Victorious Christian Living Newsletter
Welcome to the March 2009 Edition
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This issue includes:
2 of My Featured Teaching Articles
Quotes for Inspiration
A Bible Quiz Question
Just for Laughs
Interesting Bible Facts
A Powerful Story
Favorite Articles from My Blog
Links to My Other Sites
Video of the Month
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Revenge is Never Worth the Price You Pay to Get It!
If criticism is mistaken or mean-spirited, rise above it. Maintain the high ground when you’re under fire. No victory is worth winning at the expense of picking up the mud that has been slung at you and throwing it back.
-Rubel Shelley- Preacher, Educator and Author
Most of the action movies of today are based around a plot of revenge. One person does something horrible to another, and the rest of the movie is spent plotting how to make them pay for what they have done. We see so much of this in everyday life that most people think it is the correct response when they have been wrongly treated.
This thinking is totally opposite of how the Bible tells the Christian to handle a wrongdoing.
Romans 12: 17-21
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
The only way you can follow this teaching is to surrender yourself to God. You must find out about His Character before you can maintain the high ground when you are under fire.
God is concerned about you always having His Very Best in whatever you do. He wants you to let him take care of any vengeance that is necessary. He knows that if you take it upon yourself, it will devour you.
I have spent hours and even days sometimes fuming over something another person has said about or physically done to me. I got so consumed with it that I could not think of anything else for a time. I have found that the longer you let that attitude go, the harder it is to get back to where God wants you to be.
Satan is always happy to feed your mind night and day with a continuous loop of thoughts about how badly you have been treated.
When you continue for weeks and months in this way, you totally lose your peace and joy. Life is no longer good because you start to look at everything in a negative, critical way. When criticism happens in your life, make the choice immediately that you won’t sling mud back at the person who slung it at you.
Give the situation to God, and do not let yourself take it back. Keep your mind, thoughts, and actions pure and holy. If you make the choice to do this, you will be amazed at how God will work things out on your part. You cannot change the other person, but you CAN change how you respond to anything that is thrown at you.
This does not always mean that you can never stand up for yourself to the other person. It just means that you refuse to let your flesh take control and bring yourself down to their level.
Sometimes God will open the door for you to respond, and sometimes He won’t. Whichever way He chooses to do things, you know that you have given Him complete control of the situation as far as you are concerned. Your heart is clean, and now you can go forward with God no matter what happens with the other person.
Make the choice to respond the biblical way. You will live a longer, healthier, and more peaceful life if you don’t go down the path of revenge.
By Cathy Deaton
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Anger and Resentment are Stronger than Steel!
When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. -Catherine Ponder-
Anger is almost like an epidemic in the world in which we live. It makes for a good movie, but in real life it makes you a very miserable person.
It is easy to get caught up in the movie plot as you sit there watching the big screen. You root for the good guy, and get a feeling of elation when all the bad guys have been beaten because that is what they deserve.
There are some movies where the whole plot is about revenge; the injustice happens in the first few minutes, and for the remainder the person is either getting prepared to or carrying out his revenge.
In the reality of everyday life, even if you do get revenge, you don’t feel free from the situation that has enslaved you.
The wrong done to you consumes valuable thoughts and robs you of quality time that could be spent doing something worthwhile. If left unattended it will take root deep within and your whole personality can change from one who has always been positive to one who is now negative about everything.
There is always one specific, sometimes very small, starting point for any downhill slide. Satan is always looking for the tiniest of places where he can affect your life for bad.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you to give you guidance, direction, and wisdom. It is His job to help you stay on the right track, but only if you ask Him. He will not force you to do the right thing.
His wisdom is invaluable because He can see even the tiniest of places where Satan is trying to drag you down using a person or circumstance; then He nudges you to do the right thing for your own long-term spiritual health. Don’t ever trust feelings over truth.
Many people think of forgiveness as something only for wimps or cowards. They think that if they forgive, they are letting the other person off the hook and they won’t have to pay for doing something wrong.
Galatians 6: 7 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
This is a Law of God that each of us can count on as truth because it will happen for either good or bad. Knowing this, you can forgive and leave the consequences up to God, because He will take care of it at the appropriate time and in His way. The other person will never get off without paying the price for what they have done.
When you make the choice to forgive, it is like mentally getting some heavy duty shears, then cutting and breaking the steel link that has kept you bound together.
True forgiveness is an awesome experience, but you don’t have to do it alone. Tell God that you can’t forgive the other person without His help. He knows what you are going through, and will come to your aid to give you His supernatural help and whatever you need to have victory.
You will be astounded at the wonderful things He will be able to accomplish through your life if you will only let Him!
By Cathy Deaton
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Quotes for Inspiration
Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe because we had a debt we couldn’t pay.
Anne Lamott
How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource. We go to him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.
George MacDonald
If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
Bob Hope
If my hands are fully occupied in holding onto something, I can neither give nor receive.
Dorothee Solle
If you feel dog-tired at night it may be because you growled all day.
Anonymous
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A Bible Quiz Question
According to Ecclesiastes a living dog is better than what?
The answer will be given in the newsletter next month.
The answer to the 2-2009 newsletter quiz question is Passover. Jesus came to Jerusalem on the Sunday before.
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Just for Laughs
Acts 2: 38
An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder.
She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38!” “Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven.”
The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he was curious and asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you.”
“Scripture?” replied the burglar. “She said she had an ax and two 38s!”
Little Boy in a Storm
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, Dear,” she said, ” ihave to sleep with your daddy.”
A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”
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Interesting Bible Facts
SADDUCEES – (named from Zadok, the high priest.) A religious sect of the Jews at the time of Christ, who refused to accept that the oral law was the revelation of God to the Israelites, and believed exclusively in the written law. They joined with the Pharisees in asking for a sign from heaven, but opposed their doctrines otherwise.
The Sadducees never exercised the influence that the Pharisees did, and were more tolerant. They rejected the belief in a resurrection, nor did they believe in future rewards and punishments.
The high-priest, at the time of Christ, was of this sect, and the doctrine of the resurrection preached by Christ rendered the Sadducees especially bitter against him, but he did not censure the Sadducees as much as the Pharisees.
PHARISEES – One of the three sects of Judaism in the time of Christ, the Essenes being the third sect. The name means separated by special works and included all Hebrews who separated themselves from every kind of Levitical impurity, following the Mosaic law of purity.
They were by far the largest party and their influence was very great, ruling, beyond question, the Sanhedrin, and all Jewish society, except the slight opposition of the Sadducees. They even overawed the civil courts and used their power against any kind of reform, especially Christ.
The applicant for admission to the sect was required to promise in the presence of three members: 1. that he would not eat of anything which had not been tithed, nor if there was any doubt about it; and 2. that he would keep the law of purity in all matters, most especially in family affairs.
In this matter they made the civil rule of tithes a religious obligation, and set apart the tithe as a holy thing. They taught that the eating of a holy thing was a deadly sin; and that if the tithe was not taken out, set apart, and paid to the priest, the whole produce was unlawful for food.
The law of clean and unclean was also applied to the extreme. Their social meals were modeled after the paschal supper, with all the Levitical rules and laws they had made.
There are seven kinds of Pharisees:
1. Shechemites; who keep the law for what it will profit them
2. Tumblers; always hanging down the head, and dragging the feet.
3. Bleeders; who to avoid looking at women shut their eyes and so bump their head.
4. Mortars; wearing caps in the form of a mortar, covering the eyes from seeing impurities.
5. What-am-I-yet-to-doers; who as soon as one law is kept, ask what is next.
6. Fearers; who keep the law from fear of a judgment.
7. Lovers; who obey Jehovah because they love him with all the heart.
Surely this indicates that they were impartially divided among fanatics and worldly-minded hypocrites; and yet they had developed the ideas of a Messiah, of a kingdom of heaven, the immortality of the soul, the future life.
Jesus described them as whited sepulchers, hidden graves, and in retaliation they were his most determined enemies.
The spirit of proselytism, which was so strong in the time of Christ, led the way for the spread of Christianity, as is plainly shown in Paul’s life. Their peculiar doctrines also opened the minds of men for the new facts of the life and work of Jesus.
ESSENES – The name is supposed to mean silent, mysterious, or pious. The origin of the party was rather in a certain tendency of religious thought among all classes towards an ideal purity. The object of life was absolute purity and divine communion.
They carefully kept the Sabbath; food was eaten only when prepared by their own members, and never cooked on the Sabbath; they practiced self-denial, temperance, and agriculture. Slavery, war, and commerce were forbidden.
They were regular in their devotions; before sunrise they began their prayer and praise; said grace before and after meals; ate from only one kind of food at a meal held truth to be sacred; held all things in common.
The applicant for membership was obliged to live a year outside of the order, but keeping its rules, having received as badges an ax, a white apron, and a white dress. After the year was over, he could share in the ablutions but not in the meals; after two more years he was admitted to full membership.
Some of their rules were:
1. To bathe if touched by a stranger or lower grade of their own order, and before and after meals and other natural acts.
2. Celibacy
3. Spiritual purity
4. To have a meek and lowly spirit, banishing all anger and malice, thus reaching
5. Holiness, arriving at
6. A state wherein he is a Holy Temple for the Holy Spirit and be able to prophesy, and advancing to
7. Could perform miraculous cures, raising the dead, attaining finally to the lofty state of Elias, the forerunner of the Messiah, and no longer subject to death
Their number was never larger than 4,000 and they disappeared after the destruction of Jerusalem, and are not heard from again, though various orders of monks follow more or less strictly their rules and practices.
(Definitions taken from Smith’s Bible Dictionary)
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A Powerful Story
Weeds
A young man had a terrible falling out with a neighboring farmer. One night, in an act of cruel vengeance, he crept through the neighboring fields, sowing the seeds of a persistent, virulent weed. The weeds sprang up, and no amount of effort would eradicate them.
Years passed, and eventually the young man fell in love with the farmer’s daughter. He married her and, at length, inherited the farm. He later confessed that he was spending the rest of his life reaping what he had sown in that one act of angry folly.
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My Favorite Blog Posts
The Requirements for True Revival
II Chronicles 7: 14 contains some interesting points. It reads below:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
You are God’s Child if you have asked Jesus to come into your heart as your Savior; only then can you call Him by name and be one of His People.
God always has conditions for His Blessings. He promises to do His part if you promise to do yours.
Below are His conditions:
shall humble themselves
AND
pray
AND
seek my face
AND
turn from their wicked ways
In the Greek, the AND connecting all these verses means you must do ALL of them, not just choose which ones you want to do and leave the others out.
Then God says after His Requirements are met, He will hear your request, forgive sin, and bring healing and restoration.
You have to really want revival in your own life and in your church before God will send it. If you are tired of living a powerless Christian life, make the choice to meet the requirements of this verse. God will reveal Himself to you in a marvelous way.
Don’t settle for powerlessness in your Christian life any longer.
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The Pastor’s Cat
Mr. Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his
church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down.
The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.
That’s what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke.
The tree went ‘boing!’ and the kitten instantly sailed through the
air – out of sight. The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the
neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten.
So he prayed, ‘Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,’ and went on about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his
church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, ‘Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?’
She replied, ‘You won’t believe this,’ and then told him how her
little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing.
Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom
finally told her little girl, ‘Well, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let
you keep it.’ She told the pastor, ‘I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat.
And really, Pastor, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.’
Lesson learned: Never underestimate the Power of GOD and HIS unique sense of humor.
To check out my blog go to Who God Is
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Please check out my other sites by clicking on the links below:
Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living
Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life
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Video of the Month
The Motions by Matthew West
These words are so powerful. I don’t want to just go through the motions each day of doing things that won’t matter for eternity. I truly want to make my life count for God in whatever way He chooses to use me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHmiFaX_pk]
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That’s it for this newsletter. I hope that you have been truly inspired and blessed. I have prayed about each word written that it would minister in whatever way God desires.
It is also my prayer that God will bless you and your family and start to truly show you Who He Is. He is far greater than anything you could ever imagine.
In Christ,
