All posts by 5Q

Rising Above Discouragement

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“Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when dreams come true at last, there is life and joy.”1

“These boys won’t make it. Go back to Liverpool, Mr. Epstein, you have a good business there.” This is what a recording company executive told the Beatles’ manager at their first audition! Can you imagine that?

“That kid can’t play baseball. He can’t pull the ball” is what the manager of the Brave’s Triple-A team said about Hank Aaron in 1952. Aaron went on to hit 755 home runs, the most ever in the history of baseball.

Remember, no matter what the critics say, in God’s economy everybody has a purpose and everybody has something of value to offer. Never give up until you know what your God-given talent is, or talents are, sharpen them, dedicate them to God, and give them all you’ve got. Take courage. Nothing you do for God will ever be in vain.

If what you are choosing to do is in harmony with God’s will for you, then dream big dreams, work hard, trust God and in time you will reap what you sow—and will be richly rewarded. Know your God-given dreams and keep hope alive. In due time you will be rewarded if you “faint not.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know my God-given life purpose and dream. Help me to be faithful to this calling and keep hope alive so that I will receive the reward that comes from you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 13:12 (TLB)(NLT).

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The Power of Courage

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“Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”1

When she was only nineteen months of age, Helen Keller suffered an illness that left her blind and deaf. Soon she was unable to speak. By the age of seven she was extremely frustrated by her inability to communicate. Fortunately, her parents were able to hire a 20-year-old teacher to come and live with them.

The teacher, Anne Sullivan, was a very capable and loving individual and was able to put courage into Helen by teaching her to communicate with the use of her fingers. Helen was greatly encouraged, learned to read by Braille and then read everything she could lay her hands on.

She desperately wanted to earn a university degree and, passing the entrance exams to Radcliffe, pleaded with officials to allow her to attend and bring Anne Sullivan with her to translate the lectures into her manual code. The following is part of what she wrote to the admissions office:

“I realize that the obstacles in the way of my receiving a college education are very great—to others they may seem insurmountable; but, dear Sir, a true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle.”

Helen was admitted and graduated with high honors. She then spent the rest of her life helping to improve the lot of and put courage into other handicapped people at home and around the world.

Indeed, “A true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle!” A good word for today.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the courage to face any and all battles that may come my way knowing that you are with me and will never leave me or forsake me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Joshua 1:9 (NIV).

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Three Great Abilities

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“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”1

Three of life’s greatest abilities are dependability, responsibility, and availability.

First: Dependability, among many things, is keeping one’s word. It’s doing what we say we are going to do. It’s keeping the commitments we make. It is being authentic; for instance, sometimes, instead of saying what we truly feel and want, we say what we think others want to hear to be “nice,” and then we do the opposite, which is far from being nice. It’s being dishonest. Such a person cannot be trusted or depended on.

Second: Responsibility; that is, realizing that I am totally responsible for what I say, for what I want, for what I feel, for what I do or don’t do, for getting my needs met in healthy ways, and for every area of my life.

Unless I am handicapped, no matter what happened to me in the past relationally, if it were negative, I am responsible for what I do about it and for what I become. As another has wisely said, “I may have been a victim in the past, but if I remain a victim, I am now a willing volunteer.” As long as I fail to accept personal responsibility for my life and blame anybody else for the difficulties I have, I will never overcome them. That is, if I keep playing the blame-game, I will B-LAME!

Third: Availability. If I want my life to be fulfilling and meaningful, I need to be available for my family, for having a part in worthwhile causes (without being obsessive), and for being available to participate in God’s work here on earth. As I have shared on a number of occasions, when it comes to being involved in God’s work, every morning I pray the following prayer of commitment: “Dear God, again today I’m available, please make me usable, and use me to be a witness for Jesus, and, Lord, please help me to be ‘as Jesus’ in some way to every life I touch this day.” I encourage you to also pray this prayer at the beginning of every day.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to become the person you want me to be, to always be dependable, responsible, and available for you to use to have a part in what you are doing in the world today—all for your glory. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV).

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When God Becomes a Drug

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“A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.”1

“My name is Leo. I am an alcoholic, a co-dependent, a religious addict and a religious abuser. I am a recovering priest.” This is how the Rev. Leo Booth, an Episcopal priest introduces himself.

As a recovering alcoholic he has been sober for over a decade and a half but also points out that he is recovering from a very narrow-minded religion.

Author of the book, When God Becomes a Drug, Booth points out that for some people, religion is as much an addiction as alcoholism, smoking, problem gambling, and work addiction. Religious addicts want God or Jesus to take away their pain and problems without accepting personal responsibility for them.

“For many years,” Booth said, “I was asking God to help me with my drinking, asking Jesus to give me courage and strength to resist drinking too much, asking the Holy Spirit to help me with my alcoholism. But I wasn’t putting the cork in the jug…. The more I drank the more extreme I became in my religious practices, medicating my guilt with ritual and dogma.”

Religious addiction can be just as destructive to the family as any other addiction because the addict is in denial and isn’t facing his real problems nor accepting responsibility for his recovery.

Like the alcoholic, the only hope he has for recovery is to quit lying to himself, admit exactly what he is and say, “I have a problem. I need help.” He then needs to get into an effective recovery program to help him quit his self-destructive acting out (hiding behind his religion), and overcome his problem.

The biblical mandate for healing and recovery is simple but not easy, but it’s the only way to recovery: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”2 (See footnote for additional help.)3

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to face reality, admit to any addictive or destructive behaviors in my life, confess these to you and to at least one safe person, and (with your help) accept responsibility for getting the help I need to overcome my problem/s. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 28:13 (TLB)(NLT).

2. James 5:16 (NIV).

3. For help see “Counseling Resources” including “Celebrate Recovery” at https://learning.actsweb.org/counseling_resources.php

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Scary Leap of Faith

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“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”1

Brennan Manning in his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, tells about a child caught on the second floor of his house when it was on fire. The family members were all running out of the house when the smallest boy panicked and ran back upstairs.

Terrified, he screamed from a smoke-filled window. Below, his father could see him and cried out, “Jump, son, jump! I’ll catch you.” “But daddy, I can’t see you,” the boy cried.

“I know,” the father called, “but I can see you.”

The father could see the son and that’s all that really mattered.

Many a time in our lives we are in difficult situations and we panic and long for God to help us. But not being able to see him, or sense his presence, we don’t know what to do. Let us always remember that God is there regardless of our feelings. He can see us. And when we call to him and choose to put our trust in him, he will help us. He is our refuge. Underneath us are his everlasting arms. And he loves us with an everlasting love.

“And that may be all we need to know!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to commit and trust my life and way to you when darkness surrounds me and I am lost and do not know the way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV).

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On Logs and Splinters

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“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”1

An issue of Our Daily Bread shares and incident in the life of English evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770). On one occasion Whitefield received a very critical letter accusing him of doing something wrong. His reply was brief and to the point: “I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say about me. With love in Christ, George Whitefield.”

Whitefield didn’t defend himself. Probably because he wasn’t guilty of doing the thing he was being accused of. We often get defensive when we are guilty, or if we are more concerned about our image than we are about pleasing God, or if we are insecure and need to appear “perfect” in the eyes of others.

The fact is, we are all sinners and we all have faults and make our share of mistakes. So, before we try to take the speck out of another’s eye, let us first, as Jesus suggested, take the log out of our own.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from the sin of a critical attitude that is constantly looking for a speck in another’s eye as a means of avoiding the log in my own eye. Please give me the willingness to see the log in my own eye, and make the changes in my life that need correction. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 6:41-42 (NIV).

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The Gagging of God

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Jesus said to his followers: “Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest.”1

In the last quarter century or more we’ve spent millions of dollars on church growth but there has been little increase in the number of Americans being born again. Much of what we have seen is church movement—people moving from one church to another. Furthermore, according to surveys conducted by research specialist, George Barna, here in America there is little or no measurable difference in lifestyle between average Christians and non-church people. As Vance Havner put it, “Our doctrine is sound—sound asleep.”

In the 1800s many of the great spiritual movements were coming out of Great Britain. At the beginning of the nineteenth century fifty percent of the British people were in church. I have read that, by the end of the Twentieth Century, it will be less than five percent. People left the organized church by the multiplied thousands. According to Gavin Reed (a British minister) in his book, The Gagging of God, over time in England the needs of the people changed, but the average church program remained the same and became irrelevant. Church people ended up talking mostly to themselves and except for scattered pockets of revival, the church in Great Britain lost its impact of bygone years. The same is true throughout Europe, once the cradle of Christianity.

Are we doing any better in the U.S. and other Western nations at communicating effectively to those outside the church? Aren’t most of our efforts in the print media, Christian radio, music, TV ministries, and now in Christian web and email ministry talking primarily to ourselves and “preaching to the choir?”

What will happen to over-the-seas evangelism if across-the-street evangelism dies?

And what will happen to this nation of U.S.A., built on a spiritual foundation with justice and liberty for all, if the church here becomes irrelevant to the needs of today’s generation and loses its impact. The consequences for our children and our children’s children are unthinkable. And the sad fact is that the church in the U.S. is already in decline.

Perhaps the answer begins in God’s word to King Solomon: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”2

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please send a revival and a spiritual awakening to churches and Christians everywhere and let your work begin in me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 4:35 (NLT).

2. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV).

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The Pilot Who Ignored the Warning

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“When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.”1

I have read how, “In the mid-1980s, an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in the mountains of Spain. Investigators reviewing the incident made a startling discovery. Recordings from the black box revealed that several minutes prior to impact, a computer-synthesized voice from the plane’s automatic warning system told the flight crew on repeated occasion to ‘Pull up!’ The pilot, evidently thinking that the system was not functioning properly, switched the system off. Minutes later they plowed into the ground killing passengers as well as crew.”2

It may be true that “all roads lead to Rome” even if part of the way is via the ocean, but it is not true that all religions lead to God and Heaven. When we decide to not listen to what God says about life beyond death, or deem that his Word is incorrect and make our own rules or decide for ourselves as to what qualifies one for entering God’s heaven, we place ourselves above God and become a god unto ourselves—and are on a direct course for a lost eternity, separated from God and all that is godly and good, in the place that God’s Word, the Bible, calls hell.

Jesus made it very clear when he said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me.3 And God’s Word makes it very clear that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”4

Just as imperative as it is that pilots listen to their plane’s warning system, so is it that we listen to God’s “warning system” as found in his Word, the Bible.

For help to make sure you are following God’s directives for life after death, be sure to read the article, “How to Know God and be sure you’re a real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the wonderful ‘warning system’ you have given to mankind via your Word, the Bible. Please give me a hunger to read, learn, and understand what you have to say therein—and the good sense to always adhere to and follow your instructions for this life as well as the life to come. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Exodus 8:15 (NIV).

2. Mike Benson, Oakhill Church of Christ, http://www.oakhillcoc.org.

3. John 14:6 (NIV).

4. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV).

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Being Authentic

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“But the Lord God called to the man [Adam], ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”1

In his book, The Transparent Self, Sydney Jourard explains, “When I say that self-disclosure is a means by which one achieves personality health, I mean something like the following: it is not until I am my real self and act my real self that my real self is in a position to grow. One’s self grows from the consequences of being. People’s selves stop growing when they repress them.”

The problem of hiding and repressing one’s true self, feelings and motives goes back to the first man, Adam. When he sinned he felt guilty and exposed, so he hid himself. When God called, “Adam, where are you?” Adam replied, “I was afraid so I hid.” Fearing God might condemn and/or reject him if he admitted what he did, Adam hid to defend himself.

Sin has the same effect on us all. Fearing rejection for our sins, failures, negative emotions, and false motives, we hide from God and then from other people. And, if we do this long enough, eventually we hide from ourselves until we no longer know who or what we really are. Personal growth then ceases and death as an authentic person begins.

To be fully alive and fully functioning, we need to be very much aware of the masks we hide behind and what we are hiding. Only when we face our reality; that is, our secret sins, dark side, and supercharged repressed negative emotions, and confess these to God and to at least one other trusted person, can we ever feel forgiven, free, and become authentic and real.

As they say in AA, we are as sick as our secrets. Also, it’s not the truth that hurts us but letting go of the lies; that is, letting go of the masks and defenses we hide behind.

There are numerous ways we hide to avoid facing our dark side and to medicate our pain such as the following: being too busy, becoming a workaholic or even a religious-aholic, or in other addictive behaviors. We use chemical dependency, intellectualism, theological rigidity, legalism, saccharine sweetness, an austere bearing, control of others, being a super-personality, codependency, and a score of other ways. Only when we stop acting out in these self-defeating ways and face our inner pain can we ever have a chance of overcoming what we are hiding from. As Jesus reminded us, it’s the truth that sets people free.2 Hiding from the truth keeps us in bondage. Furthermore, living in denial can be deadly! It can destroy relationships and take years off one’s life.

The tragedy is that most of us will do absolutely anything to avoid facing our reality and feeling our pain. However, to heal it we need to feel it, admit it, own it, and bring it to Jesus, to a trusted friend and, if needed, to a qualified counselor for healing and recovery.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be real and connected to every broken part in my life, every unresolved issue, every buried emotion, and any block in me that hurts my relationships and stops my feeling and experiencing your love and affirmation at the very core of my being. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Genesis 3:9-10 (NIV).

2. John 8:32.

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“I Will Come Again”

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“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”1

“While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them.

“Contemplating their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, ‘It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!’ They replied, ‘We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other that he may come today.’”2

Jesus Christ’s first coming to earth is an indisputable fact of history. His death, burial, and resurrection are also facts of history, as all were verified by many reliable witnesses. At his ascension back into heaven two angels appeared to Jesus’ disciples and followers saying, “Men of Galilee … why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”3

Jesus also had promised that he would come again. In speaking about heaven he said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”4

And God’s Word also assures us that Jesus is coming back again to take all his true followers to be with him forever in heaven.5

Jesus is coming again. What if it were today? Would you be ready? If not you can be. For help 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 for the wonderful promise that Jesus is coming back again to take all his true followers to be with you in heaven forever. Help me to be sure that I am always prepared and ready for his coming. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 24:44 (NIV).

2. Author unknown. Cited on eSermons.com.

3. Acts 1:11 (NIV).

4. John 14:2-3 (NIV).

5. See 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

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