DONKEY

"Five times I [the Apostle Paul] received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers." 2 Corinthians 11:24-26 (NIV)

Anyone whose aim and efforts are invested in achieving noble and worthy goals for God will, without doubt, at some point face opposition and criticism -- and the greater the hostility of those opposed to God's Word, God's ways and Christianity, the greater will be the opposition and even danger. The fact is you cannot please everyone and those who try to do so end up pleasing no one!

C. T. Studd, (1860-1931) the famed English missionary who served God in China, India, and Africa, once remarked: "Remember the miller's donkey. The miller, son and donkey went to the market. The miller rode the donkey all the way and people exclaimed, 'Cruel man, riding himself and making his son walk.' So he got down and his son rode; then people slanted, 'What a lazy son for riding while poor old father walks.' Then both father and son rode, and people then said, 'Cruelty to animals, poor donkey.' So they got down and carried the donkey on a pole, but folks said, 'Here are two asses carrying another ass.' Then all three walked and people said, 'What fools to have a donkey and not ride it.' So let's go ahead with our work for God and not care what folks say."

Studd also said, "Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a Missionary."

With a sense of God's call in your heart there may be times when you need to do what you need to do even if the whole world votes against you. And that can be really hard to do, so be sure it's God's call and not that of your mother, father, friend, or anyone else -- or from your own mixed motives -- otherwise when the pressures of opposition hammer home, you'll crumble beneath the load.

Prayer: "Dear God, help me to know without a shadow of a doubt what your plan and purpose for my life is -- and give me the faith, courage, and determination to pursue and achieve that goal no matter what -- knowing that you are always with me and will never forsake me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

ACTS International

CLOSING THE DOOR ON YOUR PAST

CLOSING THE DOOR ON YOUR PAST

When I was a kid, "Nautilus" was Captain Nemo's submarine in a Jules Verne novel. I knew that because Walt Disney put it on TV. Then "Nautilus" became the name of an early nuclear submarine launched by the United States. But I just recently saw a nautilus when we were at Ocean City, New Jersey. No, it wasn't a submarine. It was the original nautilus - the little sea creature with the fascinating shell. We actually saw a lot of nautilus shells in little shops. We bought one for our living room. It's real smooth on the outside with stripes on it, and it's bigger than my hand. To me, the nautilus shell is shaped sort of like a big, shiny human ear, or maybe like an unborn child in the womb, if you can picture that. The original inhabitant is gone, but his fascinating shell-house remains. When you cut a nautilus shell in half, it reveals the life story of the one-time inhabitant. At the center is this circular chamber with a wall around it. That was the original home of a little bitty nautilus. There are circular chambers all the way to the outer edge of the shell, and each chamber is a little larger than the previous one. That little sea creature kept outgrowing his shell, so he left it behind and moved on to the next chamber - and chapter - of his life.

We've got a lesson to learn from that little sea creature. He knows how to close the door on the old chapters of his life and move on to a whole new chapter. For someone listening today, some of those old chapters still define a lot of who you are today - the past hurts, the past failures, the past mistakes, the past sins. Don't you wish you could do what that nautilus does and just build a wall that closes the door on the old you and enables you to grow into the new, improved you? The bad news is you can't. The good news is Jesus can. He's been doing it for people for 2,000 years. He's done it for me. He can do it for you.

It's the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17, from the Word of God. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Something miraculous happens when you go from being "outside of Christ" to "inside Christ". The guilt of the old is erased, and you no longer have to be defined by the darkness of the past. He makes possible a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning.

That's why God says to us in Isaiah 43: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? ... I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions ... and remembers your sins no more." What an awesome possibility! The blotting out of every sin of your past! No religion can do that for you because no religion can pay the spiritual death penalty for your sin. It took nothing less than the brutal death of Jesus Christ on the cross for you. You did the sinning but Jesus did the dying so He could build a wall between you and the darkness of your past and move you into a life that revolves around Him - a forgiven life. A life lined up with the purpose for which you were created.

But you have to be "in Christ" for that miracle to happen. Not in church, but in Christ. You can be in Christianity and still not be in Christ. What brings you into belonging to Jesus? You enter in by a step of life-changing faith. You admit the sin of your life to Jesus, you let Him know you don't want to live this way anymore, and then you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on your death for me on the cross and your resurrection from the dead. My life is in your hands from this day on." You do that with all your heart, and you will be "in Christ" - and you will be His "new creation."

I wish I could sit down with you and personally explain more fully just how you begin this life-changing relationship with Jesus. I can't do that, but I can send you the little booklet I wrote about it called Yours For Life. If you want it, I'll get it to you right away. Just ask for it at our website – www.yoursforlife.net – or call us toll free at 877-741-1200.

The Bible says "the old is gone; the new has come!" You're on the edge of that miracle right now. Let today be the day of your new beginning!

Ron Hutchcraft

CAUGHT UNPREPARED

CAUGHT UNPREPARED

Marie was a teenage friend of ours, and Tom was the big guy she really cared about. It was a long-distance romance since she lived in New Jersey and he lived in the Midwest. So, needless to say, his visits were pretty special. And Marie knew he was coming the next Friday. So on Wednesday she attacked her room trying to get it under control. She was at the point where she had everything in piles covering the floor, and she was in her grubby clothes, all hot and sweaty and grungy, and her hair's matted down from the sweat. Suddenly, the phone rang. It was Tom telling her how much he was looking forward to seeing her. No sooner had she hung up than there was the man in her life standing at the door of her room. He had called from just downstairs. "Hi, Marie. Surprise!" She was flabbergasted, she was stunned, and of course, she was embarrassed at her condition and the condition of her room. All she could say was, "I didn't expect you to come this soon."

The Bible tells us that many people are going to respond the same way when Jesus comes back. They won't be ready, and they're going to say, "I didn't expect You to come this soon." Or maybe, "I didn't expect You at all." I hope that won't be you.

After describing what the world would be like just before He came back to earth, Jesus said in Matthew 24:42-44: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."

Unfortunately, a whole lot of people aren't ready to see Jesus. Many, many Bible scholars believe that the world we're living in today looks more like the kind of world that Jesus said He would return to than it has ever looked: events in the Middle East, in Europe, natural disasters, the move toward one world religion, one currency, one leader, the nation of Israel. The "Left Behind" series of novels about the end times for a long time dominated best-seller lists with each new release. Well, in our kind of world, people can sense almost instinctively that something big is coming, even that Jesus is coming.

And whether or not He returns to earth in three months or 300 years, He is for sure going to come for you and me some day when our life is over. And there's only one way to be ready for Jesus, and that is to have every sin you have ever committed forgiven by God. That's possible only one way: by pinning all your hopes on the One who died to pay for your sin. John 3:36 makes it very clear: "Whoever believes in the Son (that's Jesus, the Son of God) has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." You can reject Jesus simply by doing nothing. And believing in Him means you've told Him that you are placing your total trust in Him to be your Rescuer from your sin.

If you've never done that, you're not ready to see Jesus; you are not ready for eternity. But you could be if you would make this your day to begin your personal relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ - going to sleep tonight saying, "I am ready, I am safe, I belong to Him, I gave myself to Him." If that's what you want, then I would encourage you to go to our website where an awful lot of people have found help and encouragement in beginning a relationship with Jesus and being sure they belong to Him. If you want that, would you go to YoursForLife.net? Or I'll send you my little booklet, "Yours For Life" if you'll call for it toll free at 877-741-1200.

It's important to be ready. Because once He comes, it's too late.

Ron Hutchcraft

FERN AND BAMBOO

FERN AND BAMBOO

One day I decided to quit... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. ... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God. "God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me. "Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?" "Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. The same in year four." Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. "Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high" "How high should I rise?" I asked. "How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return. "As high as it can?" I questioned "Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest, realizing that God will never give up on me. And He will never give up on you. Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you happiness; bad days give you experiences; both are essential for life...!!!

Tommy Lane

DECORATED FROM THE INSIDE

DECORATED FROM THE INSIDE

Last Christmas, a friend gave us one of the most unique ornaments I've ever seen. As soon as you see it, you think how beautifully and exquisitely this glass decoration is painted. But what's amazing is that none of that artwork is on the outside of the ornament. It's been painted entirely on the inside! For centuries, the Chinese have perfected this "inside painting." Through a small opening in the ornament, the artist repeatedly inserts a miniature brush to paint the artwork. Of course, the process is painstaking and time consuming. It takes two days to just paint one ornament, but the result is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind miniature masterpiece.

It takes quite an artist to make something beautiful from the inside out, and God is the master of that! Every one of us needs His beautifying touch, because every one of us carries our share of ugly inside us. And it keeps spilling out in our words, our attitude, how we treat other people, and it causes trouble. It causes hurt.

It's like there's this Grand Canyon between the person I want to be and need to be and the person I really am. The battles are different for each of us, but we all battle our dark side; things that the people close to me hate, things I hate, things God hates. The ugliness of self-centeredness, of our destructive anger and the scars we leave with it, the deceit, the passions, and the addictions that we can't seem to master; all those things I say and do that hurt people I love and often people who don't deserve it. We want to change. We can't.

And we're frustrated by so many attempts we've made to be the right kind of person, to finally find some inner peace, to find a purpose that just gives every day some meaning. We look to religion to help us be what we need to be, but there's a problem. Religion basically tries to redecorate us from the outside and it keeps coming off! Jesus said of some very religious people in His day, "On the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:28). There's some of that in all of us.

But for those of us who are tired of being one thing on the outside and something very different on the inside, for those of us who want to beat our darkness and become the person we need to be and we want to be, well for us the Bible has liberating good news. It's found in 2 Corinthians 5:17, from the Word of God. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" The Bible tells us that Jesus does what no religion could ever do. Like those Chinese artists, He beautifies us on the inside so we're genuinely changed and we're permanently changed.

All of the ugly stuff and the dark stuff in our heart is summed up in one Bible word - sin; rebellion against God and His laws. I've tried to be the god of my own life, and it's not working.

That's why Jesus came. Our only hope of sin's power being beaten was for God Himself to conquer it, which He did when Jesus paid the debt for our sins on the cross. Then when He conquered death on Easter Morning, He proved there's nothing He can't conquer.

This makeover miracle in your soul begins from the moment that you are, as that verse said, "in Christ." Not just around Christ, but really belonging to Him. He did all the dying for all your sin. What's left is for you to put your total trust in Him as your Savior - your deliverer from your sin.

If you're ready to begin a relationship with Him, right here in this Christmas season, He came into the world this time of year. Let Him come into your heart. Just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And if you want to be sure you belong to Him, to have this new beginning, would you go to our website. There's a lot of information there that has helped a lot of people at that point in time. It's YoursForLife.net.

Just ask anyone who let Christ in. When you get Jesus, you start becoming a person you never dreamed you could be. He will make you new on the inside as soon as you open the door.

Ron Hutchcraft

MIND OF CHRIST

MIND OF CHRIST

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8,9

This week as I was praying about a specific issue in my life, I asked the Lord why something had not happened for me yet. He said Millie when you have faith, you have to have the mind of Christ.  That thought hit me so fresh, and reverberated in my thinking, striking a new chord in my heart.  The mind of Christ.  When we are in Christ, we should be walking and talking with him daily.  It would then stand to reason we would seek to be more like him.

How can we do that?  By finding out what He likes and thinks, and desires from us.  To seek His mind set and ways. If we were to think closer to His ways of thinking would we view everything differently?  I think absolutely it would transform our thinking.

Just in the realm of prayer alone.  We would not be focused on the problem or the defeat, or 50 things going on around us, we would know that within our mind is the answer, and the hope and the miracles that are possible through God. We would see the answer, and pray accordingly. We would see the big picture that God sees when he looks at our life and our needs.  We would not be confounded by circumstances but focused on faith.

Why are so many Christians walking around defeated now? Why are they weary and worn down?  Why are so many leaving churches, and finding fault with each other? Because they have allowed the world, and it's ways, and the troubles and cares of life to become their focus. And they have not sought the mind and will of Christ.

I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties as a living Holy sacrifice (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs.  But be TRANSFORMED, (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and new attitude, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you. Romans 12:1,2

Dear Friends, this takes a dedication to God daily. A heart felt desire and determination to walk the walk and talk the talk.  Because you are no longer your own. You are bought with a price, the blood of the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  We must rise higher in our spiritual life and grow in Him. We must please Him, and renew our mind in Him, and become transformed from this world’s way of thinking into a Godly way of thinking.

Then our prayer life will be transformed, and our faith will grow, and we can see fruit of our prayers as we take on the mind of Christ, and the faith that comes from hearing, receiving and living the word of God. Take time for God, and be new in Him.  There are people and lives we can make a difference in, if we truly walk a Godly life and see the needs around us and have faith and minister to those needs through a new mind set in Christ.

I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Millie

HOLE IN YOUR HEART

HOLE IN YOUR HEART

Joh_4:13-14

Our friend Mary recently had a medical procedure to repair what the doctor called "a hole in her heart." Then he told her that everyone is born with a hole in their heart. That got my attention. I called a longtime friend of mine who is a highly experienced and respected heart surgeon. He told me that before we are born, there's a hole that is the passageway for blood to enter our pre-natal heart. In most people, and I'm glad in most people, the hole heals up within a few days after birth. For a few, it doesn't go away. And it really needs to be repaired.

So everyone is born with a hole in their heart. Not just physically, but spiritually. But unlike that physical hole in your heart, the spiritual one doesn't go away unless you let the greatest physician of all fill the hole. That spiritual hole in our heart keeps letting us know that it's there – the loneliness that no relationship seems to remove. The emptiness that never goes away for very long, no matter what we do to fill up our life. The "what's it all for?" questions about life that make everything seem ultimately so meaningless. It's like there's this voice inside us that seems to be saying, "Something's missing". We keep thinking the next relationship will be what's missing, the next thrill, the next accomplishment, the next spiritual experience, the next "toy", the next milestone. But every time we get to the top of the hill we think has what we've been looking for, all we find is another hill to climb.

After a while, we just assume that this hollowness inside, this hole in our heart is just how it is. The Bible describes King Solomon as the richest and wisest man of his time. And he had the resources to do it all. Here's his conclusion: "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind". But just accepting that hole in your heart is ultimately deadly. It needs to be treated. It needs to be healed by the only One big enough to fill the hole in your heart - the God who made you to belong to Him. The brilliant physicist Blaise Pascal concluded that "inside every man is a God-shaped vacuum".

The hole in your heart is there to tell you that you really need God. And that He isn't there because of something that makes it impossible for God to live there - all the sinning of your life and mine. All the wrong things we've done. Until that's forgiven and removed, the God you were made for must remain outside. In Joh_4:13-14, Jesus is at a well, talking with a woman who has tried to fill the hole in her heart with one relationship after another. Jesus says to her, and to you, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst ... the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life".

"Thirsty again" - that's the hole in your heart. "Never thirst" - that's the hole in your heart finally filled as Jesus erases every sin of your life with His amazing forgiveness. He can do that because He did all the dying for all the sinning you've ever done. It's paid for. Which means your heart can be cleaned today and the God of the universe can finally move in. Your lifetime search will be over. But you have to reach out to Jesus, telling Him you're done driving your life, that you're trusting completely in His death for your sin. You've lived enough days without the One you were made for. You don't need to be without Him one more day.

Ron Hutchcraft

http://www.yoursforlife.net

CUP OF RICE OR BAG OF GOLD

CUP OF RICE OR BAG OF GOLD

It was many centuries ago in a remote village in India. Word began to spread that something was about to happen that no one had seen in their lifetime - the prince was actually coming to visit this forgotten little village. Well, everyone was excited, but no one was more excited than the village beggar. Every day he eked out another day by sitting by the road with his little cup, hoping to get enough money to buy some rice to live one more day. He actually had two cups, one for collecting money and one for his few grains of rice. But now the prince was coming. I mean, the wealthy prince! When the prince finally arrived, the beggar mustered his most impassioned appeal, "Alms! Alms for the poor!" And the prince stopped. The beggar's heart was pounding furiously.

"Give me your cup of rice." That was all the prince said. The beggar slumped down in disbelief. Here was the wealthiest man in the land, asking for his lousy little cup of rice. The beggar was about to refuse, but instead he reached in and he put three grains of rice in the prince's hand. The prince turned to his servant and said, "Bring me the bag of gold." The beggar could hardly contain himself as he eagerly stretched out his empty collection cup. The prince reached into his bag and placed three grains of gold in the beggar's cup. And then he disappeared, never to return, but leaving the beggar to wonder for the rest of his life what would have happened if I had given him my whole cup of rice?

Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, may be passing your way today with so much to give you. The forgiveness of every sin you've ever committed, a new beginning, the peace that has eluded you your whole lifetime, and an eternity with Him in heaven. He wants to make you spiritually rich.

In fact, it was very expensive for Him to be able to offer you the heaven that you don't deserve instead of the death penalty that your sin does deserve. God describes the unspeakable sacrifice Jesus made to rescue you. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (grace means undeserved love), that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich."

When God's Son, the Prince of Heaven, is hanging on that blood-stained cross, He is totally impoverishing Himself so you can have God's love, and God's resources, and God's heaven. It's hard for us to see that we're the beggar, but the Bible says we are spiritually bankrupt because our running of our own life has cut us off from our Creator. Only Jesus can bring us back. God says, "While we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."

Your life is as big as you can make it, and it's nowhere near enough, is it? Jesus has chosen to pass your way today, asking you to turn over to Him the life that He gave you and the life He died for.

If you're ready to trade what you have for what Jesus has, would you tell Him that right now? Tell Him you're putting all your trust in Him. And let me encourage you to visit our website. I've tried to lay out there briefly and in nonreligious words the way you can be sure you have begun your relationship with Jesus and that you belong to Him forever. The website is yoursforlife.net. And I'd encourage you to go there as soon as possible today. Or if you'd rather have me send you the little booklet Yours For Life, just call toll free at 877-741-1200.

Please, don't make the eternal mistake of hanging onto your little cup of rice and missing Jesus' bag of gold.

Ron Hutchcraft

BODY OR BUSINESS

BODY OR BUSINESS

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old -- barely out of diapers -- and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, "An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha." She asked such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued, "But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

... I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God -- much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ -- that's pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would happen if God stopped paying me?"

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute or unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.

Dr. David Ryser

APPLAUSE THAT MATTERS

APPLAUSE THAT MATTERS

It was the moment the young man had waited for and had prepared for over many months. It was his premiere appearance as a concert pianist. The audience had heard a lot about his amazing talent, and they packed out this prestigious concert hall to hear him. They weren't disappointed. In fact, his masterful playing brought them to their feet for a thunderous standing ovation at the end of the concert. Backstage, the young man's manager said, "They want an encore, man! Get out there!" The pianist looked strangely dejected, and he said, "No, I'm not going back out there." His manager said, "But they love you, man! Look at them! They're all on their feet!" "Not all," was all the young man could say. "Look in the balcony." The manager peeked around the curtain and he saw one white-haired old man in the balcony who wasn't standing or applauding. "Hey, come on! That's one old man! So what?" The pianist looked down at the floor and he said, "That's not one old man. That's my teacher."

It didn't matter to that concert artist what the crowd thought. Only one opinion mattered. Only one man in that multitude was the one he wanted to please - his teacher. You know, that's how God has wired you and me to live. To please your teacher - your Creator. Sadly, we tend to lose sight of Him in our desire to get the applause of the crowd around us. Jesus has given us six powerful words to live by in John 8:29. These words in John 8:29 are simple, but they'll change your life if you'll make them the core value of your life: "I always do what pleases Him." Jesus lived only for His Father's approval. That's why the greatest moment of His life was at His baptism when the heavens opened and He heard His Father say, "You are My Son... with You I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). It didn't matter whether the crowd was cheering or jeering. Jesus knew He was okay if His Father thought He was okay.

That's an important reminder for us approval junkies, who tend to mold ourselves to please other people. It's like we have this ticket we keep trying to get people to validate for us. "Hey, do you like me? Do you like what I'm doing? What do I have to do to get you to stamp my ticket?" It's called "Please Disease" spending so much of your life trying to please others. But there's never enough applause is there? There's never enough approval. And somewhere in all the pleasing, you lose yourself and you lose the pleasure of the only One who can satisfy your heart - your Lord Jesus who died so you could live for Him! 1 Corinthians 7:23 says, "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men." Paul knew he had to choose once and for all who he was going to live for and who he was going to live to please. He said, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).

So who are you living to please: the boss, the pastor, your family, your friends, the church, some guy or girl, the community? They didn't die for you. Their rewards don't hold a candle to His. The early church leader, Stephen, knew that. He had stood up for the truth on the streets of Jerusalem and the crowd was not applauding. They were screaming at him, throwing rocks at him to shut him up once and for all. "But," the Bible says, "Stephen... looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

The Bible tells us that Jesus is usually sitting at His Father's right hand, but not this day. He's standing, honoring his faithful servant Stephen. And Stephen has the courage to keep doing the right thing, even at the cost of his life, because his teacher is standing. His teacher is saying, "Well done."

I hope that's where you're looking for your approval. The only applause that matters is the applause of heaven. Anything is worth doing to get that; nothing is worth losing it.

Ron Hutchcraft