Tag Lord

The Garden of Your Soul

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

This weeks Tailfeather is a reminder that we are more than just flesh and bone but we are also living souls. Take time each day to nourish your soul. We eat several times a day to nourish our bodies shouldn’t we at least spend the same amount of time at the Lord’s table? Why not everytime you sit at the dinner table you also take time to partake of the Lord’s table? Be sure to read His word and meditate upon it, allowing it to water the soil of your soul.

garden 5051c

There is a Garden of the Soul,
Where God plants loving seeds
That faith and grace will nourish
Into blooms of loving deeds.

Within this Garden of the Soul
Fruits of the Spirit grow;
And they produce new seeds of love
Which you and I can sow.
—Peggy Ferrell,
Prayers and Poems

“Listen! A farmer went to plant seed. Some seeds were planted along the road, and birds came and devoured them. Other seeds were planted on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil. The plants sprouted quickly because the soil wasn’t deep. When the sun came up, they were scorched. They didn’t have any roots, so they withered. Other seeds were planted among thornbushes. The thornbushes grew up and choked them, and they didn’t produce anything. But other seeds were planted on good ground, sprouted, and produced thirty, sixty, or one hundred times as much as was planted.” He added, “Let the person who has ears listen!” Mark 4:3-9 (GW)

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God’s Big Back Yard

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16 (GW)

vbs logo1188 North Valley Road was where my early childhood backyard was located. We were the first family to move into this development and my family owned the corner lot and the one behind it.

Having both building lots meant lots of BIG BACK YARD space for baseball, football, a swimming pool, picnics, golf, and wintertime sledding. Our yard could accommodate all the neighbors from the entire neighborhood and still leave room for people to play in the adjacent lot. We had a Big BACK YARD!

After getting my first bicycle my big back yard got even bigger because now I could ride throughout the neighborhood and play in other people’s back yards. As I got older and was able to drive, towns and cities were in reach from my back yard. With today’s modern transportation on any given day we can travel from our back yards to other states and cities and even other countries. Planes, trains and automobiles have taken the place of that Schwinn bicycle of my childhood.

With the advent of the internet the whole world is now accessible from my kitchen table. I can speak to anyone anywhere in the world in nano seconds. Truly our back yards have gotten really, really big.

Artist's conception of GPS satellite in orbit

GPS Satellite

From a control room in Houston Texas NASA can play in the big back yard of space. They have launched space crafts into outer space and even landed a remote controlled land rover on Mars. Voyagers 1 and 2 are speeding towards the ends of our galaxy in rapid pace.

Satellites orbit the earth and send back images and sound waves which we can receive via satellite receivers on earth. These satellites can tell us pinpoint accuracy where we are in the world by GPS positioning. Radio and television programs can even be broadcast world wide.

ps241As technologies have changed throughout the course of my lifetime some things have still remained the same. One of those constants is the commission from God to the church to go into His big back yard and proclaim the gospel to everyone. We can no longer just look at our physical address as our back yard.

With the availability of web casting, chat rooms, instant messaging, and email the whole world is in reach of any individual or church congregation. Radio, television and now GodTube have all become instruments from which we can spread the gospel into God’s big back yard.

I do not own physical real estate but I do stake several claims in cyberspace. Our church has an address on the World wide web as well. The Christian witness can be accessible 24 hours a day thanks to the modern day internet. As a church and as a congregation we should be reaching out in every way possible into God’s big back yard in an effort to spread the gospel of the kingdom to all peoples.

To think it all started with 1 man (Jesus) who told 12 others about the kingdom of God and now we have been entrusted with that same message to proclaim from our own back yards into God’s big back yard. We all have a circle of influence, all of our lives intersect other’s lives, and as a result we are required to look out for our neighbors by sharing the same joy of salvation with them which we have received. Are you being a good neighbor? Are we as a congregation doing everything we can to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ? How big is our BIG BACK YARD really?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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Is There a Doctor in the “House”?

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

God removed Saul and made David their king. God spoke favorably about David. He said, ‘I have found that David, son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13:22 (GW)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7 (NKJV)

Gregory House, the fictional star of Fox’s hit show “House” is a cantankerous, rude, obnoxious character who just happens to be a brilliant diagnostician. Each episode of this hit series brings “House” and his team face to face with life and death situations. Time marches on as the team attempts to find what is ailing each patient. What “House” lacks in bed-side manner he more than makes up for in his vast knowledge of medicine. I guess if I were sick and I had a choice between a really sweet person with a lovely bed-side manner but lacked the knowledge to cure me and a Gregory House, I think I would opt for Gregory House, knowing he would do whatever it took to find a cure.

Inside this miserable excuse for a human being lies a true doctor. Although addicted to pain killers and dealing with his own demons, “House” remains focused on the patient before him and tirelessly works to find a cure. It is his “inside doctor” that redeems an otherwise hopeless individual. Many who did not know the doctor inside Gregory House might easily dismiss him as just a rude, nasty person. Even those who think House is totally out of control have to stop and marvel at his unsurpassed ability to cure what seems to be the incurable.

Inside Gregory House truly lives a doctor. Of course I think we would all prefer Doctor House to be a bit more sociable and agreeable but I think few would want the doctor in House to change.

Outwardly I think we all could use some improvement. I know personally if I could change a few things about my personal appearance I might, but it is not the outward man that makes a person, it is that hidden man on the inside that truly determines who we are. If we were judging Gregory House by outward appearances we could easily conclude this guy is not going to operate on me, however after watching him work and see what lies on the inside of him few would argue his abilities.

David was a man after God’s own heart. Outwardly David’s life was less than admirable. He committed adultery, and murdered his first wife’s husband, and yet God saw what was on the inside of David. David, like Gregory House, had many failings, and personality flaws but inside lived a true man of God. David, like House, held inside greatness. David was looked upon by God as a truly great man.

Before it is said that I advocate people being as miserable as they can be to other people, as long as they do a good job, that is not my point here. However, at the same time, we all have bad days, we all have crosses to bear, we all have personality defects that to the naked eye make us somewhat unattractive. Thank God He looks at the heart of a man, the inside of a man. Gratefully, He searches the heart and attitudes of a person. God looks to the inside while we mere humans look mainly at the outside.

Inside Gregory House lives a great physician and inside King David beat a heart after God. What is living inside you? When the Lord looks into your heart does he see one beating with the very heartbeat of God himself or does it beat to the drummer of this world? Had Gregory House not been a truly great doctor there would not be much good we could say about him. Had King David not been a man after God’s own heart there would not be much good we could say of him either.

Is there a doctor in the House? Is there a Christ inside you? Is the Great Physician residing in your heart?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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No Record- by Julie Arduini

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

 

This post is by quest author Julie Arduini a fellow writer at Faithwriters.com. Take some time to stop by the website and read the thousands of posts by fellow travelers. And now for No Record by Julie Arduini.

 

Psalm 130:3: “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” NIV

1Corinthians 13: 4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” NIV

MacDonalds sign in Times Square, New York

Image via Wikipedia

 

We went out to dinner as a family moment before my husband left for a work trip. Of all the places to go, we chose McDonalds. I know, big shock with small kids, right? My order is standard, always the chicken wrap with barbeque sauce. Problem is,they don’t agree with me.

 

Case in point: last month I took the kids there for dinner and while talking along I let out a sound that I can’t even define as a burp because the humiliating act had an echo that turned heads. The kids cackled and cackled. They bring it up often, even during this most recent Golden Arches meal.

As our trip to the airport progressed, we paid tolls. I wasn’t even in my husband’s life then and even I recall the same story his older children told from years ago: he went to pay the automatic toll and missed the catch, dropping his money. After all this time, no one forgot.

Same for when we needed an elevator to get my husband to the correct gate. Even our oldest says, “remember when” and tells the tale of when my husband’s older children used to sit on elevator floors. My elevator recollection is from a few years ago when I was in a performance of “Heaven’s Gates and Hell‘s Flames”. My character perished in an elevator accident. If I ever hear the music that accompanied my dramatic death scene, I can assure you I’m off that real elevator!

Embarrassing sounds. Clumsy actions. Uncomfortable moments. Our kids don’t forget those times and most likely, spouses don’t either.

I’m so thankful to serve a God who does not keep a record of our wrongs. It isn’t because He’s ditsy and He forgot, it’s because He loves us so much He chooses not to. As Psalm 130 states, who could stand under such a recollection if the Lord did such a thing?

I’ve been watching online evenings on God.TV. services out of Lakeland, Florida. God is using a man the world would never think of because his record of shame is etched in his skin with colored ink. Todd Bentley by his own account was saved in his drug dealer‘s trailer. He used to cut himself and was an alcoholic.

Then Jesus came.

I blush over a traffic stopping burp. Todd Bentley remembers the smells and sounds of artificial highs. Perhaps your account of deeds lie somewhere in the middle. No matter what you’ve done, are doing, or are even tempted to do, you can live a true clean slate free of shame.

Call on the Lord today. The Lord who forgives. The Lord who is Love.

The Lord who keeps no record of wrongs.

Julie Arduini, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/, is devoted to writing for Christ in ways that encourage and inspire. Happily married to Tom, they have two children: Brian and Hannah.

@2008 by Julie Arduini

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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Behind the Scenes: All Access Pass

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

 

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

“…[W]e have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.” (Hebrews 10:19-20, NIV)

 

I used to be on the stage crew of my local high school. The stage crew was responsible for all the behind the scenes events that took place. The actors and performers on stage where dependent upon what went on behind the scenes. Movies, plays, music events, television shows, news broadcasts, TV preachers. All these people are dependent on what goes on behind the scenes. The things you can not see makes what you can see look better if done right.

The important things about those who work behind the scenes is to do the job in such a way as to not be noticed. In fact many times we were required to wear dark clothing so that we could move about the stage unseen when the lights were dimmed. Sneaking around behind the curtain was a talent we all learned early in our training. Using the catwalks and sky walks above and behind the stage were our way of getting around from place to place without anyone noticing. We were like mice in the rafters moving about sight unseen.

To this day I enjoy knowing how things are done. I want to know how they do that? I like those television shows that show you how it is done. In fact I really like those ‘making of’ features on DVD’s that show how the different stunts and effects in the movie were done.

On certain days the ‘Millennium Theater’ in Lancaster, PA has a behind the scenes tour of the current play they are presenting. During these behind the scenes tours you are taken behind the curtain to see the drama backstage. All the props and make-up and special effects are shown from an entirely new perspective, that of the insider, the crew who put it all together.

Jesus gave us a way to go behind the scenes when he died on the cross. Now we have an ‘all access pass to heaven’ through the blood of Jesus Christ and we can “see behind the curtain”. We can watch the drama unfold from an insiders’ view. We are now permitted to venture behind the scenes as God works out his program on earth’s stage. We are part of the stage crew working together with Jesus and the Holy Spirit to bring to life the kingdom of heaven.


One of the things Jesus did for us on the cross, was to open our access to God’s presence. Have you considered the significance of the tearing of the veil in the temple when Jesus was on the cross (Matt. 27:51)? What once was forbidden has now been made available!


Now we can look behind the scenes into the very throne room of God himself and fellowship directly with the Father because of Jesus’ death on the cross. The curtain has now been lifted.

We now have an all access pass into the holy of holies seven days a week 365 days a year.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)


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