Defeating Depression Part I [Charismatic Devotional Thread]

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” Proverbs 12:25

Low spirits, gloominess, dejection, sadness, a decrease in force, or activity, or amount, a decrease in functional activity. An emotional condition either normal or pathological characterized by discouragement, a feeling of inadequacy, the act of humbling abasement as a depression of pride. Abasement, reduction, sinking, fall, humiliation, dejection, melancholy.

Major Depression Facts Major depression is the No.1 psychological disorder in the western world.(1) It is growing in all age groups, in virtually every community, and the growth is seen most in the young, especially teens. At the rate of increase, it will be the 2nd most disabling condition in the world by 2020, behind heart disease. http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Depression_Information/facts.htm Shalom dearly beloved:

I am taking the opportunity this Shabbat to touch on a subject that is plaguing many people, that is DEPRESSION. Nearly everywhere that we go to minister, The Lord gives me a Word of Knowledge concerning depression and suicide. Many people have been miraculously set free from depression and hopelessness as we bring forth The MAP Revolution Message to the nations. Some times people that have suffered from over 50 years of chronic depression are able to smile and rejoice for the FIRST time in their lives!

One such case happened to us in Ecuador. As we were leaving from the Guayaquil airport after and intense time of ministry in Ecuador, some people came to bid us good-bye and among them there was a middle age toothless lady. She was smiling from ear to ear and had no front teeth at all!!! She made a considerable effort to come to the airport from a remote village and without any private transport. Her purpose for coming was to show us her “toothless smile” as a sign of appreciation for our ministry. She told us that she had suffered from chronic depression for over 50 years and that she was healed under our ministry and could now genuinely smile and be happy for the FIRST time in 50 years!!! Needless to say we were overjoyed and tears ran down our cheeks as we received this marvelous testimony as a gift from heaven and as full reward for our time spent in Ecuador. What a privilege it is to make people SMILE and rejoice from their hearts after so many years of suffering!

In one of our meetings in Mexico, as I was asking for people to give their testimonies of healing, a young man came to answer the altar call for salvation, tears streaming down his face as The Lord had healed him from depression right there on the spot. His testimony caused around 100 people to answer the altar call for salvation on that day! The lady that brought him to our meeting was HIS OWN CHRISTIAN THERAPIST that in desperation hoped for a miracle for her own patient! What medicine could not do, The Holy Spirit did it in a split second! To Him is all the glory forever!

I am not disclaiming in this article the use of drugs and medications in certain cases. Psychiatric help can be as a ¨life boat¨ to a drowning person. Many of my loved ones have been greatly helped by medication, however if you know the root cause of depression you can live a life of freedom from this plague that is a major attack on modern day man.

My own testimony It is in my weakness that YAH (The Lord) uses me in the area of depression as nearly every member of my immediate family has been plagued from depression and one even committed suicide due to it. I have suffered the deep distress of catering to people in serious, critical depressions and mental disease all my life. As I am writing these very lines my own son who is a soldier in the Israeli Army is suffering from depression that has been caused by pressure and anxiety. As a mother I am going through a very painful time, yet in the midst of my own pain I feel compelled to write this letter so that all those that are suffering from depression can receive HOPE and a WAY OUT!

A family curse that is repeated throughout the generations due to witchcraft, involvement in the occult, Kabbala and the active membership in secret lodges such as the Free Masons, Odd Fellows, etc…It can also manifest as a “genetical chemical imbalance” (Deuteronomy 5:8, 28:28,29) A root of bitterness, hidden anger and unforgiveness. (Matthew 18:34,35) Fear, anxiety and stress. (Proverbs 12:25, 1 John 4:18) A serious disappointment in life such as broken promises, divorce or a broken relationship, the death of a loved one or any frustrated expectation. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12) Unresolved grief. (Genesis 37:34-36) Vitamin and nutritional deficiency

TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION 1. Repentance: In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we have the antidote for all sickness, be it spiritual, emotional or physical,

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

*Turn from our wicked ways of mistrust, and fear rather than faith, disobedience to God’s Commandments and any unforgiveness and hidden anger. Forgiveness is a KEY issue, forgive yourself, others and even God!

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14,15

2. Confess your sins to someone you trust that has a holy walk with God and have that person pray for you.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

“He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalms 107:20

“My son give attention to My word, incline your ear to my sayings do not let them depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and health to ALL their flesh” Proverbs 4:20-22

Make for yourself a Word Prayer of at least 5-7 scripture promises, declare and meditate on those scripture promises day and night and at least 3 times a day! Record this scripture prayer and listen to it while you are driving, speaking it out loud and also silently to yourself all day long.

“The work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever” Isaiah 32:17

“The actions of those that are made just by doing what is right in the eyes of God will be shalom, wellbeing and wholeness in every way; And those who worship Him according to His Commandments (Holy Worship!) will be quietness and absolute confidence forever.”

Right in wise manner, upright, virtuous, acting in a just way, morally right, good, excellent, satisfying, pleasant, authentic, Godly, just, upright, virtuous.

Our righteousness comes from having been made right with YAH (God) through Y’shua’s blood sacrifice and it is to be followed by obedience to His Commandments and by a right walk with Him. When we are made right with Elohim through Y’shua, in a forgiven state we then begin a personal walk with Him, a walk of loving obedience to His Commandments as written in our hearts by The Holy Spirit. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10

Walking in love, obedience and forgiveness is an antidote for fear and thus fights and defeats the torment of depression.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

5. Total trust in Elohim-God, His Word, His Plan and His Character. Trust is the antidote against anxiety, one of the major root causes of depression in the 21st century. Trust develops through continual prayer and meditation of the Word of God.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through the Messiah Y’shua. Philippians 4:6,7

This is actually a commandment- “Be anxious for NOTHING” and the way to achieve it is by,

Most people are anxious because they lead a prayer-less and unthankful life, so they are always revolving around themselves and their own problems.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Yahveh my God, I will give thanks to You forever. Psalm 30:11-12

7. Inner Healing is the key for inner soul and heart pain. Inner healing happens when we acknowledge the pain and let the Spirit of Truth and the Word of God bring light to the most hidden corners of our soul.

Then Y’shua said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31,32,

“The Spirit of Yahveh GOD is upon Me, Because Yahveh has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of Yahveh, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of Yahveh, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3.

Inner healing can happen when someone else prays for you or when you pray and let YAH work on your soul to bring truth and light to your deepest painful emotions.

8. Conventional treatment- In some cases there is a need to receive conventional medication and drug treatment before a person can be settled enough to allow for God’s word and spirit to work. In these cases by all means receive treatment and then apply all the rest.

9. Deliverance from demons- is an important part in defeating depression as in many cases there is demonic activity involved in depression, however depression is not only caused by evils spirits and it is important to treat spirit, soul and body!

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Matthew 4:24

10. Nutritional supplements are very important in order to treat depression and most particularly vitamin B complex and Vitamin C, however for a more thorough list consult with a professional nutritionist and health consultant. There are also some herbs that can be helpful such as St. John’s Wort, Chamomille, Valerian Root, etc…It is also important to change your nutritional habits to healthy habits decreasing white sugar, processed foods, chemicals such as nitrates and MSG.

For thus says Yahveh GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “ In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15A

On the next issue we will talk about fear and anxiety as a root cause of depression, meanwhile have a Shabbat Shalom, full of wellbeing and DO NOT GIVE UP! Remember that we love you and care for you.

Rabbi Baruch, Bishop Dominiquae Bierman and the Kad-Esh MAP Team © Bishop Dr Dominiquae Bierman 2006

All of heaven has been waiting for this day.

And me too, for 12 years now! (:

Put on your Camp clothes, mama, put on your evening dress
Put on your clap clothes, mama, put on your evening dress
Few more years of hard work, then there'll be a 1,000 years of happiness
~Bob Dylan, "The Levee's Gonna Break," Modern Times

My personal interpretation of Dylan's song quoted above: O! the Spirit's been pouring, pouring! He cannot be contained, we cannot hold Him in or hold Him back! It's Camp Meetin' time, and time to clap and sing! He is coming on the clouds to gather us for the Wedding Supper and He shall find His Bride clothed, at His work, ready to enter the completed Joy of Her Lord! Amen!

He shall find faith on the earth when He comes!

Persevere, dear Jocko! Clap and sing and praise and proclaim! For what we see with our bodily eyes is as nothing compared to what we see in the Spirit, through every promise of the Word of the Living God! The clamor of this world and worldlings is as nothing compared to the songs of glory among the saints and angels; the wedding music can even now be heard as the Bridegroom approaches - let's keep our ears tuned to that sound!

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living From Joshua
Scripture: Joshua 3:1

Early in the Morning

Joshua 3:1

Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.

Early in the Morning

During the American Revolution, it is reported that Colonel Rahl, commander of the British troops at Trenton, New Jersey, was playing cards when a courier brought an urgent message stating that General George Washington was crossing the Delaware River. Rahl put the letter in his pocket and didn't bother to read it until the game finished. Then, realizing the seriousness of the situation, he hurriedly tried to rally his men to meet the coming attack. It was too late. His procrastination was his undoing. He and many of his men were killed, and the rest of the regiment was captured.

Unlike Colonel Rahl, Joshua was one commander who didn't hesitate to take action. The job ahead was a major one: lead the people of Israel across the flooded Jordan and into Canaan. Roaring downward toward the Dead Sea, the current of the Jordan is very swift at Jericho. In addition, the melting snows in the Lebanon mountains caused the river to overflow at this season of the year. The task must have been intimidating. You could understand if Joshua chose to stall as long as possible. But instead of procrastinating, he "rose early in the morning" and began to rally the people for the trip ahead of them.

When faced with tasks that are frightening or disagreeable, many people choose to put them off as long as possible. They find excuses to avoid unpleasant situations or make difficult decisions. But what a mistake that is. Often it only makes matters worse.

If you are faced with a challenging situation, don't procrastinate. Trust in God's strength and wisdom. Claim His promises of presence and protection. Then, get up "early in the morning" and go to it. At the end of the day, you'll be glad you did.

A job never started is a job never finished.

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-30
The Path of Lonliness

A Lighthouse in Brooklyn

For forty years a little piece of my heart has been in Brooklyn, New York. For a few months in 1951 I lived there in order to attend a Spanish-speaking church and take language lessons before going to Ecuador. But now a bigger piece of my heart is in Brooklyn--so big, in fact, that I have felt a longing to give up the house we live in and the work we do and just move there!

I'll explain. I'd been invited to speak to a group of women on a Saturday afternoon at Brooklyn Tabernacle. It sounded interesting, but I was not expecting anything quite so thrilling as it proved to be. Brooklyn, for a start, is a tough place. There's a lot of poverty. Drugs and muggings and murders are practically everyday occurrences, and there had been some very ugly riots between Jews and blacks in one of the most "civilized" sections. The neighborhood where I had lived was pretty bleak back then, so I wondered if it could be any worse now. I was eager to try to find 519 Bushwick Avenue (a fifth-floor walk-up, at $17 per month--lots of noise, strange cooking odors, large rats, and very little heat or hot water).

Abraham, the kind man who drove us around, managed to find the location all right, but the whole block had been razed (no wonder). There was nothing there but empty lots. Well, not empty really--mattresses, old refrigerators, bedsprings, tires, sofas with the stuffings coming out--you name it, you could have picked it up. In fact, there were such mountains of trash everywhere, I wondered where they'd put it if they ever did decide to clean up the place. Desolate and depressing in the extreme. Graffiti, that hideous evidence of defiance of all law and order, covered every surface within reach of the ground and many high above it.

Abraham said thousands of people are always cleaning it up, and it's back the next morning.

I kept thinking about the old gospel song, "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning" Here's part of it:

Dark the night of sin has settled,
Loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore
Let the lower lights be burning,
Send a gleam across the wave,
Some poor, fainting, struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save.

There on Flatbush Avenue stands Brooklyn Tabernacle, sending its gleam across the wave. Thousands have "made the harbor" because of its light. My audience was a wonderful mixture of colors and ethnic backgrounds, the music was louder than I'm used to but wonderfully exuberant and heartfelt. There was no doubt about it--those women were worshipping. I heard some of their stories--to me nearly unimaginable--of drugs, alcohol, abuse, poverty, abandonment. One mother's anonymous letter to the pastor told of her own heartbreak. Just that week she had learned that her fourteen-year-old daughter was pregnant. The father of the baby was the girl's seventeen-year-old brother. That mother said she had wanted to kill herself and her children, "But I'm making it," she wrote, "with Jesus and the help of this church."

We heard their two-hundred-voice choir at the Billy Graham rally in Central Park on Sunday afternoon. In the evening, after I had spoken again at the Tabernacle, we were having supper with a group of the church folks. I asked a woman named Marie to tell me her story. Her husband smiled and said, "She loves to tell it! It's her favorite story." How I wish I had room for the whole thing.

Her mother, five months pregnant, died of cancer. Marie, the baby, survived and was put in a foundling hospital. Later she was entrusted to the care of nuns who treated her cruelly, although they taught her about God. She felt sure God was better than they were, and she knew her daddy loved her, but she was hungry for more. At age ten she began sniffing glue. This led to smoking pot, then doing drugs for the next fifteen years. On a Club Med vacation in Mexico with her boyfriend she began to wonder why she was born. Why had God made her? What meaning was there in it all? God clearly spoke to her "Maria, give me your life. This is your last chance." Suddenly she lost her desire for drugs and told her boyfriend she would not sleep with him anymore. On her return to New York she found that a group of friends had been praying for her at the very time when this happened. Hers is a totally transformed life. She's married to the boyfriend, who is now a pastor.

"You should have seen me," he said, "long hair, three earrings in each ear, feathers!"

I thought of my own upbringing--Christ as the Head of our house, parents who loved Him, each other, and us. No alcohol or drugs, just the Bible and hymn-singing. A clean house on a clean street. I thought of Nicky Cruz's testimony that same afternoon at the Graham meeting--from deep sin and sorrow to joy; and of Johnny Cash's simple words: "Alcohol never gave me peace. Drugs never brought me happiness. I found both in Jesus Christ. He changed my life." Then he sang, "The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago," while his dear June burst in with her lusty refrain, "Down on my knees!"

Tears come as I write, remembering the unutterable JOY I saw on those upturned faces during those two days. Those people were still living with huge tribulations and deep heartbreaks, yet there was joy, there was peace, and there was love such as I see in few churches. I don't know when I've had so many hugs. How to account for it all? It's quite simple:

This doctrine of the cross is sheer folly to those on their way to ruin, but to us who are on the way to salvation, it is the power of God.... To shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts folly, and to shame what is strong, God has chosen what the world counts weakness. He has chosen things low and contemptible, mere nothings, to overthrow the existing order. So there is no place for human pride in the presence of God....He is our righteousness; in him we are consecrated and set free.

The Dancing Duck, by Alan Smith

A circus owner walked into a restaurant to see everyone crowded around a table watching a little show. On the table was an upside down pot and a duck tap dancing on it.

The circus owner was so impressed that he offered to buy the duck from its owner. After some wheeling and dealing they settled for $10,000 for the duck and the pot.

Three days later, the circus owner runs back to the restaurant in anger, "Your duck is a rip-off! I put him on the pot before a whole audience and he didn't dance a single step!" "So?" asked the duck's former owner, "did you remember to light the candle under the pot?"

Did you remember to light the candle?

Well, that might be one reason that someone would put a lighted candle nder a pot, but that's not what candles are for! As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, a candle "gives light to everyone in the house." That is a candle's purpose! In like manner, our Christian lives are to "shine before others." The reason? So that we are to be a positive influence on others around us for our Father in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16-17 TNIV)

We sometimes speak of a "secret Christian" as if that's a possibility. The truth is, unless our lives are reflecting the light of Jesus Christ, we're not living Christian lives at all. If we don't influence the world around us for Christ, the world will influence us. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) ..." (Ephesians 5:8-9).

Did you remember to light your candle?

Good morning!

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Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:2-4
The Path of Lonliness

Does God Allow His Children to Be Poor?

God allows both Christians and non-Christians to experience every form of suffering known to the human race, just as He allows His blessings to fall on both. Poverty, like other forms of suffering, is relative, as Lars and I were reminded while we were in India. Our country's definition of the "poverty level" would mean unimaginable affluence to the girls we saw working next to our hotel. For nine hours a day they carried wet concrete in wooden basins on their heads, pouring it into the forms for the foundation of a large building. They were paid thirty cents a day.

On my list of Scriptures which give clues to some of God's reasons for allowing His children to suffer is 2 Corinthians 8:2: "Somehow, in most difficult circumstances, their joy and the fact of being down to their last penny themselves, produced a magnificent concern for other people" (PHILLIPS). It was the Macedonian churches that Paul was talking about, living proof that it is not poverty or riches that determine generosity, and sometimes those who suffer the most financially are the ones most ready to share what they have. "They simply begged us to accept their gifts and so let them share the honors of supporting their brothers in Christ" (v. 4).

Money holds terrible power when it is loved. It can blind us, shackle us, fill us with anxiety and fear, torment our days and nights with misery, wear us out with chasing it. The Macedonian Christians, possessing little of it, accepted their lot with faith and trust. Their eyes were opened to see past their own misery. They saw what mattered far more than a bank account, and, out of "magnificent concern," contributed to the needs of their brothers.

If through losing what this world prizes we are enabled to gain what it despises--treasure in heaven, invisible and incorruptible--isn't it worth any kind of suffering? What is it worth to us to learn a little bit more of what the Cross means--life out of death, the transformation of earth's losses and heartbreaks and tragedies?

Poverty has not been my experience, but God has allowed in the lives of each of us some sort of loss, the withdrawal of something we valued, in order that we may learn to offer ourselves a little more willingly, to allow the touch of death on one more thing we have clutched so tightly, and thus know fullness and freedom and joy that much sooner. We're not naturally inclined to love God and seek His Kingdom. Trouble may help to incline us--that is, it may tip us over, put some pressure on us, lean us in the right direction.

Today's inspiration

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O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee, Thou noble countenance,
Though mighty worlds shall fear Thee and flee before Thy glance.
How art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How doth Thy visage languish that once was bright as morn!

Now from Thy cheeks has vanished their color once so fair;
From Thy red lips is banished the splendor that was there.
Grim death, with cruel rigor, hath robbed Thee of Thy life;
Thus Thou hast lost Thy vigor, Thy strength in this sad strife.

My burden in Thy Passion, Lord, Thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression which brought this woe on Thee.
I cast me down before Thee, wrath were my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore Thee; Redeemer, spurn me not!

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

My Shepherd, now receive me; my Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me, O source of gifts divine.
Thy lips have often fed me with words of truth and love;
Thy Spirit oft hath led me to heavenly joys above.

Here I will stand beside Thee, from Thee I will not part;
O Savior, do not chide me! When breaks Thy loving heart,
When soul and body languish in death’s cold, cruel grasp,
Then, in Thy deepest anguish, Thee in mine arms I’ll clasp.

The joy can never be spoken, above all joys beside,
When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide.
O Lord of Life, desiring Thy glory now to see,
Beside Thy cross expiring, I’d breathe my soul to Thee.

My Savior, be Thou near me when death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish by virtue of Thine own!

Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

So very, very beautiful, and so encouraging to me. How often we should remember that our Master said,

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known."
~Matthew 10:24-26

Jesus Christ, through Whom all receive life, was scorned to His face, spat upon, falsely accused of great evil, blindfolded, struck with fists, whipped, and crucified. He endured all this humbly for the Joy He Knew Waited Beyond. He never wavered and He never stopped loving; He always testified to Truth and was ever Merciful. O! that we would never let Mercy and Truth forsake us! (Proverbs 3:3) May we be like Him, even in His persecutions, so that we may share in His Glory.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
~Romans 8:17

Like Jeremiah, whose calling and life are recorded forever in God's Holy Book, let's remember that the LORD is with us, and He is our Champion.

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture: Isaiah 48:13-18 2 Corinthians 12:9 John 15:8
The Path of Lonliness
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Why is God Doing This to Me?

An article appeared in the National Geographic years ago which has affected my thinking ever since. "The Incredible Universe," by Kenneth F. Weaver and James P. Blair, included this paragraph:

How can the human mind deal with the knowledge that the farthest object we can see in the universe is perhaps ten billion light years away! Imagine that the thickness of this page represents the distance from the earth to the sun (93,000,000 miles, or about eight light minutes). Then the distance to the nearest star 14-1/3 light years) is a 71-foot-high stack of paper. And the diameter of our own galaxy (l00,000 light years) is a 310-mile stack, while the edge of the known universe is not reached until the pile of paper is 31,000,000 miles high, a third of the way to the sun.

Thirty-one million miles. That's a very big stack of paper. By the time I get to thirty-one-and-a-half million I'm lost--aren't you? I read somewhere else that our galaxy is one (only one) of perhaps ten billion.

I know the One who made all that. He is my Shepherd. This is what He says: "With my own hands I founded the earth, with my right hand I formed the expanse of sky; when I summoned them, they sprang at once into being.... I teach you for your own advantage and lead you in the way you must go. If only you had listened to my commands, your prosperity would have rolled on like a river in flood..." (Isaiah 48:13, 17, 18, NEB).

Hardly a day goes by without my receiving a letter, a phone call, or a visit from someone in trouble. Almost always the question comes, in one form or another, Why does God do this to me?

When I am tempted to ask that same question, it loses its power when I remember that this Lord, into whose strong hands I long ago committed my life, is engineering a universe of unimaginable proportions and complexity. How could I possibly understand all that He must take into consideration as He deals with it and with me, a single individual! He has given us countless assurances that we cannot get lost in the shuffle. He choreographs the "molecular dance" which goes on every second of every minute of every day in every cell in the universe. For the record, one cell has about 200 trillion molecules. He makes note of the smallest seed and the tiniest sparrow. He is not too busy to keep records even of my falling hair.

Yet in our darkness we suppose He has overlooked us. He hasn't. I have been compiling a list of the answers God Himself has given us to our persistent question about adversity:

1. We need to be pruned. In Jesus' last discourse with His disciples before He was crucified (a discourse meant for us as well as for them), He explained that God is the gardener, He Himself is the vine, and we are branches. If we are bearing fruit, then we must be pruned. This is a painful process. Jesus knew that His disciples would face much suffering. He showed them, in this beautiful metaphor, that it was not for nothing. Only the well-pruned vine bears the best fruit. They could take comfort in knowing that the pruning proved they were neither barren nor withered, for in that case they would simply be burned up in the brushpile.

Pruning requires the cutting away not only of what is superfluous but also of what appears to be good stock. Why should we be so baffled when the Lord cuts away good things from our lives? He has explained why. "This is my Father's glory, that you may bear fruit in plenty and so be my disciples" (John 15:8, NEB). We need not see how it works. He has told us it does work.

2. We need to be refined. Peter wrote to God's scattered people, reminding them that even though they were "smarting for a little while under trials of many kinds" (they were in exile--the sort of trial most of us would think rather more than "smart"), they were nevertheless chosen in the purpose of God, hallowed to His service, and consecrated with the blood of Jesus Christ. With all that, they still needed refining. Gold is gold, but it has to go through fire. Faith is even more precious, so faith will always have another test to stand. Remember God's loving promise of 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is all you need; power comes to its full strength in weakness" (NEB).

But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, sire.
What Thou hast done and doest Thou knows't well.
And I will help Thee; gently in Thy fire
I will lie burning; on Thy potter's wheel
I will whirl patient, though my brain should reel.
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.

--George MacDonald
--Diary Of an Old Soul, October 2

Thank you! +* +* +*

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living From Joshua
Scripture: Joshua 5:9 2 Corinthians 5:17 Ezekiel 36:26

Rolled Away

Joshua 5:9

Then the Lord said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

Rolled Away

According to one source, Americans spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do everything from improve their self-image to learn a foreign language. Unfortunately, the National Research Council has concluded that subliminal messages simply don't work. Despite all the hype to the contrary, these tapes don't deliver the life-transforming changes they promise.

But there is one source who always delivers on His promises--God. As the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, they needed to renew their covenant with God. This relationship required that circumcision be performed as a sign of the covenant. Those Israelites who left Egypt had been circumcised, but those males born during the wilderness wandering had not (vv. 4-5). It was now time for the younger generation to take their stand and have the "reproach of Egypt" rolled away.

Circumcision is no longer a sign of the covenant relationship with God. When Jesus died on the cross, the outward sign of circumcision was replaced with the inner presence of the Holy Spirit. He is the fulfillment of the promise in Ezekiel: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). When the Holy Spirit comes in, the old life is rolled away and we become "a new creation" in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

This experience can be yours as well. If you are still walking in your old life, why not receive Christ today and let Him roll your sins away? The reproach of the past can be replaced with a hope for the future.

Christ doesn't improve you; He transforms you.

Meet Jesus

Excellent verses, thx.

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Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture: Philippians 4:12 2 Corinthians 4:15
The Path of Lonliness
Shop for Elisabeth Elliot Resouces

Lord, Please Remove the Dilemma

Because my husband Lars is a Norwegian who would happily eat fish three times a day if I'd give it to him (I seldom do), I often have fishheads and fishbones to discard. I don't like the noise the disposal makes if I put them in there, so I fire them out the window onto the grass. A prompt and thorough garbage service is provided free of charge by the seven resident crows who materialize out of nowhere (nine minutes is the maximum time it has taken them to detect my offerings). Recently I watched one of them attempt to stuff all the pieces into his beak before his buddies had arrived. He carefully picked up everything except one long backbone. Here was a dilemma. How was he to grab the backbone without dropping the beakful he already had? Solemnly he surveyed the scene, stepped slowly around the bone and cogitated. So everything is done by instinct, is it? I don't believe it. He was reasoning. He made a decision. He dropped the smaller pieces, grasped the bone right in the middle and raised it. Too unwieldy. More cogitation. Then, delicately, he lifted one end of the backbone, bent it around with his claw and picked up the other end. Now, holding both ends in his beak he succeeded somehow (I couldn't for the life of me see exactly how) in gathering all but a few small bits and flew off, triumphant, to relish his find in solitude.

Is there anyone reading this who is not faced with a perplexity of some sort? Some of you face serious dilemmas. We want to pray, "Lord, please remove the dilemma." Usually the answer is "No, not right away." We must face it, pray over it, think about it, wait on the Lord, make a choice. Sometimes it is an excruciating choice.

St. Augustine said, "The very pleasures of human life men acquire by difficulties." There are times when the entire arrangement of our existence is disrupted and we long then for just one ordinary day--seeing our ordinary life as greatly desirable, even wonderful, in the light of the terrible disruption that has taken place. Difficulty opens our eyes to pleasures we had taken for granted.

I recall one of the times my second husband Add was released from the hospital when he had cancer. I did not suppose he was cured, but just having him at home once more was all I asked for that day. I set the table in the dining room with candlelight as I always did for dinner. I had fixed his favorite meal--steak, baked potato, salad, my homebaked apple pie. As he bowed his head to give thanks in the usual way, I had a sudden urge to do something very unusual--to drop to the floor and clutch his hands and sing "Let us break bread together on our knees." I didn't do it. Things proceeded in the ordinary way, but there was a new radiance about them simply because we had been deprived for a while, and knew we would soon be deprived again, probably permanently.

Paul said he had been "very thoroughly initiated into the human lot with all its ups and downs" (Philippians 4:12, NEB). He was hard-pressed, bewildered, persecuted, and struck down. God in His mercy did not choose to remove the dilemmas with which he was faced (some of His greatest mercies are His refusals), but chose instead to make Himself known to Paul because of them, in ways which would strengthen his faith and make him a strengthener and an instrument of peace to the rest of us. Hard-pressed he was, but not hemmed in--God promises that none of us will ever be tempted beyond our power to endure. Bewildered he was, but never at wit's end--God promises wisdom to those who ask for it. Persecuted, but never left to "stand it alone"--God promises His unfailing presence, all the days of our lives. Struck down, Paul was not left to die, though some of his rescues were ignominious in the extreme--the great apostle, let down over a wall in a basket, and on occasion making it to land on a chunk of flotsam! Hardly the means he would have envisioned God's using to fulfill His promises. But on second thought, why not? The absurdity of it all does us good. Life is absurd--on the surface of things--but every bit of it is planned, as Paul goes on to say:

"It is for your sake that all things are ordered, so that, as the abounding grace of God is shared by more and more, the greater may be the chorus of thanksgiving that ascends to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:15, NEB). Maybe Paul's testimony, which has cheered countless millions, will cheer somebody who still faces a dilemma he has begged the Lord to remove. All of Paul's were solved, but not all of them in Paul's way or Paul's time, Selah.

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