Tag: fear

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Do we Need to go to Church to be Christians?

 

Are You Wrinkled with Burden?

 Come to Church and Get a Faith Lift

                                                 

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:10

 

Do we need to go to church to be Christians? Not in the thinking of a many people. Do we need to go to church to grow and be strong Christians? In my thinking, yes—it is a must.

I find this second thought important in my own life. Where else can I sit and share my beliefs in God more than in God’s house. Those people who think the same way need me there to support them—and I need them to support me.

There are many times when we face sickness, sorrow or tragedy. People will pray for us, and we will pray for them. Jesus calls His children to a community where they gather and share together.

We know that we need to be with brothers and sisters in Christ if we are to grow in the Spirit. When we are with other Christians, we begin to feel more like loving one another, and feel free to share without fear. Christians who gather together learn that each member is a special present from God—someone with whom we can share and grow spiritually.

 

As the bumper sticker suggests: We can get a faith lift every time we come to church and share with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Spending each Sunday with people who love us and want to help us grow is one way to have many close encounters with God.

I have developed some close friendships with Christians from my home church and we keep in touch during the week. It helps me to stay on level with God and to be strong.

We can stay strong another way—as part of a Bible study during the week. Most churches have study groups that are a comfortable place to share and grow.

There is also an international Bible study group (Bible Study Fellowship—BSF) that I attend during the week. There are groups for just men and groups for just women. Some women’s groups meet during the day. Many meet on the same weeknight evening so both spouses can attend at the same time while their children are part of program geared to their age group.

There is a different study in each term of the seven-year cycle and you eventually get a great overview of the entire Bible. I have been blessed each year I’ve gone and have developed close friendships there. After the lecture over the passage we study during the week on our own, my small group of ten to twelve men meets. We share our hurts and needs at the end of each session. Some men would not open up in other settings, but they feel safe at BSF.

 

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and the he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

 

Further adventures

  1. Visit your neighbors and talk to them about coming to church. I realize this may be a difficult assignment. It may be uncomfortable to speak up for the Lord, but just think if everyone in your neighborhood was a strong Christian. What if they all went to churches where they were growing in the Lord? What a glorious place to live. What a boost that would be. Isn’t it worth trying to tell your neighbors about your church, and more importantly about your Savior?
  2. Call a fellow Christian from your church and thank him or her for being there for you. Although they may not understand what you mean, they will be grateful for your thoughtfulness and glad they have contributed to your life. Your friendship may even grow stronger.

 

Something to ponder

Isn’t it funny that even every hair on your head is counted by God?


 *Excerpt from: Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World

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Keep on the Path you are on, and God will see you Through

Perseverance and Persistence are my Middle Names

In March of 2001 I was lost and confused. I didn’t know my purpose or my goals. I was depressed, and was covered with self doubt.  I was on the edge of destruction. I sat in my Ford Explorer at a local high school parking lot, and was ready to leave this wretched world.

I finally yelled out to God, “I can’t take this anymore!” There was a sudden change in the air inside the Explorer. I felt a calmness that I hadn’t felt for weeks. It was as if God was saying, “It is about time you came back to me. Now let me carry you the rest of the way.”

I went home and sat at my desk. I couldn’t understand why God saved my life. I opened the desk drawer, and in it was a book I was working on called, “Close Encounters of the Cash Flow Kind.”  I was working on it because I had a cash flow funding company that I had let fail.

At first I was ready to throw it into the round file, but I decided to open it and what I saw amazed me. Each chapter I had in the book could easily be converted over to a Christian self help book. Some of the chapter titles were. “Need Directions?” “It is my Way or the Highway.”  “You can do all Things.”

You can see that each of those had a meaning for reaching out to the lost. I started writing the next day, which was April Fools Day. Good day to start don’t you think?

Over the next few years I wrote, rewrote and wrote again until I thought it was a presentable book. Then I went to several critique groups, and found out it wasn’t even close. So I went back to the table and revised several more times.

Then it happened! On January 15, 2010, I signed a publisher’s contract. I look back on that day in the Ford Explorer as a time I had to go through. God was always with me and He knew what my purpose was even though I didn’t.

The book is called, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” The sub title may be changed by the publisher.

It reaches out to those who suffer with anxiety, fear, self doubt, depression, addictions, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

The publication date will be near the end of August or the first part of September.

For those of you that are discouraged and think that God hasn’t been there in your writing or in your life in general. He is there!! I know that sometimes He allows the storms to come. He won’t take them away, but He will help calm the storm. He will never let you face anything you can’t handle yourself.

Now for the words perseverance and persistence: I could have folded up that day in that school parking lot, and I wouldn’t be writing this. I could have given up many times during the 10 year waiting period that God allowed me to have.

I now know that God’s timing is perfect. I will see that in how things go when the book actually hits the streets. Never give up! Never! God has a plan for each of us, and it is up to each of us to seek what that is. Ask God to reveal what He wants you to d in life. Then act on it, and don’t worry how long it takes to accomplish that goal.

God bless…

Doug

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Take off Your Bah Humbug Mask and Smile!

Adversity Helps our Character Grow

Before I post my article for this evening, I want to let you know that the promotion for the five autographed books has ended for this week. The five winners will be notified and hopefully I will get the books to them in time for Christmas, if they want them to be used for gifts.

Thank you for the great response. That shows me we need to do this once a week until I run out of books.

I will be starting another giveaway this Friday night through Monday evening like I did this week.

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I just got through having a wonderful discussion with a man named Henry Newell. I was minding my own business. (Hard for me to do,) when he contacted me through the IM service at Facebook.

I was sharing back and forth with him, when he dropped a bomb on me. He is a quadriplegic. He was in a diving accident when he was 14 years old. He was told he wasn’t going to live, and if he did he would be a vegetable.  He is still here to tell his story.

Henry is a born again Christian that would put an average Christian to shame. His outlook on everything in live is incredible. He is such a positive person.

I want to invite you to read his story on the blog: http//:www.dailysignsofhope.com. This blog is run by myself and Michael Clark.

We have been in the trenches, and we write articles there that reach out to the people who suffer from anxiety, fear, self doubt, depression, addictions, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects. 

Henry’s post  will be in a couple of weeks. We have guest bloggers on every Sunday. We are  backed up a little right now.

I will let you know here when he will be blogging, but why don’t check out the blog and bookmark it like 300 other people have in the first month of its existence.

Why should someone like Henry be so positive. It looks like life gave him a lemon. I can’t speak for him. He will be doing that himself, but I know why I am so positive after six major surgeries. It is because God has allowed me to have them! God has a plan for me. He had one before I was born. I now know that I am to reach out to people who suffer from the many mental afflictions we face when adversity strikes us.

I was near death at one point,  but I am still alive, and thanking God each day. I seek His will daily and strive to meet His will with every breath I take that He has given me.

During this Christmas time, don’t spend your time feeling sorry for yourself, by moaning and groaning. Remember the reason for the season. They was a little child that was born on Christmas Day. He was a very poor child. They laid him in a manger. Webster’s Dictionary says a manger is, ” A place where livestock eat.” Little Jesus laid in a filthy manger, and didn’t even have nice cloths to wear. He slept among the animals in the barn.

Now think of all the things that God has given you. A family, food, a home, friends, good health.

I know some of you do not have those things I listed, but be thankful that God has given you another breath. Each one may be the last.

So, put away your Bah Humbug costume, and be a light shining in the dark for others that are less fortunate.

May God bless you during the Christmas season and beyond.