What Christian Parents Need to Know About New Age and Occult Beliefs

http://christianmomthoughts.com/what-christian-parents-need-to-know-about-new-age-and-occult-beliefs/
May 5, 2014 By Natasha Crain - 24 Comments




Today I’m excited to share an interview with Marcia Montenegro!

Marcia was involved for many years in Eastern and New Age beliefs, and was a licensed professional astrologer. She became a Christian in 1990 and today has a ministry called Christian Answers for the New Age. Her ministry exists to 1) educate Christians about the New Age and occult so they can be more discerning and equipped to witness, and 2) reach people in the New Age and the occult with the love and truth of the Gospel. Marcia has a Masters in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary and is a missionary with Fellowship International Mission. She has spoken in 30 states, is a frequent radio guest, and has published articles in several Christian publications. She is the mother of an adult son, and is the author of SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today’s Kids.

I had the opportunity to ask Marcia several questions on what Christian parents need to know about New Age and occult beliefs. This is an area I personally knew very little about before doing this interview. I learned a lot, and I know you will too! As Marcia explains, your kids are probably exposed to these beliefs more than you realize.



1. Marcia, can you start by telling us a little about your own journey from being a professional astrologer to becoming a Christian?

I was deeply involved in the New Age and followed Eastern spiritual teachings (Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist) for many years. I also practiced and taught astrology. I was very hostile to what I viewed as narrow-minded Christianity. In the year I ended my term as President of the Astrological Society in Atlanta, I suddenly experienced a compulsion to go to church. This led me to attend a (very open-minded) church several months later, where I amazingly experienced the feeling of God’s love pouring down on me (from a personal God I didn’t even believe in!). I then gave up astrology. I eventually encountered and began trusting in Jesus while reading the Gospel of Matthew. All of this took place over just 8 or 9 months!



2. Can you help parents understand exactly what “New Age” means, and why New Age ideas are so appealing to young people?

The term “New Age” covers a broad ground and can be difficult to define. The New Age itself doesn’t even use the term “New Age!” The more popular term is “spirituality” – someone forming their own spiritual path. That type of path is usually New Age or partly New Age.

But here is how I define New Age: It is a network of beliefs whose roots areGnostic, Eastern, and New Thought.

The Gnostic part values spiritual above the material/physical; the material is merely a manifestation of the spiritual, so everything is spiritual. In New Age views, the body is a manifestation of the spiritual state.

The Eastern beliefs of Taoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism contribute several ideas to the New Age: principles of reincarnation, an impersonal source that we all come from and go back to, the view that this world is not ultimately real, the claim that there are no absolutes (all spirituality is subjective), and the need for Eastern-based meditation to achieve spiritual understanding or awakening.

Finally, the New Age draws heavily from New Thought, which includes the belief that Jesus came to correct wrong thinking and model how to achieve Christ Consciousness, the awareness of our innate divinity. New Thought also teaches that one’s thoughts and words can bring one’s desires into reality via certain techniques. The bestselling book, The Secret, is a classic example of New Thought. New Thought claims to be Christian and often sounds like it. It is very deceptive.

You can find people in the New Age anywhere along this spectrum from Gnostic to Eastern to New Thought, as well as many who combine these beliefs. Additionally, the New Age adopts some occult views and practices (see my response to the next question.)

The New Age can appeal to young people for several reasons. One is because it is very different from the Judeo-Christian worldview, which makes it intriguing. Another is that it seems to offer ancient wisdom, since Eastern and pagan beliefs were established before Christianity. Some areas of the New Age emphasize the power or divinity of the female, and draw women in that way.

One of the chief appeals is that the New Age is experiential in nature, so what a person experiences and feels is highly valued over objective truth. This allows you to have a customized spirituality, which is especially appealing to young people.



3. Could you also define the occult and explain how occult ideas relate to New Age ideas?

The occult is a set of practices based on Deuteronomy 18:10-12, where God lists and denounces all of them. They are divination (often called fortunetelling),spirit contact, and sorcery.

Divination is the practice of gaining information by reading hidden meanings in nature or patterns (for example, astrology, tarot cards, numerology or palm reading) or via supernatural means (for example, psychic powers).

Spirit contact is seeking information or guidance from disembodied beings, who are believed to be ghosts (dead people), aliens, ascended masters, angels or deities from non-Christian religions.

Sorcery (today usually called ritual or ceremonial magic) involves using the will to bring about a desired end through incantations, rituals, magical tools, contact with spirit beings, and/or the manipulation of powers or energies.

Although many New Agers use occult practices or consult those in the occult, the New Age and occult worldviews differ. The New Age is transcendent and future-oriented; the person is always seen as evolving toward a goal, learning lessons, and eventually being liberated from this life and reality.

The occult is more here-and-now oriented, is more pragmatic in nature, and focuses on the practical use of one’s energy and/or nature’s energy to manifest happiness and results.

As a general disclaimer, New Agers and occultists disagree amongst themselves on their beliefs, and certainly some would likely disagree with my descriptions as well.



4. In your experience, what are the dangers of kids getting interested in these ideas?

My two main concerns are desensitization and glamorization. I believe that the massive amounts of books, TV shows, and movies that promote occultism and heroes/heroines who have occult powers have desensitized the culture as a whole. No longer is it seen as a bad thing for a child to pretend to cast spells, for example; now that is viewed almost endearingly. It is easy to become desensitized to the fact that these activities are evil.

Ultimately, being desensitized can lead to acceptance of New Age or occult beliefs, which in turn can lead to disinterest in or rejection of what God has to say about false beliefs. That acceptance can lead to active participation in New Age or occult practices.



5. Most parents probably aren’t aware of how New Age or occult ideas might touch their kids. Can you give us examples of where kids might encounter New Age or occult ideas in popular culture today?

One of the most popular ways is the Ouija Board, made by Parker Brothers and sold in toy stores. It was originally designed by a Spiritualist as a tool for contacting the dead. The dead cannot respond to us, but fallen angels can and do. They don’t care if you are using the Board as a game. A well-known series of books, the Seth series, came about from the author’s initial contact with an entity calling itself Seth via the Ouija Board. Seth eventually began to speak directly through the author, Jane Roberts, while she was in a deep trance state, and these messages formed the book series (the first one influenced me deeply as a New Ager). There are other cases of people who channeled teachings after using a Ouija Board. It’s not simply a game.

Probably the biggest purveyor of occult concepts is the media: television, video games, and movies which emphasize stories where the hero or heroine wields supernatural powers. Some of these abilities are harmless fantasy (e.g., X-ray vision), while others involve casting spells, using psychic powers, or even contacting spirits. It is common for books and movies to mix fantasy with the occult, further confusing the problem.

Parents often want a list of media to avoid, but it is impossible to maintain such a list. Ideally, parents need to understand Deuteronomy 18:10-12 so they can recognize occult ideas and teach their children to be discerning.

I offer parents a resource for this in my book, SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today’s Kids (2006), which is now on Kindle and is an e-book on sites such as Barnes & Noble and Christianbook.com. This is a guide for parents (and others) that offers suggestions on how to talk to children about these areas and how to answer objections.



6. What do you feel is the best way to handle New Age/occult exposure with your kids? What should parents say?

My concern is not so much that a TV program or book contains New Age/occult ideas as it is that a program or book glamorizes or promotes them.

A lot depends on the age and maturity of the child. I would say that kids under age 12 should have no exposure to books or media that promote occult ideas, no matter how mildly. At this age, children don’t yet have critical thinking skills and they emotionally identify with the heroes.

For early teens, be very selective and discuss any questionable material that pops up. I would completely avoid books or programs that have a focus on occult themes or have heroes who blatantly practice occultism.

For older teens, there is less control, of course, but if you discover they are reading or have watched something that promotes occult or New Age ideas, have a discussion with them. Ask them what they think of it, show them Scripture, and help them understand it is a fallen world that is under the sway of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Evil things will be accepted and even admired by the world, but that doesn’t make them harmless.

In my book for parents on the occult, I give suggestions at the end of each chapter on how to talk to your children about that chapter’s particular topic.



7. If there are parents reading this whose kids are already involved somehow in New Age/occult ideas, what resources do you recommend to help them?

I have articles on the occult on my website atwww.christiananswersforthenewage.org. Also, aside from my book, there is Jeff Harshbarger’s From Darkness to Light: How to Rescue Someone You Love From the Occult.

For older teens and parents, a resource explaining biblical miracles versus occult paranormal activities is Norman Geisler’s book, Signs and Wonders: Healings, Miracles, and Unusual Events: Which Are Real? Which Are Supernormal? Which Are Counterfeit?

If your child is getting interested or involved in the occult, it is imperative to have a talk with him or her. Don’t postpone it or hope it goes away. At the same time, don’t show fear of it. Ask questions, use Scripture to show why these areas should be avoided, and make it clear you will not allow occult materials in the home. Be low-key about it, but firm. It is your home and your responsibility to guide your child in the wisdom of the Lord.

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Pointers on Prayer

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/pointers-prayer/
By M. Fontaine

Audio length: 8:54
Download Audio (7.1MB)

Going slow and taking time to hear from the Lord

I’ve found that when I try to take things a bit more slowly, I don’t seem to need as long periods of rest because I’m taking it a little easier as I go. That’s a lot easier on you than if you just push, push, push, and then finally wear out. I think it’s much better if you can try to pace yourself as much as possible. If we go a bit slower, we can also take the time to be more prayerful.

So often when I stop and think and pray and reflect on things, the Lord brings very important things to my mind. Or He reminds me of important things that I had forgotten or would have forgotten, or He gives me good ideas during those times. And when He does, I realize that if I hadn’t stopped and hadn’t had that time, I would have missed that.

Whenever I’m reminded of that, I see the importance of taking time to stop and pray and think about things, to sort of tune in to the Lord, meditating and putting everything else out of my mind, and asking Him to bring whatever He wants to my remembrance. Often He brings very important things to my remembrance that I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t stopped.

We need those times of talking to the Lord and freeing our minds of anything else, and asking Him, “Is there anything You want to remind us of, or any ideas or things we should pay attention to?” We can’t expect to get very many answers from the Lord unless we actually take time to stop and listen to Him.

With the multitude of decisions that we each have to make, we really need to seek the Lord for His guidance. There is just no way that we can make Spirit-led decisions without taking time with the Lord. And the more major the decisions are, the more time we usually have to spend with Him.

It takes time to think and pray about problems, to think about a situation in the stillness and quiet while we are alone, letting the Lord speak to us about it and guide our thoughts. The Lord could have made things so we could just come before Him with a list of our questions that need answering, and just rattle them off one by one, and receive answers one by one in a flash of revelation. But He has not made it that way since He wants us to think things out as He guides us.

He says, “Come, let us reason together.”1 He likes to guide our thoughts as we meditate and pray, as well as in our deliberations and our counseling with others.


Prayerful and careful

A little lesson I have learned and relearned is that it doesn’t matter too much if we’re prayerful if we’re not careful as well. We can pray all we want and expect God to do His part, but if we don’t do our part, then He can’t fulfill His.

There was a situation that happened just recently in which I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, even though I had prayed. When I saw that things didn’t turn out as I had hoped, I said to the Lord, “But Lord, I prayed! How could You let this happen?” And immediately I got the answer: “Prayerfulness without carefulness won’t work.” You can’t expect the Lord to do everything for you. You need to do your part, cooperate, and do everything you can do.

Of course, this is a lesson that I already knew, but it was good to be reminded of it. And, on the other side, we can be very careful and try to do our best, but without prayer, the same thing may happen. We may be totally unsuccessful in our efforts because the Lord wants to teach us that without Him we can do nothing. We need to be both prayerfuland careful.


Let the Lord work first

When I’m faced with a problem or problems—as most of us very often are—I’ve been too prone to have as a first reaction, “Lord, what can I do about this situation? What’s the answer? What can I do to alleviate the situation or help to solve it?” But my very first reaction should be to ask the Lord to work in the situation first and do what only He can do.

Of course, often the Lord does want us to do something right away, but at the same time, we should be very conscious of our need for His help, and we should be saying, “Lord, please work in this situation.” And then pray, “Lord, please help me to do my part.”

Too often I right away pray and ask the Lord what I can do, what solution should Iput into effect. Whereas there’s a lot the Lord can do by His Spirit first, or at least do simultaneously with what He shows me to do.

When you can’t do anything but pray, it’s often easier to really commit things to prayer. But when you have the authority or power to do something about a situation, it often seems easier and quicker to try to sort it out yourself.

By involving ourselves immediately in a problem situation and doing what we can to solve things and “right the wrongs,” and fit all the pieces together, we may be usurping the Lord’s power and interfering with what He wants to do. This is the attitude that I unconsciously had, and the Lord showed me that while I may have the authority to do something about a situation, that isn’t always His highest will. The first and foremost thing we should do is ask Him to supernaturally work in the situation and change it according to His will. And then He can use us in the way that He wishes in the situation.

The Lord reminded me, “Wouldn’t it be better if you would first pray for Me to work in the situation? For Me to change the situation, to change hearts and attitudes, to supernaturally do something about it before you go in there doing things in the arm of the flesh?”

Too often we run ahead of the Lord, not giving Him time to work. We usurp His place and interfere with what He would like to do, interventions and miracles that He would like to be given all the glory and the credit for. Too often, we get in there and try to do things in our own strength without desperately asking Him, by His Holy Spirit, to do the work, and without realizing that our solutions aren’t going to do much good anyway if the Lord, by His Spirit, doesn’t work in people’s hearts.

It often seems easier for us to be busy and trying to decide what we should do about a situation than it is for us to be desperately praying and asking the Lord to work. It gives us a feeling of usefulness and we feel like we’re really doing the job because we’re coming up with answers and solutions.

Our first and primary prayer should be for the Lord to work in situations and people’s hearts and lives. After we’ve “committed our ways to the Lord,” and “cast our burdens on Him,”2 then we can trust that He will guide us in whatever role He may have for us.

There is a time to wait and there is a time for quick action, and we need the Lord’s wisdom to discern what is needed. We often find that when we commit situations to the Lord and pray for Him to change things and we give Him time to work, He works in the situation and He will clearly show us what we can do, as well.

Originally published March 1990. Adapted and republished September 2014.
Read by Debra Lee.



1 Isaiah 1:18 KJV.


2 Psalm 37:5; 55:22.

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Christianity + Submissive Wives = Domestic Violence?

http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/georgia-purdom/2014/09/11/christianity-submissive-wives-domestic-violence-2/?

Dra. Georgia Purdom

Although this equation might seem strange to most of my readers, it was an equation being promoted in an article in the Washington Post titled “Five Christian Theologies Scarier than Halloween.” The author, Susan Brooks Thistlewaite, professor of theology and former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, stated the following:

Theologies that emphasize a hierarchy in creation, i.e. that women were created second and Eve is to blame for the sin that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden, are scary to me because they are literally responsible for a lot of violence against women.

“Submission” is a scary theology that justifies abuse in the name of Christian obedience by women.

Wow, where to start!? First of all, we know from Genesis that Adam was created first from the dust of the ground, and Eve was created second from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:7, 21–22). This in no way implies that Eve was inferior to Adam because she was created second. Genesis 1:26–27 is clear that both man and woman were created in God’s image and they both have equal value and thus equal standing before God (Galatians 3:28). Instead, the created order relates to a difference in roles. We know this from Genesis 2, and it is confirmed in other Scriptures (e.g., Ephesians 5:25–33) that the husband is to be the leader and the wife the helper. Likewise, members of the Trinity are all equally God but have different roles, including submission of the Son to the Father (Philippians 2:5–8). For a more in-depth look at the topic of Genesis and submission, I encourage you to read my article, “Genesis, Wifely Submission and Modern Wives.”

While it is popular for people to say things like, “We wouldn’t be in this mess [referring to the cursed world] if weren’t for a woman [referring to Eve],” it is biblically incorrect. Multiple passages including1 Corinthians 15:22 and Romans 5:12 make it clear that Adam’s sin is to blame for the suffering and death in this world. While Eve did disobey God, Adam as the leader of his family, the federal head of creation, and mankind’s representative is the one held accountable for the entrance of sin and death into this world.

The result of living in a sin-cursed world is that sometimes husbands abuse their role as leaders and commit violence against their wives. But that is certainly not the type of leadership that Paul calls husbands to in Ephesians 5:25, where he wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” God wants a husband to love his wife sacrificially, even to the point of giving his life in exchange for hers. Domestic violence is not the outcome of the biblically described leader husband and submissive wife, but rather a sinful distortion of the leader role within a marital relationship.

This Washington Post article was a great reminder to me of why it is so important for women (and men) to know what the Bible says—and does not say—and be equipped to defend the Bible’s truth. The theme for next year’s Answers for Women conference is Embrace: Compassionate Answers in a Fallen World. What do you say when a friend confesses to adultery? When your sister tells you she’s a lesbian? When a niece aborts her unborn child? When a coworker’s baby is born with a debilitating disability? We certainly live in a fallen world, and we all know someone who has experienced the effects of this sin-cursed world . . . someone who is hurting.

At the 2015 Answers for Women conference, we’ll hear from women who have walked these paths themselves and have found the help they need comes only through the Jesus Christ and His Word. Join us as they share compassionate answers from God’s Word that give us practical ways we can embrace those who are hurting. The solid biblical teaching will nourish your mind and heart and equip you to be a loving witness for Jesus Christ.

We have several returning speakers, including Joy Fagan and Stacia McKeever, and several new speakers, including speaker and author Rosaria Butterfield, Camille Cates, and Rose Colón. These women are passionate about equipping and encouraging women in the truth of God’s Word. I will also be giving a presentation about answering life’s toughest questions about God and suffering. Check out the Answers for Women website for all the conference topics.

Registration is now open! As in past years, attendees and their spouses and children (under 18) will have free admission to the Creation Museum. Make the conference a trip for the entire family!

Husbands, Christmas is coming and I know shopping is not always fun, so let me make it easy for you. Buy your wife registration for the 2015 Answers for Women conference. She will be blessed, and so will your family.

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!

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Sacrifício e Serviço a Deus

http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/sacrificio-e-servico-deus/
Uma compilação

Ultimamente tenho estudado a vida de grandes homens e mulheres de Deus de antigamente. Muitos fizeram sacrifícios imensos, porque eram necessários para realizarem o trabalho na ocasião e no lugar onde viviam, ou porque foi o Senhor que lhes pediu. O Senhor às vezes exige sacrifícios dos Seus seguidores atuais, coisas difíceis que nos custam muito. Mas, em muitos casos, os sacrifícios que fazemos são diferentes dos de outras épocas. Quando o Senhor nos pede algo que é um sacrifício, isso faz parte da vida de dedicação a Ele.

O mesmo princípio se aplica à maneira como muitos missionários de antigamente, os primeiros a levar o cristianismo para outros países, batalharam com graves problemas de saúde e dificuldades físicas. Esses homens e mulheres de Deus merecem a nossa admiração por terem obedecido e seguido o Senhor sem contar os custos.

Graças a Deus a nossa vida de serviço ao Senhor não envolve apenas sacrifício. E a maior parte do tempo a nossa situação não é tão ruim assim. Temos bastante trabalho, dificuldades e obstáculos, mas se tivermos a atitude certa em relação a isso, vamos conseguir ver que também temos muitas bênçãos e benefícios.—Peter Amsterdam

*

Muitas vezes, Deus nos leva a certo lugar porque Seus caminhos são mais altos do que podemos imaginar. Ele age continuamente no mundo, e temos o privilégio de desempenhar um papel, mas sempre no contexto da visão geral.

A Bíblia conta com muitos personagens importantes, no entanto pessoas simples que fizeram proezas porque conheciam o seu Deus. Ele tem planos para nossas vidas, e quando alinhamos nosso coração e pensamentos com Ele, Deus vai nos usar de maneiras extraordinárias. Ser sensível e obediente ao que Deus planeja vai nos garantir a Sua orientação pessoal. Talvez nunca cheguemos a ver a sequência de acontecimentos realizada por Deus para nos colocar em um lugar em certo momento para fazermos algo muito maior do que imaginamos. Pode ser que uma vida será salva, um abrigo será construído, uma tragédia será evitada, tudo porque Deus estava dirigindo nossos passos.

Apesar de não conhecermos o resultado final, ou só o vermos em retrospectiva, os planos de Deus para nossas vidas estão intimamente conectados aos Seus planos para o mundo. Precisamos olhar além do corriqueiro, para o magnífico, e vermos o desígnio de Deus.—Charles Price

*

Jamais faremos deste mundo um lugar perfeito. Isso só acontecerá quando Cristo regressar na Sua glória. Mas Deus nos pede para fazermos do mundo um lugar melhor, nos esforçando ao máximo para aliviar o sofrimento humano e combater a injustiça social. Os cristãos, mais do que quaisquer outras pessoas, deveriam se condoer dos persistentes problemas que atormentam o ser humano, como, por exemplo, a pobreza, doenças, ignorância, fome, danos ambientais, racismo, violência, e guerra. Deus talvez peça para você enfrentar esses problemas como pessoa ou coletivamente em uma escala muito maior. No mínimo, apoie em oração ou financeiramente, os que trabalham em nome de Cristo no sentido de mitigar esses problemas. É uma maneira de demonstrar a compaixão de Cristo e também abrir a porta para o Evangelho. Jesus disse: “E se alguém der mesmo que seja apenas um copo de água fria a um destes pequeninos, porque ele é meu discípulo, eu lhes asseguro que não perderá a sua recompensa.”[1]

… Simplesmente viver uma vida boa não basta. As pessoas também precisam entender o que é o Evangelho, e só entenderão se alguém lhes explicar. O Evangelho tem conteúdo, e deve ser transmitido de maneira que as pessoas possam entender. Paulo perguntou: “Como, pois, invocarão aquele em quem não creram? E como crerão naquele de quem não ouviram falar? E como ouvirão, se não houver quem pregue?”[2] Pregar não se limita a um discurso ou sermão. Paulo está falando de anunciar, comunicar uma mensagem, que é o que acontece sempre que compartilhamos Cristo com alguém, quer na igreja, quer tomando um cafezinho, quer em um hospital ou alojamento no acampamento de verão, ou até durante um voo.—Billy Graham[3]

*

Em certas ocasiões é preciso fazer sacrifícios e passar por sofrimentos. Mas não temos que causar esse tipo de situação deliberadamente só para ganharmos mérito. Se o fazemos é porque acontece, e com a permissão do Senhor, não porque pedimos, queremos, ou achamos que vamos nos tornar mais justos por causa disso.

Eu não tenho um Deus triste! Tenho um Deus feliz que quer que você e eu sejamos felizes. Esse é o ponto principal, nos libertar do sofrimento, da dor, da morte e da tristeza que o Inimigo e os pecados do homem trouxeram a este mundo. Jesus disse: “Eu vim para que tenham vida e a tenham em abundância.”[4] E, “tenho vos dito isto para que o Meu gozo permaneça em vos e o vosso gozo seja completo.”[5]

O conceito de justiça no mundo é muito diferente do de Deus. O mundo muitas vezes equipara bondade à perfeição. Mas o Senhor disse que o pecador estava mais próximo de Deus do que os sacerdotes e fariseus hipócritas, “mais-santo-do-que-tu”. Ele lhes disse: “Em verdade vos digo que os publicanos e as meretrizes entram adiante de vós no reino de Deus.”[6] — Porque para Deus, o caminho para cima passa por baixo.

A ideia que Deus faz de justiça é o picador perdido, humilde e amoroso que sabe precisar e depender de Deus para sua salvação — não os fariseus hipócritas que pensam poder salvar a si m esmos por meio de sua própria bondade. Jesus disse: “Não necessitam de médico os sãos, mas, sim, os doentes. Ide, porém, e aprendei o que significa: misericórdia quero e não sacrifício. Porque eu não vim chamar os justos, mas os pecadores, ao arrependimento.”[7]—David Brandt Berg

*

As pessoas falam do sacrifício que fiz por passar grande parte da minha vida na África. Porventura pode-se denominar sacrifício o pagamento de uma pequena parcela da grande dívida que temos para com o nosso Deus? Por acaso é um sacrifício algo que nos gratifica por meio de uma atividade sadia, da certeza de que estamos fazendo algo bom, que nos traz paz de espírito e a esperança de um destino glorioso depois desta vida?

A resposta é enfática: Não é um sacrifício! Pelo contrário, é um privilégio. Ansiedade, enfermidades, sofrimento ou perigos de vez em quando, com menos das conveniências da vida, nos fazem parar, vacilar no espírito, e afundam a nossa alma — apenas por um momento.

Essas coisas não são nada em comparação com a glória que será revelada, em nós e por meio de nós. Eu nunca fiz um sacrifício! Não devemos falar sobre isso quando pensamos no imenso sacrifício dAquele que deixou o trono do Seu Pai no alto para Se entregar por nós.—David Livingstone

*

Aquele que se sacrifica
Para favorecer outrem,
É certamente um seguidor
Da fé no bendito Salvador.
Pois quando nos doamos
Com amor e abnegação,
Ajuntamos tesouros de valor
No reino de Deus lá no alto.
E as mãos deformadas pelo trabalho
Revelam a verdadeira arte de viver,
Alcançada pelos que aprenderam
A vitória da dedicação

Qualquer sacrifício na terra
Feito em nome do Senhor
Garante à pessoa um lugar
Na Galeria da Fama de Deus.
E quem pode dizer com certeza
Qual o maior talento
Ou quem será o maior
Para o nosso Pai Celeste!—Helen Steiner Rice

Publicado no Âncora em setembro 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.


[1] Mateus 10:42 NVI.

[2] Romanos 10:14 NVI.

[3] The Journey (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 283–284.

[4] João 10:10.

[5] João 15:11.

[6] Mateus 21:31.

[7] Mateus 9:12–13.

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Never Ever Quit!

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/never-ever-quit/

Life is hard sometimes.

When you’ve worked as hard as you possibly could and yet you failed to make the grade, your dreams remain out of reach, and you feel you just can’t do it anymore, you can feel like giving up.

All of us have probably felt that way at some time or another. Maybe you’ve been in that situation recently. In fact, maybe you feel that way right now.

When you’re getting pounded and slammed again and again, how do you get through it?

I know how. You do too.

You keep going!

No matter what, you just keep going! As Winston Churchill said: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Okay, that might be oversimplifying a complex issue, but really, when all is said and done, in order to accomplish anything significant, you have to keep fighting day after day, no matter what roadblocks you run into. In the face of disappointment or even failure, that’s the time to try again, work harder, study more, and pray desperately.

All great accomplishments take a lot of work and time; they don’t come easily. When progress is slow and our plans or dreams are not coming together as quickly as we’d hoped, it’s easy to wonder if something is wrong and therefore the Lord is not blessing us. More often, however, I believe that when we hit a brick wall we’re simply going through the normal paces required for progress and success. It’s not that we have to give more or sacrifice more than most others. No, that’s just the road to accomplishment. That’s the price of success for anyone who wants to make a difference in their field or career of choice.

If we embark on a new adventure and expect quick results, if that doesn’t happen, or more likely when that doesn’t happen, we can become disappointed and even disillusioned. And even worse, we can be tempted to quit. If we can realize that God’s path for us isn’t likely to be an easy road, then we’ll face the challenges with enthusiasm, and we won’t be caught off guard or derailed when working toward our goals is much more confusing, taxing, and time-consuming than we anticipated.

God works with each of us differently. We are each on our own personal paths that can lead us to both beautiful vistas and dark valleys at different stages of our journey.

Tony Snow explained the challenges of life as follows:

“God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension—and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.”

Tony Snow, age 51 and father of three, declared those inspiring words when he was in the midst of fighting cancer.1

There are many different approaches to facing setbacks and disappointments. I don’t think there’s one perfect formula for overcoming difficulties. There’s no set list of “must do’s” if you’re looking to muster up courage and strength to endure fear, stress, heartache, frustration, or any of the other challenges that accompany the dry spells in our lives. Some things that can help us get through the worst of times are praying and asking others to pray with or for us; seeking the advice of a trusted friend or mentor; taking some time away from the situation to think, regain perspective, and get a better overall understanding of what our options are; hearing from the Lord (either through times of communion with God or prophecy); reading the Word and inspirational or comforting writings; or having a heart-to-heart talk with a loved one.

I often find inspiration from true stories about people who have accomplished great things in the face of hardship or handicap. Sports provide some great examples along these lines because they’re such public examples and there’s a clear means of measuring their accomplishments. I take heart from stories or movies about people who overcome challenges to excel in sports.

For example:

During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!” Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knows that everyone—even the very best—gets knocked down. The key to success is to get up and run again just as hard.2

The lesson is clear. We too have to get up and run again just as hard when we’ve been knocked down.

Sometimes great athletes have overcome tremendous odds. This adds to their amazing stories of courage and perseverance, such as the story of Wilma Rudolph.

[She] didn’t get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls’ basketball team, but didn’t make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome—and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, the most a woman had ever won.3

Sports aren’t the only arena that requires vision and persistence. You can find great examples in all walks of life, including business. Here’s a fairly well-known story.

Automobile genius Henry Ford once came up with a revolutionary plan for a new kind of engine which we know today as the V-8. Ford was eager to get his great new idea into production. He had some men draw up the plans, and presented them to the engineers. As the engineers studied the drawings, one by one they came to the same conclusion. Their visionary boss just didn’t know much about the fundamental principles of engineering. He’d have to be told gently—his dream was impossible. Ford said, “Produce it anyway.” They replied, “But it’s impossible.” “Go ahead,” Ford commanded, “and stay on the job until you succeed, no matter how much time is required.” For six months they struggled with drawing after drawing, design after design. Nothing. Another six months. Nothing. At the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers and they once again told him that what he wanted was impossible. Ford told them to keep going. They did. And they discovered how to build a V-8 engine.4

I think we can minimize a lot of the frustration or confusion we might encounter if we adopt the attitude that reaching our goals will take time, there’s no way around that. And it’s a sure thing there will be setbacks, but if we persist through them, eventually we’ll find success.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”5

Let’s remember, too, that setbacks are not indicative of God’s displeasure or that you’re missing the mark or out of His will in some way; they’re simply the natural course of life and part of the journey to any accomplishment. So it helps to not catastrophize when we run into problems or delays, because thinking negatively about our challenges dampens our faith and the positive action that’s required to push through the difficulty. Instead of lamenting how hard our lives are or how terribly everything is going, it’s more effective to fill our minds with God’s faith-building Word, encouraging stories of overcoming, and empowering thoughts and positive statements.

Sometimes I set goals, but then whatever I’m working toward ends up taking so much longer than I planned or expected. That is puzzling and sometimes disconcerting. Often things don’t happen according to our timetable; but maybe God has a different timetable, in accordance with His overarching plan. If we have faith and determination, then we won’t just quit and make excuses when something doesn’t work out as we had hoped. That would be a cop-out, and that’s not going to bring about the end goal of our living the lives we’re hoping for. As Helen Keller reportedly said: “A bend in the road is not the end of the road… Unless you fail to make the turn.”

Life can’t always be balanced. Sometimes you’ll find that you’re doing double or triple time; there’s work, the children, studying, managing the house, caring for a sick or disabled loved one or child, and on and on it goes. Those really tough times are what a friend of mine calls “the kill years.” That’s when you’re way busier than you want to be, you’re getting very little sleep and exercise, you have almost no free time, and you’re absolutely exhausted. And on top of that, you don’t see the progress or success you had hoped for.

Yep, those are the “kill years.” It’s hard. And yet you just have to push through. You just have to keep going.

“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.”―Theodore Roosevelt

Whether you’re studying, starting a business, pursuing a new career, learning a new skill, or whatever you’re busy doing, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll face challenges—a lot of challenges! And this certainly applies to those who are pioneering or building a mission work. Often it takes a long time before you see fruit, and you might face difficulties or opposition along the way. Sometimes we hear or read about men or women who accomplished great things for the Lord, and we might conclude that they found success and favor easily. But we may not be seeing the full story. Take this example from the diary of the great evangelist and founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley:

Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John’s. Deacons said “Get out and stay out.”
Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

There are many true stories, like this one, that illustrate the magic that happens when you refuse to surrender in the face of difficulty. Any one of us could go online and find hundreds of examples of people who have done just that. Each of those stories is a testimony to the power of perseverance.

The takeaway for our lives is this: When we don’t quit, anything is possible.

“Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give in. Don’t ever stop trying. Don’t ever sell out. And if you find yourself succumbing to one of the above for a brief moment, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, whisper a prayer, and start where you left off. But never, ever, ever give up.”6

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”7

Footnotes:

1 Former White House Press Secretary, he wrote “Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings,” published in Christianity Today, July 20, 2007. Tony Snow died at the age of 53 of colon cancer.
2 Jeff Quandt as quoted in Irving Wallace, The Book of Lists (New York: Bantam Books, 1980).
3 Today in the Word, Moody Bible Institute, January 1992, p.10.
4 Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (Meridien, Conn: The Ralston Society: 1937).
5 James 1:2–4.
6 Richelle E. Goodrich, Eena, The Tempter’s Snare (2014).
7 Galatians 6:9.

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26 Old Timeless Gospel Hymns

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Quotations on Death by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Jackie Roberts writes:

I have a dear friend who "has a friend" who is dying of cancer. My friend is going to start reading to him but the dying man is an atheist, but he respects science. So I was looking up some quotes for him from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and found these. They are so beautiful, I wanted to post them here - her quotes after a lifetime of studying death and dying.

Some of the books available by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. More can be found on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/.../147677.../ref=la_B000AP9LK0_1_1...
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

Jackie Robertshttp://www.amazon.com/.../15917.../ref=la_B000AP9LK0_1_10...
Is There Life after Death?

http://www.amazon.com/.../068483.../ref=la_B000AP9LK0_1_8...
Questions and Answers on Death and Dying

Quotes by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"After your death, when most of you for the first time realize what life here is all about, you will begin to see that your life here is almost nothing but the sum total of every choice you have made during every moment of your life. Your thoughts, which you are responsible for, are as real as your deeds. You will begin to realize that every word and every deed affects your life and has also touched thousands of lives.

Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.

Dying is an integral part of life, as natural and predictable as being born. But whereas birth is cause for celebration, death has become a dreaded and unspeakable issue to be avoided by every means possible in our modern society. Perhaps it is that in spite of all our technological advances. We may be able to delay it, but we cannot escape it.

Dying is nothing to fear. It can be the most wonderful experience of your life. It all depends on how you have lived.

For those who seek to understand it, death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values of life can originate from the thought and study of death.

I didn't fully realize it at the time, but the goal of my life was profoundly molded by this experience - to help produce, in the next generation, more Mother Teresas and less Hitlers.

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive - to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.

It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth -- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.

I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.

Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself and know that everything in life has a purpose.

Live, so you do not have to look back and say: "God, how I have wasted my life."

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

Should you shield the valleys from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their canyons.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.

There is no joy without hardship. If not for death, would we appreciate life? If not for hate, would we know the ultimate goal is love? At these moments you can either hold on to negativity and look for blame, or you can choose to heal and keep on loving.

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.

Those who learned to know death, rather than to fear and fight it, become our teachers about life.

We run after values that, at death, become zero. At the end of your life, nobody asks you how many degrees you have, or how many mansions you built, or how many Rolls Royces you could afford. That's what dying patients teach you.

When we have passed the tests we are sent to Earth to learn, we are allowed to graduate. We are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our souls

You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose.

Instead, the goal of life becomes not to elude death but, because one's fears do not center so much on it, rather to live in concert with it. After an NDE, the survivor finds a new lease on life; she/he is more willing to try new things and to fit as many things as possible into it because she/he is no longer so afraid of what will happen at death. After the NDE, life is more cherished, and the relationships that gave that life more meaning are emphasized upon. The NDE encourages growth and exploration; its acknowledgment helps for those in a society to desire continued testing of the limits and possibilities of life." - Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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Faça alguém Feliz

http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/faca-alguem-feliz/
Uma compilação

Faça alguém feliz. É uma das coisas mais simples e gratificantes que existe. Existem maneiras incontáveis de fazer alguém feliz. O primeiro passo é procurar a maneira de realizar isso. Não é necessário gastar dinheiro ou muito tempo; na verdade, o que conta são as pequenas coisas que se faz pelos outros. Ajude a melhorar o dia de alguém, e o seu dia com certeza também ficará melhor.—Susan Morem

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Você alguma vez já teve um dia ruim depois de encontrar alguém mal humorado? Pode ter sido um passageiro no ônibus, ou um cliente na loja — alguém que normalmente você nem notaria. Mas aquela pessoa ranzinza ou sem consideração consegue estragar o seu dia.

Na contrapartida, você já teve um dia ótimo, e só depois percebeu que tudo começou bem quando encontrou alguém que foi gentil e simpático? Pode ter sido a maneira como a pessoa sorriu para você, ou pegou algo que você deixou cair e lhe devolve, ou segurou a porta para você passar… Foi apenas um pequeno gesto, mas que teve um impacto positivo no seu dia.

Todos têm influência. A cada momento, a sua atitude e grau de felicidade se refletem nas pequenas coisas que diz e faz, e que, inevitavelmente vão afetar outros. Que tipo de impacto você normalmente causa?

Pense em como ficou satisfeito com coisas que outras pessoas fizeram, e determine-se a fazer o mesmo por outros. Isso não só vai iluminar o dia de alguém, mas você vai ficar mais feliz e ter uma perspectiva mais positiva da vida.—Jesus falando em profecia

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Havia um menininho que desejava muito se encontrar com Deus. Ciente da longa distância até ao lugar onde Deus vive, ele colocou na bagagem alguns biscoitos e meia dúzia de latas de refrigerante, e partiu na sua jornada.

Depois de andar algumas quadras, encontrou um idoso sentado na praça, perto da fonte, a observar os pássaros.

O menino se sentou ao lado dele e abriu a bolsa. Ia tomar um gole de refri quando percebeu que o velho parecia faminto, então lhe ofereceu um biscoito.

O velho aceitou com gratidão e retribuiu com um sorriso. Era um sorriso impressionante, mas tão impressionante que o menino queria vê-lo sorrir de novo, então lhe ofereceu um refri.

Mais uma vez ele agradeceu com um sorriso. O menino ficou encantado. Passaram a tarde comendo e sorrindo, sem dizer uma palavra.

Ao entardecer, sentindo-se cansado, o menino se levantou para ir embora. Deu alguns passos, voltou e correu até o velho para lhe dar um abraço. O idoso retribuiu com um sorriso mais feliz do que todos que já tinha dado aquele dia.

Alguns minutos depois, ao abrir a porta de casa, deu de cara com a mãe, que surpresa com a alegria estampada no seu rosto indagou “o que ele tinha feito naquele dia que o deixou tão feliz?”

O menino respondeu: “Almocei com Deus.” E antes da mãe retrucar, ele acrescentou: “Sabe de uma coisa? Ele tem o sorriso mais lindo que já vi!”

Enquanto isso, o idoso, também radiante de alegria, voltou para casa. Seu filho, estupefato com a paz estampada no rosto do pai, perguntou: “O que o senhor fez hoje que o deixou tão feliz?”

Ele respondeu: “Comi biscoitos no parque, com Deus.” E antes do filho retrucar, ele acrescentou: “Sabe, Ele é muito mais jovem do que eu imaginava.”

Muitas vezes nós subestimamos o poder de um toque, de um sorriso, de uma palavra gentil, de um ombro amigo, de um elogio sincero, ou de um simples ato de carinho — coisas que podem tornar o dia de qualquer pessoa muito especial, ou até transformar a vida de alguém.—Autor anônimo

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O melhor na vida de um homem digno é tudo o que ele faz sem ser notado, os pequenos gestos de amor e gentileza.—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

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As pequenas coisas são importantes. Pequenas gentilezas podem criar um ambiente de amor e ternura. Pequenas coisas são muito importantes, pois mostram que a pessoa que você ama estava pensando em você e se esforçou para iluminar um pouco mais a sua vida e melhorar as coisas para você, por nenhuma outra razão, apenas porque o ama e se importa.

Peça-Me ideias para demonstrar amor para os que lhe são queridos. Eu posso lhe dar uma lista personalizada perfeitamente adequada à sua situação. E não subestime o calor de atos aleatórios de gentileza. Comece uma reação em cadeia de boas ações, e observe o amor florescer na sua vida. Você não vai se arrepender.—Jesus falando em profecia

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Cada um cuide, não somente dos seus interesses, mas também dos interesses dos outros.—Filipenses 2:4[1]

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Depois de anos trabalhando com redução de estresse, ensinando as pessoas a serem mais felizes, ainda fico surpreso ao ver que os métodos mais eficientes para reduzir o estresse e melhorar a qualidade de vida são os mais simples. Uma das primeiras lições de vida, e talvez a lição mais básica que aprendi com meus pais quando ainda criança foi: Se quer se sentir bem, faça alguém se sentir bem. É bem simples.

Gentileza e solidariedade são qualidades maravilhosas. Diz um antigo ditado: “Ajudar já é uma recompensa em si”. Com certeza é verdade. A recompensa de ser gentil e fazer alguém se sentir bem é o sentimento caloroso e positivo que disso resulta. Então, comece hoje mesmo a pensar em alguém que gostaria de fazer se sentir melhor, e desfrute das recompensas.—Richard Carlson[2]

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Compartilhem o que vocês têm com os santos em suas necessidades. Pratiquem a hospitalidade.—Romanos 12:13[3]

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Você se recorda da última vez que recebeu um telefonema, SMS ou e-mail inesperado de alguém lhe fazendo um elogio específico? Como você se sentiu? Mais animado? Sorriu? Qual foi o impacto em você?

Quando penso no impacto que temos nas pessoas, poucas coisas são mais fortes do que fazer algo espontâneo para mostrar a alguém como a pessoa é importante para você. Pode ser uma mensagem simples dizendo para o amigo como preza a sua amizade, ou um curto e-mail elogiando o colega de trabalho pela maneira como lidou com uma situação difícil no escritório aquele dia.

Quando toma um tempo para surpreender as pessoas com uma gentileza ou algo carinhoso, elas percebem que não são invisíveis, se sentem valorizadas e importantes. Você vai alegrá-las e fazê-las sorrir. Vai aumentar a autoestima e fortalecer a autoconfiança, renovar a energia da pessoa e deixá-la animada. Vão ficar mais próximos e criar um vínculo incrível entre vocês. Vai ser benéfico para você também, porque ficamos felizes quando agimos de forma altruísta, quando nos doamos, damos o nosso tempo e recursos para ajudar alguém.

Vou lhe apresentar o desafio de procurar situações nas quais possa demonstrar interesse sincero pelas pessoas e fazer algo inesperado. Quando tiver uma ideia, aja sem hesitar e faça alguém feliz...

Toda vez que agir em benefício de outrem, com atos de gentileza inesperados, você mostra quão ela é importante como pessoa, e o que ela faz tem valor.—Todd Smith[4]

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Seja a pessoa que apoia e constrói. Seja a pessoa compreensiva e de bom coração, que procura ver o melhor nos outros. Deixe as pessoas se sentindo e agindo melhor do que antes de conhecerem você.—Marvin J. Ashton

Publicado no Âncora em agosto 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.


[1] NVI.

[2] Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work (New York: Hyperion, 1998).

[3] NVI.

[4] http://www.littlethingsmatter.com/blog/2010/06/17/25-unexpected-ways-to-make-someones-day

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As My Father Sent Me

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/my-father-sent-me/

Words from Jesus
Audio length: 9:05
Download Audio (7.2MB)

As My Father sent Me, so send I you. I send you out into a world of hurt and loss, pain and suffering, heartbreak and loneliness, need and yearning, so you can give this lost and lonely world what I have given you. Pour out My love, compassion, and understanding to those who need it so desperately.

Let Me love and help others through you. Wherever you are and whatever situation you’re in, there are people nearby who need what you have to give them. Some will receive it and others will not. Some will even criticize you or berate you for your witness. But whether they receive or forbear, you have been My messenger and have fulfilled your responsibility.

Please don’t make them wait any longer for the love, life, and hope that I have available for them. I not only want to give them eternal life, I also want to give them life more abundant here and now—more abundant love, peace, contentment, understanding, and fulfillment. I want to transform their lives both on earth and in the hereafter.

Give them the chance to receive all that I want to give them. Even if they don’t receive Me or My message through you, My Word never returns void.1 Your witness is never wasted; it always has an effect.

Your words of friendship and concern demonstrate My love and concern for them, that I want to be their friend forever. For those who have few faithful friends, that fills a great need. Your sympathy and understanding touches their heart. Your praise and thankfulness is a light in the darkness of the world. Your peace and trust and certainty of hope in the midst of life’s storms are something that they will yearn for. The genuine love they see in you is like sitting in front of a warm fireplace on a cold winter night.

Upon experiencing this, many will want to receive and experience Me as well, and that is a great victory. But even if they don’t, their life will have been touched in some way, and this will work in their lives, producing change. As they change, even subconsciously in some cases, those around them will change as well, because no man is an island. Everyone has influence, and when you influence a person for good, that person influences others for good as well, and the ripples of My love continue outward from your witness.

Some will harden themselves and reject the message, but even then, your witness is not wasted. I am working in the hearts of these people as well, just as I worked in the hearts of Paul and others down through the ages who did not immediately accept Me, but who eventually came to believe in Me.

For those who do receive Me, whether during your witness or afterwards, how I rejoice! They’ve opened the doors of their hearts to Me and we can commune together. I will rejoice, for My son or daughter who was lost has now been found and is forever Mine. Now My Spirit can work in their lives, helping them become the new creatures that I promised they would be.2

So never underestimate the power of a witness. Those around you need Me and all that I have to offer, and My gifts that go on giving forever!


The redeeming factor

Almost everybody has heard of God or an afterlife of some sort. But you’d be surprised how few people are actually convinced in their hearts that these truths are real. And those who don’t know often suffer terribly in this uncertain world.

Think about every struggle in which you’ve had to hold on to Me, every disappointment that almost crushed you, every forsaking that was difficult, every tough job that you struggled through. Stop and think about the hard things in your life. Then realize that those who don’t know Me also experience these things but without the assurance of help from Me, or any comforting motivation that things will work out all right in the end, or any promise that they will be rewarded and repaid for the sacrifices.

The lost suffer from every blow of life, often with little consolation in sight. No matter how much someone acts as though they don’t need Me, or even says they don’t need Me, no one is spared from the trials of life. No one escapes having to do things they hate doing, or dealing with death and loss, or suffering ill health, heartbreak, and disappointment. And without Me, without an understanding of My plan, they may often conclude that these hardships and difficulties are cruel fates in a cruel world.

There are many depressed, lonely‚ or addicted people in the world. Many people even die prematurely of sickness that they could otherwise overcome if they had a will to live. Without a vision, the people perish, and I am the only one who can help them to make sense out of life. I am the great redeeming factor in the midst of the seeming contradictions of human existence.

So, if you see someone who appears to be doing all right without Me, and you feel shy or hesitant about offering them salvation—or maybe they’re even saved, but they have unanswered questions—just remember that, although they may not appear to have an obvious need for Me, they are as human as you are, and they have suffered, are suffering‚ and will continue to suffer many difficulties and hardships in life. Without Me and My answers, each hardship can make them feel more lost, more heartbroken, and depending on their choices, possibly more bitter and depressed and despairing.

When you’re face to face with someone who needs Me, you have the chance to offer them the answers that will make sense out of it all, give them true hope for the future, and the opportunity to cash in on the promise that all things can start to work together for good in their life, just as it does in yours. Everybody needs that. Everybody needs answers to the hardships of life, because no matter how together someone looks or seems, no one is complete on their own. Everybody suffers, everybody hurts, and everybody asks “Why?”


Love for the lost

If you truly see My sacrifice for you as the priceless, life-changing gift that it is, you’ll be compelled to share this gift with others.

It doesn’t matter whether you feel love for the person you’re witnessing to or not; if you have faith in My Word and you love Me, then you’ll know that through sharing the Good News, you can change that person’s whole world with relatively small effort.

Love is primarily manifested by action. Don’t let the concept of “love for the lost” discourage you if you don’t have a lot of feelings. If you are willing to come face to face with those who need Me, and do your part to help fill their needs for friendship and answers, and help them to grow in their understanding of Me, then you have love for the lost, because you love them enough to get up and do something about it. You love them enough to step out of your pride and your comfort zone to bring them My gift of salvation and My love. In My books, that’s real love.

Originally published May 2009 and November 2007. Adapted and republished September 2014. Read by Simon Peterson.



1 Isaiah 55:11.


2 2 Corinthians 5:17.

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