MODELS FOR IMITATION
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Posted:Nov 9, 2006 9:35 pm
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 835 Views
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MODELS FOR IMITATION
You became followers of us and of the Lord. ‒ 1 Thessalonians 1:6
Leslie Strobel became a Christian in 1979 and modeled her faith in such a way that it influenced her atheistic husband Lee to begin his own search for God. In this book “The Case for Christ” he tells of his 2 years of intensive research that finally led him to receive Jesus as his Savior. With a law degree from Yale and an award-winning career in journalism at Chicago Tribune, Lee had the ability to answer tough questions raised by unbelievers and cynics.
The change of his life also influenced their 5-year-old Alison, who said, “Mommy, I want God to do for me what He’s done for Daddy.” Leslie’s faith created a ripple effect that changed the whole family.
This pattern of modeling or imitating is what Paul described in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. His example, along with that of Silas and Timothy, motivated the new believers in Thessalonica to imitate them (the word followers carries that idea). Then, as these new believers suffered for Christ with patience and endurance, they in turn became models to believers in Macedonia and Achaia, inspiring them to new levels of devotion.
Our example can be our most persuasive influence for Christ. Do others imitate us because we model Him? -- HVL |
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Our Daily Bread
Vol.8
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The Prayer of Jabez
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Posted:Nov 7, 2006 8:17 am
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 827 Views
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The Prayer of Jabez
LIVING LARGE FOR GOD
Oh, that you enlarge my territory! The next part of Jabez prayer–a plea for more territory–is where you ask God to enlarge your life so you can make a greater impact for Him.
From both the context and the results of Jabez’s prayer, we can see that there was more to his request than a simple desire for more real estate. He wanted more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for God of Israel.
Depending on the version you’re reading, the word territory can also be translated coast or boarders. For Jabez and his contemporaries, that word carried the same emotional power as the words homestead or frontier did for generations of American pioneers. It spoke of a place of one’s own with plenty of room to grow.
In Jabez time part of Israel’s recent national history was Joshua’s conquest of Canaan and the partitioning of the Promised Land into chunks of real state for each tribe. When Jabez cried out to God, “Enlarge my territory!’ he was looking at his present circumstances and concluding, ‘Surely I was born for more than this!’ As a farmer or herdsman, he lookes over the spread his family had passed down to him, ran his eye down the fence lines, visited the boundary markers, calculated the potential–and made a decision: Everything you’ve put under my care, O Lord–take it, and enlarge it.
If jabez had worked on Wall Street, he might have prayed, “Lord, increase the value of my investment portfolios.” When I talk to presidents of companies, I often talk to them about this particular mind-set. When Christian executives ask me, ‘Is it right for me to ask God for more business?’ my response is, ‘Absolutely!’ If you’re doing your business God’s way, it’s not only right to ask for more, but He is waiting for you to ask. Your business is the territory God has entrusted to you to accept it as a significant opportunity to touch individual lives, the business community, and the larger world for His glory. Asking Him to enlarge that opportunity brings Him only delights.
Suppose Jabez had been a wife and a mother. Then the prayer might have gone: “Lord, add to my family, favor my key relationships, multiply for Your glory the influence of my household.” Your home is the single most powerful arena on earth to change the life for God. Why wouldn’t He want you to be mighty for Him?
No matter what your vocation, the highest form of Jabez’s prayer for more territory might sound something like:
O God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I may touch more lives for Your glory. Let me do more for You!
When you pray like this, things get pretty exciting. |
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The Prayer of Jabez
Bruce Wilkinson
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The Jabez Prayer
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Posted:Nov 7, 2006 7:55 am
Last Updated:Nov 10, 2006 6:07 pm 1298 Views
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The Jabez Prayer
"Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that Your hand would be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil,
that I may not cause pain!" |
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HOW WILL MY WORRY LOOK... reflect
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Posted:Nov 6, 2006 4:16 pm
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 842 Views
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HOW WILL MY WORRY LOOK
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ‒ Luke 12:25
A STRADEGY FOR WINNING OVER WORRY
Identify specific worries.
Work to change what you can.
Leave what you can’t change with God.
WHEN WE PUT OUR CARES IN GOD’S HANDS,
HE PUTS HIS PEACE IN OUR HEARTS.
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Our Daily Bread
Volume 8
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HOW WILL MY WORRY LOOK
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Posted:Nov 6, 2006 4:04 pm
Last Updated:Nov 6, 2006 4:07 pm 818 Views
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HOW WILL MY WORRY LOOK
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ‒ Luke 12:25
Hans Christian Andersen, author of such well-known fairy tales as “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Had a phobia of being buried alive. As a result, he always carried a note in his pocket telling anyone who might find him unconscious not to assume he was dead. He often left another note on his bedside table stating, “I only seem dead.” Such was his anxiety until he finally succumbed to cancer in 1875.
We may think such a fear is strange, but do we have fears that will someday look just as irrational? Is it possible that the day will come when we look back and marvel at our own anxieties? Will we one day wonder at that foolish person who chose to worry rather than to pray? Will time eventually cast us as a pitiful person who was plagued by fear because we did not face life with the resources lavished on us by the Almighty Lord of the universe?
Worrying doesn’t change anything. But trusting the Lord changes everything about the way we view life.
Forgive us, Lord, for our inclination to worry. Help us to see how foolish it is for us to worry about what You have promised to provide. Don’t let us bury ourselves alive with fears. ‒ MRD
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Our Daily Bread
Volume 8
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION... CONVERSION... The Pains of Hell... PRAY
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Posted:Nov 2, 2006 8:47 pm
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 819 Views
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION
CONVERSION
Chapter 20
The Pains of Hell
PRAY
My Jesus, many find too hard a command in the words: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” Yet a much harder command will be: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire.” If I become so impatient with a little suffering now, how can I ever stand hell? I cannot expect to have unrestricted enjoyment on earth and still rejoice with You in Heaven, Therefore, dear Lord, that I may be safe from eternal punishment, let me do my best in bearing the burdens of this earthly life. Let me prefer to suffer on earth or even die now rather than commit a mortal sin. Amen |
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My
Daily
Bread
CONFRATERNETY
OF THE
PRECIOUS
BLOOD
Book 1 ‒ The Way of Purification
Part 1 ‒ Conversion
Page 36-40
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION... CONVERSION... The Pains of Hell... THINK
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Posted:Nov 2, 2006 8:39 pm
Last Updated:Nov 2, 2006 8:40 pm 824 Views
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION
CONVERSION
Chapter 20
The Pains of Hell
THINK
Hell is a fact, Christ, Our Lord, pointed this out time and again during His earthly life. Whoever rejects this fact is simply denying the word of Christ. He is God, He proved His divine power many times during and after His earthly life. His word is truth. He preached the truth of hell and continues to preach it today through His Church and Holy Scriptures. |
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My
Daily
Bread
CONFRATERNETY
OF THE
PRECIOUS
BLOOD
Book 1 ‒ The Way of Purification
Part 1 ‒ Conversion
Page 36-40
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION... CONVERSION... The Pains of Hell
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Posted:Nov 2, 2006 8:28 pm
Last Updated:Nov 2, 2006 8:30 pm 852 Views
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION
CONVERSION
CHAPTER 20
The Pains of Hell
CHRIST
MY , I have proved My goodness by My numberless gifts to men. They cannot mention a single good thing in their daily life which does not belong to Me. My love for them was proved by My earthly life of labor, work, suffering and prayer to obtain forgiveness for their sins. Anyone who takes time to think of what I deserve, cannot deny that he owes Me more than he can ever repay. Yet, in spite of My goodness and love, some people choose to walk away from Me. They refuse to follow My directions. As a result they fall into sin. Though I made them for Heaven, they shall never see it because they are refusing to do what it takes to get there.
2. Hell was made for the devil and his rebel angels. Man was made for Heaven. In refusing to live for Heaven, a man chooses to exist without Me. He shall have his wish–he shall join the rebel angels in hell. In refusing to follow My law, a man actually turns his back on Me as the fallen angels did. If he dies in this condition, he condemns himself to hell. The jury which convicts him in his own sinful life. I merely pronounce sentence on what he himself has chosen.
3. There is nothing on earth which can compare with hell. It is beyond all description. One must see it to know it. Though I may try to give you same small idea of it in this chapter, remember, this is a tiny and very imperfect idea of the real thing. Words fall far short of the reality which is hell. I make no threats here. I simply want you to face this fact: Unless you live for Heaven you shall one day be in hell.
4. All the sufferings known to man are as nothing in comparisons with the sufferings of hell. The wise man would rather bear any trial on earth than place himself in danger of hell. One single hour of hell will be harder than a hundred years of suffering on earth. In this earthly life people have some rest from their labors and trials. They get some measure of consolation from the friends. In hell, however, there is no rest, no consolation, and no friends.
5. The fires of hell will never die. There will be no end to suffering. One will find no comfort in knowing that he has been there a thousand years. He can never hope for an end to his tortures. All the other sufferings would be bearable if only the damned could hope for relief. Despair is hell’s bitterest pain.
6. In hell a man will be punished through the same faults by which he sinned on earth. Each sin will have its own particular torment. The lazy will be forced to work continuously. The gluttonous will be tormented with extreme hunger and thirst. The proud will be filled with confusion, and the greedy will feel the pinch of miserable want.
7. And yet, the worst pain of hell is none of these. The people in hell would gladly bear all of this and much more if only they could hope for My friendship and love, no matter how long it might take, be it even a billon years from now. Their keenest torment is that they have forever lost Me, the Source of all true joy and perfect happiness. This suffering makes hell the home of despair and undying hatred.
8. My , follow My will in your daily life, and you need never fear hell. In fact you have every reason to be joyful and merry if you are following My commandments and using My sacraments. Do not condemn yourself to hell by refusing to obey My directions. I love you dearly. Do not prevent Me from taking you to Heaven. |
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My
Daily
Bread
CONFRATERNETY
OF THE
PRECIOUS
BLOOD
Book 1 ‒ The Way of Purification
Part 1 ‒ Conversion
Page 36-40
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION... CONVERSION... God’s Standards...
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Posted:Oct 31, 2006 5:46 am
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 839 Views
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION
CONVERSION
Chapter 19
God’s Standards
PRAY
My Jesus, can I be fool enough to live by any other standard than Yours? Let me embrace Your standards in my daily life. Though I may find harder, I will not complain as long as I know that Your Will is guiding me. Through the Church and the Scriptures, You promise to lead me to a happy judgment and a joyful eternity. I hope to be loyal follower of Yours each day of my earthly life. Amen |
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My
Daily
Bread
CONFRATERNETY
OF THE
PRECIOUS
BLOOD
Book 1 ‒ The Way of Purification
Part 1 ‒ Conversion
Page 35-36
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION... CONVERSION... God’s Standards... THINK
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Posted:Oct 31, 2006 5:37 am
Last Updated:May 23, 2024 6:35 am 815 Views
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THE WAY OF PURIFICATION
CONVERSION
Chapter 19
God’s Standards
THINK
How different are God’s standards from those of worldly men! Is it in any wonder that those who live God’s way seem to live a foolish life? Yet the real fools are those who disagree with God’s standards. Christ is sure to triumph at the Judgment, and those who follow His standards are certain to triumph with Him.
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My
Daily
Bread
CONFRATERNETY
OF THE
PRECIOUS
BLOOD
Book 1 ‒ The Way of Purification
Part 1 ‒ Conversion
Page 35-36
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