I am a slow learner. You have heard me say this before on many occasions. I just don’t get it at times. My choleric/sanguine personality gets me in trouble because I tend to get the order of things mixed up. I too often speak first and then listen. For most of my years in elementary school, my report card would contain the same lines from my teachers — “Billy would be a great student if he talked less and listened more . . . “

I am glad that the Father is patient with me. His Word keeps hammering me with the truth HE wants me to hear and learn. Today’s chapter in Proverbs hit home: “The one who knows much says little — an understanding person remains calm. Even dunces who keep quiet are thought to be wise; as long as they keep their mouths shut, they’re smart.” (Proverbs 17:28-29 THE MESSAGE) Ouch!

The writer to the book of James says: “Dear brothers, don’t ever forget that it is best to LISTEN MUCH, SPEAK LITTLE . . .” (James 1:19 NLT). I need to learn to do that — with my family, my staff, and with the people I meet. When I put this truth into practice, I am walking the way
HE wants me to walk, living the way HE wants me to live — and in fact, living in obedience to HIS Word.

Yesterday I blew it big time in this area. I was too quick to speak instead of listening. I know that today I need to go back and ask forgiveness of someone that I offended and hurt with my words. Thank You, Lord, for convicting me. Help me to SHUT UP and LISTEN!

“May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14 NTL)

I shared with you yesterday some insights that I gained from seeing the movie, THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. As I was thinking about it last night, I thought about another cool insight. The penguins do their annual 70-80 mile walk each year to find their perspective mate. Thousands of the them assemble at the main staging area. They spend days squawking until
they finally pair up. After wifey leaves to trek back to the waters to get her food and makes then makes the trek back to find her mate, she faces the challenge of finding her mate in the middle of thousands of “men” who look exactly alike. She needs to squawk and as well as listen for the squawk of her mate. The noise is unbelievable — yet they are able to find each other.

It was an “AHA!” moment for me as I thought about it. The God of the universe who created us — has given each of us different voices. And yet thousands of us can be praying at one time, crying out to Him, and He hears YOUR prayer. He hears YOUR voice. He is, as David penned,
“attentive to YOUR voice and the cry of your heart!” That might not excite you, but it sure does me.

Praise God for His listening ear . . . Ps 116:2
“BECAUSE HE HAS TURNED HIS EAR
TO ME, I WILL CALL OUT TO HIM AS LONG AS I LIVE.”

Good word for today! Think about it!

I normally would never use the Freedom Fighter to recommend a movie, but I will today. If you haven’t seen it, go see THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. We took Zach to see it on Friday and I was amazed that people were paying to see a National Geographic special. The theater was packed with people of all ages and it was quite refreshing.

There were many amazing biblical principles that one could draw from this movie, but the one the struck me the most was the incredible love of the father. The penguins walk/crawl for 70-80 miles to the spot where they will look for their potential mate. After they find the love of their life, they lovingly mate. The mother gives birth to the egg that is literally handed off to the father who assumes full responsibility for the care and oversight of the egg. The mother has to travel the 70-80 mile journey back to the ocean in order to eat and gain her strength for the journey back and then to feed the growing baby. She is gone for many months. During that time, the father has to endure the harshest of winters, standing next to hundreds of other Dads who are also caring for their future offspring. The winds and storms of the winter rage all around them, but Dad sticks with the stuff and while losing his strength and body weight to protect his future heir.

We live in a day when in some many of our families, Dad is the absent figure in the care and upbringing of their kids. While we may be good financial providers, making sure there is food and all the other “stuff” our families need, there is nothing like a father demonstrating his love
to his kids. Our kids need hugs, words of affirmation and encouragement. Some of us get bogged down in finding just the right amount of time to spend with them. We get hung up on the QUANTITY sometimes rather than the QUALITY of time spent with them. What our kids need is not how MUCH we know, but HOW MUCH we care.

“What marvelous love the Father has extended to us [one translation says ‘LAVISHED’]! Just look at it — we’re called the children of God! That’s who we really are . . .” [1 John 3:1]

Take some time to lavish your love on your kids this week. And go see THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS!

As you prepare your heart for worship this morning, reminded of the glorious truth that Christ dwells in YOU! Dr. Jack Hayford says that “right where you are, Christ’s salvation has laid the foundation for a temple — a tabernacle for worship. He invites you to open your life to become a holy site — a place where He can meet with you, dwell with you, and manifest His presence to you and through you. It is Jesus who makes this possible — ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory!’ (Colossians 1:27) Build a life of worship ‘according to the pattern that was shown you on the mount’ (Exodus 25:40). Let each furnishing become a stepping-stone to a full-house life of worship, responding to his call that we:

* rejoice in the completed sacrifice Jesus has achieved for us,
* be purified from the things that would clutter or pollute our lives,
* feed on His Word, letting the Holy Spirit illuminate it and apply it to our lives,
* lift the sweet fragrance of praise and worship from our hearts to the Lord, and,
* come to the mercy seat, where grace and forgiveness are ever assured, and. . . abide there!

Good words to ponder on this HOT Lord’s day.

“I must not be disheartened when I flub in my spiritual life. A lot of flubs are not sins, just mistakes, and mistakes are the marks of immaturity and greenness. An infant makes endless mistakes, but is parents do not give up on him — they realize he is an infant. They know that he will outgrow a lot of his childishness.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ I must believe in progressive satisfaction. When God begins a work, the result thereof must be His satisfaction. His creation was very good. He viewed the work of His Son on Calvary and was satisfied. So I believe He is progressively satisfied with His work in His children, especially His growing children. This does not mean that our condition at a given moment is perfect morally, but it means that, like a potter, He is satisfied with our progress.

This also means that I must forget comparison with others. Comparison means we are at the same point, on the same level. But no two children of God are ever at precisely the same point, on the same level. I must not therefore, compare myself to David Brainerd, Henry Martyn, or Jim Elliot. I must only ask God if He is satisfied with my progress at a given moment. If He is, all is well, even though flaws and specs appear in my makeup.

The basic thing God looks for in me is not the absence of flaws but the presence of moldable clay. He can easily work out the flaws, but He cannot do a thing with clay that is hard, brittle, and crumbly. Brittleness means I have been hurt somewhere along the line and have not
gotten over it.

Lord, I want to be the best clay, soft and conformable to Your image! You ask, ‘Can I not . . . deal with you as this potter does?’ (Jeremiah 18:6) Yes, Lord, You can — abundantly, perfectly, eternally.” from DAILY WITH THE KING by W. Glyn Evans

Just in case you ever question God’s call upon your life . . . remember He uses people who faced challenges in their lives to do extraordinary things . . .

Moses stuttered.
David was an adulterer and murderer.
Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
John Mark (who wrote the Gospel of Mark) was rejected by the Apostle Paul.
Abraham was too to become a father.
Sarah was too old to become a mother.
Peter acted impulsively and had a hot temper.
David was too young and small to fight Goliath.
Jonah ran from God.
Gideon and Thomas both doubted God’s voice.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
Martha was a worrywart.
Samson’s hair was too long.
Paul was a persecutor.

What about you? Is there a “challenge in your life” that is keeping you from God’s call upon your life?

“I will not walk as a disciple very long before realizing that God is a God of break-ins. He broke into Abraham’s life: ‘The God of glory appeared to . . . Abraham’ (Acts 7:2). The patriarch’s normal, average, everyday life was broken into. Whenever God does that it always means a
new direction for things, such as the time He broke into the life of Paul.

The appearances of God, whether visible or inward, are always along the line of interruption or change. Often the change is not understood by us. ‘He went out, not knowing where he was going’ (Hebrews 11:8) Abraham did not understand that God was going to make him a universal man, a true ‘father of the faithful.’ So it must come to me as a disciple. GOD MUST RESERVE FOR HIMSELF THE RIGHT OF TE INITIATIVE, THE RIGHT TO BREAK INTO MY LIFE WITHOUT QUESTION OR EXPLANATION. That shattering phone call, that disturbing letter, that unquenchable vision may indeed be the first stage of God’s interruption in my life. I must be ready, never doubtful.

Since God does the initiating, He must be responsible for the consequences. Nowhere does God start something and then say, ‘All right, the rest is up to those actions. For me that is a warning — do not tamper with the consequences that God has already appointed for me. But that also is my comfort; I need not worry about something that is out of my hands.

My response must always be to keep a sharp eye on God and obey His Word implicitly. Then He will surprise me with delights! ‘Be ready by morning, and come up . . . and present yourself . . . to Me on the top of the mountain . . . And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him.’ (Exodus 34:2-5).

from Daily With the King by W. Glyn Evans published by Moody Press

Good word for your consideration on this August 10, 2005.

“Despite my sins, God is able to deal with me because He sees me complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). That is not only a theological position, but also a means of my relating to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I often fail in my interpersonal relationships because I see people as they are, not as they are in Christ. Paul’s ambition for everyone was to ‘present every man perfect [mature, full grown] in Christ’ (Colossians 1:28). In preaching the gospel, Paul had to see his
hearers as already completed in Christ.

I have had Christians say, ‘I don’t know why God puts up with me, I’m so weak and erring.’ Indeed we are! But God puts up with us because He sees the end product as actually realized. The difference between WHAT WE ARE and WHAT WE SHALL BE is the process of working out the ideal, which, in God’s eyes, has already been achieved. God is patient with us because He sees us PERFECTED, and you cannot become impatient with perfection.

So it is with my brother and me. The reason I am impatient with him is because I see his raw, ragged faults, not the ‘measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ in him (Ephesians 4:13). The moment I see him ‘perfect in Christ,’ the moment I will lose my irritation, discouragement, and exasperation with him. To be troubled by my fellow Christian is really not HIS fault, it is mine, because of a short-sightedness concerning Christ’s finished redemption. I deny, for
my brother, the Calvary work of Jesus Christ. I must keep in mind that heartwarming word of John, ‘It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when HE appears we shall see HIM as HE IS!’ (1 John 3:2)

Thank God for foreseen perfection — for my brother and for me!” from DAILY WITH THE KING by W. Glyn Evans published by Mood Press

Here are some insights on temptation from our good friend, Pat Williams:

1. When in doubt — don’t do it!
2. To tell whether an action is right or wrong, ask what would happen if everyone did it.
3. “Whenever the New Testament lingers on the subject of sensual temptation, it gives one command — RUN! The Bible does not tell us to reason with it. It does not tell us to think about it and claim verses. It tells us to FLEE! I have discovered that you cannot yield to sensuality if you are running away from it. So — run for your life! Get out of there! If you try to reason with lust or play around with sensual thoughts, you will finally yield. You can’t fight it. That’s why the Spirit of God forcefully commands, ‘RUN’! (from Chuck Swindoll)
4. Never give the enemy opportunity to trip you by offering him ammunition. ‘Any movie, book, magazine, friend, party, event or website that puts temptation into your mind is an open door to allow Satan into your life.
5. Never let self-assurance blind you to the possibility of an attack; never allow yourself to feel impervious to a fall.

Good words from “Unsinkable …Getting Out of Life’s Pits and Staying Out” by Pat Williams published by Revell

“Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience life in the Spirit. The words, ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshipper . . . .

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field . . .

The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curling them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. IF we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.” A. W. Tozer from TOZER FOR TODAY . . . TOZER ON THE ALMIGHTY GOD

“For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.” — Deuteronomy 10:17