22 October, 2013

The Way, the Truth, and the Life.

It's simple. I read it just the other day. It's simple, but it made sense, and it's kind of profound too. I thought so anyway... What do you think? 

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. " John 14:6

Without the Way, there is no going; without the Truth, there is no knowing; without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way, which you ought to follow; the Truth which you ought to believe, the Life, which you ought to hope for. I am the way invioable, the Truth infallible, the Life unending. I am the Way that is straightest, the truth that is highest, the life that is truest, the Life blessed, the Life uncreated. If you remain in My way, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31,32), and you shall lay hold on eternal life."
                                                                                                                      -Thomas a Kempis (The Imitation of Christ.) 





13 October, 2013

Don't Waste Good Problems!

Would I could bring the vision closer, nearer,      
And give to you a glimpse of what is mine,
Teach you to know that earth’s most cruel affliction
Is not beyond the hand of Love Divine.        
                                                                                -Oswald J. Smith


‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.’  Romans 8:28 


All things work together for good. All things. Earth’s most cruel affliction is not beyond the hand of Love Divine. God doesn't just help us get through tough times, He brings good out of them. I always thought this ‘all things working together for good’ meant  that the good that would come out of a trial or disappointment would be some kind of earthly good, like some visitors, or a new friend, book, computer, etc, or maybe getting to go on a holiday to the beach, or something like that. But last weekend we were learning about rejoicing through trials and disappointments because God uses them to help our characters grow. So the good that comes out of our trials and disappointments may not be finding a new skirt at a bargain price, or getting to go somewhere or to see someone- it might be of course, those things are good too- it might be just to improve our characters; make them more fit for heaven. 

Part of our study last weekend about rejoicing in trials, included some stories of a man who was a missionary in New Guinea. He faced a lot of trials. But he realized that God was strengthening his character through these trials, and giving him opportunities that otherwise, he never could have had. He concluded his sermon by saying ‘Don’t waste good problems!’ Because every time God sent him a problem to teach him a lesson, and he didn’t respond to it correctly, God would send him another one! If we want to improve our characters, we need to make good use of those problems! God uses them for our good.

 He also suggested that instead of saying good bye to our friends by saying ‘Have a good day!’ we should say ‘Don’t waste good problems!’  So, don’t waste good problems! Make sure you get every bit of good you can out of them!






















05 October, 2013

Guest Post - Power of Prayer

Today I have a guest post for you. :) Or a semi-guest post maybe. Semi because the guest is my sister, Rachel (Thanks Chook!), and I helped her write it... Happy readings! :)    

"...We do not value the power and efficacy of prayer as we should. Prayer and faith will do what no power on earth can accomplish..." (HDL 56.3)

I'd like to tell you about a time when my prayers and faith accomplished what no power on earth could.

It was May 2012. One of my sister's rabbit's kittens had just died. It was the third time my sister's rabbit had kittens. It was the third time I had wanted to keep one for my own. It was the third time that the one that I loved, died. It didn't seem like I would ever get a rabbit, so Mum said I could get a lamb.

Next week we went to town. We'd done all our shopping, and were, I thought anyway, heading home, when Mum pulled over behind a car, that I recognized as a friend's car. She came to our car window and told Mum something. Then Mum said to me "Why don't you go see what she has in the back of her car?" So I did. I opened the boot of her car and inside was a box. And inside the box was...nothing. But outside the box was a small white lamb. And he was mine.

On the way home name suggestions were flying everywhere, and I finally decided on using about half of them. So my small white lamb received the title of 'Obadiah Albert Timothy Mitchell Micah James Granger.' Obee for short.

Obee seemed healthy enough, but we soon realized that he wasn't. He relished his milk, but there's a limit to how much milk a lamb can drink...when he hasn't gotten rid of the last bottleful. In other words my lamb had problems going to the toilet. I had seen several other lambs, including one of the previous ones I had, in this state of affairs and none of them lived to tell the story. Would my Obee come to the same fate? History repeats itself and I feared this would be the case. But I did more than feared. I prayed.

James 5:15 says 'And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.' And John 14:14 says 'If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.' Through a lot of prayer and faith, and many olive oil enemas lovingly administered by my sister, he got going a bit better.

I remember one Friday afternoon, Obee looked particularly sick. He was lying out in the sun, while we industriously cleaned the house. About every fifteen minutes I would either go to my room and pray, or go out to Obee and pray. It was hard to have faith that he would get well, especially when several members of my family had taken to calling him 'dead', and Oba-die-ah.

The next day we went over to our friends' place. Seeing as we were going to be gone the whole day, I took Obadiah with me. He wasn't getting any better, and the suggestion was made to leave the 'dead' lamb there. I refused, because I had asked God to make him better, and I knew He would. So Obee came home again. Many more prayers, many more tears, many more enemas, and many more days - Obadiah Albert Timothy... became well happy and healthy, just like all of his other sheepie friends.


Right now, looking out the window, I can see Obee, happily grazing, with his mouth full of green grass. He's fat and woolly. He's currently, still eating (no blockage now!), continuing on his merry way down our driveway paddock with his mate Mr. Phib. He is living proof that God answers prayer.



Obadiah Albert Timothy Mitchell Micah James Granger. :)