Archives for June 2009

Picture This – Unity Of Believers

June 28, 2009 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given July 2007

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)

Picture This:
You and some others from your church are in a field in your community praying for the needs of your congregation. You all have joined hands in a circle and, with heads bowed, are in prayer. Near you is another church of another denomination praying for the needs of their congregation. They are dressed differently in traditional attire of their religion and are joined, hand in hand, in a prayer circle as you are. Over from them you notice another church, also in a prayer circle praying for the needs of their people. Actually, there are churches all over this large field in circles praying for their own needs.

As you and your church are praying, you’re not eavesdropping, but you hear the church next to you praying for a serious situation in their church. You are filled with compassion for them and want to do something. So you drop hands with the one next to you and say to the person nearest you in the next circle, “Excuse me but I overheard you praying for your great need and we want to agree with you for that need. May we join you?” The person asks his church if it would be OK and they agree. So they drop hands and join with you and your church in a bigger circle. You pray for their need and they pray for your need all in one unified circle.

After awhile someone from the circle does the same with the church next to them and they join the ever widening circle of prayer. This continues until every church circle in the field is joined together in one large unified circle all praying for the needs of the Family of God. They did not ask the details of what each others denomination believes. It did not matter if others were dressed differently, had different color skin, or prayed differently. All were joined in love for each other as the body of Christ.

The last picture is of God looking down with a big smile on His face at the large circle of prayer and says, “That’s my people who are called by my name seeking my face and praying for one another. I will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) The result? The devil and his crew has to pack up and leave town.

Picture This – Broken

June 19, 2009 by Bill 1 Comment

Given July 2002

A Christian man or woman praying. They are thanking God for their status in life; for their education, training, job, and the things they’ve accomplished. They are pretty proud of what they’ve done and are thanking God for His part in their life. They’re feeling pretty good.

God replies, “Yes, you’ve done pretty well for yourself but that’s not exactly the way I would have done it.” God’s response hits them hard and they realize they had spent most of their efforts on education, employment goals, home building, and other tasks that define what the world sees as success. They immeditely drop to their knees before God and repent saying,”Father, I’m sorry for building my life the way I thought it should be. I now fully surrender to you and ask you to break me and re-make me the way you intended even before I was born.” “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,before you were born I set you apart; ” Jeremiah 1:5.

When the person asked to be broken before God, the next scene shows them instantly being zapped into a pile of grey/brown dust. God stands beside the pile with a bottle of oil. He pours the oil onto the pile of dust and begins forming and shaping the dust into His image. That’s the way He wants to do it. “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Psalms 51:17. Are we really broken?

Picture This – Holding On

June 13, 2009 by Bill 1 Comment

Given Summer of 2007

You see a man or woman walking along a road carrying a large, heavy sack. The sack is dark in color and full of something because you can see the misshapen size of it. You know it’s heavy because the person is struggling with it, occasionally shifting it from their arms to their shoulders and back. They are walking slowly and are having a hard time with this load.

They meet a man going in the opposite direction. This man is tall, dark hair and beard, wearing long white robes and sandles. He appears to be very nice and kind with a loving smile on his face. They stop to talk as the person looks up under the load of their big sack. The man says, “That’s a big load you’ve got there friend. Here, I’ve got something for you.” He reaches into his robe and pulls out a very ornate and beautiful box and offers it the the person. They say, “What’s this, what’s in there?” The man opens the box and the person’s eyes get big as they see unimaginable good things inside. “Wow,” they say, “that’s for me?” The man says, “Yes, but you have to do something. You have to lay down that load you’re carrying and take it.”

The person looks at their sack as they shift it to the other shoulder and says, “I’ve had this thing for a long time and it’s a part of me. Can’t you put the box in my pocket or just set it on top of the sack?” The man says, “No, I’m sorry, you have to let go of that stuff to take this.” The person looks back at their heavy sack, pauses for a long few seconds, and finally says, “Well, I guess I’ll have to pass. But thank you anyway.” They then hobble on down the road carrying their heavy load as the man watches them go, shaking his head in sorrow.

What are you holding on to? “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. ” Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7.

Picture This – The Exchange

June 5, 2009 by Bill 3 Comments

Given May 2006

A person is standing on God’s created earth dirty and dressed in rags. They are bent over with the weight of sin and all that goes alone with it. There are people all over the earth like this. It seems hopeless.

God and Jesus are in Heaven looking down on the scene. God says, “Jesus, I want to do something for them. Satan has deceived them out of the blessings I gave them all in the Garden.” “I need someone to go down there and make things right again.” Jesus says, “Father, I’ll do it.” God says, “Son, you know what that means. You’ll have to take the mess off of each of them onto yourself and die with it.” “I know,” Jesus says, “but I love them. I’ll go.”

So Jesus, dressed in His shining, royal robes, leaves Heaven and appears on earth standing next to the person bent over in the dirty rags. Jesus is standing there tall and strong in stark contrast to the person bent over in their dirty, smelly rags. The person looks up into the loving eyes of Jesus as He says, “Child, I’m here to save you but you have to do something. Take off your rags and take my robes.”

The person doesn’t really understand but they respond with trust to this man. As they put on the Kingly robes, they straighten up, suddenly becoming clean and whole. They look themselves over as their joy increases realizing they are free from the weight of sin. They look back to Jesus to thank Him and what they see stuns them! He has put on their old dirty rags and is now bent over as they were and burdened with the weight He took from them. They say, “Jesus! What….” He replies, “It’s OK, it has to be this way. I love you.”

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9. He did this for us. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. Can you picture the exchange?

Archives for June 2009

Picture This – Unity Of Believers

Picture This – Broken

Picture This – Holding On

Picture This – The Exchange

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Archives for June 2009

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