All posts by 5Q

How Does Your Garden Grow?

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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”1

Charles H. Spurgeon said, “Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well when they cannot be seen from the top of the mountain. So many things are learned in adversity which the prosperous man dreams not of.”

Ovid wrote, “The road to triumph is built by adversity.”

Walt Disney stated: “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

John Adams agreed. He said, “People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity.”

Patrick Henry believed that “adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man, is not that he has been exempted from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.”2

I have to personally admit that if there is any depth of quality in the Daily Encounters I write, it has come out of many years of trials and disappointments. It is true, as God’s Word teaches: adversity is one of our greatest teachers.

And as Stan Mitchell said, “The child of God cannot attain spiritual completeness without facing trials. The Africans have a saying: ‘After the rain, come the flowers.’” And then Mitchell asks, “So how does your garden grow?”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the trials and adversity you have allowed me to experience in order to help me become the person you want me to be. May my trials always help me to become better and never bitter. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. James 1:2-4 (NIV).
2. The above quotes were from www.SermonCentral.com

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Chased by Hounds

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King David, the Psalmist wrote: “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”1

A. C. Dixon wrote, “A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told me the following story: ‘Rising early one morning,’ he said, ‘I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood.

A moment later, two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.’

“So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God.”2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that when I am afraid of falling and being consumed by temptation and call out to you for help, you always come to my rescue and save me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. Psalm 57:1 (NIV).

2. A. C. DIXON as quoted in E.M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer. Source: Today’s Wit & Wisdom Devotional, http://net153.com.

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Teaching Children (and Yourself) to Pray Effectively

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“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”1

A Daily Encounter reader writes, “How can I explain to my child how God answers prayers. My oldest son, 6 yrs old, has been praying that he would not have nightmares and be scared at night and for help with his behavior at school. How can I reinforce his belief in God when he doesn’t think that his prayers are being answered?

Dear Suzanne (name changed): Actually this is an ideal opportunity to teach your son how to pray so God will answer his prayers. Explain to him that both of you need to ask God to show you why he is having nightmares, why he is scared at night, and why he is having problems at school. Explain to him that these are caused by other fears in his life that need to be understood so you can get the help needed to overcome them. You can teach him that if God is going to answer our prayers, we need to learn how to pray the right prayers.

His nightmares and problems at school are undoubtedly symptoms of something in his everyday life that he is deeply troubled about. This is why it is important to ask God to show you the cause/s of his nightmares and problems, and to lead you to find the help needed to resolve these fears.

If there is any kind of conflict in the home, if his father has left, if he is having a conflict with a sibling or a bully at school—any of these issues could cause him to have nightmares. Continued nightmares are usually the symptom of some known or unknown fear. I would also suggest that you see a competent Christian child counselor right away to help resolve his fears. Untreated they will only get worse.

For possible counseling resources check our website at: https://learning.actsweb.org/counseling_resources.php

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in all of my personal problems and those of my children and family, please help me to see the cause/s of these problems, and to resolve these please lead me to the help I need for myself, my children, and/or other loved one. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. Matthew 19:14 (NIV).

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Stepping out of One’s Comfort Zone

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“‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he [Jesus] said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.”1

One of the best decisions I ever made in my life was also one of the scariest. I struggled with it for about three years. As a young man I felt a deep sense of God’s call to full-time Christian ministry but knew that to be effective I would need to be adequately trained. For ministry I had no training whatsoever. I hadn’t even been to high school. I was only 13 when my father made me quit school and go to work. As a teenager I attended technical college part time and became well trained as a carpenter and joiner (joiners make windows and doors and those kinds of things). I could build houses, but to get up in front of people and speak—forget it!

But the “Hound of Heaven” kept bugging me.

“You’ve got to be kidding, God,” I argued. “You mean you want me to leave my home, my family, my friends, and my security to go overseas for training! Don’t you know how insecure I am? I’m only a carpenter and you want me to do what—to step out of my security boat and walk on water!”

“Yes, that’s correct,” God said in his not too still small voice. “Did you forget that Peter was only a fisherman? And by the way, my Son, Jesus, was a carpenter.”

“Okay, God,” I finally said, “You win. I know what I have to do.” I said this when I was flat on my back on a hospital bed following an accident I had on a construction site. For some of us we have to be hit over the head, as it were, by a four-by-four in order for God to get us to listen—I mean, really listen!

As quickly as I could I worked to save enough money for my one-way airfare to the U.S. and to get started in my first semester in college (providing I could find part-time work). I also had to be put on probation because I had never been to high school. All through Bible school, college and graduate school I worked part time to finance my education. This included working three jobs in the summer months when I drove a CTA passenger bus in Chicago during the morning and evening rush hours shifts, painted houses in the middle of the day, and worked as a janitor in a large church in the evenings and weekends.

Was it easy? Not really. But with a burning conviction that this is what I was meant to do, I was never without motivation to keep on keeping on. Plus, I was never without needed work, was able to pay all my bills—and passed every course.

And now, by the grace of God, here I am today—40+ years later—with the wonderful privilege of being able to reach around the world every day of the year with the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ. My life has never been more blessed or fulfilling.

How I thank God that he kept urging me to answer his call and say yes to him. After accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, stepping out of my comfort zone and going back to college to train for what I am doing today was the greatest (and about the scariest) decision of my life.

If you sense that God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and/or to an area of service for him—be it in a voluntary or full-time capacity—I urge and encourage you to say yes to God today. It is a decision you will never regret and be thankful for all eternity.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you call each one of us to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and therein receive your forgiveness for all our sins and your gift of eternal life—and to serve you according to the gifts and talents you have given to each one of us. Please help me to hear your call to me and give me the courage to step out of my comfort zone and say yes to you today. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. Matthew 14:28-29 (NIV).

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P.S. It’s important to know that I had been involved in

Christian ministry for several years as a volunteer before I answered the call to train for full-time Christian ministry.

Why Do I Yell at my Wife?

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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

A Daily Encounter reader writes, “I have a problem. I am verbally cruel to my wife and don’t understand why. I yell at her a lot and put her down. Please pray for me.”

Dear Josh (name changed), thank you for being open and honest with me and admitting that you have a problem—this is the first step in overcoming any difficulty. My prayer for you is that you will ask God to help you to see the root cause of your issue and lead you to the help you need to overcome it.

It seems obvious that you have a lot of unresolved anger which undoubtedly has its roots in a stressful or impaired relationship from the past. This is what is being triggered in your relationship with your wife. As today’s Scripture lesson teaches us, anger is meant to be resolved as quickly as possible. Unresolved anger doesn’t go away. When we deny or bury it, it will come out in one destructive way or another—not only in damaging our relationships but in physical ills as well.

Could you be angry at your mother by any chance, or angry at another significant woman when you were a child, or even angry at your father? Only when you deal with and resolve impaired relationships from the past will you be able to live in harmony with your wife and have peace in your present relationships.

I suggest that you see a well trained Christian counselor—preferably one that specializes in anger management. And always pray and ask God to help you to see the real cause of your problem and help you to resolve that.

For additional help read the article, “Taming Your Anger” on the ACTS website at: http://tinyurl.com/b439f

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible that gives practical advice for every area of living—spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically. Please help me always to live in harmony with your teachings. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ephesians 4:26-27 (TLB).

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What Will Matter

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Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”1

Today’s Daily Encounter is by Michael Josephson of Character Counts (390.3).

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what. Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to live in light of eternal values so that my life will not be wasted but invested in the lives of others for all eternity so that my life will matter. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV).
2. © 2004 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation’s leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

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Happiness and the Golden Rule

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Jesus Christ said, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”1

“A fascinating study on the principle of the Golden Rule was conducted by Bernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research. Rimland found that ‘the happiest people are those who help others.’

“Each person involved in the study was asked to list ten people he knew best and to label them as happy or not happy. Then they were to go through the list again and label each one as selfish or unselfish, using the following definition of selfishness: a stable tendency to devote one’s time and resources to one’s own interests and welfare—an unwillingness to inconvenience one’s self for others.”2

“In categorizing the results, Rimland found that all of the people labeled happy were also labeled unselfish. He wrote that those ‘whose activities are devoted to bringing themselves happiness … are far less likely to be happy than those whose efforts are devoted to making others happy.’ Rimland concluded: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”3

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that modern research has proven once again that the teachings of Jesus, as found in your Word, the Bible, are as relevant and as valid today as they were when written two thousand years ago. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 7:12 (NLT).
2. Rimland, “The Altruism Paradox,” Psychological Reports 51 [1982]: 521.
3. Ibid., p. 522. Cited in: Martin & Diedre Bobgan, How to Counsel from Scripture, Moody Press, 1985, p. 123. Source: http://www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=697

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Greed

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“So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.”1

“According an old fable, attributed to Aesop, a dog was carrying a bone as he crossed a bridge. He looked into the water and saw his own reflection. He took this to be another dog and another bone. He desperately wanted the other bone so he dropped the one he had to scare the ‘other dog.’ Of course there was no other bone and he lost the one he had into the water. Such is the nature of human greed. In the effort to get what we want, we frequently lose what we have.”2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from the sin of greed—constantly wanting more of what I don’t need. Instead, help me to be a giver to others and not just a taker from them. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Colossians 3:5 (NLT).
2. Source: http://tinyurl.com/2wkv2z

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Where’s the Missing Link?

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“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth …. Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”1

“Evolutionists strongly deny the idea that men came from the apes. They insist both came from a hypothetical ape-like ancestor, or a missing link. In their story, man and apes diverged from the imaginary ancestor some seven million years ago. However, there is no evidence that this supposed ‘missing link’ ancestor ever existed. If it were true, surely some would be fossilized. But none have ever been found.

“Since there is no fossil evidence, let’s look at it from the standpoint of genetics. How many genetic mutations it would require for the ape-like ancestor to transition into a human? The only way we know to acquire new genes is to alter existing genes through random mutation. The best alteration science has observed has produced only novel recombinations. Most mutations deteriorate the genetic information and thus harm the offspring. Many mutations are fatal. Evolution would require trillions of innovative mutations to produce man from lower forms. None have been observed.”2

I am neither a scientist nor the son of a scientist but I know enough to know that people by and large believe exactly what they want to believe—what they choose to believe—what is most convenient for them. As the old saying goes, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up.”

As Joshua said to the ancient Israelites, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”3

If you have never chosen to believe in and serve the LORD [God], I urge you to do that today. For help be sure to read: “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 are the Great Creator and that the world and all that is in it was created by you and is in your hands. Thank you, too, because I have chosen to believe in and trust my life to you, my destiny for eternity is also safely in your hands. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Genesis 1:1;26-27 (NIV).
2. Adapted from Dr. John D. Morris, “If Apes Evolved into Humans, Why Do We Still Have Apes?” Institute for Creation Research, November 2006. Source http://kentcrockett.com/biblestudies/missinglink.htm
3. Joshua 24:15 (NIV).

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When to Cut and Run

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“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”1

A few months ago many will remember the terrible fires in Southern California that burned some “500,000 acres and destroyed nearly 1,500 homes. Seven people died in the blazes.” We live in Southern California where one of the forest fires could be seen from our street—about 5 miles away. While our home was covered in dirt and ashes from the Santa Ana winds and the fires, we were tremendously grateful to God that we were safe and our home spared.

I’ve also experienced bush fires (as they call them in Australia) and have seen the terrible devastation they cause. I have joined with neighbors to fight fires on the hill where we then lived. It’s scary stuff.

I don’t know if the people who lost their lives in the California fires failed to heed the warnings to evacuate their home. However, of this we can be certain, thousands more would have lost their lives had they not evacuated ahead of the fires. We are extremely grateful for all the firemen and police officers who warned people to evacuate their home.

Temptation—which we all face from time to time—can also be like a raging fire and far too many people fail to heed God’s warning to flee from it. Consequently, they end up getting burned badly and many make shipwreck of their lives.

Even more important is to heed God’s warning concerning Hell fire at the end of this life. As God’s Word warns, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire [hell] is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life [God’s book of life], he was thrown into the lake of fire.”2

I don’t know where and what hell is but we know that it will be eternal suffering in a life that is totally separated from the love and presence of God, the author of all love and life.

God’s Word also warns, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” That is, if we ignore God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life.3

Whatever you do, make preparation to meet God while you have time and accept his gift of salvation and the forgiveness of all your sins. It is a free gift from God who loves you with an everlasting love and does not want you to miss out on Heaven and be lost in Hell.

Be sure to do this today. For help read, “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 a way of escape from the fires of Hell by sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to die in my place to pay the penalty for all my sins so you can justly forgive me and offer me your gift of salvation and eternal life to be with you in Heaven forever. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV).
2. Revelation 20:14-15 (NIV).
3. Hebrews 2:3 (NIV).

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