January 21, 2004 V2N6
Hello, everybody! Just imagine 2004 is almost a 1/12th over already! Following is a little story, reminding us that we DO have an adversary with his own agenda out there...
Satan's Meeting
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church." We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior." "Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken." "So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ."
"This is what I want you to do", said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we Do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children." "As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice." "Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive." "To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly." "This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers." "Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day." "Invade their driving moments with billboards." "Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives."
"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night." "Give them headaches too!" "If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive." "Have them return from their recreation exhausted." "Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God! 's creation." "Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus." "Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."
"It will work!" 'It will work!"
It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge! Does "busy" mean:
B-eing
U-nder
S-atan's
Y-oke?
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
OPEN WIDE
This is actually suppose to be a song.
Open wide (open wide) the founts of Your matchless grace,
That saved (that saved) a wretch like me;
May it pour (may it pour) out Your blessings upon us;
Open wide, open wide the founts of grace.
Chorus:
Open wide (open wide) the founts of grace and mercy,
Open wide (open wide) the founts of love;
Open wide (open wide) the founts of grace and mercy,
Open wide, open wide the founts of love.
Open wide (open wide) the founts of loving mercy
That cleanses (that cleanses) and sets me free,
Your loving (Your loving) kindness is new every morn;
Open wide, open wide Your mercy's founts.
Open wide (open wide) the founts of eternal love.
Greater far (greater far) than man can tell,
T'was Your love (t'was Your love), O Jesus, my blest Savior;
Open wide, open wide the founts of love.
~by Jamie Scharf
================================================================
Prayer & Praise
Dear Friends far and near,
I'm sure some of yall have already heard this but I thought I would pass along what I know. Krystal is Val Yoders wife. He is the administrater at SMBI. She has a defribilater that went off Sun. night. They toke her by ambulance to McConnelsburg and from there life flighted her to Johnstown. She has a leaking valve that is leaking blood into her body. Her muscle is to weak to do surgery so at this point they are continueing to give her blood. She developed peumonia today so that is definately not a good sign. It is going to take a miracle for her to pull through this one because medically it looks impossible. Deaniel, their oldest, is in Asia with GTO, so I'm sure he could use our prayers as well as the rest of the family. God loves to do miracles, lets pray for His hand to be shown strong at this time.
Douglas Mast
................................................................................................................................
Word Study
By AprilRose Pilgrim
The word Redeem and varitaions of it, are used 141 times in the Bible.
Redeemed 62x
Redeem 55x
Redeemer 18x
Redeeming 3x
Redeemeth 2x
Redeemdst 1x
Definitions of the this word and it's varients are:
Avenger, deliver ( do, perform the part of a near, next) kinsfolk(- man) purchase, Ransom, redeem(- er), revenger.
Release, preserve, rescue.
to procure, by purchase, to own, to attain, get, possess (-or), recover.
Deliverance, redeem, redemption.
To buy up, to rescue form loss, to redeem, buy.
I also found these definitions:
Pit, den, as cut out. (Lev. 25:48
Teach to keep cattle
Provoke to jealousy
Break, rend ( in pieces), tear in pieces
From Websters Dictionary:
To buy back, Repurchase, to get or win back, to free from that which distresses or harms, as to free from captivity by payment of ransom, to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental, to release from blame or debt, Clear, to free from the consequences of sin, to change for the better, Reform, Repair, Restore, to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured thereby, to remove the obligation of by payment, to convert into something of value, to make good, Fulfill, to atone for, Expiate, to offset the bad effects of, to make worthwhile, Retrieve, See Rescue
If anyone would like to take over the Word Study, or has any interest in it, please let me know. There is a chance that I will be working in the near future and will be unable to continue the WS . Or if anyone has a suggestion, idea or comment please send it to me. missrosepetal84@yahoo.com God Bless!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
one liners
God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
He who angers you, controls you!
If God is your Co-pilot - swap seats!
Prayer: Don't give God instructions, just report for duty!
~submitted by April Pilgrim
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Point2Ponder
Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark...
One:Don't miss the boat.
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six: Build your future on high ground.
Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.
Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.
~submitted by April Pilgrim
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Selected Sayings
1. Consider that this day ne'er dawns again. --Dante
2. Sign on a high school bulletin board in Dallas:
Free every Monday through Friday:
Knowledge, bring your own containers.
3. I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I prefer to think of them as stray eyebrows. --Janette Barber
4. Learn to get along with your siblings. You'll never regret it.
Smiley
At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith.
"I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today."
He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he moved toward his seat. As he sat down a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: "I dare you to do it again."
Thanks to all of you who read and contributed to this issue! If you have anything that might be of interest to R4A, please email it to ready4anything_2003@yahoo.com. Right now I especially need more participation in the Verse of the Week section. And anything else you have, I'd love to see.
The website is at www.oocities.org/ready4anything_2003. If you have thoughts or comments on how it can be improved, let me know.
The R4A Volume 1 CD is now ready. It has the original first 26 issues and seperate sections for articles, poems, etc..They are $4.00 a piece, included shipping and handling. A handy, inspiring resource. Please make checks out to Jamie Scharf and mail to: 37953 Rio Vista Rd, Springville, CA 93265.
God bless your day, and have a great 2004!
Staff: Editor in Chief: Jesus Christ
Assistant editors: Jamie Scharf & April Pilgrim
Website Coodinator: Joshua Champagne
Columninst: April Pilgrim
Contributers: Jamie Scharf
April Pilgrim
Douglas Mast