Monthly Archives: November 2008

The Power of Imaging, Part II

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“Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”1

Imaging—picturing in your mind’s eye—can help you achieve the seeming impossible.

One day when I was working on our church building, I borrowed my boss’s heavy circular-saw bench. When returning it, it fell off the truck, right in the middle of a major highway. It had taken four of us to load the saw bench onto the truck and here it was, lying in the middle of the road with only two of us to re-load it!

No problem … all we could see was getting it back on the truck. And, with seemingly super-human strength, heaved it back onto the truck in a flash. We fastened it securely, and were on our way in no time at all. We amazed ourselves with a strength we didn’t even know we had. This type of thing is fairly common.

Where did the extra strength come from? I’d say that the picture in our mind of getting the saw bench back onto the truck as quickly as possible, plus the urgency of the situation, triggered an extra supply of adrenaline, making it possible for us to lift it. Had we focused on the problem and our inability to lift it by ourselves, we never would have been able to achieve that task.

Imaging can also help in the healing of sicknesses.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peal in his book, Imaging, tells about Harry DeCamp who was healed of cancer. He was not a religious man, but was challenged to believe in God when a friend sent him a card which said, “With God all things are possible.”

Harry chose to believe that through faith and prayer, God could heal him, and started to visualize in a dramatic way the healing process taking place within his body.

“He began to imagine armies of healing white blood cells in his body cascading down from his shoulders, sweeping through his veins, attacking the malignant cells and destroying them. A hundred times a day, two hundred, three hundred, he went through this imaging process. He worked at it constantly, day and night.”2

Harry also kept on with his chemotherapy and in six months he was healed. What cured him? His faith, the chemotherapy, or his powerful imaging? Probably all three!

For some unknown reason, when the image we create in our mind is vivid and clear, the desire to achieve it, and the faith to believe it is possible are strong enough, the untapped powers of the mind come to our rescue and help us achieve the very thing we image and believe in. Unfortunately, the same principle is effective for those who wish to perform dastardly acts of evil. Actually, all of us are visualizing things in our mind much of the time. Just think how temptation works! We just need to use this ability for good.

To be continued …

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to see what you want me to become and do for your glory, and picture these in my mind until, with your help, one by one, they are all achieved. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 9:29 (NIV).

2. Imaging, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, p. 22.

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The Power of Imaging, Part I

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Seeing Jesus walking on the water, Peter said: “‘Lord, if it’s you … tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”1

I’d dare say that most of us could walk a twelve-foot-long by one-foot-wide plank that was on the ground. But suspend it thirty feet up in the air between two buildings and suddenly, for most of us (including me), it becomes a terrifying, nigh on impossible task.

Why?

Like Peter, because we are afraid of falling our faith is swallowed up by fear. We suddenly see ourselves plunging, and what we picture happening paralyzes us. In many, if not most, instances, what we imagine, see or visualize in our mind is what we make to happen.

In other words, if you imagine yourself falling off that plank, you’re much more likely to make it happen. But if you see yourself confidently walking across it safely to the other side, you will be able to do it.

Life’s like that. If you see yourself as being loving and lovable, you will love others and be loved by them. If you see yourself as confident and successful, you will act accordingly and be successful. If, on the other hand, you see yourself as unlovable, insecure, and a failure, you will act in an unlovable manner and set yourself up to fail.

Thus, a major key to successful living is to visualize exactly the type of person you want to become and what you want to make of your life—see it in your mind’s eye as already happening, and believe, with God’s help, that it is possible.

This kind of visualizing, or imaging as it is called, is a powerful means of help for overcoming problems, healing of sicknesses, achieving goals, improving relationships, and changing one’s life.

To be continued…

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, when I have to walk across life’s difficult places, please help me to keep my eyes fixed on you, and believe that you will hold my hand lest I fall. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 14:28-30 (NIV).

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Christianity Vs. Religion

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“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son [Jesus], whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”1

Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at Princeton. One student asked the renowned German theologian, “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?” Barth’s answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he answered, “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son [Jesus].”2

People by nature are religious in that every person is born with a sense of a divine being, and at some point each person decides whether to accept that belief, enquire into it, or reject it. Many choose the belief, as the saying goes, that “all roads lead to Rome,” and all religions lead to God. Not true.

In one sense religion is man’s search for God primarily through his own efforts, or through a man-made religion. On the other hand, Jesus (or real Christianity) is God’s search for man. And that makes all the difference in the world. Because we are all sinners, it is impossible for us to save ourselves through our own efforts or any man-made religion. This is why God, in his eternal love for us, sent his own Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins. Mankind’s salvation is thus found in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way.

Narrow? Yes. But had there been any other way, why would Jesus have come to earth as a man to die an excruciating death on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for our sins? As Jesus said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”3

So the important question is not, are you religious? Or, do you belong to a Christian denomination, or are you a member of a Christian church, but have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Is your trust in him and him alone for your eternal salvation? As Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me.”4

If in doubt, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your ‘so great salvation’ provided through the death of your Son, Jesus, on the cross for my sins and to give to me the gift of eternal life. And Jesus, because you died for me, help me to live for you always in all ways. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV).

2. Rev. John H. Pavelko, “Avoiding a Troubled Heart.”

3. Matthew 7:14 (NIV).

4. John 14:6 (NIV).

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To Know or Not to Know

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“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”1

Gen. Douglas MacArthur was a cadet at West Point. A brilliant student, MacArthur was struggling with a class in which he was studying the time-space relationship later formulated by Einstein as his Theory of Relativity. The text was complex and, being unable to comprehend it, MacArthur committed the pages to memory. When he was called upon to answer a question about this time-space relationship, he solemnly reeled off almost word for word what the book said.

When he was finished, the instructor, Colonel Fieberger, looked at him somewhat quizzically and asked, “Do you understand this theory?”

“It was a bad moment for me,” says MacArthur, “but I did not hesitate in replying, ’No, sir.’”

You could have heard a pin drop, MacArthur reports. He braced himself and waited. And then came the slow, measured words of the professor: “Neither do I, Mr. MacArthur. Section dismissed.”2

MacArthur was relieved that he wasn’t expected to know the answer to that complex question.

There are numerous questions about life that you and I can’t answer either. And yet there are still some “know-it-alls” among us. These people have a need to answer every question asked of them and rattle off platitudes in an authoritative tone trying to sound knowledgeable, and you know very well that they haven’t got a clue what they are talking about.

Then there are the evolutionists who claim emphatically that man descended from apes in spite of the fact that a missing link between man and monkeys has never been found. It’s much easier to believe that man, nature, and the universe all happened by chance because if we believe in a Divine Creator, then we are responsible to him for our life and manner of living.

Then for we would-be theologians who like to think we have a corner on the truth, some of us argue that Christ will come before the Great Tribulation. Others believe he will come in the middle of it, still others believe he will come after it. They are the pre-tribs, the mid-tribs, and the post-tribs. Personally, I’m on the side of the humorist who said, “I’m a pan-trib. That is, I’ll wait and see how it all pans out.”

Unfortunately, too often we major on the non-essentials instead of majoring on the essentials that we do know. When it comes to Christ’s return, the major issue is not so much the when of Christ’s return, but that we are ready for it because God alone knows the day and hour of that day.

And then who can understand the Holy Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit—all part of the one God. “Someone has said that if you fully try to understand the Trinity, you’ll lose your mind. But if you deny the Trinity, you’ll lose your soul.”

Then there are questions about life that we simply cannot fully answer. We offer up platitudes. We make guesses—sometimes even educated guesses, but we really don’t know. For example, we don’t understand why good people suffer. We don’t understand why bad people prosper. We can’t understand why some people from a certain kind of situation become criminals, while other people growing up under the same kind of circumstances become sterling citizens. And why does God allow missionaries to be kidnapped and killed?

However, there is one thing in life that we can know that we know that we know—and that is the answer to life’s most important issue—our eternal well-being. God’s Word, the Bible, assures us that all who put their trust in Jesus as their personal Savior can know without a shadow of a doubt that we have the gift of eternal life. As God said through the Apostle John: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [Jesus] so that you may know that you have eternal life.”3

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you have given us all the information that we need to know about the eternal destiny of our souls—especially that all who have accepted Jesus as our Savior have the knowledge and the assurance that our sins are forgiven, and that we have your promise of eternal life in Heaven with you forever and forever. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: If you are not sure of your eternal welfare, be sure to read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian … without having to be religious,” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV).

2. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, “Reminiscences,” in Discover, July 1996, p.16.

3. 1 John 5:13 (NIV).

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People Power Partners Welcome

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“You are to go into all the world and preach [communicate] the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”1 – Jesus

A special word of thanks to all who have joined the People Power for Jesus partners. We’ve recieved a tremendous response to date. Already 871 folk have signed up from around the world. It would be impossible for me to reply to everyone of you individually, so I have set up a special email list to keep you informed, report blessings, send prayer requests, and receive your suggestions for improving this ministry. The list name is people-power at lists.actsweb dot org.

If, at any time, you wish to be taken off this list, you can unsubscribe on the regular Encounter unsubscribe page at: www.actsweb.org/subscribe-un.php. If I added you by mistake, please accept my aplogy, and you can take your email address off the list by unsubscribing from this same unsubscribe page.

How to be a People Power Partner: I have set up a web page to share suggested ways you can be involved in one or more ways as a People Power partner at: www.actsweb.org/people_power02.php.

Also, we want this to be a God-thing and not a Dick or Dick-and-Joy-thing, and will appreciate input and practical ideas from any and all partners sharing other practical ways to be involved as a People Power for Jesus mover. To send ideas click on the “Add Your Comment” button link below. Please keep your comments to a maximum of 10 to 12 lines and when you write your comment, please be sure to click the next “Add Your Comment” button only one time. As the comments grow, I will have tech support set us up with a proper blog site.

Tell-a-Friend: To get as many people as possible involved in the People Power for Jesus movement, please send the following web page to all your concerned Christian friends: www.actsweb.org/people_power.php. This is one vital way to be a part of this People Power for Jesus movement.

As Billy Graham said: “I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.”

Suggested Prayer: “Dear God, I am only one person but I realize that with you one person is a majority. I renew my commitment to be a part of your plans and what you are doing in the world today. I am available for you to use in any way you desire as a People Power for Jesus partner, and thereby help to bring a spiritual awakening in my world, my country, and around the world. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit to have a part in doing your work … in your way … for your glory. Thank you for hearing and answering prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: If you are not a People Power for Jesus partner, you can join at www.actsweb.org/subscribe-pp.php.

1. Mark 16:15 (TLB).

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Winning Over Worry and Anxiety, Part III

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[NOTE: Thanks to all who said they wanted to join the People Power for Jesus Group ... Many are responding. I'll set up a special email list and will reply just as soon as I can.]

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”1

I have read how, in 1929, business tycoon J.C. Penney was in the hospital because of his severe anxiety. One night he was sure he was going to die, so he wrote farewell letters to his wife and son.

But he survived the night, and hearing singing the next morning in the chapel, felt drawn to go in. A group was singing, “God will take care of you,” after which followed Bible reading and prayer.

Penney said, “Suddenly something happened. I can’t explain it. It was a miracle. I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into warm brilliant sunlight. I felt as if I had been transported from hell to paradise. I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before.

“I realized then that I alone was responsible for all my troubles. I knew that God with his love was there to help me. From that day to this, my life has been free from worry. The most dramatic and glorious minutes of my life were those I spent in that chapel that morning.”2

Most causes of anxiety and worry lie within ourselves. At best they are triggered by outside circumstances. Only when we admit to and resolve these causes, are we free to fully surrender our worries and anxieties to God and experience his peace.

Whether this peace comes instantly or over a period of time doesn’t matter. The important truth to remember is that God is always there. His love and power are constant and available to all. As we reach out to him through the fog of our worry and damaged emotions, we discover that he is waiting to help us if only we will be totally open and honest with him, respond to his love, and give him the chance.

Every day, visualize Jesus being with you and opening yourself to receive his love, joy and peace. After resolving the causes of worry and anxiety as spelled out in Wednesday and Thursday’s Daily Encounters, the ultimate source of worry-free living is found in learning to trust God fully for every detail and in every circumstance of our life.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, again today I commit and trust my life and every circumstance in which I find myself to you. I choose to trust you regardless of my feelings. Help me so to do. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT).

2. S.I. McMillen, None of These Diseases (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming Revell Co., 1963), p.98.

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Winning Over Worry and Anxiety, Part II

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“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”1

An overload of worry and anxiety, like an overload of stress, is a killer. We all know that. More importantly, what we also need to know is how to win over such.

It begins with being able to see and admit our real fears, which are a basic cause behind many worries and anxieties, by facing and resolving these, and by learning to trust our life and circumstances to God, and giving our worries to him—and not taking them back. The following are other major causes of anxiety with helpful tips for winning over them.

First: If anxiety is situational; that is, caused by adverse circumstances or too much work—or not enough work, I find it helps to list all my pressures on paper. This is half the battle. I then eliminate the least important matters, work on the things I can do something about, and am learning to accept the things I cannot change and stop worrying about them.

Second: If the problem is caused by pent-up feelings, such as resentment, hurt, or anger, those feelings need to be expressed in healthy ways and resolved, otherwise they may cause ongoing worry and anxiety—or they may make you sick. If you’re nursing a grudge, if possible put things right with the person you feel hurt you, and regardless, you need to forgive them.2

Some hurt or angry feelings can be talked out with a trusted friend or counselor. Or go for a drive in your car, park in a safe place where you can be alone, lock the doors, and with the windows closed, the radio turned up loud, talk to the person who hurt you as if they were in the car with you. Express freely your true feelings toward them, and do this as many times as necessary until all the pent up feelings are dissipated. Or if it helps, go to the bedroom and cry your hurt and/or grief feelings out, or write them out as David often did in the Psalms.

One night when I was worried and couldn’t sleep, I got up and typed a letter to God sharing all my feelings with him. Within a half-hour I had released my pent-up feelings. I then read them back to God, tore up the page, went back to bed, and fell asleep immediately.

Third: Good, hard physical exercise is also helpful when you’re feeling worried or anxious. It helps burn up excess adrenalin.

Fourth: If your worry is caused by unmet emotional or spiritual needs, you can remedy this by growing in your relationship to God and others—both of which are keys to vital, worry-free living. A spiritual-growth group or a good twelve-step recovery group can be a big help for worriers. As you open up your true self to others and to God and feel their love and acceptance, you can slowly exchange feelings of fear, guilt, anger, inadequacy, anxiety, and worry for feelings of hope, confidence, peace, and love.

“Perfect love drives out fear,”3 wrote the Apostle John in the Bible. So we need to ask God not only to help us overcome our fears, but also to fill us with love. The more we love and trust God and others, the less we fear man and circumstances.

To be concluded in tomorrow’s Daily Encounter, Part III.

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, please help me to face and resolve the causes behind all my worries, cares, and anxieties. And ‘give me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 John 4:18 (NIV).

2. See Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV).

3. 1 John 4:18 (NIV).

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Winning Over Worry and Anxiety, Part I

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“Don’t worry about things—food, drink and clothes … don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.”1

It’s Monday morning. The weekend is over. The alarm clock blares out its hideous jangle and suddenly you are snapped into the world of reality. First comes the struggle to get out of bed, then the rush to get to school or work on time, and then comes the stress of trying to juggle all one’s seemingly endless responsibilities. Or just the opposite may be true for those out of work.

Is this how your week starts? And aren’t these pressures mild compared to the ones you face as the day and week wear on?

We live in a world of ever-increasing stress and worry with school, work, and family, financial, social, and relational pressures. Not many people are free from worry of some kind.

Worry and anxiety are major problems of contemporary society. In excessive amounts they can take years off your life.

Some people like to think that things don’t bother them. “No problem,” they say as they put on a brave front and reach for the aspirin or alcohol bottle to deaden their fears, worries, and anxieties.

However, it isn’t possible to deaden inner anxiety. Unresolved, it will reveal itself in many ways.

For instance, George withdraws when he is upset, hurt, or uptight. Susan talks endlessly to cover her anxiety. Bill chain smokes to avoid facing his. Harry attacks when he feels threatened. Jack dominates, and Jill procrastinates. Dennis is a constant complainer. Joan is a compulsive eater, Fred a compulsive drinker, Tom a compulsive worker, and Frank a compulsive gambler—all because of unresolved worry and anxiety.

Anxiety may also express itself in a physical way. Stuttering, abdominal pains, high blood pressure, a twitch, allergies, ulcers, nervous stomach, tension headaches—all have been named by doctors as symptoms of anxiety and worry.

Yes, sooner or later unresolved worry and anxiety will win out. When one fails to creatively talk out his worries, he will act them out in some destructive way.

Long ago the Bible pointed out that “a relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life.”2 Jesus himself said, “So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes…. Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”3

And the Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”4

However, it’s one thing to know about God’s peace and another thing to experience it. And as E. Stanley Jones said, “Worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow’s troubles.”

To be continued. See tomorrow’s Daily Encounter.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to come to terms with my fears, worries and anxieties, and learn how to resolve these and trust more fully in you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Mathew 6:25 and 34 (NIV).

2. Proverbs 14:30 (NLT).

3. Matthew 6:25 and 34 (NIV).

4. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT).

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Old Bombs

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“If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge. Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry—get over it quickly; for when you are angry you give a mighty foothold to the devil.”1

In June of 1987 workers on a building site in London hit a cast iron pipe when using a pile driver. After digging out the buried pipe—and dropping it—they realized it looked suspiciously like a bomb.

It was! It turned out to be a 2,200 pound bomb from World War II—one of the largest the Germans used during the blitz which killed 15,000 Londoners. The area was evacuated and a bomb disposal unit took 18 hours to disarm it.

Unresolved buried emotions such as anger, hatred, unforgiveness, resentment, shame, guilt, and grief can be like buried bombs and can be easily triggered and detonated. No wonder Paul advised us to never sleep on our anger and Peter said to get rid of such feelings. To do this we need to get them out in the open and defuse them by expressing them in a safe place … in a creative way … to a trusted friend or counselor … or write them out as David often did in the Psalms. The important thing is to get them out and off our chest and not bottle them up inside.

To heal negative emotions we need to feel them. To resolve them we need to relive them. That is, we need to bring back painful memories from past hurtful experiences to conscious memory so we can get them out in the open where they can be expressed and resolved. Bottling up feelings, like burying old bombs, is a very dangerous course to follow.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives practical instructions for creative and healthy living. Please help me to follow your instructions and face any buried negative emotional “bombs” in my life, and help me to resolve them creatively so I won’t explode onto other people. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ephesians 4:26 (TLB), [NLT].

NOTE: See the article, “Getting in Touch With Your Feelings,” at: http://tinyurl.com/3jceny

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Mirroring

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“All of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”1

Long ago in a small village [or so the story goes] there was a place known as the House of a Thousand Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the door with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as he could.

To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1,000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1,000 great smiles just as friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, This is a wonderful place; I will come back and visit often.

In the same village another little dog, who was not as happy as the first one, visited the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked through the door. When he saw the 1,000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1,000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, “This is a horrible place, I will never come back here again.”2

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflection do we see in the faces of the people we meet? And what kind of face do they see in you and me?

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be as Christ to every life I touch today, and help me to so live that people will see Jesus in me in all that I am, say, and do. And in so seeing, grant that they, too, will want Jesus in their life as well. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT).

2. From Tentmaker, www.tentmaker.org. Cited in Encounter magazine (Australia), March/April 2002.

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