"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."¹

Pastor Verne Arens writes how "he once knew someone who was a leader in the congregation. At one time or another he had filled most (if not all) of the important leadership positions in that church. More than that, however, oftentimes he was the one who would volunteer for those tough, dirty jobs that no one else w...

Continue reading ...

“Fools will believe anything, but the wise think about what they do.”

Proverbs 14:15 (NCV)

Every behavior is based on a belief.

If you act scared, it’s because you believe scary thoughts at that moment. If you act resentful, it’s because you believe you’ve been devalued, and so you’re going to defend yourself. If you’re acting prideful, it may be because you believe you’re not good enough, so you’re trying to compensate by being boastful.

If there is a behavior in your l...

Continue reading ...

Self-Image

Pt. 2

Unfortunately, today it is fashionable to play the game of creating false impressions.  Sidney Jourard calls this the “poker game of society” in which we bluff one another with our multitude of masks.  This in turn creates a psychological curtain between people.  We enclose ourselves in protective armor and we learn to play the game of deception well.  The fear of letting oneself be known to others and perhaps experiencing their rejection, criticism, or even acceptance...

Continue reading ...

Pray to God About the Problem

·       “Is there anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray” (James 5:13).  We have countless illustrations of godly men and women in the Old Testament times going to God in a time of need.  These believers poured out their hearts to God for hour at a time, (as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane).  If we look carefully at the process and progress of these prayers, we often find that encouragement comes even during the prayer itself. The weak and distress...

Continue reading ...

Self-Image

Pt. 1

He who hates himself, who does not have a proper regard for his own capacities … can have no respect for others; deep within himself he will hate his brothers when he sees in them his own marred image.

Joshua Liebman – Peace of Mind

·        How do you feel about yourself? When you look at yourself in a mirror, do you have a good feeling about the person you see?  Are you satisfied with who and what you are? Do you like yourself?

·        Maxwell Maltz says in Psyc...

Continue reading ...

The Call of Gideon

·         The reinforce in our minds this absolutely essential truth of God’s sufficiency, let’s consider another man at the point of his call from God.  Remember the great battles that we waged and won by Gideon?  With a handful of men he “turned to fight the armies and the aliens.”  Was he always like that?  Bold, courageous, waxing valiant in a fight?

Hardly!

The Children of Israel were suffering under the hand of the Midianites.  They were hiding in dens a...

Continue reading ...

If you want to get right with God, here is a sample prayer. Remember, saying this prayer or any other prayer will not save you. It is only trusting in Christ that can save you from sin. This prayer is simply a way to express to God your faith in Him and thank Him for providing for your salvation. "God, I know that I have sinned against You and am deserving of punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. I place my trust in...

Continue reading ...

Prayer for Peace

O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you; for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength.

Continue reading ...

·        The natural result of being filled with God’s Spirit is the impulse to tell others of Christ.  If you have no desire to share Jesus, then your Christianity is very shallow.  You may hear people talk as if to help in various forms of missionary activity were a matter left to their own inclination.  It is not!  To help or not to help, to do nothing, leaving other people to work and give, shrugging off disinterestedness with a flippant, “Oh, my sympathies do not go in that directio...

Continue reading ...

MANIPULATION:  Control Vs. Trust

·         Manipulation is rooted in pride and selfishness and involves viewing others as objects, not as individuals. It is an invasion of an individual’s dignity because it seeks to limit freedom through control. The tools of manipulation are position, power, deception, and distortion. The results, even if perceived as successful, are always a denigration of God’s best as the manipulative individual believes that they know more than God.

·         Scr...

Continue reading ...

         If we live with sin and without spiritual life, there can be no relationship with God. Without that relationship, we are all adrift in the sea of life without anyone to really depend on. To continue without that relationship, is to get by the best way we can until life is over – never knowing the true meaning of life or the plan God has for our lives.

Of course, God knew very well men would go their own way and try to be their own god. So He began working with them right where the...

Continue reading ...

·         Codependency is the fallacy of trying to control interior feelings by controlling people, things, and events on the outside. To the codependent, control or the lack of it is central to every aspect of life.

·         The codependent may be addicted to another person. In the interpersonal codependency, the codependent has become so elaborately enmeshed in the other person that the sense of self-personal identity – is severely restricted, crowded out by that other person’s iden...

Continue reading ...

They say that, "Patience is bitter, but its fruits are sweet!"  And that is so true!  Learning can be difficult. But the by-product, that which comes from learning whatever it is we have learned, seems to come bursting fourth and flourishing, making all of our efforts and struggle worthwhile!  Eat of the bitterness of learning and having to change. Be patient in with the process, for things don't always happen overnight!  But know that if you labor diligently and patiently, the end results wi...
Continue reading ...

Little sins 1. Little Sins "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom."1 In their book, Living a Power-Filled Life, Bill Tucker with Pat Maxwell talk about a four-hundred-year-old tree that crashed to the forest floor Over the centuries it had been struck by lightning fourteen times, braved great windstorms, and even defied an earthquake. In the end, however, it was killed by little beetles. Boring under the bark, they c...

Continue reading ...