The Ways Of God-h
The Ways Of God
The Seven Ages of Man
1. Spills
2. Drills
3. Thrills
4. Bills
5. Ills
6. Pills
7. Wills
GREAT REASONS TO BE A GUY!!
l. Phone...conversations are over in 30 seconds
2. You know stuff about tanks.
3. A five day vacation requires only one suitcase.
4. You can open all your own jars
5. You don't have to learn to spell a new last name
6. You can kill your own food
7. Wedding plans take care of themselves
8. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough
9. You don't have to clean your apartment just because the meter reader is coming
10. Car mechanics tell you the truth
11. Gray hair and wrinkles only add character
12. If another guy shows up at a party in the same outfit, you just might become lifelong friends
13. Your pals can be trusted never to trap you with. "so, notice anything different?"
14. You are not expected to know the name of more than five colours
15. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt
16. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes
17. The same hairstyle last for years, maybe decades
18. One wallet and one pair of shoes, one colour, all seasons
19. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife
20. Christmas shopping can be accomplished for 25 relatives, on December 24th in 45 minutes
God’s ways are vastly different from our own.
He writes in characters too grand
For our short sight to understand;
We catch but broken strokes, and try
To fathom all the mystery
Of withered hopes, of death, of life,
The endless war, the useless strife --
But there, with larger, clearer sight,
We shall see this -- His way was right.
q A Purposeful Habit
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting". Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
To know the ways of God there needs to be the private and corporate practice of meeting with God
Some 70 percent of Americans believe that "most churches and synagogues today are not effective in helping people find meaning in life, "George H. Gallup Jr., America's leading pollster and a committed Christian, reports in the recently published 1992 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.
Gallup believes the vitality of churches, synagogues, and faith communities depends very much on how effectively they respond to six spiritual needs of Americans as he perceives them from his surveys.
They are listed as:
1. The need to believe that life is meaningful and has a purpose.
2. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships.
3. The need to be appreciated and respected.
4. To be listened to and heard.
5. To feel that he is growing in the faith.
6. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith.
-- Pulpit Helps, March 1994, p. 15.
See: Rom 12:1-21; Eph 4:11-16
The tremendous power of mass-suggestion, which we call the world, can only be confronted, and its victims cured, if they are received into a body which is filled with a vivid, vigorous, and conscious community life of the Spirit. Individuals are powerless to cope with a power so subtle and all-pervasive as this mass-suggestion is. If we are to save and rescue sinners, there must grow up in our Church a Spirit of Love and Brotherhood, a Christian community-life,
transcending class and national distinctions, as pungent, as powerful, as impossible to escape as the Spirit of the world. No Apostolic Succession, no Ecclesiastical correctness, no rigidity of orthodox doctrine, can be themselves and in themselves give us this; it comes, and can only come, from a clearer vision of the Christ, a more complete surrender to His call and to the bearing of His Cross.
... G. A. Studdert Kennedy, The Wicket Gate [1923]
On yonder hill I see a tree
Standing there majestically,
Looking down with great concern
At fellow tree and bush and fern.
Like some great preacher, straight and tall,
Seeking some reaction to the altar call
And wondering if the audience had truly heard
As he had faithfully expounded God's holy word.
And looking out o'er this mottled throng
Some young, some old, some weak, or strong,
Perhaps he wonders if they, like mortals,
Will turn their backs on heaven's portals.
And then with a touch of consternation
He sees them as a human congregation,
Those with blossom's beautiful are the ladies fair,
The wild cherry tree and the sugar pear.
The elegant elm and the stately pine
Are the men of means, with dress so fine,
The spruce and fir with dress quite crass
Are the members of the working class.
The great white oak and the silver white birth
Are the pillars and saints of this glorious church,
The poison ivy bush, in this woodland skit,
Could take the role of the hypocrite.
This thought shatters his reverie and peace of mind,
For there are hypocrites only, among mankind,
So he calls for a song from his forest choir
Of poplars and willows, in their grandest attire.
The music is provided by the birds and the bees
And the singing is the sound of the wind in the trees
Their voices are raised in a song full of praise
To Almighty God and his wonderful ways.
And they also give thanks to a God kind and good
That they're not flesh and blood, but instead made of wood,
Not driven by envy or greed or hate,
Standing together, yet alone, each awaiting his fate.
There's a lesson to be learned from this poem and verse,
Cast your eyes up to heaven ere you blasphemer curse
Ask God to forgive you, be humble, bend your knees
Sing your praises to Him with the wind in the trees.
Set your course ever upward, keep your eye on the trail,
Don't pretend to be something if you cannot prevail,
Let God be your guide, let Him show you the way
And on that Great Judgement Morning He will smile and say;
"WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT"
Clifton Ingersoll
q A Personal Encounter
11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
God’s intimate words to us will produce the change that we desire. A desire for personal intimacy with God should characterize the lives of His children. After all, He already knows us intimately. The words here were face to face, friend to friend. We do not compromise His holiness, His majesty, His sovereignty when we speak to God as we would speak to our friend
Give God time.Prayer is like the time exposure of the soul to God, in which process the image of God is formed on the soul. In our ignorance, we try to practice instantaneous photography. One minute for prayer will give us a vision of the image of God, and we think that is enough. Our pictures are poor because our negative is weak. We do not give God long enough at a sitting to get a good likeness.
Wait. "God's acquaintance is not made hurriedly," wrote E. M. Bounds. "He does not bestow His gifts on the causal or hasty comer and goer." Spend time with God.
From Prayer Power Unlimited: Achieving Intimacy With God Through Prayer by J. Oswald Sanders.
It is one of the greatest comforts in the world to realize that God knows you intimately. He is concerned for your anxious thoughts and He desires for your heart to be set at peace.
GOD KNOWS
When you are tired and discouraged from fruitless efforts
. . .God knows how hard you have tried.
When you've cried so long and your heart is in anguish. . .
God has counted your tears.
If you feel that your life is on hold and time has passed you
by. . .God is waiting with you.
When you're lonely and your friends are too busy even for a
phone call. . .God is by your side.
When you think you've tried everything and don't know
where to turn. . .God has a solution.
When nothing makes sense and you are confused or
frustrated. . .God has the answer.
If suddenly your outlook is brighter and you find traces of
hope. . .God has whispered to you.
When things are going well and you have much to be
thankful for. . .God has blessed you.
When something joyful happens and you are filled with
awe. . .God has smiled upon you.
When you have a purpose to fulfill and a dream to
follow. . .God has opened your eyes and called you
by name.
Remember that wherever you are or whatever you are
facing . . .GOD KNOWS.
By: Kelly D. Caron
People either know Him intimately or casually. To know Him casually is an uncomfortable relationship. Like being in an elevator all day with someone that you don’t know or don’t even know if you want to know.
We can spend our lives as strangers to God and then expect to live with him forever. Depart from me – I never knew you.
q A Prayer of Humility
13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.
We must become students of God if we are to understand His Ways. I think that there are few qualities more desirable than to have a teachable spirit. Pride can kick in at times even without our knowledge. (Ill. - Runners coffee – self diagnosis)
F. B. Meyer once said: "I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other; and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower; that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts."
Watchman Nee writes:
Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he is. The more desire to save ourselves, in that very thing we become spiritually useless. Whenever we preserve and excuse ourselves, at that point we are deprived of spiritual sensitivity an supply. Let no one imagine he can be effective and disregard this basic principle.
q A Proclamation of Spiritual Reality
16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
It is the identifiable Presence of God alone that sets us apart from others. It is not our beliefs that distinguish us from others or even our practices. It will be God’s presence at work in the place, the undeniable, clearly identifiable Presence of God that will set His church apart from other social organizations.
