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Your boss has assigned you a task! Come up with a creative solution to a problem that has been costing the company money. You tackle work at night and on weekends doing the needed research. Your boss is enthusiastic about your proposal.

Later, in a company-wide meeting, the president gives your boss credit for the solution. You find it increasingly difficult to continue serving your boss faithfully.

Serving people who have wounded us is a challenge.

Jesus overcame that challenge on the night He was arrested, accused, and sentenced to die. He had gathered with His disciples to celebrate the Passover when He did something quite interesting. John 13:5 says “After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

In that group of 12 was Judas! A thief and generally disagreeable sort, whom Jesus knew was about to betray him. Judas left the meeting early to arrange the betrayal of Jesus, but not before Jesus washed his feet, along with those of the faithful eleven who remained.

The next time God asks you to serve someone you would rather not, remember how Jesus washed the feet of an unlovely man on the road to Calvary. It is a contradiction to be a true Christian and not humble!

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 8.37. Live for God, on purpose, serving and walking in humility, just as Christ Himself demonstrated for us.

It Doesn’t Revolve Around You!

We live in a day when the philosophy that most people live by amounts to “what’s in it for me.” People tend to evaluate every situation of their life by how they can benefit from things. They will make choices and decisions based solely upon how the choice will advance their own personal cause.

Unfortunately, this same philosophy has poured itself into much of Christianity today. People will decide what church to attend – or even whether or not to attend church at all – based solely on what the church offers them. They chose involvement in any ministry or activity by one overwhelming factor – what’s in it for them.

In many ways, many people seem to think that the world revolves around them! Well, here’s a news flash – it doesn’t revolve around you!

Everyone recognizes that God has created all things. But as committed Christ-followers, we need to understand this on a personal basis. You were not only created by God, but you have also been created FOR God! Colossians 1:16 tells us “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created BY him, and FOR him:”

The world doesn’t revolve around you. In fact, your world needs to revolve around Him! Working to change our life’s pattern toward that goal is what we will be speaking about this Sunday in our sermon appropriately titled “It Doesn’t Revolve Around You!” Be sure to join us here at WFA for the important message!

The First Ten Lessons I Learned
About Prayer

by Dr. Joe McKeever

1. The only real mistake we can make in prayer is in not praying.
If we pray earnestly, almost anything we do is better than not praying. After all, no father rejects the child’s plea because she did not use the right words or form. He welcomes his child into his arms. Someone has said, “Nothing never happens when we pray.”

2. No matter how much you pray, you will never be completely satisfied with
your prayer life.
You will always feel the goal is out there beyond you somewhere. We must work against perfectionism, that mental disease that convinces us because we’re not doing something perfectly, that we should stop it altogether. No matter how ineffective you think your prayers are, believe that they matter to God and keep on praying.

3. The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayer.
Romans 8:26 assures us “He helps us in our weakness because we do not know how to pray.” The Greek word translated “helps” is a compound Greek verb “synantilambanomai.” The “syn” means “together, with us.” The “anti” means “opposite to, in front of.” And the “lambanomai” is a form of the verb “to lift.” Together they tell us the Holy Spirit gets on the other end of our task, opposite to us, and together with us lifts the burden. He does not do this in our place, but works with us.

4. Keep on praying.
Persistence in prayer is taught so many times in Scripture. My favorite is blind Bartimaeus in Luke 18. Let nothing stop you from praying. Not your own inadequacy (of which there is much), your own needs (which can be overwhelming), not your fears (which never tire of assaulting you), and most definitely not other people (discouragement is all around us). Just keep at it.

5. Our emotions and feelings are irrelevant to effective praying.
We need to rescue our prayer life from bondage to our emotions. You know, “I don’t feel like my prayers go beyond the ceiling,” or “I don’t feel like praying today.” When you turn to the Father in prayer, how you feel has nothing to do with anything. Pray anyway.

6. Heaven places the same value on our prayers that we do.
If it matters to us, it matters to our Heavenly Father. The widow’s mite did not mean much to anyone else in the Temple that day, but because it mattered a great deal to her, it was precious to the Father. This principle holds true for our prayers, our offerings, and anything else we give to the Lord: when it arrives in Heaven, it carries the same value there we placed on it here.

7. Throw away your clock.
Jesus said it’s the heathen who think they will be heard for their much speaking. The goal in our prayer time is to be real, to touch Heaven, and not to log so much time. Think how insulted your sweetheart would be if you brought along a clock on your next visit, and you kept looking at it to see how much time had gone by so you could feel good about the investment you were making in the relationship. How much time you spend in prayer has little to do with anything. This assumes, of course, that you are spending some quality time with Him each day in prayer.

8. It’s not necessary to know the will of God in order to ask for something.
Go ahead and ask for healing, for that new job, for this blessing, or that condition to change. What if it’s not the will of God? Then, friend, He won’t do it. Do not think you are tying God’s hands by your prayers. That’s why Jesus ended His prayer in Gethsemane with “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” He taught us to pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” My job is to ask. It’s the Father’s place to sort things out and decide what He wishes to answer and grant.

9. There is a mystery involved whenever we come into the presence of God.
We are kneeling before the Almighty Sovereign God, Lord of the universe. Be quiet. Be still. Get alone with Him. Humble yourself. Wait on Him. Respect Him as having sense and quit insulting Him with your pet memorized phrases. Tell Him the truth, what you’ve been up to and what you’re thinking now. Tell Him what blesses you about Him, and what areas of your life you need particular help with.

Jesus said He already knows our needs before we ask, but He likes to see if we have figured things out, too. So, go ahead and make your requests to Him. Whatever answer comes, accept that as His will, at least for the time being. And keep on praying.

10. Always keep paper and pen handy when you are praying.
My experience is that when you come into the Father’s presence in prayer, He will frequently call your attention to something He wants you to know or do. He may tell you someone to see, something to do, someone to call, something to forgive, a verse to look up, a text to remember, a debt to pay, or a neighbor to help. Write it down. Then, go back to your prayer. Expect to receive from Him every time you turn to Him in prayer.

When I was a kid on the Alabama farm, times were hard and surprises were rare. But we were always glad when our uncle Johnny Chadwick drove up from Birmingham. He was a police officer with the city and was forever meeting interesting people, getting challenging ideas, and having things given to him. He would bring up day-old cakes and pies from bakeries. He once brought me an old used bicycle, the first I’d ever owned. Once he arrived with a truckload of calves which it became my assignment to feed before and after school. He never came empty-handed. We were always eager to meet Uncle Johnny.

How much more when we come to pray, entering into the very presence of the loving Heavenly Father, should we be eager and expectant about what is about to happen.

as seen in “Joe’s List” at www.JoeMcKeever.com. Dr. Joe McKeever is Director of Missions for the 135 churches and missions that make up the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. He pastored for 42 years (including the First Baptist Churches of Columbus, MS, Charlotte, NC, and Kenner, LA) and came to this position in May, 2004.

Just Look Up!

by Jessica Campbell

Life is like playing in an orchestra. First, God gives you your instrument and some music, and you sit down to play, but you say, “God, I’ve never played this piece before! Look at all of those notes! I’ll never be able to do it!” But God gets up on the pedestal and holds His baton in His hand. He winks at you and says calmly, “Just follow me.”

You say, “But God, that will be too hard... can’t we play this other song? It looks a whole lot easier and a lot more fun to play,” but God says, “No, follow MY lead”

Well, you decide that it doesn’t matter what God says, you want to play the other song. So, as He raises His baton and begins to conduct, you ignore Him and begin wailing away at the piece you wanted to play. However, it just doesn’t quite work. The music doesn’t sound beautiful at all, because it’s not the way God wanted you to play. After a little more playing and a whole lot more frustration, you realize that it would be better just to listen to your Conductor. So, with a red face you silently search for the piece God wants you to play.

“But God, it looks so hard.” But God just smiles caringly and taps the baton on His stand. “No matter what, follow Me. Just look up at Me, and I will lead you,” He whispers. So, you begin to play. In the beginning, it seems as though you will never be able to play this piece. All you can see are those notes rushing by. Then you remember what God said... “LOOK UP”... so you look up and see God carefully counting out the beats for you, and if you listen really carefully, you can hear His Voice humming your part.

The song is the most beautiful song that you have ever heard, and you find that as long as your eyes are fixed on the Conductor, you are able to play along. All you have to do is look up! Sure, some parts are REALLY tough, but as long as you follow the Conductor and listen to His steady rhythm, you can make it through. All you have to do is LOOK UP!

as seen at www.inspirationalarchive.com

God’s Accuracy

God’s accuracy may be observed in the hatching of eggs. For example, the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days; those of the canary in 14 days; those of the barnyard hen in 21 days. The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days; those of the mallard in 35 days. The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days. (Notice, they are all divisible by seven).

The lives of each of you may be ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if you will only entrust Him with your life. If you try to regulate your own life, it will only be a mess and a failure. Only the One Who made the brain and the heart can successfully guide them to a profitable end.

God’s wisdom is seen in the making of an elephant. The four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God planned that this animal would have a huge body, too large to live on two legs. For this reason He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily. The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first. A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first. How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

God’s wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as well as in the number of grains. Each watermelon has an even number of strips on the rind. Each orange has an even number of segments. Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains. Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd number. The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather. All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold – all even numbers.

God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified times during the day, so that Linneus, the great botanist, once said that if he had a conservatory containing the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those that were closed!

Thus the Lord in His wonderful grace can arrange the life that is entrusted to His care in such a way that it will carry out His purposes and plans, and will be fragrant with His presence. Only the God-planned life is successful. Only the life given over to the care of the Lord is safe.

as seen in Thisnthatnographics

Perspectives!

One day, a financially comfortable father decided to take his son to the country, with the purpose of showing him how poor people live, and that the son could understand the value of things, and realize how fortunate they were.

They stayed overnight at a very humble family’s farm for 1 day and 1 night. As the trip ended, and during their return home, the father asks his son:

So what did you think of the trip?

It was great, dad!

Did you see how poor and needy some people have to live?

Yes!

And what did you learn?

I saw that we have one dog in the house, but they have four. We have a huge swimming pool, but they have a river that never ever ends. We have imported lamps in the patio, they have the stars. Our backyard ends at the fence, but theirs goes on and on into the horizon. Especially though, dad, I saw that they have time to talk to each other and live as a family. You and Mom have to work all day, and I hardly see you both!

As the conversation ended, the father remained silent, and his son added: Thanks Dad, for showing me how rich we could be!!

One’s Worth

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill in his hand. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. “Well, what if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” Still, the hands went up.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But, no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless.

The worth of our life comes not in what we do or who we are, but in WHOSE we are.

The Last Impression

A guy moved to Arizona at the urging of his doctor. After settling in, he met a neighbor who was also an older man.

“My doctor recommended I move here for my health. Is this really a good place to live?”

“It sure is! When I first arrived here, I couldn’t say one word. I had hardly any hair on my head and I didn’t have the strength to walk across a room. I had to be lifted out of bed.”

“That’s wonderful! How long have you been here?”

“I was born here.”

I wasn’t born in Delaware, but I love living here! One of the best things about being in Delaware is worshiping at Wilmington First Assembly! Come join us this week, and discover as so many others have, the friendliest and warmest church in North Delaware!