Today in the Word shared how “researchers who had made repeated dives to the wreckage of the Titanic challenged the accepted theory that an iceberg tore a 300-foot gash in the side of the ship. The ship’s bow is mired in mud, but the team ‘looked’ at the hull using sound waves. They concluded that the damage is ‘astonishingly small,’ just six small gashes along the starboard hull. Unfortunately, the openings were made at the worst possible place, along six watertight holds.”

Little things can do great damage: a little lie here, a little cheating there, a little stealing, a little gossip, and/or a little unresolved conflict—like a little gash in a mighty ship—can open a floodgate of damage somewhere down the track.

Any holes in your life? Any in mine? Let’s not neglect them. Let’s get smart and, with God’s help, take care of them today—before they sink us.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see the ‘little’ things in my life that, if I fail to resolve them now, they may ‘burn out of control’ farther down the line. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Song of Solomon 2:15 (NASB).

A few years ago I snapped my right Achilles tendon and was in a cast and on crutches for six weeks. After the cast was off I was anxious to get active again. Soon afterwards, when riding my bicycle, I got off my bike to safely walk across a busy street on the green light. When I stepped off the pavement, suddenly a car swung around the corner from my left without stopping. I got a fright and jumped out of the way—and snapped the same tendon again. Not fun.

True, it was unfortunate that this happened, but the fact is I really hadn’t given myself quite enough time to heal properly before getting out on my bicycle.

Sometimes, when we pray for healing of a sickness, we want God to heal us without taking into account our responsibility in the matter. When we do this, we are looking more for magic than a miracle. As David Seamands put it, “I believe in miracles but not magic.”

Furthermore, often we skip one of the fundamental requirements for healing. Many ills—physical, emotional, relational and/or spiritual—are caused or greatly aggravated by unresolved super-charged repressed negative emotions such as anger, resentment, bitterness, anxiety, stress, unconfessed sin, guilt, grief, fears, a failure to forgive and so on. These issues can and do cause many ills and, if unresolved, block healing.

Whenever I get sick, I always ask God to show me if there is anything in my life that may either be causing or making my sickness worse.

I was talking to a man yesterday who has major physical ills. It was quite apparent that he was a very angry man. It sure made me wonder. As Henry Cloud and John Townsend like to say, “God is merciful. When we have unresolved problems, he gives us symptoms.”

If we want to be healed, it pays to do it God’s way. Confession is a major key for considerable healing and greatly improved health.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to be honest with myself and with You, see all of my unresolved problems, admit when I have sinned, and confess these both to You and to a trusted pastor, priest, counselor or friend—and thereby receive forgiveness and healing. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. James 5:15 (NIV).

In 1927 in Signs of the Times, John Lewis Shuler wrote: “Sir Isaac Newton made a most daring forecast two hundred years ago regarding a future development in rapid transit, which at that time seemed absolutely beyond the possibility of ever seeing realization. Newton declared that he was convinced from a study of Bible prophecy that there was destined to be a marvelous increase in the speed of transportation on the earth.

“‘I believe,’ Newton said, ‘that in the providence of God, though the method now be entirely hidden, men will yet travel on the earth at the rate of fifty miles an hour.’ Newton lived from 1642-1727. In his day the most rapid travel by land was by horse. Stagecoaches drawn about eight miles an hour by horses held the record on land.”

I imagine that many would have thought that Newton was crazy when he based such a wild prophecy for his day on what he had read in the Bible. He was certainly right, even if he grossly underestimated the speed at which people would travel in the future. Imagine if he could have seen our day when thousands of people are flying daily across the world at speeds more like 500 mph., not to mention the incredible speed that astronauts travel when circling the earth and/or fly to the moon.

So what about Daniel’s prophecy approximately 2,500 years ago? Many Bible students believe that we are living in or are close to the end times—the time when Jesus Christ will come again. Not only has travel speed vastly increased but think about knowledge. We are living today in a time of a knowledge explosion—especially so because of computers, the Internet, email and blogs.

Christ’s first coming is an indisputable fact of history. He promised he would come again so we can be just as certain of his second coming—but only God knows the exact day and hour. The important thing is not the date of Christ’s return, but that we are ready for him when he comes. “Therefore, keep watch,” Jesus said, “because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”²

To help you make sure you are ready for Christ’s return, click ON: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for Your promise that You will come again for all who believe in You and trust in You for their salvation. Help me to make sure that I will be ready for that day should it come in my lifetime so I will not be embarrassed at your coming. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Daniel 12:4 (TLB).
2. Matthew 24:42, 44 (NIV).

I read about a tour group traveling in the Middle East where the tour guide was telling the tourists to keep a look out for flocks of sheep. He explained how the sheep-herders never drive their sheep. They lead them.

The first flock of sheep they saw were not being drawn or led, but driven relentlessly. They were being coerced with sticks and shouting. What made the difference? This herd of sheep was being driven by the butcher!

God never drives us—his “sheep”—to do anything. As with the ancient Israelites, God draws or leads us “with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.”² And we can choose either to follow his leading/ directions as found in his Word, the Bible, or to go our own way.

But for all who follow him, the reward is the gift of eternal life. As Jesus also said about his “sheep” who follow him: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”³ In the end if we fail to follow Jesus/God, we will be “driven” by the evil one, the consequences of which are unthinkable.

For help in receiving God’s gift of eternal life (and becoming one of his “sheep”), click on: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be sure that I am one of Your ‘sheep’ and always hear and recognize Your ‘voice’—and give me the wisdom always to choose to follow Your leading. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 10:27.
2. Hosea 11:4 (NIV).
3. John 10:28 (NIV).