Christ's Promise to Come Again

Jesus said: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions [dwellings]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." - John 14:1-3 (NKJV).
Max Lucado tells how, in 1989, a terrible earthquake in Armenia killed 30,000
people. Among those uninjured were a man and his wife. Their son was in an elementary school that collapsed. The father rushed to the school. He had always told Armon that he would come for him if he was ever in trouble. He worked intensely removing debris trying to find Armon and after thirty-eight hours he heard his child's voice and with the help of other workers freed Armon and the other children.
Armon said, "I told them you would come because you had promised. I told them you would always be there for me. I knew you would return." Just as Armon's father promised his son he would always come for him, even more certain is Jesus' promise to his followers. His first coming to earth is an
indisputable fact of history. His second coming for his followers is just as certain as he promised that if he went back to heaven, he would come back to
earth again to take us to be with him forever. And as every prophecy in the Old Testament regarding Christ's first coming was fulfilled in minutest detail, we can be just as certain that every promise  concerning his second coming in the New Testament will also be fulfilled in minutest detail. The important thing is to be ready for him, as Jesus also said, "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [Jesus] will come at an hour when you do
not expect him." - Matthew 24:44 (NIV).

Disappointment His Appointment

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV).


The story of this one man had a profound impact on many of lives.


The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries.  Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, "Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me." Now, at last, his prayer would be answered.


When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church which could send out missionaries. That is
what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People's Church in Toronto, Canada, which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour into a main thoroughfare of service.


This story is of particular interest to many because in 1968 a special week of meetings for Oswald Smith. On a Wednesday night, Smith preached on the importance of the printed page. God used this man to deeply challenge about the power of the printed word. (Tracts & Printed Gospel Books)


God can use your disappointments, too, if you will surrender them to him with a simple prayer such as the following:

  "Almighty God, every sorrow, every trial, and every disappointment I surrender to you with my humble prayer, 'Not my will but yours be done.' Please take my sorrows and turn them into blessings and use them and my life to glorify you in whichever way you choose. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."

Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever." - Hebrews 13:8 (NIV).


I don't know if the following story is true or not. Either
way, it has in it a very valuable lesson. "One day, there
was a blind man sitting on the step of a building with a
hat by his feet and sign that read 'I am blind, please
help.'


"A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe.
He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat.
He dropped in a few more coins and, without asking for
permission, took the sign and rewrote it.


"That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and
noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. He paused
awhile and the blind man asked him if he was the person who
had rewritten his sign and, if so, what did he write?


"The publicist responded: 'Nothing that wasn't true. I just
wrote the message a little differently.' He smiled and went
his way.


"The new sign read: 'Today is spring and I can't see it.'


"Sometimes we need to change our strategy. If we always do
what we've always done, we will always get what we've
always got."


Did you ever stop to think that the New Testament part of
the Bible is almost silent on methodology? I think the
reason is obvious. If it weren't, some of us would stick to
the same methods used in Paul and Peter's day religiously
and rigidly. While God never changes and while his Word
never changes, oftentimes our means of communicating it need
to change with the changing times.


Remember, "Nothing changes if nothing changes." In other
words, if what we are doing in our relationships, our family
life, and in our churches isn't working, we may very well
need to change ourselves and/or our strategies and methods.

Letting Go to Find

"Whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it." - Jesus in Matthew
(16:25). 




"True love is like quick-silver," said Ann Landers, "if you hold it in the palm of your hand, it will remain. If you try to grasp it, it will slip through your fingers." Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Whoever will save his life will lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it."


Some parents never let go of their children even when they are adults. Out of their own insecurity they cling to their offspring and smother them. In so doing they drive them away and the thing they need the most—love—they lose. As the saying goes, "If you love someone, let them go; if they come back to you, then they are truly yours. If they don't, they never were."


In other words, when we cling to life to live for ourselves or cling to someone else for our own sake out of our own need, we lose what we need the most—love. This is because we have mistaken need for love. Only as we let go of clinging are we free to love and live life to the full.


When we do this and truly love, we give love without strings attached. In so doing we receive more love to give.

Learning to Love

"'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments". - (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV).


Someone else has said with tongue-in-cheek, "Heaven help your neighbor if you hate yourself!" But they were right.


Every normal person wants and needs loving relationships, but if we hate ourselves we are not going to experience loving relationships.  We will unconsciously project our self-hatred onto others and set them up to reject us, for what we project is what we get back!


Actually, only to the degree that I have learned to love and accept myself in a healthy sense am I able to love and accept others in a healthy sense. What I hate and have rejected in myself, I will also hate and reject in others. My relationships will only ever be as healthy as I am.


Healthy self-love and acceptance isn't a prideful thing, but rather, it is learning to know and accept ourselves as we are—dark side and all. Only then are we free to change and keep growing to become healthier and more loving persons.


To grow in self-love we need to be fully known by at least one other loving and accepting person—a person who will not put me down, judge or criticize me, tell me what I should or shouldn't do, try to fix me, give me unsolicited advice, or preach at me, but accept me just
as I am. It is through their knowing, accepting and loving me as I am that, little by little, I learn 
to love and accept myself. This truth cannot be over-emphasized for I can only feel fully loved 
to the degree that I am fully known, accepted, and loved by at least one loving, trusted person.


Prayer: "Almighty and Merciful Father in Heaven, please give me at least one safe, loving and accepting person whom I can trust with my total life—dark side and all—and through their loving  acceptance of me help me to learn to love and accept myself as you love and accept me, so I can truly love you with all my heart, soul and mind and love my neighbor as you want me to. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."

Amazing Opportunity Lost

"Then [King] Agrippa said to Paul, 'Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?' Paul replied, 'Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.'" - Acts 26:28-29 (NIV).


Governor Nash stepped out of his office and, for a moment, out of his role as Governor of Ohio. He tucked his large, black Bible under his arm and made his way down the hallway of the State Penitentiary, in Columbus, Ohio. As a Christian, his heart burned with desire to share Christ with a certain young man waiting on "death row." Guilty of first-degree murder of his girlfriend, the condemned one sat in his cell, just hours away from his appointment with the electric chair. Upon seeing the elderly man with a dark suit and Bible under his arm, he thought him to be a minister or the prison chaplain. His anger boiled over and he cursed as he sent the man away. A guard standing nearby could hardly believe his eyes. "You fool," he said, "don't you know who that was?"


"A preacher, I guess," was the reply. "No, that was the Governor, the only one who could set you free, and you sent him away." The young man died a few hours later, guilty not only of murder, but of sending away his only hope for freedom and life.


You and I may never have committed any major crime, but in God's sight we are all guilty sinners facing God's judgment which is eternal separation from God in the place the Bible calls hell—whatever and wherever that may be. Because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross to pay the penalty for all your sins and mine, he is the only one who can give us the hope of a full and free pardon with God's gift of eternal life in heaven forever. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ's pardon, whatever you do don't turn him away today and in so doing fail to accept his offer of a full and free pardon.


In the words of William Shakespeare: "There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune / Omitted, all the voyage of their life / Is bound in shallows and in miseries."


Prayer: "Our Most Loving Father in Heaven, how can I ever thank you enough for giving your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the just penalty for all my sins. Please help me to be sure that I have accepted your free pardon and am a true Christian. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."

Perseverance Pays

"Let us not become weary in doing good: for in due
season we will reap, if we don't faint."
- (Galatians 6:9).


Had Thomas Edison not been a man of faith,
perseverance and determination, we may still be
working by gaslight or, at least, it may have been
many years before the first electric light was seen.


It has been reported that Edison failed over 6,000
times before perfecting the first electric light bulb.


On one occasion a young journalist challenged Edison
saying to him, "Mr. Edison, why do you keep trying
to make light by using electricity when you have
failed so many times? Don't you know that gas lights
are with us to stay?"


To this Edison replied, "Young man, don't you realize
that I have not failed but have successfully discovered
six thousand ways that won't work!"


Because Edison believed an electric light was possible,
he refused to give up. He tried countless types of
material in his search for a filament that would work.
He sent men to China, Japan, South America, Asia,
Jamaica, Ceylon and Burma to search for fibers to test
in his laboratory—all to no avail.


On October 21, 1879, after thirteen months of repeated
failures, Edison finally succeeded in finding a filament
that would work. While experimenting, the thought came
to him, "Why not try a carbonized cotton fiber?"
After going through two spools of cotton, he eventually
perfected a strand only to break it while trying to
place it in a glass tube. He still persevered with this
idea for two more days and nights without sleep.
Finally he succeeded in placing a carbonized thread
into a vacuum-sealed bulb! Eureka! It worked.


Prayer: "Our Loving Father in Heaven, thank you that you
have a mission in life for me to fulfill. Give me the
insight to know what it is, the faith to believe you will
help me, the courage to attempt to do it, and the
perseverance to hang in there and 'not faint' till my
life's work is done. Thank you for hearing and answering
my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."