For all those words which were written long ago are meant to teach us today; that when we read in the scriptures of the endurance of men and of all the help that God gave them in those days, we may be encouraged to go on hoping in our own time. Romans 15:4, Phillips.
The lives recorded in the Bible are authentic histories of actual individuals. From Adam down through successive generations to the times of the apostles we have a plain, unvarnished account of what actually occurred and the genuine experience of real characters. It is a subject of wonder to many that inspired history should narrate in the lives of good men facts that tarnish their moral characters…. The inspired writers did not testify to falsehoods to prevent the pages of sacred history being clouded by the record of human frailties and faults….
It is one of the best evidences of the authenticity of the Scriptures that the truth is not glossed over nor the sins of its chief characters suppressed…. How many biographies have been written of faultless Christians, who, in their ordinary home life and church relations, shone as examples of immaculate piety…. Yet had the pen of inspiration written their histories, how different would they have appeared. There would have been revealed human weaknesses, struggles with selfishness, bigotry, and pride, hidden sins, perhaps, and the continual warfare between the spirit and the flesh….
Had our good Bible been written by uninspired persons, it would have presented quite a different appearance and would have been a discouraging study to erring mortals, who are contending with natural frailties and the temptations of a wily foe. But as it is, we have a correct record of the religious experience of marked characters in Bible history. Men whom God favored, and to whom He entrusted great responsibilities, were sometimes overcome by temptation and committed sins, even as we of the present day strive, waver, and frequently fall into error. But it is encouraging to desponding hearts to know that through God’s grace they could gain fresh vigor to again rise above their evil natures; and, remembering this, we are ready to renew the conflict ourselves.
Conflict and Courage p. 7
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray that my sons will find work soon. L
—–PLEASE pray for my son Richard. He has artery disease and is not a candidate for any more surgery. He has had triple by-pass surgery & stents and doctors say there is nothing more they can do except medicate. BUT Jesus is our GREAT Physician & I need you to unite with me in prayer for him & believe God thru Jesus Christ to heal his heart & arteries. Kay
—–pray for the families affected by the flooding in all the states nationwide!!! Please everyone they need our prayers. Kim
—–Please pray for speedy healing for my granddaughter Breanna and her little boy Jayce. They are very sick. Faye
—–I learned from Abigail’s parents yesterday that on Thursday, Dec. 31, the physicians were not able to do what they had hoped to do in unstopping the blockage. The doctors do not know what to do, but have re-scheduled Abigail for surgery again this week sometime. Thursday’s procedure did involve something to do with her bone marrow, perhaps checking to see her levels, but her parents did not have the bone marrow results when they communicated with me yesterday. Abigail’s Daddy did share with me that from Sept 2014 on, one month after her liver transplant, her parents had had concerns regarding some of the medical issues she has faced ever since, but that no one listened to their concerns until now, when things appear most formidable for rectifying her situation.
So please pray that the parents’ faith fails not, that their courage remains strong, that their trust in God holds sure, and that Abigail, by God’s grace and in His mercy, as He deems and as He oversees all that happens with this child of four, will be kept under His wings. She is His. Pray that His will for her may be done, and that her parents can abide in His love through this whole ordeal as it continues to play out. Mercifully, they have access to her in hospital as she faces all of this further medical intervention. Only our Heavenly Father can solve predicaments such as they are facing. May He provide wisdom and expertise to the involved medical people and that they perform His purposes: we can all pray for this. . . . Debby
—–I am late stage lung cancer and I’m flying to Colorado tomorrow for 18 days health remedies. Please pray for me. Thanks, Teri
—–My great Uncle Dennis passed away today about an hour ago. He was never able to wake up after his emergency surgery he became septic and went into Multi Organ System Failure. Please continue to pray for my dear mother Twila as she has become very close to him in the last ten years that she and my dad have taken him in and cared for him. Allowing him to live a happy almost independent life that the doctors then said would never be a possibility. All of this happened so unexpectedly. Shannon
——Please pray for my grandson’s Aunt Angie. Taken by ambulance to ER , think she had a stroke. Faye
——Please, I need prayers for my job. I’m going thru a lot at work. But God is in control. Iris
—–Please continue to pray for the salvation of all God’s youth around the world and a revival that includes us all. Carol
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Dear Friends,
One time, while our children were still living at home, Esther Marie got in the mood to rearrange the living room. She had been begging to do it for several months. Finally, I gave her permission. It was a good thing I did. As the four of us moved the furniture, we discovered many things had found their way underand behind the sofa. Jokingly, we called our sofa “the black hole” because so many items had ended up behind and under it.
For awhile the living room looked really messy. When it looked its worse, Ronnie Jay snuck to the front door, knocked, opened it, and pretended that someone was coming to visit us. “Oh no!” I thought, “I don’t want anyone to see the house in this condition.” Soon we discovered that there was no one there as Ronnie Jay began laughing heartily. After the startled feeling wore off, we all joined him. By the time Ron got home, everything was clean and orderly. We all agreed that the new arrangement made our old, worn out furniture look better.
Just as our house needed to be “stirred up” and rearranged, so it is good to do a little spiritual housecleaning from time to time. How many times, things need rearranging inside us. Our heart often becomes cluttered with the ?junk? of this world. How often we need to pray as did David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps 139:23, 24 Paul urged us to do this spiritual housecleaning when he said, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.? Then he puts his advice in perspective. ?For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12, 13
Jesus is coming soon! Now is the time to rearrange the “furniture” in our mind that no “clutter” will be found there at His appearing, for then it will be too late to make it right. Now is the time to clean out from under the “sofa” in our heart. Now is the time to make the necessary preparations that we “may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” 2 Peter 3:14 And if we find things within us that must be put out of our heart, we have the promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”1 John 1:9-2:2 Praise God! He offers us the forgiveness we need! We can be cleansed from all iniquity! Our Great Redeemer “shall supply all [our] need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19,20
Today, He is knocking at your heart’s door pleading for entrance therein. “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” Heb 3:15 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Precious promise! “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10,11
May we allow our Loving Saviour to clean us up inside and do the rearranging necessary to make us ready for that Great Day of His Appearing is my prayer.
Rose