“Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in
evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians
13:4-7).
Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?
1 Kings 3:9Mammas-
If you have children who have wandered away
from God,
don’t give up on them. They’ll come running back…
When God Says “Pssst”
By Gloria
Copeland
Did you know your children are in your heart? It’s true. You carry
your children in your heart the same way God carries you in His heart.
You can feel what’s going on with them even when they’re on the other side of
the world. If they’re hurt, if they’re lonely, if they’re toying with sin and
getting off track—when things are wrong or things are right, you can feel it.
I remember once when Ken and I were in Australia. We were flying from one city
to another and suddenly thoughts of our son, John, flooded my heart. John was a
teenager at the time and he was all boy. He rode everything with wheels—cars,
trucks, motorcycles, dune buggies. And it seemed he was always turning
something over.
That day on the plane, I was concerned about him. I knew how much the devil
would like to sneak in and steal his life, and I was concerned that John’s
misadventures could give the devil the opportunity to do it.
But the Holy Spirit broke in on my thoughts. He spoke to Ken and said, My mercy
hovers over John. When Ken relayed those words to me, all my fears vanished.
My mercy hovers over John. I’ll never forget that promise. As I’ve
prayed for John throughout the years, that wonderful word from God would often
rise up and remind me that John’s life was secure. It would assure me that
God would keep him and hold him steady until the day he got things straight in
his life.
My mercy hovers over your child. That is a wonderful word
from God. If God will do that for my child, He will do it for yours. The
covenant God has made with you in the blood of Jesus extends to your children
and your children’s children. Psalm 103:17 says,
"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children."
Our grandchildren are covered in our covenant with God. Everything God gives to
me, He’ll give to them. All the protection that I have, He passes on to my
family.
If you’re a believer and you’re willing to trust God for the deliverance and
salvation of your children, you will not be disappointed.
Study Zechariah 10:7-9. There God tells us about the outpouring of the Spirit
of God in the last days—the days we’re living in. He says:
And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart
shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad;
their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. I will hiss for them [your children],
and gather them; for I have redeemed them....And I will sow them among the
people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with
their children, and turn again.
You may not even know where your children are right now. They may
be in another city or another country. It doesn’t matter. This scripture
says when you rejoice in the Lord—not when you’re depressed or worried or
afraid, but when you trust God so totally that you’re filled up with joy—then your
children will see it and turn.
"I will hiss for them." What does that mean? It means God will
signal for them. He’ll say, Pssst! Come here! And they’ll come running.
Let me tell you something. God knows how to get somebody’s attention. He knows
how to signal for the ones His people are praying for. Kenneth’s mother prayed
for me and then one day God said, Pssst, Gloria! I heard Him and was
born again.
I didn’t know much about God before that time. I knew there was a
God, but had no real knowledge about Him. Yet He still knew how to get my
attention. He called and here I am today preaching His Word!
He’ll do the same thing for your child. It doesn’t matter what kind of
wickedness that child has fallen into, God can still reach him.
I know a man who pastors a great church in Sacramento, California.
His name is Phil Goudeaux. He used to be part of the militant black power
movement. In fact, he was in charge of security for the Black Panthers.
He didn’t know God and he didn’t want to know God. But one day when he was in
college, a young white fellow came over to his lunch table and started telling
him about Jesus. This Black Panther leader couldn’t believe it. The nerve of
this guy! He tried to get rid of him. He threatened him and even tried to hit him...but
he couldn’t
For weeks this little white fellow followed this big "bad" black guy
around talking to him about Jesus. Finally, the Black Panther prayed with the
fellow just to get him off his back. After that he tried to forget about
it...but he couldn’t. Two weeks later, all by himself, he made Jesus Christ the
Lord of his life.
God knows how to get somebody’s attention! He’ll knock them over and speak
to them right out loud if He needs to. He proved that in the life of a man
named Saul. Years after that man was saved, he wrote, "…I follow after, if
that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus"
(Philippians 3:12).
God apprehended Paul one day on the road to Damascus. According to the
dictionary, to apprehend means to capture or arrest. God captured
Paul’s attention. The last thing he wanted to be was a follower of Jesus. He
was a declared enemy of Jesus. But God was able to apprehend him anyway.
Don’t you worry. God knows exactly how to apprehend your children. And when
the time comes, He’ll do it. After all, you weren’t in your prayer closet when
He found you!
But until then, you must stand fast in faith for them. No matter what they get
into, no matter how far off the track they seem to be, just keep saying what
the Bible says about them. Keep your eyes focused on the covenant mercy of
God and not on the symptoms of ungodliness that you see in their lives.
Don’t ever give up on your child. If you’ve grown weak and discouraged
lately, it’s time for you to get that fire back in your bones. Dig into the
Word of God and dig out the promises He’s given you for your children. Lay hold
of those promises and don’t let go.
Learn to call things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). When you
hear bad news about your children or you see them do something that hurts your
heart, just say:
God, I thank You that Your tender mercy hovers over my child. I thank
You Lord that he is born again, filled with the Holy Ghost and obedient to You.
I thank You that Your Word is in his mouth (Isaiah 59:21), that he is taught by
Your Spirit and great is his peace (Isaiah 54:13). I am not moved by what I
feel or what I see. I am moved by Your Word and I call it done in Jesus’ Name!
I’m going to say it one more time: You have a covenant with God
that covers your children. So rejoice! God will be faithful to you. One day
your boy or your girl will be going about their business doing their own thing
when suddenly—Pssst!—they’ll hear the voice of God.
When that happens, they’ll come running.
You can count on it.
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you
the crown of life.
Rev 2: 10
Tony Snow's Testimony
This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush's former Press
Secretary, and his fight with cancer. Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow,
announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemotherapy,
Snow joined the Bush Administration in April 2006 as press secretary.
Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007, Snow, 51, a husband and father of three,
announced the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen,- leading
to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy. Snow went back to work in
the White House Briefing Room on May 30, but has resigned since, 'for economic
reasons,' and to pursue ' other interests.' He died recently. It needs
little intro... it speaks for itself.
'Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those of us
with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in
I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is, a
plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great
and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature
of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out. But
despite this, - or because of it, - God offers the possibility of salvation and
grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to
choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator
face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send
adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you.
Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You
fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and
get nowhere. To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but
into life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on
this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a
conviction that stirs even within many non-believing hearts - an intuition that
the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been
stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might,
main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly - no matter how their days
may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of
simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, - but
God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in
predicaments that seem to defy our endurance; and comprehension - and yet
don't. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts
leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of
wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.
'You Have Been Called'
Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear
away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side.
'It's cancer,' the healer announces. The natural reaction is to turn to God and
ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. 'Dear God, make it all go away. Make
everything simpler.' But another voice whispers: 'You have been called.' Your
quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the
issues that matter,- and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns
that occupy our 'normal time.'
There's another kind of response, although usually short-lived an inexplicable
shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away
everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important
questions. The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive,
pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful
caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks,
reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies.
Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to
what must have seemed the antipodes (
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the
prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for
We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that
we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others.
Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and
dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister
friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire
the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples'
worries and fears.
'Learning How to Live'.
Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God's arms, not with
resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how
to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power
and authority of love. I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago as a
wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928
edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family,
many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble and very
good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it
made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor
literally until his last conscious moment. 'I'm going to try to beat [this
cancer],' he told me several months before he died. 'But if I don't, I'll see
you on the other side.'
His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn't promise
us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, - filled with life and love we cannot
comprehend, - and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us
toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms. Through such
trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold
enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong
enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things
that don't matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that
do?
When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer
warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the
receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it. It is hard to
describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck
stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others
have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to
speak of us!
This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate
the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes
every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not
know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable
touch of God.
So many years later, through the gift of the internet ,I was in touch with an old friend from back in New York. He admitted it was he who had written the poem to me all those years ago. I was glad to have had the poem mystery solved. But more importantly, I finally had the chance to thank him and told him how much his words had helped me through some very sad days and how often I read that poem at the time.
It's funny. I didn't know who wrote it and he didn't know how much it meant to me. Sometimes in life you just don't know. Sometimes in life things happen and you really don't need to know the who or the why. Something like angels I guess. You just know that someone, somewhere is out there. And sometimes there is one who cared enough to send a kind word and those words help to either get you through another day or give in to pain and grief that wanted to swallow you whole.
That very day, some 45 years later, he wrote me another. Thanks Bart. You're an angel.
If I Could Your Heaven Sent Angel Be
