You may have read about the iron-fisted professor (supposedly at the University of California) who was extremely rigid with his students. In reminding them about their final exam for the course he was teaching, he said they were not to begin their test until he told them exactly when they were to commence, and after exactly one hour they were to finish precisely at the time he said they were to stop, and immediately bring their test and place it on the front desk as they left the class room. If they failed to follow his instructions precisely, he would fail them.

So … at the final exam all the students followed the professor’s instructions exactly as he demanded—except for one student who kept writing after they were told to stop. The professor demanded that he stop writing, but he didn’t. He just kept working on his final exam. When he was finished, he brought his test to the front desk where the furious professor was sitting.

“Why didn’t you follow my instructions?” the professor demanded.

“Because I needed more time,” the student replied.

“Don’t you know I am going to fail you? What is your name?”

“You mean you don’t know my name?” the student replied.

“How could I?” the professor barked, “I have 400 students in this class!”

“Good,” said the student as he slipped his test into the pile of 399 other examination papers on the professor’s desk—and walked out of the room!

In this life we can hide all sorts of things from all sorts of people, but we can never hide from God. He sees all. He knows all. And he loves and accepts us anyhow. But we can also be sure that, unless forgiven, our sins will find us out—even if it is eventually!

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, thank you that I can never hide from you, that you know all about me, and that you always know where I am and what I am doing. That can be both frightening and comforting. Help me to so live that I will never need to be afraid of your seeing me, and help me to take comfort in the fact that no matter what circumstances I am in, you will never leave me nor forsake me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully[,] in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 139:1, 7-14 (NIV).

Dr. Paige Patterson tells how the renown African-American singer, Ethel Waters, known for her ministry with Billy Graham Crusades, learned about life the hard way. Ethel said that, as a child, she always felt lost and like an outsider. She was born out of wedlock, got into trouble continuously. Ethel described it, “I never was really a child, was never liked or understood by my family, never felt like I belonged, nobody brought me up. I ran wild as a little girl, was real bad, was leader of a street gang, and a general hell-raiser.”

Rev. Williams was preaching at a revival service to which Ethel was invited. On the last night, Ethel pleaded with God to speak to her, which, to her was to be God’s last chance.

The preacher spoke on the riches of Christ and his ability to save anyone from their sins. Something happened—Christ “spoke” to Ethel and she received Jesus as her Savior and was soundly converted to Christianity. From that experience she often sang the familiar words, “Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, / Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home, / When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He; / His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; / His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”²

NOTE: If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer, “Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you that you not only know about the sparrows, but also that you know everything about me—even the number of hairs on my head—and that you care for me more than I could ever realize. Please help me to know and experience your care, your love, and your affirmation of me in the very core of my being. Do this for the glory of your name. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 10:29-30 (NLT).
2. Civilla D. Martin, 1905.

Max Lucado tells how, in 1989, a terrible earthquake in Armenia killed 30,000 people. Among those uninjured were a man and his wife. Their son was in an elementary school that collapsed. The father rushed to the school. He had always told Armon that he would come for him if he was ever in trouble. He worked intensely removing debris trying to find Armon and after thirty-eight hours he heard his child’s voice and with the help of other workers freed Armon and the other children.

Armon said, “I told them you would come because you had promised. I told them you would always be there for me. I knew you would return.”²

Just as Armon’s father promised his son he would always come for him, even more certain is Jesus’ promise to his followers. His first coming to earth is an indisputable fact of history. His second coming for his followers is just as certain as he promised that if he went back to heaven, he would come back to earth again to take us to be with him forever. And as every prophecy in the Old Testament regarding Christ’s first coming was fulfilled in minutest detail, we can be just as certain that every promise concerning his second coming in the New Testament will also be fulfilled in minutest detail.

The important thing is to be ready for him, as Jesus also said, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [Jesus] will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”³ To be sure you are ready for Christ’s return, please see “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the wonderful hope that every Christian has, that you came to earth the first time to pay the penalty for all my sins, and that you are now preparing a place for me in heaven. And thank you for your wonderful promise that when the time is ready, you will come back again to take me to be with you forever. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 14:1-3 (NKJV).
2. Adapted from Max Lucado, San Antonio, TX.
3. Matthew 24:44 (NIV).

“It’s easier to fight for one’s principles,” said Alfred Adler, “than to live up to them.” How true. It’s also easier to talk about losing weight, to think about changing my ways, and to sing about love—than to do these things. But for all who want to do more than talk, there will never be a lack of opportunities especially for those who want to serve God and be a part of his plan.

Jesus started Christianity with twelve ordinary men, was with them for three years, then left the task of spreading the gospel and establishing his church on earth to them. Think of it. Twelve very ordinary men!

As with Gideon and his tiny band of 300 “warriors,” God seems to work more often than not through individuals and small groups. He’ll work through you and me and our small groups, too, if we truly want him to. The wonderful thing is that God uses ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things—when they make themselves available to him and ask him to use them as a part of what he is doing in the world today.

May I suggest that you pray the following prayer every day for the rest of your life?

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I’m available. Please make me usable and use me to be a part of your plans and what you are doing in my world. Please help me to be ‘as Jesus’ to my family, to someone in need, and in some way to every life I touch. Today! Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Judges 7:4 (NIV).

Terry Austin of Dallas, Texas, tells about Bert Frizen who, in 1944, “was an infantryman on the front line in Europe. American forces had advanced in the face of intermittent shelling and small-arms fire throughout the morning hours, but now all was quiet. His patrol reached the edge of a wooded area with an open field before them. Unknown to the Americans, a battery of Germans waited in a hedgerow about two hundred yards across the field.

“Bert was one of two scouts who moved out into the clearing. Once he was halfway across the field, the remainder of his battalion followed. Suddenly the Germans opened fire, and machine gun fire ripped into both of Bert’s legs. The American battalion withdrew into the woods for protection, while a rapid exchange of fire continued.

“Bert lay helplessly in a small stream as shots volleyed overhead. There seemed to be no way out. To make matters worse, he now noticed that a German soldier was crawling toward him. Death appeared imminent so he closed his eyes and waited.

“To Bert’s surprise, a considerable period passed without the expected attack, so he ventured opening his eyes again. He was startled to see the German kneeling at his side, smiling. He then noticed that the shooting had stopped. Troops from both sides of the battlefield watched anxiously. Without any verbal exchange, this mysterious German reached down to lift Bert in his arms and proceeded to carry him to the safety of Bert’s comrades.”

Amazing! A wonderful thing to see! But far more amazing is the fact that when Jesus left the “Ivory Palaces of Heaven,” to come to earth as a man, he bridged the gap that separated you and me from God. In giving his life for us on the cross, he rescued us from a lost and hopeless eternity to provide for us forgiveness for all our sins, the gift of eternal life, and a home in heaven where there will be the fullness of love and life forever.

NOTE: To be sure you have received God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life, be sure to read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for giving your Son, Jesus, to stand in the gap that separated me from you and, in so doing, you rescued me from a lost and hopeless eternity. And Jesus, let my life be a living ‘thank you’ for your dying sacrifice in giving your life to die in my place on the cross of Calvary. Thank your for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 15:12-13 (NIV).

Les Brown, an Emergency Technician, was driving home from a busy day at work when he heard an emergency call on his car radio scanner. A child was choking and in need of immediate help.

The police dispatched a rescue squad but Les, realizing he was only a few blocks away, knew that he could get there sooner. He radioed the police to tell them that he was also on the way. When he tried to exit the freeway, he couldn’t. A large caterpillar tractor had dug a deep trench right across the exit.

Les pulled to the side, jumped from his car and yelled to the tractor driver, “There’s a baby in trouble down the street. I have to get there urgently!”

Immediately, the man filled in a large part of the trench he’d spent all day digging, packed the fill down and waved Les across. Les rushed to where the call came from. There he found a frantic mother waiting for help to arrive. The baby she was holding had turned purple. Les grabbed the child, put him over his knee and carefully hit him on the back and out popped a button from his mouth. Much to the mother’s relief, the child breathed again.

On the way home the following evening Les noticed the tractor working at the same exit so he pulled over to tell the driver what had happened. When the man saw him, he jumped from his tractor and this time he yelled to Les, “The baby you saved yesterday … That was my baby! Mine! Mine!”²

Here we see genuine love in action and such love has many facets. In the powerful words of Scripture, it is patient, thoughtful, kind and forgiving. It isn’t jealous, proud, boasting, self-seeking, rude or easily angered. Nor does it keep a record of wrongs. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. It never fails.”³

And that, dear reader, is the love that Jesus exhibited for you and me when he died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. And when we accept and appreciate the reality of what he has done for us and accept his forgiveness and the gift of eternal life, we too can say to God with great appreciation, “The life you saved is mine! Mine!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you for all that you have done for me: for loving me, for giving your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins, for accepting me, for forgiving me for all my sins, and for saving me for all eternity. Because you died to give me all of this, please help me to live fully and faithfully for you all the days of my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: If you have never received Jesus as your Savior, be sure to read “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian-Without Having to Be Religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Romans 5:7-8 (NKJV).
2. Adapted from “The Power of Love” by Dick Innes at:
http://tinyurl.com/283t54
3. 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV).

George Adam Smith, the 19th century biblical scholar, tells of traveling one day in the holy land and coming across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him and the man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in.

Smith asked him, “This is where they go at night?”

“Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.”

“But there is no door,” said Smith.

“I am the door,” said the shepherd.

He was not a Christian man and wasn’t speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from an Arab shepherd’s viewpoint.

Smith looked and him and asked, “What do you mean, ‘you are the door’?”

“When the light has gone,” said the shepherd, “and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”

And that’s what Jesus is for all of his children, the sheep of his pasture.

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, thank you that we have the promise that Jesus is always with us no matter in what circumstances we find ourselves, and that he is the door to watch and guard over each one of his children—including me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 10:7 (NASB).

It was a sad day when on “July 16, John F. Kennedy, Jr., along with his wife and her sister, were killed when their plane crashed into the waters off the coast of Massachusetts. They were buried at sea with their ashes being scattered at a site not far from where they died.”

Friends say John F. Kennedy, Jr. will spend eternity where generations of his family have sought escape, solace and recreation—at sea.

“We all came from the sea,” his father, the 35th president, a Navy veteran and an avid sailor, said in 1962. “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back from whence we came.”

“That the sea would factor in so largely in his death is rather ironic,” said Wendy Northcross, vice chair of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum. “And his remains will ultimately stay with the sea.”²

Well, not quite.

Not even the sea itself, in all of its mystical glory, will shield us from our day of accountability with the Lord. Our souls do not remain in the sea. Whether we are rich or poor makes no difference, for every one of us will stand before God and give an account of ourselves, or as the Bible also says, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”³

I only hope that JFK Jr., his wife and her sister, were prepared to meet God, for neither the sea nor anything else apart from the salvation offered through Jesus Christ could save them or anybody else.

And Dear Reader, if you have never accepted God’s forgiveness and are not absolutely sure you are ready to meet God, you can be, today, by accepting God’s free pardon for all your sins and accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. To help you do this, be sure to read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you have made it possible for me to stand before you at the end of life’s journey without any fear of being judged for my sins and failures. This is because your son, Jesus, died in my place to pay the penalty and judgment for all my sins. This I believe with all my heart. Please help me to be sure that I am a true Christian and am ready to meet you face to face. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 16:1-2 (NKJV).
2. Adapted from AP Reports, July 19, 1999.
3. Hebrews 9:27 (NIV).

John Jordan explained how that if we made a graph to indicate the increase of man’s knowledge from the beginning of time to 1845 it would measure 1 inch (25mm). From 1845 to 1945—just 100 years—it would measure three inches (76mm). From 1945 to the present day it would be as tall as the Washington Monument, which is 555 feet (169m) high! According to one of my college professors, the world’s knowledge was then doubling every five years. I believe that today it is doubling every two years. And with the computer age, knowledge is increasing at an ever-accelerating rate.

This, according to Daniel (a major prophet in the Bible) is one of the signs of the end times which will be climaxed by the return of Jesus Christ to earth to take all his true followers to be with him for all eternity.

Daniel said another sign of the end of this world age as we know it would be that of mankind rushing to and fro. Some Bible translations indicate that this means rushing to and fro for knowledge. Whether it means this or just men rushing to and fro [here and there] makes little difference as both are happening as never before in the history of mankind.

So, whether Jesus returns in our lifetime or not remains to be seen. The important thing to realize is that Jesus is coming again and that we need to be ready—for at a time when we least expect it, he will come again.

Jesus himself promised his disciples and followers that he would come again. Before he was crucified he said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”²

After Jesus’ resurrection, at the time of his return to heaven, the angels also promised “that this same Jesus” would come back again. As the Bible says, “They [Jesus' disciples and followers] were looking intently up into the sky as he [Jesus] was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”³

And this is the promise of hope that every true follower of Jesus has. Jesus is coming again and this evil world with all its sickness, sadness, sorrow and suffering will come to an end for all who put their faith and trust in Jesus for their eternal salvation. As God’s Word says, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”⁴

What a day, glorious day, this will be!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. And thank you for his resurrection from death and the grave, and that he is now in heaven preparing a place for all his true followers. Thank you for this wonderful promise. Help me to know for certain that my sins have been forgiven and that I will go to be with Jesus forever when he returns, or if I should die before he comes again. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: To be sure that you are ready for Christ’s return be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

1. Daniel 12:4 (NKJV).
2. John 14:1-3 (NASB).
3. Acts 1:10-11 (NIV).
4. Revelation 21:4 (NKJV).

I have read that one of Denmark’s leading sculptors had a consuming ambition to sculpt the greatest stature of Jesus Christ ever made. He began by painstakingly shaping a clay model of a triumphant, majestic figure. “This will be my masterpiece,” he stated on the day the model was completed.

However, during the night, a heavy fog rolled into the area and sea-spray seeped into the sculptor’s studio through a partially open window. In the morning, he was shocked to see his model. The droplets of moisture that had formed on the statue created the illusion of bleeding. The head had drooped. The facial expression had melted into compassion. The arms drooped and expressed welcome. The artist was horrified and was aghast at having to start all over again.

As he kept looking at his statue of the Savior, his thoughts began to take a different shape. He realized that this image of Christ was much closer to reality. He then wrote his caption and placed it under the figure: “Come unto me!”

Indeed, that is the call of Jesus to each of us today, “Come unto me … and you will find rest for your souls.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear Jesus, ‘Just as I am without one plea / And that your blood was shed for me / And that you bid me come to thee / O Lamb of God I come, I come.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

If you would like to come to Jesus to find rest for your soul, go to http://tinyurl.com/8glq9 and read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian.”

1. Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV).