Is Your Life Wonder-full or Wonder-empty?

“Then he [Jesus] said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’”1

In some way e-motions are “energy in motion.” When used creatively they can motivate us to achieve wonderful things in life. When repressed they can leave us characteristically bored with life, feeling empty within, and settling for cheap counterfeits.

For instance, when the emotion of love is repressed, more often than not it will express itself in lust and lead to superficial relationships. When anger is repressed it can come out as hostility, rage or passive aggression. When fear is repressed it can cause us to setting ourselves up to fail, or express itself in phobias. Instead of facing the real fear within, we attach it to something outside ourselves—it feels a whole lot safer to do it this way.

Or take the emotion of wonder. It’s the emotion that puts sparkle into life and makes life wonder-full. When wonder is repressed, our life is wonder-empty. It then expresses itself in a “lust” for things; that is, materialism. Instead of loving people and using things we end up unhappily loving things and using people to get more things.

I believe one of the major reasons why we in the Western World are so materialistic and “worship the god of materialism” is because so many of us are emotionally repressed and our lives wonder-empty.

A vital part of a truly wonderful life consists of being in touch with and aware of our entire range of God-given emotions; that, in turn, express themselves in wholesome, loving relationships with our own self, others, and ultimately with God.

Jesus said it well when he said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And as Henry Van Dyke said, “What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to get in touch with and be aware of all my God-given emotions and use them as You intended, so that my life will be truly wonder-full and so I will not be caught up in the emptiness of materialism—and so that my life will be a clear channel through whom Your love can freely flow to others. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Luke 12:15 (NIV).

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The Gift of Encouragement

“Encourage one another daily.”1

The word encourage is made up of two words: “en” meaning “in” and “courage.” Literally, it means to put courage into another person. The gift of encouragement, that is, the ability to put courage into another person, is perhaps one of the better gifts one could wish to have. Furthermore, it is a gift that everybody has—either active or latent—or that can easily be developed. It is a gift that is very much needed.

I read about an accountant who had worked for a business for many years who committed suicide. People wondered why he took his life. When examiners reviewed the company’s financial records, not a single cent was found to be missing. Everything was in perfect order. They couldn’t find any reason until they found a note he had written. It said, “In 30 years I have never had one word of encouragement. I’m fed up!”

Everybody wants to be appreciated and encouraged. So let each of us be sure we take our gift of encouragement, strengthen it through lots of practice and use, and take it with us and use it generously everywhere we go. And especially use it much at home.

Even when Jesus healed the ten lepers and only one came back to thank him, he asked, “Where are the nine?”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a thankful heart and help me to always express appreciation to my loved ones, to the people I work and mix with, to strangers who do kind acts, and most of all to You for all your wonderful blessings and kindnesses shown to me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 3:13 (NIV).

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Mind Diseases

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord [enthusiastically].”1

There are two serious diseases of the mind that most, if not all of us, will encounter at some time. These diseases have been the cause of ineffectiveness and the death of innumerable churches, organizations, businesses, individuals and nations!

They can afflict the young but mostly those who are above 40. The symptoms are often obvious to outsiders but usually totally oblivious to those inflicted with either of these diseases.

The first disease is “homeostatus” which is a clinging to the status quo with a refusal to change no matter what. The ancient Israelites suffered from this disease when God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt. When things got tough on their road to “recovery,” they doubted God and wanted to go back to Egypt. Crazy, you say, but that’s what they wanted. As the saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t know!”

The other disease is “psychosclerosis,” a hardening of the attitudes. This disease is equally destructive. Its symptoms can be varied such as legalism, rigidity, arrogance, apathy, Phariseeism, having a closed mind and so on. It is just as deadly as homeostatus.

We need God’s wisdom and insight to guard against these crippling diseases. They are two of the enemy’s powerful weapons designed to render us ineffective in God’s causes.

The remedy? Daily commit and trust your life and way to God, know what his Word, the Bible, teaches and genuinely seek to live in harmony with his will. Ask God every day to keep your eyes open and keep you on the “Truth Road.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from the mind diseases of homeostatus and psychosclerosis. And in the words of the song writer: ‘O Lord please light the fire / That once burned bright and clear / Replace the lamp of my first love / That burned with holy fear.’ Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Paul, in Romans 12:11 (NIV).

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Winners vs Losers

“According to your faith be it unto you.”1

A winner sees an opportunity in every risk while a loser sees a risk in every opportunity. Winners know that to risk nothing is to risk everything, that if they are going to win they need to be willing to try, to take chances, and to risk failure. That is, they have to be willing to strike out if they are going to hit home runs.

Apparently the year Babe Ruth broke the world record for hitting the most home runs he also broke the world’s record for the most strike-outs!

The point is, if I am going to hit home runs I have to be in the game, stand at the plate and keep swinging. Sooner or later if I practice hard and do my best, I will hit a home run.

As somebody else has said, “To try when there is little hope is to risk failure. Not to try at all is to guarantee it.”

True winners make sure their goal is in harmony with God’s will and, because of this, they know that with his help there is always a way to achieve their goal. Furthermore, they believe in their cause. And they believe in themselves in a healthy way. Therefore they expect to win, believe they will, and do so.

They also know that if they tried and did their best, they have already won.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a winner—not in the eyes of the world—but in Your eyes. Help me to do my best, always live in harmony with Your will, learn to love others as You love me, and be a part in what You are doing in the world today. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Jesus, in Matthew 9:29.

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Out of the Shadows

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”1

The year 1741 was a very depressing one for George Frideric Handel. His latest opera failed. His Italian opera company in London was disbanded. That same year Queen Caroline passed away and the commissions Handel had received for composing music for royal occasions all but dried up. A stroke experienced several years prior not only affected him physically, but affected his music. It seemed as if he had lost the genius that made his music so popular.

Late that year Charles Jennens, a poet known by few, sent Handel a manuscript with a request that Handel set it to music. When Handel read the copy, the words gripped him. Suddenly he came alive. Immediately he began to put the words to music. He labored all through that night and much of the following day. In fact, he worked day and night for 22 more days barely stopping to eat or sleep.

When his composition was finished he sensed that it would be a true masterpiece. His Messiah was performed the following year and was an immediate success.

The words that Jennens wrote that inspired Handel and lifted him out of the pit of despair were about the Savior: “He was despised and rejected of men. He looked for someone to have pity on him, but there was no man. He trusted in God. God did not leave his soul in hell. I know that my Redeemer lives. Rejoice. Hallelujah!”

I would dare to suggest that it was the period of disappointment and despair that prepared Handel in heart and mind to write this masterpiece of musical genius. How grateful we are that he invested his pain wisely.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for putting the gift of music in the heart and mind of mankind. And thank You for using George Frideric Handel to give us the awe-inspiring Messiah.’ Help me to find music in my sorrows and so bless others through my pain. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Job 19:25 (NIV).

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Who Are You Working For?

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”1

No matter whose employ we are in every one of us is working for him or herself. We delude ourselves if we think otherwise.

I have read that when former astronaut Frank Borman became head of Eastern Airlines, he was determined to make the service of his company the best in the industry. On one occasion he noticed an employee sitting with his feet perched on a desk ignoring the telephone which was ringing relentlessly.

“Aren’t you going to answer the phone,” Borman asked. “This isn’t my department,” the employee answered without any hint of concern. “I work in maintenance.”

“Not anymore you don’t,” Borman barked.

It’s the person who is faithful in the little things who gets entrusted with bigger and better responsibilities.

That is true in both man’s economy and God’s. As Christians in the hereafter we won’t be judged for our sins as Christ took that judgment on himself at Calvary. But we will be rewarded according to our faithfulness in serving the Lord here on earth.

It pays to be faithful and dependable in all our responsibilities. As another has said, “The greatest ability is dependability.” Of equal importance is response-ability!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me today and always to be ever ready to serve and glorify You in everything I am and do. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 9:10, (NIV).

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A Powerful Prayer

“Oh that you would bless me wonderfully.”1

One very effective prayer I was taught in my youth was: “Dear God, today I commit and trust my life and way to You as I do that of my family (stating their names).” I have prayed that prayer daily ever since.

To that prayer I have added another powerful prayer based on a prayer from an almost unknown character, Jabez, whose name, as far as I know, is mentioned in only one chapter in the Bible.

He prayed to the God of Israel: ‘Oh, that You would bless me wonderfully. Please be with me in everything I do. Greatly expand my borders and keep me from all evil and disaster.’”

The result? “God granted him his request!”

I can’t always see how God is leading and blessing me especially at those times when I feel my prayers don’t go any higher than the ceiling. However, as I look back over my life I can see how God has blessed me wonderfully and greatly “expanded my borders” more than I ever dreamed possible.

In a nutshell: ACTS gospel literature outreach has expanded to be used around the world by several thousand churches, missionaries, other organizations, business and professional people, individuals, and military, hospital and prison chaplains. And now through E-mail and the Internet we are receiving salvation responses daily from around the world. God has used ACTS ministries to help introduce many thousands to the Savior. You can see how God has and is answering this powerful prayer in our latest report at: www.actsweb.org/acts_in_action.php.

I encourage you also to commit and trust your life and the lives of your loved ones to God and pray the prayer Jabez prayed—every day. I’ve done this for many years and plan to continue doing so every day for as long as I live. Do this and God will grant you your request too.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, O that You would bless me and my family wonderfully again today. Please be with us in everything we do. Greatly expand our (Christian) borders and keep us from all evil and disaster. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Chronicles 4:10.

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Part Truth: The Most Deceptive Lie

“And he [Satan] said to the woman [Eve], ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.””1

When God placed the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, he gave them a free will to choose whether or not they would follow God’s ways or go their own way. He did this because he didn’t create mankind to be puppets on a string. God gave Adam and Eve total freedom with one exception. That was they could eat of every tree in the garden but not of just one tree—the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil.”

Then came Satan (the father of all lies, deception and evil) disguised in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve. He said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”2

True, if they ate of the forbidden fruit, they would know the difference between good and evil, but what Satan didn’t tell them was that if they ate of this tree, they would be forever confirmed in a state of evil and that they would die spiritually and be forever separated from God. Tragically, Adam and Eve took the bait and ate of the forbidden fruit. Mankind has paid the price ever since. They were deceived by a part truth—the most deceptive form of lying—and chose to believe Satan rather than God.

Satan has been deceiving people the same way ever since. Every false religion has an element of truth. This makes their teachings believable to those who don’t know and believe what God says in his Word, the Bible.

Satan also makes temptation sound very appealing by luring us with part truths. But he never reveals the tragic consequences of all sin—the ultimate end of which is spiritual death and eternal separation from a holy and just God.

The good news is that God, because he loves us with an eternal love, gave his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and defeat Satan’s evil purposes for mankind. Be assured, according to God’s Word Jesus is the only way to God and only he has the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Whatever you do, believe and trust God—never trust or believe Satan and/or man-made religions that claim there is any other way to God other than through accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.3

To believe and follow what God says leads to eternal life. To believe and follow Satan’s lies leads to eternal death which is eternal separation from God in the place God’s Word calls hell. Whatever you do, read and accept God’s only plan of salvation at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a hunger to study and know what Your Word teaches so I will never be deceived by Satan’s lies. And help me to understand and accept Your only plan of salvation so that I can have the assurance that all my sins are forgiven and that I have received Your gift of eternal life. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Genesis 3:1-3 (NIV).
2. Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV).
3. See John 14:6 and John 3:16 in the Bible.

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Mr. Eternity

“Therefore He [Jesus] is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him.”1

Perhaps you have heard of Arthur Malcolm Stace, who became affectionately known as Mr. Eternity and lived in Australia. Early in life he was an alcoholic derelict who, before reaching middle age, was converted through a rescue mission and later himself became a street-corner preacher.

Shortly after becoming a Christian, he heard a sermon entitled “Echoes of Eternity.” He was so captivated by the importance of the word “eternity” that he began using his free time to spread the one-word message across Sydney. “Eternity went ringing through my brain. Even though I could scarcely write my own name, I felt the divine urge to write this word.”

Fifty times a day for over thirty years, Arthur Stace wrote Eternity on the sidewalks of Sydney, usually in the early morning, with white chalk and with faultless script. When he passed away, the Sydney morning newspaper carried a story of this unusual man who had chalked Eternity on the city streets over half a million times in that metropolis of significant population. The thought of eternity impresses upon us the seriousness with which we must regard our soul.2

Multiplied thousands of Aussies saw this message on Sydney sidewalks. Plus on the eve of the new millennium celebrations more than a million people, gathered around the Sydney Harbor Bridge, saw it emblazoned in neon lights across the bridge. It was also beamed around the world to more than two billion TV viewers and shown again at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games later in the year.

Eternity. It is a powerful word with eternal consequences. In his own simple but profound way, Arthur Stace was posing the question, “Where will you spend eternity?”

Eternity! Where will you spend it?

If you should die tonight are you 100% absolutely certain you would spend eternity in heaven with God? If not, 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 that You have provided the way through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus, so that all who believe in and accept Him as their Savior have Your promise and guarantee of spending eternity with You in heaven forever. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 7:25 (Amplified Bible).
2. Echoes of Eternity, Dennis Kastens, CSS Publishing Co.

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Freedom and Gratitude

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”1

Today is a day of celebration for U.S. citizens—the day when each year they celebrate their independence as a nation. For those who live in the U.S.A. let us not forget that our independence was bought with a price—the price of blood on the battlefields. Thousands of men, supported by wives, mothers and sisters, fathers and brothers, fought for our freedom, multiplied thousands of whom gave their lives in the process.

No nation in world history has experienced more freedoms, privileges, and opportunities. This nation was founded and built on a solid foundation of liberty and justice for all with a firm belief and trust in God.

Today, however, too many of us are taking our freedom for granted and have forgotten that the “price of freedom is still eternal vigilance;”2 not only militarily, but perhaps even more important, morally. Too many are confusing liberty with license and are wanting personal freedom without personal responsibility and accountability—not realizing that they are being enslaved by their own passions and selfish desires which will erode the very foundation upon which this nation was built quicker than anything else.

For all of who live in a free country may we ever be thankful to those who gave their lives to give us our freedom and independence and may we guard these freedoms with our lives. And may we also be ever thankful to God for the gift of his Son who died so we could be eternally free and for the wonderful privilege that we can serve him with our lives. And may we never ever forget that “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”3

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, for those of us who live in a free country we give You our never-ending thanks. May we never take our freedom for granted but guard it zealously. And we pray for those people who are enslaved by despot leaders, who are imprisoned and tortured for their Christian faith, and for all who know nothing of freedom—and we especially pray that the gospel will go forth in spite of their situation. And grant that those who belong to You will have peace in the midst of their circumstances and be kept from all harm and danger. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 15:13 (NIV).

2. Thomas Jefferson.

3. Psalm 33:12.

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