When my boys were little, I would tuck them into bed every night, say their prayers with them, and speak positive affirmations to them—affirmations such as, “I am so proud of you,” “I’m so glad God sent you to be a part of our family,” “I love you devotedly,” etc., etc.

When my youngest son, Mark, was about nine I crept into his bedroom early one morning. I was certain he was asleep—because he looked like an angel!

I quietly leaned over and whispered in his ear, “O beloved of the Lord.”

As quick as a flash he spun his head around and, looking upward, asked without a moment’s hesitation, “Is that you, God?”

When I regained my composure, I whispered back in his ear, “No, it’s not God, but he sent me to tell you that.”

Dear Reader, God is “sending” me to tell you that today too. No matter what you have ever done or have failed to do, God loves you with an everlasting love and has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life.

His primary purpose is that you find God and receive his forgiveness for all your sins and his gift of eternal life. If you have never done this and would like to, click on: www.actsweb.org/invitation.php, or for further help read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Second, God wants you to discover and fulfill his divine purpose for your life and in so doing become a part of what he is doing in the world in which you live. Your life purpose will have to do with using your God-given abilities to serve God by helping others.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I thank you that you love me with an everlasting love no matter what. Help me to know and experience your divine love, forgiveness, and acceptance and communicate these to every life I touch. Help me, too, to discover and fulfill my God-given life purpose. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Jeremiah 31:3.

I read how a mother with young children was out jogging when she was attacked and killed by a mountain lion in California. Trackers with dogs hunted down the lion and destroyed it but they spared the lion’s cubs.

A fund was set up to help raise and educate the woman’s children. Another fund was also established—one to help care for the mountain lion’s cubs.

You’ve probably already guessed the outcome—the lion’s cubs received more financial help than the dead woman’s children.

It’s becoming increasingly alarming where people’s priorities are today. According to Chuck Colson, “Christian bashing” has become very popular in many circles today. Abortion doesn’t mean a thing to millions of Americans. Homosexuality has become more and more acceptable by the masses, and, tragically, gay marriage is being accepted even by some church leaders.

The fact is that the masses have great power. As Richard Halverson pointed out “People Power” is a mighty force. Even in business if people don’t buy a particular product no matter how good it is, it goes off the market. It’s as simple as that.

People have the power to close down any operation—or prosper it! For example, pornography prevails because enough people want it, buy it, watch it, listen to it, and read it. It is extremely profitable because countless people prosper it!

People Power has also prospered the tobacco industry, the liquor industry, the movie industry, the abortion “industry” and a hundred thousand other products and industries—some of great value, some of little or no value whatsoever, and some that are totally destructive of individuals, families, and society.

A few years back one very prosperous soft drink company—made prosperous by People Power—had a goal to give everybody in the world a taste of their product in a matter of a few years. As a result just about anywhere you go you can see the familiar insignia of Coca-Cola.

And we Christians have had the “Water of Life” for 2,000 years and still millions of people around the world have never had a chance to drink of the water that Jesus offered to the woman of Samaria. As Jesus put it, “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

People Power. The same principle applies to publishing and communicating the gospel. God’s people have the power to prosper it. Or close it down. It, too, is as simple as that!

Here in ACTS International we had been publishing printed gospel literature for three decades. It has been used by several thousand churches, scores of chaplains in hospitals, prisons, and military bases around the world. Thousands have been helped to find the Savior as a result. But because of a lack of “People Power” to support it, we could no longer afford to print it.

However, we are still totally committed to publishing the gospel, now through e-mail and the Internet from our U.S. office. Currently we are reaching mega thousands of people worldwide actually every day through Daily Encounter and the Internet, but with increased “People Power” support we could be reaching millions more—millions who desperately need the Savior.

So, will you please prayerfully consider supporting the gospel ministry of ACTS International to ensure that we will have sufficient “People Power” to keep us reaching the lost with the gospel? You can do this through one or both of the following ways: (1), by becoming a badly needed monthly financial supporter at: https://actscom.com/donate.php, and/or (2), by joining with us as a People Power Partner at: www.actsweb.org/people_power.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please show me how I can join with others and become a part of “People Power” to help reach millions of people around the world with the gospel and thereby be a part of what you are doing in the world today. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 4:13-14 (NIV).

“Back in 1911 a stuntman named Bobby Leach went over Niagara Falls in a specially designed steel drum—and lived to tell about it.

“Although he suffered minor injuries, he survived because he recognized the tremendous dangers involved in the feat, and he had done everything he could to protect himself from harm. Several years later, while walking down a street in New Zealand, Bobby slipped on an orange peel, fell, and badly fractured his leg. He was taken to a hospital where he died of complications from that fall. He received a greater injury walking down the street than he sustained in going over Niagara Falls. He was not prepared for danger in what he assumed to be a safe situation.”²

I’ve visited Niagara Falls several times and have never ceased to marvel at the breath-taking beauty and the incredible power of the millions of gallons of water rushing over the falls every second. I’ve been extremely careful to view the falls from a very secure position. If you stood in an unsafe place, one slip and you’d be gone.

When it comes to life’s temptations, we’re very much aware of and are careful to avoid the ones that “roar around us like the rushing waters of Niagara.” But like Bobby slipped on an orange peel, it is extremely easy for us to ignore the seemingly “little” temptations that slip up on us silently but don’t appear to carry any threat. However, a little drink here, a tiny taste of a drug there, a small gamble now and then, a tiny indulgence in lust, a quick look at a pornographic website … can lure us and ever so slowly, little by little, draw us closer to the edge … and we wake up and discover to our dismay that we have slipped over the line into an addiction that has us hopelessly trapped.

No wonder the Scriptures warn us to be on our guard … and “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”³

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me realize just how vulnerable I am and susceptible to life’s ‘little’ temptations, and that daily I need to commit and trust my life and way to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV).

2. KneEmail, Mike Benson, Editor.

3. 1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV).

“The unofficial creed in the American homeland war on terrorism, Paul Gunther writes, is this: ‘Be vigilant, be watchful, be prepared.’ Be vigilant in matters of security, whether at an airport, a government institution or in the back sorting room of your office. Be watchful for signs of terrorism: a back-pack left unattended, a strange request for chemicals at a fertilizer plant, a white powder in the mail or unusual behavior by a neighbor down the street. Be prepared to call the police or FBI. Be prepared to evacuate a building. Be prepared to take defensive measures when your life or the lives of others is threatened. ‘Be vigilant, be watchful, and be prepared.’”² This motto should apply to every country in this day and age.

To be prepared, of course, is nothing new. As a kid I learned the same lesson in the Boy Scouts whose motto was, “Be Prepared.” But it goes back at least two thousand years earlier when Jesus promised his followers that he would return to earth to take his true followers home to heaven to be with him. He advised them to be prepared for his coming because he will come when people least expect it.

However, Jesus did say that there would be certain signs that would precede his return to earth—such as an increase of earthquakes, pestilences, wars and rumors of war, etc., etc.

Howard Sugden used to say, “All the signs that Jesus said would precede his second coming have been happening since his first coming 2,000 years ago, but today they are all standing up at once!”

Only God knows the exact day and the hour of Jesus’ return. It may or may not be in our lifetime. But of one thing we can be certain, as Jesus’ first coming to earth is an indisputable fact of history, so will be his second coming. The important thing for us is to be vigilant, be watchful, and be prepared!

NOTE: If you are not absolutely certain that you are prepared for Jesus’ return, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you have made it perfectly clear both in person when Jesus was on Earth 2,000 years ago and in your Word, the Bible, that Jesus is coming again for all his true followers. Please help me to know for certain that I am prepared for his coming and know that I won’t be left behind. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 24:4, 44 (NLT).

2. Dr. William H. Morley, sermon. http://www.stthomasreidsville.org/sermons/11102002.htm