GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

   I know Christians in a tiny town in Northeast Texas.  I have known them all of my life.  One of them, let's call her Sally, has a husband, who we will call Chris.  Chris had health issues:  his leg needed long term medical attention, the kind of skilled care that he would be able to receive in a nursing home.  Sally was not trained to give that level of care to him, so he was admitted to the local nursing home.

   Sally and Chris had been married to each other all of their adult life.  Unable to see any benefits for her to stay in her home, she admitted herself to the nursing home so she could oversee his care.  "A woman's place is where her husband is."  This lady gave up her freedom to be by her husband's side.  How many sermons could you make out of this one statement?

   I received a note from her recently where she stated, " We had a good lunch.  That's unusual.  We eat a lot of peanut butter crackers."  So my question to you is:  What would you do if you received a card from a Christian with that statement in it?

   Today, I contacted the nursing home to ask permission to send them a "care package".  We will be sending soups, stews, chicken and dumplings, etc. This is what your gifts to this ministry does.  We do not use your donations for our own personal gain, but rather as a benevolence fund for encouragement and short term financial subsidy for Christians.  We also use it to gain attention of non-Christians to facilitate our witness to them of The Gospel.

   It was really weird that when I facebook messaged the nursing home, the response I got back was from a former activity director who still had control of their facebook page!  She advised me to direct my question to the dietary supervisor by phoning the nursing home.  Here is a copy of her response:

Good afternoon, my name is _____ _____ and I am no longer employed with _______ since December. I was the activity director when I was there and had created this page for the facility. With that being said I can’t give you a honest answer to your question about sending food to your cousin. I know in past that family’s did purchase snacks and sodas for love ones. I apologize for not being more of a help to you. I would recommend calling the facility and ask for ________ ______ she is the dietary supervisor and will be glad to answer your questions. Best wishes and if I can help in any more way please let me know.

   Is that weird, or what?  How could they allow her full control over their facebook page when she is no longer employed there?

   I am awaiting the response now.  Updates to follow.

update: I had to place another call to the nursing home but was able to talk with the director of nursing, who consulted the nutrition supervisor, and obtained permission to send the meals.  These are canned meals like you would buy in preparation of power outages:  they are fully cooked.  What's crazy is that I thought I could order them online and have them sent to the nursing home.  Well, I was wrong!  I will have to purchase them myself and box them up and send them.  No worries.  

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE PART 2 of 8

WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

PART 2 of 8

TO WEAN US FROM THIS WORLD

photo courtesy of Digital Catholic Missioners

   Why do bad things happen to good people?  Being aware that nothing can touch the Children of God, when bad things happen to us, we should examine our lives and see if we are doing things that are against God.  We should ask Him to search us and show us where we are failing.  If our behavior is upsetting Him, of course, we should work on changing.  But if we can find nothing that displeases Him, it could be that He is growing us in faith.  

   The second reason that bad things happen to good people is to wean us from this world.  It is one thing to say we are not of this world, that we are just passing through.  It is up on another level to live it.  When we lose all the worldly goods we have worked for, the mementos that can never be replaced, even going through the shock, we have to understand that God has allowed this.  He has unbelievable power to rescue us, to protect us, to prevent disasters.  We are to sing His praises.  Satan gets very angry when we do that.

   Are you familiar with the Book of Job?  Satan knew that God had built a hedge around Job to protect him and for him to flourish in all of his endeavors.  Satan challenged God to allow him to attack Job; that Job would turn against God.  He began with his worldly possessions.  Poof!  Everything was gone in one day.  He was destitute.  The message is, "don't worship money".  God will send mana, even if He does not restore all you lost.  Sing His praises!

   The verse used to illustrate God weaning us from this world is John 6: 6,7:  There was a great crowd that had followed Jesus even after He had crossed over to the far shore.  The Disciples were anxious because it would take "more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread just for everyone to have a bite."  When you look at your situation from worldly eyes, this is what you see.  When you see your situation from the viewpoint from your home (heavenly viewpoint), you relax, pray, and let God take care of things.  YOU ARE HIS CHILD.  YOU ARE NOT HOPELESS.  HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH THAT HE SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON TO DIE IN YOUR PLACE FOR YOUR SINS SO THAT YOU MIGHT SPEND ETERNITY WITH HIM!  Do you really believe He would turn His back on you?  Not in a million years!  So, believe on Him.  You have the best Friend anyone could possibly have!  Amen?

   Anyway, Jesus prayed and blessed the tiny bit of food (five loaves of bread and two tiny fish) and the Disciples distributed the food to five thousand people.....and had leftovers!  God performs miracles EVERYDAY!  Have you seen any?  I have, often.

  If you don't know my Jesus, click here for more information:    https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.

   If this post has been a blessing to you, please pray that others who view it will benefit from it.  You are encouraged to leave a comment on this post to let us know how else we can serve you: if you have questions, want to know about another topic, or if you want to share your thoughts.  If you DON'T want your comments published, please indicate that and we will not share it.

   Also, if you are blessed by this ministry, please share this post on your favorite social media.  Thank you and God bless you.

WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE PART 1 of 8

 WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

PART 1 of 8

TEST THE VALIDITY OF OUR FAITH

photo found on social media/public domain

1)  The first reason why bad things happen to good people is for us to know if we trust the LORD.    Do you know that not everyone believes that God even exists?  I know, crazy, right?  That is where we have to start and stop listening to "experts" who are blind.  Even Satan believes in God; he knows that God exists.  

   Our mission is to believe on God; to trust Him, to obey Him, to ask Him to guide us, to consult with Him when we are faced with a decision.  God already knows our hearts.  We are tested to assure  ourselves of the validity of our faith.  When we pray and expect our LORD to hear us and help us and we see His hand in our lives as we go through trials, we experience assurance, confidence, and hope.

   Proverbs 17:3:  The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold:  but the LORD tries the hearts.

   When we are planted firmly in our faith in the LORD, we are fearless and confidence.  Even if He doesn't save us from the trials and tribulations, we will praise Him; for to live is Christ and to die is gain.  If not Him, then who will/can save us?

   Back in Deuteronomy 8, as Moses gave the laws for His people before they were to cross over to the promised land, pay attention to verse 2:

   1) All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers.

   2) And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep His commandments, or no.

(and here are some of the trials they experienced:)

   3) And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD doth  man live.  (When they left Egypt, they had only the clothes they were wearing....no water, no food (or seeds or livestock), nothing.)

    4) Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.  (The word for swell is "batsak", which means soggy or doughy.  When used in the context regarding the feet, the meaning is that the pace of the feet did not slow due to fatigue for those forty years. I don't know about you, but when 40 years are added to my age, I slow down quite a bit!  Also, their clothes did not wear out.  The bottom line here is that the LORD took care of ALL of their needs, large and small.  None of this happened "by chance".  The LORD had stripped them down of all of their self-sufficiency to demonstrate that He is able to supply all of their needs AND He is faithful to do so.

   4) Let's finish this part of our lesson with 1 Peter 6,7:  6) In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  7) These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

   Genuine faith is priceless.  We realize that we are no longer "of" this world when we get saved, but we are sojourning through it on our way home.  If we can demonstrate the love and the saving power of our God on our journey, maybe we can take someone with us.  Understand that there is nothing in this world worth your anxiety, anger, energy, etc. except to profess Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Can I get an amen?  Let us be a reflection of The Light and be about our Father's business rather than trying to hold on to anything in this world.

   If you don't know my Jesus, click here for more information:    https://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.

   As we have finished part one of Why Bad Things Happen To Good People, let me encourage you to invest a couple of dollars into John MacArthur's New Testament Commentary on 1 Peter.  It seems that entire Book of the Holy Bible discusses our trials.

   If this post has been a blessing to you, please pray that others who view it will benefit from it.  You are encouraged to leave a comment on this post to let us know how else we can serve you: if you have questions, want to know about another topic, or if you want to share your thoughts.  If you DON'T want your comments published, please indicate that and we will not share it.

   Also, if you are blessed by this ministry, please share this post on your favorite social media.  Thank you and God bless you.