Anything...and everything

"Do not be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6, 7 (NIV - emphasis mine)

With God, there does not seem to be any "half ways". Anything and everything are pretty much all inclusive words.

Today -- don't be worried about ANYTHING, but IN EVERYTHING, be confident that He is able. EVERYTHING, every situation, can be affected by prayer. How awesome is that??? God can either change the situation, or change our view of it. Either way, He is good and He is faithful.

So, sisters, NO WORRIES!

Love ya!
PR

Chief Editor

One of my main responsibilities here in Mada (other than wife, mother, & cook) is editing books for our printing department. Because the Malagasy language is unique to this land, we have to print most of our own materials. So, when new things are needing to be translated, I go through and prepare them for translation, and once they are translated, our printing staff inputs the text into the computer then I take it and edit it. It's work -- but I enjoy it. And nice that I can do the majority of it right here from home. We have a full time printing staff that does the rest of the work -- printing, assembling, and selling. All of our Bible School books, Sunday School books, songbooks, ladies books, and so on, are done this way. (Pictured here is Sis. Poitras and me standing behind one of our display cases.)

Everything We Need

It is easy for us to think that the temptations or difficulties we face in our world today are more intense that what Christians in the past have faced. I mean, the apostles did not have to worry about the internet. And my great-grandmother certainly did not have to feel pressured to be a size 0 and try to find clothes in the current styles that are modest and becoming to a godly lady. Parents did not have to worry about the billboards and advertisements that were bombarding their children's eyes and ears.

However, I have it on good authority that "there is NO TEMPTATION taken you but such as is common to man." True, the 'face' of the temptation may have changed. The packaging is brighter. But the temptation is the same. Isn't there another scripture that mentions the root of all sin: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? That has always been the root of all temptation.

We often talk about how much harder it is to raise children in this day and age. How much harder it is to keep young people saved and in the church. Older generations (of which I am swiftly becoming a part of) like to shake their heads over the "new fangled" music and the entertainment of this generation. But I wonder if any of that is new? Can you imagine what happened when the first church allowed a drum set on their platform? Or even a microphone? I'm sure there are things that my parents worried about when I was a teenager, that are the same basic worries that I now have about my soon-to-be-teenage daughter.

I guess what I'm trying to say is -- the devil is ALWAYS trying to worm his way into our lives and our churches. It is a constant struggle to live in this world, take advantage of the benefits of our generation and technology, and yet, not let the world take over us. In the world but not of the world.

So, here is a scripture I read this morning -- that sparked this whole thought process.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." II Peter 1:3, 4 (NIV)

Wow! He has given us everything we need. For life. For godliness. For escape from the corruption of the world.

So I guess there is no excuse. We can live a victorious life in 2008. His power is all we need. His Word is just as relevant today as it was in "the old days". His promises are great and precious -- and they are for ME!

Sniffle

It seems I have a cold/sinuses/allergies -- who knows?? Whatever it is, I don't like it. Just makes you want to crawl in bed and curl up under a blanket. Ah well...life goes on and this too shall pass. :)

Anyway, I have some thoughts to share, but better wait until I'm not contagious. Hehe

Have a blessed day in Jesus!

Madagascar's Children

Here are a couple of pictures I took of some children. It's so sweet to watch them entertaining themselves on the side of the road.

God Is Greater Than My Heart

A friend recently posted a blog about giants in our life (blog of Danan Benson). We all have things in our past that sometimes come back to "haunt" us. Decisions made, failures, mistakes...

This reminded me of a favorite portion of scripture. I heard Bro. Arnold preach this years ago and I have NEVER forgotten that sermon. When I find those giants trying to raise their ugly heads -- I quote this passage:

"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." I John 3:19, 20

God is greater than my heart! He is the one that can truly FORGIVE and FORGET! That is not a human trait. But it is a Jesus trait! We can set our hearts at rest in His presence.

So take that, giants!

Loyalty

Well, here is today's thought from my Bible Study:

Loyalty.

What does that word mean to you?

"...to be firm, established, steadfast, faithful, sure, reliable, fixed, certain, ready, prepared, determined."

In I Chronicles 29:18, David prayed: "O Lord, ...keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts LOYAL to you." (Emphasis mine)

In the definition given above (from the original Hebrew word), think about being "prepared". In this context, we could say that loyalty is not something we develop suddenly at the exact moment of testing. It is something we already are when the test arrives...and it surfaces.

As I've already said, the study I'm doing is on the book of Daniel. When you read of how the three Hebrews responded when faced with the king's anger upon hearing they had not bowed, this definition of LOYALTY comes to mind. They responded: "...we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter." They did not have to go have a prayer meeting, or consult with each other or Daniel, but they had already made up their mind to be loyal to their God.

Wow!

Now there's some food for thought!