Shalom, welcome
to June 6th
><//>--------------------Thought for the Day
Leaning on our favorite sins is how we humans express our maladjustments
to life. I believe that I was a sinner from the start. I had
an inferiority complex. I didn't make many friends easily.
There was a wall between me and other people. And I was
lonely. I was not well adjusted to life.
Did I use my favorite sins to escape from myself?
><//>--------------------Meditation for the Day
How Men See Me
I came to help a world. And
according to the varying
needs of each so does each man see me.
It is not necessary that you see Me as others see
me
– the
world, even the Church, My disciples, My followers, but it is necessary
that you see Me, each of you, as supplying all that you personally
need.
The weak need My Strength. The strong need My
Tenderness. The tempted and fallen need My Salvation. The
righteous need My Pity for sinners. The lonely need a Friend.
The fighters need a Leader.
No man could be all these to man – only a God
could be. In each of these relations of Mine to man you must see the
God. The God-Friend, the God-Leader, the God-Savior, the God who
loves His own.
><//>--------------------Prayer for the Day
Father, we pray that we may think of You as supplying our
needs. We pray that we will bring all our problems to You for help
in meeting them. Amen.
A
Disciple's Reflections: He's Everything To
Us
Beloved, the Lord becomes all the more to us
as we realize we really need Him right now, right here in this life.
Allow me to share, as I do so often, from my own personal experience in
the Lord. As many know, I do this so as not to preach on these
intimate matters in our relationship with God. But, rather, provide
an example helping others to understand their own conception as to
what may be happening in their own lives with the Lord. We have
enough people who presume to tell us what we should think, say, or do, but few who
can open
their lives as an example to follow.
The Lord states in the meditation above that, "...according to the varying
needs of each so does each man see me." I'm firmly
convinced that we can work as hard and efficiently as possible, but it is
the Lord who decides whether we live in plenty or in need. The
greater our need means the greater most are conscious of our God.
We know in our hearts that one who is in need has a sense of dependency
and humility.
We also know that it is written in scripture,
"May
the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and
snare and their fellowship become a trap."
This, of course, is where wealth and power in certain lives are more a testing than a
blessing. Those with plenty seem to dwell with a sense of
independence and its accompanying pride. We need only look to Kings
David and Solomon to see how each had fallen far from the Lord though
every blessing and all wealth was theirs and they both had the best of
intentions at the start.
As one born Jewish of natural Israel, I was quite aware that many of the
slaves of our American past had a tremendous spirituality – a
spirituality born of suffering and bondage. Truly these were a people who
knew their Savior in their need. Can we not also see why God placed His
Chosen Ones under the yoke of Egypt? Prior to their need they sought Him
not, and after their deliverance they departed from Him to live as the
Gentiles and finally temporarily lost their homeland until the present day to
fulfill prophecy.
The people of ancient Israel served many purposes for God. One of
those purposes is to show us how all mankind behaves towards Him.
Certainly no one, Jew or Gentile alike is found to be innocent.
Today
God acts through Providential Power in every life. He is never
absent for a moment. We know this, so let us rejoice in this fact.
God has chosen to place every area of my own life in a state of need.
Socially, there is no one in this world who cares for my well being.
This is also true of my immediate family. I am as a pariah to them.
Therefore, when the song says, "We have a friend in
Jesus...", I take it very seriously.
The Psalmist says,
"When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of
me."
(Psalm 27:9-10)
Yeshua, Jesus is our friend, our only
true friend in this world. One day, at His coming this will change,
but for today it is as it is and let us praise Him. It's really quite
amazing to consider in our hearts that the King of the Universe, the
actual living God, is our dearest friend, even our brother. We can all know Him this way if we
wish.
Financially, God must know that were many of us financially independent,
we would very likely drift away in self-assuredness. This is so
typical of we humans. Therefore, for many of us our every effort to gather wealth
has been met with futility. Just about everyone around me have made
fortunes.
I finally decided to make a small investment in a mutual fund a few years ago
when everyone I knew multiplying there monies.
I got in just before the infamous "bubble" burst and when I got out half
my investment was gone. Praise God.
With a disability that limits my physical movement, I share that I am
completely dependent upon the Lord for my provision. I don't deny
that it is nerve-wrecking to experience this, yet nothing brings about a
purer faith than one that is forced to be proven and exercised at every turn.
Though we may experience some nervousness and even some fear in our impure
condition we nonetheless go forward putting our trust in the Lord to care
for us as we go on in His service daily.
As our behavior becomes more righteous and as time moves forward we need the Lord
to grant us compassion, and not judgment for our brothers and sisters who
are not where we are. In our weakest moments let us seek His
Strength, in moments of battle let us seek His Leadership. When
we are
tempted or stumble, we need our Savior, and when we're strong in the faith,
we definitely
need His tenderness and humility. People live nearby and passed by all
His life never realizing that were in the company of the Living God, the
Creator of all the Universe, the Earth, and of all mankind. Now,
beloved, that is humility.
Yes, beloved, for me Yeshua, Jesus, is my Everything.
He is OUR everything - our very life-force.
Friendship, Not Idolatry
"A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."
–
Proverbs 12:26 (NIV)
Peer pressure! A power that we all possess in varying degrees that can be used for either great good (positive influence) or, as is all too often the case, as a means of leading others astray. The influence parents have on their children is reasonably powerful, but it can pale in comparison to the peer pressure that children face every day at school, or in day care, or at camp, or anywhere that they are and their parents are not. And adults are far from excluded. There is peer pressure from family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers; not to mention the media, entertainment, civic groups and associations, and political party affiliations. Simply put, if one is not cautious, disciplined in truth and righteousness, then one is vulnerable to being led astray. And it can happen to anyone.
Surveys show that the majority of teens who start smoking, drinking or indulging in sexual promiscuity, do so as a result of pressure (real or perceived) from their closest circle of friends. Almost without exception, in direct conflict with their parent's desires to the contrary. Just a few examples for us grown-ups, unions rally workers against management, ethnic groups wage war against their own countrymen, and voters pull the party ticket without knowing all the facts. Caving in to subtle pressures in order to feel cool, or accepted, or important, or needed, or desired, or wanted, or loved. We must guard our hearts and souls against following mere natural instincts
(carnal, temporal), and seek instead the guidance, strength, comfort and wisdom of the Lord, which is eternal. No peer pressure can overcome the power of the Spirit to do what is right versus what feels good right now. Today, may the
Lord reliever our pressure(s)!
"These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit."
–
Jude 1:19 (NIV)
Your Comments
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http://www.believershope.com/discus
Please have a blessed day, be hopeful, be encouraged, and know that you are not alone.
God’s Calling compiled by A. J. Russell.
"Twenty-Four Hours A Day" - Hazelton (adapted).
Greg Candelaria writes Friendship, Not Idolatry.
Barry Gray writes A Disciple’s Reflections.
