saved from neuroticism…

dr. leslie weatherhead, probably the most preeminent psychiatrists of the last century, said this: “the forgiveness of GOD is the most powerful therapeutic idea in the world.  if a person can really believe that GOD has forgiven him he can be saved from neuroticism.”

all kinds of emotional problems in your life are caused because you don’t feel forgiven.  i don’t know what secret sin you’re holding inside.  even me just writing about it makes you a little bit nervous probably.  i don’t know what you’re carrying but i do know this.  it’s stupid to keep carrying it.  it’s foolish.  it’s dumb.  there is no reason for you to keep carrying guilt in your life when GOD has offered forgiveness through HIS SON.  free, total forgiveness.  GOD is waiting to forgive you no matter what you’ve done in your life. 

GOD forgives instantly, repeatedly and freely.

just a thought from the front porch…

waiting is sooo difficult…

there are many things in life that test our patience:  expressways, supermarket lines, doctor’s offices, irritating people.  we hate to wait.  we do not like to wait. 

have you noticed that the more expensive the restaurant the longer you wait? there are actually five different waits when you go to a restaurant.  you wait to get a seat, then you wait to get the menu, then you wait to order, then you wait to get the food back, then you wait for the bill.  and they have the audacity to call that guy the waiter!

we have been looking for a while here at the book of james in the nt and he has something to say on “patience.”  you and i need patience in every area of our life.

one question we could ask james is when should i be patient?  and that is a good question.  now james doesn’t say we have to be patient all the time but there are special times when you need that extra dose of patience and one of them is when circumstances are uncontrollable

have you figured out that a lot of life is beyond your control?  you cannot keep your thumb on everything.  james uses a farmer as an example of when circumstances are uncontrollable. 

james 5.7 (msg),  friends, wait patiently for the MASTER’s arrival. you see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. be patient like that…

don’t go into farming unless you’ve got patience.  part of the job description of being a farmer is you do a lot of waiting:  waiting to till, waiting to plant, waiting to harvest... there are a lot of factors in waiting.  yet more than the factors of waiting on things to do are the factors that the farmer has no control over – weather, rain, heat, the economy, labor practices.  as a farmer you deal with a lot of uncontrollable factors – circumstances – in life. 

have you noticed that even when we realize a situation is beyond our control, we still try to control it?  how do we do that?  by worrying.  we think that worry will control a situation.  to worry about something you can change is dumb, to worry about something you can’t change is useless.  either way you shouldn’t worry.  we need to have patience in uncontrollable circumstances.

just a thought from the front porch…

waiting and temptation…

GOD’s put HIS story into HIS word so you and i can face those times of life that all of us have to face.  what do i do? 

1.  you live the dream.  even on the way down, even when it doesn’t seem like it’s real, you live the dream even though you don’t see the dream. 

2.  resist the temptation.  waiting is filled with times of temptation.  temptations can really come when you’re waiting.  not when you’re working for the LORD and there’s a lot to do but it’s in those down times of life. 

one of the real dangers of any kind of waiting is temptation.  you’re a prime candidate because of the frustration, because of the doubt, because of the untapped time.  if you think you can’t be tempted or you think you’re past this thing of temptation look at this quote from an old clergyman: “sex, money and pride.  those are the three areas i think satan attacks GOD’s servants on.”  billy graham is not a model of integrity because he felt like he was beyond temptation.  he’s a model of integrity because he realized he could be tempted just like everybody else.  that’s one of the keys. 

JESUS was tempted.  HE never succumbed to temptation but HE was tempted.  what makes you and i think that we’re somehow beyond temptation?  forget that!  and when you’re tempted don’t let satan tell you, “because you’re tempted you should feel like you sinned anyway.  just the fact that you were tempted, why don’t you feel as dirty as if you’d sinned?”  when satan tells you that one just say, “that’s a lie!  JESUS was tempted and yet HE never sinned and because of the power of CHRIST in me i can make that choice too.” 

every one of us – you’re going to face temptation in your life as a believer.  satan’s going to send it your way.  when it comes don’t fall for the trap, “as long as i was tempted, i may as well sin anyway!”  that's a trap.  don’t fall for it.

just a thought from the front porch…

when we are waiting on GOD to act…

some of you’ve been praying about something and it hasn’t happened yet.  and it is easy to start to think that GOD has forgotten you.  but GOD has not forgotten you.  HE knows what you’re going through.  it is a delay by design.  GOD wants to build your character and HE wants you to learn to trust in HIM.  you can count on HIM for HIS help.  don’t fear and then don’t fret.

now fret means worry.  so don’t get worried.  don’t get uptight.  don’t complain.  we do that when we get into delays.  we worry, get uptight, get stressed out, start griping.  this was the second response of the israelites headed into the promise land. 

numbers 21.4-5 (tev), on the way the people lost their patience and spoke against GOD and moses.  they complained. 

this is typical of people, but this was the sin that kept them out of the promised land.  they just griped all the time, no matter what GOD had done for them – the ten plagues, the opening of the red sea.  they complained about the journey, the delay, the leadership, no water – then GOD provided them water.  then they complained about no food – and GOD provided them food.  then they complained about the food they got.  it’s so easy to gripe when we’re forced to wait.  we don’t mind waiting if we can complain about it. 

robert livine in a wonderful book called a geography of time, suggests the creation of a new unite of time called the honko-second – “the time between when the light changes and the person behind you honks the horn.”

but GOD says don’t fret, don’t worry, don’t get uptight about it. 

when we really grumble is when we’re waiting for GOD to act.  we get in a hurry.  proverbs 19.2 (tev), impatience will get you into trouble.  when we try to take matters into our own hands we get in trouble.  we try to help GOD out.  it’s frustrating to be in a hurry and GOD isn’t.  GOD is never in a hurry.  the bible says with HIM, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.  HE’s larger than time.  one of the most useless things to try to do is to speed up GOD. 

i read of an economist who read these words and got excited.

“LORD – is it true that a thousand years for us is just like a minute to YOU?”

            “yes.”

            “then a million dollars to us must be a penny to you.”

            “yes.”

            “LORD would you give me one of those pennies?”

            “all right.  wait a minute.”

just a thought from the front porch…