I belong to Wellspring Community Church where in my opinion we have the best pastor around, Michael Beale. I also get constant inspiration from WLBF 89.1 and Charles Stanley archives to help me face the daily battles we all face.
Intouch.org has a nice short quiz on How well do you know God? If you have time, check it out. Thank you for taking the time to read this and God bless!
Try out the online Bible and let me know what you think?
Praise God!
I experienced the most amazing thing today! I watched as God worked in the life of a child!
I was baby sitting for a few hours while my wife and two of her friends went to Church. I was late getting home from work, I changed clothes and sat at the computer to check my email. As I was about to finish reading the weekly letter from Church. Briana (who is nine) came and sat down beside me and asked what I was doing? She also asked me what was the verse for the day? I saw the verse at the bottom of the letter and she read it:
"He who observes the wind won't sow; and he who regards the clouds won't reap." Ecclesiastes 11:4
Now that is not an easy verse to explain to a nine year old much less myself :). While doing my best to not slaughter the verse I remembered the link at the bottom of the Daily Devotional I get from Charles Stanley. I clicked on Kid's Cornerand looked for some activities to do with Briana since she was so interested in what I was doing. After a few games I saw the link HOW TO BE GOD'S FRIEND.
What happens next makes my soul leap for joy.
Briana was reading the letter, ( I will paste it below ) when she got to verse John 3:16 she asked me how can you live forever? I asked her to look at my shirt. I explained; my shirt is on the outside of my body and it is only a shirt. My body holds my soul and when I die my soul will come out of my body which is like my shirt and go to Heaven and live forever because of Jesus.
She understood me.
When she got to the part about explaining what sin is, she read "Have you ever done something mean to your brother or sister?" she answered aloud "YES". She kept reading and as the letter explained Christ and Salvation she got to the part where you pray and as she was reading it, I noticed her voice change. She started to pause before the next word. She stared at the screen...She was absorbing the word! I was the child in that moment so I sat back and learned. About two thirds of the way through the prayer Briana said "my eye's are starting to water" and I watched a tear roll from her eye. Let me tell you, the power of the Holy Spirit was present and I still can't stop thinking about it! She finished the prayer said "Amen" and said "I did not know that".
When she read: "Congratulations! You are now a child of God! She lit up!
I asked if she understood what just happened and she was quick to tell me yes and why! Praise God!
She saw the link for feedback and this is what she wrote:
"I read and believed the prayer you wrote . It is a nice thing to say to god."
I was overwhelmed watching God enter the life of this Child! It is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. I pray that it will happen again!
Maybe you know a child that is ready to listen to the voice of God!
Here is the link: Youth Salvation.
When someone is ready to listen, will you be ready to share the Gospel of Christ? If your car has a flat tire, are you ready to change it or at least arrange for it to be changed? How much more important is eternity? Please learn to either share the Good News of Christ or have someone else help to share Christ. Here is a great place to start:
" What the Bible says"
I now have a personal goal to prepare for that time when someone is ready. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this!
Here is the letter Briana read:
KIDS |
| Everyone does things that God tells us are wrong. This is known as sin. God doesn't expect you to be perfect. He just wants you to accept His forgiveness, so He can be your friend. This is called salvation.
The way God forgives us is through Jesus. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus died on a cross and was buried for three days. But then something awesome happened. He rose from the grave and came back to life! He is now in heaven and wants you to accept Him. Telling Jesus You Need Him You can accept Jesus by telling Him you need salvation. Have you ever done or said or even thought something that you knew was wrong? Maybe you lied to your parents, said something mean to your brother or sister, or thought something that wasn't very nice about someone. This is all sin, and every person in the world has sinned. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." What It Means To Repent Jesus not only wants us to accept Him, but He also wants us to be sorry for our sins. He wants us to repent. To repent means to change or to turn from our old ways. Jesus wants you to act in new ways that are good and pleasing to God. (Luke 13:3) Unless we repent, we will always live away from God and not allowed to go to heaven and not able to live life to its fullest here on earth. (Romans 6:23) In order to turn from our ways, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the only way we can truly change. He wants us to ask Him into our lives. Just like you might ask a classmate if he or she will be your friend, Jesus wants us to ask Him to be our friend too. Inviting Jesus into Your Life If you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your life, all you have to do is ask Him through prayer. He wants to be your best friend. Here's a good way to ask Him: Dear Jesus, know that I have sinned, because I have done and said wrong things. I do not want to be apart from God because of my sin. I need You to take away my sin and forgive me. I believe that You died and rose from the grave for me because You love me so much. Thank You, Jesus, for forgiving my sin and coming into my life. Please help me to know You more every day. Help me live like You want me to live. Amen. Congratulations!
You are now a child of God! (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) God has made you brand new, and He has great things planned for you. Great News We have more great news for you! God's Holy Spirit now lives inside you and will be with you wherever you go, no matter what you do, for the rest of your life. If you accepted Jesus into your life, you have great news for us. Tell us about it. Please write to us at feedback@intouch.org. |
