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Have you ever thought about the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat? A thermometer changes with circumstances – it reacts. A thermostat changes the circumstances – it regulates.

The same could be said for the way people respond to life’s challenges. Some let circumstances control them and they often feel like victims. But others experience life on a more even keel. Circumstances may become difficult! But they’re constantly overcoming those difficult circumstances. They weather the storms with the confidence that circumstances have no power to defeat them.

Which are you? A thermometer, constantly up and down? Or a thermostat, strong and unshakeable? Are you a victor or a victim?

I find that people who have a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ experience great strength and inner peace no matter what their circumstances. They don’t see themselves as victims, but always as victors! It’s a real key to victorious Christian living. 1 John 5:5 says, “And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 8.29. Live for God, on purpose, more than a conqueror through Him who loves you!

Dealing with Adversity

Have you ever had “one of those days?” You know the kind – where everything just seems to go wrong. From the moment you wake up until the time you go to bed, problems and difficulties come running at you. It could be a harsh word from a friend or a loved one. Perhaps disappointing or even devastating news. Maybe an accident or an illness. Maybe that day has quickly become “one of those weeks!”

This can be especially difficult if you have been led to believe that as a believer in Christ, every day should be a wonderful day, with no problems or difficulties! Some “televangelists” would have you to believe that if you are experiencing and problems or difficulties, it must indicate a lack of faith on your part. So, the guilt trips join together with the hardships you are experiencing.

The truth is, in greater or lesser degrees, we all go through times of difficulty and adversity. None of us are promised a life of ease and comfort. So, the question is – when you experience the inevitable hard times, difficulties, and adversities, what do you do? How do you handle the adversities that come your way?

When his wife asked him why he kept his integrity, and urged him to just “curse God and die,” Job’s reply was “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” This Sunday morning, we will explore this very subject, and discover how we have properly deal with our adversities. Don’t miss this critical message!

The Worth of a “Bill”

by George Prins

He took the brand new $20 bill and asked everyone who wanted it. Many shot up their hands in eagerness. Then he took the $20 and crumbled it all up in his hands and asked again who wanted it. They all shot up their hands again. Then he took the money, crumbled it up again and proceeded to stamp on it with his foot a few times. The money looked as flat as a dime. One child said in a whithering voice, “Oh no!” He asked the audience again who wanted it and all the hands shot up.

The pastor then looked at my friend, Bill, and said to the audience, “Our God loves everyone including Bill. Our lives may be messed up with no direction to follow. You see, all of you wanted to have that twenty dollar bill regardless of the condition. I could have smeared mud on it but you still wanted it. That’s the same with God. He still values us as His creation even though we may make wrong choices in life. God can still use wrinkled, torn, muddy people for his service.”

After the pastor finished talking, Bill started to speak. The audience was hushed as he explained in a faltering voice that he had really messed up his life. He had left his wife and 3 beautiful girls. He had left the church and finally divorced his wife. She was devastated. He said that it was easy for someone to preach at him, but what really spoke to him was the pastor who asked him to come into his office one day. Bill felt like a little school boy who had done something wrong.

The pastor told Bill, “God loves you and so do I.” Bill asked, “Is that all you want to tell me?” “Yes,” was the pastor’s reply. There were some more tears from Bill but he asked everyone to forgive him and support him in his renewed walk with Christ. Bill was wrinkled, bruised, torn and humiliated but he was still usable.

You may also feel like Bill, but God will give you forgiveness for all the wrongs you have made to yourself and others.

In the Bible, Matthew 11:28-30 says it best, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

as seen at Daily Wisdom, www.dailywisdom.com

Playing Through Your Pain

by Rubel Shelly

Whether you play golf or not, you surely know the name Tiger Woods. So bear with me. This week’s “FAX of Life” isn’t so much about golf as life.

Almost a month ago now, Tiger outlasted Rocco Mediate in this year’s U.S. Open. Playing the course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, the two were tied after four days. They were still tied at the end of an 18-hole playoff. Tiger won in sudden death on the 19th. Some say it was the greatest U.S. Open in history.

No, the score wasn’t the lowest ever. No, it wasn’t won by an eagle from the fairway. No, there was no miracle shot that ended things. The miracle was that the man who won was able to complete the competition.

Tiger Woods played the tournament with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and two stress fractures below the left knee. As I watched part of the Open on TV, it was obvious that the world’s greatest golfer was in excruciating pain at times. His powerful swing would contort his whole body, wrench his injured knee in particular, and register quite dramatically on his ordinarily poised face.

Golf is only a game, but watching a professional athlete compete through such pain was inspiring. He could have simply withdrawn because of the injury. Fans would have been disappointed but would have understood. He could have played to his pain and hit the ball less aggressively. He might have fallen back into the pack and taken a high score and low finish. He would have none of it.

Tiger played through his pain. He wouldn’t quit. He gave his best on every hole. He insisted on playing to his full potential – even when that potential was putting both his body and mind under incredible stress. Hooray for him!

The winner of this year’s U.S. Open had successful reconstructive surgery on his damaged knee about ten days later. He will miss the remainder of this year’s PGA tournament events, of course, while he rehabs the knee. But few people doubt he will be ready to play the tour next year. He is, after all, Tiger Woods. He is the ultimate competitor. He doesn’t quit.

There are pains of all kinds. Physical trauma, broken relationships, failed ventures, consequences of wrongs done – all are different and all the same. And each of us has to decide about quitting, playing to the pain, or working through.

As you’re deciding what to do with yours, think about why so many people are speaking of Tiger Woods with such admiration these days – even the folks like me who hardly know which end of a golf club to hold.

True courage isn’t just outlasting difficulty but turning it into triumph.

Rubel Shelly is a Preaching Minister at the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ. This article is from the July 14, 2008 issue of “The FAX of Life,” his weekly message, found at http://www.rubelshelly.com.

Dealing with Strongholds

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “Pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” What are you to pull down? Strongholds: areas of your life that are held in the grip of the enemy. What are you to cast down and take captive? Thoughts: thinking that doesn’t line up with God’s Word or submit to the rule of Christ in your life.

Recognize that you are in a war. You are a new creation and your old character will constantly try to reestablish control over you. Don’t let it. So long as it reigns in your life, Christ’s seat is taken. If it is on the throne, Christ is still on the cross. Put Christ on the throne and your past on the cross!

In the Old Testament, a priest could not come into God’s presence if he had touched anything dead (see Leviticus 22:3-4). If you are going to walk with God, you must bury your old lifestyle. It also means forgiving those who hurt you, including yourself, then moving on. The issue is not whether you remember, but how you remember. God is able to take the sting out of the memory and leave us healed and redeemed. No longer will you be handicapped or hindered by what you’ve been through or by what you’ve done; instead you’ll be enriched by it!

Certainty in Uncertainty

“But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13b

How many things in life (besides death and taxes) are absolutely certain? Even things like the rising and setting of the sun have a condition attached to them (Jeremiah 31:35-37). When we stop and analyze life’s contingencies, it quickly becomes apparent that, outside of God’s promises, very little in life is certain.

It’s ironic that one of God’s certain promises concerns an area in which we feel very uncertain: our ability to escape temptation. When tempted, we suddenly feel unstable, insecure, and uncertain about the outcome. But here is the two-fold certainty God has provided concerning temptation: You will never be tempted beyond your ability – that is, beyond your spiritual maturity level. And, there will always – always – be a way to escape the temptation. By trusting in God’s provision, you will be able to “bear [the temptation]” and ultimately escape it. God has said it, and that makes it certain.

Whatever tempts you is covered by this two-fold provision. Ask God to reveal to you the “way of escape” He has promised to provide, and you will be able to bear any temptation.

Most people who fly from temptation usually leave a forwarding address.

Anvil Time

by Max Lucado

On God’s anvil. Perhaps you’ve been there.

Melted down. Formless. Undone. Placed on the anvil for...reshaping? (A few rough edges too many.) Discipline? (A good father disciplines.) Testing? (Buy why so hard?)

I know. I’ve been on it. It’s rough. It’s a spiritual slump, a famine. The fire goes out. Although the fire may flame for a moment, it soon disappears. We drift downward. Downward into the foggy valley of question, the misty lowland of discouragement. Motivation wanes. Desire is distant. Responsibilities are depressing.

Passion? It slips out the door.

Enthusiasm? Are you kidding?

Anvil time.

It can be caused by a death, a breakup, going broke, going prayerless. The light switch is flipped off and the room darkens. “All the thoughtful words of help and hope have all been nicely said. But I’m still hurting, wondering.....”

On the anvil.

Brought face to face with God out of the utter realization that we have nowhere else to go. Jesus in the garden. Peter with a tear-streaked face. David after Bathsheba. Elijah and the “still, small voice.” Paul, blind in Damascus.

Pound, pound, pound.

I hope you’re not on the anvil. (Unless you need to be, and if so, I hope you are.) Anvil time is not to be avoided; it’s to be experienced. Although the tunnel is dark, it does go through the mountain. Anvil time reminds us of who we are and who God is. We shouldn’t try to escape it. To escape it could be to escape God.

God sees our life from beginning to end. He may lead us through a storm at age thirty so we can endure a hurricane at age sixty. An instrument is useful only if it’s in the right shape. A dull ax or bent screwdriver needs attention, and so do we. A good blacksmith keeps his tools in shape. So does God.

Should God place you on his anvil, be thankful. It means he thinks you’re still worth reshaping.

as seen in Max Lucado’s weekly email devotional, “The UpWords.” This article from “On the Anvil: Stories On Being Shaped Into God’s Image”

The Last Impression

While touring historic buildings in Alexandria, Virginia, we visited an old church. The guide told us that George Washington had attended services there and pointed to his pew.

A reverent silence fell. The guide, encouraged by this, went on to tell us that church services back then had been very lengthy — frequently lasting three hours or more.

The mood of the moment was shattered when an anonymous voice whispered loudly, “So George Washington slept here too!”

We are now experiencing our third “heat wave” of this summer here in Wilmington. With a number of consecutive days in the 90’s, I thought it was quite hot here – that is, until I spoke with a friend in Phoenix who informed me that it was 118 there that day! No matter how hot it may be here, we can thank the Lord for saving us from the fires of an eternity in hell! And, we can thank Him for the great air conditioning here at WFA when we gather to worship this Sunday! See you here at WFA!