Activated Magazine 2005 / 06

(Traditional Chinese Activated mag 6 of volume 2--text mostly from English issues January 2003, November 2001and April 2002)

cover--

The Oil Lamp

How to avoid burnout

There is No Limit
What’s stopping you from being all you can be?

You don’t have to be perfect

His Love is unconditional

 

page 2

This is Activated magazine volume 2 issue 6. If you are interested in receiving more issues or ordering some of our inspiring and strengthening Bible-based publications, please write, phone or e-mail us today! Thank you!

(address of various Activated desk around the world)

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Unless indicated otherwise, all
Scripture quotations in Activated! are
from the Chinese Union Bible, Chinese Living Bible,
Modern Chinese Bible and new Chinese Bible.
Personally Speaking
To one degree or another, just about all of us are unsatisfied with ourselves and our circumstances--and that's not necessarily a bad thing. A certain amount of dissatisfaction is necessary if we're ever going to make progress. To become all that we can be, we must dream of being more than we are. The problem is, too many of us stop there, in the dream stage. Why do you suppose that is?
More often than not, it's because we don't think we have what it takes to turn our dreams into reality. And we're usually right about that. We can make some changes by sheer willpower or working harder, like reaching a new sales quota or dropping a dress or pants size. But what about the bigger changes, the changes inside that we know would make us so much happier and enable us to truly make a difference in our corner of the world? It's that kind of change that is usually most elusive.
We're not good enough, we tell ourselves. We have too many flaws and make too many mistakes. It's just not in us! If that's the way you feel, this issue of Activated contains some very good news for you!
Jesus summed it up so simply when He said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). The secret lies in putting ourselves in God's hands and letting Him do the impossible for us and through us and sometimes in spite of us. We're small and weak and incapable, but there is a very big and strong and capable God just waiting to help us. It's a lot easier than you think to make those "impossible" changes in yourself, with Him in control. Just yield to Him..

Hsu Ling
For the Activated family.

page 3
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Thank You, Jesus, that I can trust You in all things. I know You are always going to carry me through. Even when I don't have any strength of my own, You're right there to hold me and carry me and see me through. Thank You for Your wonderful instruction, leading, and guidance. You reach down and take me by the hand and so gently carry me along with such patience. You are everything to me!

 

Chained Eagle

Many people resolve to do this or that, change this or that, break a bad habit, or start a new one. Sometimes it works; often it doesn't. Is that because so many of us are like the bird in the following story?
A man once owned an eagle, and for many years kept him chained to a stake. Every day the eagle walked around and around that stake, and over time wore a rut in the ground. When the eagle was getting old, his master felt sorry for him and decided to set him free. So he took the metal ring off the eagle's foot, lifted the eagle from the ground, and tossed him into the air. He was free-but he had forgotten how to fly! He flip-flopped to the ground, walked back over to his old rut, and started walking in circles like he had for years. No chain and shackle held him, just the habit!
There is a saying: “The chains of bad habits are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken”-and that would be true if it weren't for the Lord and His power. It's not possible for you to change yourself, but it's possible for God to change you by the miracle-working power of His Spirit. He'll do things you can't do!
You may have to put a great deal of your own will to the transformation process as well, but with God's strength and His intervention, you'll find you have more resolve, determination, and ability to change than you ever thought possible. He said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).
This is what it means to “become a new creature in Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV). Jesus coming into your life not only renews and purifies and regenerates your spirit, but it also renews your mind, literally breaking old connections and reflexes and gradually rebuilding it and rewiring it into a whole new computer system with a different outlook on life and a new way of looking at the world, with new reactions to nearly everything around you.
But it's impossible for you to make this change yourself. If you want this change, it's necessary for you to ask Jesus to help. Some changes are instantaneous, others take awhile.-But if you ask Him for help and do your part, you'll be changed, because Jesus changes people!
-Adapted from an article by David Brandt Berg

page 4-7a
There is No Limit
complied from the writings of David Brandt Berg
The more we yield to the Lord and what He knows is best for us and those whose lives we affect by our decisions, the happier we and those others will be. That's why yieldedness to God's will is one of the most important things any of us can ever learn.
It reminds me of what an evangelist once told a former shoe salesman turned preacher: "Dwight L. Moody, there is no limit to what God can do with a man who is yielded and willing to do His will!"
Moody looked him in the eye and replied, "By the grace of God, I am determined to be that man!"--And he was!
A short while later, Moody moved to Chicago where he began telling others about Jesus and what He had done for him. Moody was soon so thrilled to find that he could lead other folks to the Lord, that he quit the shoe business and began serving Him full time. He went on to become one of the world's greatest evangelists. By the time he died in 1899, Moody had led tens of thousands of people to Jesus, and started a number of the ministries that are still going strong today.(Editor’s note: Moody was involved and supporting the operation of YMCA, and had sent many missionaries and workers abroad to serve the Lord.)
But what if Moody had not determined to yield to the Lord? What a sad loss it would have been, not only for him, but also for millions who have since heard the Gospel as a result of that single, resolute decision!
The same holds true for each of us: If we are not yielded and open to God's will in our lives, if we are not willing to do whatever He may ask of us, we'll never be all that God wants us to be or accomplish all that He wants us to do. That would be very sad, not only for us personally, but also for all those that the Lord wants us to reach and help with His love.

"But," you may argue, "I could never do anything great for the Lord, like Moody did! I'm no flaming evangelist or outstanding soul winner." Well, neither was Moody to begin with. He was just a poor farm boy and a below-average student that never made it past the fifth or sixth grade, who became bored with life on the farm and moved to the big city of Boston. After several weeks in the city, he set a new goal for himself: to become a big businessman and to make $100,000 [the equivalent of today's millionaire]. Giving his life to God's service was the last thing on his mind!

In fact, when Moody was first saved, he was so completely ignorant of God's Word and truth that one church committee refused him membership. Some of his friends later said that of all the people they had known, they could hardly think of anyone who seemed less likely to ever become a strong Christian, much less to go on to do what he did for the Lord.

But when Dwight Moody found Jesus and realized how much the Lord had given for him, then he determined to give his life to the Lord and to do whatever God would ask of him. The Bible tells us, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8). This is the secret of success of not just Moody, but of every man or woman whom God has ever used to the full: They drew close to the Lord and relied solely upon Him and His power and His Word for guidance, strength, and inspiration.

Despite all of our faults, weaknesses, and inabilities, there really is no limit to what God can do with us if we will simply turn our lives over to Him and be willing to let Him make us what He wants us to be. Of course, that is a very big "if," because we each have our own free will, and we can choose to either yield to Him and "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33), or we can seek first our own desires and plans and ways. The choice is ours, and whether or not we have His full blessing and His help will depend on whether or not we are willing to give Him first place in our lives.

Many Christians today seem to be more concerned about having God accept what they want to do than they are about accepting what God wants them to do. They're trying to put their programs across to God, to get Him to sign His name and give His approval to their plans. In fact, the question they should be asking themselves is, "Am I willing to sign a blank sheet of paper and let God fill it in without my even knowing what His program is going to be?" instead of asking God for His signature to approve their plan or even being willing to be presented with God's program for their signature. That's the real test of yieldedness!

If you're willing to be what God wants you to be--not what you are, but what God wants you to be--then He can mightily use you. God knows you can't do it yourself. You have to turn your life, your mind, your heart, your everything over to the Lord and let Him make it for you! When you finally get to the point where you surrender to Him, where you let go of your own way and let God have His, then God has a chance to step in and do it--and He will! Just give Him a chance!

When you're giving your all to the Lord, then you don't need to worry about anything. Your entire life is in His hands, under His loving care, and the Devil has nothing that He can get a hold of or lay claim to. In fact, to really overcome the Devil, submission to God's will is exactly what the Lord requires. "Submit to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).

But as long as there are any areas of your life that you're not willing to yield to the Lord, if there's even one little part that you refuse to surrender, the enemy of your soul can use that against you. This is why God's Word tells us to give no place to the Devil (Ephesians 4:27).

It's like the story of Huddersfield: A rich landowner decided to buy the entire village of Huddersfield, and over time he bought every piece of land in the area--every piece, that is, except one little plot. One stubborn old farmer refused to sell his tiny piece of land, and nothing would change his mind. The landowner even offered the farmer much more money than his property was actually worth, but the farmer was so fond of his land that he absolutely refused to sell. When the landowner finally gave up, he tried to encourage himself by saying, "What difference does just one little plot of land make? I've bought everything else, so Huddersfield is mine. It belongs to me!"

But the stubborn old farmer overheard him and said, "Oh, no it doesn't! We own Huddersfield. It belongs to you and me!"

Don't let the Devil be able to say that of you to God! "Aha! Look, God! He's yielded everything except this one little thing! Even though he belongs mostly to You, a little bit still belongs to me!"

To have real peace of heart and mind, you must commit your all to the Lord. Then, when your will is in perfect harmony with God's will, He will bless you with His perfect peace.

So give your all to Jesus. Ask Him to take and use you for His glory, and He will--as much as you will let Him. "There is no limit!" You are His child, and He loves you and will always do His best to make you happy and useful to Him, so that you may bring others the same life and happiness that you have found in Jesus. Do your best for Jesus by yielding to Him today!

Pull Quotes:
Before we can pray, “Lord, Thy kingdom come,” we must be willing to pray, “My kingdom go.”

To win, we must surrender.

 

page 7b

Feeding Reading
Changing for the Better
God wants only the best for us.
Psalm 84:11b
Jeremiah 29:11
Matthew 7:9-11
Luke 12:32
God can and will help us change for the better, if we let Him.
2 Timothy 1:12b
Philippians 1:6
Philippians 2:13
But the natural man resists change.
Psalm 49:11
Mark 7:9
Luke 5:39
Yieldedness to the Lord's will is the key to beneficial change.
1 Samuel 3:18b
Psalm 40:8
Isaiah 64:8
Jeremiah 42:6a
Matthew 6:10b
Romans 8:28
During the changing process, we must do two things: not worry about the past and keep our eyes on the goal ahead.
Philippians 3:13-14
2 Corinthians 4:18
Colossians 3:2
Hebrews 12:2a

pages 8-9
The Oil Lamp
We need to learn to save the first place in our hearts and lives and time for Jesus. We belong to Him first of all, and the first place must belong to Him--for rest and prayer and fellowship with Jesus, and for feeding from His Word. We cannot do the Master's work without the Master's power--and to get it, we must spend time with the Master. Then we must let Him do the work through us. Many people give their needs and problems to the Lord in prayer, but then turn around and try to meet those needs and solve those problems on their own, without depending on the Lord to work on their behalf.
We ought to take a lesson from the oil lamp: It must be the oil that burns and not the wick, for if the wick burns without oil, it will destroy itself. We must immerse ourselves in Jesus and let Him burn to light the way, because if we try to do that ourselves, we'll soon burn out.
The flame of the lamp burns so beautifully and brightly and clearly when the oil burns, but it gets smoky and stinky when just the wick burns. The lamp's wick must be deeply immersed in the oil. Most of the wick is in the oil, and only a tiny tip of it is exposed to the air and the flame. That way, it's mostly oil that burns and very little of the wick--almost none. The oil flows freely through a wick that is deeply soaked in the oil. Then it is the oil that burns and not the wick, and it gives bright, pure, clear light.

"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). It is not I that burn, but Christ must burn within me. You can be a beautiful wick, but you'll burn black with too little oil. You must soak yourself in the oil, so you burn not, but He burns through you. Then you'll give pure light, smokeless light, clear light, beautiful light to all that are in the house (Matthew 5:15-16).
When I was a boy, they had beautiful kerosene lamps in every home, on every table. They had lovely glass bowls for the oil, so you could see their wicks and the level of the oil and knew when to replenish them. The lamp burned best when full of oil. When the level got low, too much of the wick would be out of the oil for the wick to be thoroughly soaked. Then the wick itself would begin to burn faster, and the lamp would give off smoke. We sometimes try too hard, work too hard, and try to do everything ourselves. To paraphrase the chorus of an old Gospel song:
Let go and let God have His wonderful way,
Let go and let God have His way.
He'll fill with His Spirit and burn day by day.
Let go and let God have His way!
Most people don't know much about oil lamps anymore, but something that everyone can relate to is a water faucet. When you turn on a faucet, is the faucet "working"? No, it's not! The faucet is doing nothing. It's pressure behind the water that causes it to flow through the faucet. All you do is turn the handle on the faucet, and the water flows out with effortless ease. The faucet is just the channel, just a hole, to let the water out. You say the faucet's working? The faucet is not working. It's the water pressure that is doing the work. The faucet is just letting it flow. The power isn't in the faucet; the power comes from the gravity feed or pump. The pump or the weight of the water in a tank creates pressure in the water pipe, so all you have to do is turn the tap to release it, and out it flows. You're like the faucet; the Lord is the water pressure. Just open the faucet and let it flow!
So stop trying to do the work yourself, and let God do it. Let go and let God! Just let the Lord through. Let the oil burn. Let the water flow. Let the Lord do it!

**********************
Why Struggle?
Robert G. LeTourneau (1888-1969) invented and manufactured the world's first large earthmoving equipment. He was also a dedicated Christian. One evening he needed to design a piece of machinery that was supposed to be built the next day, but some of the young people from his church were also counting on him to join them in one of their outreach projects. LeTourneau later wrote: "The Lord and I had quite a struggle while I was trying to decide what to do. Although I could not understand how I was going to get the plan drawn for the next morning, I went with the young people and we had a profitable time. I returned home about ten o'clock. Up to that time I had been unable to make a single plan. I sat down at the drafting board, and in about five minutes the outline and plan was as plain as it could be. What is more, the little piece of machinery designed that night has been the key machine in all that I have been building since. It pays to put God first!"

page 10-11

Quiet Time--Your Lifesaver!
--The Secret to Happy Living!

 

Building new habits
Spending time in the Word and prayer is very important to your spiritual growth, fruitfulness, success and happiness.
Maybe you wonder if it’s that important. After all, you’ve been living without it before you knew the Lord. Will it really make such a big difference? Do you really believe that “that time” is that vital?

Importance of little things
But have you ever built a new habit through the years that helped with your life greatly? Life is just built of many little things. And the Lord really cares for you and wants to lighten your load. He’s your Best friend, and He’s longing to give you a helping hand. But how would you get His help and counsel without stopping, looking and listening to Him? Or sometimes you feel your burden and pressure is just too big to handle, and feel weak. Well, actually, that’s a good sign, so that you can ask for His help. There's nothing that's too small or too unimportant to ask the Lord about. And if sometimes you feel you have nothing left to give, no more strength to continue on, this is part of the solution. If you'll let go and let God have His wonderful way, you'll see just how wonderful His way can be!

Work in the flesh or depend on the Lord’s Spirit?
There can be 2 ways to do things: 1) We are the Lord’s, we belong to Him. He created our flesh, gifted and talented each of us with various abilities to get a job done.  And though operating by our own arm is not the best nor the most efficient way to operate, He’s still able to use you in this capacity. However, this is not the best, and if you operate in this way, you'll only reap limited results.
2) On the other hand, operating in the Lord’s Spirit lightens our load, as He is doing the work through us, and it brings lasting results. Whereas operating in our own arm of the flesh we're apt to tire more quickly, and oftentimes suffer stress, strain, worry, and run the high risk of making mistakes.
You desire someone to share your load, and make your life easier and happier and more fun, right? So, what’s the problem? Here’s the answer right here, spend time with the Lord and get His loving help! Actually, the busier you get, the more you need to spend time with Him. You may have to adjust your schedule. You may need to adjust your time with the Lord, the time when you're able to enjoy your private time with Him. Even afterwards, take Him along with you, He will be there to whisper in your ear, to influence your thoughts and actions, and to help you make the important decisions you will need to make in order to get the job done.
You're busy, but because you have Jesus along, you're much more inspired! You're trusting and at ease, knowing He’s right there by your side no matter how difficult the situation, no matter how high the mountain or how impossible the climb may seem, He’s there to carry you through.

Jesus' Quiet Time Testimony!
Rising a great while before day, He went out into a solitary place, and there prayed. He needed that time alone. He needed that time between Him and the Father--for refreshing, for clarity of thought, heart and spirit, for those were busy days. He was surrounded by His team, who needed so much care, love and training. There was always so much to teach them.
So, even Jesus needed that time alone with His Father, how much more we need to spend time with Him?

Everybody has effect on others
Besides, everybody has influences, you influence your family, your co-workers or classmates, the people you’re in contact daily and otherwise. And you need that peace of mind, loving attitude and trusting spirit to carry you through in order to have pleasant and fruitful interaction with others throughout the day. With the Lord’s Sprit filled up within you by taking time with Him first, you can have inspiring and happy day everyday!

How to—some practical tips
So, there’s no question concerning the importance of taking time with Lord. But putting things into practice, takes some serious determination, perseverance and faith to keep going. That’s when you can build a good habit.  You need to start with desperate prayers, asking the Lord to help you. You can schedule this special time with the Lord in the morning before you get into other business, or during your lunch break, or evening time before sleep, or even on public transportation, etc. You can pray and ask the Lord what works best for you. Whatever you choose to do, do it faithfully, and even when sometimes you didn’t do so well, don’t get discouraged, just ask the Lord’s help and try again!
Once you get started, just keep going. Some people say that whatever habit you’d like to build, it takes @ 6 weeks, after that, it will become your life-long habit! Won’t that be great?!

Enjoy life!
Enjoy life, enjoy the loving life with the Lord most of all. He will share your burden, see you through and cheer you up through every circumstances and conditions! Jesus just loves you so much! Take time with Him!!

Reader’s Response
From Yolanda

After I found Jesus, I learned I not only needed to read His Word, but to take the time to pray fervently in order to hear His revelations and answers He had for me.
The biggest problem for people in this modern age is that we seem busy, but actually we are not very busy, because it all depends on how you spend your time. My time is packed out, as I’m a career woman, and I also want to spend time with my kids when I get home. Under these circumstances, in the beginning I just couldn’t find any time for quiet time. Later I learned to make use of the time while driving, and on the plane or ship when I go abroad are also very good opportunities.
Usually, the best time I have, and the time that I’ve chosen, is around 11-12pm, after I finish work and get home, and after my kids and family have gone to bed. I feel that is the best time for me. I spend 30 minutes to an hour reading the Word, telling the Lord everything that happened to me today and everything that I need His help on. I write it all down, pray to God, and then wait for His answer. Sometimes I get His answers or solutions to my problems right away, but I don’t always hear His voice on the matter on the same day. Even though I don’t always hear His voice right away, I have found that Jesus has been using different ways to guide me or help steer the course of my days later, leading me slowly towards the goal.
I think the reason why I can start to be really close to Jesus and feel His help around me every minute of everyday, is because I’ve developed this habit of taking time with Him daily. I’d like to encourage everybody to do the same, to start slow, maybe using the time in the car, on a plane or on a ship, as I did in the beginning. The main point is to spend your own quiet time with Jesus, this way you’ll get a lot of help and have a lot of change.
These changes will be shown in your personality, spirit, heart and relations with others, and will help in breakthroughs of problems with your business and bottlenecks in work, etc. May God bless you and help you to develop such good habits.

 

pages 12 - 13

Interpreting Bible prophecy
PART 3

“Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
By David Brandt Berg

Leave yourself open!
Some people have taken my interpretations of Bible prophecy as gospel fact-incontrovertible and unchangeable-instead of the theories I intended them to be. That’s why I try not to be dogmatic and say it has to be this way or that way, because my interpretations could be wrong.
When I teach classes on Bible prophecy, I often suggest possible interpretations other than the ones I believe to be right; then I say, “But I believe such and such.” Presenting more than one interpretation helps people be better informed and causes them to think for themselves. Also, that way their faith will be less likely to be shaken if the interpretation I favored and taught turns out to be wrong.
Even if you think you can support your view by Scriptures that deal explicitly with a certain Endtime event, and even if you’ve had a direct revelation from the Lord, you’d better always give Him room to clarify things as time goes on.
Don’t get so dogmatic or so set on your interpretations that you can’t change when the Lord shows you something different! You may later find out that your interpretation was wrong, as I have at times. If you don’t leave yourself open for other interpretations-especially when the ones you hold to be right are merely somebody else’s guess or theory, or your own-you are going to be stuck in a rut and resistant to any new idea or thought that God tries to give to you, and He’ll have a mighty hard time getting through to you. Leave yourself open!

What if your interpretation turns out to be wrong?
When Jesus was telling His original disciples about the signs of His second coming, He said, “This generation”-meaning the people who would see the signs He had just finished telling them about come to pass, us who are seeing these things happen today-“this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34). Jesus’ original disciples apparently thought He was talking about them, which shows how wrong people can be if they don’t interpret things right! If they so easily got the wrong interpretation, it can happen to anyone.
So don’t be discouraged if some interpretation you held to be true turns out to be wrong, and don’t throw away your Bible or everything you’ve learned about Bible prophecy. When you find a brown spot on a piece of fruit, you don’t throw away the whole thing; you just cut out the little bad spot and keep the rest that’s good.
I’d much rather change when God shows me something than, through pride or fear of embarrassment, refuse to change my stance on some point of prophetic interpretation. I would rather suffer a blow to my ego and be right, than to refuse to admit I was wrong and stay wrong! A wise man is wiser tomorrow than he was yesterday!

Is Bible prophecy the most important thing?
It is not absolutely necessary that Christians see eye to eye on every detail of Bible prophecy. It is only important that we agree on salvation through Jesus, the basic authority of God’s Word, and our obligation to witness His truth to others so they, too, may experience His love and receive His gift of salvation.
A lot of people have gone astray when they got more interested in splitting hairs over interpretations of Bible prophecy than they were in evangelizing the world. Don’t be led away from the simplicity of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 11:3). “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Children don’t waste most of their time arguing over theological details!
Few people are won to the Lord through esoteric interpretations of Bible prophecy, and those who are stand a much greater risk of losing faith if the interpretations they’ve been taught prove to be wrong. “Whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:8). You may have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but without love it’s nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).
What is the greatest commandment?-To understand every detail of Bible prophecy?-No! The greatest commandment is to love God, and the next greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). Bible prophecy is important, but if you don’t have love, it’s just cold, dead facts and figures. Bible prophecy is important, but love is the most important thing!
So don’t ever get your eyes so much on the details, doctrines, and dogmas of Bible prophecy that you lose sight of the real goal: to reach the world with the message of God’s love in Jesus!
Jesus Himself knew all about the future, but His main mission was to love the world and His main message was the Good News of God’s love and salvation. And what was His last message to His disciples, just before He was arrested, beaten, and crucified?-He spoke to them all about love, that love was the most important thing (John 13:3-17, 34-35; 15:9-13, 17).
May God bless you and make you a blessing to others by helping you spread the Good News-and He will if you will.   •

[Callout:] Don’t be discouraged if some interpretation you held to be true turns out to be wrong.

[Callout:] Children don’t waste most of their time arguing over theological details!

page 13b

Coming Next…

Life is a struggle, and it will always be. There’s a saying about there are 2 kinds of people in the world, the ones that stop when they face difficulties, and another kind are the ones that keep going and overcome when facing difficulties and obstacles. They won’t stop for anything. You often hear the 2nd kind of people who make history.  Yet, how did they do it? Just by their own natural ability and determination? What motivated and inspired them to fight on in spite of adversities? In our next Activated magazine, will share with you some amazing true stories, and practical tips to help you to hang on and not give up! And the victory will be yours in the end!

page 14, 15b

The Master's Hand
A mother once took her young son, who was just beginning to learn to play the piano, to hear the world-famous Polish pianist Jan Paderewski in concert. After an usher had shown them their seats, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. The little boy saw that as his opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that her son was missing.
Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive grand piano on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." At that moment, Paderewski made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing."
Then Paderewski leaned over, reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and added a third part. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.
That's the way it is with our heavenly Father. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful, flowing music. But with the hand of the Master, our life's work truly can be beautiful.
Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Feel His loving arms around you. Know that His strong hands are there, helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called. As long as you're trying your best to do what He knows is best, He'll always be there to love and guide you on to great things.
--Author unknown

Pull Quote: "Don't Quit. Keep playing."

page 15a

Questions and Answers
Q: Sometimes I feel that I'm never going to be good enough to please God. For example, the Bible says that we should pray without ceasing and give our lives in service to Jesus and others, but those goals seem impossibly high. What's the use of even trying?
The Lord gives us goals to help us grow as people, so we'll be happier, and so our lives will be more meaningful and better in every way. He doesn't do it because He wants or expects us to be perfect--in fact, He knows we never will be. It is we who sometimes set unrealistic goals for ourselves and thereby set ourselves up for feelings of failure. The Devil's favorite weapon against Christians is discouragement, and condemnation follows close behind.
When you feel condemned, it's because you think God won't forgive you for something you did wrong. Often the problem is in the "thinking," because the more you dwell on it, the worse it gets. When you give in to condemnation, this effectively cancels out your faith to ask the Lord to help you overcome these negative feelings, because you feel you don't deserve His help or other blessings. When you give in to discouragement and condemnation, you relinquish your power to fight back. Once you're in the pits of condemnation it's very hard to climb out, because the Devil tries to convince you that is right where you belong.
But Jesus knows you perfectly--the good and the bad--and still He offers you His unconditional love. He isn't out there with a clipboard, recording your every slip or fall. Rather, He rejoices each time you make even a small step to follow Him. In His eyes, the only failure is the one who falls and fails to get up to try again. He doesn't even expect you to pick yourself up. He'll reach down and pick you up Himself, and then give you the faith and gumption to keep on going till you get it right. He only asks that you are willing to try, and that you believe He loves you and is there to help. So if you feel condemned, follow these simple steps to victory:
1. Admit that you alone can't attain your goals, and that only Jesus in you can make it.
2. Refuse to believe the Devil when he comes around with condemnation and guilt.
3. Remind yourself that in God's eyes, failure is not in the falling but in not getting up to try again.
4. Thank God that even seeming defeats are victories if you learn from them.
5. When you stumble, refuse to quit. Lean on Jesus. Ask for His perspective. Then get up and try again.
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From Jesus--With Love
There are cycles in life--times in which everything seems to go well, and times when things seem to go badly. I want you to learn to hold on to Me through each phase of the cycle.
When you are faced with a new obstacle or problem, don't let it discourage you and don't worry that you and I together won't be able to overcome it. We will, but you must pass through this low phase of the cycle in the process. Problems cause you to exercise your faith as you rise up to meet them, and that brings the next phase of the cycle: You call on Me for help, and you fight and you win and you make progress. It's like a wheel as it turns: As the top goes down, the bottom comes around to the top and the wheel carries you forward.
Each time you face a new test, you must fight once again. You take up the challenge, call on Me for help, and once again overcome and make more progress. More tests bring more victories. But if at any time you don't seek Me for the solution, if you don't take up the challenge or don't fight through to victory, you stop the cycle. You remain at the low point and there is no forward motion; you go nowhere.
So don't look at the low points in your life as defeats, but as opportunities to make forward progress. I know it's often difficult to go through these cycles, but you must in order to keep moving forward, so keep at it!