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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life Issue # 454 April 5, 2002 Faithful Servants. One of our goals at Gleanings From The Word is to reach literally millions of people with the good news of the Gospel every day. We presently have readers on every continent except Antarctica. I often receive emails where people ask what they can do to help with Gleanings. There are several things: 1) Pray for us 2) Consider joining our prayer team (email me for more information if you are interested) 3) Pass Gleanings along to your friends, neighbours, church family and pastors and recommend they subscribe. 4) Visit our website (http://gleanings.jesusanswers.com) regularly and vote for us as one of your favourites by clicking on the vote for us links. This helps our ratings in the search engines and makes it easier for others to find us. 5) Add a link to Gleanings from your website. 6) If you have been touched by an issue of Gleanings or if you have a prayer concern or a praise report, email us and let us know. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. One of my favourite things about the Bible is its honesty. It shows people in all their glory, but it also shows people faults and all. There is no glossing over of mistakes that even the people of God make. From a public relations perspective, many would consider the Bible a disaster. We read about Moses the murderer, David the adulterer, Peter the coward, Saul the persecutor and more. A good public relations person would have sanitized their story. Yet for me there is comfort in knowing that even the people that God used greatly were just people. They weren’t perfect in any way. That gives me hope because I’m not perfect. We can think of many heroes of the faith that don’t appear in the Bible. The list would include preachers, teachers, theologians, missionaries, martyrs, evangelists and more. Each of us has our own favourites. If I were a betting man (and I‘m not), I’d wager that if Jesus was asked who the most faithful servant for the kingdom was in the world today, it probably wouldn’t be anyone we’ve ever heard of. That’s not to take away anything from the "big names" in the faith. Who can look at their life and says they have accomplished more for God than a Mother Theresa, a Billy Graham or the like? Yet, faithfulness means more than getting "big results", it means sticking to God and being obedient regardless of the cost. It means continuing to tell others about Jesus even when you don’t see results. It is praying for someone for their whole life even when we don’t see them change. It means giving when things are tough and spending time with Him when we’re too busy too. You can be on that list; simply by doing each day what God has called you to do. Let Him worry about the results, all you are responsible for is doing your part. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 NIV He doesn’t expect perfection from you. All He asks for is faithfulness. Until next time, my prayer for you is that when you meet Him face to face you hear Him say "Well done, good and faithful servant". Hallelu Yah. Kevin If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus or are not sure you do, email me and I’ll share some Bible verses that explain why a personal relationship with Jesus is so important and a prayer that will make it possible. Or simply begin the relationship by saying a prayer along the lines of: Dear God: I have made many mistakes in my life and done things I am not proud of. I need your love and forgiveness. I believe that you came into this world and gave your life on a cross to pay for my sins and that you defeated death and rose again. Please forgive me, and be the Lord of my life. I give my life to you Lord. Amen If you pray this prayer let me know and I will direct you to some free non-denominational resources that will help you grow in that newfound relationship. To share your thoughts on this issue of Gleanings, or to share prayer concerns email us at corbin_writer@hotmail.com. or write us at : Gleanings From The Word 114 Oak Street Sherwood Park, AB Canada, T8A 0V8 At Gleanings, we have a dedicated team of prayer warriors and all prayer concerns are kept strictly confidential. If you enjoyed this issue of Gleanings From The Word, email it, in its entirety, to a friend. For information on use of Gleanings in your church newsletter or other situations please visit the permissions page on our website
© 2001 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin All Rights Reserved SUBSCRIBE TO GLEANINGS FOR FREE
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