Contemporary Considerations supplied by Rev. E. Anderson

April 18, 2008 at 8:08 pm (Contemporary Considerations)

                                                     

Rev. E. Anderson

THE TRUTH ABOUT FEELINGS

by Jon Walker

… And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ …. (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV)

Submitted now for your consideration: Pamela, a loving wife, a nurturing mother, a prayerful Christian. This morning, her husband, Richard, left a tender note on the bathroom mirror, inviting Pamela to join him for lunch at their favorite restaurant.

Pamela eyes the clock throughout the morning, anticipating meeting her life-long love at 1 p.m. She’s excited and feeling extraordinarily loved by her husband, so she leaves for the restaurant early in order to buy Richard a small gift. She splurges more, buying two balloons, which float up from the ribbon wrapped around the present.

As she pays for the gift, she looks in her purse and notices she’s left her cell phone at home – again. No matter, it’s 12:30 and in a few short minutes she’ll be with Richard, giving him her undivided attention. Who needs a cell phone in moments like that?

Pamela arrives at the restaurant first and patiently waits for Richard to arrive. What she doesn’t yet know is that Richard has been in a horrible traffic accident and was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:24 – about the time Pamela was tying the balloons to the bow, buoyantly anticipating the approaching romantic rendezvous.

The point to this sorrowful snapshot is that our feelings don’t always reflect the truth. Pamela is soaring high on her feelings of love, even though her husband is already dead. The truth is bearing down on her, and it will immediately alter her feelings when it hits – but her feelings are not yet in line with the truth.

Imagine Pamela as she waits for her husband, and he does not arrive. She’s forgotten her cell phone, so she waits. After a while, she becomes annoyed; after 20 minutes, she’s irritated and hurt. Her feelings still do not line up with the truth.

After 40 minutes, she begins to worry. This just isn’t like Richard. Maybe something has happened. She asks to borrow the restaurant’s phone, and she calls Richard’s office, but is transferred to his boss. He says, “Pamela, we’ve been trying to reach you. There’s been a terrible accident ….” The truth and Pamela’s feelings collide.

The fact is, God gave us feelings. There’s nothing wrong with them. As one of my friends often says, “Feelings are just feelings.” Sometimes they reflect the truth; oftentimes they don’t. They can provide positive insight, such as when our fear warns us of nearby danger, or they can give us social discernment, like when we realize we’re falling in love.

But your feelings do not define the truth. Only God defines the truth. You may feel worthless, but the truth is you are uniquely created by God, who loves you deeply. You may feel like you can walk on water, but the truth is you can only do that if Jesus calls you from the boat. You can’t; God can.

Just as the Apostle John tells us to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-3), Paul teaches us to discern the truth through knowledge and deep insight, not through our feelings. He writes, “… and this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ ….” (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV)

Eugene Peterson, in The Message paraphrase of the Bible, translates it like this: “… You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush ….” (Philippians 1:9b-10a MSG) Otherwise, you end up in a life “shaped by things and feelings, instead of God.” (Colossians 3:5 MSG)

Your feelings are from God. They are a gift, and there is no need to avoid them or be ashamed of them. Yet God never meant for our feelings to be the gauge that measures your life and how you live it. Your feelings are not designed to define you or interpret the situations you now face. Only God’s truth can define you, and only God’s truth can pass judgment on the circumstances of your life.

The great and best Good News is this: God’s truth is a person – Jesus Christ, our Lord.

What does this mean?

     ·  You are not your emotions – You are not defined by your emotions. You are defined by God. You may feel worthless, but God says you are wonderfully and fearfully created in his image. You may feel like you’ve failed God, but God says you are accepted in the beloved and that he loves you no matter what you’ve done.

     ·  God uses your feelings – God may use your feelings to reveal a piece of your heart that you need to turn over to God; he may use your feelings to draw you closer to him. Paul speaks of feeling like a wretched man, and that draws him deeper into the grace of God. Your feelings of hopelessness in a situation may be what God uses to show you that you’re hanging your hopes on the wrong thing – because he is a God of hope, and it is a hope that will not disappoint.

     ·  Your obedience is based on the truth, not feelings – The facts may appear daunting, but it is up to God to interpret the facts, not you and your feelings. God calls us to be obedient to the truth, not the way we feel. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says that if you don’t love someone, act as if you do, and your feelings will catch up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Powerful Quotes arranged by Rev. L.Goodwin

April 18, 2008 at 8:03 pm (Quotes)

                                                        

Rev. L. Goodwin

 QUOTES

FAMOUS LEADERSHIP QUOTE FOR HIGHLY EFFECTIVE LEADERS

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
- Conrad Hilton, Hilton Hotels

 

“The right man is the one who seizes the moment.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

“Be enthusiastic as a leader. You can’t light a fire with a wet match.”
- Unknown

 

“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
- John Maxwell

 

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
- Rosalynn Carter

 

“There comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear.”
- David Mahoney

 

“I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not.”
- Lucille Ball

  

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Wisdom’s Ways provided by Rev. A. Linford

April 18, 2008 at 7:58 pm (Linford)

                                                      

Rev. A Linford, before his decease, was recognized as a good, great and interesting Bible teacher in the Assemblies of God Fellowship for many years. He was a well-loved Bible College lecturer and writer that bequeathed a tremendous amount of Biblical material in his generation. What a legacy he has left to be researched and brought forth to refresh our day! We shall be using such on this site: His writings from the book of Proverbs and also his Editorials that he wrote for the Redemption Tidings when he was its editor. I trust you will enjoy and appreciate his inspired teaching.

 

OPPORTUNITY

By the Rev. A. Linford

 

The word “opportunity” conjures up the picture of a ship standing by the harbour mouth waiting for high tide on which to sail in. If the captain waits too long he loses his chance to enter: he must drive his vessel forward on the rising water. Opportunities invite us to action, tempt us to embrace the propitious moment, offer an occasion for us to improve. They are fleeting; they may be few.

 

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood. leads on to fortune:

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

 

A wise man prepares for opportunities, his net is ever spread to catch the rare and fleeting butterfly; he discerns opportunities, he can see them looming where others only spy dim shapes in a fog of indecision; he even makes opportunities by nudging the elbow of providence. He has few regrets because he seldom misses a timely chance. He does not indulge in wishful thinking, he is too busy observing the times.

 

IF ONLY -

If only the sun would shine:

I’d plough my land,

I’d sow my seed,

I’d mend the door-post of the barn,

I’d lend a hand

To mow the mead,

I’d increase output on the farm:

If only the sun would shine.

 

If only I had the chance:

I’d church attend.

I’d witness clear.

I’d read my Bible every day;

I’d quarrels mend,

I’d spread good cheer,

I’d give more time to watch and pray If only I had the chance.

 

Opportunities are things to be made

You’ll never act

If you wait all day,

If you mope in your easy chair;

You must zeal contract.

You must rise and pray,

You must venture, do and dare. Opportunities are things to be made.

 

Paul calls upon us to “redeem the time” (Eph. 5:16), that is, save it from being lost. We may do this by making the most of every opportunity to do good. He values time most who impresses each passing moment with eternal significance.

 

 

 

GOD’S WISE WAYS

 

“For the Lord giveth wisdom” – Proverbs  2 :6-9

 

The seeker of wisdom soon discovers that God is more eager to impart than we are to imbibe. Wisdom here displays its seven-fold aspect.

 

Wisdom’s Source. “The Lord giveth wisdom”. He is “the only wise God” - 1 Tim 1:17 in the sense that all true wisdom originates in Him. He is the self-taught, the self-consistent and the light-irradiating God.

 

Wisdom’s Articulation. “Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding”. He is omniscient and omnipercipient: nothing is beyond His ken, nothing is too deep for Him: He knows, He perceives. It is He that makes nature His mouthpiece - Psalm 19:11, prophets His messengers, and Saints His witnesses. God makes His wisdom known in many ways.

 

Wisdom’s Store. “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous”. The ways of God are like a deep mine from which riches may be dug by those who love God. “Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill, He treasures us His grand designs and works His perfect will”. He is rich indeed who gathers from God’s workings and God’s word the truths of His being and His will.

 

Wisdom’s Defence. “He is buckler to them that walk uprightly”. The man of spiritual integrity is fertile in expedients against all the wiles of evil. The fiery darts of temptation are absorbed by his defensive force-field of faith. As we walk in God’s will we have a shield through which no evil can penetrate.

 

Wisdom’s Security “He   preserveth the way of His saints”. The devil may set ambushes in our path or put snares in our way, but wisdom directs our steps through his mine-fields of subtle and destructive ideologies into the safe and serene field of holy and happy activities.

 

Wisdom’s Exposition. “Then shalt thou understand…. ” What is right, what is just, what is equitable - all is made clear. To those who walk in God’s way the deep principles of stable and satisfactory living are inculcated firmly and surely. Life becomes meaningful and strong under wisdom’s guidance.

 

Wisdom’s Expression. “Yea, every good path”, the word “path” means the furrow made by a wagon. There are good ruts into which our wheels of life may safely run; spiritual habits that give steadiness and direction.  The good paths of daily prayer, regular scripture reading, consistent worship and sacrificial giving are all great helps in the personal expression of wisdom.

 

PRAYER:      Thy ways are wise. 0 Lord, may I daily follow them. Amen!

                 

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