WFA.org

A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day, while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by. Hans said, “I was just thanking God for my food.”

Carl protested, “If that is all I had to eat I wouldn’t feel like giving thanks.”

Hans replied, “God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it.” The old farmer added, “It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me, ’the richest man in the valley will die tonight.’ I don’t know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you.”

Carl snorted, “Dreams are nonsense,” and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans’ words: “The richest man in the valley will die tonight.”

He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, “Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.” Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man’s dream.

At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at Carl’s door. “What is it?” Carl demanded. The messenger explained, “It’s about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.”

Like Hans, believers are the richest people on earth. Paul understood that when he wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Be sure to give God thanks for the wealth He has given you – for you are the richest person in the valley!

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 8.02. Live for God, on purpose, giving thanks to Him for He has supplied all your need according to His riches in glory!

“Not Steal”

This Sunday morning, we continue our series on “The Ultimate Top Ten List – God’s Top Ten Important Principles for Living,” where we are looking, week by week, at the Ten Commandments. This week, we consider the eighth commandment. In our English Bibles, this command is four short words – “You Shall Not Steal.” In the original Hebrew language, it is even more pointed than that, containing merely two words – “Not Steal.”

You may be saying, “But, Pastor, I would never steal. It’s just not in my character to steal.” And that is good. But, the reality is, this commandment speaks to a far greater larger topic to consider – how we use what we have.

You see, we all know that God has promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. His Word is true – He does supply. So, why is it that so very often, God’s people find themselves in need? Why do some experience “too much month left over at the end of their money?”

I believe this is because, although God has given to us all we need, we either fail to use what we have, or worse yet, use what we have been given incorrectly. And that, my friend, really is stealing. When we “misappropriate” what God has abundantly given to us, using it for things outside of God’s plan, then we are stealing.

Be sure to join us this week, and learn how we can “Not Steal!”

Really Bad Predictions

In an article in The Futurist magazine, writer Laura Lee catalogues some of the worst predictions of all time:

“Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments.” -Roman engineer Julius Sextus Frontinus, A.D. 100

“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.” -John Eric Ericksen, surgeon to Queen Victoria, 1873

“Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed.” -journalist Junius Henri Browne, 1893

“It doesn’t matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.” -Albert Einstein’s teacher to Einstein’s father, 1895

“It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology.” -computer scientist John von Neumann, 1949

“The Japanese don’t make anything the people in the U.S. would want.” -Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1954

“Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within 10 years.” -Alex Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Vacuum Cleaner Company, quoted in the New York Times, June 10, 1955

“Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” -Arthur Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General under Eisenhower, 1959

“By the turn of the century, we will live in a paperless society.” -Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors, 1986

“I predict the internet... will go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.” -Bob Metcalfe, InfoWorld, 1995

Aren’t you glad your faith does not rest on human words but on the sure Word of God?

from The Futurist, (September/October, 2000), p. 20-25

Daily Resolution

by Alan Smith

At the beginning of a New Year, a high school principal decided to post his teachers’ New Year’s resolutions on the bulletin board.

As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion started. One of the teachers was complaining. “Why weren’t my resolutions posted?” She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions. Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded.

This teacher’s first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year.

Maybe this is a good time to see how you’re coming on your New Year’s resolutions (if indeed you made any). The above story demonstrates why making resolutions may not be such a good thing and, in fact, may be detrimental to our spiritual growth. What happens when we make resolutions? At some point, the resolution is likely going to be broken. It may be a matter of days, weeks, or months, but eventually we tend to falter.

If your resolution involves dieting, there will likely come a day when you’ll sneak a piece of fudge. If your resolution is quitting smoking, there will likely come a day when you’ll reach for that cigarette you’ve been craving. If your resolution is reading the Bible every day, there will likely come a day when things are so hectic that you miss your reading.

And once the resolution is broken, it becomes even easier for it to crumble further. The incentive that kept you going ("I’ve maintained my commitment to this point") is now gone. One slip leads to two which quickly leads to three, and before long we have the attitude, “I’ve messed up so much that it’s not even worth continuing to try.” So what is there left to do? For most of us, we set our sights on January 1, 2009 and determine when that day rolls around, we’ll try it again ("and NEXT time I’ll do it!").

Allow me to suggest an alternative. Instead of yearly resolutions, what if we made daily resolutions? Begin each day with this prayer:

“Father, today I want to live for you. I want to dedicate to you my time, my energy, my passion and my resources. Today, I will seek to add one quality that will make me more like You. Today, I will seek to eliminate something in my life that doesn’t please you. I will seek to be more conscious of You in my life. I will try to be more appreciative of the blessings I receive from Your hand, and I will look for opportunities to show You glory in the way I deal with people and in the way I react to situations I face.”

Make it your resolution to end the day a little bit closer to God than you began. The goal is spiritual growth...

”...Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14, 16)

This article by Alan Smith, Senior Pastor of the Helen Street Church of Christ in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You can visit his site at http://www.TFTD-online.com

Hope for Banged-Up Lives

by Ron Hutchcraft

It was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and then a major motion picture – the story of one of the most famous race horses of all time, Seabiscuit. While many of us may not be excited about horse racing, the story, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, illustrates some things pretty inspiring. Seabiscuit was the son of a champion but definitely not like his father. He had been forced to run with better horses so they would gain confidence by beating him. When he raced, he did what he was trained to do – lose. Because of the poor treatment Seabiscuit received, he became an angry, almost uncontrollable horse. Until he was given a chance by a trainer that many considered to be too old and a young man most thought was too big to be a jockey – a man blind in one eye and bitter from his parents’ abandonment.

But Seabiscuit thrived in the care of people who believed in him and became one of the greatest horses of all time, along with his jockey. The trainer sees in the horse something that others have missed. He says when Seabiscuit’s eventual owner is deciding whether to buy this apparent loser, “You don’t throw a life away just because it’s been banged up a little.” And when the trainer wants to fire his jockey, the owner reminds him, “You don’t throw a life away just because it’s been banged up a little.”

Maybe you’re one of those “banged-up lives.” You’ve been treated poorly, you’ve been made to feel that you never measure up, that you’re a loser, people have undervalued you, passed you by, and maybe you’ve ended up pretty hard and angry inside. But there is someone who has never thrown away a banged up life, who sees beyond what’s on the outside to the wounds on the inside and the potential He built into you when He made you. Jesus is your hope of a new beginning where the future doesn’t have to be just an extension of a broken past.

In Isaiah 61:1, the Bible says of Jesus, “The Lord... has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners... to provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes – a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Jesus has done that for millions of banged up people for two thousand years. He can do it for you because He died on the cross for every sin ever done by you or against you. The Bible says of His death on the cross: “He carried our sorrows... He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities... and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

With someone who loves you so unconditionally, so completely, you don’t have to ever again trash yourself, trash other people, or trash your future. You can tear up that name tag that identifies you as “victim” and replace it with the new identity Jesus gives you, “child of the King.” If you’ll surrender the steering wheel of your life and put the rest of your life in the hands of the man who died for you.

If you’ve never done that and you want to begin your own personal relationship with Jesus, would you tell Him that right now with all your heart. Jesus, who’s God’s one and only Son, sacrificed Himself to become the ultimate banged-up life for you. However much you have been betrayed, you can trust Him. However much you have been hurt and rejected, you can count on His “never leave you” love. And your new beginning can start this very day.

On the Threshold

by Jill Carattini

The “doorknob phenomenon” is an occurrence many physicians know well. Doctors can proceed meticulously through complete examinations and medical histories, taking care to hear a patient’s questions and concerns, but it is often in the last thirty seconds of the appointment that the most helpful information is revealed. When a doctor’s hand is on the doorknob, body halfway out the door, vital inquiries seem to be made; when a patient is nearly outside the office, crucial information is shared almost in passing. Many have speculated as to the reasons behind the doorknob phenomenon (which is perhaps not limited to the field of medicine), though a cure seems unlikely. Until then, words uttered on the threshold remain a valuable entity to the physician.

If I were to speak on behalf of patients (and perhaps I’ve been a perpetrator of the phenomenon myself), I would note that the doorknob marks our last chance to be heard. Whatever the reason for not speaking up until that point—fear, discomfort, shame, denial – we know the criticalness of that moment. In thirty seconds, we will no longer be in the presence of one who offers healing. At the threshold between doctor’s office and daily life, the right words are imperative; time is of the essence.

I wonder if there is such a threshold as we stand before the Great Physician. There are times in prayer where it might feel as if we are moving down sterile lists of conditions and information. Work. Finances. Mom. Jack. Future. And where bringing to God in prayer our laundry list of concerns with repeated perseverance is both necessary and helpful, perhaps there are times when we have silenced the greater diagnosis with the words we have chosen to leave unspoken. Can a physician heal wounds we will not show, symptoms we will not mention?

Thankfully, God can and does heal wounds we cannot even articulate. The scripture writers speak of a God who hears our groanings too deep for words. On the other hand, choosing to leave out of our prayers certain toxic symptoms hardly shows our prayer for God’s will to be done entirely sincere. How can God begin the work that needs to be done in our heart when we refuse to come near the operating table? Is there a cure for those who do not seek it?

The prophet Jeremiah once cried, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? No healing for the wound of my people?” Jeremiah lived during one of the most troublesome periods of Hebrew history. And he stood on the threshold between a people sick with rebellion and the great Physician to whom they refused to cry out in honesty.

“I have listened attentively,” the LORD declared, “but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle” (Jeremiah 8:6). His words are weighted with behavior I recognize. A patient who complains of a cough while a fatal wound is bleeding will neither find respite for the cough nor her unspoken pain, and of course, a good physician would not treat the cough until the bleeding has been stopped.

In Jeremiah’s day as in our own, the promise of a painless remedy was not left unspoken. Of these prophets of deceit God uttered, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (8:11). Their promises are easy to stand beside but crumble under the weight of us. To stand in honesty before the Great Physician is more difficult. It is to admit we need to be made well, however painful the remedy or costly the cure.

The great hymn places before us a powerful resolution:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessing flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found.

The woundedness of humanity is serious. It cannot be bandaged as anything less than a mortal wound. So let us not wait until we’ve reached the threshold of life and death to address the indications of our illness. But let us in hope and honesty come into the presence of one who imparts healing. In the coming of Christ, God offers a cure that extends as far as the wound has festered.

Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. To subscribe to this list send an empty email to: slice-html-subscribe@lists.rzim.org

Slowing Down for a Moment

by Robin Dugall

God, my shepherd, I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. – Psalm 23:1-3

Did you know that a study was presented to the USA Congress back in the 1960s that said we would become so technologically sophisticated before the year 2000 that we would have to work only 5 to 6 hours a day. The “experts” said that the big problem of the 21st century would be what to do with the extra leisure time. Right! Technology has served to speed up our pace of living. Today, most of us are busier than ever!

When was the last time you cherished a moment? When was the last time – you had the time – to simply focus on how you were going to be obedient and responsive to the will and heart of your God? When was the last time you spent time with God as a natural response to the moment – without any outside encouragement or guilt to motivate you?

Right now, I encourage you to tell the Lord your God that you so desire the fullness of His presence in these moments. Here is a guide to help you fill these moments with His presence and the enjoyment of your relationship with Him:

Say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
Thank your Lord that He knows you by name and wants to spend these moments with you. Talk to Him about cultivating an ever-increasing intimacy with Him.

Say, “In Him, I shall lack nothing. The Lord is my provider.”
Thank your God that He provides all your needs. Ask Him to carry your worries, burdens, and cares.

Say, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. The Lord is my peace.”
Thank your God for His attention to the details of life. Tell Him you want to see Him more clearly in the details of your life. Ask your Lord to give you His peace.

Say, “He restores my soul. The Lord is my healer.”
Thank your God that He understands everything you are experiencing in life. Thank Him for being your healer and restorer. Recall in these moments the times where His restoration gave you life.

Say, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The Lord is my righteousness.”
Thank your Lord for His guidance in your life. Thank Him for the complete acceptance that He has given you as a gift of His mercy and grace. Ask Him for His righteousness to be revealed in your life.

Say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. You are God who is here.”
Thank the Lord for His presence that calms every fear. As the book of Hebrews reads, “I will never leave you are forsake you”.

Say, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Thank the Lord for His authority in your life to discipline, correct and give you. Thank your God that you can never mess up so bad that you would fear punishment by Him.

Say, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The Lord is my banner of victory.”
Thank the Lord for His strength and protection in your life!

Say, “You anoint me head with oil. My cup overflows.”
Thank your God for His grace, mercy and favor. Ask Him for the enjoyment of His presence during these moments of quiet.

as seen in “Today’s HomeWord,” a daily devotional with Jim Burns. Visit them online at www.homeword.com

A Business Problem Leads
to a Call

by Os Hillman

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” – 1 Samuel 9:3

The people of Israel wanted a king. God finally agreed. Samuel was the prophet of Israel who was to anoint the man God had chosen. God selected a young man to be the first king of Israel-his name was Saul.

It is interesting to look at the circumstances in which God called Saul into his new vocation. It seems that Saul’s father had a business that used donkeys. During these times, donkeys were often used for commerce. It was obviously important to the father to find these lost donkeys, so he sent Saul and his servant out to find them.

They went from region to region, unable to find the donkeys. Finally, Saul told his servant that they should go back. He thought that his father would be worried.

But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take” (1 Samuel 9:6).

Saul took his advice. Near the town they met some young girls who told them that Samuel had just come to their town that day.

When they arrived, they met Samuel who told them that the donkeys were safe and he would also tell Saul the next morning all that was in his heart. He then informed Saul of his new calling to be the next king of Israel.

Can you see what circumstances led to Saul’s receiving his call? It started with a business problem – lost donkeys. It led to connecting Saul with Samuel through a number of divine appointments and circumstances. God still does this today.

God will provide the necessary circumstances to accomplish His purposes in your life. You must realize that a business problem may lead to a new calling for your life. Saul had no idea lost donkeys would be the instrument used to change his life. So, too, we must realize God’s ways are not our ways.

The Last Impression

After the visiting preacher finished, a woman came up and said, “You were much better than the preacher we had last Sunday. He spoke for an hour and said nothing.”

“Thank you,” the visiting preacher replied.

“Yes,” she continued. “You did it in fifteen minutes.”

Although it is winter, the weather around here seems more like spring! As we have been experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures, as well as spring-like showers, it reminds me that no matter what the season is outside, we can look forward to what the Lord has in store for us in the future. It may be winter, but springtime is coming!

Whatever season of life you are in, know that the Lord has a new season around the corner for you! And, we are sure that as our world goes through the events of this day, we can look to the future, confident that Christ is coming back again!

Look up, my friend! Your redemption draweth nigh!