Monthly Archives: October 2008

The Power of Belief

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Jesus said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”1

In younger days I used to think I was the only one who had an inferiority complex and felt insecure. I have long since learned that feeling insecure was part of the human condition and I wasn’t alone by any means. Half the answer to overcoming this feeling is to admit it and then we are free to grow and change. Sadly, these feelings are often embedded into our mind by others who put us down or simply don’t believe in us.

For instance, I recently read how “the famous Psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Adler had an experience when a young boy, which illustrates just how powerful such a belief can be upon behavior and ability. He got off to a bad start in arithmetic and his teacher became convinced that he was ‘dumb in mathematics.’ The teacher then advised the parents of this ‘fact’ and told them not to expect too much of him. They too were convinced. Adler passively accepted the evaluation they had placed upon him. And his grades in arithmetic proved they had been correct.

“One day, however, he had a sudden flash of insight and thought he saw how to work a problem the teacher had put on the board, and which none of the other pupils could work. He announced as much to the teacher. She and the whole class laughed. Whereupon, he became indignant, strode to the blackboard, and worked the problem much to their amazement. In doing so, he realized that he could understand arithmetic. He felt a new confidence in his ability, and went on to become a good math student.”

A few years ago I shared a poem I had written with a friend and he picked it to pieces. Tragically I believed his words and never wrote another poem for years. What got me started again was when a gifted artist told me how much she loved my poems. That inspired me to write more. The fact is, we all need someone who sees the gifts we have, who believes in us, and encourages us to develop our gifts and use them.

Note: If interested, see poems: “Forever Friend” at http://tinyurl.com/3z238u and “Unsung Songs” at http://tinyurl.com/4vsnnj by yours truly.

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, thank you for the gifts and abilities you have given to me. Please help me to know what these are, be well trained and skillful in using them, believe in myself as you believe in me, and use my gifts for your glory. And please help me to be an encourager of others to help them see, develop, and use their gifts also for your glory. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 9:29 (NIV).

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Exponential Growth

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“Then He [Jesus] said to His disciples, “‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”1

Tradition says that the man who invented the game of chess was told by the Chinese emperor to name his own reward. The man simply asked that a grain of rice be placed on the first square of the chess board: two grains on the second square, four on the third, eight on the fourth, sixteen on the fifth, and so on, the grains doubling each time. The emperor quickly agreed, but was horrified when he came to the sixty-fourth square.

The only hope of mankind for peace for today and hope for eternity is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If I tell one person about him, and we both tell another, that makes four persons sharing the Good News. By the time I’ve told twenty-one people, and if all the others do the same and so on, more than one million people will have heard the gospel in no time.2

Jesus started the entire Christian message with a motley band of twelve disciples. By Ascension Day it had grown ten times to 120. “A little over a week later, on Pentecost, it increased to over 3,000. By the time the last of the twelve died, there were an estimated half-million followers of Jesus Christ.

“That was at the end of the first century. By the end of the second century, this number had increased to almost ten million. By the close of the ninth century, there were 100 million Christians. Today, the number has grown to over one billion believers around the world. None of this growth would have been possible had Christians not been excited and supportive of missions or prayed to ‘the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”3

Since going online in 1998 ACTS International has received over 21,000 salvation and re-commitment to Christ responses from around the world. These responses have come from Daily and Weekend Encounter and our gospel messages on the ACTS web site at www.actsweb.org. Many of the salvation responses have come from Daily and Weekend Encounter readers forwarding copies to friends, contacts and families.

Imagine if every one of our 207,000 plus subscribers to Daily, Weekend and Prayer Encounters would forward a suitable copy of Daily Encounter to one other person each month for one year, this would mean that 2,484,000 people would have an opportunity to receive the gospel in a non-offensive way. And what if each Encounter subscriber would forward a copy to one other person each week for a year? This would mean that 10,764,000 more people would have an opportunity to receive the gospel. And imagine if just one-fifth of these people would subscribe to Daily Encounter and send one copy each week to another person for a year, this would mean 111,194,000 additional people in one year could be reached for Christ. If Christians would “keep on keeping on” sharing God’s message, the spreading of the gospel would increase exponentially. With the invention of e-mail and the Internet this has never ever been easier to do.

Never have we had such an opportunity. God has given us the message and commissioned us—you and me included—to take it to all the world. He has given us the methods. All he needs is his people working together all doing their share to reach our world for Christ. Will you make a commitment to help spread the gospel and thereby be a part of what God is doing in the world today?

NOTE: To make it extremely easy for you to share Daily Encounter and ACTS Good News gospel outreach websites in a non-offensive way with family, friends and contacts, we have printed high quality, attractive business witness cards. See samples online at http://actscom.com/witness_cards.php. Try them. You’ll like them. I’ve given scores away and have never had anyone not accept it. Be sure to get a pack of 50 today.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your great salvation which has given me the gift of eternal life and a home in heaven to be with you forever—and saved me from eternal damnation. I am available for you to use to be a part of your plans and what you are doing in the world today. Please give me a passion for lost souls and help me to be as Christ to every life I touch—and use me to help spread the gospel in whatever way I can. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 9:37-38 (NKJV).
2. Dorothy O’Neill, Encounter magazine (Australia), March/April 2002.
3. Dennis Kastens, “Echoes of Eternity,” from the sermon: “Laborers Needed for the Harvest.”

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Thinking Makes It So

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“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”1

A Native American boy was talking with his grandfather. “What do you think about the world situation?” he asked. The grandfather replied, “I feel like two wolves are fighting in my heart. One is full of anger and hatred. The other is full of love, forgiveness and peace.”

“Which one will win?” asked the boy.

To which the grandfather replied, “The one I feed.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds,” and James Allen rightly stated, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

Another has said, “What the mind dwells on the body acts on.” If you don’t believe this, think how temptation works—first a thought that seems to come from nowhere … we feed it and the thought begins to expand … then one’s feelings get involved … and the more we think about it … the more we hunger for it … then we begin to rationalize and justify what we want to do … and the battle is lost. It all starts in the mind.

As they say about computers: GIGO = garbage in garbage out. So it is with the mind. If we keep looking at and thinking about garbage, we will act out accordingly. But, if as the Bible says, we concentrate on thoughts that are noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable, we too, will act accordingly. It’s all in the mind, for what the mind dwells on the body acts on.

When tempting thoughts knock on the door of my mind, I try to remember to pray a very simple prayer, “Jesus, help. Jesus help,” until the “door knocker” goes away.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to learn how to guard my thought life, and to concentrate on noble thoughts that lead to noble living and noble deeds. Help me to appreciate the fact that your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thank you for your word to me today and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Philippians 4:8 (NIV).

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Integrity

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“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”1

Don Johnson of Afterglow wrote, “In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric hordes to the north, so they built the great Chinese wall. It was so high they knew no one could climb over it and so thick that nothing could break it down. They settled back to enjoy their security. During the first hundred years of the wall’s existence China was invaded three times. Not once did the barbaric hordes break down the wall or climb over the top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right through the gates. The Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.”2

Integrity means keeping your word, being faithful to your commitments, doing an honest day’s work, not doing in the dark what you would never be caught doing in the light. It’s being loyal, trustworthy, and faithful. It means being true to yourself and honest with others, being genuine, authentic, and real, faithful, trustworthy, and loyal.

Our individual lives and our families will not be saved by personal power, wealth, education, popularity, nor beauty, but by integrity and our trust in the Lord. Neither will our nation be saved by the power and might of our military nor our brilliant technical warfare. In the long run we will only be saved by our integrity and our trust in the Lord, for “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me as an individual to always maintain integrity, and help us as a nation to realize the tremendous importance of maintaining integrity. And grant that we will be forever reminded that ‘blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 33:12,16-19 (NIV).
2. Afterglow, www.afterglow.org.

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Character Counts

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“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”1

Interestingly enough, where I grew up (quite a few years ago now), in our grade school English classes every story we read had a moral, and over the door of every class room was written a motto such as, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,”2 that was quoted from the Bible. We were also taught the importance of keeping one’s word. In fact, a man’s word was his honor. It was a mark of character!

Furthermore, every week during school hours students had to attend a religious instruction class of their choice. One had to have a letter from one’s parents if he/she were to be excused from attending.

But where have those values gone today? Cheating in school is the norm for far too many students. Recently we heard on TV how one teacher failed a student whom she caught cheating on her final exam. The cheater’s parents were so outraged that this teacher was forced to resign! Teaching at Harvard Business School several years ago, Chuck Colson noted that the students didn’t have a clue about ethics. Hence we reap results such as the Enron debacle. And millions, at least in the Western world, are spending millions every year on getting rid of wrinkles and the like because they are much more concerned with their external image and appearance than inner character.

It seems for many that we have forgotten that character counts!

According to the organization, Character Counts, “The Six Pillars of Character are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship,” to which we could add a seventh, personal honesty.

Don Johnson, author and producer of “Afterglow,” wrote, “Financier J. P. Morgan once commented that a man’s best collateral is his character. Alfred Armand Montapert said, ‘Reputation is what folks think you are. Personality is what you seem to be. Character is what you really are.’ House Speaker, Jim Wright, upon his resignation, quoted Horace Greely who stated, ‘Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow, only one thing endures—character.’ Charles Spurgeon wrote, ‘A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble.’

“Someone has said ‘character is what you’d do if you knew no one would ever find out.’ I like Samuel Smiles words, ‘Sow a thought and you reap an act, sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character, sow a character and you reap a destiny.’”3

Whether we believe it or not, character does count—for time and, if you are a Christian, for eternity!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to always remember that character counts and help me to so live that my life will always bring glory and praise to your name. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Romans 5:3-4 (NIV).
2. Ecclesiastes 9:10.
3. Afterglow, www.afterglow.org

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More on Relationships

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“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”1

Of all the requests for help from Daily Encounter readers, most have to do with impaired relationships. One of the toughest issues to deal with seems to be in the area of forgiving those who have hurt us.

For example another reader writes, “I have been dealing with an issue for some time. I was hurt deeply by two friends, but have never received an apology from them for what they did. I am trying to forgive and forget but haven’t been able to. I have prayed about it because I don’t want to become consumed with anger, but the pain is still there. What can I do?”

I guess most of us have been in a similar situation, and, if not yet, sooner or later we will be. So how do we handle this type of issue?

As the Bible encourages us, it is helpful to go to the person who has hurt us, and share with him/her how we feel. However, when we do this, it is important not to go with a blame-game-attitude. This is because what they did is their issue, but how we react and feel is always our issue and responsibility. We need to tell the person who has hurt us that we appreciate and value their friendship, but that we feel very hurt. We need to admit that our feelings are our problem; explain why we feel hurt; and say that we would like to talk things over so we can resolve our feelings.

This is usually the best approach wherever possible—and we have the courage to do it! There is no guarantee, however, that the offending party will respond favorably. But once we have done our part (as long as it is in a caring and mature manner), the rest is up to them. However, if they or we are immature, it may make matters worse! That’s always a risk to take in seeking to resolve impaired relationships.

Either way, it is imperative that we resolve our feelings. If we don’t, our hurt and anger may cause us to become resentful, and affect us physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually. If we can’t resolve our conflict the first way, and still can’t resolve our feelings and genuinely forgive, we need to talk to an understanding pastor, or if necessary, to a qualified Christian counselor who will help us work through and resolve our feelings.

However, before we do anything, we need to ask God to reveal to us the truth of what we may be contributing in any way to the conflict we are in. This is critical because (as already noted) what others do to us is their problem or issue, but how we react is always our issue and our responsibility. Furthermore, to the degree we overreact, if we do, that is always our problem. Remember, too, that supersensitive people who have unresolved hurts from the past, will inevitably overreact in one way or another, either by exploding and lashing out at others, or by imploding and turning their hurt and anger in on themselves and stay hurt, become resentful, and even physically ill.

Impaired relationships can be and are very destructive to ourselves and others, and are the cause of many illnesses—relational, physical, emotional, and/or spiritual. This is why the Bible encourages us to not allow the sun to go down while we are still angry, and to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

NOTE: For further help see “Forgiveness: The Power That Heals,” http://tinyurl.com/3bw3q3.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to never forget that I live in a broken world where all people, including myself, have frailties and are struggling at some level to find loving relationships. Please help me to keep growing in Christian love and learning to handle every impaired relationship in a mature, Christ-like manner, and in so doing be an example for others to follow. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV).

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Hiding from God

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“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me…. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”1

You may have read about the iron-fisted professor (supposedly at the University of California) who was extremely rigid with his students. In reminding them about their final exam for the course he was teaching, he said they were not to begin their test until he told them exactly when they were to commence, and after exactly one hour they were to finish precisely at the time he said they were to stop, and immediately bring their test and place it on the front desk as they left the class room. If they failed to follow his instructions precisely, he would fail them.

So … at the final exam all the students followed the professor’s instructions exactly as he demanded—except for one student who kept writing after they were told to stop. The professor demanded that he stop writing, but he didn’t. He just kept working on his final exam. When he was finished, he brought his test to the front desk where the furious professor was sitting.

“Why didn’t you follow my instructions?” the professor demanded.

“Because I needed more time,” the student replied.

“Don’t you know I am going to fail you? What is your name?”

“You mean you don’t know my name?” the student replied.

“How could I?” the professor barked, “I have 400 students in this class!”

“Good,” said the student as he slipped his test into the pile of 399 other examination papers on the professor’s desk—and walked out of the room!

In this life we can hide all sorts of things from all sorts of people, but we can never hide from God. He sees all. He knows all. And he loves and accepts us anyhow. But we can also be sure that, unless forgiven, our sins will find us out—even if it is eventually!

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, thank you that I can never hide from you, that you know all about me, and that you always know where I am and what I am doing. That can be both frightening and comforting. Help me to so live that I will never need to be afraid of your seeing me, and help me to take comfort in the fact that no matter what circumstances I am in, you will never leave me nor forsake me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully[,] in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 139:1, 7-14 (NIV).

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Second Chances

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“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’”1

I think most of us enjoy the story of “Jonah and the Whale (Great Fish).” Jonah was commissioned by God to go to Nineveh and warn the people that if they didn’t repent of their wicked, sinful ways, God would destroy them. Jonah didn’t like these people and didn’t want God to save them, so he boarded a ship and went off in the opposite direction. But God sent a great storm “to shake Jonah up.” However, all aboard the ship were terrified for their lives. When Jonah admitted he was the cause of the storm, the sailors threw him overboard.

But God in his mercy sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Had God not done this, without a doubt Jonah would have drowned. On the third day, Jonah repented and God caused the great fish to vomit him up on a beach. After Jonah repented and God rescued him, God commissioned him a second time.

Having worked in the area of recovery for a number of years, and specifically in the area of divorce and grief recovery over the past decade, I have seen too many individuals rush into a second marriage without resolving the issues that caused their first marriage to fail—and then see their second marriage and, for some, their third marriage fail.

What many fail to realize is that, in all of life (not just marriage), what we fail to resolve we are destined to repeat … repeat … repeat … until we get it right!

The good news is that no matter how many times we fail, God in his mercy and infinite patience will give us a second, third, fourth, fifth, ad infinitum opportunity to get things right. However, once we get it right, we don’t have to go through the same failure again!

This is why I encourage divorcees (and others who have failed in other situations) to resolve the issues in their life that caused their marriage or situation to fail so they won’t have to go through the same terrible experience. God wants us to recover, heal and become whole so we won’t keep hurting ourselves—and others. Like Jonah, God will keep giving us as many opportunities as we need so we will get it right. That means quitting the blame game, admitting and facing our personal problems, and getting into recovery.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to admit every failure in my life and help me to see the causes behind these failures, and lead me to the help I need to resolve these issues and recover so I can move on with my life in more creative and wholesome ways. Please help me to use every one of my failures as an opportunity to grow and become a better, healthier, more God-honoring person. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Jonah 3:1-2 (NIV).

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Vengeance

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“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”1

In church one Sunday the visiting speaker told how a U.S. soldier (whom I will call Ed) in Afghanistan received a “Dear John” letter from his girlfriend back home. Understandably, he was deeply hurt. To make matters worse, she asked him to return her photo as she needed it for her local newspaper to announce her engagement to another man.

The men in Ed’s unit all felt for Ed and were mad at his former girlfriend, so they all gave Ed a copy of a photo of their girl friends. Ed put these in a box and mailed them to his former girlfriend with a note which said, “I’m sending you a photo of all my girlfriends and can’t remember which photo is yours. So will you please take out yours and return all the rest to me.”

Aha! “Good for Ed,” I want to say! Vengeance can taste so sweet—at least for the immediate present. I know at times when I have felt that someone has been critical of me and their cutting remarks have cut deeply, I want to strike back and let them have a verbal blast packaged in humor/sarcasm, and have to pray for grace so I won’t do what I want to do … or at least say what I’d really like to say!

However, as the Bible reminds us, vengeance is best left to the Lord and judgment best left to the Holy Spirit. For some of us, including me, we will need to be “growing in grace” for the rest of our lives.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to keep growing in grace so that I will not lash out and hurt others when they have hurt me. Help me to turn the other cheek, and always be as Christ to those I find unlovable. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Romans 12:19 (NIV).

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Crabgrass

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“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”1

Pastor Ed Hart shared in a recent sermon, “Anyone who has put in a lawn understands about crabgrass because it hides there. It’s there but you don’t know it. Just when you think you have mastered the perfect lawn, lush and green, and you are sitting, taking in all that wonderful oxygen coming off those little blades of grass, you see it … and you say to yourself, ‘Aha! I’ve caught it in time. I’ve got it just as it is starting!’ However, as you begin to remove the crabgrass, you realize it’s been there all the time—forever!

“Just when we think we’re doing great in the Christian life … we discover something about ourselves that C.S. Lewis understood very well. In his book, Screwtape Letters, (a book of imagined correspondence between a major devil and his nephew, Wormwood, a junior devil), he writes the following to Wormwood, about humility:

“I see only one thing to do at the moment—as your patient (a young Christian) has become humble. Have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is especially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By Jove, I’m being humble!’ And almost immediately pride, pride at his own humility, will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt. Through as many stages as you please, but don’t try this too long for fear you will awaken his sense of humor and proportion. In which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.”

“Lewis caught it. It is so easy to become puffed up about our own goodness, our good deeds, and our self-righteousness, and to take pride in it—and it’s the crabgrass of our soul that sneaks in there. Jesus warned us not to be like the hypocrites who do all for an outward show, and not to take ourselves too seriously. What we do should not be for appearance sake. But when we see ‘the crabgrass of pride’ poking up its ugly head, recognize it for what it is. Dismiss it. Laugh at yourself and go to bed.”2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to purify my motives and do good deeds because I love you and I love those whom you love. I admit that I need much help to do this. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 6:1-2 (NIV).
2. Edgar P. Hart, in his sermon, “Not All Is What It Seems.” First Presbyterian Church of Napa, California. May 12, 2002.

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