Daily Manna from Heaven

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13

A pastor began his message reading Psalm 42. He read, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” He had no sooner asked the question of the psalmist, “When can I go and meet with God?” when the voice of a little child, about six years of age, loudly proclaimed, “Right now!”

At least someone was listening, and although the pastor hadn’t expected an answer to that rhetorical question, the simplicity and honesty of the child’s response was far more moving and sincere than anything anyone could have said.

When can I go and meet with God? Right now! Suppose, just suppose for a moment that you were to have an audience with the Creator, the Almighty who knows neither beginning nor ending, the Alpha and Omega, the Supreme Judge of the Universe, what would you say? ”Just a minute,” you may be thinking? “All those titles sound rather scary, and besides, I don’t know what I would say.”

If, however, God is your heavenly Father, and you know that you are His child, and besides, every day you spend time in His presence as you open your heart in prayer, there is nothing frightening about meeting with Him. If you had a meeting with a business executive, say, an acquaintance with whom you do business, no doubt you would think about your presentation– what you would say and the order in which you would present your case. If, on the other hand, you were meeting a close friend for lunch, you would probably just talk in random sequence. As you thought of something important, you’d just say it, right?

Well, when you meet with God, on occasion both approaches are valid. You don’t have to prepare a sales presentation when you talk with your heavenly Father. You can just say what’s on your heart. But if the prayers of Paul in the New Testament form a pattern for our prayers (and I believe they should), there are certainly elements which should be included in our prayers. Like what?

First, the ingredient of thanksgiving. Before you ask God for anything, focus on what He has already done for you. Sometimes this necessitates reflection, pondering God’s goodness in the past, momentarily forgetting the needs that you have. “Pray continually,” says Paul, adding, “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17,18). To the Philippians Paul wrote, “…In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

Next, include the element of worship and praise. This changes your focus from what you want to who God is, and it is amazing how quickly your problems get dwarfed when you really see the greatness and majesty of the Almighty. A few moments of reflection on hymns or songs such as Jack Hayford’s “Majesty,” or the old favorite, “How Great Thou Art,” begin to liberate your downtrodden spirit.

As you reflect, search your own heart. Call this confession. “If we confess our sins,” writes John, “he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Then comes the petitions or requests. “We have not because we ask not,” wrote James, the half-brother of Jesus. John 16:24 commands, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” “When can I meet with God?” asked the psalmist. Why not take the advice of a little boy who suggested, “Right now!” Yes, why not?

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

#1 Home Based Business - [click here]

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” -Matthew 18:19

General George Patton believed in getting things done. He once told a chaplain, “There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by prayer.” When rainy, foggy weather stopped the Allied Forces intent on liberating Germany, Patton telephoned the Third Army Chaplain and said, “This is General Patton. Do you have a good prayer for weather?”

The chaplain came up with one in a hurry, and Patton had it printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under his command with the order to pray for good weather. “I am a strong believer in prayer,” he said. When the weather couldn’t be changed by hard work or by planning, Patton resorted to prayer.

Everyone, however, doesn’t share Patton’s enthusiasm for getting things done through prayer. A contemporary of the Russian novelist, Dostoyevski, whose name was Turgeniev, wrote that “whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer,” he said, “reduces itself to this: ‘Great God, grant that twice two not be four.’”

Donald Cole points out that H. L. Mencken used to laugh at prayer. When he signed his letters, “I am praying for you,” he considered that to be wildly humorous. I, suspect, however, that on his deathbed, Mencken changed his mind.

As the Titanic listed in the icy waters of the cold Atlantic and people began to realize the unsinkable ship was about to go down, the orchestra began playing, “Nearer My God to Thee,” and people began praying.

If I had never attempted the broad jump, and I was on a roof with safety a mere six feet away, I can tell you for sure that I would be highly motivated to give the leap my very best try. But if I had trained for the Olympics as a broad jumper, then, a six feet or two meter leap would be a pretty simple feat.

The difference, of course, would be the discipline and training. That’s why the one who prays only as a ship is going down, or prays only at the bedside of a dying loved one, or only as a plane tosses in angry clouds, is not sure whether his prayer is a grasping for a wild hope that God will hear him, or knows that in the time of trouble, his father will hear his voice.

For you who want to discover something of the power of prayer, may I suggest that you start training today. “How?” you may be thinking. Let me put it like this. If I wanted to learn how to acquire a skill, I’d begin by getting some of the best books available and hearing what the experts have to say.Does that work with prayer? Yes and no.

Taking time to study both the contents of the prayers which both Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul prayed gives you a structure, something to use as a guide. There are times when I have read some of Paul’s prayers—say, those recorded in his letters—and said, “Yes, Lord, that’s how I feel. Increase my understanding and give me wisdom. What Paul prayed is what I want and need.”

But in the final analysis, you have to learn to pray yourself. Prayer is conversation, remember? It has to come out of your heart, not out of a book. A study of Paul’s prayer, however, shows that he prayed for others, he prayed for friends, for enemies, for situations, for safety, for deliverance from difficult problems, for physical needs, for deliverance from those who hindered the work.

He prayed with other believers in small groups, on his own, in times of worship and praise. General George Patton was right. Prayer is a means of getting things done, God’s way.

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

Hosting That Pays You Back! - [click here]

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” -Psalm 43:5

No individual can really be educated apart from a knowledge of the Bible, and the book of Psalms in this grand book contains some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking passages and prose of all the world’s great literature. I, for one, marvel at the profound emotional insights which you find described here—the same emotions and feelings we grapple with today.

In Psalm 42 and 43, which were probably written as one, the writer voices a recurring theme. Three times he asks, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” Three times, he speaks of the solution: “Put your hope in God,” he says, adding, “for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Hey, friend, can you relate to that? Do you ever face personal bouts with discouragement and depression? You really know things aren’t as bad as you feel, but you just can’t quite get on top of things. You aren’t alone. The writer of this psalm felt the same way 3000 years ago, and the answer to his problem can be your answer as well.

“Hope in God,” he says–not the stock market, not your beauty or charm, and certainly not your ability to fix things. Following two deep valleys of human suffering, Norman Cousins authored a book entitled, The Biology of Hope. “The human spirit,” he wrote, “can’t be diagnosed or dissected.” What Cousins described as “the human spirit,” the writer of Psalms called “soul.” Therapy, tranquilizers, counseling and surgery can never surpass the power of hope when it comes to healing.

In these two psalms, the writer begins by saying that as the deer pants for water, so his soul pants for God, yet he says that tears have been his constant companion. In this soliloquy the writer makes three “I” statements which provide guidelines for us when we feel cast down and our souls are disturbed within. Here they are: First—“I remember…” Then, “I will say to God…” and finally, “I will go to the altar of God.”

When you reach the valley of despair, looking in your rear view mirror is OK. It’s positive to look behind and recognize the hand of God, remembering His blessings on your life. That’s what the psalmist did. He talked about going to the house of God “with shouts of joy and thanksgiving.”

He remembers how in bygone days, God made him a focus of love and gave him a song in the night. No, he didn’t feel like doing this. Remembering was a conscious matter of his will, and so is it for you, too, friend. Forcing yourself to remember is like building a platform upon which you reach towards the strength of the Almighty.

The second step in climbing out of his misery was a frank admission of his depression to God. “I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’” That’s plain talk. Telling God exactly how you feel is therapy of the soul. It’s OK to let the tears flow. That’s part of breaking up the hardness of what life has done to you. Tears can be a powerful catalyst for healing.

Then the psalmist said, “I will go to the altar of God,” whom he described as “his joy and delight.” There’s just enough time to share a closing thought: When the psalmist was depressed, he turned to God, not on God. There’s a big difference.

He was convinced that God is a refuge and strength, the One in whom he could hope, and the One he called, “My Savior and my God.” When you ask that question, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” remember, the psalmist’s solution: “Put your hope in God,” and then you will find cause for praising Him who is your Savior and God.

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

Free Website Traffic - [click here]

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” -Proverbs 16:3

“If you want to make God laugh,” says a post-it sticker, “make plans!” And what is the real message—that you should never try to plan anything? No, but rather, when God is left out of your plan, your game plan may never happen. There is a proverb which says, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33, KJV).

Whether you climb a mountain, traverse an ocean, build a house or a high-rise building, run in the Olympics, or attempt to plant a garden—or for that matter, do about anything—there are scores of factors over which you have little, if any, control. Like what? Like the economy, the weather, the availability of goods and services, the flow of electrical current that can wipe out machinery, the capriciousness of trade and surpluses, and a host of other things. The reality is, there are a lot of factors which we take for granted over which we have very little control. Does this mean that we should sit on our hands, waiting for God to make things to happen? Not unless you are expecting a new outpouring of Manna from heaven. God honors planning and hard work, but what makes God laugh is the presumption that men and women often have which ignores Him entirely.

Take, for example, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most powerful men who ever lived, who was the dread and fear of all the earth. He’s the one Daniel tells about whose heart was filled with pride, and God finally said, “Enough!” His mind snapped and he “ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes,” so wrote Daniel (see Daniel 5:21).

A generation ago, Christians often signed their letters using two Latin words, Deo Volente, which means, “God willing.” They recognized that God—not chance or fate—is the final arbiter of what happens to us in life.

Presumption is a sin which God detests. Want to make God laugh? Then make plans and leave Him out of your plans. Apparently this is not simply a problem which we who are living in the twenty-first century struggle with. It’s an old one. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote about this very situation when he penned the letter which bears his name–which, incidentally, was probably the first New Testament book.

He wrote to Jewish Christians—probably merchants—and said, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16). How could it be any plainer?

Presumption was the sin which Jesus condemned when He told the story of the merchant who boasted, “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.” “A fool,” is the way Jesus described him, using a rather strong word.

A closing thought. There is a very “up” side to what may appear to be a “down-issue.” It’s this. When you make plans which you feel are within the scope and purpose of what God wills, and you ask Him to guide and bless your efforts, you can then trust that He will give you His best. Well does Proverbs 16:3 say, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Then it is we who will laugh with joy.

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

Your Total Online Pleasure - [click here]

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

“Do I have to believe in Jesus to be a Christian?” asked a young man whose Russian Jewish background had never exposed him to the Gospel. Having been raised in a home in the former Soviet Union where God was seldom if ever discussed, he had heard about Jesus but didn’t really know how He would fit into Christianity. He wanted to know. How would you answer that question? There are millions of people whose backgrounds are nominally Christian who still don’t understand the relationship between Jesus Christ and Christianity.

“Are you a Christian?” I once asked a man. He thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, I suppose so since I’m not a Muslim or a Jew.” For millions of people around the world, the term broadly defines ethnic and, to a degree, religious roots. We think of countries such as the Philippines in Asia, the United States in the Americas and North Ireland in Europe as “Christian” nations. But painting nations with such a broad, sweeping brush is a generalization which allows a lot of space between the brush marks.

Let’s go back to the question of the young man who wanted to know, “What does Jesus Christ have to do with Christianity?” Would it be more valid to turn the question around and ask, “What does Christianity have to do with Jesus Christ?”

Do you happen to remember the first use of the term, “Christian” or “Christians?” In Jesus’ day, those who followed Him were never identified as Christians. Disciples? Yes, they would have acknowledged that. Peter, Andrew, James and John would have been quite proud to be identified as disciples of Jesus. All great leaders had followers who were known as disciples. But ethnically, they were Jews and proud of their heritage.

It was about 15 years after the church was established before disciples were called Christians, and when that happened, the term was one of derision and scorn. Luke tells us about it, saying that when Barnabas found Saul—later known as the Apostle Paul, “he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year,” writes Luke, “Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.” Then he adds, “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26).

One of the major reasons why the term Christianity should never be used as a term defining a religion is that Christianity really involves a relationship, not simply a lifestyle or a system of beliefs. The creed of the early church stressed who Jesus was and what He did—not what people must say or believe to belong to a church.

One of the earliest statements of belief held by the infant church was Paul’s brief creed found in his first letter to the Corinthians. He put it like this: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

When the young man asked, “Do I have to believe in Jesus to be a Christian?” and he got the answer, “Yes. That’s what it is all about.” He responded, “I’m not yet ready,” but he got involved in a Bible study and began to read the New Testament, something he had never done seriously before.

A few weeks later, he was ready, and confessed Jesus Christ as His personal Savior. Today, he not only has joined a church which he attends regularly, but he sings in the choir and participates actively in sharing His faith with others.

The acid proof of disciples, taught Jesus, does not involve your belief system—though what you believe determines what you do. It first involves your relationship with Jesus Christ, then with others. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples,” said, Jesus, “if you love one another” (John 13:34). It’s still true today.

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

Hosting That Pays You Back - [click here]

“I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” -2 Corinthians 7:9-10

“To deny sin is bad news, indeed,” writes John Alexander. Continuing, he says, “The only good news is sin itself. Sin is the best news there is, the best news that there could be in our predicament. Because with sin, there’s a way out. There’s the possibility of repentance. You can’t repent of confusion or psychological flaws inflicted by your parents—you’re stuck with them. But you can repent of sin. Sin and repentance are the only grounds for hope and joy, the grounds for reconciled, joyful relationships.”

Did you notice the phrase, “There’s the possibility of repentance”? “Just a minute,” you may be thinking, “what does repentance have to do with forgiveness? I thought that when God forgave me, He just wiped the slate clean and that was all there was to this business.” Scores of people consider forgiveness to be a kind of “I’m OK; you’re OK, too” sort of business with God, whereby we acknowledge our failure and God forgives us. Is that an oversimplification?

First, let’s define our terms. The Greek word for repentance means “a change of mind,” and the word is used throughout the Bible in relationship to the transaction of genuine forgiveness and restoration. For example, John the Baptist preached a simple Gospel. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” he cried. And Jesus proclaimed the same theme. Following the 40 days of temptation, Jesus began His public ministry. “From that time on,” says Matthew, one of his biographers, “Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matthew 4:17). The disciples of Jesus proclaimed the same thing, “They went out and preached that people should repent,” says Mark 6:12.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood and boldly cried, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).  Throughout the letters of Paul, the same theme continues. In fact, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he stressed there are two kinds of sorrow over wrongdoing: that kind that comes because you get caught, an embarrassment which causes you to lose face, and authentic repentance which is a deep sorrow for wrongdoing which leads to change.

OK, we acknowledge that this element of repentance seems to be missing from our thinking today. It’s been replaced with a kind of forgiveness which makes us feel good about ourselves, the kind that makes us acknowledge wrongdoing but with no real sorrow attached to it. But here’s my question. Is this kind of forgiveness genuine? Or put another way, can there be real forgiveness without repentance?

Not if you believe what the Bible says.  Biblical repentance, contended John Woodbridge, includes five concepts:
1. A change of mind or thinking.
2. A deep sorrow for wrongdoing, the kind that David had following his affair with Bathsheba.
3. The confession of sin.
4. A forsaking of wrongdoing which involves a clean break with what you know to be wrong, and
5. A turning to God, who alone offers pardon and strength to do right.

A wayward son wanting to come back home wrote his father and said, “Dad, if you and Mom can forgive me, please tie a small white flag to the fence out front of the house, and I’ll know it’s OK to come back. But if there is no white flag, I’ll not come in.” To his surprise the lad saw not a white flag, but a white bed sheet flying in the breeze.

Of one thing you can be certain. God is far more willing to extend forgiveness for your wrongdoing than you are to turn from your sin and to embrace it. Think about it.

(Authored By Dr. Harold Sala. Permission to reprint this article was granted by Guidelines.com)

Nice Offers on the Web - [click here]

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” -2 Corinthians 5:21

“If our greatest need had been information,” read a Christmas card I received, “God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was for forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”

When an angel appeared to Joseph, who was then engaged to be married to Mary, the message was, “And she [Mary] will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Today, though, it is the link between our sin and a Savior which has grown hazy and obscure.

Focusing on our greatest need, though, is the problem, because this forces us to admit that there is a need, and we would generally rather crawl on our hands and knees to Calcutta or roll in a bed of ground glass than to admit our human failure or wrong doing—yes, to admit our personal sin.

When Paul wrote to the Romans, he categorically said, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). His word all is completely inclusive. None is excluded. Today, however, you don’t hear much of that three letter word, sin. The attitude of the world is nobody’s perfect. So don’t worry. Be happy!”

Sin is the problem, and a Savior is the solution. Even those who refuse to call it what it is know what the problem is, but rather than accept the solution, they prefer to deny that the problem exists. Is this rational? It is about as rational as refusing to believe your doctor when he says you have cancer, or refusing to take you’re automobile into the shop when you have been notified by the manufacturer that it is defective, or ignoring the road signs which tell you the highway ahead is washed out and you must detour.

The worst kind of ignorance and rebellion is the refusal to recognize there is a solution to your problem and an answer to your need. Paul, the theologian of the New Testament, came to grips with this whole issue of man’s need and God’s solution. Almost all of his letters addressed this issue prominently. Writing to the Corinthians, he said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). For a moment, ponder what Paul is saying: God—the creator of our universe, the one who breathed life into Adam—sent His Son into our world, and He paid the penalty for our sin that we might be accepted as righteous before God the Father.

A few years ago, I visited an inmate in prison who, in a fit of rage, had killed another man. Trying to explain how Christ, who knew no sin, paid the penalty of our sin so that we might have life, I just couldn’t get through. Finally, I put it like this: “Look, if I were willing to exchange clothes with you and take your place here in prison, and you put on my clothes and walked out the door as a free man, would you do it?” The light came on. A smile crossed his face as he said, “Sure, I would. A person would be a fool not to do that.” “Yes,” I responded, adding, “That is exactly what Christ did for you when He died.” But the consequences of ignoring what Jesus Christ did are even greater than refusing to let someone else take your place on death row. Think about it.

*******
“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
*******

Get Seen, Get Paid - [click here]