Thoughts for Life: THE ADVENTURE

Anne Cetas- "Christianity is not for me. It's boring. One of my values I hold on to is adventure. That's life to me," a young woman told me. It saddened me that she hadn't yet learned the incredible joy and excitement that comes with following Jesus—an adventure like no other. I excitedly shared with her about Jesus and how real life is found in Him.

Mere words are inadequate to describe the adventure of knowing and walking with Jesus, God's Son. But in Ephesians 1, the apostle Paul gives us a small but powerful glimpse of life with Him.

God gives us spiritual blessings directly from heaven (v. 3), holiness and blamelessness in God's eyes (v.4), and adoption as His own into the King's royal family (v.5), understanding of the mystery of His will (v.9), and a new purpose of living "for the praise of His glory" (v.12).

The Holy Spirit comes to live in us to empower and lead us (v.13), and He guarantees eternity in God's presence forever (v.14).

When Jesus Christ enters our life, we discover that getting to know Him more and following Him closely is the greatest of adventures. Seek Him now and every day for real life.

Let's pray-

Dear Jesus, thank You for loving us and always walking by our side. You've given us more than we could have imagined. We love being known and loved by You and sharing You with others. Amen.

#105 Testimony- R. A Torrey

R. A. Torrey believed that there are few people who are converted to Christ without someone praying for and seeking for their salvation. He gives the example of his own conversion in the middle of the night.

He was not converted in church, Sunday school, or in a personal conversation with anyone. He went to bed without any thought of God or salvation. He awoke in the night, God spoke to his heart, and he surrendered his life to Jesus in perhaps five minutes.

He writes; "A few minutes before, I was about as near eternal perdition as one gets. I had one foot over the brink and was trying to get the other one over . . . I thought no human being had anything to do with it, but I had forgotten my mother's prayers, and I afterwards learned that one of my college classmates had chosen me as one to pray for until I was saved."

Torrey adds, "Oh, the power of prayer to reach down, down, down where hope itself seems vain, and lift men and women up, up, up into fellowship with and likeness to God."

1561-1565 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted-

1561- Is. 40:25 "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the

Holy One."

1562- Jer. 25:3b "I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking."

1563- Is. 37:26a "Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it?"

1564- Ps. 39:12a "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy

peace in my tears."

1565- Is. 41:14b "I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy

One of Israel."

#105 Hymn- Leaning On the Everlasting Arms

The information about this song, is taken from the book by Robert J. Morgan, THEN SINGS MY SOUL (p. 219)

The idea for this song came from Anthony Showalter, principal of the Southern Normal Musical Institute in Dalton, Georgia. Showalter took a personal interest in each of his musical students, so when two letters arrived announcing the death of their wives, He selected Deuteronomy 33:27 and pondered the words that came to mind:

"Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;

Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms."

He scribbled replies to his bereaved friends, then, reaching for another piece of paper, he wrote to his friend, hymnist Elisha Hoffman. His letter said,"I can't come up with any verses." Hoffman wrote three stanzas and sent them back. Showalter set it all to music, and ever since, these words have cheered us in adversity. "Leaning On the Everlasting Arms."

Some encouraging words-

Charles Spurgeon- "If our God is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God (and He is!), and if our God is unlimited in power and ability (and He is!), then we should expect amazing answers in prayer. Even faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains because of how great and powerful our God is!' [1 John 5:14-15; Eph. 3:20-21]

Church Notes:

Victory Over Darkness

We must have a solid understanding of who we are in Christ before we can work successfully through the practical aspects of Christianity.

We don't follow Him in order to become children of God, we are already children of God through faith in Jesus' provision of Salvation, and are becoming like Him.

We don't follow Him in order to be loved; we are loved, so we follow Him.