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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life
Issue # 532 June 28, 2002 Stubborn disobedience If you have been reading Gleanings for a while, you know that I have a dog. She’s kind of hard to describe, her mother was a border collie and her father was a basset hound. She has the coat and the features of a collie, but the long heavy body and short legs of a basset. Genni (short for Genesis) has two distinct modes, there is border collie mode and there is basset mode. When she gets her mind set into basset mode, nothing deters her; she is as stubborn as a hound on a scent. The other evening she went into basset mode. I told her to get her blanket. She thinks retrieving anything is a dumb game but she will usually comply, once. If I throw her Frisbee, she’ll go bring it back, once. If I throw it again, she gives me a look like "why did you throw it away again?" Then she’ll go over to the Frisbee and chew on it but will not bring it back. It’s pretty much the same with anything we throw. There is definitely no retriever blood in her veins. But back to the blanket. She simply decided she wasn’t going to get it. No amount of incentive, cajoling and nagging could get her to bring it to me. On occasion she would go lay on it and look at me like "Now are you happy?" She would come back and give me her "I love you boss" look. She would come back and roll over in submission acknowledging that I was boss, but she simply would not bring the blanket. I still loved her at the end of the evening (I never did get the blanket) but I was frustrated. I wonder if sometimes that’s how God feels with us. We say we believe, we might try something one, we acknowledge Him as Saviour but sometimes we get our back up and will not do what He tells us. We choose not to forgive someone. We ignore His warnings to give up a behaviour or attitude. We don’t tell people about Him even when Holy Spirit is almost screaming in our ear. We simply will not do it. When all is said and done He still loves us and forgives us, but what pain we cause Him. I wonder what wonderful blessings we miss out on because of our stubborn hearts. The people of Israel had stubborn hearts and it cost them dearly. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." Hebrews 4:7 NIV What are you missing because of a hard stubborn heart? Will you give in today and obey or will you choose to continue to disobey? Hallelu Yah Kevin Did you know that no matter what mistakes you have made, no matter how wilfully disobedient you have been, no matter how stubborn, God still loves you? He will accept you where you are and forgive you if you only ask Him. There is a catch, you must do the asking and you can only do it while you are alive. Don’t wait ask Him today. 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 prayer concerns and praise reports email us. If you enjoy 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 To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://hundred-acre-woods.com/magic-list/lists/ or email me at gleanings@gleaningsfromtheword.com
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