Benjamin Franklin said: “Well done is better than well said.”

Thomas Jefferson; “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. In other words, the harder I work, the luckier I get!”

Eleanor Roosevelt: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Albert Einstein: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

Anonymous: “Leaders are like eagles; they don’t flock … you find them one at a time.”

Anonymous: “A religion that does nothing, gives nothing, costs nothing, suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”

Jacob Riis: “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it—but all that had gone before.”

As God’s Word, the Bible, says, “A wise man will hear and will increase learning; and a man of understanding will listen to wise counsel.”¹

And such are the ways of God in helping to “shape” us into the person he sees we can become.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a wise, understanding, and listening heart to learn your ways of grace, truth, wisdom, and love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 1:5 (NKJV).

A friend of mine has trouble with Japanese bonsai trees because she sees tiny trees with great potential inhibited because they have been purposely root bound by man. Others have trouble seeing animals and birds trapped in cages for the same reason. For example, how do eagles feel in zoos? Do these magnificent birds, created to soar to the heights of mountaintops, get frustrated? Probably. Are they fulfilled? I seriously doubt it.

Too many of us who were created to reach our total God-given human and spiritual potential and to fulfill God’s noble purpose for our life, are trapped in a cage of our own or of another’s making. We fail to resolve the problems in our life that hold us back. We fail to come to terms with the destructive habits in our life. True, we may have been wounded in the past, but God wants us to be healed, to be free to fly, to soar to the heights of all that he has for us.

We have a choice, we can scratch in the dirt with the turkeys or we can rise up to follow Christ and fly with the eagles to the heights that God planned and envisioned for us to reach. That choice is ours.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to find my wings and learn to fly with the eagles to the heights you have planned for me to reach. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: See Dick’s book, You Can’t Fly With a Broken Wing, on sale at http://tinyurl.com/yrjrnl.

1. Hebrews 12:1, Paraphrase.

2. Isaiah 40:31 (NIV).

Once upon a time a city dweller moved to the country and bought a farm with a cow. In no time his cow went dry. When he told this to the neighboring farmer, the farmer was surprised as this cow had always given lots of milk.

The city man was surprised, too, and told the other farmer how considerate he had been of the cow. He said, “I never took more milk than I needed. If I only needed a quart, that’s all I took. If I didn’t need any milk, I didn’t milk her that day!”

What the man didn’t realize is that, to keep a cow producing milk, he needed to take what she had to give.

That’s kind of like life, isn’t it? If we don’t use the gifts we have, we may lose them. And if we don’t take the opportunities for service, for growth, for spiritual enrichment while we have them, we may lose these opportunities too.

Remember: “Opportunity comes to pass, not to pause!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please show me how to put to good use the gifts you have given me so I can have a part in what you are doing in the world in which I live today. May I never waste what you have given to me to give to others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 9:4 (NIV).

Author John Toland who received the Pulitzer Prize for his book, The Rising Sun, is another person who knows the power of persistence. Even though he now has an imposing record of successes, he had an even more impressive record of failures as a writer.

From the time he started writing he wrote six novels and 25 plays—none of which were accepted by publishers!

Undeterred, he kept diligently writing for 20-some years before he tasted success. He went on to write such best-sellers as Adolph Hitler, The Last 100 Days, Battle: The Story of the Bulge, and But Not in Shame.

“If you wait for perfect conditions,” advised King Solomon, “you will never get anything done. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.”² Furthermore, as today’s Scripture verse puts it: “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!”¹

To be a true success in life—in God’s view—it is imperative that we know what God’s purpose for our life is, and that we never give up pursuing that goal. And because we have all been commissioned by Christ to help spread the gospel, it is also imperative that we never give up pursuing this goal.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the insight to know what part you want me to play in the work that you are doing in the world today, the courage—with your help—to do it, and the persistence to never give up doing it—no matter what. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (TLB)(NLT).

2. Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 (TLB)(NLT).

In light of the passing of Steve Jobs last year, we are reminded how, in his commencement address to Stanford’s 2005 graduating class Steven Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, shared how he and his friend, Woz, started Apple in his garage and within ten years it grew to a $2 billion company. He also shared how he was fired from his own organization and in his words, “I didn’t see it then, but getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

“During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, and another company named Pixar. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance.”²

Not to the same degree by any means, but in a similar way this is how ACTS was started. At the time I was the South Australian director of a well-known youth organization. I changed our approach to ministry by commencing direct mail evangelism and included reaching adults as well as teenagers. I was told by the powers that be that my ministry didn’t fit the required role and was asked to either give up my ministry, stay with the current methods (which weren’t working that great anyhow), or get out of the organization. I chose the latter. It, too, was the best thing that happened to me at the time—as frightening as it was. Like you, I’ve been through other seeming crises, too, which have all turned out far better than I could have ever dreamed or hoped for.

So, if it seems like your world is crumbling around you and your life is truly committed to God and his will for your life, choose to trust your life to him, and, in time, you too will discover that all things do work together for good for “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for every crisis in my life that you have made to work for good, and turned into a blessing beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Romans 8:28 (NIV).

2. www.snopes.com/glurge/stevejobs.asp

Albert Einstein, who discovered the theory of relativity, asked, “What would a light wave look like to someone keeping pace with it?”

Bill Bowerman, inventor of Nike shoes, questioned, “What happens if I pour rubber into my waffle iron?”

Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, reasoned, “Why can’t there be reliable overnight mail service?”

Godfrey Hounsfield, inventor of the CAT scanner, asked, “Why can’t we see in three dimensions what is inside a human body without cutting it open?”

And Masaru Ibuka, honorary chairman of the Sony Corporation who came up with the idea for the Sony Walkman, queried, “Why don’t we remove the recording function and speaker and put headphones in the recorder?”

Asking the right questions is one of the fundamental keys for opening the mind to new ideas, some of which have made profound changes for mankind. However, whenever people come up with new ideas, they need courage to overcome the criticisms of negative people who seem to feel that their calling in life is to discourage creative thinkers and productive change.

For instance, shoe makers called Nike’s idea for waffle shoes stupid. Godfrey Hounsfield’s CAT scan idea was seen as “impractical.” Masaru Ibuka was asked if he was crazy when he proposed the idea for the Sony walkman and Fred Smith wrote a paper at Yale suggesting the idea for Federal Express—and got a “C” grade!

We, too, like the Christians in Berea, need to question doctrines we are taught to make sure they are biblical and not just outmoded traditions of man that can “kill” the church, and be constantly open to and actively seeking better ways of doing things for improving the quality of life for ourselves and others. And, most of all, we need to be open to what God is doing, or wanting to do, in our own life, in our church, in our community, and in our nation—and get in on his plans.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me not to accept everything I hear, but to test it to see if it is true. And help me to be open to change where change is needed and where I need to change, and help me to be a change agent for you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Acts 17:11 (TLB)(NLT).

Some of us have the idea that our life can’t make much of a difference. Sometimes we think, “What can one person do?” This reminds me of the man who, when walking along the beach, kept picking up starfish that had been washed ashore. There must have been hundreds of them. One by one he picked them up and threw each back into the ocean.

A stranger watching said to the man, “Why are you doing that? There are so many starfish on the beach. What you are doing makes no difference.”

“Makes a difference to that one,” the man replied as he threw another starfish back into the ocean.

Robert Kennedy once said, “Many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single person. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation … It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and it was the 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.”

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a bus to a white man on December 1, 1955, she triggered the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. In so doing she played a key role that changed a nation.

And it was a motley band of twelve very ordinary men—unsophisticated and uneducated—whom Jesus chose for his disciples to introduce the Christian message to pretty much a hostile world.

You and I may not achieve such greatness but we can make a difference. We do so every time we stand up for what is right, lend a helping hand to a friend or stranger in need, and help communicate the love of God and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Added up, our small ripples blend together to reach ever-widening circles. In so doing, one life does make a difference and can make an impact for Christ in our corner of the world.

As Edward Everett Hale said, “I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I’m available. Please help and use me to make a difference in somebody’s life today. Help me to be as Jesus in some way to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: For a simple and attractive way to help reach friends, family and contacts with the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, please consider joining with us as a “People Power for Jesus Partner.” For more information go to: www.actsweb.org/people_power02.php.

1. Matthew 4:19 (NIV).

Besides wishing each other a very Happy New Year, may we all make a New Year resolution to be more effective encouragers of each other—and especially so of our loved ones.

Dr. Ernest Mellor wrote how he and his wife, “Sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn—even before they pick up the violin—is how to take a bow. ‘If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation,’ the instructor said. ‘But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well.’

“Adults love applause too. Being affirmed makes us feel wonderful. If you want to rekindle or keep the flame of love glowing in your marriage through the years, try showing and expressing your appreciation for your mate. Put some applause in your marriage and watch love grow.”²

Meaningful applause—whether by hand clapping or with our words—is one the most effective and easiest ways to encourage one another. The word “encourage” comes from “en” meaning in, and “courage.” It means to put courage into another—and that’s something every one of us can do—so let’s do it often from a sincere heart.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to applaud and encourage my loved ones and friends when such is well earned, not just as a means of ‘being outwardly nice’ or to flatter, but out of a genuine heart of appreciation. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV).

2. Dr. Ernest Mellor, in Homemade, November, 1984.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”¹

“A legend tells the story of a fisherman called Aaron. Aaron lived on the banks of a river. Walking home with his eyes half-closed one evening after a hard day’s work, he was dreaming of what he could do if he were rich. As he walked his foot struck against a leather pouch filled with what seemed to him to be small stones.

“Absentmindedly he picked up the pouch and began throwing the pebbles into the water.’When I am a rich man,’ he said to himself, ‘I’ll have a large house.’ And he threw another pebble into the river. He threw another one and thought, ‘My wife and I will have servants and rich food, and many fine things.’ And this went on until just one stone was left. As Aaron held it in his hand, a ray of light caught it and made it sparkle. He then realized that it was a valuable gem. He had been throwing away the real riches in his hand, while he dreamed of unreal riches in the future.”²

As we start a fresh New Year, let us remember all the riches we have in Christ Jesus, and all the blessings from God that we do have, and not overlook these because of all the things we don’t have—many of which for many of us we don’t even need in order to live a contented and happy life.

As Charles Dickens once said, “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

Contentment and happiness come from within and not from circumstances without. They come from changing the things we can and need to change, from accepting and learning to live with the things we cannot change—and having the wisdom to know the difference. They come from the attitude of one’s heart and mind, and learning to trust God in every situation.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for all the blessings that I have in Christ Jesus, and for all the blessings I receive from you every day. Open the eyes of my understanding so that I can see these, thank you for them, and rejoice always in them. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Special NOTE: If you receive this and reply before midnight of Dec 31 … this is a last chance for a tax deductible receipt for 2012 for US donors. Click on the DONATE link in the right hand sidebar to donate on the ACTS secure donor site. Know that your support will be greatly appreciated.

1. Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV).

2. Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, “The Man Without Wedding Clothes.” http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermon.html.

We have a friend whose young daughter tends to be a perfectionist and, as a piano student, she obsesses about getting every note right. She is so determined to get her exercises perfect she will practice over and over, groaning every time she hits a wrong note—until she can play perfectly, “Twinkle, twinkle little star!”

On one occasion her piano teacher said to her, “Jennie, you get every note correct every time, but stop … and listen to the music!”

Sound familiar? We can, like many of the religious Pharisees of Christ’s day, do everything right—outwardly—but inwardly our lives are empty because we don’t take time to listen to the music—the music of life.

As we are in the Christmas season let us—because of the rush and bustle of this now highly commercialized holy-day season—make sure we be still long enough to listen to the music, the Christmas music. I mean, hear the real message and meaning of the Christmas season.

“For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end….”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, ‘amid the rush and bustle, amid the toil and strife, please help me to be calm and peaceful throughout my daily life.’ And especially at this Christmas season please help me to be still long enough to listen to the real music of the Christmas season—its message for which I am truly thankful. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 46:10 (NIV).

2. Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV).