“One morning,” writes Ron Clarke, “I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather across my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.

“At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way.

“I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant—one of God’s smallest creatures. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome.”

Can you imagine God telling us to learn from an ant? So what can we learn? Ants are determined, they are not afraid to work to achieve their goals, they work as a team, they think through and work to overcome the challenges thrown in their pathway, and they never give up. But most of all they teach us about the marvels of God’s creation.

“Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for the miracles of Your creation. Help me to learn the lessons I need to learn from the ants. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 6:6 (NIV).

One Sunday I was having lunch in a restaurant where a humming bird had flown in through an open door and couldn’t find its way out. It flew to the highest window and was frantically trying to escape through the glass. The more it tried—and failed—the harder it worked at doing the same thing.

Little did it realize that a very simple way of escape lay one yard/meter below it—through a wide-open door.

It could see quite well but was trapped by its own blindness to the way of escape.

Fortunately one of the staff was able to climb on a ladder, caught the bird in a box and set it free. We all felt so good about its rescue that we applauded.

But how many people in today’s world are struggling in a vain attempt to save themselves—spiritually—but are also trapped by their own blindness to the way of escape God has provided for their total and free salvation?

Would that we Christians would care about these lost souls all around us as much as the patrons cared about a “trapped” bird in a restaurant.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for providing a way of escape from the penalty and judgment of my sin through the giving of Your Son, Jesus, by sending Him to die in my place on the cross so You could freely forgive me and give me the gift of eternal life in Heaven forever with You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

For help: Click on #2 below for the article: “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” or on http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Hebrews 2:3 (NIV).

Pastor Ron Clarke from Tasmania, Australia, wrote: “One evening at dusk I was looking out of my window towards the sea when a huge flock of birds appeared, almost like a black cloud—there must have been thousands. They were traveling from west to east parallel with the coast. Then suddenly it happened. Not a few of them, not some of them, but every single one of them instantly changed direction and flew on a different course.

“We human beings think we have perfected communication. But those birds didn’t have two-way radio yet they knew precisely at what split second in time to change course and in what direction to fly.

“These birds, Shearwaters or Mutton Birds, live on the islands in Bass Strait off the north coast of Tasmania. Every year these birds migrate to the North Pacific and spend summer around the Aleutians. As the northern winter approaches, the Shearwaters fly back to their annual breeding ground on the Tasmanian islands and will go to the same nest and, give or take a day or two for adverse weather conditions en route, will arrive on that same nest on a given day.”

Think, too, of a million billion other marvels that surround us every day on the earth below and in the heavens above.

Did these all happen by chance? Or is there a Master Designer of the entire universe and all that is therein? For me it would take a whole lot more faith (or presumption) to believe that everything in the universe happened by chance.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for the marvels of your creation. I choose to believe that You are the Great Creator who created all things great and small—including all mankind—and I thank You that You love us devotedly one and all. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

Note: See “Marvels of Creation” at: www.actsweb.org/marvels_creation.php

1. Psalm 8:3-9 (NIV).

Some churches today, or at least some church leaders—wanting to be politically correct—are approving of ordaining homosexual pastors. In so doing, they are totally ignoring God’s Word that indeed has said: “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”²

What these church leaders are doing is no different than what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when God allowed them to be tested to see if they would willingly follow Him or choose to go their own way.

God made it very clear to Adam and Eve that they could eat of every tree in the entire Garden of Eden except for just one tree. Enter Satan. Wanting to gravely harm the apex of God’s creation, Satan sought to sow doubt into Eve’s mind by saying, “Has God said?” Tragically, Eve, then Adam, bought into Satan’s deceit and ate of the forbidden fruit. What Adam and Eve did was set themselves up above God—usurping His authority—making themselves the judge between God and Satan and chose to believe and follow Satan. This is when sin and evil entered the human race.

What these “politically correct” church leaders are doing today is exactly the same as what Adam and Eve did. They, too, are placing themselves above God and usurping His authority. God HAS indeed said that homosexuality is a detestable sin and the reason it is detestable to God is because it is damaging to those whom he loves. To ignore God’s Word and go against it is to put one’s self above God—usurping His authority—believing that you know better than He does. This is an extremely dangerous path to follow because it will, in the end, reap extremely damaging results.

Remember, too, regarding any sin, God HAS also said, “For the wages of sin is death3 [which means spiritual death that is eternal separation from a Holy God in the place God’s Word calls Hell]. Fortunately, however, as God is a loving God, He also said, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”³

We ignore God’s Word to our peril. However, the good news is that God can freely give you and me the gift of forgiveness and eternal life because in His eternal love for us, He gave His very own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cruel Roman cross to pay the just penalty for all of our sins. All we need to do is genuinely confess to God that we are sinners, believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to pay the just penalty for our sins, ask God for His forgiveness, and accept Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.

For help to do this be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: www.actsweb.org/christian. Be sure and do this today.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Holy Bible, with its instructions not only for this life, but also for life after life. Help me never to usurp Your authority by disregarding Your Word and going my own way. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Genesis 3:1-3 (NKJV).

2. Leviticus 18:22.

3. Romans 6:23 (NKJV).