Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

Luke 6:12 (New King James Version)

The Twelve Apostles

12 Now it came to pass in those days
that He went out to the mountain to pray,
and continued all night in prayer to God.


Reflection:

When you have a decision to make how do you approach
making that decision. Do you seek other people's advice, do
you research a lot, do you spend days seeking advice
from experts, maybe you even look at self-help gurus.
Then as an after thought you spend five minutes with
God.
But before Jesus chose His twelve apostles, He spent
the night in conversation with His father. I mean we are
talking about the Son of God and He didn't think it was a
waste of His time and spent the whole night in prayer.
What about you? Do you pray when you have a
decision to make. Do you pray when you are looking
for a job, when you hire or fire someone. When you
change jobs, careers, or locations, do you seek your
father's counsel. Do you have other important decisions
that would benefit from godly wisdom? (are there any
other kind of decisions?)
ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND THE NIGHT IN
PRAYER!

Prayer:

Oh Lord I want to walk as one of your blessed children.
"Order my steps in thy word"
What is Your Word concerning my life and the decisions
I must make? Oh Lord give me a greater hunger to spend
time with You, to hear Your Word of life, Your Wisdom,
Your Counsel,

OUR LORD WORKS IN WONDEROUS
WAYS, HIS MIRACLES TO PERFORM!!!

A preacher concluded that his church
was getting into very serious financial
troubles. While checking the church
storeroom, he discovered several cartons
of new Bibles that had never been opened
and distributed. So at his Sunday sermon,
he asked for three volunteers from the
congregation who would be willing to sell
the Bibles door-to-door for $10 each to
raise the desperately needed money for
the church. Jack, Paul and Louie all
raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew that Jack and Paul
earned their living as salesmen and were
likely capable of selling some Bibles. But
he had serious doubts about Louie who
was a local farmer, who had always kept
to himself because he was embarrassed
by his speech impediment. Poor Louis
stuttered badly. But, not wanting to
discourage Louis, the minister decided
to let him try anyway.

He sent the three of them away with the
back seat of their cars stacked with Bibles.
He asked them to meet with him and report
the results of their door-to-door selling
efforts the following Sunday.

Anxious to find out how successful they
were, the minister immediately asked Jack,
'Well, Jack, how did you make out selling
our Bibles last week?'

Proudly handing the minister an envelope,
Jack replied, 'Using my sales prowess, I
was able to sell 20 Bibles, and here's the
$200 I collected on behalf of the church.'

'Fine job, Jack!' The minister said, vigorously
shaking his hand. 'You are indeed a fine
salesman and the Church is indebted to you.'

Turning to Paul, 'And Paul, how many
Bibles did you sell for the church last week?'
Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest,
confidently replied, 'I am a professional
salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the
church, and here's $280 I collected.'

The minister responded, 'That's absolutely
splendid, Paul. You are truly a professional
salesman and the church is indebted to you.'

Apprehensively, the minister turned to
Louie and said, 'And Louie, did you manage
to sell any Bibles last week?'

Louie silently offered the minister a large
envelope.

The minister opened it and counted the contents.
'What is this?' the minister exclaimed. 'Louie,
there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that
you sold 320 Bibles for the church, door to door, i
n just one week?'

Louie just nodded.

'That's impossible!' both Jack and Paul said
in unison. 'We are professional salesmen, yet
you claim to have sold 10 times as many Bibles
as we could.'

'Yes, this does seem unlikely,' the minister agreed.
'I think you'd better explain how you managed to
accomplish this, Louie.'

Louie shrugged. 'I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don't
kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,' he stammered.

Impatiently, Peter interrupted. 'For crying out
loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them
when they answered the door!'

'A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,' Louis replied,
'W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy
th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks
---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me
t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-t-to y-y-you??'

Scripture:

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your
lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And
continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy
Spirit. Live in such a way that God's love can bless
you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord
Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you.
Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.
Rescue others by snatching them from the
flames of judgment. There are still others to
whom you need to show mercy, but be careful
that you aren't contaminated by their sins.
Titus 1:20:23 NLT

<…the Lord has already told you what is good,
and this is what he requires: to do what is right,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NLT

Reflection:

During my years in the Christian Ministry,
I of course had contact with a wide variety of
Christians. I delighted in my discovery of
the many positive things we shared as
followers of Jesus Christ.There were also negative
characteristics that we as Christians seemed
to share. One of those characteristics was
we as Christians,"often times shoot our own
wounded". We often times become impatient
and judgmental with our brothers, and sisters,
and reject them. Especially when they struggle
with sin and doubt. Instead of rejecting them,
Jude says, we should have mercy on them—
just as Christ had mercy on us when he forgave
our many sins. While we must not tolerate or
accept sin, we are to love and accept others
with kindness and mercy.

Would you remember this one very important
thing. Please remember this:
If you know someone who has fallen away from
God, your kindness may be just what is needed
to lead them back to God.