Predestination vs. Free Will

Somebody said, "The difference between predestination and free will is: "Predestination is the hand you were dealt; free will is what you do with that hand."

Good point !!!

While we weren't responsible for, nor did we have any choice in what gifts and abilities we were born with, we are totally responsible for what we do about discovering and developing these gifts and talents and for how we use them.

Furthermore, regardless of our background, which I acknowledge has a profound effect on us, with God's help and the support of encouraging friends, we can refuse to allow our past to determine our future and we can overcome much of our past, develop our talents, and become the person God wants us to be and do what we believe He wants us to do with our life.

It all boils down to choice. Either by conscious choice or by default we all choose what we want to become and do what we choose to do. As another has said, "Everyone is self made, even if the rich are the only ones who will admit it."

Dear God,
please help me
to discover
what my gifts and talents are--
both spiritual and
natural--
and develop them,
and find a productive way
to use them
for the benefit of others and for your glory.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Changing Course?

The following was circulated in an email some time ago but has a timely message that is good to be reminded about.

As the large ship cruised ahead through the night darkness, a message from ahead was received: "Make a course adjustment to avoid a collision."

Immediately the ship responded: "I am an admiral. You make a course adjustment."

"I am a petty officer. You make a course adjustment," came the reply.

"I am an aircraft carrier. You had better turn quickly," the admiral commanded.

The petty officer responded: "I am a lighthouse. You are the one who had better turn."

God's Word is our guide through all of life, through the good days as well as through the dark nights. Every instruction is there for our protection, for our safety, for our well-being. We disregard it to our peril. Despise God's Word and find yourself in trouble. Obey it and succeed."

God's Word is the "course adjustment" lighthouse for us. If we're heading in a dangerous direction, we are the ones who need to heed the directions and change course.

Thank you God
that 'Your Word is a light unto my path.'
Give me the good sense
and the courage
to always follow in your ways
so my life will never be shipwrecked.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Parrot Talk

 

A man bought a parrot at an auction after some heavy bidding. "I hope this bird talks," he told the auctioneer.

"Talk," the auctioneer replied. "Who do you think has been bidding against you for the past ten minutes?"

Sad to say, we seem to be living in a day when a person's word has less and less value. Once upon a time a man's word was his bond. Not any more, I'm afraid. For many people today their word doesn't mean a thing.

We're pretty adept at parroting what we think people want to hear.

I remember one of my college professors teaching us that a person's character could be measured by what value he or she put on their word. People who don't keep their word simply cannot be trusted. This principle applies, not only to some politicians who promise anything to get votes, but also to every one of us who do not keep our promises or our word.

Fortunately, however, of one thing we can be certain, God always keeps his Word and always keeps his promises. We need to do the same! For after all, it's what we do, not what we say, that speaks the loudest of all.

Dear God,
please make me a man/woman of my word ..
so I can always be trusted to say what I
mean, mean what I say, and do what I say I will do.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Stepping Stones to Success

Many achievements in life have come from a setback, an accident, or some kind of crisis or even suffering. For instance, the first cars had to be started by cranking the motor by hand. At times the engine would "kick" back the crank handle. This happened to Charles Kettering and it broke his arm.

"There must be a safer way to start cars than this," Kettering reasoned and he went on to invent self-starters for cars.

Jacob Schick was prospecting for gold where the temperature fell to 40 degrees below zero. He had a hard time trying to shave with a blade without sufficient hot water--so he invented the first electric shaver.

Eugene O'Neill had no specific goal or aim in life until he became ill and had to go to hospital. While lying flat on his back he began to write his plays.

So, when things go wrong in your life and you experience a major setback, lose your job, or have an accident, not always, but perhaps God has something for you to learn, or something else he wants you to do. The important thing is to be open to what God is saying.

True, disasters happen because we live in a broken, sinful world. Sometimes, however, a disaster is "God's wake-up call" to teach us an important lesson, to help us grow, or to lead us in a different direction.

Most of us are not going to be struck down. Some of us, though, who are hard-headed have to be "hit over the head" as it were with a "four-by-four" for God to get our attention. But for most of us God leads through his Word, our circumstances, and through a "still small voice" within that gives us a sense of what God wants us to do.

Dear God,
help me to see/ hear/ learn
what you are saying to me
in every adverse circumstance
I may experience,
as I truly want to be
what you want me to be
and to do
what you want me to do.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Teachable

 

Seeing is not always believing. Old beliefs as well as old habits die hard.

For centuries people believed Aristotle's opinion that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth.

I am not an engineer but according to a report I read, in 1589 Galileo challenged Aristotle's teaching. He invited learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Galileo went to the top of the tower and at exactly the same moment pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight.

Both landed at the same instant, but the professors still wouldn't believe what they saw. They insisted Aristotle was right.

To move ahead in life and to grow--intellectually, emotionally and spiritually--it is important that we examine all our beliefs, test them, hold to the true and discard the false. Admittedly, this is much easier said than done, but done it must be if we are to keep learning and growing. Unless we are open to and willing to change, we get set in our ways and cease to grow.

Dear God,
please confront me
with every issue in my life
I need to be aware of,

help me
to be teachable,
and give me the courage
to make necessary changes
in my life where needed.

Thank you
for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Lead by Example

On an occasion following a great victory Napoleon was asked how he made his army cross the Alps and he replied, "One does not make an army cross the Alps; one leads it across."

Whether a boss, a parent, a teacher, or a friend, the most effective way to lead others, to teach others, to motivate others, to train our children and/or to influence others is by example; that is, by who we are, by what we do, and most of all by how much we care about them. In other words, we need to model what we want others to learn and do. We need to lead the way, not by being demanding or controlling, but by showing through both our caring and our doing--by example not by telling.

Furthermore, "People don't care how much we know until they know how much we care," and as Carl Jung stated, "Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."

Dear God,
please help me
to teach others your ways,
not by my telling them how
but by showing them how
by my example.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.