Saturday, October 18
What would Jesus say when the Dow swings nearly 1,000 points in one day?
I'm not sure, but this is my take on it...
"You know I love you.
Your value has not changed one bit, no matter what's happened to your market accounts.
The downturn in the market can remind you of something I have often said:
'This world is not your home.'
Not long ago people would store up their treasures in barns where moth and rust could destroy.
Your investments are a little more high-tech, but not so much different in some ways.
You're not worried about moths or rust, you're worried about uncertainty and sudden downswings
you cannot control.
Like the scriptures say, cast all your anxieties on me because I love you.
Maybe that means something more to you today than ever before.
If so, that's a good thing!"
As the market goes up and down, always know that my love for you never changes.
In other words, let my love be the most important factor in your mindset and attitude,
not what Fox News or CNN is reporting.
My love will bring comfort to your soul.
I know you're stressed-out.
Faithful people have faced terrible circumstances many times over the years.
Just keep your eyes focused on me and my Father's will.
"Most financial analysts are exactly right when they say 'focus on the long term.'
This is a principle my Father's Word has been teaching for generations.
Much tragedy occurs when people make rash decisions, when they get carried away with 'short-term crisis.
'I've seen people take harsh measures and make terrible decisions because they could only seethe moment.
Focus on all the promises for eternity.
That will make huge difference today!
Let the current market crisis help you re-frame your thinking with respect to the future.
My Father wants us to look past the short term and focus on a more distant horizon.
And that horizon depends wholly on His will.
The future depends on the Father's love and plans, not on the Dow Jones.
No matter what happens today or tomorrow, His plans are to give you a hope and a future
of calling on His name and finding Him.
"There are so many things I could say, many things I have already said in The Word.
Go there and spend more time with me.
What if the biggest gain you make in the midst of all these market losses is a new walk with me and my Father? That would be wonderful, huh?!
Just think of how much better off you'll be, no matter what happens with your portfolio.
But let me say this: I think you'll be fine.
I hope your financial security makes a rebound.
Over the years much good has been done in this world by prospered people who have gotten
their priorities in order.
Perhaps my father is preparing you for the greatest opportunities of your life.
I hope so."In the meantime, don't ever forget this:
I love you no matter what.And no matter what occurs today or tomorrow, your value will never change."
Thursday, October 16
"I was walking through the Atlanta airport, CNN blaring in the background,
headlines screaming from the news stands stocked with magazines
covered with glum faces, all the news is bad, bad, bad.
You can't help but worry and wonder what the future will hold, what your retirement will be like,
what will be left over when all the dust settles.
Then I saw her.
She was about 8 years old and a darling little girl.
She was with her mother and father and older brother.
She was also on crutches.
Her legs barely made a ripple in her little jeans, obviously withered and weak from some
chromosome that came unraveled while she was being knitted in the womb.
She was happy, and swung her legs in a strong rhythmic motion with her crutches to keep pace
with her parents and brother.
She was in every way a typical 8 year-old except for her withered extremities.
I thought that no matter where the stock market ends up, or how the economy falls or rises,
she will still be crippled.
She will grow up in a world where a pair of shorts will be a cause for people to stare.
She'll feel left out as other kids run and play at school, and she will struggle to find a formal dress for the Homecoming dance that will accommodate her braced legs and crutches.
It's too early to fold, and we're made of better stuff!
No matter if my 401(k) recovers or not, she will always -- always -- be crippled.
Her parents may lose their job, I might lose mine, but she will never lose her infirmity.
We may all weather this storm with nothing more than a few fallen limbs in the yard, but her limbs
will never be whole.
It made me a little angry that we have been focused on what we lost, not what we have.
I remember Sam Walton, after the 1987 crash, when he said that even after watching Wal-Mart stock fall by a third, he still had the same number of shirts on the shelves as he did the day before.
That is the kind of thinking, the kind of investing, and the kind of courage we need now.
The losses are paper losses.
The value is still there in the companies the stocks represent.
If we will each keep our head in this mess, we'll work through this.
That really is what the little girl does.
She marches through the airport like she had every right to be there, withered legs and all.
No sympathy, no melancholy, just the spirit and spunk to deal with the hand she was dealt.
We need to take a deep breath and get ready to play the game.
It's too early to fold, and we're made of better stuff ~
the same kind of stuff of which that little girl is made."
(c) 2008 Rob Frazier
~this and other devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org~
Saturday, October 11
in the last 5 years, i have lost almost everyone i've ever loved...
one day here, the next just gone.
i've prayed, fasted, believed and hoped for miracles...yet not one has returned to both Abba and me.
i've made huge mistakes and asked for a forgiveness that i did not deserve.
i've stumbled and fallen and it has been God alone who has saved me from the great abyss.
what i've learned in this time, in the 'valley of God' is this:
God will never leave or forsake me
i cannot earn or ever deserve, His Love, Grace and Forgiveness
He is with me at all times, in all places
though i have been forsaken by those i've loved, He would never do the same to me
He would never do the same to you
i have to hold on despite seeming like a ridiculous, modern-day noah
and most of all...
nothing is impossible with God ~ absolutely nothing.
dearest Abba,
save and forgive me from my terrible foolishness, huge mistakes and the doubts that assail me daily...
i am nothing without You, my King of Kings.
i have no future without you...my only future is You.
You are the only One that makes my life make sense...
with all the love i possess ~ Your most unworthy daughter,
Your laineyrose
Friday, October 10
"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible." ~Jeremiah 15:21~
Note the glorious personality of the promise.
I will, I will.
The Lord Jehovah himself interposes to deliver and redeem his people.
He pledges himself personally to rescue them.
His own arm shall do it, that he may have the glory.
Here is not a word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist the Lord.
Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into the account, but the lone I, like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficiency.
Why then do we calculate our forces, and consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding?
Jehovah has power enough without borrowing from our puny arm.
Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still, and know that the Lord reigneth.
Nor is there a hint concerning secondary means and causes.
The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers:
he undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of human arms to aid him.
Vain are all our lookings around to companions and relatives;
they are broken reeds if we lean upon them-often unwilling when able, and unable when they are willing.
Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be well to wait only upon him;
and when we do so, our expectation never fails us.
Who are the wicked that we should fear them?
The Lord will utterly consume them;they are to be pitied rather than feared.
As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord
is on our side, whom shall we fear?
If we run into sin to please the wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our integrity,
the rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good.
When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel which he could not digest;
and when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again.
In all times of fiery trial, in patience let us possess our souls.
~Other Charles Spurgeon's devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org.~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
