Passion

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job.

His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him.

He remembered family that had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment and frustration.

Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed:

“Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot. I don’t know how.

It is not fair Lord. I didn’t deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn’t have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don’t know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray that you teach me to do this one thing I cannot do - Teach me To Forgive.”

As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt.

He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground. He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them.

He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man’s tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.

“Have you ever told a lie?” He asked? The man answered - “yes, Lord.”

“Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?” The man answered - ” yes. Lord.” And the man sobbed more and more.

“Have you ever taken something from work that wasn’t yours?” Jesus asked? And the man answered - “yes, Lord.”

“Have you ever sworn, using my Father’s name in vain? ” The man, crying now, answered - “yes, Lord.”

As Jesus asked many more times, “Have you ever”? The man’s crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - “yes, Lord.”

Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder. He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.

Jesus said, “I didn’t deserve this either, but I forgive you.”

It may be hard to see how you’re going to get through something, but when you look back in life, you realize how true this statement is.

Read the following first line slowly and let it sink in:

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you! If you are one of the
7% who will stand up for him, forward this with the Title “7%”.

93% of people won’t forward this.

It can be so easy to get caught up in the rigors of modern life that we tend to forget that happiness need not come with stipulations. Happiness becomes something we must schedule and strive for—a hard-won emotion—and then only when we have no worries to occupy our thoughts. In reality, overwhelming joy is not the exclusive province of those with unlimited time and no troubles to speak of.

Many of the happiest people on earth are also those coping with the most serious challenges. They have learned to make time for those simple yet superb pleasures that can be enjoyed quickly and easily. Cultivating a happy heart takes no more than five minutes. The resultant delight will be neither complex nor complicated, but it will be profound and will serve as a reminder that there is always a reason to smile.

So much that is ecstasy-inducing can be accomplished in five minutes. Alone, we can enjoy an aromatic cup of our favorite tea, take a stroll through the garden we have created, write about the day’s events in a journal, doodle while daydreaming, or breathe deeply while we listen to the silence around us. In the company of a good friend or treasured relative, we can share a few silly jokes, enjoy a waltz around the room, play a fast-paced hand of cards, or reconnect through lighthearted conversation.

The key is to first identify what makes us dizzyingly happy. If we do only what we believe should bring us contentment, our five minutes will not be particularly satisfying. When we allow ourselves the freedom to do whatever brings us pleasure, five minutes out of 14 wakeful hours can brighten our lives immeasurably.

It is often when we have the least free time or energy to devote to joy that we need to unwind and enjoy ourselves the most. Making happiness a priority will help you find five minutes every day to indulge in the things that inspire elation within you. Eventually, your happiness breaks will become an established part of your routine. If you start by pursuing activities you already enjoy and then gradually think up new and different ways to fill your daily five minutes of happiness, you will never be without something to smile about.

At least a dozen multimillionaires have left money to themselves in hope of being brought back to life.  These immortality seekers have arranged to be cryogenically frozen after death.  They’ve also put their wealth in “personal revival trusts,” which they believe will be waiting for them when scientists resuscitate them in the future.

Even if resuscitation were possible, to seek eternal life apart from the One who is immortal is to chase an elusive dream.

Paul affirmed that the Lord alone is the source of immortality.  He is everlasting in His character and actions.  For human beings, however, death is universal, inevitable, and ultimately leads to judgment.  This is all a result of our sin, and it can be countered only by the redemption through Jesus Christ.  Through His resurrection, Jesus broke the power of death and showed humanity the way to immortality.

Our response to our mortality should not be to preserve our physical bodies through cryogenics, but to be ready for our own death by receiving the gift of eternal life in Jesus.

You’re in the dentist’s office and it’s taking longer than expected.  You’re late for another appointment, so you ask to use the phone.  You dial the number twice and nothing happens.  How do I dial out?  you ask infrustration.  I’m sorry, says the receptionist, you need to dial 9 first.

You’ve come to church to worship God.  You’re singing.  You’re praying along with the pastor and following the Bible passages as they are read.  But nothing’s happening inside.  You want to worship the Lord, but you’re just going through the motions.  What can you do?

Here’s a suggestion:  Dial 9.  Open your Bible to Psalm 9 and follow David’s prompts as he expresses his heartfelt praise the Lord.

• Open your heart.  Let praise roll forth
• Review all the things He has done for you.
• Rejoice! Be glad! Sing!
• Acknowledge that He defends you.
• Go to Him for refuge
• Talk about what he’s done for you.
• Receive His mercy and rejoice in His salvation

Try following David’s example.  You’ll reconnect with God in your worship and praise.

Some time ago, I traded e-mail with a friend who was approaching 30 and had no serious love relationship in sight. he’s talented, fun, handsome, and a committed Christian. But so far, everything on his romantic horizon has turned out to be a mirage.

Several months earlier, he had been very enthusiastic about a young woman with whom he was corresponding. Two weeks before they were to meet for the first time, she was killed by a drunk driver. My friend made the trip to meet her family, experience their pain, and deal with his own sense of loss.

Today, many people will feel the absence of love as keenly as others celebrate its presence. In a world where love means so much, is there a word from the Lord for everyone, with or without a sweetheart?

First John 4 focuses not on being loved by another person, but on God’s love for us and our love for one another. According to 1 Corinthians 13:7, this love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. How is this possible? Because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Long after the cards and flowers are forgotten, there is love from God’s heart to ours!

On this the day when we express

Undying love and faithfulness,

Let’s not forget that God above

Gave us His Son in perfect love.

The more we understand God’s love for us,

the more love we’ll show to others

One I made the mistake of thinking I could single-handedly finish a 28-ounce steak at a restaurant.  I had the remainder boxed up to take home.  I thought, At least it will give me another feast to look forward to.

As I left the restaurant, a homeless man approached me, asking for money.  At first I refused.  But struck by sudden guilt, I called him back, gave him P200.00, and blessed him in Jesus’ name.  Having done my Christian duty, I was happy to go on my way, boxed-up steak in hand, until he asked, “What about the box?” I have to admit, I had a hard time parting with my steak.

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is about the little boy who brown-bagged it to a revival service.  If he was like most boys, his lunch was a very important commodity.  Yet he was willing to give his lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish to the Lord.  I think may have known that by putting his lunch in the hands of Jesus.  He could do something extraordinary with it.  And He did.  He fed thousands of hungry people.

Jesus is still looking for a few common folk like you and me who are willing to commit out-of-the-ordinary, intentional acts of selfless sacrifice so that He can turn our offering into His glory.  Commit such an act today.

Let me give myself, dear Lord, Always ready to sacrifice, Willing to share what I hold dear, Never deterred by the price.

In the firm Cast Away, Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a clock-conscious Federal Express manager who gets stranded on a desert island.  Completely cut off from other people and modern conveniences, he must learn the primitive skills of a caveman.  He puts arduous effort into harpooning fish, making fire by rubbing sticks together, and opening a coconut to get its milk and sweet fruit.  The move is rich with insights on how difficult life can become for someone who is stranded in an isolated wilderness.

In the Bible, the wilderness is often the setting for the might work of God within the human heart.  Jesus made a practice of withdrawing to the wilderness to pray and receive direction.  In a similar setting, God fed the despondent prophet Elijah with heavenly food, and in the wilderness the Ethiopian pondered the gospel.  After Paul’s conversion, he withdrew to the Arabian Desert and was taught by the Spirit.

Do you find yourself in a wilderness experience, isolated from friends and family? If so, the Lord may want to teach you lessons of faith and endurance that you could never learn in a busy crowd.

In solitude, on wings of prayer. My soul ascends before the throne.  My only hope of strength his where my heart and His meet all alone

An insightful scholar by the name of A.J. Heschel recounts a story from his days as a student in Berlin.  Although he was a devout man, he became so preoccupied by the arts in the glittering culture that one day he had been without fail.  He admits, “The sun had gone down, evening had arrived … I had forgotten God.”

Heschels omission may seem minor to us, but his zeal shows that the understands the important of cultivating the spiritual life.

Jesus told a story of a sower, a seed, and four kinds of soil.  The soil among the thorns represented those who permit the Word of God in their hearts to be choked by the cares and pleasures of the alluring world.

That’s a dangerous possibility for anyone who thoughtlessly responds to God’s Word.  The world may induce a forgetfulness of spiritual reality and responsibility.

Do we allow the attractions of this world to keep us from reading and meditating on God’s Word?  Prayerfully, let us strive to be like the one who “hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces.”

When the sun sets tonight, let is not be said that we have forgotten God.

Some online dictionaries report each year on what words were looked up the most on their site.  For 2005, some of the most popular words were refugee, pandemic, tsunami and levee.  Because of worldwide catastrophic events that year, we can readily understand why those words were checked.

The most popular lookup for the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary that year was the word integrity.  The definition given is: “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. ” It’s used to describe those who are unwilling to be bribed or morally corrupted.  Why was that word on the top of the list?  Could it be because integrity is so lacking that many don’t know what it looks like in someone’s life?

In His Word, God gave us an example of integrity in the life of Joseph.  Potiphar had put him in charge of overseeing “his house and all that he had”.  When he was propositioned by his master’s wife, Joseph refused, saying “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?  He knew what God’s standards were, and he chose to stand for the right - at the cost of his freedom.

Integrity - look it up in Genesis 39.  Then live it out in God’s strength.

She out of her poverty put in all that she had.

Mark 12:44

Mr. Branon, I have to talk with you, about something really important,” said the voice on the other end of the line.