March 6, 2002
The Essence of Courage
What is courage? Synonyms for courage include bravery, boldness, resoluteness, and pluck. Confidence is the root of courage. If you are confident in God's complete power, control, wisdom, and goodness, you'll definitely make courageous choices. You'll be bold and willing to take risks. Courage is abstract, but becomes tangible in our choices and actions. Opposites of courage are cowardice, timidity, hesitance, backing down, and turning back. You might be wondering why I didn't list fear. As someone has said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but making the right choice in the face of fear."
Let me make this clear: The kind of courage I'm talking about is not SELF-confidence, but a deep down GOD-confidence and a wild abandonment to Him. I'm talking about a boldness that comes from believing God is great and choosing to trust Him no matter what. It's an inner strength from God in a heart madly in love with Him. This is Jesus' kind of courage-sometimes surprising, always admirable. Jesus knew who he was and where he was going. He knew his father was the King of the Universe. As one songwriter put it, He "lived and breathed for an audience of One."
Courage and self-confidence are two character qualities that seem identical, yet really are opposites. Suppose you meet someone who keeps her poise in a difficult circumstance. She is resilient in the face of failure. After making a choice, she is resolute. She sometimes makes decisions that seem rash to others. She speaks boldly when needed. She may defy authority or popular opinion. Is this person courageous or merely self-confident? The difference is at the heart. If we look closely, we can tell that the heart of courage is dependence and the heart of self-confidence is independence. Courage comes from being sure of God, but self-confidence comes from being self-sure. Courage denies self and rises above fear while self-confidence promotes self and scoffs at fear. Courage flows from loving Jesus; self-confidence flows from loving self. Courage knows, "I'm weak, but Jesus is strong and right." Self-confidence thinks, "I 'm strong and right." To sum it up, courage boils down to trust; self-confidence boils down to pride. They may look the same at first glance, but courage and self-confidence are completely different qualities.
Throughout the book of Acts, there are incredible stories of Peter, John, Barnabas, Paul, and other believers saying things that only men with courage would dare to say. Peter and John were arrested and brought before the highest officials in the Jewish council. The officials demanded to know by whose power Peter and John had healed a crippled man. Peter answered so boldly that the leaders were astonished. They could see Peter and John were ordinary men, and then remembered they had been with Jesus. The apostles showed great courage in the way they spoke for Jesus. "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things we have seen and heard." They didn't worry about what the powerful leaders thought or what those leaders would do. Peter and John spoke truth and were a wonderful testimony of Jesus. They spoke for Him again and again regardless of threats of imprisonment, torture, and death that were often carried out. Their lives are shining examples of the courage that causes men to say things they wouldn't otherwise say.
To care for soldiers, Clara Barton bravely went to Civil War battles. She was a nurse on the front line-an extremely dangerous job-and said her place was "anywhere between the bullet and the battlefield." She went to Antiem, one of the bloodiest fights of the war. While traveling with Union troops, she went without food and slept outside on the ground. Clara Barton wasn't even a Christian, yet she risked her life out of love for fellow humans. How much more should we, who have God's love in our hearts, take courage and go places we wouldn't otherwise go, in obedience to Him? Once, Barton held the operating table steady for a surgeon when shells started exploding nearby. (The surgeon later called her "the angel of the battlefield.") She didn't flee, but made the right choice in the face of fear.
Countless believers have refused to deny Jesus, and have even loved and prayed for their persecutors. Their stories are sweet with the fragrance of courage. Liuba Ganevskaya was imprisoned, beaten, and starved by Russian communists. God told her, "You and your torturers pass through the same vale of tears." Courageously, she smiled at a guard when he raised a whip to beat her. He was stunned, and asked why. She expressed such love and vision for him that he left, never the same. A communist officer told a Christian he was beating, "I am almighty as you suppose your God to be. I can kill you." The Christian bravely answered, "The power is all on my side. I can love you while you torture me to death." Tom White, an American missionary, was arrested in Cuba after his plane crashed there. He was put in a pitch-black, cold room. Once, when he was being harshly interrogated, God gave him a measure of pity and compassion. He boldly stared directly into the captain's eyes and prayed for him for hours. "Break through, Jesus. He is the one in the cold, for he has never known the warmth of Your love." Instead of getting angry, the captain grew uncomfortable and his heart was touched. These stories are examples of the courage that is so precious to God.
In many ways, courage is like a tree growing in the heart. A tree must be planted deep in good soil. Likewise, courage must be firmly planted in the soil of faith. Also, a tree produces fruit. Courage grows fruit too-courageous actions. They are refreshing and sweet when tasted by others, with a delightful scent of Jesus. (Someone who hates Jesus won't like courage-fruit very much.) Furthermore, fruit on a tree doesn't decide to grow-it happens naturally. In the same way, someone who does something brave usually isn't thinking, "Ok, now I'm going to be brave." A brave choice comes spontaneously if courage is alive in someone's heart. Unfortunately, a tree can be killed by disease. Similarly, courage can be destroyed or never begin to grow if we allow the disease of self-life in our heart. But, in real choices every day, we can reject self-life. Those decisions protect and nurture courage like a tree protected from disease. Just as a tree needs and grows toward sunlight, we can look toward Son-light with the eyes of our heart and talk to Jesus, the shining, risen Person! Courage flourishes in a heart that's filled with His Light and friendship. Finally, a tree doesn't strive to grow. Likewise, we don't have to strive to be courageous if we are truly born from above. We must only provide the right environment. If courage is rooted in good soil, is protected from disease, and has plenty of light, it will become beautiful and strong, producing good fruit.
Courage can be a choice to deny your self, to go forward in spite of fear. That choice is essential for growing into all God wants you to be. A saying goes: "You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." The choice of courage is a must for Jesus' followers. "Whenever you see a person who truly knows Jesus, a man or woman who experiences and imparts Resurrection Life to those around him or her-you have met someone who is the product of courageous decisions" (adapted from Peter Drucker). Courage causes you to go places you wouldn't otherwise go, say things you wouldn't want to say, and continue to give and love even when it hurts. God can use that kind of courage in His Kingdom.
Written by a 15 year young sister in Christ who wants to remain anonymous
March 13, 2002
"PROPHETIC WARNING: JESUS...ALONE!"
Some excerpts from an evening "the whole church" was together (1 Corinthians 14:23-33), joined "in progress" :)
A few days ago something happened that could be described as prophetic. The substance and the warning of it all basically boiled down to something that God wants absolutely clear in every single heart in this room. He wants it saturating your mind and your thoughts and your responses to everything. This subject has shown up in about a dozen individual situations since then, but I'm positive that it has application for the church as a whole.
You'll remember that the disciples said, "Show us the Father and that will be enough for us." What were they really wanting? What did they expect? What did they demand from Jesus? It seems clear that they thought that what they had wasn't enough. What was it that they wanted that would be enough for them? What was it that they had in their minds that they thought they would run after and get? What were they begging God to show them?
Let's see if I can't try and put this into words.
"Father, we pray to You that if this has application to us, You would bring clarification to each of our hearts as to what it's about. I know the ramifications of not getting hold of this are devastating and far reaching into every family. I know that it's your heart and desire to awaken us all to these things. So I pray, Father, that you would help us now to grab hold of them and to apply them in our lives."
What are We Looking for?
I was talking to someone a couple of days ago who was talking about being faithful. This same conversation had also taken place several times in several different ways. We were talking about how there's one way to be faithful where we're not feeling anything and it's not the way we want it to be right now. But we say, "That's okay. We'll be faithful until it gets to be the way we want it to be."
That may be a minor step up from just despairing and dragging our feet until somehow we get to a new level of adrenaline. But there is a kind of faith that isn't like that. There is a faith that isn't just a hanging on, isn't a "being faithful" with a long face because after all, we don't have any adrenaline or anything lighting our fire at the moment. But we're being faithful anyway. We moan and groan and make it through by thinking, "We just need to be faithful; we're in a dry time right now."
It doesn't need to be that way. We can have an energy that comes from being totally dedicated to the historical fact that Jesus died and rose again, and He is coming back. See, faithfulness until the dry times are over implies that I am demanding something else from God. I want something else. "I want the Father, and that will be enough." "I want something else out of it and I'm not content with the way it is. But I'll hang on with the slim hope that maybe someday it will be better. Maybe someday I'll feel more spiritual and good things will happen. I'll just well up inside with good things happening.
Jesus said it very clearly, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.". He overcame death; He overcame sin and He holds the keys of death and Hades. It is a fact: He is coming back. He is coming back on the clouds the same way He left. It is a fact.
What Jesus Has Done is More than Enough for Us
Now you can hang on in faithfulness, waiting for an experience to happen to you again or waiting to feel an experience for the first time. Or you can say, "It is a historically documented fact that 2,000 years ago Jesus rose from the dead. He did this after He had already established Himself as being a force to be reckoned with by these facts: walking on water, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, and calming the storms." He did anything and everything He wanted to do at the Father's beckoning because God said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him." Listen to Him. Obey Him. Walk with Him. "The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent." "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
The facts are the facts. Faithfulness isn't some kind of substitute for feeling until you get the feeling back. Faithfulness is obedience because God is God and it is so. The sign of Jonah is sufficient: three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. Then, God confirmed His servant Jesus, raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand forever and forever and forever. He has given Him the name above every name. It is so. It is finished.
That's a different kind of faithfulness than hanging on until I feel something and thinking, "Well, I'll just do the right things. If I keep on doing the right things, then maybe it will turn out all right." God doesn't need to do any more right things. When Philip said, "Show us the Father and that will be enough," Jesus replied, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." I've done my work. I have accomplished what I have come to accomplish. I humiliated the principalities and powers. "It is finished." The cross and all that the cross represents is a historical fact, as well as a hope for the future. No matter what you ever feel, no matter what happens inside of your head or inside of your belly, no matter if your backbone gets shivers up and down it or your words ever come out in some powerful way, (which is just not necessarily going to happen)--it doesn't matter anyway. Trust your life to the God who died for you. Period. Go on because He is coming back and that's the blessed hope. And if you happen to groan, as the creation itself groans, until He returns, until you see Him face to face, know this: when you see Him face to face, you'll be like Him. You'll see Him as He is. The work of the redemption of your body, your soul and your spirit will be accomplished.
In the meantime, don't bypass something that is so precious and so important and so powerful by looking for something else. Don't be movement-oriented; be Jesus oriented. Don't be things or feeling-oriented; be Jesus oriented. Don't be Jesus oriented in the sense that you have to feel something; be Jesus oriented in the sense that God has shown Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. "And now there is one mediator between God and man. He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for you and is an advocate before the Father on your behalf." These things are facts. You need to establish yourself in these facts and stand on these facts. That is the only way you will ever walk in the courage and the hope that He means for you to walk in. Faith isn't waiting or hanging on until you feel something. Faith is establishing yourself on the fact of Jesus Christ and all that He has done.
If you need to add something to the work of Jesus Christ; if you feel you have to have something beyond what Jesus had accomplished when He said, "It is finished," then you are really making a mistake. Even though God does wonderful things, it's a wicked and adulterous generation that demands a sign beyond the sign of Jonah. Don't demand that. Walk forward in courage expecting God to confirm His Word, but don't demand anything else. You'll be surprised at how freeing; how liberating that is.
Jesus is Enough for Anybody, Anytime
There's a guy that I met early one morning a couple of weeks ago in Tarkington Park. He's a cocaine dealer and a number of other things. After I talked with him awhile, I went away from the conversation frustrated because I couldn't find any words and what I did say sounded dumb. I don't think he knew that, but it did. Well, he called me a couple of days ago, and I got with him again yesterday. I was very prayerful about it knowing how I bungled it the first time.
He is this super-cool guy with all the jargon. He is just one of those guys with whom there is no way to compete. Anyway, God really did give me utterance yesterday. I was really, really impressed with God, because God shattered the guy's coolness. He got right to the core of things even through my bungled, vain attempts just a couple of weeks earlier. It was really a powerful time.
Earlier, the guy told me he had some CAT scans and other tests done because of this massive pain on one side of his head. He said the doctors had never been able to find anything. He also said that the pain happens particularly when it's raining. Of course, yesterday it had been raining all day. Well, we had just one more real piercing thought that was really just God, for sure and he started to walk away and push the door closed. But then he reopened the door and walked back around. He said something like, "You're not going to believe this, but the whole time we were together, my headache was totally gone." I kind of grinned and said something like, "Fancy that." Then he said, "No really! It's totally gone." And I said, "Well, think about it." He closed the door and went on.
I use that as an illustration because I didn't demand that of God. I didn't make that happen. How could I have made that happen? But somehow God did, in the simplicity of just saying, "Look John , here's the way it is--you've tried everything else and so have I. Here's the way it is." In the midst of just saying, "The sign of Jonah is all you get," God made something special happen. It needs to come back to the simplicity of just saying: "Jesus is enough for anybody, anytime--and you too. I offer you nothing but the risen Lord. I offer you nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. It's settled. That's all. If that is not enough for you, then nothing ever will be. I'm not dangling anything in front of you. I proclaim a risen Lord, forgiveness of sins, and life in His name. Period." God works through that. But He had to work some stuff out of me to be able to have done that. I went into that first round nose to nose with John and tried to be as cool he was. I had a mindset of how I was going to show him a thing or two, and I got butchered. He ran circles around me. My head was spinning by the end of my first time with him. He was just too cool. I couldn't deal with it. But when I emptied myself of that and said, "Look, I've got one thing to say, 'Jesus Christ, Him crucified, Him raised: He is standing in glory at the Father's right hand and the trumpet is at Gabriel's lips--and you better be ready.'" Then I was as surprised as John was. I wasn't really surprised about his headache being gone as much as I was just grinning about it. It was the product of God demonstrating simplicity; the simplicity that God works through.
No Demands--Just Jesus
I say all of that to say: "Yes, there is more--God does do more." But it only comes when we're fully devoted to the one thing. It comes when we put behind us every demand we have of God. We put behind us every expectation that God would do something marvelous to make us do this, to make us feel this way, to solve this problem, and that problem too. Jesus said, "What else do you want, Peter? What else do you want, Philip? When you've seen me, you have seen the Father. When you have Me--you have everything. You have the Door, you have the Vine, you have the Resurrection, you have the Life. You have everything when you have Me. "Don't be looking for other things--Jesus plus something. You have heard that phrase used in regard to your faith: faith plus anything is an abomination. If you have to add something to your faith in Jesus, then it can't be right.
I want to say this about a walk with God. Jesus plus anything; a demand of anything beyond Jesus is wrong. Anything beyond our names being written by the Lamb's blood in the Book of Life is a faulty expectation, and God will have to purge you of that. Don't be looking for a movement or a feeling; but simply acknowledge that what God did 2,000 years ago is sufficient for you. It is finished. God dying for you is sufficient. Is it not?
It's a historical fact. This is the work of God: to believe on the One whom He sent. Don't put demands on God. Don't demand signs from Him in your own personal life; just trust Him implicitly. Though He slay you, still trust Him. Fall down and worship Him when the worst things that could possibly happen end up happening. Do not have a faithfulness until somehow God makes you feel better; but have a faithfulness because His work is finished. I don't put any demands on God for the Church or for my own personal life beyond the work of Jesus Christ, which historically began 2,000 years ago, and was historically completed in Jesus by His blood.
That was what was tied into the warning that came a few days ago. I dare say that anybody who would demand more than the foundation of Jesus Christ to place their faith in and to base their life on, anyone that would demand more than that in their own personal lives or even in the Church, will go through some severe trials, because God wants nothing but His Son elevated and exalted.
I say that as a warning because probably the most severe internal warning of my life so far, came just a few days ago, and was all related to that. So rest your case in Christ; settle it forever. When you have seen Jesus, you've seen the Father. It is enough for you to share in the life of God by the blood of Christ.
He is ALL You Need--Settle It!
The primary thing I am saying to us as individuals is don't say things like: "I want to feel good. I demand to feel spiritual. If I don't feel spiritual, then I am going to shake my finger at God. I'm going to whine and complain. I am going to make sure everybody else is miserable with me if I don't feel spiritual. I have my rights, you know. My right is to feel spiritual. So, just watch out. If I'm not bursting with joy, energy, peace, the utterance of God and fruitfulness at every turn, then I'm going to make all of the rest of you miserable. I'm going to go from person to person and cry on everybody's shoulders. I'm going to threaten to leave. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. It'll be a big issue." What I am saying is to settle that issue with Jesus Christ and His cross. Period. Every single heart must be SETTLED on faith in Jesus Christ no matter what else happens in your life, good or bad. Forget those things. Settle it completely by faith in Jesus Christ and His life and His death and His return. That's the primary thing that I am saying.
Take it very seriously individually, because I announce to you as clearly as I can, without any particulars, that there will be massive devastation if you demand more than Jesus Christ. We're at the point where it's just very serious. Take it very seriously, personally, no matter what else. If you never see another person in this room after you walk out of here tonight, make sure that Jesus is what your life is about and that you're not wavering one bit. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; therefore, your faith is not shaken by any facts. Jesus Christ of Nazareth who walked on this earth and then died that you could live, and is seated at the Father's right hand, is all you need. Nothing will shake you from that, no matter what it is. Family, friends, possessions: absolutely nothing will cause you to turn back. You'll not be a hypocrite; you'll not live in two worlds. You'll not sellout for anything or anybody. You're going forward based on that one thing, no matter what. No feelings will in any way, shape or form, set you back, or turn you aside. No cost will be too high.
"Our Father, I know these are words of the simplest nature, of the most basic and foundational first principles. But you've placed a real gravity on my heart about making sure that everyone has heard this at least one more time. So, Father, seeing that this is the second testimony, I pray that everyone would be fully attentive. I pray, Father that there wouldn't be anyone who thinks they are beyond this or above it or an exception to it . Instead, I pray that each of us would be fully turned toward You and be absolutely resolved that we need nothing except Your Son. We're grateful for anything else that You may do for us, in us, and through us. The only issue that really matters though, is that You sent Your Son, and we fully trust in that. That's Your work and our work. So we cast our lot with Him forever and will not turn aside. Amen."
I know it's simple and I'm not trying to fill up time. I have just felt the need for several days to say this in the clearest of terms so that everyone would have a chance to resolve it one more time.
Shared and transcribed by Mike Peters
[email protected]
March 20, 2002
Religious Service Attendance
ABC News reports: "Not counting weddings and funerals, 38 percent of Americans say they go to religious services at least once a week. But there are big differences across demographic groups, with self-reported attendance peaking among older people, women, Southerners and Baptists, among others. The biggest gap is between the oldest and youngest age groups. Sixty percent of people age 65 and older report attending religious services at least once a week; among 18 to 30-year olds, just 28 percent go that often. There are other factors. Nearly half of Southerners attend services weekly, substantially more than elsewhere. Forty-four percent of women go weekly, compared to 32 percent of men."
This is an interesting report...not that church attendance equates with being a Christian or being saved --- after all, Salvation is 100% about faith in Christ and really has nothing to do with where, when or how one worships...but add that in to the mix (that all church-goers aren't Christian just like everyone in a coffee shop isn't a cop) and I wonder what the figures would come out to?
Of course, Gallup and Barna do religious polls on a regular basis and I'm sure we'd find quite a few people who profess saving faith in Christ but don't go to church for whatever reason. It just makes me ask the obvious question of "Why?" My guess for the younger crowd (18 to 30-year olds) is that church as they have experienced it has become irrelevant to them. For men of all ages who are almost always outnumbered by women it may have something to do with protecting their vulnerable (and somewhat fragile) male macho image. And of course we always have to factor in people who have had bad experiences in the church and really don't want to go back (statistics say the average person who has been hurt by the church will not return to church - outside of weddings and funerals - for 10 years).
But is "church" a building? Is it an organization? Is it Sunday and Wednesday services? Or is it us...the people...the Body of Christ? Biblically the church is always the people - never the building. The congregation that meets somewhere - with emphasis on the congregation and not the meeting place. The called-out ones. The assembly. Which would indicate that to be church isn't being a lone Christian but to be Christians (plural) who together with our unique mix of spiritual gifts, natural abilities and talents form a unified Body of Christ.
The body is an amazing thing. If I lose my sight, my hearing and smell will try to compensate for the loss. If I lose my arms, I can train myself to eat and write with my toes. But the body is at it's best when all the parts function as they were created to function. And God created each and every one of us with a specific purpose in mind (see Eph. 2:10) and the Holy Spirit has given each and every one of us different and specific gifts which, when used with others who have different gifts, cause us to function as a unified WHOLE and accomplish way more than we could ever do on our own (see 1 Corinthians ch. 12).
"Okay Gary" you may be saying "so what you're trying to tell me is that if I'm not in a church I better join one...is that it?" And my answer is "yes...and no." Back to how do you define church? Is it the structure? Do you need pews? How about a steeple? --- or is it a group of like-hearted individuals pooling their gifts, talents and callings together to reach their little portion of the world for Christ? Whether you meet in a building with stained-glass windows or a storefront or somebody's living room doesn't really matter...but I would encourage everyone to find a group of believers for mutual encouragement, edification, exhortation, admonition, instruction and commission so that together we all might shine as light in the darkness and repair some of the damage that has been done by those who have called themselves cops but were actually only donut-eaters (errrr, I mean called themselves Christians but were actually only religious-service attenders).
Have you been burned by the institutional church and don't want to go back? Trust me, I understand where you're coming from. But don't let the devil make things worse by keeping you away from those who can help you and minister to your deepest needs. Don't let the devil win by convincing you that all churches (meaning congregations) are corrupt. They're not. Jesus said the gates of Hell would not prevail against the church...that is to say, Hell can't keep us from breaking down its doors, grabbing the prisoners within and setting them free. But we need each other to do that...
"But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:24b-27 NIV)
Gary Zanow
The Grace Cyber Cafe
www.new-mercies.org
March 27, 2002
Problems with my Operating System
For some time now I've been troubled with the errors which keep causing my system to crash. Often I'm in the middle of doing something very important when up pops the little dialog window: "Fatal Error has occurred in." and I' m forced to re-boot; sometimes losing what I was working on. I've come to the conclusion that part of my problem has to do with my operating system. Even with regular upgrades it continues to reveal its little quirks and bugs.
My operating system, by the way, is my flesh. It came with my body and it has never really worked the way it was originally designed to work. That's not the fault of the Designer but is a result of a malicious, self-generating virus started by a disgruntled, former employee of the Original Designer.
Besides the problems with my operating system, many of the other programs installed on my hard drive function below the level they were designed to function; sometimes with serious consequences. For example, many times when I'm presented with a file like pretty.grl my operating system attempts to view the file with desire.exe with obviously negative results. Likewise, files ending in *.hrt cause anger.exe to open with bad results.
I think I know the answer (at least in part) to this problem: it all has to do with file associations. desire.exe tries to open pretty.grl because *.grl files have become associated with this particular program. There are at least two ways I can fix this problem: one would be to uninstall desire.exe and the other would be to change the association so that *.grl files open with another program.
Uninstalling is sometimes the best thing to do, especially for programs which offer more harm than good. But I really don't want to uninstall desire.exe because when it functions the way it was designed it opens up files like Terri.wif and seek.God --- likewise anger.exe --- there is a time and a place for anger so I don't want to get rid of that program. So the best soluttion in this situation would be to change the file association so that pretty.grl is opened with selfcontrol.exe and *.hrt files are opened with forgiveness.exe
Now I don't presume that these simple fixes will eliminate all the problems in my life. I have found that sin is like AOL --- even after you uninstall the program you find it has propagated itself all over your computer (in the registry, in the auttoexec.bak, hidden in unrelated program folders, etc.) And even after you manually clean out every trace of AOL, it continues to reinstall visages of itself when you download or install other seemingly, unrelated programs. Such is AOL --- such is sin. I'll never get it completely out of my system in this lifetime but I will continue to deal with it every time I run across it!
The last thing I can never take for granted is that Tech Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.and there's no voice mail or "eternal hold" to endure. All calls get through immediately! Of course, Tech Support is going to direct me back to the Owner's Manual; which is a good thing to keep within reach at all times. It may be hard to read sometimes but I know all the answers can be found in the Book.
In conclusion: I realize that as long as I live in this body I will have to contend with the operating system of my flesh and its little quirks. I keep hoping for a NEW operating system that will make this one obsolete.and I know that one is on the way (REALLY!). Meanwhile, I will continue to use the utilities the Designer has provided me with: like cleaning my hard drive with bloodofjesus.exe and optimizing my connection with worship.exe
"So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:21-25
Gary Zanow
The Grace Cyber Cafe
www.new-mercies.org
P.S. from Jonathan... Currently there is no Mac version of this teaching available. :o)