Especially His: Thank you Father

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Thank you Father

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Who Am I?

by Casting Crowns

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

“The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.

“But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now, at last, you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

“I know how to get along with humble means, and I know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-13, 19

Learned.

Received.

Heard and seen.

Do practice.

Rejoice.

Revive.

Look for opportunity.

Be content.

Be content!

Be strong.

The Lord is always there waiting to supply ALL your needs from His abundance in omniscient love, but most of all for His glory. This passage has always reminded of the shared responsibility I have to learn from those the Lord brings into my life

It might be a good time this week to consider and pray for those who support you in the Lord, who have discipled you as you built your strength and resolve to follow Christ and helped you keep focused on growing.

For me, the list is long and dynamic...

It begins with my Mom and Dad and my little brother, Tim and his wife Barbara. Billy Graham. Doris and Owen Smith. David. Tim Crater, Doug McIntosh. Don and Elaine Lanier, Kay Arthur, Bill Gothard, Larry Burkette, Sid Abraham, Audley McLean, Barb Bennett-Rey, Buddy and Susan Smith, Geoff and Robyn Smith, Jay Bacik, Geoff and Liz Payne, Brian and Anne Gibbon, Peter Atherden. Elaine and Jim Pounder. Adrian Stokes, Carla and Paul Kossally. Careena and Adam Street, Simon Flinders and Kathy Notley ... and God willing, there will be more.

Of course, there are many others the Lord has brought into my life, but these 36 faithful people have had a direct, prayerful and active hand in growing me up in the Lord and I will never be able to thank them enough for their patience and love. What a wonderful thought that God knows how much they mean to me and how much they have laboured for His glory and my good.

If your name isn’t here, please forgive me for not realising how the Lord has called you to contribute to my life. Maybe it’s time to remind me!

I encourage you to consider a thanksgiving list of those who have contributed to your salvation and discipleship as you continue to grow in the Lord.

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Intro Statement of Faith

Why "Especially His"? It comes from a closing statement in the WeakDay Devotions that I have been writing nearly every morning since 1999. Each day I close with this:

"Take care with love, especially His"

Although it is shared with many others around the world now, it seems each day's entry is written specifically for me and for what I am experiencing because I am, as the closing says, "especially His".

Over my lifetime I have been writing and teaching Bible-based studies and wanted a way for these teachings to reach a wider audience -- and hopefully be my legacy to a future generation. We all benefit from fellowship and good teaching and motivation that comes through prayer and reading our Bibles!

On this site you will find a variety of Bible-based and Christ-focused materials. My prayer is that they will help you grow and help you as you help others grow.

Modern-day Evangelism

Something amazing I learned as a young follower of Jesus Christ was that most of the efforts of modern day evangelism have little lasting effect, other than exposing an increasing number of people to God's Word. And as it says in Isaiah 55:11:

"So Shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

Yet, many are not ready, have hard hearts, are surrounded by influencing family or peers and they slink away into the warmth and darkness of unexpected despair.

We Need Ways

I do not minimise the value of canned methods or fancy printed tracts or little gimmicks like colourful beads strung on a leather bracelet or origami-folded coloured cards. We all need to have a way to share our faith in a way we are comfortable using.

I myself, was brought to the Cross through a tract called "Peace With God" published by the Billy Grahame Evangelistic Organisation, and I have trained in most of the methodologies for sharing my faith with another. I even wrote one that focuses on how Jesus evangelised and is based on the four Gospels.

But while being discipled under a wonderful Navigator couple (Don and Elaine Lanier) I also learned a statistic that makes so much sense. It goes like this:

"If each one of us, won one person per year to Christ, and we spent that one year discipling them in the basics, every person in the world would hear the Gospel message of Salvation in just thirty-three years."

Earmarked from the Beginning

Our lives are drawn to deciding to or not to follow Jesus from the moment we are conceived. This journey is as unique as our DNA (yes I do know about identical twins).

The journey after we come to understand the grace of the Father is furthermore unique until we die and begin eternity with our heavenly Father.

Statement of Faith

There is more to come, but want you to know just the core basics of my beliefs.

1. I believe God made man in His image and loves him and desires fellowship with him (Genesis 1:26-27, I John 4:10, John 3:16).

2. I believe there is no other way to Eternal Salvation than through knowing I am helpless against my sin nature and choice of sin. (Romans 5:6-8; 6:23).

3. There is nothing I can do to be acceptable in Heaven (Romans 3:20).

4. The only possibility is to accept the freely-offered gift of Jesus Christ paying the price for my sins by His death and resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:3-6; John 14:6).

5. I believe that the gift of Salvation is just that a gift and it is a gift by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and because this is a gift of grace, there is nothing I can do to make God love me more than He does once I accepted His salvation and there is nothing I can do to make God love me less.

6. That my salvation is not transitory according to my behaviour and that He holds me firmly in the palm of His hand (John 10:29).

7. That from the moment of Salvation, my life is a personal journey of growth that He has designed just for me (Psalm 139).

8. That the Bible is His Word to help me grow daily. II Timothy 3:16. (The translation I use for all quotes, unless otherwise specified, is The New American Standard Bible, ©The Lockman Foundation.)