A Message by Billy Graham

One day I went for a walk to meditate. As I watched a bird sitting alone on a fencepost, I thought about a passage of Scripture found in the 102nd Psalm: 


“I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop” (Psalm 102:6-7).

Loneliness has never been a respecter of persons. The world’s greatest artists, writers and composers, kings and queens, carpenters and plumbers have experienced loneliness.

Are you lonely? There are many lonely people today. Loneliness is one of the supreme problems of modern society.But when you are with Christ, you have Jesus as your Lord and companion.Jesus came to a man who was lonely and sick and paralyzed. For 38 years the man had sat in the same spot, lonely and tired, without a friend. This bundle of loneliness and human pain had been buffeted by the surging tides of thousands of people, but Jesus singled him out. He became the man’s friend, and He healed him (John 5:1-9). Jesus will become your friend if you will let Him. Check out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205&version=NIV


Loneliness has an inner dimension. It is a thirst of the spirit, and the roots of loneliness are within each of us. A poll revealed that fear and loneliness can take over a child’s life when a parent suddenly vanishes from the scene—whether a mother or a father, whether from divorce or death—and the child crumbles.

So, first, there is the loneliness of sorrow. The older I get, the more funerals I attend as friends die. Jesus wept at the funeral of a friend. On that occasion He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Think of the hope in that statement. Spiritually we will never die. If we come to Christ, we will be alive with Him forever.

Why We Need Each Other

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 NIV

A mouse looked out through a crack in a farmhouse wall and was distraught to discover a mousetrap. When he went to tell his buddies, the chicken said, 'Sorry, pal, not my problem.' The pig said, 'I'll pray for you.' The cow was busy and said, 'Come back later.' Dejected, the mouse was left alone to handle his problem. That night, a poisonous snake got caught in the mousetrap and when the farmer's wife went to investigate she got bitten. She developed a raging fever, and everyone knows you treat a fever with chicken soup. So the farmer took his axe to the barn for the main ingredient! As his wife's condition deteriorated and neighbours gathered, he had to butcher the pig to feed them. Finally she died. So many people came to the funeral that he ended up slaughtering the cow to make dinner for them all. In the end, everybody lost!

 ¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”^[a] 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

(Romans 15:1-7 NIV)

Before deciding somebody else's problem has nothing to do with you, read this: 

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 

(1 Corinthians 12:26 NIV) 

You can't sit on the sidelines while someone's hurting; tomorrow it may be you! We are told to 

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

(Galatians 6:2 NLT) 

When one of us is threatened we're all at risk.

Our lives are woven together for a reason; each of us is a vital thread in another person's tapestry.

Regards,

Samuel Machado

Do you know what is in the center of the HOLY BIBLE

Q: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?  A: Psalms 117  Q: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?  A: Psalms 119  Q: Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?  A: Psalms 118  Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118 Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118 Add these numbers up and you get 1188.  Q: What is the center verse in the Bible?  A: Psalms 118:8  Q: Does this verse say something significant about God's perfect will for our lives?  The next time someone says they would like to find  God's perfect will for their lives and that they want to  be in the center of His will, just send them to the center of His Word!  "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."  Psalms 118:8  Now isn't that odd how this worked out (or was God in the center of it)?  Jesus is our perfect example. He never trusted in man at any time.  He always held on to God the Father Even when it came to the cross… It is the same kind of faith God expects from us. "Father God bless my friend in whatever it is that you know  he/she may be needing this day! And may his/her life be full of your peace, prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with You. In Jesus Name. Amen"  When things get tough, always remember...  Faith doesn't get you around trouble, it gets you through it !!  God Bless You!  Regards, Samuel Machado

Read 1 Corinthians 13 and John 3:16

See http://www.poemsource.com/Christian-valentine-poems.html for some amazing Christian Valentine Poems by Joanna Fuchs

And its that time again when people go crazy trying to express their "love" for the ones in their lives.I ask you, why do you need a special day to express ur love? Coming to the more important point, we should realise that no one loves us like God does (John 3:16). He has been there with us since our creation, at every step of our lives, helping us out. Thus, we should give Him more priority and love than anything/anyone else in our lives.

May Jesus Bless u all...

Kiran

God & the Geese

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about faith and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Christ, despite his disparaging comments.           

One snowy Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived. They were to talk about Jesus' birth. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to earth as a man? That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of  wild geese.

Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. 

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. 

The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

"Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud.Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms, as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn - and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. 

"Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"

                                                                         

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind, lost, perishing.  God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. 

  

He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

"Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

Regards,

Samuel Machado

The Birth of the Song: `Precious Lord'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as1rsZenwNc

Br. Thomas Andrew Dorsey wrote this song Back in 1932,

I was 32 years old and a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a little apartment on Chicago's South side. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St. Louis, where I was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. I didn't want to go. Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child. But a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis.I kissed Nettie good-bye, Clattered downstairs to our Model A and, in a fresh Lake Michigan Breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route 66.

However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back. I found Nettie sleeping peace-fully. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay. But eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music case.

The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST  DIED.

People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was' Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.'       

When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby died.I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart. For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well.

But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis. Something kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died.      

 

From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially a friend, Professor Fry, who seemed to know what I needed. On the following Saturday evening he took me up to Malone's Poro College, a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head they just seemed to fall into place:

'Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, and let me stand!

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the storm,

through the night, lead me on to the light,

take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'       

The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest From God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power. And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home.

- Thomas Andrew Dorsey

An Anonymous Phone Call

Isn't it amazing how God works in our lives! 

On a Saturday night several weeks ago, the pastor was working late, and decided to call his wife before he left for home. It was about 10:00 PM, but his wife didn't answer the phone. The pastor let the phone ring many times. 

He thought it was odd that she didn't answer, but decided to wrap up a few things and try again in a few

minutes. When he tried again she answered right away.  He asked her why she hadn't answered before, and she said that it hadn't rung at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry ways.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office, which was the phone that he'd used that Saturday night. The man that he spoke with wanted to know why he'd called on Saturday night. The pastor couldn't figure out what the man was talking about. Then the man said, "It rang and rang, but I didn't answer." The pastor remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he'd intended to call his wife.

The man said, "That's, OK.  Let me tell you my story.

You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, 'God if you're there, and you don't want me to do this, give me a sign now.' At that point my phone started to ring. 

I looked at the caller ID, and it said,

'Almighty God'.  I was afraid to answer!"

The reason why it showed on the man's caller ID that the call came from

"Almighty God" is because the church that the pastor attends is called Almighty God Tabernacle!!...... :-)

Our Lord cares for us at all times...