Jun

27

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Categories: Truth For Today

Avoid the Cave

When a Christian sins and engages in the deeds of darkness, it’s as if he has had a relapse.
Imagine yourself lost in a cave. As you attempt to find your way out, you only proceed deeper and deeper into the network of tunnels. Soon you’re in the belly of the earth. You’re scared. Your heart is pounding. Your eyes are wide open, but all you can see is an oppressive blackness. You grope for hours, and the hours become a day, and then another day. All hope seems lost. Suddenly, off in the distance, there is a pinpoint of light. You move toward it, groping lest you fall into a deeper pit. Finally the light begins to widen and you find yourself at an opening in the cave! With your remaining strength you charge out into the daylight. You then know a freedom like nothing you had ever conceived was possible. However, not long after your escape you decide there were several things you enjoyed in the cave. So you go back in. How foolish! Yet that is essentially what a Christian does when he follows after deeds of darkness.

MacArthur, John: Truth for Today : A Daily Touch of God’s Grace. Nashville, Tenn. : J. Countryman, 2001, S. 196

Jun

25

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Categories: Love Notes

God’s Love Letter To You

Jun

22

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Categories: Marriage

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Do You Have a Plan For Your Marriage?

We plan our wills, our finances, our health, and our vacations. When we are planning a vacation, we go through great lengths to plan and organize everything. Where stops will be, how long we’re going to be staying there, and what we’re going to wear….etc. The list is never-ending. When my wife and I go on a short weekend trip, she takes enough clothing for a month. When we plan a promoting scheme for our business, we leave no stone unturned. What about the biggest, and we are hoping, the most extended trip of your life? Your marriage.

I know this is just about a foreign word in our society today, but I’m from the Old School and I still think that a lifelong dedication to one partner brings with it some of the most overwhelming results you can never really explain, and that no amount of money can ever buy.

It also brings with it some twists and turns, bumps and bruises, talks and compromises, and that’s what makes it so great.

I love hockey, and when I used to play, I took plenty of bumps and bruises, twists and turns, compromises and talks, but boy was it fun.

Everyone would limp off the ice, get our gear and limp off to home and we were smiling and taking about what a great game we just played. It was fun! We played because we loved the game, irrespective of if we took a blow now and then. Do you love your spouse? Have you definitely made a game plan to make this commitment succeed?

Now you who are not married and just living together will never understand what I’m talking about. LOVE IS A COMMITMENT! You do not have a relationship that will feel what I just described, unless you’ve got a lifelong commitment. No running out the back door when things simply do not go your way. You work it out. If your marriage relationship does not have a destination, how can you know when you arrive? And why wait for love to materialize out of stardust, when you might select excitement and romance now?

There’s a straight forward yet surpassing plan for a marriage of depth, hot romance and excitement! A Plan, you ask? Exactly! Good marriages are no accident. The rules are easy enough; you only need an outline to follow. Hard times can strike any family relationship. But deciding to love, in the effective techniques outlined here, can result in relationships that are harder when the hard times come, and they can come.

Six elements to staying in Love:

  1. Making your partner feel actually honored and loved by you.
  2. Learning the art of touching kindly (without sex)
  3. Keep dating alive ( continue to date )
  4. Re-opening a heart closed by anger ( this will take a large amount of work )
  5. Building — or reconstructing trust in a relationship
  6. Becoming good friends with your family

I can go further into each one of those points on another post, but I am able to assure you, if you implement these into your marriage, you’ll see a major change happen. That change may take time and lot of persistence on your side, and don’t be stunned that the most wide-reaching change just could be in you.

Brian Gosur

Jun

21

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Categories: Encouragement

Encourage Me

To encourage. When we take a moment from our busy everyday lives, and stop to encourage someone. What does that mean to you?

It’s the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, or hope. When we encourage others, we are sparking them to go on. Stimulating and affirming them to move forward.

I grew up in a home where the word encouragement was never spoken. No stimulation to go forward. No affirming the importance and qualities that made you…you. I can remember very vividly the almost constant yelling from my father that I would never amount to nothing. I would probably just concede the fact, that a garbage man was all I would ever amount too.

Now I am not blaming my father for anything. I look back at his life and I see the same struggles that I felt, were very much a part of his everyday life as well. He had no mentor as his father died when he was very young. I love my dad for how hard he tried to make things right, when he didn’t have anyone to show him how or what he was doing right or wrong. He did the best he could. He was a very underappreciated man, and I bet he never got any encouragement from anyone.

Coming from this type of background and the struggles I have had, I realize how important encouraging is.

I have always loved sports and was very active. I remember my brother and I joining a Pee Wee baseball league. Back then you didn’t need a parent to sign you up. So my brother and I went to play. We had a ton of fun. The excitement of the games and the people cheering you on was great. But it would have been so much more fun to have had our parents or someone in the stands cheering us on. When the games were over, my brother and I grabbed our gloves and quietly walked home by ourselves.

Needless to say, I have learned the incredible value to encourage and validate others. It is a lost art in our society today. I am an internet marketer and part of my job is to encourage and entice others to continue forward despite the circumstances. It is so easy, the minute things don’t go our way or just don’t fall into the right pattern that we had figured on, to say, “I quit”. Have you ever been there? Who hasn’t?

Have you ever engaged in a conversation with someone and all you do is ask the questions about them, and they are more than willing to give you the answers. Why? We love to talk about ourselves. Our achievements. Where we are going and what we are doing.

We all love to be encouraged. Validated. To know that someone else finds me important. I mean something to them. They like me. What I do is has value. This is so prevalent in older people. As they get older they don’t feel valued anymore. So many times they are dropped off at the home and are never visited again. They wither and die alone.

You see this a lot in teens today. Teen suicide’s are at an all time high. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-olds. Mom’s, Dad’s, talk to your children. Go to their games. Get involved with their lives. Show them how much you love them. Don’t just tell them. It could change them forever.

This goes for everyone. There is not one person reading this that could not now, or maybe at some point used a word of encouragement. We get beat up at work. We get beat up on the freeway. We get beat up walking through the airport.

If you know someone who is alone or just struggling with life. Give them a call. Stop by for a visit. Take them out for a cup of coffee or lunch. Than just shut-up and ask them how they are doing. Than be quiet and listen. Give them encouraging words. Validate them. Pick them up and help them to continue forward. Give them a hug and the affirmations that will build them up.

Brian Gosur

Jun

18

By admin

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Categories: Marriage

Marriage and Compromise

The word compromise is defined as,” an agreement reached by adjustment”. That is a very good definition because that is exactly what compromise is. It takes an adjustment on both sides to reach the agreement. Unfortunately that is not what people do to complete their definition of the word compromise.

Because their is one human characteristic that is formed very early in everyone’s life, and makes it nearly impossible to achieve the true meaning of the word compromise to ever exist in anyone. That is the me, my syndrome. Selfishness.

Let me give you an example. Do you ever have to teach a child how to lie? Or if a child sees another child playing with a toy that they want, they just go over and take it. You don’t ever have to school them on how to do this. They have it all down by the time they are two years old. Then they know how to inflict pain to get that toy from the other child if that child resists, and then lie about how it was the other child fault because he hit you first. I know all about this, and you know all about this if you are human.

Now if these same kids have learned how to do all this by the time they are two years old, imagine how much they have mastered this art by the time they have had twenty years of training and experience watching you and me. If you have children or grand-children, I know you have all seen this in action.

Now if this trend is not corrected, these children grow up to be adults, and those adults go off into various careers. Politics, attorneys, bankers…..well, you get my drift. They also go on to become partners in holy matrimony. (when was the last time you heard marriage referred to as holy matrimony)

I believe we are at a crossroads in America today. We have so many of these children that have entered into adulthood taking with them that same selfish arrogant attitude, and are now using it with great accuracy on the other individuals that they come across every day of their lives. If I don’t get what I want, I will lie, cheat, and inflict pain, (emotional pain), on anyone that gets in my way.

Now I know this doesn’t apply to everyone, but it applies to a good portion of people today.

I grew up like this. I was a horrible person to be around. I used all these with exact skill. I had some of the best teachers also. It was not until I met Jesus Christ, that my life finally turned around.

People like this do not make good marriage partners. They are not willing to compromise. To them compromise is when you give me what I want. When I went into an argument with my wife, I was planning on how I was going to win, not compromise.

For those of you who are in these types of marriages, I know how difficult it can be. You can never win when you are up against someone who is uncompromising, selfish, and never able to look at themselves in the mirror and see who they really are. That is what has to happen before there can be any real change.

What about you. Do you compromise? Or do you go into that marriage with fight in your eyes and the attitude that you are going to take what you want. You’re not going to give in. You have rights!

The greatest act of love is to serve. If you want to be first, become last. Even if you are getting battered and beat up by your marriage partner, learn to compromise. Go that extra mile. Over time they will see the difference, and soon they will be able to look into the mirror and see someone that they never saw before. Someone totally new and different.

I will end with this story that I heard a while back.

A man’s wife was in a terrible auto accident. She was a very beautiful women. The doctors said it was a miracle that she was even alive. They had done some surgery on her face and did a wonderful job at restoring her facial features back to what they were before the tragic accident, but warned the husband that her lips would always be crooked and angled to one side.

The day came when the husband was going to see her for the first time since the surgeries on her face. He walked into the room slowly. His wife was sitting up on her bed. She was afraid he would never look at her the same, and maybe never kiss her again. No words were spoken. He very gently walked over to her…..as he angled his face and lips so that they would fit right into hers…..he kissed her so tenderly. With tears streaming down her face, they embraced, and all her fears she had disappeared.

That’s called compromise my friend. Adjusting yourself to reach an agreement for the good of someone else.

Brian Gosur

Jun

17

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Categories: ABC's For Life

Your ABC’s For Life

  1. Avoid negative sources, people, things and habits.
  2. Believe in yourself.
  3. Consider things from every angle.
  4. Do not give up and do not give in.
  5. Enjoy life today: yesterday is history, today is a present, tomorrow may never come.
  6. Family and Friends are hidden treasures. Seek them and enjoy their riches.
  7. Give more than you planned to give.
  8. Hang on to your dreams.
  9. Ignore those who try to discourage you.
  10. Just do it!
  11. Keep on trying, no matter how hard it seems. It will get better.
  12. Love yourself first and foremost.
  13. Make it happen. Just do it!
  14. Never lie, cheat, or steal. Always strike a fair deal.
  15. Open your eyes and see things as they really are.
  16. Practice makes perfect.
  17. Quitters never win and winners never quit.
  18. Read, study and learn about everything important in your life.
  19. Stop procrastinating.
  20. Take control of your own destiny.
  21. Understand yourself in order to better understand others.
  22. Visualize it.
  23. Want it more than anything.
  24. Xcellerate your efforts.
  25. You are unique of all of Nature’s creations. Nothing can replace you.
  26. Zero in on your target, and go for it!!

What is your target? What are your goals? Sometimes that is the easy part, but finding a system or process to attain those goals, and sticking with it, can be the hardest part. Learning the secrets to life is the key that unlocks the doors to success in anything that you decide to undertake. Take that first step today.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Brian Gosur

Jun

16

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Categories: Love

Love; The Greatest Power In The Universe

When we think of love, we think of a feeling or an emotion, and love is certainly both of these, but love is an action word also. It takes an action or a movement on our part to express love. In this sense, love is the greatest power in the universe. I, Brian Gosur, will attempt to give my explanation.

There are thousands upon thousands of stories of love. Books and movies that have moved us to tears because of the great demonstrations of love that we have witnessed or experienced in our lives. Simply telling a story of love and the experience of others in this powerful emotion, can melt the hardest heart into a flood of tears and feelings that can move mountains.

Two people just meet on a random everyday meeting that thousands of others experience everyday, but this one between these two people is different from all the others. This one meeting has an element that the others don’t have. Love is doing it’s work. Their eyes meet and conversation is started. Words are hard to find. They stumble across a very confusing sea of letters and vowels trying to sound very sure and confident in who they are, but something is going on that they just don’t understand.

A friend starts to notice that they are acting very peculiar lately. Their minds drift back to that random meeting constantly. They keep rehearsing the conversation over and over again. At first they act as nothing is wrong, but their thoughts keep going back to that one random meeting. Almost hounding them now, they even go back to the place of meeting, hoping to get another glimpse of this haunting individual, that they can’t stop thinking about. You think, what would be the chances of meeting them again? But wait…..sure enough…..their she is! You go over to where she is and try to act as if you are just walking by and she calls to you, and without any hesitation, you suddenly turn her way, dropping all the stuff you are carrying, making a total fool of yourself you say, ” Oh hello. What a coincidence meeting you here again.” Don’t worry, it was probably no coincidence on her part either.

What caused this great happening to occur again? Love, the greatest power in the universe.

I know that there are chemical reactions and science can prove all these activities that go on in the human body once this love power hits us, and causes us to do very strange things, but what I would like to focus on is the very power of love it self. I do not pretend this to be any scientific research of love at all.

When I first met my wife, about ninety percent of my thoughts and actions centered around her. I could think of nothing else. Learning every detail about her was top priority for me. One of my best friends noticed it right away. I didn’t get together with my guy friends as much any more, because I was spending all my time with her. I talked about her all the time. My father said that he noticed his grocery bill being less every week, because I was never home to eat anymore. What is love, that it can grab hold of someone, alter his actions so that no one recognizes him anymore. He turns into someone else.

Some wise advice that I heard long ago, and I would like to pass it onto you. “Don’t marry the person you can live with, marry the person you can’t live without.”

Then there is the other side of love. As much as it can bring change and pleasure to those who use it wisely, putting it into the hands of someone who is selfish and looking to always get the upper hand in everything and everyone, it can be used as a very destructive force that can destroy lives and damage hearts forever.

Take our same couple who met on that one random meeting. They fall in love and get married and their lives can only ride the waves of feelings and emotion for so long. You see, feelings and emotions go up and down all the time. If I rely on them, I will be always in love on day and out of love the other.

Love is a delicate flower that has to be nurtured and taken very good care of. It can not be something that you feel and catch and then put it in a cage, and once in awhile you through in some crumbs to feed it. If you do that, I can assure you, love will die. It is not if, it is when. It will surly die. The same thing that brought you into love has to continue for it to survive.

We will change as we grow older and we are changing as individuals all the time. Many romances that began when they were young and in high school, I guarantee will change as time goes by, because people change. You have to grow and nurture your love for each other as well.

Whatever you give your time to is what you love the most in your life. The guy that spends all his money and time on the golf course is in love with golf. If he is not including his wife in this hobby of his, or indulging in one of hers also, I guarantee you, golf will split them apart. They may stay together and go through the motions, but the love that sparked all this to happen in the beginning will be gone.

Be individuals but be a couple also. Grow together, not apart. What you did when you couldn’t get her out of your mind all those times, continue to do now. I have a friend that is doing everything the right way. Him and his wife still go out on dates. He still buys her flowers for no reason. They share things together. They don’t let kids and grand kids or work or hobbies keep them apart. Keep things in their proper perspective.

There is a thing that God put into your hearts or it maybe that He’s just started it with you. Keep it alive. That one circle began with you two. Don’t let anyone or anything come into that circle. God made it for you two only. Their are other circles that include your children and external family. They are very important also, but the one that started it all, you and her, is elusive territory. No one can come in unless they have special permission.

I hope that I could shed a glimmer of light on a subject that has been talked about and researched for eons of years. I believe that to fully understand love, the greatest power in the universe, we have to understand the originator of love. He demonstrated and gave the greatest gift of all to all of us. I know that this won’t be for everyone, but to those whose hearts are burning right now, and you feel that twinge deep in your souls. Reach out and take this gift of love. It was made especially for you.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever would believe in Him, would not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Brian Gosur

Jun

16

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Categories: Learning To Listen

Learning To Listen With Your Heart

I looked down at my infant grand-daughter as she was crying. She was trying to tell me something. She couldn’t speak the words so she was trying to communicate in the only way she knew how. Crying would get someones attention and then her needs would be met.

As we grow older we learn the art and skills of communication. We learn how to get under brothers skin so we can get him in trouble. Or snuggle up to grandpa and get that cookie that looks so good sitting on the counter.

From infancy to young children to adults, we learn how to communicate our needs to everyone that will give us or get us what we want or what we need. I believe we are living with a society that was raised and given anything that their little hearts desired. They have turned their wants into feeling that they are needs.They demand them and feel that this is their right to have these things. I have seen it in my own family and i am sure many of you have seen it in yours as well.

Unfortunately we have grown up to believe that the world owes me and should listen to what I am crying about. Not so. I grew up thinking this way and it was a long and hard journey to realize that as long as I was always yacking with my mouth, I wasn’t hearing what anybody else had to say and I was never going to learn and grow if I didn’t learn the fine art of listening with your heart.

I know what your going to say, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil”. Sad to say, most of the time that is true. People who talk a lot are usually in sales. They are people that move up the ladder faster. They step on every bodies toes to get where they are going and to be heard. They are always running a hundred miles an hour, and never stop to smell the roses. They don’t know how.

But most of the people that I know that are like this are never really happy. They struggle with relationships. People are usually tools to them in the pursuit of getting what they want. They are still in that babies crib crying for their needs to be met.

I too was on this road until I met a person who actually listened to me. Most people don’t know how to listen. They go through the motions like they are listening, but they aren’t. They are just looking for the first exit out the door. But this person became a very close friend of mine. I liked talking to him because he listened. I mean he really listened, and he cared, he really cared. I could tell, he was not faking it.

The biggest sign that told me he was really listening to me, was when he would remember what I said. He would, days latter, ask me about how something, that I talked to him about, was going. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Somebody really listened to what I said. I felt important. I felt valued, but most of all, I felt loved.

I grew up in a home that everybody talks and no one listens. Everyone just talks over everyone else. To this day, when we get together as a family, it is just a big noise of people talking, and talking loud, so as to be heard. I would just look around at this chaotic mess of words flying into empty space and no one is hearing them, let alone understanding them.

Well I quickly learned it was not easy to undo what years of talking had done. I had to re-program myself and force myself to learn to listen. Now I don’t mean just sitting still and being quiet and letting the other person talk. If this was all it took, you might as well talk to a wall. Walls will probably listen to you just as well as anybody else would. You have to learn to hear and understand with your heart. You heard the old saying. ” God gave you two ears and one mouth.” That should tell you something.

I have a business that I run. Learning MLM secrets. Now, I know a lot of people that do their business with their mouths, but that is the old fashioned way. I do business with my ears now. People buy from people that they trust. When I found a friend that listened to me and took the time to learn who I am, I trusted him. I liked him, because he gave me something that no one else ever did. He gave me his precious time and he listened to me. He didn’t say it with words, but with his heart he was saying, “ Brian, your important to me, and I care about you”. For you business people, you will get a lot more sales when you learn the skill of listening with your heart.

Not only will listening with your heart do wonders for your business, but wait till you try it at home. Your wife will think that you died and someone has taken over your body. Your kids will actually want to help you around the house. Because they will have found, not just a dad, but a dad who wants to take time listening with your heart. You’ll make them feel important, valued, and most of all…..loved.

Try it. It won’t be an easy transition, but with constant work, you will nail it down and get really good at it. It will change your life.

Brian Gosur

Jun

15

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Categories: Prayer

As I Was Praying

LAST WEEK, GOD OPENED A new window on what He and I can do together. I was in the middle of preparing for a class I’m teaching at church when God reminded me that He is life. As in, “I have come that they may have life” (Jn. 10:10) and “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Ro. 4:17).
Then He invited me to join Him in the business of bringing life. “In any situation where there is ‘death’,” He said, “You get to pray and ask me to bring life.”
Whoa. That’s a prayer focus that had never occurred to me. I’ve gotten so used to living with realities such as “Too good to be true” and “Going from bad to worse” that it doesn’t occur to me to notice where elements of death are at work in a situation—they’re like background noise.
But God’s invitation has nudged me to look at situations from a death-and-life viewpoint. Sometimes it’s obvious where life is needed, as when a friend is grappling with cancer. In other situations, I’ve had to look a little harder. I’ve sat in meetings and conversations wondering, “Is there an element of ‘death’ in what we’re talking about—maybe through an attitude, an emotion, a way of thinking, or a practice?” And I’ve sent up little prayers, “Father, would you bring life here?” or “What would you like to do here that would bring life?”
Looking around and realizing, “I get to ask God to bring life,” has been fun—mostly. You see, this prayer has had an unexpected consequence: It’s revealed I’m not always eager for God to answer it. How can that be?! I’ve tasted life and know how wonderful it is; why wouldn’t I want that touch on everything around me?
Truth is, I don’t. In one situation, I’ve gotten used to the dynamics; I can navigate them just fine. If that situation were brimming with life, I’d have to grapple with the change. In another situation, I’ve been chagrined to find myself thinking, Why bring life and let them off the hook? They made their bed; they can lie in it.
Oh me of small heart and small faith.
And, apparently, even smaller vision for what God might want to do.
And even smaller reverence for His sovereignty! All He’s invited me to do is ask for His life. I don’t remember Him asking me to determine when and how He should bring it.
So I ask for forgiveness for my small heart, and continue praying my new prayer, that the King of Life will bring His “Midas” touch to those around me.

God bless you all.

Brian Gosur

Jun

14

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Categories: Uncategorized

I’m Sorry. I Was Wrong. Please Forgive Me.

Have you ever had to say that? I’m sorry. Please forgive me? I know that I have had to say that on a number of occasions.

When I was a kid, my younger brother and I were very competitive. We both loved sports and were very active in baseball, football, and hockey. That would always lead to disagreements, arguments, and fighting. Yes we had some physical skirmishes. My mother would always make us shake hands and say “I’m sorry”. It didn’t matter who was at fault. We both had to say we were sorry. We would go through the procedure, just to satisfy my mom, but we would walk away with our noses in the air. We didn’t mean one word of it.

That is not the kind of “sorry”, that I’m talking about here. I’m talking about when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are wrong and you need to apologize and ask for someone to forgive you.

I know that right now, you are setting back and thinking of a time when you had to that. Or you should have done that. Maybe you need to do that right now with someone? We’ve all been there.

I had to do it just the other day. I had written an article. I had a lot of people who loved the article. Right at the end of this article, I wrote something that some people took offense too. They brought it to my attention. I didn’t see it that way and I ignored the whole thing. My conscience started to work on me, and I started to think about what they had said, and I knew what I had to do. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

There is something magical that happens when those words are spoken with truth and sincerity. When you really mean it. Not like when my brother and I did it, but when you truly are sorry and take the other person aside. Look them in the eye, and with all the sincerity you can muster, you tell them…..” I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

The story goes of Simon Wiesenthal. He survived a German concentration camp, and spent the rest of his life hunting down war criminals. He was performing one of his duties in the camp, when he was called and rushed to the side of a dying German solider. The solider wanted to ask the forgiveness of a “Jew” before he died for all the killing that he had done. With bloody puss filled bandages all over this soldier’s body, he grabbed Wiesenthal and pulled him toward his face and asked for his forgiveness. Wiesenthal pulled the soldier’s clutching hands from off himself, and slowly walked away……. He could not forgive him.

Wiesenthal said that he had no right to forgive and grant that solder’s dying wish. In so doing, he would be forgiving him on the behalf of others, and he had no right to do that. Not forgiving creates a horrible chasm that builds up over time, never to be crossed again. It can make the heart grow cold, hard, and bitter, never to be penetrated with warmth, compassion or love ever again.

On a different note. Armando Galarraga, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, did something that only twenty other pitchers, in major league baseball history have ever done. He pitched a perfect game.

For those of you who are not baseball fans. A perfect game is when a pitcher throws to 26 batters, and gets everyone of them out. No walks, no runs. A perfectly pitched game.

Unfortunately, that is not how umpire, Jim Joyce saw it.

Picture this in your mind. Your in the ninth inning. You are one out away from going into the history books as only the 21st pitcher to ever throw a perfect game. The batter hits a routine ground ball. The throw is made. Everyone is standing on their feet. The cheers go up! He is out!……but wait a minute! Hold on! The first base umpire, Jim Joyce, has called the batter safe. The perfect game is gone. The once in a lifetime event is gone. It’s like blowing a perfect 300 game in bowling on the last pin. It’s all over. What a catastrophic loss. To be so close, and to know that you may never have this opportunity again.

But something even more crazy happens. After umpire Jim Joyce, watches the video replay of that specific last out of the game, he realizes that he made the wrong call. The batter was out. He than went over to the Tigers dugout. Went over to Armando Galarraga, and told him that he had made the wrong call. Umpire Jim Joyce told Galarraga that he was sorry. Galarraga held no anger or animosity toward Joyce, but praised Umpire Jim Joyce for what he had done, in saying he was sorry.

Fans everywhere wanted the league to fire Jim Joyce. The police escorted him back to his hotel. Everyone was anger and mad at the decision of Umpire Jim Joyce. Except one man. Armando Galarraga. He wasn’t mad.

These simple words can have a profound and healing effect. They can calm the storm and furry of an emotionally charged heart.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me”. Do you need to say that to someone? They are magic words. Do something magical today. Bring healing into someone’s life……and yours.

Brian Gosur

Jun

12

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Categories: Uncategorized

WORDS OF PROMIISE AND THE COMFORT OF HOPE

The following quotes are from
the Bible. This isn’t a book to
tell you what you’ve done
wrong. It’s a book to tell you
that God wants to help you
through whatever your facing.
He loves you and wants to guide
you through your problems.

Psalm 27:1
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I
fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart
shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Psalm 42:8-11
Yet the LORD will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the
night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will
say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is your God? Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 56:1-3 and 11
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily
oppresses me. My enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that
fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in you.
. . . Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art you disquieted within
me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put
away from you, with all malice: And be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.
Romans 12:19
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.
Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.

Jun

9

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THE LOST FORTUNE

For years the rock served as a doorstop on John Reed’s North Carolina farm. The old Hessian farmer’s son Conrad found the seventeen pound rock in the creek bed but no one thought much of it. It wasn’t until 1802 that a Fayetteville jeweler examined it and then offered $3.50 to the farmer for the stone. John sold it for that price but in the days that followed it was revealed that the yellowish rock was seventeen pounds of solid gold. Adjusted for inflation that means that $300,000.00 of gold in our day was sold for the equivalent in today’s dollars for a little over 50 bucks ($50.00). Like the old German farmer John Reed, many have come to think of eternal life –something with great value –to be something ordinary.

In a materialistic culture as we have in America, we can think of the gift of eternal life to be something ordinary and of little value here and now. We must learn that the prize of eternal life has great value while we are on earth. Eternal life itself isn’t just limited in impact to the future. An American minister named Reverend Ike preached a prosperity gospel. Ike used to speak mockingly of evangelical Christianity as offering only “pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.” That isn’t true. The Scriptures reveal that eternal life isn’t simply about the future. I am going to tell you a secret that is more precious than gold and it can liberate you from spiritual bondage.

When we hear the expression “eternal life” we are inclined to think about existence after death. In addition, we are prone to think of eternal life as referring to time and duration – things that will last forever. However, according to John 17:3 this isn’t the main idea behind the concept of eternal life. You may have heard it before and you may have heard it many times but eternal life isn’t just about the future, it is about a relationship. Our relationship to God. Read Jesus’ words carefully, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3.) The word know is speaking of a personal or firsthand knowledge of God. The first time this word for “know” appears in the New Testament is in Matthew in reference to the physical union between Mary and Joseph. Matthew 2:25 tells us that Joseph, “…did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.” Although this is a different kind of relationship, it still helps us to recognize that the word “know” is used of a firsthand, personal knowledge of another individual.

Let me clarify my point. You must be clear in your thinking and distinguish between “knowing God” and “knowing about God.” We know God by seeking Him by studying the Bible, by meditating upon His Word, through times of prayer, through times of worship and by purposefully obeying His commands. A person needs to seek a supernatural understanding of God’s Word, and he cannot be content with an intellectual understanding of the Bible and God alone. Two of the greatest evangelical voices in the 20th century warned against failing to distinguish between knowing God and only knowing about God. The first voice is, J. I. Packer, who admonishes us about making knowing God just an intellectual endeavor when he writes:

“If the decisive factor was notional correctness, then obviously the most learned biblical scholars would know God better than anyone else. But it is not; you can have all the right notions in your head without ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer; and a simple Bible reader and sermon-hearer who is full of the Holy Ghost will develop a far deeper acquaintance with his God and saviour than more learned men who are content with being theologically correct. The reason is that the former will deal with God regarding the practical application of truth to his life, whereas the latter will not.” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God.)

It is possible to know about God without experiencing Him. It is possible to have only an intellectual understanding of who God is It is possible to fail to experience God as the Psalmist invites us: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8.)

The second voice is A. W. Tozer, who gave a similar warning. In his book The Divine Conquest he spoke of those who seek God in books alone. He then contrasted the person who has only a second hand knowledge of God with one who knows Him firsthand. Tozer says the person who knows God on a personal level will consider an approach on an intellectual basis alone to be a perversion. He wrote that the man who knows God firsthand will be repulsed by such an idea and will say:

“‘I have heard Him and observed Him. What have I to do any more with idols?’ For he cannot love a God who is no more than a deduction from a text. He will crave to know God with a vital awareness that goes beyond words and to live in the intimacy of personal communion. “To seek our divinity merely in books and writings is to seek the living among the dead; we do but in vain many times seek God in these, where His truth too often is not so much enshrined as entombed.” (A. W. Tozer The Divine Conquest.)

This is the point of Jesus’ words in John. He is saying that eternal life is more than grasping the theological truths. It is about knowing God as a friend and companion. Eternal life is about knowing God personally, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3.) When we come to Christ He may merely be a stranger, but we must seek a closer relationship with Him if we are to be healthy spiritually.

Consider three key benefits of a deep and personal knowledge of God. First, some come to Christ and are born again and find instant release from sinful behaviors. Others come to Christ and over the years find themselves mired in some sinful habit. No matter how long you’ve walked with the Lord or no matter how deep the pit in which you find yourself, the gift of eternal life can still bring release from spiritual bondage. The gift and benefit of knowing God is powerful in setting us free. According 2 Peter 2:20 the writer indicates that we escape the pollution of the world through a knowledge of God, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ….” Certainly this verse refers in part to the release that we have from sin’s penalty when we trust Christ but there is something more here. This verse speaks of the pollution that surrounds sin. It isn’t merely release from the penalty of sin that comes through a knowledge of God; but the knowledge of God overcomes sin’s polluting and corrupting influence . The more we press in and learn to walk more closely with the Lord the less the grip sin and any kind of spiritual pollution will have on our lives.

Second, according to Daniel 11:32 our energy level and interest in spiritual things is goverened by our knowledge of God. “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32) Daniel’s prophecy was speaking of the people of Israel and that their knowledge of God will cause them to be courageous. In our culture and our day we must be careful to not allow the things of this world to interfere and take God’s place in our lives. It should be obvious that the more distant our walk, the more fearful we will become. Like the apostle, many follow the Lord “afar off” and are then paralyzed by fear. (Mark 14:54.) A fearful Christian will find it comfortable to stick with what he knows even if it is robbing him. A Christian who has only a technical or second hand knowledge of God will be timid and find it difficult to tell others about Christ.

Finally, according to Ephesians 1:17-18 a person will increase in wisdom and understanding through a knowledge of God. In Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17 the apostle prayed, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Knowledge of God will expand our understanding of our world and wisdom will illumine our way. Wisdom is: the ability to anticipate the results of one’s decisions and it is the predisposition to do what is right (follow the way of righteousness). On the one hand by walking close with the Lord, a believer’s ability to see pitfalls and hidden dangers will be heightened. While we have the promise for wisdom in James’ epistle, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5.) In keeping with this verse wisdom is found by spending time with the Lord. The quest for wisdom through prayer will bring us into God’s presence, and wisdom will be granted to us as we walk with Him.

On the other hand, knowing God as a friend and companion will impact our ability to see things more clearly. It gives the believer the capacity to better appreciate the resources and lavish inheritance that is our’s in Christ. Notice this is the message of the next verse, Ephesians 1:18. Our capacity to understand our inheritance in Christ is expanded through our knowledge of Him, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:18.) Our ability to see our eternal inheritance is overshadowed by the things of this world but knowing God breaks through the darkness. As a result, we need supernatural understanding to better grasp the blessings and benefits that have been poured out upon us.

Knowing God as a friend in your daily walk will help you face the struggle that you are having with sin. The more closely you know the Lord, the better your understanding of His devotion to you. The better you understand your destiny in Christ, the stronger you will be to face and reject paths that lead to self-destruction. The more confident you are about the Lord’s commitment to you, the easier it becomes to choose the path that will make you stronger.

There is a Rock by the doorway to your life and eternity and it is the Lord Himself. This Rock is more precious than gold, and there is no reason to be afraid since He can give you light for the darkness. This Rock is waiting for you to call. He loves you and He is listening.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.(Psalm 18:2-3.)

Check out our web site: http://www.servantoflight.com

(Permission is granted to use the material as long as the URL and source information are given. Copyright, Keith Churilla, 2010.)

Copyright :: All Rights Reserved
Registered :: Fri Apr 30 07:34:28 UTC 2010
Title :: THE LOST FORTUNE
Category :: Blog
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Jun

8

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Categories: Forgiveness

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Want To Be Like God? Forgive Someone.

Never are we acting more like God, then when we forgive someone. Forgiveness is the closet action to God that we will ever undertake.

In today’s society, forgiving someone is almost looked down upon. Vengeance and getting even is what is portrayed as the true test of ones strength. Forgiveness is an act of a cowering weak wimpy person. Is it? Lets look a little bit closer at the importance of forgiveness.

What’s the definition of forgiveness? Forgiveness is a promise. Forgiveness is a pledge. Forgiveness is a statement of undeserved and unearned love that says, no matter what you’ve done, there is no anger, no hatred, no desire for vengeance, and there will never be no retaliation. I do not hold you guilty, and I do not blame you. I hold no self pity for myself because I have been offended. I pass by this transgression completely, and extend my love to you fully. That is biblical forgiveness.

We see this character trait of God in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 6.God is talking to Moses here.

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”

I know a women who years ago was just a working class girl. Single. Enjoyed the party life. One day after her bowling night with her friends, she was leaving to go home. She had a few beers to drink. Nothing out of the ordinary. She wasn’t stoned drunk, but while she was pulling out she didn’t see the man on the motorcycle. What she thought was a slight bump to the motorcycle, turned out to be much more. She went to see if he was alright, but she could see by the twisted body, that he was not alright. He was dead!

The police came. She was arrested, and tried for manslaughter. Punishable by a long term in prison. But to her amazement, while the trial was coming to a close, the dead mans family chose not to prosecute the girl. In an emotional plea, they decided to forgive her and let her go.

Today that girl and the dead man’s family are good friends. They are all Christians and go to the same church, The girl goes around to schools and preaches to kids the dangers of drinking.

The press went wild with the story of the great act of forgiveness that this family showed this girl. There were stories in all the major newspapers, and they were even on the “Good Morning America” show.

The extension of forgiveness changed, not only the girl’s life forever, but the families involved, and who knows how many countless individuals who came to hear or read about this incredible act of forgiveness.

Jesus Christ taught many parables or stories while He was alive, and one of the most familiar stories was a story of a fathers great love for his son, and forgiveness of a wrong that was totally undeserved.

It is found in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter fifteen. The son said to his father that he wanted his part of the inheritance. He didn’t want to stay with the family. He was tired of living under his roof and under his rules. He was going to go out and do what he wanted to do. ( Kinda sounds almost like the kids of today.) You have to understand, that this was a huge insult to the father, and normally the son would be considered dead to the family and no longer accepted into the house ever again.

Now while this lad is out and spends all his money and times start to get bad. He has no where to go and no food to eat. he finds a part time job tending to a farmers pigs.( How is that. A Jewish kid tending to pigs?) He is so hungry, that he starts eating the slop that the pigs eat.

He decides to go back to his father, and admit that he was wrong and ask his forgiveness. He won’t ask for anything but to be treated like one of his fathers servants. He knows that it would be wrong to ask to be let back into the family circle.

Well while he is walking down the road that leads to his fathers house, rehearsing what he is going to say, his father sees him from the living room window, and runs out the door to meet his son. In Luke’s account of this story on the power of forgiveness, it says that not only did the father run out to meet his son, but his heart did also. Luke 15:20; “his heart went out to him.”

They meet each other and before the son could get a word out of his mouth, the father grabs him and hugs him so tight. The father is elated that his son is back. No guilt! No big speech of how he let him down! No anger! No hatred. The father just pours out his love on his son. The father puts the finest robe on him and a ring on his finger, and they have a huge feast and celebration. The father says, ” my son was dead, and now he is alive again.” ( Luke 15:24) Maybe our government should learn this, and instead of forgiving huge corporations for squandering the stockholders money, they should forgive honest hard working people their financial woes, and start listening with your heart.

This is a story of God’s great love for you and me. The salvation He provides. We have all turned to our own way. ( Isaiah 53:6 ) We, like the son, have said, I don’t need you God. I want to live my life my way. I don’t like your rules. But like the father in the story, God is waiting and looking to see if you are tired of going your own way. He is looking out the window, down the road to see if you decided that you had enough of getting beat up from the world. Come on home. He is waiting to forgive you. He has already done it. While He was hanging on the cross, He said, ” Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” ( Luke 23:34)

You are never more like God, then when you forgive. He has certainly left us with the greatest example of forgiveness. His son, Jesus Christ

Brian Gosur

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