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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life Issue #1,019 January 28, 2004 Mumble and Murmur With the wind chill it hit -51 yesterday (-60F), although it did warm up quite a bit during the night (all the way up to -40 with the wind chill). The cold gave me my first task of the morning. The hot and cold water supply lines to the downstairs bathroom were frozen. I spent the first hour of the day defrosting them. As I crawled around on hands in knees under the bathroom in the crawl space, using a flashlight to see and with gloves to keep my hands from freezing to the propane bottle that fueled the torch, I confess to mumbling and murmuring a bit. I wasn't thinking about what a blessing it was to have running water (both hot and cold). I wasn't thinking about the blessing that I had the equipment needed to thaw the lines. I wasn't thinking about the blessing of a warm house to stay in when it hits this cold, or even the blessing of the gloves. I was simply whining to myself about the cold and inconvenience. I mumbled even more as I worked my way down the line and found where the previous owner had the same problem. I'll go back under later today and run some pipe insulation. As I thought about that, I muttered about the fact that the previous owner should have done that when the problem had happened the first time. I got things running then flopped down in front of the computer to write this morning's message. The first thing I saw was yesterday's message about being content and giving thanks in all circumstances. OUCH! That hit right between the eyes. How quickly I had forgotten. Some repentant prayer later, it was back to typing. I had forgotten some basic truth and allowed Satan to sneak in with my complaining. I should have known better. We don't have to give into the temptation when it happens. We can resist and be victorious. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NIV Where was the blessing in my crawling around with the propane torch? In the reminder that we're all fallible. In the knowledge that when we mess up we can go to God. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:8-10 NIV Until next time, bundle up, keep warm and praise Jesus. Be blessed Hallelu Yah (Praise God)! Kevin Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. You have value in the eyes of God so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that heaven will not be complete without you. HELP FOR THE HURTING You've blown it and you're certain there's no way of getting right with God. You're only partly right. You see none of us can earn the right to be reconciled with God, but He offers it to us as a gift. All you have to do is ask Him for it. You can simply begin the relationship by honestly and completely opening your heart, admitting you need God's help, and saying a prayer along the lines of: Jesus: I have made many mistakes in my life and done things I am not proud of. I have sinned. 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 for the first time let me know so I can rejoice with you. Did you know that at Gleanings, we have a dedicated team of prayer warriors and all prayer concerns are kept strictly confidential? Your comments, your questions and your joys are shared with the prayer team, to keep me accountable as the head of the ministry and to encourage them as they see God at work in your life. As with prayer all these things are kept confidential within the Gleanings team. To share your questions, comments, thoughts, prayer concerns and praise reports email us 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 . You can write to us at Gleanings From The Word Ministries International 114 Oak St Sherwood Park, AB Canada T8A 0V8 © 2001-2004 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin Gleanings From The Word Ministries International - All Rights Reserved
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