Ephesians 4: 7-16
Be not like the wind
Let us be stead fast
In faith, in love
For we are equipped
Let us do our part
Seek Him in prayer
For He has equipped
Us all in His Name.
Gwendolyn Davis
O’Tool and the TV Comedian
O’Toole’s favorite TV show is the Arthur Alligator show. Arthur was a, happy, baggy eyed, Alligator who liked to have entertainers on his show who had never been on TV before. At the end of his program Mr. Authur would award a prize to the best performer. O’Toole was watching this show one evening when Mr. Alligator introduced a hippopotamus magician. The hippo had a nice performance; it was fun to watch the Hippo do his trick.
O’Toole said to Hank the Tank – I wonder if we could do magic on TV.
So, on the next day, O’Toole spent some time with Hank the Tank and Miss Kitty talking about doing a magic trick on TV. Hank the tank decided that O’Toole and Miss Kitty were going to do a classic Magic trick of pulling a cat out of an empty hat. O’Toole got very excited. Miss Kitty wasn’t so sure.
The Secret Of The Lord
By Oswald Chambers
The Lord confides in those who fear him. — Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of true friends? That they tell you secret sorrows? No, that they tell you secret joys. Many people will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the ultimate sign of intimacy is confiding secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us his joys? Or are we so busy telling God our secrets that we leave no room for him to talk to us?
At the beginning of our Christian life, our prayers are full of requests. Then we discover that what God wants is to bring us, through prayer, into a personal relationship with him so that he can reveal his will. Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer is, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Are we so committed to this way of praying that we catch the intimate secrets of God? God may bring us great big blessings, but it is the small, secret things that make us love him, because they show his amazing intimacy with us. They show that he knows every detail of our lives.
“He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12). At the start of our life of faith, we want to be conscious of God guiding us. But as we go on, we no longer need to ask what his will is; the thought of choosing anything else no longer occurs to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God instructs us in every choice we make, guiding our common sense and alerting us when we are in danger of choosing something he doesn’t want. When God checks us in this way, we must obey. Never reason it out and say, “I wonder why I shouldn’t.” Whenever there is doubt, don’t.
2 Chronicles 19-20; John 13:21-38
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Oswald Chambers was an early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist and teacher who was aligned with the Holiness Movement. He is best known for the daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest
What Is Truth
This essay was written for a friend of mine who asked me about the nature of Truth. He was not alone; Pontius Pilate asked “what is truth?”. My one-word answer? Jesus. Every truthful thing in the universe can be found in Jesus the Logos. Wisdom, Truth, and Knowledge originate in Jesus (implied in John 14:6). Truth is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Logos is absolute, rock solid, eternal truth. “I am the Lord thy God – I change not” (Malachi 3:6).
2 Corinthians 10:5 (paraphrased) tells us – We use scripture and wisdom to demolish arguments and every pretense the foolish use against the knowledge of God within us, and the Spirit takes captive of every thought we have, gradually bringing our inner self into obedience with Christ. Continue reading “What Is Truth”
2 Chronicles
If My People Who Are Called
Eternal God
It has been my observation while reading portions of Deuteronomy, the one true living God defined in scripture is eternal, He has no origin. Origin is a word that we apply to things created. When I think of anything that has an origin I’m not thinking about God. He always has been, is, always will be. The “eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27 paraphrased).
The idea of no beginning and no ending leads me to the concept of eternal. When I wrap my mind around the notion of an eternal God, I immediately place God in an entirely different class of being (not human, not handmade, no authority above God, not a figment of my imagination). Continue reading “Eternal God”
Shalom Talk 