The Carpenter

An elderly carpenter told his contractor of his plans to retire. The contractor asked him to build one more house as a personal favour.

The carpenter agreed to do it. Yet, this time, the carpenter didn't put his heart into his work; he used cheap materials and bad workmanship.

After the house was finished, the contractor came by and told the carpenter, "Here is the key to the front door. The house is my gift to you for your years of service." What a shock! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well. So it is with us. We are now living the life we have built.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Each action you take is a nail hammered, a board placed, or a wall erected. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and choices you make today.

Quotes: "Do not throw the arrow, which will return against you." – Kurdish Proverb

"Anyone can predict your future, all they have to do is take a close look at the actions that you are taking today"
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As He Is, So We Are

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world - 1 Jn. 4.17.

The beginning of our Christian experience according to John was the gift of the power to become sons of God. If no other portion of the scripture was written to expatiate on this, we would have been locked, as we think, to a state far away from God's transcedence; a state that we can only escape bye and bye.

That power works in us now, not just to reveal Christ in us, but to do the same through us. He came to this world and "... became what we are that he might make us what he is" (Athenasius of Alexandria).

The love of God is perfected to us in that as His beloved "...now are we the sons of God..." because as he is, so are we in this world. What a glorious basis for boldness when we shall appear before Him.

Let this mind be in you.
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PRAYER GRASPS ETERNITY

"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display one's talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.

Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of praver. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.

The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of prayer-the highest ministry of all human offices-is open to all. Spiritual adolescents say, "I'll not go tonight, it's only the prayer meeting." It may be that Satan has little cause to fear most preaching. Yet past experiences sting him to rally all his infernal army to fight against God's people praying. Modern Christians know little of "binding and loosing," though the onus is on us-"Whatsoever ye shall bind..." Have you done any of this lately? God is not prodigal with His power; but to be much for God, we must be much with God.

This world hits the trail for hell with a speed that makes our fastest plane look like a tortoise; yet alas, few of us can remember the last time we missed our bed for a night of waiting upon God for a world-shaking revival. Our compassions are not moved. We mistake the scaffolding for the building. Present-day preaching, with its pale interpretation of divine truths, causes us to mistake action for unction, commotion for creation, and rattles for revivals.

The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning. We are beggared and bankrupt, but not broken, nor even bent.

Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. "Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try," and yet so sublime that it outranges all speech and exhausts man's vocabulary. A Niagara of burning words does not mean that God is either impressed or moved. One of the most profound of Old Testament intercessors had no language "Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." No linguist here! There are groanings which cannot be uttered."

Are we so substandard to New Testament Christianity that we know not the historical faith of our fathers (with its implications and operations), but only the hysterical faith of our fellows? Prayer is to the believer what capital is to the business man.

Can any deny that in the modern church setup the main cause of anxiety is money? Yet that which tries the modern churches the most, troubled the New Testament Church the least. Our accent is on paying, theirs was on praying. When we have paid, the place is taken; when they had prayed, the place was shaken!

In the matter of New Testament, Spirit-inspired, hell-shaking, world-breaking prayer, never has so much been left by so many to so few. For this kind of prayer there is no substitute. We do it--or die!

Taken from Why Revival Tarries, by Leonard Ravenhill. Copyright 1959, Leonard Ravenhill. Published by Bethany House Publishers.

Christ, Head of the Church

By J. Michael Shannon

Can you believe it? The head of a baby Jesus statue was knocked off and carried away by vandals at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, Wauwatosa, Wis.. The church members are angry and looking to get the statue fixed. If the head is not found, the church will have to replace the entire statue at $12,000.

Disturbing! Isn't it? We often have done something worse without even knowing it. The Bible says Christ is the head of the church, and frequently we assume we are. Understanding that Christ is the head of the church will not solve all our problems, and we still will debate and discuss what we think Jesus would have us do; but it is guaranteed that if we take Jesus away from His place as head of the church it is a prescription for disaster.
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