Thank You Lord is a monthly Christian newsletter created to PRAISE, HONOR, and MAGNIFY our Lord and Savior Jesus.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 Publisher: RevKim                                       January 2009 

Number 146

                                                                     

2 Peter 1

Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith as precious as our own, given through the saving justice of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge or our Lord.

By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, the greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption rife in the world through disordered passion. With this in view, do your utmost to support your faith with goodness, goodness with understanding, understanding with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with devotion, devotion with kindness to the brothers, and kindness to the brothers with love. The possession and growth of these qualities will prevent your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffectual or unproductive. But without them, a person is blind or short-sighted, forgetting how the sins of the past were washed away. Instead of this, brothers, never allow your choice or calling to waver; then there will be no danger of your stumbling, for in this way you will be given the generous gift of entry to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That is why I will always go on recalling the same truths to you, even though you already know them and are firmly fixed in these truths. I am sure it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to keep stirring you up with reminders, since I know the time for me to lay aside this tent is coming soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I shall take great care that after my own departure you will still have a means to recall these things to mind.

When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not slavishly repeating cleverly invented myths; no, we had seen his majesty with our own eyes. He was honored and glorified by God the Father, when a voice came to him from the transcendent Glory, This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favor. We ourselves heard this voice from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have confirmation of the words of the prophets; and you will be right to pay attention to it as to a lamp for lighting a way through the dark, until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds. At the same time, we must recognize that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. For no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them.

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JESUS LOVES YOU SO MUCH HE DIED FOR YOUR SINS, WAS BURIED, AND WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD! 

Happy New Year!

Getting Back on Plan!

Acts 14:24-26a 

After going through Pisidia, they [Paul and Barnabas] came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch.

Thought for Today:

Paul and Barnabas certainly had some interesting experiences on this, their first missionary journey. They were shunned, rejected, run out of town, and stoned. They performed miracles, preached with boldness, converted many new believers, formed churches, and appointed elders. I wonder if, when they started, they had a detailed plan or if they just let the Holy Spirit guide them day by day. I wonder if, before they started, they did a goal setting exercise (i.e. "We're going to make fifty presentations of the Gospel, form five new churches, and baptize 100 new believers") and established a formal travel itinerary ("We're going to go through Pisidia on the 15th, stopping in Perga for three days and hold two seminars each day at the Holiday Inn, before going on to Attalia on the 18th"). I don't think so. I think they had a general idea of where they were going to go and what they were going to do, but from there they let the Lord lead.

From our passage today it seems that Paul and Barnabas were back on a schedule: through Pisidia, into Pamphylia, preach in Perga, down to Attalia, now back to Antioch. But whose schedule were they on, theirs or the Lord's? Do you think they got up each morning with their day so tightly booked they knew exactly the number of minutes allocated for lunch? I don't think so. Instead they probably knew generally where they were going and when they would be there (as our passage today reflects), but they allowed the Lord to mold their day and agenda.

The point I'm trying to make is this: when doing the Lord's will in ministry, mission, or life we need to keep our schedules and our minds open otherwise we might miss a great opportunity to serve the Lord.  This happens many times today with everything trying to fit in just right. Be open to what the Lords will is and how the Holy Spirit directs,  even if it means deviating from the set schedule.

 

Questions to think about:

The Lord from time to time will interrupt your nice, neat organized plans with His own plans. Are you paying attention or are you so committed to your schedule that you ignore the Lord's voice? Certainly a positive intention (what do you want to accomplish and how is it going to happen) is necessary when beginning any new enterprise. But this can sometimes lead to rigid thinking and we can lose the Lord in our planning. What plans have you made that don't include the Lord? What schedule have you created that hasn't allowed flexibility for the Lord's re-direction? Is it time to re-evaluate? What is the Lord's will? Don't feel like you've failed if the Lord re-organizes or re-prioritizes your day, just remember to follow Paul and Barnabas' example and get back on plan after you have completed the task. (Author Unknown)

 

A Special Thank You to Pastor Dennis for sending us this - "A Little Thought Stimulation"

Let's think about our time today and dedicate it to God!

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Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.   JESUS

JESUS LOVES U!  BELIEVE!

 


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