“When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
And the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low, and debts are high,
You want to smile but you have to cry….”

I’m sure most of us have felt this way on more than one occasion. I surely have.

However, if we hang in and trust God he will, in all things, work for the good for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose.” And, as I like to say—even if it is eventually!

For instance, a Daily Encounter reader, Cheri Q, shared how she lost her job but instead of staying discouraged, she decided to write a book and titled it, How to Survive the Loss of a Job.

I can certainly identify with Cheri. In my beginning days in Christian ministry I accepted a call to be the South Australian director of Youth for Christ. For the first year or two I had an incredible opportunity to teach the gospel message in many religious instruction classes in the public high schools. These classes were conducted by the local churches, who, after having done this for many years, voted in one night to discontinue teaching religious instruction in the schools.

As a result about 90 percent of my ministry vanished overnight. I told my YFC board that I was going to look for another job, but they wouldn’t accept my resignation for three months as this is what my contract required even though I had precious little to do. At the time I felt God had forgotten me and put me on the shelf. For something to do I decided to put into writing what I had been teaching in the public schools and wrote the booklet, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—Without Having to Be Religious.” We ended up mailing a copy of this with a letter and questionnaire/response form to some 600 high school student leaders from 50 high schools. To my utter amazement well over a hundred students replied and 98 marked on their questionnaire/response form that they had read and understood the gospel message and had prayed the prayer at the end to invite Jesus Christ into their life as Savior.

You know what? I’ve been involved in literature and writing outreach ever since! Over three million copies of “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” have been distributed in a number of countries, and multiplied thousands have read this same message on the Internet. From this message and other gospel messages on the ACTS website there have been more than 27,000 salvation and re-commitment to Jesus Christ responses that we know about from over 128 countries. And more than 40 million of ACTS printed gospel brochures have been distributed worldwide.

I could give many more fascinating examples of how God has used what I felt were very discouraging setbacks to greatly expand our ministry and to reach thousands, if not millions, more with the gospel message.

As the hymn-writer expressed it so well, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform / He plants his footsteps in the sea / And rides upon the storm.”

So dear reader, when the storms of life surround you, remember that God rides upon them, and through it all he has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life.

For many years I have daily committed and trusted my life and way to God and he has worked my many setbacks for good. In fact, if it weren’t for the setbacks and being “put on the shelf” for a season, I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I certainly wouldn’t be writing Daily Encounters for I never had any ambition to be a writer. God will use your disappointments for your good, too, as you daily commit and trust your life and circumstances to him.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that in all things you work for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose. I commit and trust my life and way to you and pray that you will use every circumstance in my life to help me become the person you want me to be, and to lead me to do what you want me to do. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Romans 8:28 (NIV).

A Daily Encounter reader shares how he is deeply in debt and asks should he stop tithing (giving one-tenth of his income) until he pays off his debt. Others claim that tithing was an Old Testament ruling and therefore isn’t applicable for today.

Wrong.

First, I don’t believe we can ever out-give God. His Word reminds us of Jesus’ promise in Luke 6:37 to “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Second, tithing certainly was an Old Testament rule and was the way ordained of God to support his work on earth. “Thou shall not steal or bear false witness,” were also Old Testament laws. Are they invalid today? Of course not. Neither is tithing. This is still the God-ordained way to finance his work on earth. As seen in today’s scripture, Jesus confirmed to the self-righteous Pharisees that tithing was still important.

Let’s face it, if every Christian tithed—including the giving of the widow’s mite—there would be adequate funds to accomplish God’s work on earth. The tragedy is that even right here in the United States, one of the richest countries on earth, and one of the most blessed of all nations, tithing is all but neglected by so many Christians. I find this extremely hard to understand. We, who have been so abundantly blessed and given so much, on the whole give so little.

A few short years ago research specialist, George Barna reported in an edition of his bi-weekly e-mail, The Barna Update, the following alarming statistics:

“Church revenues are down in the past 12 months. One reason may well be the decline in the proportion of people who tithe. Based on our latest research, here are some of the highlights from this week’s report.

“The proportion of Christian adults who tithe has dropped by 62% in the past year.

“Just 6% of born again households tithed to their church in 2002.

“Tithing, when it occurs, is generally among Protestants: 5% of adults who attend Protestant churches tithed last year, compared to less than one-tenth of 1% among Catholics.

“Among the groups most likely to tithe are people over 55, college graduates, evangelicals, Republicans, conservatives, and residents of the South—but there was no segment among which at least 10% tithed.”²

Is it any wonder that so many Christian missions and ministries are struggling to survive and have their hands tied because of insufficient funds—and why so many people are left homeless, cold, starving and dying of malnutrition, and suffering without help? And why so many around the world still have never heard the gospel?

Sadly, in too many of our churches 95% of our income is spent on ourselves and only 5% on missions. So while tithing is extremely important so is responsible tithing and the giving of offerings. I suggest that we designate where and how we want our tithes and offerings to be used. This is not saying to neglect our local church’s ministry but also not to neglect the ministering to the needs of others across the street and around the world. And do not neglect to support para-church ministries (which are also a vital part of the Church Universal) who are doing the work of the Church in the outside world. And do not neglect to support those who are reaching people with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We say we cannot afford to tithe. If this is true, why would God have ordained to fund his work on earth through the tithes and offerings of his people? The fact is we cannot afford not to tithe. As God’s Word to the ancient Israelites said (and its principles are still applicable today to all of God’s people): “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. ‘Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”³

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in light of all the incredible blessings you have given to me—the greatest of which being your gift of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and life eternal—forgive me for where I have robbed you in tithes and offerings. And, as of today I commit to giving offerings for your work plus a tithe of my time, my talents, and my income. Thank you for the wonderful privilege of giving to you for your work here on earth. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 11:42 (NLT).
2. The Barna Update: 5/19/03. A bi-weekly e-mail from George Barna http://www.barna.org/.
3. Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV).

“Dear Dick Innes,” writes a Daily Encounter reader. “I don’t know whether it is my faith or if it is because of failed college exams. Please help me to get my faith back. I have passed several of my exams but failed others. I know I have disappointed God and fear his disapproval. My faith has deteriorated drastically.”

Dear Sylvia (name changed), “When we fail examinations or any other kind of test, we don’t disappoint God and he doesn’t love us any the less. Certainly God feels for us when we fail because he cares deeply for us. However, his love for us is totally unconditional. He doesn’t love us on the basis of what we have done or haven’t done. He loves us just because we are a part of his divine creation.

“Parents who love their children on the basis of how well they do in school or on the basis of their achievements in other areas are setting up their children to become neurotic perfectionists, compulsive performers, or dismal failures. You can be assured that God, our Heavenly Father, never ever treats us this way.

“It sounds to me like you have disappointed yourself. Chances are that when you were a child you probably felt that you could never please your earthly father (and/or mother). Always remember that God, your Heavenly Father, is not the same as your earthly father (or mother) or anyone else you couldn’t please.

“Regarding your relationship to God, the important thing to do is to choose to daily trust and commit your life and way to him every day for the rest of your life. That’s what I do and that’s what King David did when he was afraid.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you love me even when I fail and that your love for me is not based on my performance. Please help me to always do my best and be satisfied with that. Help me also to experience your love in my heart at all times—good or bad. With your help I choose daily to commit and trust my life and way to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 56:11 (NIV).
2. 1 Peter 5:7 (NASB).

Recently I wrote in a Daily Encounter about a pilot’s “attitude check.” A part of what I quoted was as follows: “But that word ‘attitude’ can be a life-or-death word for a pilot. One of my friends described a plane’s attitude to me as its position relative to the ground, to the horizon…. After decades of flying, including landing on aircraft carriers, he summarized the importance of a plane’s attitude this way: ‘Right attitude, you keep flying. Wrong attitude, you stop flying.’”

And yes, I had several sincere readers inform me that I made a blooper as the word I should have used was “altitude” and not “attitude.” I always appreciate corrections from readers. Often they are right. When they are, I make the correction on the archived copy.

However, regarding the “attitude check” I asked a pilot friend about this. He then sent the Daily Encounter in question to several pilots and a pilot instructor, all of whom said the Daily Encounter was correct that “attitude” is as important as “altitude.” The pilot instructor, Jennifer Avery, wrote, “Altitude is critical too, but it doesn’t matter how high you are, if your attitude is wrong you will still certainly crash—it just takes longer to hit the ground. Student Pilots are taught that: Attitude + Power (RPM) = Performance (i.e. speed, height, rate of turn, rate of climb or descent ).”

One of the pilots, Alan Stray, who is with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Australian accident investigators, gave this marvelous illustration: “By the way, regarding instrument approaches using the ILS [Instrument Landing System], if you keep the needles [hair lines on the instrument panel] crossed, you will fly the approach safely down the localiser and on glideslope. If the localiser needle moves to the left or right, you follow it to bring it back to the middle of the instrument and likewise if the glideslope needle moves up or down, you follow it until the needles form a cross. If you keep your eyes on the cross you will arrive at ‘home’.” (See 2 below.)

Until today I had no idea what the localizer or glideslope were, but what a marvelous illustration regarding life. If we keep our eyes on the cross [of Christ], putting our trust in him for our eternal salvation, we too will arrive safely at home to be with the Lord forever.

Right Cross we live—wrong “cross” we die—eternally.*

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in the words of the hymn-writer, ‘In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o’er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime.’ I thank you that because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, I have been forgiven of all my sins, and have the assurance of eternal salvation to live with you forever in heaven. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

*For a safe “spiritual attitude check” see “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian

1. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV).

2. NOTE for those who are interested: Pilot Les Nixon of Australia’s Outback Patrol, (http://www.outbackpatrol.com.au) explained that the ILS (Instrument Landing System) is a radio system installed at every major airport runway in the world. The pilot’s radio locks onto two signals concurrently, one for latitude—left and right, and the other for altitude, the glideslope up and down. When the two fine hairs on the instrument panel cross and center, the plane is exactly on the ILS glideslope. It usually starts about 10 miles out at 3000 feet above ground level, and progressively guides the plane through the rain, snow, fog and dark to the threshold of the active runway.

I recall watching an interesting TV program commemorating the life of Gregory Peck, the well-known actor, soon after he passed away. Obviously, we know little about the personal lives of famous actors—except for what the tabloids would like to have us believe. Nevertheless, I have always had a great admiration of the talents of this gifted actor.

As we were watching this program I said to Joy, my wife, how it struck me how fleeting life is. A man reaches a peak of fame and, if he is fortunate enough, may stay there for a few years and then he is no longer. Life is over. It reminded me that that is also true of me. Here today; gone tomorrow.

I’ll never forget some of the last words of a very close friend of mine who, in his mid-forties, became the victim of cancer, and said to me before dying, “I am so angry because there was so much more I wanted to do with my life that I never got around to doing. And now it’s too late.”

When I come to the end of life’s journey, I don’t want to have regrets. I want to know that, even with my human frailties, I gave life my best shot having invested it in eternal values. I wish the same for you also.

You have probably read the wonderful quote credited to Stephen Grellet, the 18th/19th-century French/American religious leader, who said: “I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the wonderful privilege you have given to me to be able to serve you. I’m available. Help me to invest whatever life I have left in eternal values and to have a part—no matter how small—in your plans and what you are doing in the world in which I live and to do it now. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 103:14-16 (NLT).

As reported by Chuck Colson in BreakPoint, a recent commencement speaker at Georgetown University, a Catholic school, was Francis Cardinal Arinze, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In his address Cardinal Arinze told the graduating students that “happiness is found not in the pursuit of material wealth or pleasures of the flesh, but by fervently adhering to religious beliefs.”

He also stressed the importance of the family stating that “in many parts of the world, the family is under siege” saying that “an anti-life mentality [is seen] in contraception, abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.” And that the family is “scorned and banalized by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions, and cut in two by divorce.”

And as Chuck Colson said, “Well, that’s a very Catholic message one might expect from a Catholic cardinal. But it proved too much for many in the audience. Teresa Sanders, a professor of theology, left the stage during Arinze’s remarks. Seventy other faculty members signed a letter to the dean protesting what one of them called Arinze’s ‘wildly inappropriate’ remarks. Really? As a result, the dean apologized for the Cardinal’s remarks and the ‘hurt’ they caused.”²

While I don’t think too many Christians are against contraception for married couples who take family planning seriously, everything else stated by Cardinal Arinze is certainly Catholic, Christian, and biblical. The opposition from the faculty is alarming for at least two reasons, not the least of which is because of the intolerance of another’s point of view that differed from their own in a place of higher learning where every view is, supposedly, to be given a hearing. It seems today in the West that every religion and every message except Christianity is tolerated. This is even of greater concern when this happens in a Christian educational center.

Even more alarming is the opposition of the faculty of a Catholic school who are opposed to some of the basic tenets of the Catholic and Christian faith. One wonders at their ethics in that they are teaching in a school where they disagree with its foundational principles. Why don’t they teach in a secular school?

And why is it that those who reject and oppose Christianity don’t leave a country—that was founded on Christian values—to live in a pagan land?

Far too many today want the benefits, blessings, and privileges that are based on and built upon Judeo-Christian values, but don’t want to accept the responsibilities that guarantee its continuance. Furthermore, they reject the very values that are the foundation of a free society. In doing so they reject the source of the benefits they enjoy. In other words, they’re biting the hand that feeds them—the hand of God!

We cannot have it both ways. We either accept God’s directives or go our own way. And whatever we sow we will reap—even if it is eventually.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me in the midst of the ever-increasing pressure to be ‘politically correct’ to stand firm with my feet placed solidly on your Word—the principles of which are eternal and will endure forever. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV).

2. Chuck Colson on “BreakPoint.” www.breakpoint.org

“John Warr, an 18th-century apprentice shoemaker, was determined to be a faithful witness for Christ. Another apprentice by the name of William was hired, and John repeatedly talked to him about spiritual things, but the new worker didn’t want to be bothered. Then one day he was caught exchanging a counterfeit shilling for a good one. In his guilt and humiliation he asked John for help and prayer. Through the faithful witness of John Warr, that man put his faith in Christ and developed into a committed disciple.

“The young apprentice was William Carey, who later became a remarkably fruitful missionary to India. Carey’s life and ministry had a tremendous influence on the cause of worldwide gospel outreach in modern times.”²

Some of us get discouraged because we don’t feel that we are very gifted and don’t have a lot to offer God in service to him. John Warr could have said to himself, “I’m just a shoemaker and don’t have much to offer God.” But he didn’t. He just wanted God to use him and made himself available.

It’s amazing what God can and will do with anyone who will make him/herself available to God. And if you do make yourself available to God, you may never know until you get to eternity just how God used you to touch the life of others for eternity.

As blind Helen Keller said, “I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

And as the unknown author said:

One SONG can spark a moment,

One FLOWER can wake the dream,

One TREE can start a forest,

One BIRD can herald spring,

One SMILE begins a friendship,

One HANDCLASP lifts a soul,

One STAR can guide a ship at sea,

One WORD can frame the goal,

One VOTE can change a nation,

One SUNBEAM lights a room,

One CANDLE wipes out darkness,

One LAUGH will conquer gloom,

One STEP must start each journey,

One WORD must start a prayer,

One HOPE will raise our spirits,

One TOUCH can show you care,

One VOICE can speak with wisdom,

One HEART can know what is true,

One LIFE can make a difference.

May that life be yours.

Remember, too, “that all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one small candle.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I am your child and I want you to use me to be a part of your plan and what you are doing in the world today. Use me to spread the love of Jesus everywhere I go, and grant that people seeing Jesus in me, will want Jesus in them too. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 15:8 (NKJV).

2. Our Daily Bread, June 7, 1996

Yesterday—or any other day—may have been the final day of your divorce, the day you were rejected, or the day you lost or buried a loved one; but as difficult as it seems right now, and as extremely sad as it is, in time it can become a day of new beginnings. Be gentle with yourself but do begin the grieving process as soon as possible so you will be able to resolve your pain. To do this effectively, there are several valuable qualities that will help you to face the future as uncertain as it may seem right now.

1. Have the right attitude. Attitude is what makes the difference between a painful experience becoming a failure or a success. You can allow your experience to leave you timid and afraid to step out again for fear of being hurt, or you can determine that your loss will be your teacher.

True, we need mountaintop experiences from time to time to encourage us, but we don’t grow through these. It’s in the valley of disappointment that we are given the opportunity to take stock of our life and move toward a greater level of growth and maturity.

2. Know what your purpose in life is. The more clearly defined that purpose is—and the more deeply it is embedded in your conscious and unconscious mind—the less loss will set you back. A spacecraft en route to the moon is off course 90 percent of the time. It is pulled back by the earth’s gravity and is continually drawn to one side or the other by additional forces. But it has a built-in computer that has a singleness of purpose that homes in on the moon. The computer is making continual corrections to keep the spacecraft on target with its purpose and goal.

Life is like that. If our eye is on our goal, if we have a singleness of purpose, nothing will stop us getting to where we plan to go.

3. If you failed in a relationship or in some other venture, remember that failure is an event, not a person. Because you failed doesn’t mean that you are a failure as a person. Not at all. The only real failure is not to try again, or not to get up one more time than you’ve fallen down. The important thing is to learn from your past, to use it as an opportunity to grow, and to move ahead to a more fulfilling and richer life.

4. Give God a chance. If you feel like you have failed, or believe you’ve done wrong, ask God to forgive you—and be sure to forgive yourself. And then, with God’s help, turn your failure into a stepping stone toward a better you.

Where a bone is broken and heals, it becomes the strongest part of the bone. The same is true of your broken places—where you have been hurt, have fallen and failed, or are afraid. When you bring these to God for his healing, his strength is made perfect through your weakness.²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to use every disappointment, loss, and setback that happens to me to help me grow and become a better, more loving, and mature person. And lead me to the help I need to do so. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 103:13-14 (NIV).

2. Adapted from the chapter: “Failure Is Never Final” in How to Mend a Broken Heart by Dick Innes. You can read more about this book and order it from http://www.actscom.com/store.

Ron Hutchcraft shares how a man he knew “would suddenly make this announcement: ‘Attitude check!’ That never meant much to me until I began to have some friends who are private pilots. But that word ‘attitude’ can be a life-or-death word for a pilot. One of my friends described a plane’s attitude to me as its position relative to the ground, to the horizon…. After decades of flying, including landing on aircraft carriers, he summarized the importance of a plane’s attitude this way: ‘Right attitude, you keep flying. Wrong attitude, you stop flying.’

“Pilots tell me that when you’re flying by your instruments—in those times when conditions won’t let you fly visually—you adjust your attitude based on an instrument called your artificial horizon. It actually shows you where the real horizon is. But when you can’t see any points of reference, your senses start playing tricks on you. One veteran pilot friend of mine said that even he has to sometimes fight his instincts and feelings that are telling him lies about whether he’s going up or down. The only thing that’s telling him the truth is his artificial horizon.”²

Life’s like that too. The attitude that was popularized a few years ago— “If it feels good, do it” —has had a disastrous effect on many an individual and on much of our society which has become incredibly permissive. As such we are on an ever- increasing slippery slope downwards.

Feelings can be one of the most dangerous directives to follow when it comes to choosing between a right and a wrong course of action to take. The instrument God has given to us to keep our attitude right is his Word, the Bible. We go against his directives to our own peril. As Christians we are to do right—regardless of what our feelings tell us. Right attitude, we keep flying. Wrong attitude, we crash.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives me the right attitude to follow and to guide me safely through the storms of life. Give me sense enough to trust your Word and obey its directives—regardless of my feelings. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 119:10-11 (NIV).

2. “A Word With You,” Ron Hutchcraft, http://www.hutchcraft.com/.

A Daily Encounter reader writes: “I know lovely people who go to church and say they want and embrace an intimate relationship with Jesus—and are living with their lovers outside of marriage. A girl who works where I work says she loves Jesus and wants a close relationship with him. She goes to church every Sunday and is living with her boyfriend. We can’t judge.”

Can we really say we love the Lord but don’t obey him? As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” The reality is it’s what we do, not what we say, that counts.

As God’s Word, the Bible, says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”² And again, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”³

True, as Christians we have freedom and don’t want to slip back into legalism—that is, doing the “right” thing outwardly but not from the heart. At the same time, our freedom or liberty in Christ is not a license to do as we please. As the Bible also says, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”⁴ If we continue to sin, we actually lose our freedom because we become a slave to, rather than a master of, sin.

Our reader also says that we can’t judge. Actually, while we are not to judge others, we are to judge actions. Again, God’s Word says, “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.”⁵

Pastors and teachers are also instructed to rebuke and correct people who are sinning. Admittedly, there is a fine line between judging people and their actions, but if Christians would read the Bible, know what it teaches, and were sincere about obeying the Lord, their actions would judge themselves.

Sadly, too, what so many people fail to realize is that God’s instructions are for our good, not to take away the joy of living. Living in harmony with God’s will gives us true liberty but it doesn’t give us a license to do as we please. Also, when we sin, we not only hurt ourselves but very often others we are close to as well.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to love you sincerely from the heart. Help me to overcome my bent for sinning so that I will always want to live in harmony with your will and live to please you and not myself. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 14:15 (NIV).

2. Hebrews 13:4 (NIV)

3. 1 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV).

4. Romans 6:15 (KJV).

5. 1 Corinthians 2:15 (NKJV).