Anana Itap was preaching and teaching about Jesus in Nigeria. Some people were mocking him.
He then declared that though it was the rainy season, that instead of the usual rain that fell each day, God would make it be dry weather for four days. And that is exactly what happened! In the places surrounding the village, the rain fell, but in that village no rain came for four days. God wanted to show a sign to help these people understand that what Anana Itap was saying was true and should be respected and believed. Because of this miracle of the rain stopping, everyone in the village—all but one, that is—chose to believe in the God of all, Who listens to our prayers and has power over the Earth and can change the weather, supernaturally.
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John Willing
One man says the new 5G mobile data transmission speed is terrible for your health; another says it is better for it. One is for the ruling party; another is for the opposition. One is all for the vaccine and wants everyone to have it; another is against it and wants to keep freedom of choice. One likes to see manger scenes in public places; the European Commission tries to cancel Christmas. Both sides are convinced that they are right. What are we going to do with these discrepancies, how do we react to one and then the other? How can we reconcile, avoid arguing, getting upset? How can we bring peace and unity in the midst of such diversity? I have noticed that in countries with more democracy and freedom of expressing opinions, the divide amongst its citizens can go to the point of getting aggressive and nasty, even between members of one’s own family and community. Sarah Anderson, the author of the book “The Space Between Us” talks about this subject. She suggests that even if there is a divide in our own family or party, we should make an effort to go out of our way to meet the other side and try to find common ground. I think it is great that we can each express our own opinions, left or right, for or against, as long as we are loving in what we say, show respect to each other, and use kindness, tact, and tolerance. The Golden Rule is pretty universal, endorsed by many religions. Jesus expressed it this way: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Mat 7:12).” So, how can we have unity in diversity? The point is not that we all have the same opinion, but try to achieve unity in spite of differing opinions. I believe it is a matter of the heart, starting in our own. What is in our heart comes out of our mouth. This goes also for what we write and post online. I am learning to go slow when I receive an email which evokes a strong opposing opinion in me on a given subject. Instead of answering that email with my immediate reaction, I wait for a day or more. I ask myself what to do with it. Should I answer at all? If yes, what should I say, what would help bring peace and unity – despite the differences of opinion? Listening to the other side, receiving constructive criticism to my opinion, to what I say, do or write, can be beneficial. I prefer to hear about it before my standpoint is widespread, because once it is out there, I can’t take it back and might have to apologize for it later. When writing something, I want to hear about any mistakes I made or things that are not clearly expressed before it is published. Our counterpart can become our helper. Since Christmas is just around the corner, I was reminded of an incident in World War I, where German, French and English soldiers were laying down their weapons for some time to celebrate this special occasion instead of fighting each other. The beautiful movie “Joyeux Noel” depicts this “Christmas Truce of 1914”, a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front. Unfortunately, the politicians and higher up military officers did not approve and sent airplanes to restart the fighting. In spite of that let us follow the example of these peace-loving soldiers, lay down our weapons, in words and deeds, and unite around the common goal of working together and helping each other no matter what the challenge may be. Can we try to look beyond the words into the heart of the person who is so strongly opinionated? Why is the other side so heated up; is there fear involved; did one of their loved ones suffer or even die because of a controversial issue at hand? There is always a person behind an opinion, someone who suffers and goes through difficulties like us. Life can be hard so why make it even harder for our fellow men?! We don’t have to let the media or anything else get us all riled up so that we lose sight of the heart of the person in front of us. We can rather choose the loving way. God loves every person, even the ones who can be a challenge for us personally. – Let us use the Golden Rule! The missionary family spoke at our church, telling us the marvelous things God was doing in Kenya: “We have built a school, we now have an orphanage with more than a hundred kids in it, and we’re starting a seminary for some of the new believers.”
Of course, they showed us videos. They spoke in glowing terms about how their financial needs had been met. “God is so good,” the husband said. “I never thought I’d love living in another country, without air-conditioning, the food not so great, bugs everywhere. But we are immensely happy.” Afterward, I talked to him. When he looked at my name tag, he apparently recognized my name as one who had sent their family financial gifts. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. We couldn’t do it without you. One day God will reward you for all your help.” I thought about everything the family had told us that night about their work in Kenya. “He already has,” I said, tears in my eyes. One way to show our love for God is by giving to those on the mission field. — Mark Littleton The saying, “Necessity is the mother of Invention,” certainly took on greater meaning lately, with the increased challenges due to the pandemic and people needing to find ways to support themselves and their families.
One of the obstacles that can often seem insurmountable at the beginning of a project is a lack of self-confidence or of resources. Along those lines, there are two stories from the Bible where people encountered a serious challenge to their abilities and resources. The first happened when a widow who had been married to one of the former students of the prophet Elisha was threatened by a loan shark. Her husband had owed money, and now that he was dead, the loan shark was threatening to sell her two sons as slaves to pay the debt. When the widow told Elisha, his response was immediate: “What do you have in your house?” She was a bit surprised and said, “Absolutely nothing,” but then remembered that she did have a jar half full of olive oil, so she told him. “Go back to your house,” he replied, “and send your sons to borrow every empty jar they can get their hands on. Bring them into your house and shut your door and start filling them up with olive oil from your jar.” She did as he said, and amazingly, she filled jar after jar—every jar her sons had been able to borrow from the entire neighborhood. She was then able to sell that oil and repay her debt. The next story happened when Jesus was preaching to a crowd of at least 5,000. When evening came, His disciples realized that all of them would soon need to eat, and that they were far from any place where they could get food, so they suggested that Jesus had better send them away. But His response was: “You give them something to eat.” The disciples were shocked and said that even the better part of a year’s salary wouldn’t be enough to buy food to feed the crowd—even if they had been some place where buying food was an option—to which Jesus responded: “What food have you got with you now?” They searched and came up with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus told them to have everyone sit down, then He prayed and started to break up the bread and fish and give it to His disciples to distribute. In the end, everyone was fed—and not only that, there were 12 baskets of leftovers. Remember that God can make something out of very little when we place our trust in Him and commit our ways to Him by faith. -- Simon Bishop Quote of the day:
Think about it: We can find inspiration from the life of John Stephen Akhwari, as told in Bud Greenspan’s book 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History. When the winner crossed the finish line in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic marathon, the officials and spectators thought that had been the highlight of the race. Then, an hour later, John Stephen Akhwari, a runner from Tanzania, entered the stadium. Bloodied and bandaged from a fall, and with a dislocated knee, he limped painfully. As Akhwari made his way around the track in the setting sun, the remaining crowd began to cheer loudly. When he crossed the finish line, you would have thought by the roar of the crowd that Akhwari had been the victor. Later, when asked why he had not dropped out, Akhwari replied, “I don’t think you understand. My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.” When you’re bruised and bloodied by life, press on; your Creator did not send you here to start the race, but to finish it! “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Keep going, no matter what the cost. Keep fighting, no matter what bruises you get. Keep running, no matter how many times you stumble and fall. Your cuts and bruises and scrapes and scars are medals of honor in God’s sight, signs that you had the faith, courage, determination, and commitment to keep going even when it was tough! You may have fallen, but you refused to quit. At the end of the race, you’ll be able to say, like the apostle Paul: “My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” A mother and her children in a time of civil unrest and danger, had to flee and travel quickly from Czechoslovakia to Berlin, Germany. There were thousands of other refugees all walking and travelling. There wasn’t much water, and they were often hungry and thirsty. At night they would have to sleep out in the open. One night when it was raining heavily, thankfully just then they came to a railway station, and found shelter there. The baby was crying, however, and was in need of food. The mother did not have anything to give her baby, but God knew their need and would help.
Suddenly a kind woman appeared nearby and came towards them saying, “This little baby is hungry, that is why she won’t sleep.” Then within 20 minutes she came back with a bottle of warm milk and gave it to the mother for her baby. This woman was never seen again—could she have been an angel in the night? Then when this family reached the border, by some wonderful miracle, someone special was there. The father of this family had been searching diligently for them, and they hadn’t heard from each other in a long while. Then at that time and on that day, he was right there at the border and spotted his family. It was a joyful reunion, and they could then travel together. With the daddy’s clever help it was a bit easier, and they made it safely to where they were to live, in Germany. The Lord kept each one of them through that difficult time. I could barely see the woman in the dark corner of the hovel she called home. She had no water, power, or comforts besides a cot, a tiny coal firepot, and a couple of boxes to sit on. Only days before, my four healthy children surrounded me in our spacious, well-loved home. Now, across the ocean and in a world that might have been on another planet, I sat in a squalid African hut watching a woman dying of AIDS struggle for each breath.
On the plane ride to Ethiopia, doubts had plagued my thoughts. What are you doing leaving your children for two weeks? Why go all the way to Africa to help the poor? Why you? For this exact moment, answered a voice in my spirit. I crossed the room, held her hand, and, bending near, whispered life-giving Scripture. In that moment love was as elemental to life as breath. Love is extending my hand, sharing a prayer, and, sometimes, leaving all I’ve ever known to find what I truly have to give. When you go to unfamiliar places, you will discover opportunities to share love you never knew you had to give. — Alyssa Santos Quote of the day:
Think about it: I’ll never forget when I was leading a meeting in a little coal town in western Pennsylvania. It was a small venue on a cold, rainy night with a very small, poor crowd of about a dozen people. I kept saying, “I’m sorry there aren’t more folks here. I don’t know where the rest of the people are.” I was dwelling on the negative and the empty seats instead of complimenting them for being so brave to come out on a night like that and telling them, “You’re wonderful people that you have been the ones to come, and you have braved the weather!” I should have been speaking about the positive and encouraging them, inspiring them, and complimenting them instead of dragging everybody down by pointing out all the empty seats and talking about all the folks that didn’t come. It’s always better to accentuate the positive. I got a real dressing down from my business manager. He took me aside and said, “You shouldn’t have talked about all the people that weren’t there and why they didn’t come and kept complaining about the empty seats. You should have been congratulating the people who did come, thanking them, inspiring them, encouraging them, thanking them for coming in such bad weather, and highlighting how wonderful it was that so many people came out in such bad weather, instead of talking about so many people who didn’t come! Dwell on the positive. Accentuate the positive, the encouraging, and the inspiring, trying to lift up, and don’t keep talking about the negative and the bad side. Look on the bright side. Don’t call attention to some mistakes in your program most people won’t even notice them. A small meeting is to a few is better than no meeting at all. Try to bring out the positive and accentuate the good!” It’s the old story about how the optimist sees the doughnut while the pessimist sees the hole. The optimist raves about the quality of the doughnut and how delicious it is and how wonderful it is to have a doughnut, and the pessimist complains, “How come they cheated us by putting a hole in it? Where’s the rest of my doughnut?” It’s the same thing we are often tempted to do with God. Instead of thanking God for all His blessings, we’re tempted to complain about our trials and tribulations and suffering. A Christian missionary man was in danger as he struggled to ford across a waist-high river. He couldn’t swim, and he saw some crocodiles making their way over to him.
He knew he was on God’s business and had God’s protection. Remembering what God said in the Bible gave him faith and boldness over the creatures that were within 3 or 4 feet of him. As he stood there in the river he said, “Crocodiles, in the name of Jesus I command you to leave.” The crocodiles came just a foot closer and then swish, they turned around and swam away. The people standing on the shore saw what happened, and what power Jesus Christ—and praying in His name—can have over the animals, said, “We have never seen anything like this. The crocodiles obeyed that man.” Those who realized it was the power of Jesus chose to believe in Him. I remember the moment like yesterday. I had applied to a seminary—only one—to study for the ministry. I heard one of the seminary teachers preach on several tapes. He made me laugh, cry, and feel emboldened to live more strongly for Christ. When I applied, the seminary dean informed me I was very late. They’d already selected most of the incoming class, and he recommended I apply for the next semester.
After praying, I decided to go for it. The wait was awful. But one day I received a letter from the school. I opened it with trepidation. It said, “You have been chosen to enter our school for this school year.” Chosen. Have you ever thought about that in reference to God choosing you? He chose you and me to be His children, His friends, His servants. He chose us because He loves us. Only love could choose people like us, don’t you think? And that love is greater than any in this world. God’s love reached out to us and chose us even before we ever thought of Him. John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. — Lloyd O’Donnell |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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