Ideas can come from the strangest places. Creative genius comes to people who are open to new ideas and seeing different ways of doing things.

For example, in 1964 the freighter Al Kuwait, which was carrying 6,000 live sheep capsized and sank in Kuwait’s harbor. The sunken ship with its decomposing cargo was presenting a serious threat to the country’s water supply through its desalination processing plant.

To overcome the problem the ship had to be raised and moved to a safe place without falling apart and dumping its poisonous contents into the nation’s water supply.

Karl Kroyer, a Danish engineer working in Kuwait came up with a novel idea. He pumped 27 million ping-pong balls into the freighter’s hull which slowly raised it to the surface.

And where did he get this idea? From a Donald Duck comic book. Somebody sank Donald’s boat and he and his feathered friends raised it by filling it with ping-pong balls!

When it comes to creative and meaningful living the most valuable resources are found in the Word of God, the Bible (not always in a comic book), It pays to know what it teaches and hide its truths in one’s heart.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a greater love for your Word, the Bible, and help me to live by its principles so it will truly be ‘a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 119:105 (NIV).

It has been said that if you stand for something worthwhile, you will have some people for you and some against you. But if you stand for nothing, you will have nobody against you—but neither will you have anybody for you.

In today’s society there is tremendous pressure to be politically correct and open minded; that is, except towards evangelical Christianity. If you make a stand for Christian convictions, you are just as likely to be labeled intolerant, bigoted and/or narrow minded. Funny how those who so aggressively oppose Christianity don’t see themselves as rigid, inflexible, dogmatic and intolerant!

What many don’t seem to realize is that if you stand for nothing, you can easily fall for anything. Or as E. Stanley Jones put it, “The difference between a swamp and a river is that a river has banks, and a swamp has none—it spreads over everything. Some people are rivers: they know where they want to go, and they confine themselves to the banks that lead to that goal. But some people are swamps: they spread over everything; their minds are so open they cannot hold a conviction.”

I’d much rather be a “river for God” and know where I stand and where I’m going and be labeled narrow minded than to be a swamp for “anything goes” and be popular with the crowd! It is much wiser to be biblically correct than politically correct.

As martyred missionary Jim Elliot, who stood firmly on the Word of God, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the courage to stand firmly on your foundation of truth based on your Word, the Bible, knowing that in the long run truth will survive the test of time. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:8.

A few years ago Ralph Blodgett, who has researched psychic predictions for several years found that in a given year out of 250 specific predictions by 30 of the nation’s leading psychics, less than three percent could be listed as “reasonably fulfilled.”

Blodgett said, “I used to think psychics had to be led by either God or the devil. Now I’m convinced that they are being led most of the time by no one at all.”

Sometimes, too, I can’t help but wonder about some Christians who claim that God has given them a special word. I’ve had articles sent to me in the hopes that I would accept them for publication, the writer of whom assured me that their message was given to them by God and they wanted him to have all the glory for it. Frankly, I don’t think God wanted the glory for some of this material.

On one occasion one fellow informed me that God had told him he was to work for me. I didn’t give him a job. He was neither trained nor qualified for our type of work. I’ve heard others claim they had a word from the Lord … and what they “prophesied” never did happen.

In Old Testament times the test of a true prophet was 100 percent accuracy. The punishment for a false prophet was extremely severe. It was death.²

Today, in New Testament times, we are warned not to believe every spirit, but to put them to the test to make sure their word is from God. Of one thing we can be certain, if what a person claims is a word from God and it is contrary to God’s Word, we know it is not from God.

So does God still speak to people today? Yes, mostly through his Word, the Bible. It can also be through circumstances, through an inner conviction—the still small voice within—and on occasion through an audible voice. I recently wrote about a friend who, during a storm, was awakened in the night by an audible voice that said, “Sit up and take in a deep breath.” She thought she was dreaming so went back to sleep. The third time she heard the voice, she sat up, took in a deep breath—and smelled smoke. Their house had been struck by lightning and was on fire. The entire family barely made it out of the house when it exploded in flames and was totally destroyed.

However God speaks to you and to me, we need to be certain it is in harmony with his Word, the Bible. If not, dismiss it immediately, as there are many crackpots who, among other things, raise a lot of money from ill-informed and sometimes gullible people. Remember, too, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”³—not compulsions!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a desire to read, study and know your Word so that I will not be led astray by false prophets, or by my own mis-leadings. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 John 4:1 (NIV).

2. Deuteronomy 18:20 (NIV).

3. 2 Corinthians 3:17.

I remember reading in Reader’s Digest about a company who glued a mustard seed to a brochure that was advertising the product they were manufacturing. Beneath the mustard seed they had a caption that went something like the following: “If you have faith as much as a grain of mustard seed in our product, you will see a mountain of difference in what you are trying to achieve.”

Some months later a customer wrote back to the company saying, “You will be interested to know that I planted your mustard seed and it has already grown into a very robust plant—bearing healthy tomatoes!”

For our purpose what kind of seed the advertiser used doesn’t really matter, but for us to achieve anything worthwhile with our life, our faith needs to be genuine and based on reality, not on some grandiose fantasy.

Every one of us has a mountain or two in our life that we need to remove, be it a bad habit, an addiction, an impaired or toxic relationship, an unforgiving spirit, or whatever. To assume that God will remove these mountains without our accepting full responsibility for doing our part isn’t faith—it’s presumption—and presumption won’t make it.

Sometimes, too, we want to do something strictly for our own end. To justify it we say it is God’s will or God is leading me or told me to do such and such. When we do this with an impure motive, this too isn’t faith but presumption.

Many people believe that if they do more good deeds than bad deeds, this will qualify them for entering God’s heaven. Others believe that all religions lead to God and, if adhered to religiously, will qualify them for entering God’s heaven. Unfortunately these are presumptions. The only way to qualify for God’s heaven is to have faith in the way God has stated in his Word, the Bible, and that is through Jesus who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me.”²

When it comes to life after death, presumption can be fatal—eternally fatal. Faith is crucial but it needs to be in the right “seed”—and that is, in the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ. For help see the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian,” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from the fatal folly of presumption and help me to always have faith in your ways as found in your Word, the Bible. Sometimes I feel like the man in the Bible who said, ‘Lord I believe. Help thou my unbelief.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 17:20 (NIV).

2. John 14:6 (NIV).

Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe can be achieved.” While this statement sounds rather grandiose, there is certainly a measure of truth in it. It’s somewhat similar to what Jesus said two thousand years earlier: “According to your faith be it unto you.”² But as James, the brother of Jesus, explained, without action faith is useless.

As the old saying goes, you can’t steer a ship or a bicycle to go anywhere until they’re moving. Zig Ziglar in his book, See You at the Top, put it this way: “The largest locomotive in the world can be held in its tracks while standing still simply by placing a single one-inch block of wood in front of each of the eight drive wheels. The same locomotive moving at 100 miles per hour can crash through a wall of steel reinforced concrete five feet thick.”

The important thing is that we get moving! As James said, “Faith without works is dead.”

Some people are sitting around waiting for some kind of special call or revelation from God before they get involved in his work. It’s not likely to happen because God has already given us lots of instructions in his Word regarding what to do. All we need to do is read these instructions … and start moving into action!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a doer of your Word and not just a hearer. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 2:17 (NIV).

2. Matthew 9:29.

Following World War II some German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral in England, one that had been badly damaged by the Luftwaffe bombings. As the work progressed, they weren’t sure how to best restore a large statue of Jesus with arms outstretched and bearing the familiar inscription, “Come unto me.”

They were able to repair all the damage to the statue except for Christ’s hands which had been completely destroyed. Should they even attempt to rebuild these?

Finally, the workers reached a decision that still stands today. They decided to leave the hands off and changed the inscription to read: “Christ has no hands but ours.”

While Christ paid the price of and purchased our salvation on the cross with his life, he left the “hands on” work of building his kingdom in your hands and mine. We are his representatives and, for many, the only Christ they will ever see is “the Christ” in you and in me. A poster on the office wall at Wheaton College says it all:

“The living truth is what I long to see,

I cannot live on what used to be,

So close your Bible and show me how

The Christ you talk about is living now.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please use ‘my hands’ and help me to be as Christ, first to my loved ones, and then to whomever you bring in to my life today. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (TLB)(NLT).

Roger Perkins wrote how he “once encountered a ruffled grouse in the woods of Montana. She was close and feigned having a broken wing and unable to fly. She would run ahead of me and look back to make sure I followed. Her purpose was to lead me away from her chicks who were somewhere nearby, although I couldn’t see them. This is a common ploy among mother wild game birds. I am capable of the same thing in my life and have done it on occasion. I have to keep on constant guard.”

What Roger is saying is that it is very easy to be led astray by rationalizing tempting thoughts and allowing them to lead us astray, and then justifying our actions when we chose to do something that we know in our heart is wrong.

As the Apostle Paul advised, we need to be constantly on guard against our own deceptive thoughts, rationalizations, and actions because Satan will never give up on seeking to lead us away from God. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in the words of the hymn writer, I, too, am ‘Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it / Prone to leave the God I love / Here’s my heart, O take and seal it / Seal it for Thy courts above.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT).

2. 1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV).

Recently when Joy and I were returning from vacation, we were coming home via Denver, Colorado, when our plane was about to land, the pilot made an announcement that there was a problem with the plane that needed to be attended to prior to landing. The plane returned to a higher altitude and circled for what seemed like an eternity before we heard any further announcements. Finally, the pilot informed us that the problem was with the airplane’s brakes and that they had it under control, but we would be landing on the runway that was designed and used for space craft landings—a runway that was 16,000 feet long which is getting close to three miles long. Were we nervous?

Certainly we were anxious and more so when coming in to land, we noticed quite a few emergency vehicles lining the runway just in case. When we landed safely, all passengers were certainly relieved (and thankful) as we applauded the pilot’s safe landing of the big jetliner.

In an emergency like this, one can’t help but wonder what was going on in the mind of every passenger. How many, like Joy and myself, were praying for God’s protection and a safe landing? And how many were praying perhaps for the first time in their life? And what were the thoughts going through the minds of every passenger knowing that there was a possibility that we may be facing death? Even for Joy and myself, who have complete confidence in knowing that when death occurs, we will be in God’s hands and go directly to Heaven, it was still a very sobering thought that our lives might be suddenly ended. It did make me realize that I need to get all my effects in order because one day my end will come.

I was vividly reminded of the lady I was asked to visit in the hospital some time back. She needed a minister because she was facing the end and was terrified to die. She had fought sleep for days because she was afraid that if she went to sleep, she would never awake. Tragically, when I visited her, she had already fallen asleep and never did awaken, so I never did get to see her to share God’s love for her and the hope in Jesus Christ.

How tragically sad because nobody has to leave earth without the assurance of God’s forgiveness and a home in Heaven. Thus, if you are not absolutely sure that you are ready for life beyond life, be sure to read the article, “Passport for Heaven” at: https://learning.actsweb.org/passport.php.

Passport for Heaven …

Whatever you do, don’t leave earth without it!

See it at: https://learning.actsweb.org/passport.php

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the gift or your Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for all my sins, so that I can be fully forgiven and receive your gift of eternal life to be with you in Heaven forever after my life on earth is over. Please help me to be absolutely certain that I have received your forgiveness and that my name is written in your book of life—for life beyond death. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

For additional help, read “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” online at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

1. Amos 4:12 (NIV).

John Ruskin wrote, “God has lent us the earth for our life. It belongs as much to those who are to come after us and those whose names are already written in the book of creation, as to us; and we have no right, by anything that we do, or neglect, to involve them in unnecessary penalties, or deprive them of benefits that are in our power to bequeath.”

We know that it isn’t God’s goal to save the world as it now is, but to save people from it. And we know that in the end times God is going to create a new earth and a new heaven.² In the meantime, however, that doesn’t give any person or nation the right to damage the earth, because God has entrusted the keeping of it and everything in it to mankind. We are therefore responsible for doing just that. The world is not ours. We are to be caretakers of it, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”³

I’m not suggesting that we be obsessive and/or fanatical in this area as some (or many) are today, but that we all be responsible.

Suggested prayer: “Thank you, God, for the beauty of the earth and all that is therein, and, as a citizen of heaven, please help me to be a responsible citizen of earth. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Genesis 1:26 (NIV).

2. Revelation 21:1.

3. Psalm 24:1 (NIV).