It’s interesting to note that the apostle Paul wrote the verse “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” to the Christians in Rome, because there are some obvious similarities between the social climate of first-century Rome and that of much of the world of
today. Evil was rampant in Rome, and its pull was strong. The Roman Empire hadn’t become the undisputed ruler of the Western world through compassion, kindness, or humility. Wealth was in the hands of a few, and they used it to control the rest. The rich and powerful lived extravagantly while the masses struggled to survive. Perversions and debauchery were practiced by some and ignored by others. Christianity was just one of many religions, and Christ just one more deity. Considering the pantheon of gods that the Romans worshipped, it must have been difficult to convince anyone that Jesus was “the way, the truth, and the life.” Starting to sound familiar? It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the evil and the suffering in the world. Every day we hear about another horrible crime or injustice being committed. The media provides a seemingly endless feed of violence, sorrow, disaster, and evil, and it seems that life has lost its sanctity in the minds of many. What can we do about a world that at times seems to be overcome with evil? This was the same dilemma that the Christians in Rome faced, and Paul’s counsel to them rings true today. “Overcome evil with good.” If a dish is dirty, being angry about the situation does nothing to fix it. Neither does trying to ignore it. The only solution is to expose that dirty dish to the power of a little soap and water. If a room is dark, you can curse the darkness or whine over how unpleasant it is—or you can flip the light switch or open the curtains and let some light in. It’s the same with society’s evils. We can get discouraged, angry, or depressed—“overcome by evil”—or we can be a force for good through our personal example and sharing the light of the gospel with others. Not every dirty dish will be cleaned, and not every darkened heart will be enlightened, but we can each do our part day by day, person by person, decision by decision. – By Marie Story
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You’ve ever felt like your whole life has been uprooted and you have no idea how you’ll make it to the next day, take heart from the Turner’s Oak—a 16-meter-tall giant planted in 1798 and now thriving in the Royal Botanic Kew Gardens, just south of London. In the 1980s, it was sickly and looked like it might die. Then on the 16th of October, 1987, the Great Storm hit parts of the United Kingdom, France, and the Channel Islands. It may have been the worst storm to hit since 1703 and knocked over 15 million trees in the south of England in just one hour. Among its victims was the Turner’s Oak. The wind lifted the tree by its shallow root plate completely out of the ground, violently shook it, and then set it back down again like a giant hand lifting a wine glass up by its stem and then plopping it back on the table.
The head of the arboretum, Tony Kirkham, felt like he had lost a family member: “I was devastated! Trees that you’ve been looking after, that you’ve grown to recognize and be familiar with were lying on the ground.” Tony and his fellow arborists pushed the mighty oak back in place and propped it up without much hope. Three years later, to their amazement, the tree was a picture of health. That was when they realized that the soil around the roots had become so compacted from people walking on it that the tree wasn’t getting enough air and water. The storm shook the tree loose and gave the soil the needed porosity which enabled the oak to thrive once more. In the 30-odd years since the storm, the Turner’s Oak has grown by a third and has inspired new methods of tree management around the globe, including equipment designed to break up the soil and enable oxygen, nitrogen, and nutrients to reach the trees’ underground root systems. Now whenever Tony strolls by this grand oak, he smiles, chuckles, and gets a bit emotional thinking about its miraculous recovery. “Trees are like people,” he says. “They stress, but they are beautiful when they are happy.” When we’re in the middle of the hurricane, we may not understand what good could possibly come from it, but when the storm breaks, new life returns. Often, we don’t know the whys and wherefores of our troubles when we’re in the midst of them, and we “can’t see the forest for the trees.” But it’s in trusting in God’s good purposes in our lives that we find rest and peace of mind. – By Curtis Peter van Gorder (Note from the Editor: My apologies for getting behind on sharing the different things people are doing around the world to help others. Even though this is a bit dated the people involved are still continuing on with their different projects. Plus, there are some great ideas how you can help others.)
By Dust, Albania During the autumn of 2021, our team of three people—Daniel, Ildiko, and myself—set out to perform in many children’s institutions and hospitals in Albania. Due to the pandemic situation in 2020 and 2021, many of these places hadn’t had any activities or shows organized for the children. A lot of the parents, teachers, and staff commented on the fact that the children were missing attention and positive events in their lives. We traveled to many different types of institutions in order to visit children in various circumstances and situations, such as a leukemia hospital, orphanages, day care centers, a refugee center, institutions for children with physical disabilities, centers for children with Down’s syndrome, etc. We also tried to focus our attention on institutions that usually don’t get much attention and are located in remote areas. We had the opportunity to pray with many of the children and parents in the children’s hospital for their encouragement and healing. In each of the shows, we distributed foods, drinks, reading materials for children and adults, books, music CDs, and board games. All the shows we performed were received happily. The children were very welcoming and happy to enjoy the treats, music, magic tricks, games, and puppet shows. Many of them would accompany us to our car and would say their goodbyes with hugs and kisses and fervent requests to see us again as soon as possible. Being in each of these places was a reminder of the need for educational and wholesome activities for children. We took our show to:
Are you looking for the peace of God, a peace that passes all understanding? In other words, an inner peace, a peace of mind and heart? Let us look at the peace of God spoken of in the Bible and how to find that peace.
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1.) The apostle Paul is telling us that the way we find peace is through Jesus, through our relationship with Him. The first step in our pursuit of peace is accepting Jesus into our lives and letting Him bring us into peace with God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to His disciples of His departure and of sending the Holy Spirit as a Comforter: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27.) Jesus is telling His followers that the Comforter would come and give them the peace they would need to confront the difficulties ahead. He warns them not to be afraid since fear is the enemy of peace. Jesus goes on to say to His disciples, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33.) Have you ever noticed how we use words to comfort and assure others, like our children or grandchildren, that everything is going to be all right? The fear they may be experiencing vanishes as they rest on our assurances. Jesus is doing the same with His disciples, who will soon see Him captured by His enemies. He is as much as saying, “I am telling you these things ahead of time that you may keep your peace. Don’t be dismayed. Don’t be discouraged. Be encouraged. Remember when you are going through your tribulations that I have overcome and will overcome the world and all the evil within it.” The apostle Paul gives us some more information on how we may have access to the “peace that passes understanding.” “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. ... Be careful [or anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4, 6–7.) The formula that Paul presents is (1) praise and thanksgiving, (2) do not be anxious or worried, (3) prayer and supplication to God, (4) that God will send His peace for the situation. Praise is an important element in our being able to find peace, and we find many references to the importance of praise in the Psalms. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” (Psalm 100:4.) Psalm 22 says that God dwells in the praises of His people. In the chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel we read of marvelous exploits that God accomplished for His people because they sought Him in their difficulties and used praise and song as part of their military strategy. (2 Chronicles 20.) Corrie ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” Jesus also commanded us to not take anxious thought for tomorrow because today’s problems were sufficient enough to handle. (Matthew 6:34) So far we have seen we need to use praise and thanksgiving, we need to resist worry, and then to make our requests known to God through prayer and supplication. We need to pray and cast those burdens, fears, and worries all into the hands of God and let Him take care of them. The psalmist writes, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” (Psalm 55:22.) Jesus said if we come unto Him with all our burdens, all our problems, He would give us rest. (Matthew 11:28.) What is rest but peace of mind and heart. Mother Teresa had another formula. She said, “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.” In other words, if we stop and get quiet, the effect that quietness will have on us is that it will lead us to approach God in prayer. Prayer will cause us to find God and give us faith. Faith will then cause us to realize God’s love for us. The love we receive from God will transform us so that we want to love and serve others. Our love and service for others will result in peace. We have all experienced that when we have volunteered to help others that it is indeed “more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35.) In Isaiah we see a formula similar to Mother Teresa’s. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” (Isaiah 32:17.) Again we see that the fruit of righteousness ends up being peace and quiet assurance. The Enemy of our soul tries to stop us from entering into the peace of Christ, from entering into His rest. We enter into His rest when we cease from our own strivings, our own accomplishments, and come humbly into the arms of Jesus and accept His love, mercy, and rest—the peace that passes understanding. It is not anything we deserve or work for. It’s a gift of God’s love and mercy and in humility must be received. In Isaiah we have this promise: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3.) Paul admonishes in his letter to the Philippians: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8.) We must fight the good fight of faith. That fight, the battleground, is often in our minds. We must bring our thoughts to be in line with God’s Word. “Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalm 119:165.) Loving and meditating on God’s Word will help us find peace. If we listen to the admonitions of the prophets and disciples, and Jesus Himself, we can find that quiet assurance, that peace of mind, that we search for. We will find it because we have Christ’s presence with us. He is our peace and He enables us to have peace with one another. He sends us His peace as we seek to live for Him and serve others. Then we can say and do as the psalmist: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8.) Or as we find in another psalm: “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.” (Psalm 29:11.) Let us end with an old prayer of blessing found in the words of Moses: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” (Numbers 6:24–26.) -- By Dennis Edwards Two years ago, I was on outreach in a city far from home; I was walking the streets, seeking, witnessing, and praying. Suddenly I saw a local seller of beaded trinkets, sitting off to the side of the main street. I felt like taking a break and I also wanted to pick up a small gift for my daughters, so I went over, sat down, and struck up a conversation with that person.
I was amazed and pleased to find out that Vin (the seller) had been witnessed to at length by Michelle (also on our team) on another day, and he had even joined our devotional email list. So, we were chatting and I was browsing his stand, finding a cute item to bring home, when suddenly a policeman walked up, greeted Vin, and sat down. Well, here was an interesting opportunity! I finished at the stall, and all three of us sat down together and began to engage in conversation. I quickly found that Lwanda (the policeman) was exceptionally kind, well spoken, and receptive. He said he was a Christian, yet he confessed that he had never yet accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. On we spoke, with Vin interjecting scriptures and his personal experiences alongside me, and about 30 minutes later, Lwanda opened his heart and received Jesus. We kept on talking, and he shared more about his life, family, and situation. It turned out that he had been a policeman for more than nine years already, and yet, whenever chances for promotion came up, he was passed over. He was quite discouraged by this. Thankfully I was able to share the concept that “God’s delays are not denials” and the truth of Romans 8:28, as well as relate the “living in patience” accounts of Noah, Joseph, Moses, David, and Jesus. He listened intently and nodded vigorously as we talked. Finally, he asked, “Now that Jesus is my Savior, can we pray for me to get a promotion? It will make such a difference to me and my family!” For just a moment, I felt doubt grip me, as he so humbly and expectantly looked at me. Then I remembered what my father always says: “God can defend His own reputation!” So, I said, “Well, like we talked about, the Lord knows the best time, but definitely let’s pray for it right now!” And we did. All three of us—a long-term missionary, a newly saved policeman, and a Spirit-filled trinket seller—bowed our heads and asked Jesus for Lwanda to live strong in his faith and to get the promotion he deserved at the perfect time. Then we exchanged contact details. I gave him a Bible and we said goodbye. Over these last two years, Lwanda has been extremely difficult to get ahold of, as his work is very demanding. I have sent him devotional messages, phoned him, and prayed for him, yet in all this time we have not been able to have a long conversation like when we first met. I heard little snippets, for example, that he was feeling happier than ever before and he was feeling less fear on the job. Also, that his family had noticed a change in him, and one of his friends had come to Jesus, too! Hallelujah. All this was wonderful, yet I heard almost nothing about the job. Until this morning. I was surprised to see Lwanda’s name appear as an incoming call, and when I answered the call, the radiance of his joy struck me immediately! “Chris, Chris, I’m calling to tell you that I know you’ve been praying for me! I know you’ve been praying for me! Thank you, thank you!” True justice starts with one truth: every human is made in the image of God. That is what gives us worth. This equalizes us across all the divides of race, gender, ability, disability, religion, politics, socioeconomics, rank, and education. Isn’t that a list of hot topics!
There is a lot of messaging implying that people of faith have an impaired sense of justice, that believers subscribe to a worldview that caters to the privileged and excludes the weak or the underserved. Not true. We are also told that nature favors the strong, the survival of the fittest. This logic can be used to justify all kinds of atrocities and to condone greed, abuse, and manipulation. All you need to do is simply be stronger than the other fellow. Jesus turned that logic on its head with the Sermon on the Mount, where He said, “Blessed are the meek.” Or when He said to let the children crowd around Him, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. How about when He took upon Himself the weight of humanity’s sin and punishment and died for us? He was the strongest, but He let Himself be put to death. The weak, the broken, the lost have value to God, because they bear His image. The conversation around social justice is so loud right now. It’s easy to get confused, and even for sincere believers to disagree on the answer to the “What Would Jesus Do?” A good starting point is to remember that we are all equal in God’s sight. History shows that no matter what race, religion, culture, or gender has power, we are all equally capable of evil. What’s really at the heart of the injustice and oppression we see in the world is simply the sinful nature of all humankind. Hearts need to change, and it starts with me and you. “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” – By Marie Alvero (Note from the Editor: My apologies for getting behind on sharing the different things people are doing around the world to help others. Even though this is a bit dated the people involved are still continuing on with their different projects. Plus, there are some great ideas how you can help others.)
By Kalyani Lama, Chennai, India We received many requests for help from well-known institutions that are quite desperate. We put these needs into four categories, and ministered as follows: 1) Setting up the solar power panels for solar electricity to run the fans and lights in the prayer center for Nazareth Illam Home. One of the projects we did in the past was to donate solar water heaters to the St. John De Britto Home for aged women in Kovalam. The reverend sister who took care of the old folks’ home at that time retired; she was also diagnosed with cancer. She made it through that ordeal, and she approached me again to help her. She lives in this Nazareth Illam, where nuns who are over 70 years old reside. They visit the prayer center at least five times a day to read the Bible together and to pray for others. The prayer center is in the heart of the Chennai city where power shutdowns and fluctuations are very frequent. In answer to their prayers, an institution donated solar panels for them worth 2,400 euros. They needed to install the panels with batteries and CPU. The nuns requested that we help them with a donation to cover that need. We were able to help them, and they are very thankful. 2) Washing machine for orphanage Karunyam. We donated a very high-quality workhorse Samsung washing machine for this orphanage. We were able to buy the machine with a 50% discount off the normal price. They got help from other sponsors and set up a steady line of electricity and water, and started using the machine the middle of September this year. Due to COVID lockdowns, getting labor and help was not easy. We were also able to get food supplies to them a few times. Some of our longtime supporters have pledged to help these orphans with food supplies on a monthly basis. God bless them. 3) Feeding 200 poor people on Easter Sunday with Pastor Spurgeon. We regularly help this pastor, who runs a church and supports poor, widowed women, slum children and young people. He asked us to help him feed these poor people on Easter Sunday. Though we hadn’t promised him, we were desperately praying for the Lord to raise up a sponsor who could provide the funds he needed in time to feed the poor and needy on Easter. The Lord did it again! We also were able to donate much-needed rice, dal, oil, sugar, atta, salt and idli rice, and groceries, which he distributed to around 200 people, including elderly women, widows, and families who live in the slums. 4) Procuring, packing, and distributing food supplies to institutions and poor families. With the help from unexpected sources, we were able to help 14 toll plaza employees and their families, 30 transgender folks, 150 slum families in Navalur, 30 gypsy families, 200 slum families in Mogapair, two old folks’ homes in Kovalam, Karunyam, and Elshadai Homes (orphanages in our area), and workers and daily wage laborers in our apartment complex who hadn’t gotten paid for several months. Thank you for helping to make all this possible. God bless you! Come to Me, all you 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. -- Matthew 11:28–30
I had read that passage from the Bible I don’t know how many times, and I memorized it years ago. Then I read something that helped me see those verses in a new light. Philip Yancey writes in Reaching for the Invisible God, “I used to believe that Christianity solved problems and made life easier. Increasingly, I believe that my faith complicates life, in ways it should be complicated. As a Christian, I cannot not care about the environment, about homelessness and poverty, about racism and religious persecution, about injustice and violence. God does not give me that option.” Yancey goes on to quote that old familiar passage, which he explains this way: “Jesus offers comfort, but the comfort consists of taking on a new burden, His own burden. Jesus offers a peace that involves new turmoil, a rest that involves new tasks.” What new tasks? Jesus summed them up when He summed up the Christian faith: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37–39.) Our “neighbor” being anyone we are in a position to help. Loving others as much as we love ourselves doesn’t come naturally and seldom is easy, but it’s one of the keys to happiness, fulfillment, and success in life. Take Jesus’ yoke. Give Him yours. It’s the best trade you’ll ever make. – By Keith Phillips I hope you don’t mind if I just confess here that I dislike snoring. Hate might be too strong a word. Hmmm … okay, let’s settle for “strongly dislike.”
So, sometime back I was on an overnight bus ride with another guy from our mission center, and because I’m tall, I already was less than comfortable in my seat. Then, around midnight, it started. The passenger diagonally ahead on my right began to snore. A mighty, carefree, off-beat snore! Within minutes, the guy across from me, the young woman in front of me, and I were all awake, and staring at each other with those wild eyes that plead: “Do sooomethiiing!” I was the first one to act. I held the snorer’s nose for a few seconds. Nothing. Then the lady began to poke and shake him. Not even a stir. The man behind even raised the snorer’s seat from its reclining position. A slight shifting, and the snoring resumed—seemingly even louder! Suddenly, we all began to laugh. We chuckled and giggled as we covered our mouths with our hands as we tried to stay quiet. The situation was completely incongruous. It should have been in a comedy, we commented to each other. And just like that, a midnight conversation began. We spoke about our lives, and I found out the man was a student from the same city as us, and a real future leader by the sounds of things. The lady turned out to be an English teacher of 17- and 18-year-old students, which is a very challenging job! We spoke about writing, poetry, and interacting with people. She even asked me for advice on sharing her faith with the students, without scaring them off. I shared with her the concept of using praise to see the good and glorify the Lord when a situation is bad, and she absolutely loved it! She said, “I’m going to do that as an exercise with all of my students! It will be fun!” Before going back to sleep, nearly an hour later, we all agreed that we were glad to have met, even if under such unusual circumstances. As I thought about it the next morning, I realized that at that midnight hour, the Lord was showing me something. He used a snorer as a catalyst for something awesome. He showed me that Romans 8:28 is true, and that praising the Lord in the face of calamity is not just wishful thinking. I still don’t appreciate snoring, but I smile and laugh when I think of that bus trip, and how an unwitting passenger was used by God to influence our lives for good in multiple ways. After seven years of drought where I live, we had a very rainy spring. It’s made me think a lot about rain.
For the past few years, we’ve had very dry weather interspersed with heavy rainstorms. The dry weather turned the clay-like soil into rocks so that when the rains came with a vengeance, there were floods. We would vacillate between hot dry weather and too much rain coming at one time that would do little to eradicate the drought. The imbalance in nature led to wildfires, contaminated water, even deaths when people drove into low-lying areas and got caught in flash floods. Lately when we have had rain instead of just running off, it has soaked deeply into the soil, replenishing it. Since it has come as regular rainfall instead of one sweeping storm, the earth has been able to absorb it, and it has made a difference. Now after some years, nature has restored its balance with regular rains this entire spring. This led me to reflect on the times of spiritual dearth in my life. In times of imbalance, I didn’t take enough regular time with God, and the result was spiritual dryness. Then I spent entire days hiding away in prayer and immersing myself in His Word, and I came away from those times somewhat strengthened—but it didn’t really do the same thing as daily times of refreshing. These daily times of watering our soul is the goal for a flourishing spiritual life. We’ve had a little balance in our days and regularly take time for prayer and reading the Bible and daily devotionals, our ability to deeply absorb the Word and allow it to change us is enhanced. We are better prepared to stand in times of trial, and we develop deep roots of faith that help us to trust that God will see us through whatever storms come our way. I’ve been thankful for the rainy weather this spring. I’ve enjoyed the glorious green grass and blooming flowers. I’ve seen the benefits of a rising aquifer. I’ve especially appreciated the lesson of a restored balance in nature and in my own life. -- By Joyce Suttin |
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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