Hudson Taylor

As a young man, Hudson Taylor's first job was working in a shoe store.  He was looking forward to his first paycheck.  The week went by and no pay.  The second and then the third.  He decided not to ask his employer for his pay, but rather he went to the Lord in prayer.  The next day he was given his pay without explanation.  He came to know the power of prayer.

Luke 11:1...

It happened that while [a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 

Most of us don't pray as we ought.  I'm burdened in my own life with the lack of it!  May God help us to see that prayer is the key to the Kingdom of God.  May we ask God for the desire to pray.  Why must we be taught?  A question that has plagued every believer.  Isn't it just talking to God?  Whatever the reason it was so important that one of the disciples had to ask Jesus to teach them.  May we do the same.

Suffering In Silence

Many people do suffer in silence, including me.  Why?  Often it is because we have no one to confide in who really cares.  More than this I think it is the problem of us not seeking out someone to talk to.  The Christian struggles with the thought of going to a Psychiatrist because they do not believe in God.  They honor Evolution.  God's Word states specifically that we are not to listen to the ungodly or ask for their advice.  I knew a woman who was a pastor's wife a long time ago.  She had a nervous breakdown and spent 3 months in a Sanitorium.  Was she saved? Yes, she most definitely was saved.  I'm not judging anyone. 

Psalm 1:1 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

So, we are left to seek out a Christian Counselor.  They are very hard to find! Some will tell you to "talk to God".  This is good, but sometimes we need someone with skin on to share our problem with.  It's very hard to expose our thoughts to others, at least for me.  How could a Christian talk about spiritual things with a Psychiatrist?  It's a dilemma for the person who finds it very difficult to talk to an unbeliever about these things that bring us down into a deep depression.  

One of My Heroes

Booker T. Washington was a great man.  Born into slavery, but when he was a grown man God called him to build a school.  We know that school today as "The Tuskegee Institute".  If he was alive now I could hear him speak with authority about Affirmative Action..."Never lean on false merits young people.  It will confuse you and the mind will become weak and of little use.  Teach the mind to rise up and conquer the struggles that embark on it, then it will be strong and something that God can use mightily".  

God Restored It All

In the book of Job Satan came to God one day and asked Him if he could hurt Job.  Satan was so sure that Job would turn his back on God if he was hurt bad enough.  God gave him permission because the Lord knew that Job was a great servant of His.

Satan took all of Job's children, money, and then he took Job's health.  Terrible were the trials that tested his faith in God.  Can you imagine how great the hurt was when he lost his children, his wealth, his friends, and his health?  Job is the oldest book in the Old Testament.  It is a tribute to the one true living God who is in complete control.  Job must have wondered why this was happening to him.  He had no idea that Satan was allowed to hurt him.  At one point his faith was so low that he cursed the day he was born.  

I want to jump to the end of the book though.  After the days and maybe years of testing God restored everything to Job that He had taken away.

Job 42:10:

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 

If you notice, it says "fortunes".  This does not refer only to his wealth, but his family as well.  Job had learned that God was Sovereign in every detail of his life.

Job 37:6:

"He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down". 

The Lord will turn the hurt into joy!

Daniel 7--A Psychiatrist's Nightmare

Daniel 7--A Psychiatrist's Nightmare

In 1969 I was practically a new bride and had the blues, so I turned to a Psychiatrist for help.  Later in years, I would learn that having the blues shortly after you are married is quite normal.  On with my story.  I got an appointment with the Director of the local mental health center.  Keep that in mind that he was the director of this place.  During my first session with him, I felt led to ask him if he believed in Christ.  This was his reply, "If I believed in Christ I would be working against everything I'm striving to do here".  I did not return to him.

Recently I have fallen in love with the 7th chapter of Daniel and his dream.  When he had this dream Daniel wrote it down.  I invite you to read his dream.  It talks about the return of Christ.  He lived over 500 years before Christ was born!  I would be so interested in to know what that Psychiatrist would think about this wonderful dream that only a born-again believer could appreciate. It would be enough to drive him out of his mind. 

What happens when you check into a Mental ward?  The very first thing they ask you is, "Do you think you are Christ?"  Do you not find this very interesting that the first thing they target is Christ?  Do not trust to man's wisdom for it is foolishness to God:

I Corinthians 3:19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

Does God Really Hate It?

I'm guilty of complaining.  I wonder if we complain without realizing that God really hates it?  I know that it hit me like a ton of bricks today that GOD REALLY HATES IT!

 

Philippians 2:14-15 

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. 

This is not to say that there are not legitimate complaints, like brothers and sisters in Christ having a righteous anger against sin among them.

In our personal lives, we grumble about things that are so trivial that a day from now they will be forgotten.  Grumbling is a sin! WOW!!  That really narrows it down, doesn't it?  This will not matter to the world, but to those of us who belong to the Lord we should take note that God hates it!!  

When I was so burdened about this today I asked the Lord to deliver me!  Yes, deliver me!  Yes, we should fight for the things that God loves, but we need to fight against the things He hates also!  He loves babies and His anger toward Abortion will never end until He puts His hand to it and says in His Counsel..."Enough is Enough"!!  Woe to them who mock His mighty Hand and keep killing babies in the womb!!

Little things make us grumble and complain though and God hates it!  I'm aware of this sin now so God will hold me accountable for any grumbling I do in the future.  I want to hate the things that God hates.  May He help me in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Families Rallied

Growing up in a small town was a blessing.  At Easter time families rallied around the School for events concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.  We would be loaded onto School buses after lunch and driven down to the Paramount Theatre to watch a stage play of the Crucifixion right out of the scriptures.  No, there was no Easter egg hunt or silly stories read to us about that ol' Peter cottontail rabbit.  It was a time for children to see what Easter was all about.  The Paramount theatre hosted the event every year free of charge to everyone.  Oh, how I loved those times of Christian values that no longer exist in a post-modern world of blasphemy against God.

In the 1950's we never heard a gunshot in school and such a thing would never even be thought of!  My heart goes out to the Parents of the seventeen victims in the Florida school shooting.  It's hard to believe that it has been two weeks since it happened.  Easter is near and Christ will not be honored in that school or any other Public School for that matter.  

My mind wanders back to those days when the Ten Commandments hung in the School hallway and Bibles laid on the desks of teachers.  The Schools have been suffering now for a long time now as we live in a day where Satan rules the school system.  Evolution has taken the place of the living God and there are no more sounds of joyous children being loaded onto buses to watch a play about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.