“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect [mature] and complete, needing nothing.”¹

In much younger days I was the South Australian director of a youth ministry. Most of my ministry was teaching Religious Instruction (RI) classes in the public high schools. This was done through local churches. In one night the major denominations voted to withdraw from teaching RI in the schools. Their vote eliminated at least 90% of my work. I turned in my resignation but the board enforced my contract that required three months notice if I were ever to quit.

I thought they were being far less than reasonable. I had a job but no work. For something to do I started writing … and have been writing ever since.

Out of what seemed to be a very disappointing experience the work that I am doing today—over 30 years later—has grown far beyond what I could have ever dreamed possible. What happened to me back then was one of the best blessings of my life.

I have read how, during the Great Depression, Wallace Johnson, a dynamic Christian, was fired from his job at a saw mill. To Wallace and his wife this was a devastating loss. So what did Wallace do? He mortgaged his house and went into the building business. Within five years he was a multi-millionaire and was the founder of Holiday Inn.

Wallace said, “If I could locate the man who fired me I would sincerely thank him for what he did. At the time it happened, I didn’t understand why I was fired. Later I saw that it was God’s unerring and wondrous plan to get me into the ways of his choosing.”

So, dear reader, are you going through a rough time—a time of loss or disappointment? If so, be sure to ask God what this painful experience is seeking to teach you and prepare you for so that you can become a more fruitful Christian and servant of the Lord.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in all of life’s painful experiences please help me see that there is always some lesson you are seeking to teach me to help me become a more mature and fruitful Christian and a more effective witness of your saving power. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:2-4 (NLT).

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“Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ … [Later] his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman….”¹

Alvin Schmidt, in an article on an Assisted News Service report, asks, “What would be the status of women be in the Western world today had God not entered the world in the flesh of his Son Jesus Christ? One way to answer this question is to look at the low status women still have in I’lamic countries. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, women are not even permitted to drive automobiles, and in the Koran a man is commanded to beat his wives physically if they are disobedient (Sura 4:34).

“When one looks back in history before and at the time of Christ, women, similar to I’lamic countries today, also had very little freedom and dignity. They were seen as evil, inferior, unclean, unequal, and kept silent. Numerous statements in ancient literature attest to this biased cultural perception….

“Reflecting Greek culture,” Homer (eighth century B.C.) wrote, “One cannot trust women” (The Odyssey). The Greek playwright Euripides (d. 406 B.C.) said, “Women were the best devisers of evil” (Medea). Tacitus the first-century Roman pictured women as dominating and cruel (Annals). Among the Hebrews, Jesus son of Sirach (second century B.C.) stated, “From a woman sin had its beginning and because of her we all die” (Ecclesiastus).²

“Women were seen as inferior, unclean, unequal, but it was Jesus and the early Christians, in opposition to the accepted norms of the day and those of ancient tradition, who accepted women as equal and gave them dignity. Jesus ministered to women; he asked a despised Samaritan woman—of all people—to give him a drink of water; he taught women theological truths; and among his closest friends (in equal standing with his men friends) were women. Furthermore, he solidly rebuked the religious Pharisees who attempted to get Jesus to condemn the woman caught in adultery by saying that the man who had never sinned could be the one to cast the first stone at her. And Jesus appeared to women first following his resurrection.

“As apostolic Christianity spread, it gave women freedom and dignity unknown to the ancient world. It did this not only by baptizing and admitting women to the Lord’s Supper—equal to men—but it also gave them leadership roles. St. Paul notes that Apphia ‘our sister’ was a leader in a house church in Colossae (Philemon 2). In Laodicea there was Nympha who had ‘a church in her house’ (Colossians 4:15), and in Ephesus, Priscilla was one of Paul’s fellow workers (Romans 16:3). Phoebe was a key female leader in the church in Cenchreae, where she was a deacon (not deaconess) and a leading officer (Romans 16:1-2). Paul also said Euodia and Syntyche labored with him in the gospel … and the rest of my fellow workers’ (Philippians 4:2-3).

“Christ’s influence had numerous other effects that benefited women. Unlike the pagan Greco-Romans, the early Christians valued baby girls as much as boys. St. Paul commanded husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).”³

How sad that our secular world fails to see this profound truth as well as numerous other blessings that especially the Western world has gained because of the impact of Jesus and Christianity.⁴

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you for the incredible blessings that have been granted, especially to those of us fortunate enough to have been born in the Western world, that have come as a result of sending your Son, Jesus, to be the Savior of the world, and because of the profound impact Christianity has had on the world. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1 John 4: 6-10; 27 (NIV).
2. © Alvin J. Schmidt, Ph.D., “Christianity Gave Women Freedom and Dignity, Assist News Service (ANS), www.assistnews.net. Get the full story at: www.assistnews.net/stories/2007/s07080019.htm.
3. Ibid.
4.See Alvin Schmidt’s book The Great Divide: the Failure of I’lam and the Triumph of the West (Regina Orthodox Press, 2004).

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It was Steven Covey, author of the popular book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, who coined the phrase, “Begin with the end in mind.”

Most of us know that New Year Resolutions we make at the beginning of each New Year usually last until the next setback or challenge we face.

However, if we print a copy of “Steven Covey’s Seven Habits” and tape them to the fridge or other prominent place and read them often, we have a much greater chance of finishing this New Year with a sense of achievement:

Steven Covey’s Seven Habits:

1. Be proactive. Don’t stand still. Take the initiative and be responsible.
2. Begin with the end in mind. Start any activity, a meeting, run, day, or life, with an end in mind. Work to that end and make sure your values are aligned with your goals.
3. Put first things first. Prioritize your life so you’re working on the important stuff.
4. Think win/win. This is pretty obvious. You get what you put in.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Listen to emphasize, obtain information, and understand the other person’s point of view.
6. Synergize. Work to create outcomes that are greater than the individual parts.
7. Sharpen the saw. Cultivate the essential elements of your character: physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual.¹

And as Pastor Tod Bolsinger put it, “We need to live every day with the end in mind–and most important of all, live with Jesus’ end in mind.”

“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.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me every day this year to live, not only with the end of this year in mind but with the end of my life in mind so that, when I stand before you to give an account of my life, I will hear your welcome words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’ So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Steven, Covey, http://tinyurl.com/39v3r5.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV).

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“I [God] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”¹

According to an article in The Recorder, “A 19-year-old girl by the name of Khun Paot, escaped the Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia after an arduous journey with 100 others through miles of jungle, canals, mountains, and rivers. Standing between them and freedom were communist soldiers, the elements, and a stretch of jungle ground covered with thorns. Most of the escapees were barefoot or wore flimsy thongs.

“A midnight-like darkness hampered the struggling group as it crossed a valley between two high mountain ranges. ‘We could see absolutely nothing,’ Paot later told a missionary, Maxine Stewart. ‘We didn’t even know where to step.’ Suddenly hundreds of fireflies swarmed into view. Their glow made enough light for the people to see the path. The refugees reached the next mountain by firefly light, said Mrs. Stewart.

“After Paot was transferred to Kham Put refugee camp, she was invited to a Christian meeting. ‘I know that old man,’ she exclaimed at a picture on the wall of the chapel. ‘He is the one who led us and showed us the way to Thailand and freedom.’ She was pointing to a picture of Jesus.”²

Ever since my youth, every morning I have committed and trusted my life and way to God, trusting him to guide me all through my life knowing that he could make a much better job of my life than I ever could. Now, as I look back over the years, I can genuinely say in the words of the hymn writer, “Jesus led me all the way.”

God will do the same for you, too, should you genuinely commit and trust your life to him every day for the rest of your life.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that when I commit and trust my life to you, you will teach me in the way that I should go and will guide me with your eye. And that’s what I do today. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 32:8, NKJV).
2. The Recorder, September 1979, p. 25. Source: www.esermons.com.

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“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (emphasis mine).¹

If there were ever a day when people and churches need to take a stand for moral living it is today. If abortionists and homosexuals have their way it may, in the not too distant future, be a crime for anyone, including the church, to quote the Bible regarding these issues and argue for God’s position. Just writing on this topic is bound to get me criticized—it pretty much always does.

According to Chuck Colson: “Particularly some younger evangelicals are suggesting that we stay away from divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality altogether and just go back and be like the first-century Church—stay out of politics, tend to our spiritual knitting.

“I wonder what early Church they are talking about. Take just the issue of abortion. The early Church was outspokenly pro-life right from the beginning just as the Jews had been. In the second chapter of the Didache, one of the first discipleship books for young Christians written in the first century, was this stern injunction: ‘Thou shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born.’ Justin Martyr wrote about this in his first apology. And in the second century, Athenagoras wrote a plea to Emperor Marcus Aurelius: ‘We say that women that use drugs to bring abortion commit murder and will have to give an account to God for the abortion.’”²

Churches and Christians who refuse or fail to take a stand for that which is morally right according to God’s Word are not like the early Christians. They are being controlled by political correctness which, in reality (much of it) is political incorrectness and will, if we continue to allow it, eventually weaken and make the church ineffective as it has become in much of Europe. While Jesus always loved sinners, he never approved of sinful behaviors in any form—nor was he ever concerned about being politically correct.

Had he been, we would not have a Savior or the gift of salvation and God’s forgiveness. We would be eternally lost.

Today, Christian churches and we who call ourselves Christians need to stand up and be counted; that is, as the Apostle Paul commissioned Timothy: Flee all sinful immoral behavior … Follow after righteousness … and Fight the good fight for truth and that which is morally correct rather than that which is politically correct.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God please give me a love for your Word and a clear understanding of it so I will know in my heart and mind that which is morally correct according to your standards. And give me the courage to make a stand always for that which is right in your sight; to flee all sinful behaviors; to follow after righteousness; and to fight your good fight. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. The Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 6:11-12, KJV).
2. Chuck Colson, BreakPoint, August 1, 2006 www.breakpoint.org.

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“While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”¹

Yesterday we talked about visiting Athens, Corinth and Ephesus, and other ancient historical places, and ending in Istanbul, a city largely populated by M’slims.

Istanbul was certainly a fascinating ancient city but hearing the M’slim call to prayer was just another reminder that radical M’slims throughout the world are on the march and while many M’slims want to live in peace, the increasing number of radicals believe the only peace is when Jews, Christians and Westerners either convert to I’lam or are dead. And they have no qualms about killing us.

Frighteningly, far too many leaders in the West are wanting appeasement with these I’lamic fanatical fundamentalists when, in reality, there is no such thing.

Mathias Dapfner, CEO of the large German publisher, Axel Springer, blasted Europe for its weakness in confronting I’lamic fanaticism. He talked how appeasement with Hitler cost millions of Jews and Gentiles their lives … how appeasement contributed to the stabilizing of the Communist Soviet Union and the former East Germany, and “crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo…. And in the end it is also appeasement at its most grotesque when Germany reacts to the escalating violence of I’lamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere by proposing a national M’slim holiday.”²

And here in America, while most M’slims want to live in peace, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center reported that: “One out of four young U.S. M’slims believe homicide bombings against civilians are OK to ‘defend I’lam,’”³ at least under certain circumstances.

I’lam claims to be a religion of peace but peace is highly unlikely between Jews and Palestinians or between radical M’slims and the Western world until Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, returns to earth to finally put an end to all wars and bring in lasting peace. In fact, as the Word of God reminds us, “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.¹

The reality is that throughout the world there is an urgent need for a great spiritual awaking—an awakening to the reality of today’s volatile world and our urgent need for God and the need to live in harmony with his will. Without God there is no hope for any lasting peace and any end to a world filled with hatred and violence.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding to see the reality of today’s volatile world situation and our world-wide need for a great spiritual awakening. And please start your work in me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. The Apostle Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:3, NIV).
2. Mathias Dapfner, CEO of the large German publisher, Axel Springer. Editorial: “Europe, Thy Name is Cowardice,” published in the German periodical Die Welt, November 20, 2004. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/dapfner.asp
3. Poll: 1 in 4 U.S. Young M’slims OK With Homicide Bombings Against Civilians, Fox News. May 23, 2007. http://tinyurl.com/ywmyoz

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“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, ‘Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.’”¹

“I walked today where the Apostle Paul walked.”

I wrote those words several months ago when Joy and I had the opportunity to stand at the top of Mars Hill overlooking the city of Athens in Greece. On this hill, or close to it, almost 2000 years ago in the shadow of the infamous historical Parthenon, the Apostle Paul explained the gospel to Athenians.

The next day we walked on a section of a road built by the Romans in the ancient city of Corinth—a road on which Paul would have walked—at the end of which he stood while he was being accused by the city magistrates for causing a disturbance by preaching about Jesus.

The following day we sailed on the waters on which Paul sailed on his missionary journeys. A few days later we were in Ephesus and visited the amazing outdoor amphitheater where Paul would have undoubtedly been. Visiting these and other amazing ancient historical cities certainly made Paul’s missionary journeys and his writings (especially to the Corinthians and Ephesians) come alive as never before.

Our last day before returning home was spent in Istanbul—the city where east meets west. Besides visiting fascinating places and magnificent ancient buildings, it was a weird sensation to hear the extremely loud Muslim call to prayer starting at 5:40 AM sunrise! The chanting sound gave me cold chills especially in light of atrocities committed by radical Muslims in recent times. Could you imagine the outcry if Christians had the same kind of extremely loud calls to prayer five times a day in America? The anti-God and politically correct crowds would howl us into silence!

To be continued ….

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the historical evidence authenticating your Word, the Bible, as found in the ‘cradle of Christianity’ where your early disciples taught and preached the gospel message. Help me to grasp in my heart and mind the reality of your Word and the impact on the world that the gospel has made over the past two millenniums. May it truly impact my heart and life as well. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Acts 17:22

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“And He [Jesus] said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature [of the whole human race].”¹

I vividly recall how, when visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC—a profoundly sobering experience—how deeply I was moved when reading the words credited by some (but disputed by others) to Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

The plan to kill Jews today may be even more destructive than in the Holocaust. I say this because President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has expressed doubt that the Holocaust ever happened.² He has also declared openly that he wants Israel wiped off the map, and it appears that in the not too distant future he will have nuclear weapons—a frightening thought as an ever increasing number of extremist Muslims are determined to kill not only Jews, but Christians, Americans and other Westerners, and pretty much all who refuse to convert to their evil form of radical religion. Their barbaric philosophy is “convert or have your head cut off.”

We Christians know that the only hope of the world is the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, but what will we Christians do about it? Will we again remain silent as so many did for so long during Hitler’s reign of terror? I was also horrified to learn that we Western countries refused to allow Jews to immigrate to our countries even when we knew what Hitler was doing. Consequently, six million Jews were sent to the death chambers.

According to a recent survey of Christians in America by the highly respected Barna Group, only 29% of Christians see the need to explain their faith with non-believers—which is down from 39% a year ago.³

Perhaps more than ever we need to take seriously Christ’s last commission to his disciples to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone everywhere.” Never before has this been as possible as it is today.

May every one of us ask God daily to use us to be an effective witness for Jesus.

Also, please go to www.actsweb.org/announce.php for a very simple and non-threatening way to share God’s love and message of salvation with family, friends, and contacts. And please support in prayer and finances organizations that are actively involved in reaching people with the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I’m available. Please use me to be an effective witness for you and do all that I can to help spread the gospel around the world. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Jesus (Mark 16:15, AMP).
2. Reuters, Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A18. http://tinyurl.com/3x72lb
3. The Barna Update, http://tinyurl.com/27csc5

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“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, unto which you are called.”¹

I checked the following story on snopes.com but it wasn’t listed, so I can’t confirm it either way. At any rate it makes an excellent parable. According to the story: “On a commuter flight from Portland, Maine, to Boston in 1987, the pilot heard an unusual noise near the rear of the plane. Henry Dempsey turned the controls over to the co-pilot and went back to check it out. As he reached the tail section, the plane hit an air pocket, and Dempsey was tossed against the rear door. He quickly discovered the source of the mysterious noise. The rear door had been improperly latched prior to take-off, and it flew open. Dempsey was instantly sucked out of the tiny jet.

“The co-pilot saw the red light that indicated an open door. He radioed the nearest airport requesting permission for an emergency landing. He reported that the pilot had fallen out of the plane and wanted a helicopter to search the area. After the plane landed, the ground crew found Dempsey holding on to a railing on the aircraft. Somehow he had caught the railing and held on for ten minutes as the plane flew 200 mph at an altitude of 4,000 feet, and then, when landing, he kept his head from hitting the runway, which was only 12 inches away. “

In today’s pressured world it is very easy to be “sucked into” all sorts of temptations—which, if we give in to them, could easily destroy us. So we need to hold on tenaciously to eternal values and the eternal life that God has given to all who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the strength and courage to hold on to you, to my faith, and to eternal values no matter what trials and temptations may come my way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. The Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 6:12).

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“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes.”¹

“Help God! Help! Forgive me for my sins and save me. And you’d better do it real quick because my mother is about to kill me!”

This was a prayer from Jamie, a friend’s granddaughter. Jamie, a four-year old, had just applied her mother’s fingernail polish to her fingernails plus many other places on her hands and in mother’s bedroom. A not too happy mother had sent her to the bathroom to wait until the mess in the bedroom was cleaned up.

When mother came into the bathroom, the prayer above was what she heard her daughter praying!

It’s good for all of us to pray whenever we are in trouble. Probably most of us do. I certainly do. As someone has said, “There will always be prayer in schools as long as there are exams!”

However, when we are in trouble is not the only time we need to pray. Like me, you probably have a “friend” or two who only calls you when they want something. As soon as you hear their voice, you think to yourself, “I wonder what s/he wants now?”

I don’t like those kinds of “friends” and I can’t help but wonder how God feels if the only time I come to him is when I am in trouble or want something?

As Jesus said, we ought to pray at all times and for many reasons—especially to express thanks and gratitude for all the blessings God gives to us daily.

Or as the King James translation puts it, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a thankful heart and help me to give you my presence daily as you want to give me yours. Help me to pray about other’s needs as well as everything in my life and not faint. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 18:1 (TLB).

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