Father God, don't come to visit, we want to live in Your House.

The Thought for the day:

GRATITUDE IS THE MEMORY OF THE HEART.

You have given us so much, please give us one thing more, A GRATEFUL HEART. Amen and Amen.

I pray that each of us, if we don't have a grateful heart, that Father God will indeed give us one, and that each of us has Christ in our hearts, so that He will have a home in our places of Worship.

I pray you will enjoy the article today, A Homeless God, by Frank Viola. I am afraid that he has hit the nail on the head, because we see so many Churches now that leans toward being a social club more than a place that you feel Gods Presence when you enter the door. We must surrender everything to Him and let Him take complete control.

A Homeless God
by Frank Viola

"As you come to Him, the living Stone -- rejected by men but
chosen by God and precious to Him -- you also, like living
stones, are being built into a spiritual house…" (1 Peter 2:4-5a)

This week's devotional comes from Frank Viola's book From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God .

Part of my roots are in the Charismatic movement. In that experience, I was repeatedly encouraged to seek God for a "visitation" from heaven. As a result, I harbored the illusion that if God visited our church, He was pleased with it. I later discovered that God is not looking for a place to visit. He is looking for a place to dwell.

The pages of history are littered with the sobering fact that God is no longer present in the places He once visited. Go to the landmarks of past revivals, and you'll quickly discover that the crowds have diminished. The joy is gone. The life has evaporated. In many cases, those places are but hollow shells today.

For me the intriguing question is: Why does the Lord leave? The answer is telling: because he was not completely welcomed.

He was allowed to visit, but He was not permitted to be head. That is, He was not granted the right to make the decisions.

Visitations bless us for a short season. But a dwelling place for God is something for His interest and His desire. Blessing is merely a byproduct. It's not the prime product.

Contemplate this thought: If God "visits" a church, it betrays the fact that it doesn't belong to Him. A homeowner doesn't visit his own home. He lives in it. In a divine visitation, God will bless His people. But He will eventually move on and search for a home that He can call his own. Thus if the headship of Jesus Christ is not fully yielded to any given place, the best of Lord can do is visit. He cannot take up residency.

Our Lord is in a quest for a place to lay His head, a place where His headship is operative, a place where He does what He wishes, a place where he can feel comfortable and find rest. This is the indelible mark that a particular church is in fact His house. Anything else is but a layover for Him.

Like any homeowner, God builds His house in His own way. If the home is His, He arranges the furniture the way He wishes, for He is the master of His own home.

In this connection, I want you to imagine countless living stones scattered all over the earth. I want you to see innumerable living stones living their own individual Christian lives. I want you to see scores of living stones who loved God, but who are isolated and independent of other living stones. Many attend religious services, but there is little to no "building together" among the members.

That is precisely the situation we find ourselves in today. And what is the net effect? God is still homeless.

The burning intent of your God is that all of His living stones be built together with other living stones to form His house. Not for themselves, but for their Lord. To be the house of God, by God and for God.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:16)

Jesus Christ did not die and rise again just to forgive you of your sins. He died in order that His father could obtain a home. The Lord saved you and me for a high and holy purpose.

Without people who are being assembled together, God is a wandering, homeless God. And we are wondering, homeless Christians. Your Lord wishes to build Himself into a people, and He wishes to build a people into Himself. He is after a building, not a rock quarry. He wants a house, not a heap of stones nor group of scattered rocks. The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for willing vessels who will abandon their Western-style individualism and live a shared life with others under His exclusive headship. This is our high calling.

Make a home for the Lord in your life. Each day, give Him complete headship to arrange your life as He wishes. Then begin to connect with other “living stones” by building relationships with fully committed believers.

Prayer
“Lord, take complete control of my life. Dwell with me so that I can be yours. Be with me and be my God. Amen”

Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Faith always takes initiative and action, does Hope come before or after?

The thought for the day:

DO YOU DOUBT?

Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown up and down by the wind.” James 1:6

Doubt. He’s a nosy neighbor. He’s an unwanted visitor. He’s an obnoxious guest. He’ll pester you. He’ll irritate you. He’ll criticize your judgment. He’ll kick the stool out from under you and refuse to help you up. He’ll tell you not to believe in the invisible yet offer no answer for the inadequacy of the visible…His aim is not to convince you to confuse you. He doesn’t offer solutions, he only raises questions.

Had any visits from this fellow lately? If you find yourself going to church in order to be saved and not because you are saved, then you’ve been listening to him. If you find yourself doubting God could forgive you for that, you’ve been sold some snake oil. If you are more cynical about Christians than sincere about Christ, the guess who came to dinner?

I suggest you put a lock on your gate. I suggest you post a “Do Not Enter” sign on your door.

Max Lucado.

Today I visited a dear friend in a nursing home, who, in my opinion should not be there. It isn't the fact that the care is needed right now, it is, but this friend thought about this so much that it came to pass. I have heard this person say on numerous occasions, I will wind up in a nursing home because my family has this history. Folks, the God I serve is bigger than history or any disease that can put us some place or harm us.

What come out of our mouth will happen if we say it long enough. We will become what we speak and that is positive or negative, faith or fear. Lets always keep our mind and our eyes set on Jesus Christ. If we do that, we will always stay on the positive side and our Faith will grow.

I hope you will enjoy the article by Dave Hackberth. Have a blessed week and I pray that the Lord will Love people through you. Now that would be a blessing!

Faith, Risk and Diving Boards
by Dave Hackbarth

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your
God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9, NIV)

“It’s not possible,” I thought as I peered over the edge of the diving board. My heart beat wildly in my chest and my knees felt more like jelly than bone and muscle.

“I have no idea why on earth anyone would want to do this! What’s wrong with people?” My thoughts were doing a great job at giving me the courage to take that risk and jump. If I could get them to shut up for five seconds, I just might do it.

I slowly moved up toward the edge again and looked down on my mom, who was encouraging me to jump. But she didn’t see what I saw: the water. It looked like solid glass or transparent concrete. I swear a mysterious breeze started to blow and shake the diving board. Did I mention this was an indoor pool?

I don’t remember how old I was at that point in my childhood, but I do remember the timidity and fear that seized me as I failed to bravely conquer that diving board. I don’t really think it was the diving board or swimming or scaling heights that was at stake. It was my trust.

Earlier this year, I attended a leadership conference at my home church, Gateway Churchin Austin, Texas. Neil Cole delivered most of the content for the weekend, which focused on empowering and equipping organic leaders . On the second day of the conference, I vividly recall him saying, “If you don’t have a good story, it’s because you’re not taking enough risk.”

That statement echoed throughout the auditorium. I immediately recalled months earlier asking God to give me opportunities to take risk and have faith without any solid proof or clarity. No more pillars of fire by day or writing on the wall or dew-soaked fleeces. Just faith.

Then I started reading Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning as part of my residency at Gateway and I was again hit with this picture of what it means to trust God:

faith + hope = trust

I have always understood the faith part. It is essential to knowing God through Jesus. But what about the hope part? Have I really trusted God?

These questions bombarded my soul in an all-out assault on my heart. I wrestled with the answers and found more questions. I reviewed my life and saw multiple times where faith was evident and hope was somewhat present.

To be honest, hope in what has yet to happen often seems so insubstantial and elusive. I recalled instances of having hope, but they seemed to only appear in the storms of life when uncertainty surrounded me. It was as if the valleys of life offered more hope than the hills and peaks. You may know exactly what I am talking about.

The Bible offers us story after story to illustrate this, but I think that we often gloss over the reality of hope in the midst of a faith story. One story that came to mind during the war between my soul and heart was that of Peter’s hike on water. Let’s set the scene…

The disciples, following Jesus’ orders, are crossing the lake by boat while Jesus seeks several hours of solitude. Trouble arrives in the form of a squall and treacherous waters. These seasoned fishermen are having a hard time getting to the other shore, indicating the severity of the storm. (Matthew 14:22-24)

Life is like that, isn’t it? The storms of life hit us and, though we’ve been through several storms, each one can rock our world. We struggle to gain control, just as the disciples were struggling with their boat.

Jesus, now done with his solitude, sees that the disciples are in a bit of trouble and far from land. So, he charters a boat to sail to their rescue. Right?

No. Jesus strolls out into open waters, straight into the tempest! The disciples see Jesus, assume he is a ghost and immediately panic.

“But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.’
‘Lord, if it's you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’
‘Come,’ he said.” (Matthew 14:26-29a, NIV)

Did you notice a subtle, but important, element to this story? The disciples knew Jesus’ voice! They had enough faith that they knew that Jesus would save them. After all, the last time this sort of thing happened Jesus’ words alone calmed the storm. (Matthew 8:23-27)

Even more than having the storm calmed, Peter immediately wanted to be like Jesus. He wanted to do what he saw his master, his teacher, his mentor doing. Peter initiated and Jesus approved. Faith is like that because it always takes action. Faith always takes initiative.

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” (Matthew 14:29b, NIV)

I almost wish the story ended there. What a great Hollywood ending! Fortunately for us, it does not.

“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
(Matthew 14:30-33, NIV)

Most of the time when I read this story, I criticize Peter for his lack of faith. Think about it. Peter just saw Jesus feed 5,000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish!

How many times do we think something like, “If Jesus was right in front of me, I would have done it.” When I read the Bible, I am always the one who obeys or the one who loves well or the one who is daring and risky. How about you?

Truthfully, I am rarely that person. The reality of my life is more akin to the other disciples than Peter. Notice I said “other disciples.” In this story, they are only referred to as “those who were in the boat.” They aren’t even mentioned by name! That would have been me. I would not have even had the intestinal fortitude to try getting out of the boat. I would have most likely been the wanna-be protégé sitting near the edge of the boat with one hand firmly gripping the center of the boat, pretending to be fearless. Then Peter gets all hopped-up on seeing Jesus and gets all heroic.

Even Peter’s lack of faith was more faith than the rest of the disciples. In that moment, Peter was not only exercising his faith by taking initiative, but all of his hope was in Jesus. He trusted Jesus with his life. Just look at the evidence. When Peter began to sink, who did he call out to? Who did he trust to save him? His faith, combined with hope, allowed him to trust that Jesus could do what Peter was incapable of doing for himself. He trusted Jesus to save him.

This leads us back to my childhood diving-board experience. In life, I have had many diving-board opportunities. Heroic moments where my life could have been defined by great trust in Jesus. Divine moments that could have taken my comfortable life and propelled me into a life of unleashed faith. Too often, I chose the lesser life. I chose not to risk; not to trust.

What about you?

How is God asking you to trust in Him through your struggles or storms? What must you do to choose the heroic life Jesus called you to live, like Peter? What can you do at work or in your neighborhood to exercise your faith?

Prayer
“Jesus, forgive me for choosing the comfortable, lesser life by not fully trusting in you. Give me the strength I need to respond to your Spirit, not with timidity, but with heroic trust. Help me step out of the boat. Amen.”

Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.

An Attitude of Gratitude can change your life.

I hope you will enjoy and be as blessed as I was when I read this article by Mac Anderson. What truth and wisdom it portrays. If we could just realize how blessed we are, even though we might not have the biggest and best of THINGS, most of us have the necessary requirements for life and not many of us are hungry for necessary food.

I just thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ, He has made us rich, even on this earth with Heavenly Riches.

It gave me Goosebumps...

The date was July 16, 2008. It was late in the afternoon and I was sitting in my hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky. I was scheduled to speak that evening for the Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA). I was a little "down in the dumps." I hadn't gotten to exercise lately because of my traveling schedule and recently I'd experienced some mild bouts of vertigo (that inner ear condition that can cause the room to start spinning.) You got it...speaking and "spinning" are not good partners!

My keynote presentation was scheduled for 7:00 PM, but I had been invited to show up at 6:00 to see a performance they said I'd enjoy. Little did I know that I was about to see something I would never forget.

They introduced the young musician. Welcome...Mr. Patrick Henry Hughes. He was rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair, and began to play the piano. His fingers danced across the keys as he made beautiful music.

He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more beautiful. For some reason, however, I knew that I was seeing something special. There was this aura about him that I really can't explain and the smile...his smile was magic!

About ten minutes into Patrick's performance, someone came on the stage and said..."I'd like to share a 7-minute video titled, The Patrick Henry Hughes story." And the lights went dim.

Patrick Henry Hughes was born with no eyes, and a tightening of the joints which left him crippled for life. However, as a child, he was fitted with artificial eyes and placed in a wheelchair. Before his first birthday, he discovered the piano. His mom said, "I could hit any note on the piano, and within one or two tries, he'd get it." By his second birthday, he was playing requests (You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). His father was ecstatic. "We might not play baseball, but we can play music together."

Today, Patrick is a junior at the University of Louisville. His father attends classes with him and he's made nearly all A's, with the exception of 3 B's. He's also a part of the 214 member marching band. You read it right...the marching band! He's a blind, wheelchair-bound trumpet player; and he and his father do it together. They attend all the band practices and the half-time performance in front of thousands. His father rolls and rotates his son around the field to the cheers of Patrick's fans. In order to attend Patrick's classes and every band practice, his father works the graveyard shift at UPS. Patrick said..."My dad's my hero."

But even more than his unbelievable musical talent, it was Patrick's "attitude of gratitude" that touched my soul. On stage, between songs, he would talk to the audience about his life and about how blessed he was. He said, "God made me blind and unable to walk. BIG DEAL! He gave me the ability...the musical gifts I have...the great opportunity to meet new people."

When his performance was over, Patrick and his father were on the stage together. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered for over five minutes. It gave me giant goose bumps!

My life was ready to meet Patrick Henry Hughes. I needed a hero, and I found one for the ages. If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forget that night, that smile, that music, but most importantly, that wonderful "attitude of gratitude."

I returned to Chicago and shared Patrick's story with my wife, my friends, and our team at Simple Truths. About two weeks later, I received a letter from a friend. He said, "Mac, I don't know who said it, but I think you'll love this quote."

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
it's about learning how to dance in the rain!"

I thought...that's it! We all face adversity in our life. However, it's not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our life. During tough times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or, can we, with gratitude...learn how to dance in the rain?

It almost sounds too simple to feel important, but one word...gratitude, can change your attitude, thus, your life, forever. Sarah Breathnach said it best...

"When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present....we experience heaven on earth."

Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Whom will I send, And who will go for Us? Here am I send Me.

The Lessons of Fort Hood
by James Robison

"Then I heard the Lord asking, 'Whom should I send as a messenger to
this people? Who will go for us?' I said, “Here I am. Send me.'" (Isaiah 6:8)

Betty and I watched the memorial service from Ft. Hood on Tuesday, honoring our soldiers in such a powerful and meaningful way. I don’t know when I have been so emotionally moved. As I looked at the memorials of those killed – a photo of the deceased in front of an empty pair of boots with the downward-aimed rifle, capped by the camouflage helmet – tears welled up in my eyes. I thought of the parents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and children, somehow feeling the emptiness in their lives like an irreplaceable void.

And to think of the horrific way in which it occurred—right here in the homeland, in the center of our largest military base. As I looked at those helmets and boots, I couldn’t help but think of all the precious sons and daughters who were found lying in some sandy foreign battlefield, or perhaps near some insane, improvised explosive device. For those memorials, there is honor and respect, but they do not typically include the leading General, Secretary of Defense and even the President of the United States publicly paying last respects. Gratitude is expressed to the families, but the general public doesn’t see each instance that the most priceless and precious gift is laid down for the greatest gift any of us any of us ever experience—the gift of life and the freedom to live it in a meaningful way.

I was deeply moved as Gen. Casey referred to the Scriptures as “God’s Holy Word” and noted that these verses are read at the departure of everyone we lose in the Armed Services. From the book of Isaiah: “Whom will I send, and who will go for us?” And of course, our soldiers answer, “Here am I. Send me.”

Yes, this is what our Armed Forces in this great nation of America, this “one nation under God,” have always willingly said. We have said it in defense of everything sacred, dear, meaningful and appropriate since the birthing of this nation. I found it amazing that this general would so openly refer to God in the Scriptures and couldn’t help but wonder how long it will be before someone voices their opposition to it, just as they have to any reference to God in our schools and public places.

These critical forces controlled by all that is committed to destroying true freedom will not stop trying to limit the true defenders of faith and freedom in every possible way. They constantly harass those who shout truth from the housetops. They do not want it on the airwaves and they do not want it spoken in worship assemblies and houses of faith if it affects their destructive purposes.

Many of those who are leading our country away from our freedom that was purchased and protected at such great cost seem unaware that they are doing this. I believe they are deceived. Forces of evil are continually waiting to find places to express their deadly intentions. We must understand that everything opposing true freedom and genuine faith in God was born in the pit of destruction and carried by voices of deception.

Earlier this week, I was meditating on the Scriptures. God was correcting His people in Isaiah for not being fruitful and not caring for the fertile field He had given them and the productive potential He had entrusted to their care. He talked about how the hedges and walls of protection would be broken down and the once-productive ground would be trampled. God went on to say that there is great sorrow for those who tow their sins behind them with ropes made of lies and drag wickedness behind them like a cart. ¹

They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something. We want to see what You can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out His plan. We want to know what it is.” ²

Through his prophet Isaiah, God laments, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eye and think themselves so clever. What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.” ³

These verses warn people of the judgment that will surely come to those who live deceived and deceiving, controlled not only by the spirit of this world but the spirit of darkness and destruction. It’s important to keep in mind that this chapter precedes the chapter from which General Casey read; the passage read at the loss of every soldier.

The prophet Isaiah said he, along with the people, were the ones undone, had unclean lips, and wanted God to touch their lips to make them clean. God told him that he removed the guilt and forgave him. Then the Lord asked, “Who will I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I. Send me.”

Believe it with all your heart: Our soldiers are defending this freedom and our soldiers have died not only to protect the freedom here at home, but they have died on foreign battlefields to see other nations and people set free. No other nation on earth has spilled so much blood to stop slavery, oppression, tyranny, dictatorship and evil.

There is no question that we have many issues that should concern us. Every church leader and national leader needs to lift his and her voice to call our nation back to the principles that made us great. It is high time for every person who holds truth and freedom dear to stand up and call every party, every politician and every person in this nation back to principles that made us great and are necessary to keep us great.

Forty-eight years ago, when I was only 18 years old, I answered the call of God to proclaim His truth to the ends of the earth. I said, “Here am I. Send me.” Nearly 30 years ago, God showed me that most Christians live as prisoners in the Promised Land. I recognized that as a highly-visible preacher, I had allowed defeat to become a recurring fact in my own life. I was not living full of the Spirit and love of God. I had a gift, but I wasn’t living in freedom. When I began to proclaim the freedom and fullness we should live in as believers, churches and lives were impacted. I stood boldly against the evil forces in our land, within the church and the ever-building nuclear threat. In many ways, the nation was impacted and began to take a stand against the horrible menace of Soviet communism and aggression.

I have shared only with a few people, but in the weeks after having hip replacement surgery in September, a horrible, deadly, evil force manifest in my body. Staph infection exploded like a time bomb. In two hours, I went from being able to walk and move freely to being unable to move. I reached a point where I couldn’t lift a cup of water. It took a repeat surgery to do everything possible to drive out the infection.

For weeks, my precious wife (I call her Nurse Betty) has given me IV’s every eight hours to fight this horrible invading force. As I have walked on this journey, God has done a deep and meaningful work in my life. He has shown me that evil must not be tolerated because there are forces of evil committed to destroy everything meaningful and precious to us. As Christians, and hopefully as true Americans, we must never march in step with those destructive forces that can explode in any moment, just as it did at Fort Hood.

There is mounting evidence that Major Nadil Malik Hasan was lurking, waiting for the right moment to commit the first terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. Like a staph infection harbored within our bodies, the vicious force waits for the opportunity to destroy life. This is why evil must not be tolerated – not in our military, not in our neighborhoods and not in our personal lives. We must see it as the destructive force that it is and deal with it. We may walk as I will, with a limp, but know that only God can free us from the power of evil. Liberty begins first in us and then spreads like the light of dawn to the world around us.

Our soldiers give their lives to save life. They give their lives just as the good cells in my blood are capturing an enemy and destroying it with the assistance of antibiotics, medical care and the prayers of many friends. Every dangerous foe needs to be identified, isolated and eliminated. That’s a fact of life in the human body and it’s a fact of life on this earth. If a doctor cannot diagnose infection, he cannot deal with it. If our leaders do not recognize evil in our country, and if the church doesn’t wake up and begin to deal with it, then our future is bleak and our days as a free people and a prosperous nation are numbered.

With a broken heart, I am crying out, “Wake up, church! Wake up, America!” The government is not the answer. Politicians are not the answer. The truths of God’s Word and the time-tested principles that never fail are the solid foundation on which we must rebuild. Join me in earnest prayer, not only for the comfort of the families suffering loss, but for a nation to have the wisdom to return to God so that every one of us can say boldly and bravely like our soldiers, “Here am I, send me. I will stand as a light set on a hill. I will not hide under a bushel of conformity and religious tradition. I will be unashamedly an ambassador for Christ. I will not bow. I will not bend. I will worship God and exalt him to the highest!”

Every moment we live enjoying freedom’s blessing, let us diligently seek to share it with those less fortunate and with those who do not know our living Lord Jesus.

Pray for those impacted by the attack at Fort Hood. Pray for wisdom in our leadership and Divine intervention in the lives of those on the battlefield.

Prayer
"Lord, grant us your mercy and peace. Spare us from the evil that seeks to kill, steal and destroy. Send your peace upon the earth. In the name of Jesus, amen."

¹ Isaiah 5:18
² Isaiah 5:19
³ Isaiah 5:20-23

Live well, Do good work, and keep in touch.

Everyone is Someone, look a little closer.

The thought for the day:

The value of a person is not based on the age of their body, but the Spirit within that body.

This really caught my eye when I read it, maybe because I can see myself as an older person identifying with what this man must have been thinking during this time. Even at my age I see people not understanding the way I think they should, either by neglect, or just to busy to take the time to try, but the result is the same, someone, on the one hand, is hurt through misunderstanding, and on the other hand, someone has missed an extreme Blessing.

We should be looking for the person within, I hope we will, and I pray that Christ will give us the insight to do that.

Here is one to read and think about. Peace be with you!

CRABBY OLD MAN When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte, Nebraska it was believed that he had nothing left of any value . Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem.Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Missouri. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem. And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet. Crabby Old Man What do you see nurses? . . . What do you see? What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me? A crabby old man, . ... . . . . not very wise, Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . .with faraway eyes? Who dribbles his food . . .. . .and makes no reply . When you say in a loud voice ..'I do wish you'd try!' Who seems not to notice . . . .the things that you do . And forever is losing . . . . . . A sock or shoe? Who, resisting or not . . . . . lets you do as you will, With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill? Is that what you're thinking?. . Is that what you see? Then open your eyes, nurse . . .you're not looking at me . I'll tell you who I am . . . . . . As I sit here so still, As I do at your bidding, . . . . .as I eat at your will. I'm a small child of Ten .. . . .with a father and mother, Brothers and sisters . . . . . . . who love one another. A young boy of Sixteen . . . . . with wings on his feet Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.. A groom soon at Twenty . . . . .my heart gives a leap. Remembering, the vows . . . . ..that I promised to keep. At Twenty-Five, now . . . . . . . I have young of my own. Who need me to guide . . . . . .And a secure happy home. A man of Thirty . . . . .. . . . . My young now grown fast, Bound to each other . . . . . . . .With ties that should last. At Forty, my young sons .. . . . have grown and are gone, But my woman's beside me. . . . to see I don't mourn. At Fifty, once more, . . . . . . . babies play 'round my knee, Again, we know children . . . . . My loved one and me. Dark days are upon me . . . . . .my wife is now dead. I look at the future ... . . . . . shudder with dread.. For my young are all rearing . .. young of their own. And I think of the years . . . . and the love that I've known. I'm now an old man . . . . . . . . and nature is cruel. Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool. The body, it crumbles . . . . . . grace and vigor, depart. There is now a stone . . . . . . where I once had a heart. But inside this old carcass . . . . a young guy still dwells, And now and again . . . .. . . . . my battered heart swells. I remember the joys . . . . . . . I remember the pain. And I'm loving and living. . . . . life over again. I think of the years, . . . . . . .all too few gone too fast. And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last. So open your eyes, people. . . . open and see. Not a crabby old man. . . . . . . Look closer . . . . see ME!! Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within . . . . we will all, one day, be there, too! The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart. Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Are you praying for a Miracle? Don't give up!!

The thought for the day:

You don't have to be someone well known to receive a miracle from God, just someone special, and you are someone very special to God.

I wanted to share this story about Tim Greene, the older brother of the singing group" The Greenes", as it is written in the Paul Heil Newsletter. I hope it will bless you as it did me.

"Tim's Miracle"

What does it take to be healed from a life-threatening illness?

That's something Tim Greene had to deal with for most of the past decade.

As this well-known former member of the Greenes tells it, "I got sick in August of 2000. One day I was sitting in my easy chair and I hollered for my wife and I knew something was bad wrong. She came running downstairs and said, ‘What's wrong, Honey?' And I said, ‘Aim, I can't move my legs.' And she said, ‘You're kidding!' And I said, ‘no,' and both of us stood up and as soon as I stood I fell to the ground and took her with me... It was just a very terrible day but a day that we'll never forget..."

As it turned out, Tim had been exposed to toxic black mold (in an old car, if memory serves) and it had gotten into his sinuses. Eventually, Tim had to give up singing with his family group, the Greenes, and moved to the North Carolina coast, on doctors' orders, to take advantage of the cleaner sea air. But initially it helped little.

"I was confined to a bed for almost three years and to a wheelchair for almost four years... I was in Texas in a clinic out there for eight weeks for the first time, then for six months following. So, I was in a wheelchair for quite a long time and confined to a bed and staring at four walls for a long, long period of time."

All of this resulted in significant medical bills, which still weigh heavily on the family's finances.

Even for someone such as Tim, who had spent his entire adult life serving the Lord through singing and as a preacher, there were many times of questioning God as to what His will would be for his life, why he was being subjected to this life-threatening illness, and, of course, why God seemingly would not provide a healing.

He began to get an answer to that last question last year. "The Lord really showed my heart when I was praying down at the beach one day that he would send a preacher, and this preacher would come baptize me in the Atlantic Ocean just like Naaman was baptized – seven times. I know, that might sound a bit far-fetched, but that's what the Lord spoke to my heart and told me. And, Paul, I believed it, and my wife believed it, my family believed it. And we waited over a year.

"Finally one day a preacher by the name of Larry Walker called me and we were talking for just a moment or two – and I hadn't spoken to brother Larry in a long time, didn't even know what he was doing, what was going on in his life. But before the conversation got a minute into it, he said, ‘You know, Tim, I just need to come baptize you.' And, sure enough, he came down to the beach and we went to the ocean and he baptized me seven times, like Naaman.

"The first time in the water it was cold, 58 degrees in the Atlantic Ocean. By about the third time it started feeling pretty warm. And by the seventh time, folks, it was hot! I was hot all over and the Lord healed me that day, not because anything special was in the water, but because I believed. And that's what it takes for healing – great faith and believing. And I am so thankful to tell you today that God has healed me and I'm doing great today."

Praise God!

But Tim confesses that, even when this process was getting started, he did have some lingering questions. "It's very easy to question something so miraculous like this. And even on the way to be baptized that day, I had some questions. And I started praying in my spirit and said, ‘God, if this is wrong, please show me if it's wrong, and God, if it's right, please show me it's right.'

"And we went to church together, me and my wife, and the pastor that came to baptize me and his wife. We went and sat down inside the church house – no one knew we were coming, we didn't even know what church we were going to go to that particular Sunday morning – but we just decided to go to this particular church. And when we sat down, the choir got up and they began to sing so beautifully. But the old devil jumped up on my shoulder and started telling me everything I was doing was wrong and I shouldn't go through with this. So I stepped outside into the vestibule of the church and I started praying again and I said, ‘God, please show me if this is right, and God, if this is wrong, please show me. I don't want to do anything to hurt your precious name.'

"I went back in and sat down during the church service and the preacher gets up and says, ‘folks, your pastor's not here today, he's sick. But I came to preach for you today. I have no idea what your preacher was gonna preach about, but I want you to turn your Bibles to 2nd Kings chapter 5. I'm gonna read for you the story of Naaman going into the water and being baptized, seven times.' And I tell you, Paul, it was a glorious, glorious time..."

Now Tim says his mission is to tell people everywhere that he can about his healing back in May of this year – and about the God who is able to do such an amazing miracle in his life. "I'm just traveling all over the country and sharing this wonderful story, this great good news, this glorious happening, what God has done for me. I'm going anywhere I get the opportunity and tell people that not only did Jesus save me in 1975, He healed me in 2009 in the month of May. And I'm just loving going around telling everybody what's happened."

What a wonderful testimony! In fact, just this morning as I write this I received an e-mail from a listener who heard Tim's testimony on the air. He wrote, "I felt the Holy Ghost all over while that story was being told."

No, God doesn't always choose to heal in such an obvious way. I, for one, believe that every time we recover from any kind of illness it's a miracle – the "built-in" kind installed by our miracle-working Creator in His creation. But there are testimonies on a regular basis from around the world of truly miraculous healing – even resurrections.

But that's where faith comes in — our faith that, no matter what, God will do what's right. "And," as Tim said, "that's what it takes for healing – great faith and believing."

Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Could you become a vehicle for miracles to happen through, you can you know.

The thought for the day:

John 1:1-3

BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE EXISTED, THERE WAS CHRIST, WITH GOD. HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ALIVE AND IS HIMSELF GOD. HE CREATED EVERYTHING THERE IS- NOTHING EXIST THAT HE DID NOT MAKE.

It has been said that FAITH is a:

Fantastic

Adventure

In

Trusting

Him

We can not have Miracles without Faith. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His power to perform the Miracles. We must also have Faith that the Miracles that we are asking for or needing is in the perfect Will of God and that it is in accordance with His purpose. That is a lot of Faith. How and where do we get this kind of Faith to see miracles happen in and around us, well, the standard come back to that is, you must read the Word, you must spend a lot of time in prayer, you must fellowship with other believing Christians, and all this is true, but on top of that, in my opinion, you must have an intiment relationship with Jesus, yes so much so that you call him friend, companion, as in Someone that when you go to bed at night, you discuss the happenings of the day with, and when you wake up in the morning, you discuss what you would like to do today, with as well. Someone that you can tell your deepest secrete to and know that it is safe with Him.

This may sound impossible to you, it is very much possible and you can have it in your life if you will seek it with the right frame of mind, and be open to His leading. He wants this much, much more that you do, and all you have to do is open yourself to receive Him and He will do much more than you can imagine or think. Praise His Holy Name!!!!!

I hope you enjoy the article today from Bruce Wilkinson. This week, try smiling at some one as you meet them, and maybe opening a door for them, it will bless YOU.

Everyday Miracles
by Bruce Wilkinson

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s
power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that
raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at
God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 1:19-20)

Bruce Wilkinson's bookYou Were Born For Thisis available when you support Mission Feeding.

What if I told you I’m certain you missed a miracle yesterday? And not just any miracle but one that Heaven wanted to do through you to significantly change someone’s life for the better – maybe your own?

Almost everyone in the world can point to an event in their lives that seemed directly orchestrated by Heaven, that seemed impossible to explain without using words like, “I can’t believe what just happened! That was a miracle!” We tend to value such events so highly that we recount them over and over, often for years.

Why do we remember such events so clearly? I think it’s because we feel that we have been touched by Heaven. It’s as if God Himself stepped through the curtain that separates the seen from the unseen to make something wonderful happen for us, something only He could do.

In the experience we hear a personal and unforgettable message from God. Something like, I’m here. I care about you. I can do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

When it comes to miracles, most people I know see the world as divided in two. On the far left is a region we could call the Land of Signs and Wonders. In this land amazing miracles seem to happen a lot, although only for a select few. On the far right is the Land of Good Deeds. Interestingly, in Good Deeds land a lot of people believe in miracles and spend time studying them. They just don’t expect to actually see any miracles, much less be a part of them on a regular basis.

Between the dazzle of Signs and Wonders and the duty of Good Deeds lies a broad and promising middle ground: Everyday Miracle Territory. Here people believe that God wants to intervene – and does – in supernatural ways in human affairs on a regular basis. Here unmet needs are seen by ordinary people as golden opportunities for God to show up, and to do so through them, at almost any moment.

Most Christians know the importance of expressing their faith through deliberate acts of service to others. Everyone’s good works matter a great deal to God. As Paul reminds us, we have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Among the good works you and I were born to do lies a wide range of accomplishments that are extremely important to God, that we have been commissioned to do for Christ –and that we cannot do without His supernatural power working through us.

Think of the relationship between good works and personal miracles in your life in terms of two equations:

Your good works for God = ministry.
Your ministry + God’s supernatural power = miracles.

For a personal miracle, you must choose to proactively partner with God’s supernatural power to do what no good work of your own could. All of Christ’s followers have been invited into this amazing partnership with Heaven.

It’s a joint but unequal venture between weak humans and an extraordinary God to pursue His agenda in His way in His time by His power for His glory. But you can be a Christian for years and miss it completely!

This explains Paul’s unusual concern about this very issue, as expressed in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul understood that a person can be a true believer in Christ and not yet understand at all how we are to actually accomplish the business of Heaven.

Thankfully, a simple, self-evident approach to delivering miracles does exist.

For a personal miracle to take place we must have:

• a person (the recipient of the miracle)
• a need (the purpose for the personal miracle)
• an open heart (the place where a personal miracle is completed)
• a delivery agent (the means for getting the miracle where it is needed)
• God (the person who does the miracle and receives the credit)

If God is going to meet a specific need for another person through us, then we need to find and connect with that person by responding to God’s nudges. The fact that a nudge seems out of context or surprises us helps to identify our person with confidence. If in doubt, proceed – all you risk is being friendly.

Once you’ve connected with the person, your role is to patiently and sensitively look for the need. This is where a bump question like “How may I help you?” can be effective. You’re still relying on God’s guidance, but now you can partner with Him more completely to meet the need at hand.

Miracles often involve some kind of material provision, but miracle agents don’t stop there. Strategic prayer is involved.

We want to partner with God to get inside the recipient’s heart. A heart tends to respond best to gentle and sincere invitations from the heart of another. Our role is much like that of John the Baptist’s – preparing the way for God.

Thankfully, God desires to deliver miracles through us more than we want Him to. That means we can relax, trusting that God will deliver a miracle and that our necessary role in the event is to respond to His direction.

We intentionally do everything in our power to help the person make the all-important leap between the wonderful experience and the wonderful source of that experience – God Himself

Make yourself available to be the delivery agent of an everyday miracle in someone’s life.

Prayer
“Lord, thank you that you desire to work everyday miracles in people’s lives. Please help me to be the hands that deliver your goodness into the life of another person. Amen.”

Live well, do good work, and keep in touch.