Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace
to the humble."  James 4:6

Reflection:

I had a friend who had a favorite Bible
quote, he used to quote it to me all the
time. "Resist the devil and he will flee
from you". James 4:7.  Everytime I
turned around there was my friend with
that quote. The problem with him quoting
that verse was that he would forget the
first part of the verse.  "THEREFORE
SUBMIT TO GOD, resist the devil and
he will flee from you".  You see simply
resisting satan is not enough, simply
resisting evil will not make it flee.  If
you want to put the devil on the run,
if you want to get rid of evil, SUBMIT
TO GOD, and resist the temptation of
pride.  James also wrote, "Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He shall lift you up."  James 4:10
You see we all have a choice to make,
God  allow us to fall flat on our face,
so that we become humble and
submitted, or we can humble ourselves.
I don't know about you but guess what?
I pick the later. 
When I was an active preacher I found
myself falling into to a false and very
deceptive sense of pride.  After, what
I perceived a great sermon, I found my-
self feeling,"look at me, I'm
sacrificing for the Lord".  Believe me
my outward appearance and attitude
reflected my feeling.  But I soon discovered
that when I humble myself in places no-
body sees, there is less temptation of
pride.  Public humility may bring the
praise of men and woman, but private
humility will bring the public grace and
favor of God.  AND THE GRACE OF GOD
PUTS THE DEVIL ON THE RUN!

Prayer:

Oh God, awesome in power and might.  I
submit to You, to Your authority, to Your
Lordship, to Your power.  There is no God
besides You, I chose humility.  Forgive me
for pride and arrogance.

(Note:  The other day a good friend emailed
the following to me. Whenever things get
rough for you, please remember this letter)

It is not known who replied, but there is a
beautiful soul working in the dead letter office
of the US postal service.

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month.
The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter
Meredith was crying and talking about how
much she missed Abbey.. She asked if
we could write a letter to God so that
when Abbey got to heaven, God would
recognize her. I told her that I thought
we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She
died yesterday and is with you in heaven.
I miss her very much. I am happy that you
let me have her as my dog even though
she got sick.
I hope you will play with her.. She likes to
play with balls and to swim. I am sending
a picture of her so when you see her You
will know that she is my dog. I really miss
her.
Love, Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a
picture of Abbey and Meredith and
addressed it to God/Heaven. We put
our return address on it. Then Meredith
pasted several stamps on the front of the
envelope because she said it would take
lots of stamps to get the letter all the
way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped
it into the letter box at the post office. A few
days later, she asked if God had gotten
the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped
in gold paper on our front porch addressed, '
To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith
opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers
called, 'When a Pet Dies...' Taped to the
inside front cover was the letter we had
written to God in its opened envelope.
On the opposite page was the picture
of Abbey &Meredith and this note:


Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven.
Having the picture was a big help.
I recognized Abbey right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit
is here with me just like it stays in your
heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since
we don't need our bodies in heaven, I
don't have any pockets to keep your
picture in, so I am sending it back to
you in this little book for you to keep
and have something to remember
Abbey by..
Thank you for the beautiful letter and
thank your mother for helping you write
it and sending it to me. What a wonderful
mother you have. I picked her especially
for you.
I send my blessings every day and
remember that I love you very much.
By the way, I'm easy to find, I am
wherever there is love.

Love,
God

AND THEY ALL SAID AMEN!

How You Can Make a Fresh Start
Whitney Hopler


Do you feel stuck? Maybe you don't
like the way your life has been going
lately, but can't seem to change it.

No matter how stuck you may have
become, you can move forward with
God's help. Here's how you can make
a fresh start to change your life for the better:

#11. Redeem rejection. Memories of past
rejections can leave you stuck without the
will to take new risks and try to pursue God's
best for your life. But while people in our
fallen world will inevitably let you down, God
will always be there for you when you need
Him. You can have complete confidence that
God loves you unconditionally and will help
you move forward with your life to fulfill good
purposes. Choose to live to please God,
not other people.
Ask God to help you see the potential that
He sees in your life. Pray to have compassion
on the people who reject you, realizing that
they're hurting people in need of God's grace,
just like you. Let your experiences of rejection
make you a more compassionate person toward
other people. Invite God to pour out His love
through your life to help heal the pain that others
feel and draw them to Him.

#12. Attack anger. If you're stuck in anger,
God will give you the peace you need to
overcome it. Delay responding immediately
to people and situations that make you angry.
Step back to ask yourself, "Why am I really
angry?" Realize that anger is a secondary
emotion; try to identify what the primary emotion
is that's causing your anger (frustration,
disappointment, annoyance, fear, etc.).
Defuse your anger by choosing to respond
in a peaceful way, despite your feelings
(such as deleting an offensive e-mail without
reading it or making a joke about a hurtful
comment someone makes). After you've
had enough time to calm down, you can
confront the people who make you angry
through calm conversations that let them
know how they made you feel. Pray for
the wisdom and power you need to choose
peace over anger.

{Adapted from Fresh Start: God's Invitation to
a Great Life copyright 2009 by Doug Fields.
Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers,
Nashville, Tn., www.thomasnelson.com.

Article publication date: August 20, 2009