It's not supposed to work without God.

“The bottom line truth is that life is not supposed to work without God at the center. Those who try to do so—even Christians—can maintain only an artificial façade of hope and satisfaction. The grim reality is that the emptiness of life without God at the center pushes itself to the consciousness once again when the music stops, the drugs wear off, the eroticism fails, the fashions grow old, the relationships disappoint, the accomplishments fade, and the thrills subside. They are left to themselves, and the emptiness for most people is too much. Instead of crying out to God for light, however, they dive back into their activities, mainlining the anesthesia of their endless pursuits to dull the pain of their empty souls. Such is the picture of man without God at the center—even believing man who isn’t seeing God in new and fresh illuminated truths through the Spirit of God.” ~ Jim Berg

Assurance

“The Christian, when faced by the inexplicable, holds to this assurance: that however things may appear, it is for some loving reasons which may be partly hidden from us, that God allows us to suffer. He remembers the Scripture, ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’ (Is. lv. 9). He believes unshakably that love is around God’s people always, in all circumstances. Whether he feels it or not, he has the assured word of Paul written under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, and borne out in the daily experiences of his very disturbed career, that nothing in heaven or earth can separate us from the love of God (Rom. viii. 35‐39). Because God demonstrated on the cross the intensity and extensiveness of His love to mankind, no sufferer has any right to say, nor any excuse for saying, ‘God can’t love me or He would not let me suffer like this.’ Whatever explanation there may be for the existence of suffering, one thing will always, in light of the cross, remain a blasphemy: and that is to deny the love of God, for if God cared enough to suffer on our behalf and win us thereby from our sins to His side, then He must love us indeed.” (The Mystery of Suffering by Hugh Evan Hopkins, p 112)

Where is the king's heart?

It is amazing to me how many Christians claim Prov 21:1 on Sunday. “The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” And then post fb comments and political statuses on Monday that seem to appear that the king’s heart is in the hand of the electorate. If we really believe God is in control why do we think the name of the president is going to change the direction of the country? Revival is the only thing that can heal the U.S.A. 2 Chron 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

My opinion is: Pray, vote (while we still have the privilege), and then pray for the leaders God ordains (Rom 13:1-2). Walk in the Spirit. Be the salt and light God has commanded you to be, and do not trust in the arm of the flesh (2 Chron 32:8; Ps 20:7).

My House is Full

There is peace and contentment in my Father's house today,
Lots of food on His table and no one turned away.
There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by,
But a hush calms the singing as the Father sadly cries,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.

Push away from the table.
Look out through the windowpane,
Just beyond the house of plenty
Lies a field of golden grain.
And it's ripe unto harvest,
But the reapers, where are they?
In the house,
Oh, can't the children hear
the Father sadly say,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.
~by Lanny Wolfe.

Truth

Gabby Douglas after winning the Gold: "I give all the glory to God. The glory goes up to Him, & all the blessings fall down on me."

Love not Denial

"Delay is not denial, but infinite love and wisdom planning an answer bigger than our biggest asking." ~ J.S.Baxter

Menomeni

I have been burdened for Muslims and during our furlough I read through the Koran in order to understand their religion and mindset better. TODAY I HAD THE WONDERFUL PRIVILEGE OF LEADING MENOMENI TO CHRIST! I met him last week and gave him a Gospel tract. Today he came to my house and started asking questions about Christ, and why Jesus had to die. An hour later, with his head bowed over my open Bible, Menomeni was confessing his faith in Christ! Please pray for him. He is scared to death that his family might find out. He was afraid to take a Bible, but instead took a small John and Romans Scripture booklet. Please pray for this new brother in Christ. He has committed to going through a personal Bible study with me, but he is a bit afraid still to come to church.