A Simple Prayer For 2012

Dear LORD we humbly bow before you on this day.  I ask that you grant your servant forgiveness for sins and trespasses and the knowledge to correct and repay those I have done wrong.  I pray for understanding and the ability to recognize when I am not walking in YOUR path.

I pray for a strong mind to understand your WORD and your will,
Strong ears to hear to will and your word,
Eyes that see the works around me and to see what needs to be worked upon,
A nose to smell the wondrous world around us,
A mouth to say what you want me to say, to comfort, and to spread your word,
A strong torso to be a place to stand for you and to hold others up when they need you
Arms, legs, hands, and feet to take me and do things that your will sees fit.

I pray for all these things Father, but not for myself, but for my Church family, and for the lost.  For
what am I if I do not wish or ask for these things for others to further your kingdom.  I would be as a miser who finds gold yet hides it to himself and never tells others of his joy.  Only to be found by others, too late to provide wonder and joy and left to the next generation.  I pray that you would not allow us to that Lord, that you would make us the generation that spreads that joy.

Lord I pray all these things in your name, for without you, we cannot do these things, we are as that gold we are the joy to be spread yet we do not always know it.  We ask that you show us your grace and mercy and allow us to be that joy, that everything we do, the glory be to you.  That others not see us, but see you face to face and obtain that relationship with you Lord, let us be YOUR pride and joy, YOUR instruments of work, YOUR perfect pottery on display.  In your HOLY name we pray.
Amen.

Striving For Perfection

It’s Christmas season once again.  For some this is a joyous season, for others it is one filled with sorrow, loneliness, and tiring tasks that blind us from the true meaning of the day that we celebrate as the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

During this season it seems as though we seek perfection at every aspect.  We search and try to find that perfect gift for someone, the perfect time to schedule events with family, that perfect food to be fixed, the perfect decorations, the perfect event, play, or presentation.   We find ourselves seeking perfection to have all things done on time, and have them done perfectly.  We struggle because we are imperfect beings looking for perfection.  But what we forget is that now, unlike any other time is the time to seek perfection in our relationship with Jesus Christ, because he was and still is perfect, but also seeking and guiding us, accepting us in our imperfection.  What better way to celebrate his birth and gift than to set our minds on him?  To share our joy with others who may not know him?  To bond together as brothers and sisters in Christ?

This year should be easier to do all these things than any.   When we find ourselves tired and worn out from all the hustle and bustle, all the things we feel the need to be perfect, we must remember what Jesus tells us as recorded in Matthew 11:28-29; “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”   When you feel troubled and stressed, stop, lay down all those worries at his feet, take some time to spend talking with the Father, because that is the lightest and easiest task you will find to do at any given time.

This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Sunday, the day of worship.  What better and more perfect calendar could he have allowed for us this year to celebrate both the birth of Christ and the coming of the New Year by being in Church and celebrating his gift to us.   When all we do is seek perfection, we sometimes don’t stop and see the things around us that He has already set as perfect.

Since you saw me last......

Since you saw me last…I and others have been on a journey.  We have taken Acts 8:4 seriously (Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.)  I and others have done wonderful things with the help of our God.  For it is without his guidance and without his great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 that we would not have done these things. 

Since you saw me last….lives have been touched.  The lives of children in poverty, in despair, fear; troubled children who need help on a day to day basis have been touched.  The lives of myself, and others who journeyed to spread the love and word of Jesus Christ have been touched also.   We have shown these people that there is  a place where they can come and forget their daily troubles, forget who they were, forget what they have been through, and find love, compassion, guidance, and most importantly, show them Jesus loves them and wants them to make that choice to accept him as their Savior.

Since you saw me last….I have gone out and shown people the face of Jesus, His greatness, His works, and set an example for him.  I have seen the seed planted, the seed covered, the seed watered.  I have seen those already there that have grown and bore fruit.  And unfortunately, I have seen those still rooted to the rock that were not yet ready to move to the ground and grow, but we gave reason for them to do so.  It’s a funny thing that happens when you show people the face of Jesus.  Jesus shows you his face right back, through children excited about coming to see you, who see you as someone they can trust, that they can have fun with, and learn with.  He shows us those that can tell us the stories of other Christians that we never mentioned on our journey even with the youngest children.  Since you saw me last….I have been taught as well, yet another thing you find; you go to teach and help, but you learn as well.

Since you saw me last….children have come to a place where they worship together, sing songs, study God’s word, ate together (some received food they don’t get at home), created crafts to give to others, learned music and songs that express God’s love in a world where they might never hear them, played together and learned that someone else loves them.  Children learned about missionaries, silent witnesses, and that there is a pocket full of love that does not give out, and to share as much of it every day.  I have seen children who come learn, even if that morning they didn’t experience Jesus before they came, even if they had to dress themselves, get their siblings ready and be an adult before their time.   Since you saw me last….there are things that happened that I did not see myself; those individuals who went back home and told their parents, other adults, other children about what they learned, about how much fun it was, and most importantly, “Hey, did you know that Jesus loves you too?”

Since you saw me last….I have learned that no matter what my problems, my doubts, my worries, my trials and tribulations, that we have an awesome, mighty God, that can take all that away, and if we give in, he can allow us to be used for great things.  He can allow you to step out of your troubles and your comfort zone and touch a life or many lives.  I found that if God wants, he WILL MAKE A WAY, HE CAN SEND YOU FORTH!

Since you saw me last…He has strengthened my relationship with him through all these things that are possible through Christ.  I will invite you to go on our next journey; I will tell you stories of troubles, funny events, and things that touched my heart.  I will tell you why we all should go out, not just because you may touch a life, but most importantly because God will touch you back.  As we left to return to you, there was not a single person who did not feel something back.  You will find that you can grow closer to God, and on that great day when you stand face to face with Jesus you can say, “Hey Jesus, it’s not been long, since I saw YOU last.”

Are YOU Not?

This upcoming week our Sunday School lesson includes information from 2 Chronicles 20:1-13.  This is the prayer of Jehoshaphat who trusted in the Lord.  After reading it, I just felt compelled to add to it in the same format.  At the end of the passage in v13, it says that all Judah stood with him in prayer.  May this prayer remind you, help others to come to the Lord, and most importantly inspire you.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.  We thank you for the many blessings Your Word bestows upon us.  We humbly call upon you Lord in remembrance of Jehoshaphat's prayer in the assembly of Judah.  "O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?...." Are You not He who created all in six days and rested on the seventh, who gave us life, and provided for our every need, every day?  Are you not He who knows our path, our ways, and more of who we are from before our birth and on through eternity?  Are you not He who provided for Adam and Eve, and even after sin, and chastising, and casting them out, still provided a way for them to survive?  Are you not He who chastises us when we are not in Your way, but is there waiting for us to return to you every moment of every day?  Are you not He who cleansed the Earth of evil, but provided those who were righteous a way to stay afloat in the flood, He who honored Abraham with the blessing of many nations, honored Moses with the ability to guide your people and provided laws to abide by, honored your people by providing for them in the wilderness, honored the next generation still with more leaders and entry into the promise land?  Are you not He that toppled the enemies of your people in battle, honored your humble servants with blessings, and subjected them to trials to mold and make them better able to serve you and your people?   Are you not He who each and every hour of the day gives us hope, spirit, and joy and the will to spread your good word?  Are you not he who protects us even in our many trials of life just as you did your servants Job and Daniel, He who remembers us even when we fall and even in our last moments and answers our prayers as you did Samson.  Are you not He who provides us with dreams and thoughts to spread your word, to show your will, and walk daily with you?   Are you not He who most importantly came to Earth, and was born to a virgin, gave your only begotten Son, Jesus, to teach and show us the way, but most importantly, to die on the cross, so his blood would cover our sins, especially for a people who were not worthy? Are you not He who rose from the grave after 3 days to show your might and fulfill prophecies that are by human means inconceivable and unreachable, and to fill us with he Holy Spirit upon His ascent into Heaven, and give us the great commission as is written in Matthew 28:19?  Are you not He who provided us a way through Your Son as the way, the truth, and the life, that through him we can believe and have everlasting life?  Are you not He who not by the power of the apostles, but through your great power, did works to promote faith and understanding among the people, to build your churches and spread your Holy Word?  Are you not He who when the time only known to you comes who we will rise up and stand before you to cast our crowns at your feet and worship you shouting Holy! Holy! Holy!   Are you not He who will wipe away the old kingdom, cast Satan and death and sorrow away forever, and establish your new kingdom?  Are you not He who we wake every morning to praise you for all you provide?  Lord we ask all these questions not to You, for we know you are all these things, but ask them to others so that they may know your works.  Heavenly Father we know that you are ALL of these things and more, as it would take more time than can be conceived to mention all your blessings you bestow upon us every second.  We praise You and we thank you for all you provide for us, for the path we know we are on is yours.  Even when we may not see the end result just yet, we know that it is You who has already written it in stone, and provided a way to keep us on the straight and narrow Lord.  It is in Your Holy Name we pray........Amen.

Scott Fuller
July 13, 2011

Doing for your neighbor out of kindness

Before I begin this post I want to make something clear.  (1) I expect nothing in return for what I have done here not even recognition from anyone.  (2) No matter what the circumstances we can always find something to do for others.

A lot of people probably don't know that I am unemployed.  Although I receive a small compensation (much less than what I was making working, but more than an average guy making $8/hr gets) times are tough and money is tight.   So as you may know the first fiery dart I usually get hit with in my brain is "hey, are you going to be able to afford to do this?  Won't it keep you from doing it for yourself later?"   It is these type of selfish hits that are most effective on people, but once I put my mind to something the dart usually bounces back.  We all need to get in this mind state, stop being selfish and still "just do it."

A few weeks ago I was mowing our yard.  The rain had been coming down pretty good and it got quite tall.  One of my neighbors is a man who I hardly have seen in the past 8 months.  I think I may have seen him about 3-4 times just going out to the mailbox, and far enough away to raise my hand to wave but I have never noticed him paying attention.  He's a quiet guy, keeps to himself, and has never bothered anybody.   To make a long story short, the grass was so high, I noticed that all he had was a push mower and out of desperation he had just simply mowed paths around his house so he could navigate around it and to the back building.   I told my wife, I cannot let it go I was going to mow his yard.  I did as much as I could without killing my mower (there was a big spot where branches and such had fallen) and getting too close to invade his privacy, but I did get most of the front and back yards done.  My biggest worry after deciding to do it was that I would insult him. 

Again, I ask for no recognition, no thank you, no hey man I really appreciate this, I just felt the need to do it.  God tells us we are to love our neighbor as our own brother.  I was glad to do this small thing, and I didn't even run short of gas for the mower that day.  Sometimes that is the way Satan keeps us from doing for others, false results, false endings injected in our head and then we say, well maybe I'll do it later when I have the time or money.

Well, here is the main theme of today's blog.  I am going to mow his yard again this weekend (if he doesn't beat me to it), not because I think I need to, not because I feel sorry for him, but because I want to.  I saw a quote on a book I think it was in my VOM flyer this month, it said, what if we stopped thinking like Americans and started acting like Christians.  So my challenge today for you (no matter when you read this) is:  do something nice for your neighbor, go by and say hi, help them with a project, bake them some cookies, do something they may not notice until later, but do it without looking for something in return.  This weekend lets all be Americans, but also be Christians.

From - "God Built" - By Steve Farrar & Other Statistics For Re-proof.

There are over 300 references in the New Testament about Christ's return.  There are only 70 about repentance, 19 about water baptism, 6 about communion.  ONE VERSE OUT OF EVERY TWENTY-FIVE (25) in the New Testament has something to say about the coming of Christ!

Are you ready?  Have you gotten the message?  If yes, have you told somebody?  Next time you are conveying the message, make sure that others know this information, it is hard to argue.  NO OTHER book is this dedicated to a theme more important than the Bible.

Some scholars say there are over 1000 prophecies in the Bible, 800 in the Old Testament and about 200 in the New Testament.  But it is important to know that even with the above information about the New Testament that in the Old Testament there are also about 300 references to the coming Messiah.

I am quoting from this website:  http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/html/Christian_Evidence/Bible_Prophecies.htm

Many of the prophecies concerning the Messiah were totally beyond human control:    Birth:   Place, time, manner of
    Death:   People's reactions, piercing of side, burial
    Resurrection:   Where did His body go?

By using the modern science of probability in reference to just eight of these prophecies, the chance that any man might have lived to fulfill all eight prophecies is one in 100 trillion!

To illustrate this point:  If we take 100 trillion silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas, they would be two feet deep.  Now we mark one of these silver dollars and thoroughly stir the whole mass--all over the state.  Now blindfold a man and let him travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick only one silver dollar.  What chance would he have of picking the marked one?  The same chance that the prophets would have of writing just eight of these prophecies and having them all come true for any one man if they had written them without God's inspiration!

The chance of any one man's fulfilling all of 48 prophecies is one in ten to the 157th power.  The electron is about as small an object as we can imagine.  If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and tried to count them, it would take us (at 250 per minute) 19,000 times 19,000 times 19,000 years to count them.  Now mark one of them and thoroughly stir it into the whole mass.  What chance does our blindfolded man have of finding the right electron?  The same chance as one man of fulfilling 48 of the prophecies about Christ without His being the Son of God!

Jesus Christ fulfilled every prophecy written about the coming Messiah--more than 300 of them! Would that have been possible had He not been the Son of God?

So let us remember that when arguments come up, we have evidence to prove it!   Remember, there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole, or near death.  And secondly, God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they do not exist :).   Not being hard on those who claim to be atheist, as God tells us we are to love all as our neighbor, but we have a commission to fulfill, to spread the word.  Love the sinner, and hate the sin.

Have a blessed day.

God Built - Steve Farrar

I would just like to say that I finished reading the book you see below.  It is a great book, focusing on the problems, solutions, and forgiveness of Joseph, as he was sold into slavery by his brothers, rises to a powerful position, falls to prison, and then rises to be the 2nd highest over Egypt, all while "God was will him." 

This book is a great read for those going thru trials and problems in their daily life.  The book stresses points such as our "BIG GOD", and the theological idea of providence.  That God, is in control of everything, good or bad, and is in full control.  God will also provide all that you need to survive. 

If you have not read this book and have an opportunity to do so I highly recommend it!