I have read how in 1872, at the age of 16, Booker T. Washington (born a slave and then became the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) decided he wanted to go to school. He walked 500 miles to Hampton Institute in Virginia, and presented himself to the head teacher. Washington later recalled, “Having been so long without proper food, a bath, and change of clothing, I did not make a very favorable impression upon her, and I could see at once that there were doubts in her mind about me.”

Finally she said to him, “The adjoining recitation room needs cleaning. Take the broom and do it.” A lesser person might have been insulted by being assigned menial work. But Washington recognized immediately that this was his big chance. He swept that room three times and dusted it four times. He even cleaned the walls and the closets. Then he reported to the head teacher that the job was finished. She examined that room like a drill sergeant. She even took a handkerchief and rubbed it across the top of a door. When she could not find a particle of dirt, she said, “I guess you will do to enter this institution.”

As a 16-year-old, Washington could not do many things. But he could clean a room. And he did it gloriously. Extraordinary living begins with using what we have. What gifts and graces do you have that you have not fully activated?²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you use ordinary people to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways as well as using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Please use me for whatever it is you have gifted me to do and want me to do, be it large or small—and thereby help make my world a better place in which to live. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Exodus 4:2 (NASB).

2. Bill Bouknight, http://www.eSermons.com, July 2002

Last year we had the opportunity to have a vacation in Hawaii where, of course, there are many beautiful beaches. At one particular picturesque beach where the grandkids were snorkeling, close by was a rocky section. Here was a warning sign painted with large bold red lettering that simply said, “Dangerous beach. When in doubt, don’t.”

All too often in similar situations some daredevils tempt fate and alas, too late, they realize that they made a drastic mistake and have been hurt badly or even lost their life.

“When in doubt, don’t” is a handy motto to apply to every area of life—especially so in the area of relationships, morals and ethics.

Many a person has started on a downward path in an extremely small way saying to him/herself, “A little lie won’t hurt … a little cheating won’t be noticed … a little immoral slip isn’t going to make any difference, one cigarette won’t affect me, and one drug is meaningless.

What they don’t realize is that all too often little things lead to big things—either for good or bad. As a kid, I attended a tiny church in my hometown. I started serving God as a young teenager by picking up the hymnals after both church services on Sundays. Just a little thing, but one thing led to another, to another, and to another—until for the last four decades I have had the privilege of reaching multiplied thousands with the gospel around the world, first through a literature ministry and for the last decade via email and the Internet.

The same principle applies to evil deeds. I imagine that the accountants at Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, etc., started in a very small way adjusting the books … here a small adjustment … there a small adjustment … next a little bigger adjustment … and so on until their companies collapsed.

My broker in Australia who handled my retirement fund—30 years of savings—stole my entire fund several years ago and that of at least eight other clients. He either hid all this money or spent it because, when he was ordered by the judge to pay up, he declared bankruptcy. It was only a short time before he started stealing that a large gambling center was opened not far from his office. My best guess is that he possibly started to gamble in a small way … began to lose money … then more money … then he stole from one client … lost more money … then stole from another client … and so on until he got caught. He is now spending some of his best retirement years in jail.

When will we ever learn that sin has its own destructive pathway and that whatever we sow we reap—if not now, it will be later in eternity—unless we repent of our sins and turn to the Savior? The best advice is that which is painted on a sign on a rocky Hawaiian beach, “When in doubt, don’t!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to always live in harmony with life’s principles as found in your Word, the Bible. And, grant that our nation will realize that these are eternal and universal truths that cannot be broken without dire consequences. Grant that we will confess our sins and waywardness and turn back to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

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

The ants teach us the wisdom of preparation. “Better to be prepared and not called, than to be called and not prepared,” is a wise principle to adhere to. For instance, if I want a good job in the future, I need to prepare today. If I want a healthy marriage, I need to work on my growth and maturity today, for only mature people have mature relationships. And if I want God to use me, I need to develop the gifts and talents he has given me.

“Aha!” you may say, “but what about the disciples. They were a motley crew of uneducated peasants.” “But, aha,” I answer, “they spent three years in training with the Master Teacher of all teachers and the Master Trainer par excellence.” As an old Chinese proverb says, “Dig your well before you’re thirsty.”

The coneys or rock badgers teach us the wisdom of precaution. How true is the old saying, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” If you want to avoid temptation, don’t go where you know you’ll be tempted. If you don’t want to get into debt over your head, don’t borrow what you can’t pay. And if you can’t swim, don’t go into the deep end of the pool. God is faithful, but if we jump off a building, he won’t catch us on the way down, as he doesn’t go against his own rules! He won’t change the universal law of gravity because of my foolishness and irresponsibility. He won’t change the moral law either. If I try to break it, it will break me.

The locusts teach us the wisdom of unity. Have you ever tried to row a boat with a friend? If you don’t pull together in harmony, you’ll get nowhere fast, go in circles, or run into the bank. To keep moving forward, you don’t have to over-exert yourself, just keep pulling together. And if we don’t pull together as a family, a church, or a nation, working in harmony with the principles of life as found in God’s Word, we will end up on the rocks!

The lizards teach us the wisdom of perseverance. “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done … Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will,”² says the Word of God. And again, “It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up.”³ As the saying goes, “Quitters never win and winners never quit.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your words of wisdom—principles for everyday living—as found in the Bible. Please give me a greater love for Your Word and the desire to live by the principles as found therein. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 30:24-28 (NIV).

2. Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 (TLB-NIV).

3. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (TLB-NIV).

At the turn of the last century, Julia Woodward went to Ecuador as a missionary to minister to a tribe of some 15,000 Indians. In her half–century of work, she saw only a handful of these people accept the gospel and come to Christ. However, she taught the people to read and write and began to translate some of the Bible into their language. After 50 years of faithful service, she retired and was replaced by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clawson who, after a relatively short time, saw almost this entire tribe embrace the Christian faith and become Christians. This was made possible because of the seed sown by Julia Woodward.

As another has said, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of a seed. In 1959, there were one-million Roman Catholics and 600,000 Protestants in China. That may sound like a lot, but when you compare it to a population that is rapidly approaching one billion, you understand what a tiny seed that represented…. When China closed its doors to the outside world, many people began to wrap a burial shroud around the Christian church in China. They said that it would never survive. In 1979 China again opened its doors to the West and to the rest of the world. And a strange thing had happened. That tiny seed 20 years earlier had taken root. The number of Roman Catholics during those dark years rose from one-million to three-million and the number of Protestants rose from 600,000 to three-million. The church in a time of persecution and hardship had grown 53% in a twenty-year period!”²

You and I may never be a Paul or a Julia Woodward, but we can keep sowing seeds of the gospel and of God’s love. Here an encouraging word … there an encouraging word to a friend in need … little acts of kindness all along the way … praying with one who is discouraged and/or hurting … being as Christ to every life we touch…. Such seeds are never wasted—only God knows the eternal influence and impact of such. As Solomon wrote, “Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.”

Suggested prayer. “Dear God, please help me to keep on sowing the seed of your Word and the gospel in the way that I live and act, and through well spoken and timely words. Please use me to help others to find you and/or come closer to you. Use my life as a living investment in eternity. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 (TLB).

2. www.eSermons.com

It’s hard to even begin to imagine what the nine coal-miners felt in Quecreek, Pennsylvania, back in 2002 when they were trapped 244 feet below the surface in the 50-degree cold while struggling for survival in a pocket of air in the flooded coal-mine. Thinking they were doomed, several wrote farewell notes to their loved ones. Miner Blaine Mayhugh, 31, asked his boss for a pen when the water in the shaft kept rising. “I want to write my wife and kids to tell them I love them,” he said. Then, fearing their death, the miners tied themselves together so all of their bodies would be found if they drowned. It must have been a terrifying experience.

What a relief it was when we learned of their amazing rescue and thanked God for the team who worked feverishly day and night for three days to save the trapped miners—and marveled how they not only found exactly where the men were trapped, but also how they were able to rescue all nine miners.

The New York Times (July 29, 2002) described how a wave of exultation swept out from the floodlit rescue scene as the first words resounded up from below with the news that all the missing miners had survived their ordeal. People were weeping and cheering at village roadsides and television sets at the news that the disastrous flood deep underground had left no fatalities among the harried night crew that disappeared on Wednesday deep in the Quecreek mine.

If only the church as a whole and today’s Western Christians had the same commitment to rescue those who are bound for a lost eternity in darkness without God and without hope.

Here in ACTS International, while we are just a tiny organization, we are among those who are doing everything in their power to reach the lost for Christ. Never before has the church had the technology that makes it possible to reach so many … by so few … for so little comparative cost.

But like so many others who are doing this work all we lack is the support. God has given his church the life-saving message, the methods to communicate it to untold thousands of people worldwide, but we just don’t have the sufficient means.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please move among the hearts of your people to join with and support the rescue teams who are on the front line of action seeking to win the lost to Jesus. Help me to realize the full impact of the unthinkable doom of those who are lost in darkness who, without your salvation, are doomed for eternal damnation and will be lost forever without hope. And grant with your help that I will do my part in obeying your commission to help take the gospel to everyone, everywhere. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

P.S. To see how you can help ACTS share the gospel see http://www.actscom.com

1. Mark 16:15 (NLT).

I read recently how a well-known television circus show developed a Bengal tiger act that was performed live before a large audience. One evening, the tiger trainer went into the cage with several tigers to do a routine performance. The door was locked behind him. The spotlights highlighted the cage, the television cameras moved in close, and the audience watched in suspense as the trainer skillfully put the tigers through their paces.

In the middle of the performance, the worst possible fate befell the act: the power went out! For thirty long seconds the trainer was locked in with the tigers. In the darkness they could see him, but he could not see them. A whip and a small kitchen chair seemed meager protection under the circumstances. But he survived, and when the lights came on, he calmly finished the performance.

In an interview afterward, he was asked how he felt knowing the tigers could see him but that he could not see them. He first admitted the chilling fear of the situation, but pointed out that the tigers did not know that he could not see them. He said, “I just kept cracking my whip and talking to them until the lights came on. And they never knew I couldn’t see them as well as they could see me.”²

Do you ever feel caught in the dark with the “tigers of your heart” or circumstances that seem to be out of your control? I sure have. Two things I do in these situations. First, I keep quoting today’s Scripture, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” I’m sure David kept saying this when King Saul was out to kill him—and David couldn’t know where he was most of the time. Second, I ask God to confront me with the truth and reality of what I might in any way be contributing to the situation I am in.

It’s not until I pray for what I am contributing to “my dark nights of despair” that I see the light—and know exactly what I need to do to change my circumstances wherever this is possible, or at least to overcome my tigers of fear.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that my life is in your hands and that you are always with me in my dark days of despair just as you are in my happy days of rejoicing. Thank you, too, for your promise that you will never leave me nor forsake me. Help me to always remember this, and trust my life to you, and be willing to face what I am contributing to my situation, change what I can change, and learn to accept joyfully what I cannot change. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

For further help read: “Conquering Fear” at: http://tinyurl.com/rhlho

1. Psalm 118:5-7 (NIV).

2. Thomas Lane Butts, cited on KneEmail, http://www.oakhillcoc.org.

Faith is seeing what God wants us to do. Visualizing this adds wings to our faith. It is picturing in our mind’s eye what we believe God wants us to do. Besides helping us to achieve what seems an impossible thing for us to do, and to help in the healing process, it can also help in the following ways:

Imaging can help achieve goals.

When I first went to the city where I started the work of ACTS International, I was with another organization and was told by a key church leader (who happened to be a member of our board of directors and who had considerable control) that I’d better realize right from the start that I wouldn’t be able to do anything in this city because there wasn’t enough money here.

Amazing! This was the exact image this leader had in his mind—and undoubtedly that influenced other board members, and was why that organization had very little income even though they had been in operation for twenty years. I ended up moving out of this organization to commence the work of ACTS.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I never believed God called anyone to do anything that couldn’t be done! At the time, I’d never heard of the term “imaging,” but I began to formulate and write down specific goals, then see them as achieved. And then, with God’s help and guidance, I went to work to make it happen.

From a standpoint where there was an image or vision of not being able to do anything, a new image not only reached out across South Australia (where we began), but to all Australia, then to New Zealand, and then to North America. And now, via e-mail and the Internet, it is reaching out around the world.

The way we see and image what we want to see achieved makes all the difference in the world. In many ways what we see is what we get.

Imaging can change your life.

Regardless of your present circumstances, feelings or background, you, too, can change your life. You can do this by changing your self-image and by imaging what you want to become and do with your life.

That is the way most people achieve their goals. It’s the way we’ve built ACTS International. It was how I built my own home. It’s how I improved my education and do the work I do. And I still build things by first seeing and picturing them in my mind. I’m sure this is the way President John Kennedy achieved the goal of putting man on the moon in the 1960s. You can just imagine him looking up at the moon hundreds of times and “seeing” an American there long before it happened. Had he not visualized it in his mind, I doubt that it ever would have happened.

Don’t misunderstand me, there’s no magic in imaging, but it helps keep you working towards and focused on your goals. In realty, achieving worthwhile goals never comes easy. Besides, it’s one thing to dream dreams, but quite another to fulfill them. To do so, it takes God’s help plus, on our part, relentless effort, persistence, dedication, training, discipline, determination, patience, endurance, stick-to-itiveness, time, and faith.

The most important thing of all is to be certain that our goals are not only worthwhile, but also in harmony with the will of God. And then, with the added dimension of imaging, the dynamic of faith, and the power of prayer, we can be assured of achieving them. Remember, too, that another definition of faith is visualizing what God wants you to do. Among other things, God wants all of us to be made whole, to find fulfillment, to reach our potential, and to achieve something worthwhile with our lives.

So ask God today to give you an image of what he wants you to become and do. Begin to create that image in your mind right now. See it clearly. Write it down, and formulate a plan to fulfill it. Bring it to God every day, asking for his help to fulfill that which he wants you to become and do. And as long as you are committed to God’s goal and purpose for your life, you can be assured that he will help you to fulfill it.

Remember: “Faith is visualizing what God wants you to do!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you have a plan and purpose for my life. Help me to know what that is, to hold it as a picture in my mind, and bring it to you every day for your help, direction, guidance, and provision. Show me how to fulfill this plan, and give me the courage and determination to never give up until your goal and purpose for my life is fulfilled. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV).

Imaging—picturing in your mind’s eye—can help you achieve the seeming impossible.

One day when I was working on our church building, I borrowed my boss’s heavy circular-saw bench. When returning it, it fell off the truck, right in the middle of a major highway. It had taken four of us to load the saw bench onto the truck and here it was, lying in the middle of the road with only two of us to re-load it!

No problem … all we could see was getting it back on the truck. And, with seemingly super-human strength, heaved it back onto the truck in a flash. We fastened it securely, and were on our way in no time at all. We amazed ourselves with a strength we didn’t even know we had. This type of thing is fairly common.

Where did the extra strength come from? I’d say that the picture in our mind of getting the saw bench back onto the truck as quickly as possible, plus the urgency of the situation, triggered an extra supply of adrenaline, making it possible for us to lift it. Had we focused on the problem and our inability to lift it by ourselves, we never would have been able to achieve that task.

Imaging can also help in the healing of sicknesses.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peal in his book, Imaging, tells about Harry DeCamp who was healed of cancer. He was not a religious man, but was challenged to believe in God when a friend sent him a card which said, “With God all things are possible.”

Harry chose to believe that through faith and prayer, God could heal him, and started to visualize in a dramatic way the healing process taking place within his body.

“He began to imagine armies of healing white blood cells in his body cascading down from his shoulders, sweeping through his veins, attacking the malignant cells and destroying them. A hundred times a day, two hundred, three hundred, he went through this imaging process. He worked at it constantly, day and night.”²

Harry also kept on with his chemotherapy and in six months he was healed. What cured him? His faith, the chemotherapy, or his powerful imaging? Probably all three!

For some unknown reason, when the image we create in our mind is vivid and clear, the desire to achieve it, and the faith to believe it is possible are strong enough, the untapped powers of the mind come to our rescue and help us achieve the very thing we image and believe in. Unfortunately, the same principle is effective for those who wish to perform dastardly acts of evil. Actually, all of us are visualizing things in our mind much of the time. Just think how temptation works! We just need to use this ability for good.

To be continued …

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to see what you want me to become and do for your glory, and picture these in my mind until, with your help, one by one, they are all achieved. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 9:29 (NIV).

2. Imaging, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, p. 22.

I’d dare say that most of us could walk a twelve-foot-long by one-foot-wide plank that was on the ground. But suspend it thirty feet up in the air between two buildings and suddenly, for most of us (including me), it becomes a terrifying, nigh on impossible task.

Why?

Like Peter, because we are afraid of falling our faith is swallowed up by fear. We suddenly see ourselves plunging, and what we picture happening paralyzes us. In many, if not most, instances, what we imagine, see or visualize in our mind is what we make to happen.

In other words, if you imagine yourself falling off that plank, you’re much more likely to make it happen. But if you see yourself confidently walking across it safely to the other side, you will be able to do it.

Life’s like that. If you see yourself as being loving and lovable, you will love others and be loved by them. If you see yourself as confident and successful, you will act accordingly and be successful. If, on the other hand, you see yourself as unlovable, insecure, and a failure, you will act in an unlovable manner and set yourself up to fail.

Thus, a major key to successful living is to visualize exactly the type of person you want to become and what you want to make of your life—see it in your mind’s eye as already happening, and believe, with God’s help, that it is possible.

This kind of visualizing, or imaging as it is called, is a powerful means of help for overcoming problems, healing of sicknesses, achieving goals, improving relationships, and changing one’s life.

To be continued…

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, when I have to walk across life’s difficult places, please help me to keep my eyes fixed on you, and believe that you will hold my hand lest I fall. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 14:28-30 (NIV).

Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at Princeton. One student asked the renowned German theologian, “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?” Barth’s answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he answered, “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son [Jesus].”²

People by nature are religious in that every person is born with a sense of a divine being, and at some point each person decides whether to accept that belief, enquire into it, or reject it. Many choose the belief, as the saying goes, that “all roads lead to Rome,” and all religions lead to God. Not true.

In one sense religion is man’s search for God primarily through his own efforts, or through a man-made religion. On the other hand, Jesus (or real Christianity) is God’s search for man. And that makes all the difference in the world. Because we are all sinners, it is impossible for us to save ourselves through our own efforts or any man-made religion. This is why God, in his eternal love for us, sent his own Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins. Mankind’s salvation is thus found in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way.

Narrow? Yes. But had there been any other way, why would Jesus have come to earth as a man to die an excruciating death on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for our sins? As Jesus said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”³

So the important question is not, are you religious? Or, do you belong to a Christian denomination, or are you a member of a Christian church, but have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Is your trust in him and him alone for your eternal salvation? As Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me.”4

If in doubt, be sure to read the article, “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 for your ‘so great salvation’ provided through the death of your Son, Jesus, on the cross for my sins and to give to me the gift of eternal life. And Jesus, because you died for me, help me to live for you always in all ways. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 1:1-2 (NIV).

2. Rev. John H. Pavelko, “Avoiding a Troubled Heart.”

3. Matthew 7:14 (NIV).

4. John 14:6 (NIV).