Daily Inspiration

Wiebe Quotes on Destiny's Wilderness

Do not forget that every man that has great destiny ahead has a wilderness to pass through.

Mary-Jane Akissin

From Trials to Triumph

The Voice of Christians’ Fellowship

April 2013

Wiebe Quotes: Tom Skinner on the Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit

I hasten to add that there is a distinction between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.  We need also to understand this as it pertains to the evangelist.

Quite often we become enamoured with gifted people.  And we often assume that because they are gifted, that they are also spiritual.  We say, “Wow, that sister can really sing. She’s a great woman of God!”  But the fact that she can sing does not make her a woman of God.  We say, “Boy, that brother can preach!”  He is not a man of God because he can preach.  The Bible says God gives gifts as he pleases.

For 28 years, I have been preaching the gospel on every continent.  I am gifted to preach.  But I recognize it is a gift from God.  It has nothing to do with me.  If you judge my spirituality by my preaching, I will snow you—because there is no relationship between my gift to preach and my spirituality.

If you want to find out whether I am a spiritual person, if you want to find out whether I am filled with the Spirit, you have to wait until I finish preaching and hang out with me.

The fullness of the Spirit is not a state of perfection; it is a state of surrender.  It is not a state of sinlessness; it is a state of abandonment to Jesus Christ—when a person simply says, “I renounce all rights to myself and I give Jesus the right to do with me whatever he pleases.”

-Tom Skinner

© 1989 BridgeBuilder.  This is an excerpt from an article originally featured in BridgeBuilder Magazine, published in Washington, DC.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Ps. 130:3

Wiebe Quotes on Creativity

A quotation from Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship written by Paul C. Vitz (copyright 1977)

CREATIVITY AND THE CREATOR (pg. 138, 139)

For the selfist, creativity is conceived as personal growth through self-expression, and hence as an achievement. It is the way the individual self gains value, very often in comparison to others. In a sense, wealth, intelligence, and integrity all take a back seat today to this truly middle-class value of "creativity". Most application forms for graduate and professional schools give prominence to it, and to be labeled creative has become the ultimate goal for millions.

For Christians the emphasis is very different. It is on developing one's abilities in the service of God and others, as shown in Christ's parable of the talents. C. S. Lewis describes the Christian's indifference or antipathy to preoccupation with creativity as follows:

"Nothing could be more foreign to the tone of scripture than the language of those who describe a saint as a 'moral genius' or a 'spiritual genius,' thus insinuating that his virtue or spirituality is 'creative' or 'original'. If I have read the New Testament aright, it leaves no room for 'creativeness' even in a modified or metaphorical sense. Our whole destiny seems to lie in the opposite direction,... in acquiring a fragrance that is not our own but borrowed, in becoming clean mirrors filled with the image of a face that is not ours." [C. S. Lewis "Christianity and Literature" in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967) pp.6-7.]

Therefore a Christian artist or writer should never strive for creativity per se but instead should try to embody some reflection of eternal beauty and wisdom. Lewis notes that the Christian approach to literature, for example, groups itself with certain existing theories of literature as against others. The Christian position...

"...would have affinities with the primitive or Homeric theory in which the poet is the mere pensioner of the Muse. It would have affinities with the Platonic doctrine of the transcendent Form partly imitable on earth.... It would be opposed to the theory of genius as, perhaps, generally understood; and above all it would be opposed to the idea that literature is self-expression." [Lewis, "Christianity and Literature," p.7.]

I Am Still............

(A thought provoking piece)

I was hungry and you formed a committee to discuss my hunger,
I was imprisoned and you crept off to your chapel to pray for my release,
I was naked and in your mind you debated my morality,
I was sick and you prayed God thanking him for your health,
I was homeless and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter found in the love of God,
I was lonely and you left me alone to go pray for me,
You seem so holy, so close to God…
But I am still… very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

-Author Unknown-

source: Wiebe Quotes who sourced it from Confidence Clinic, Haiti

What the Bible says in Mat. 25:35-40

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Time is Busy and the Days Seemed Shortened

Between moving, teaching school, and raising a family time seems to a commodity in great demand. I am also trying to finish the Haiti book though that has been more of a mental exercise. I may post here more again when time permits. I have 21 students and for the first year in an established school I have to really apply myself to keep things to the status quo. This coming week I get to have a workshop at a teacher meeting in Idaho so that also takes time and effort. Yet I had  the priviledge to sit with an elderly man for Sunday dinner that kept stressing the fact that we need to do more for the Lord. He eighty years old and kept telling us young men that we need to do more for God. And it is true ----because he has done so much for us. Life is a test and what grade will you settle for?

Wiebe Quotes on Exercising Christian Graces

Our focus should not be on our humility or how much love or mercy we can bestow, but rather in seeking the One who is the divine essence of mercy and love. By spending time with Jesus in prayer, meditation, and reading His Word, we become more like Him. By directing our love to Him, He fills us with His love. As we consider what He has done for us, our hearts abound with thankfulness. The secret of our strength is found on our knees, owning our utter need of Christ and His power. As we rise from devotion and communion with Him, we will find these graces become an expression of Christ in us.

Exercising Christian Graces

Lesson 9
July 28, 2013

Adult & Youth Sunday School Lessons

Wiebe Quotes Mother Teresa

 

"It is one thing to say I am a sinner, but let someone

else say that about me and then I feel it. I am up in arms. If I am falsely

accused I may suffer, whereas if correction be founded on even a small

reality, something in me having deserved it, then often it hurts more. We

must be happy that our faults are known as they are."

 

Mother Teresa

Wiebe Quotes on Time for Family

 

 

 

Very Thought Provoking:

 

If you don’t have enough time for your family, you can be 100% certain you are not following God’s will for your life.

 

Patrick M. Morley

 

 

Source: The Business Bulletin . July 2013

Wiebe Quotes Allen on Missionary Methods

“From what has already been said it is manifest that St. Paul did not go about as a missionary preacher merely to convert individuals: he went to establish churches from which the light might radiate throughout the whole country round. The secret of success in this work lies in beginning at the very beginning. It is the training of the first converts which sets the type for the future. If the first converts are taught to depend on the missionary, if all work, evangelistic, educational, social is concentrated in his hands, the infant community learns to rest passively upon the man from whom they receive their first insight into the gospel. Their faith having no sphere for its growth and development lies dormant. A tradition very rapidly grows up that nothing can be done without the authority and guidance of the missionary, the people wait for him to move, and, the longer they do so, the more incapable they become of any independent action. Thus the leader is confirmed in the habit of gathering all authority into his own hands, and of despising the powers of his people, until he makes their inactivity an excuse for denying their capacity. The fatal mistake has been made of teaching the converts to rely upon the wrong source of strength. Instead of seeking it in the working of the Holy Spirit in themselves, they seek it in the missionary. They put him in the place of Christ, they depend upon him.”
(Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?  page 81.  Roland Allen © 1962.)

Source:  Bob Goodnough - flatlanderfaith.wordpress.com

Wiebe Quotes on Which Side of the Peer Group You Stand

In December I attended the baptism of one of my good friends from a neighboring tribe.  I watched her sober face as she knelt and said her vows, and thought back to my own baptism day.  For me, it was a joyful day full of praise and thanksgiving.  I loved God with all my heart, and had only a dim realization of the magnitude of what I was promising.  I think the seriousness of her vows was far more real to my Kenyan friend.  For me, to put on a covering was to be one with my peer group.  For her, it meant to stand out from everyone in her peer group…

Kenya, East Africa

The Christian Mission Voice

May 2013

Quotes from Mother Teresa

Lately I have read a short biography on Mother Teresa. For some reason she has been a special icon in my mind, but mysteriously I have never really divelged into her life's history. The other day I bought two books of her quotes. I find her very inspiring. I especially find it touching how she started her program with nothing---just walking the streets helping needs as she saw them. Eventualy people seen she was motivated by love and others joined her fight to alleviate poverty as a labor of love. I believe by her death their was 800 missions that she was responsible for. Anyways you need to read that for yourself but Study some of these quotes and compare them with verses from the Love chapter 1 Corinthians 13. Then look at those around you and see how does all this apply to your everyday life.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” 

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” 

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” 

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” 

“Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.” 

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” 

“People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” 

“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.” 

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” 

Daily Sunday School Devotional Readings

Here is a Sample:

Lesson 6, O Wretched Man!

Today’s Quote: There is no man living who isn't capable of doing more
than he thinks he can do. Ford, Henry

July 6, 2012 Law and Spirit

Galatians 5:1-7

King James Version (KJV)

5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.2 Behold, I
Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
nothing.3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
he is a debtor to do the whole law.4 Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen
from grace.5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith.6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by
love.7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the
truth?

New International Version (NIV)

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and
do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark
my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,
Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every
man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the
whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been
alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through
the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we
hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself
through love. 7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to
keep you from obeying the truth?

If you would like to have an email address added to the list, have
suggestions or support please send them to
DailySundaySchoolReadings@gmail.com .

Ravenhill on Personal Accountability

Someone once said to that great scholar, Daniel Webster, “You have a colossal mind.  What is the greatest thought that you have ever had?” He said, “I’ve thought about many things, but the most awesome, the most terrifying, the most shattering thought I’ve ever had, is my personal accountability to God one day.”

Leonard Ravenhill

Judgment

Some of the Latest Thoughts

I have been very busy writing down testimonies of conversion and life stories that I gathered from my trip. What my trip taught me: 
 Wow, so much to do and the clock still clicks on. The answer to me is a total dependence on God. This last trip opened my eyes to the frailty of human effort. No intellect or personal ability amounts to much on the table of the Gospel, just a willingness to be nothing and have our eyes on Christ and his will for our lives. Prayer has also become so meaningful....


Phil 3:8
KJV
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 


NIV
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

How Many Hours Do You Have To Live?

Yesterday evening my son said “I want to stay awake a million hours”.

Think about a million.  In one sense, it’s a lot, on the other hand, it’s relatively a comprehendible number.  For instance, there are truckers that put on a million + miles in their career.

The numbers:

Almost no one lives a million hours.  A million hours is over 114 years.  Considering how fast an hour goes by, I was a little shocked.  Just think of the hours ticking away.  Most people probably only have about 700,000 – 750,000 hours total to use, and close to 1/3 of those will be spent sleeping.

Only about 880,000 hours have passed since the Titanic sank.

What are you and I doing with the few hours we have to use?

By Brian Dirks

Calculate your Hours at

http://www.mathcats.com/explore/age/calculator.html

Noah's Ark Fact's: On the Water

Just some notes to Ponder About Noah's Ark in the Water 

Noah's Family:


II Pet. 2:5 says 8 souls were saved
Noah and his wife, their 3 sons - Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.
Noah's wife's name is not given in the Bible but Jewish tradition uses the name "Naamah."


The Animals


 In Gen. 6:19 Noah is instructed to bring mated pairs of every kind of bird, every kind of animal, and every kind of creature that moves along the ground.


How Many Animals?


 In Gen. 7:2. He is more specifically instructed to bring seven mated pairs (14) of clean animals and seven pairs of all birds.

Only air-breathing animals needed to be included on the Ark
There are less than 18,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians living in the world today.
Double this to allow for extinct species.
This would gives us 36,000 species times 2, or 72,000 animals.
 Adding for the clean animals, we might say there were as many as 75,000 animals.
 most animals are smaller than a common house cat.
Some creationists believe there may have been far fewer animals if Noah only took on board pairs of "kinds" as the word is used in Genesis 1. God created these "kinds" with potential for rich genetic diversity.
Think This:  For instance, at the time of Christ there existed only two types of dogs. All the diversity we see in the modern breeds of dogs came from these two!


Feeding the Animals:

 Noah was instructed to include food for the animals (Gen. 6:21).  Naturally this would have been a big chore
Ever think of cleaning all the stalls?
It is suggested that perhaps many of the animals went into a hibernation mode or at least their metabolism slowed down considerably.
At this point I doubt that anyone on the boat doubted that God was in control of the situation or what do you think? 

The Most Important: The Meaning of the Ark to us Today

 The Ark of Noah is a rich picture of the salvation provided by Christ who today is our Ark of safety.

 Some of the points of comparison are:

1. God took the initiative in sparing Noah and his family. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

2. There was a divine and human side to the Ark as Christ is both human and divine.

3. There was only one door to enter into the Ark as there is only one way to God and that is through Christ Jesus. "I am the gate for the sheep..." Jn. 10:7. See also Acts 4:12.

4. There was great security for the passengers of the Ark. Likewise, if we are in Christ we are secure. See Rom.8:31

http://www.ldolphin.org/cisflood.html

The Poor You Shall Always Have With You: Help Me Lord with these Verses

Think about these verses and our Brethren abroad that have needs like in Haiti ,India etc. and here in NA for that matter. What thinkest thou???

 Det 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 


Pr 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and
that which he hath given will he pay him again.

James 2:15 +16 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily
food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and
filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are
needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow
of thee turn not thou away.

Tattoos are not for Christians Lev. 19:28

Leviticus 19:28
Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD. NIV


Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.  KJV


In the Bible it is taught that God made man in his own image. We are not to mar or mark our bodies. For God's people in the Bible times it was a separation from the idolatrous heathens who marked their own bodies. In the beginning God did mark Cain so that people would recognize the fact that they were not to kill him in vengeance for killing his brother, Abel. Even today tattoos often symbolize criminal connections to those that wear them. I have yet to see that tattoo that promotes the purity of its wearer.  In bathhouses and gyms in Japan they forbid full body tattoos to try to block gangs from using them.  Sailors in the 18th century that sailed to the Pacific brought back designs from the Polynesian Tribes reintroducing it to Christian influenced countries. Why would a born again Christian want to associate with symbols of criminality and heathenism? 


And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Eph. 5:11


     I had a Jewish neighbor that explained she had really ticked off her Jewish parents when she had received her tattoos. It was a action against the Torah and now she could not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. That conversation and the one I had with a fellow Christian about how his Dad stressed to his boys the importance of not writing even with a pen on their bodies; reinforced or come to mind when I read Leviticus 19:28. 


On a recent visit to the Alabama coast with my family, I was amazed at the number of tattoo parlors. Also  it seemed that you seen quite a few young people sporting tattoos in highly visible parts like their neck and face or upper chest. It made me sad to think that at some later date that such markings will later be  a source of embarrassment or bring about regret for a moment of frivolousness. As a child I did not grow up with this teaching and would have desired to be tattooed out of ignorance. The only reason I bring up this article of tattooing is to hopefully reinforce the thought that this should not be practiced or encouraged by Christians.

Modern Towers vs. the Tower of Babel: What's the Difference?

Now oil rich Azerbaijan wants to enter the world stage with building the world's tallest building. It is going to be located in a new Baku city in the Caspian Sea with manmade islands and 150 or so bridges to serve up to a million people.





Then there is the Burj Khalifa  [829.84 m 2,723 ft] is presently the world's tallest manmade structure in the world in Dubai,  United Arab Emirates. Officially opened Janurary 2010. It had a 1.5 billion price tag. Unfortunately for it''s financial backers it opened up during a recesion. According to Wikipedia ten months after grand opening, 825 out of 900 apartments in the tower were still empty.



Abraj Al-Bait Towers overlooks Mecca, Saudia Arabia at a height of 601 metres (1,972 feet). The large four faced clock is the largest in the world and can be read from 16 miles away. Loaded with LED lighting and speakers it is going to announce to the areas Islamic faithfuls when it is time for each of the five daily prayers. The biggest, tallest hotel it will be able to accomadate 100, 000 people for annual Hajj. Price tag: 15 billion.  Still under construction by Saudi BinLadin Group.


 
Taipei 101 in Taiwan has a 106 floors (five underground) to stand 509 m, 1,670 ft. Price tag 58 billion to achieve high technology standards  to withstand typhoon winds and earthquakes and to be the world's tallest "greenist" building.


So what is the difference with today's building ambitions and yesteryear's Tower of Babel. I am not faulting any of the above buildings or their founders as any guiltier than the other mammoth projects being constructed or that have been built. I just would like to know if it is a different motive than that for the building of Babel's Tower?  What was the message we are suppose to learn from that ancient story? Please leave comments if it strikes you to.

Here is the story from the Bible:
Genesis 11:1-9

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.