Terry George, director of ACTS work in Australia told how, at a special community fire safety meeting, the attendees were reminded that they live in one of the highest fire risk areas in Australia. Because of this, they needed to be well prepared ahead of time should their area be consumed by a bush (forest) fire. This was particularly pertinent at a time when so much of Australia was experiencing extreme drought conditions.

Terry and Lynne live right on the edge of Adelaide’s bush land in a delightful natural setting where they often see koalas, kangaroos, echidna, rosella parrots and many other birds and small creatures in their back yard. During a time of severe drought Terry was actually giving a kangaroo a drink from his garden hose. All of these things are a thrilling experience and, as such, it is all too easy to forget the dangers of their surroundings.

The first question the rural fire officers asked was, “Do you have an action plan in case of a bush fire?” Terry realized that he didn’t and was determined to make sure that he did for the protection of their home but especially for the safety and survival of himself and Lynne.

He was also reminded of the vital importance for all of us to have an action plan in place for when we come to the end of our life’s journey. God’s reminder to ancient Israel to prepare to meet God also applies to each of us. God’s Word also reminds us that “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”²

“Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You that Your Word not only reminds me that I need to prepare now for when I meet You face to face, but also that it shows me just how I can prepare by accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Help me to make sure that I have done this and am fully prepared to meet You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: For help to make sure you are prepared to meet God read “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Amos 4:12 (NIV).

2. Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV).

Now I knew the reason why Toni was a prostitute. She was craving a father’s and mother’s love which she had never received. She was also acting out her inner hurt, anger, and self-hatred in self-destructive ways. She was desperately craving for love and acceptance—obviously in all the wrong ways and places.

Apparently there was another couple involved in this “business.” They could see that things weren’t going too well for them. They were closing in on Toni and trying to get her away.

I reached around to block them for a moment, put my arm around Toni’s shoulder and said, “Toni, I will probably never ever see you again, but there is something very important that I want to tell you. I hope you will never forget this as long as you live. It is this: no matter what you have ever done or have failed to do—and no matter what it is, and no matter how you ever feel or don’t feel, please remember that God loves you and so do I.”

And with that I let go of Toni and she was taken away.

As I sat down again I felt deeply moved in my spirit. Two people had related—heart-to-heart and not merely head-to-head as in so many conversations. Then I was struck with the thought that in God’s sight there wasn’t that much difference between Toni and me; the only difference being that, to overcome the voice of her inner pain and emptiness, Toni became a sexaholic. To overcome my inner pain and emptiness I became a workaholic—”for God,” no less! But with God, who looks on the heart and not merely on the outward appearance, there wasn’t any difference—Toni and I had both sinned and come short of the perfection (wholeness) that God had envisioned for us both.²

In God’s sight we were both equally sinners. And then as I sat there in deep contemplation, waiting for my friend to get off work, another truth hit me. It was this: It was a lack of love that drove Toni into acts of sin. Only love will ever take her out again!

Love, understanding, acceptance and forgiveness. That’s the message of Christ and true Christianity. It’s the message that we all need to hear—and experience. And it’s the message that Christ has for you and me today (and the message He wants you and me to give to everyone else in need). As another has said, “Christianity is experiencing divine love, divine acceptance and divine forgiveness and communicating this to every life we touch.”

So, dear reader, God wants you to know, too, that no matter what you have ever done or have failed to do, He loves you and has the gift of acceptance and forgiveness for you. It’s yours for the taking. Why not respond to God’s love today by confessing your need and asking for His forgiveness and healing?

For help 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, please help me always to be accepting and non-judgmental of fellow sinners and be one to whom they feel safe to confess their sins—and help them to turn to You for Your forgiveness. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 1:9 (NIV).

2. Romans 3:23.

Continuing our series on “Lady of the Night” … I was saying how, when traveling out East, I was approached by a young lady in the lobby of a large hotel whose name was Toni (not her real name).

After asking her various questions about her background, Toni seemed to get suspicious and blurted out, “Hey, Dick, wait a minute. Nobody in my whole life has ever talked to me like this before. By the way, who are you? What do you do?”

Oh, no, I thought to myself, if I tell her who I am and what I do, she’ll really clam up and that’ll be the end of our conversation.

I didn’t want to answer Toni’s question so I stood there and grinned rather foolishly. I probably learned that technique early in life in order to disarm my mother when she was mad at me. It used to work then. It didn’t now. I decided to tell Toni the truth.

“You’ll never believe me,” I finally replied, “but I’m a minister of religion,” to which I fully expected her to give some lame excuse and leave.

But Toni never batted an eyelid. As quick as a flash she responded, “You mean you believe in the Lord?”

“Yes,” I said, relieved that my reply didn’t make her turn and run.

“So do I,” she said positively, and continued, “I often pray in the shower and ask God to forgive my sins.”

Interesting, I thought to myself. That’s pretty common. Like Pilate of old who washed his hands after he had Jesus condemned to be crucified, people still try to wash away their guilt—which neither water nor the symbolic act of washing can do. Only God can take and wash our guilt away.

But Toni didn’t give me a chance to reply again. She just opened up to me. She told me all about her family and her work, how much she despised what she was doing, how unhappy she had always been, how she felt that her father had rejected and deserted her and moved a thousand miles away. She hadn’t seen him since she was a little girl. She had been deeply hurt by him. She also told me in no uncertain terms how much she hated her mother.

And then came the “crunch” line. I knew there would be one, but wasn’t sure what it would be. “Dick,” she said with tears brimming in her eyes, “in my whole life I have never ever felt that anyone ever loved me. I am terribly lonely all of the time.”

I got a little watery-eyed myself. “I can understand how you feel,” I genuinely said. “I came from a broken home too. My parents were divorced. And I hated my father because I felt that he rejected me. I know what it’s like to feel lonely—like you’re all alone in the world and nobody loves you or even cares that you exist. I know exactly what that feels like—only too well.”

To be concluded…

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from ‘casting stones’ at those whom I feel aren’t living up to ‘my’ standards. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 8:7 (NLT).

“Excuse me, Sir,” I heard somebody say. I turned to see who was speaking. I was taken by surprise. A young, reasonably attractive woman was standing behind me.

She paused a moment, just long enough to get my attention, and continued, “Would you like some female company?”

I’d flown into town and had been waiting for a couple of hours in the lobby of a large Eastern hotel to meet an old friend from college days. Suddenly I was awakened out of my day-dreaming. Would I like some female company? An interesting question, to say the least, I mused to myself and then repeated the question out loud to the young woman looking at me.

I was somewhat taken aback by this rather unusual confrontation. However, it didn’t take too much insight to realize that this lady of the day happened to be a “lady of the night.”

But somehow I sensed as I looked into her eyes a feeling of sadness … in spite of the brave front. So I introduced myself and asked her for her name. I’ll call her Toni. I knew that here was a young lady who was undoubtedly hurting in one way or another. So I began to ask Toni questions. “Why are you in this business?” I queried.

“Because I need the money,” she replied.

Undoubtedly her reply was a poor attempt to rationalize what she was doing. I didn’t disagree outwardly.

“Well, tell me about yourself,” I continued. “Do you have brothers and sisters? What do they do? Do you still live at home? What does your father do? And what about your mother?”

Toni began to open up and we were having an interesting conversation when suddenly she stopped, as if suspicion had caused an instant freeze on her flow of words. She blurted out, “Hey, Dick, wait a minute. Nobody in my whole life has ever talked to me like this before. By the way, who are you? What do you do?”

To be continued…

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me an understanding heart and be willing to listen to a person—and not judge or reject them because of their particular lifestyle and behavior. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Colossians 4:6 (NIV).

“One morning,” writes Ron Clarke, “I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather across my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.

“At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way.

“I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant—one of God’s smallest creatures. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome.”

Can you imagine God telling us to learn from an ant? So what can we learn? Ants are determined, they are not afraid to work to achieve their goals, they work as a team, they think through and work to overcome the challenges thrown in their pathway, and they never give up. But most of all they teach us about the marvels of God’s creation.

“Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for the miracles of Your creation. Help me to learn the lessons I need to learn from the ants. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 6:6 (NIV).

One Sunday I was having lunch in a restaurant where a humming bird had flown in through an open door and couldn’t find its way out. It flew to the highest window and was frantically trying to escape through the glass. The more it tried—and failed—the harder it worked at doing the same thing.

Little did it realize that a very simple way of escape lay one yard/meter below it—through a wide-open door.

It could see quite well but was trapped by its own blindness to the way of escape.

Fortunately one of the staff was able to climb on a ladder, caught the bird in a box and set it free. We all felt so good about its rescue that we applauded.

But how many people in today’s world are struggling in a vain attempt to save themselves—spiritually—but are also trapped by their own blindness to the way of escape God has provided for their total and free salvation?

Would that we Christians would care about these lost souls all around us as much as the patrons cared about a “trapped” bird in a restaurant.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for providing a way of escape from the penalty and judgment of my sin through the giving of Your Son, Jesus, by sending Him to die in my place on the cross so You could freely forgive me and give me the gift of eternal life in Heaven forever with You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

For help: Click on #2 below for the article: “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” or on http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Hebrews 2:3 (NIV).

Pastor Ron Clarke from Tasmania, Australia, wrote: “One evening at dusk I was looking out of my window towards the sea when a huge flock of birds appeared, almost like a black cloud—there must have been thousands. They were traveling from west to east parallel with the coast. Then suddenly it happened. Not a few of them, not some of them, but every single one of them instantly changed direction and flew on a different course.

“We human beings think we have perfected communication. But those birds didn’t have two-way radio yet they knew precisely at what split second in time to change course and in what direction to fly.

“These birds, Shearwaters or Mutton Birds, live on the islands in Bass Strait off the north coast of Tasmania. Every year these birds migrate to the North Pacific and spend summer around the Aleutians. As the northern winter approaches, the Shearwaters fly back to their annual breeding ground on the Tasmanian islands and will go to the same nest and, give or take a day or two for adverse weather conditions en route, will arrive on that same nest on a given day.”

Think, too, of a million billion other marvels that surround us every day on the earth below and in the heavens above.

Did these all happen by chance? Or is there a Master Designer of the entire universe and all that is therein? For me it would take a whole lot more faith (or presumption) to believe that everything in the universe happened by chance.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for the marvels of your creation. I choose to believe that You are the Great Creator who created all things great and small—including all mankind—and I thank You that You love us devotedly one and all. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

Note: See “Marvels of Creation” at: www.actsweb.org/marvels_creation.php

1. Psalm 8:3-9 (NIV).

Some churches today, or at least some church leaders—wanting to be politically correct—are approving of ordaining homosexual pastors. In so doing, they are totally ignoring God’s Word that indeed has said: “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”²

What these church leaders are doing is no different than what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when God allowed them to be tested to see if they would willingly follow Him or choose to go their own way.

God made it very clear to Adam and Eve that they could eat of every tree in the entire Garden of Eden except for just one tree. Enter Satan. Wanting to gravely harm the apex of God’s creation, Satan sought to sow doubt into Eve’s mind by saying, “Has God said?” Tragically, Eve, then Adam, bought into Satan’s deceit and ate of the forbidden fruit. What Adam and Eve did was set themselves up above God—usurping His authority—making themselves the judge between God and Satan and chose to believe and follow Satan. This is when sin and evil entered the human race.

What these “politically correct” church leaders are doing today is exactly the same as what Adam and Eve did. They, too, are placing themselves above God and usurping His authority. God HAS indeed said that homosexuality is a detestable sin and the reason it is detestable to God is because it is damaging to those whom he loves. To ignore God’s Word and go against it is to put one’s self above God—usurping His authority—believing that you know better than He does. This is an extremely dangerous path to follow because it will, in the end, reap extremely damaging results.

Remember, too, regarding any sin, God HAS also said, “For the wages of sin is death3 [which means spiritual death that is eternal separation from a Holy God in the place God’s Word calls Hell]. Fortunately, however, as God is a loving God, He also said, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”³

We ignore God’s Word to our peril. However, the good news is that God can freely give you and me the gift of forgiveness and eternal life because in His eternal love for us, He gave His very own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cruel Roman cross to pay the just penalty for all of our sins. All we need to do is genuinely confess to God that we are sinners, believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to pay the just penalty for our sins, ask God for His forgiveness, and accept Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.

For help to do this be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: www.actsweb.org/christian. Be sure and do this today.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Holy Bible, with its instructions not only for this life, but also for life after life. Help me never to usurp Your authority by disregarding Your Word and going my own way. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Genesis 3:1-3 (NKJV).

2. Leviticus 18:22.

3. Romans 6:23 (NKJV).

The question: Where was God when my baby sister died suddenly? When my husband died in the prime of life? When my child was kidnapped, raped, and murdered? The question is as old as Job and as fresh as today. So many asked where was God on this day—September 11, 2001—when terrorists destroyed the New York trade towers and smashed into the Pentagon killing some three thousand people.

So where was God? God was and is where He always is. He saw it all. As Jesus wept when His friend Lazarus died, so also He wept grievously on this tragic day as He does when all senseless tragedies happen.

Did God cause it to happen? No, never! Did He know it would happen? Yes. Why didn’t He stop it? And why didn’t He stop Hitler massacring millions of Jews, and why didn’t He stop Stalin and others who have slaughtered millions? And why doesn’t He stop rapists, kidnappers, and murderers … and terrorists … and suicide bombers … and all wars?

For the simple reason that He has given mankind a free will to choose—either to follow and obey Him or to go our own sinful, and often evil way. It’s mankind’s choice. It is every single individual’s choice. God never created or wanted puppets on a string. Every one of us has been given a free will. The fact is that God is where He always was. He never left us. We, as a human race, left Him. When tragedies occur, the question shouldn’t be, “Where is God?” Rather it should be, “Where are we?”

However, when we choose and go the way of evil, the heart of God grieves. In fact, because God cared for and loved us so much is the reason why He gave his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die to pay the penalty for all our sins and deliver us from evil and from sin’s eternal consequences—hell and eternal separation from Him—the source of all love and life.

Yes, Jesus wept on this day in 2001, and I believe He grieved with the thousands of others who also grieved on this day because their heart was torn with grief. And He still grieves with all who are suffering today and every day because of mankind’s acts of senseless evil. And He grieves for all lost souls who could freely receive God’s forgiveness for all their sins, but they refuse or fail to do so.

As the hymn writer expressed in words to this effect:

Does Jesus care?

O yes he cares,

His heart is touched with my grief,

The long hours weary,

So sad and dreary,

I know my Savior cares.

Suggested prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that when I hurt, You feel my pain and grieve with me. Thank You, too, that You also grieve when evil in the world is unleashed and people are struck down in the prime of life. And thank You that You have the gift of forgiveness and salvation for all who come to You confessing their sinfulness and their need to be ultimately delivered from all the evil in the world. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: For help to be absolutely sure you’re a real Christian (without having to be religious) click on the “Know God” button below or on: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

1. John 11:34-36 (NIV).

In the early days of the Christian church Paul was giving instructions to Titus regarding qualifications for church leadership. One requirement was that leaders were to be well established in sound doctrine; that is, in the understanding and teaching of God’s Word. Unfortunately, there are some leaders and some churches whose doctrine may be sound, but as Vance Havner put it, sound asleep! Sound awake doctrine is critical because if we are not well grounded in God’s truth, we can easily be led astray by persuasive and charming false teachers. As another has said, “If we don’t stand for truth, we can fall for anything.”

Sound doctrine, as critically important as it is, is not enough in and of itself. It needs to be balanced with love. Without love, doctrine can become deathly legalism or modern day Phariseeism. On the other hand, love without sound doctrine can become, at best, “sloppy agape” and at worst empty humanism. The real church and true Christianity is based on God’s truth (sound doctrine) and genuine love. Both are equally important.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know and understand Your truth but give me a loving heart to live it as well as to learn it. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Titus 1:9 (NIV).