A Merry Heart

Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

 

Looking for a compliment

Wife: “I look fat. Can you give me a compliment?”
Husband: “You have perfect eyesight.”

Fertilizer

A farmer was driving along the road with a load of fertilizer. A little boy, playing in front of his house, saw him and called, “What’ve you got in your truck?”
“Fertilizer,” the farmer replied.
“What are you going to do with it?” asked the little boy.
“Put it on strawberries,” answered the farmer.
“You ought to live here,” the little boy advised him. “We put sugar and cream on ours.”

Your IQ

“Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” –Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“The same Jesus Who turned water into wine can transform your home, your life, your family, and your future. He is still in the miracle-working business, and His business is the business of transformation.” –Adrian Rogers, Pastor

Fresh Manna

Exodus 16:15b “And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”

The Importance of Building a Godly Home

 

Proverbs 10:1-3 (1) “The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. (2) Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. (3) The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.”

Recently I was looking through one of Pam’s devotional diaries and found a comment she made about our son Mark. She said “he is my jewel” as she shared her heart and thoughts about him. This comment was written about a year before she died. Mark already finished bible college, had a good full time job and was serving as music director of our church. A parent never stops loving or caring about their child no matter how old they are. How their children live there life as an adult is a very important to a parent.

Building a godly home is important and it will not happen by accident. I would like to a share a few thoughts on how we can try accomplish this lofty and attainable goal. First of all it starts with the father and mother. There must be a godly in example in the home for the children to follow. They will count your words as pennies and your actions as dollars.

I believe it is vital to pray for your children every day. Not just casual prayer, but fervent intercessory prayer where you pour your heart out to God for them. This prayer should start from their conception until the day God takes you home. There is no substitute for the prayers of a godly parent in the life of a child.

The principles of God’s Word must be clearly taught in the home and woven in the fabric of daily living. Scripture must be expounded and embraced by each person in the home if it is to reach its full potential for the glory of God.

Young people you hold the heart of your mom and dad in your hands. It is delicate and fragile please handle it with care. Every child must realize that how they live greatly affects the heart of their mom and dad. If you trample on their heart you will be held accountable to God and reap a very bad harvest one day.

I praise God for my son Mark as he has brought incredible joy to me as a father. I praise God for his work with the music in our church, but even more that I believe he has embraced in his heart the love that Pam and I have for Jesus. No earthly fame, monetary gain or ministry success can replace that joy. I still pray for him every day and I cherish the relationship that I have with him. I believe the grace of God and the excellent mother that Pam was contributed most to my son’s development.

By: Kurt LaCapruccia

Power of Prayer

Prayer and Trouble

“Prayer often delivers out of trouble, and still oftener gives strength to bear trouble, minister’s comfort in trouble, and begets patience in the midst of trouble. Wise is he in the day of trouble who knows his true source of strength and who fails not to pray.

All things are under Divine control. Trouble is neither above God nor beyond His control. It is not something in life independent of God. No matter from what source it springs nor whence it arises, God is sufficiently wise and able to lay His hand upon it without assuming responsibility for its origin, and work it into His plans and purposes concerning the highest welfare of His saints. This is the explanation of that gracious statement in Romans, so often quoted, but the depth of whose meaning has rarely been sounded, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”

Trouble has wise ends for the praying ones, and these find it so. Happy is he who, like the Psalmist, finds that his troubles have been blessings in disguise. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.”

The end of trouble is always good in the mind of God. If trouble fails in its mission, it is either because of prayerlessness or unbelief, or both. Being in harmony with God in the dispensations of His providence, always makes trouble a blessing. The good or evil of trouble is always determined by the spirit in which it is received. Trouble proves a blessing or a curse, just according as it is received and treated by us. It either softens or hardens us. It either draws us to prayer and to God or it drives us from God and from the closet.”

Taken from chapter 5 of The Essentials of Prayer by E.M. Bounds

More than Conquerors

Romans 8:37 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

The Beauty of Simplicity

 

Just Ask

 

During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanted to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, “Colonel, just ask for it!” A smile broke over Roosevelt’s face. Now he understood the provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely. “Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”

Just Accept

 

Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. “A pardon is a slip of paper,” wrote Marshall, “the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.

Eternal life in heaven (to have all our sins forgiven) is a gift by God that he offers to all mankind. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” If we receive that gift we will be in heaven forever and if we reject it we will pay for our own sin debt in hell. Jesus is offering us a pardon and we will either accept it or be like George Wilson and reject it. Receiving a gift is very simple as it costs us nothing because all the sacrifice was made by the one who gave it. John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Will you accept the pardon offered to you by Jesus?

 

You say it is that simple? Thankfully the answer is yes. Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” If we are willing to admit our sin before God and ask his forgiveness then he will cleanse us from all sin and give us a home in heaven when we die.

When someone offers you a gift that is beyond your means to repay then it is better to accept with a thank you, than to reject in pride or unworthiness. We will never be worthy of God’s love, but I am just thankful he has made it available to us.