Thank you again, and please feel free to send me copies of any of that could information. I read every word of it. It was great.
My pleasure!!
Hope this also helps you with your process of healing --------->
Quote:
Hello everyone!
We have more storms coming still, so I am going to try and get Friday's message out under a time crunch again. Let's open with the August 9th Purpose Driven Life devotion, which can be used as a prayer. Let's go to Father...
A Pure Heart By Jon Walker
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10 NIV)
Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...
- A heart that won't run with lust after physical pleasure, - A heart that obediently refuses what you've rightly and wisely fenced away as sin, - A heart of love that never insists on its own way (1 John 2:16).
Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...
- A heart that knows no greed when it looks upon worldly treasures, - A heart that thinks of others, and not itself, - A heart that argues for love instead of fairness.
Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...
- A heart that never boasts about what it has or what its done, - A heart that walks humbly, not trying to appear more important than it is, - A heart that takes no pride in the flesh.
Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...
- A heart that chases after you, - A heart that looks to you for its provision, - A heart that trusts that you are at work in others, - A heart that does not manipulate people or circumstances, - A heart that looks upon the things above and not the things below.
Heavenly Father, renew a steadfast spirit within me ...
- A spirit committed completely to you, - A spirit that is not double-minded, - A spirit that is focused, and single minded on your purposes, - A spirit resolved to know Christ and Christ alone.
Amen and amen!
Well, my friends, it has been a week of severe storms and all kinds of things going wrong! My power went off briefly on Thursday morning, and I was late for work by 2 hours (did not even wake up until after I should have been there! YIKES!).
Thank the Lord for PTO (paid time off)!! As my boss said to me, "Sure is a rotten way to start off the day." (She said it laughing, so you know.) And I said back, "Well, there is good news. The day can only go up from here." J
The storms have been something, as they just "pop up" due to daytime heating and atmospheric instability. It is a pattern called "The Ring of Fire," where thunderstorms break out over and over around a high pressure ridge. And the boundary line of that goes right over the Chicago area. So before I start hearing thunder, let's get right to the messages.
First of all, I want to share with you about my dear friends, Clint & Penny Bragg of Inverse Ministries. As you may remember, Clint & Penny have a restored marriage after 11 years of divorce, and BOTH of them were prodigals. They now have a ministry of reconciliation, and serve as "marriage missionaries."
I am going to be sending to the group their latest newsletter.
Please keep them in prayer as they are about to embark on a 40 day marriage mission trip. Details are in the newsletter of where they are traveling.
<<...>>
Because of the weather situation here, I'm just going to announce who is sending the item in. For each partner, know that your sharing is appreciated!
Our first partner sharing comes from Jamie in Alabama:
I received the following story via email months ago and it gave me great encouragement as I wait upon the Lord. Today, it appeared again, just at the right time!
Each time I read this story...I imagine my wife as the sick person (all prodigal spouses are sin sick) and myself, as the marine. Read on and you will get the blessing. Your choice, if you share with the group.
Jamie
A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night, the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.
Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."
The next time someone needs you .. just be there.
Stay.
WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
From Lou Ann in Tennessee:
The last hope4marriages encouragement contained such a supercalifragilisticexpialadocious prayer that I printed it off to keep. One addition: You wrote, "Praise You, Jesus, that I am a prisoner of hope (Zechariah 9:12), not a prisoner of my circumstances. "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee."
I identified with the "prisoner of hope" reference immediately, and it reminded me of another scripture from Hosea. The Lord said He would give them "the valley of Achor as a door of hope." The "valley of Achor" means the "valley of trouble." Thus, the valley of trouble that we are in right now becomes a door of hope for us. Just as the prayer and God's word points out, the Lord takes that which others mean for evil and turns it into good for us because He loves us! It has sometimes in the past been hard for me to thank God FOR and IN all things, but I can thank Him for my spouse's adultery and our subsequent divorce because the Lord will make this valley of trouble a door of hope for me. All this got me back close to the Lord's side, and I am eternally grateful to Him for that! Anyway, thank you so much for the wonderful prayer! I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank You most of all for that great prayer, Father, for it came straight from Your word. Praise the Lord!
Love, Lou Ann
From Kris in Texas:
*WHAT THE LORD IS SAYING TODAY - August 8, 2007 - "Taking A Stand"* Ras Robinson Aug 8, 2007
August 8, 2007. Taking a stand. You amaze Me. I look at you and see a person who knows My heart and can pray with My mind. Time after time, I have seen you sacrifice your time and resources for My Kingdom. Now I have a deeper assignment for you. Will you listen with your heart now? I believe you will receive this holy assignment. Few and very few are those who will stand in the gap for Me and rebuild the wall of righteousness so necessary to save your land. Otherwise, I must destroy what exists. Will you stand in the gap with every drop of your blood and every breath that you draw? I wonder. Taking a stand.
Ezekiel 22:30 NLT "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one."
From Joel in Mississippi:
Following is a couple of recent additions to my resource list. I have read these books in the last few weeks and thought that they were worth sharing with the group. I just cannot adequately describe the impact the Cloud and Townsend books have had on me. I really believe that they have insights that are very beneficial to those of us dealing with dead and struggling marriages. Joel.
Compelled to Control - Recovering Intimacy in Broken Relationships - J. Keith Miller
This book is written following the precepts of the 12-step recovery process developed by Alcoholics Anonymous.
Miller gives great insight into the ways that we seek to control our circumstances and relationships based on our childhood experiences. I found this to very precisely point out things that negatively impacted me and close relationships and how these have affected the outcomes. Part one deals with the compulsion to control which explores in depth just what it is that makes us seek to control others and what others know of us. Part two deals with healing the compulsion and learning to be intimate. I think this book is well worth reading and very good for each spouse to read.
Who's Pushing Your Buttons - Handling the Difficult People in Your Life - Dr. John Townsend
This book does something to help address troublesome relationships that others don't and that is to provide some very specific responses to the things that are negatively affecting the relationship. It recognizes that in order to help bring about change in your troublemakers life, you have to recognize the changes that need to be made in the way you deal with them.
He teaches that we must extend grace toward our difficult people and reminds us that we, ourselves are probably a button pusher for someone else. This book is very worthwhile even for those who are in relatively trouble free relationships. He gives great insight into how to move from the role of powerlessness to having a very positive influence on the direction of your relationships.
Well that is all for today, my friends. Remember to worship with the Lord's family this weekend, and be a blessing to all you meet, for you never know which prodigal you might be blessing.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Ruth Anne Wheeler Voxtrot Communications http://www.voxtrot.org Proud owner of the following lists: Ladies Fellowship, LF Newsletter, Bread of Life, Christian Drummer and swgCares at http://www.associate.com
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. ~ Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)
