crease, and that he will prosper.” By this time his counsellee was to his feet, hat in hand. He became so outraged and in censed at the suggestion that he stomped out o f the room in an angry huff. Sev eral w eeks later, however, he returned a completely different man. His fa c e was radiant as he entered the pastor’s study. The man o f God asked, “What’s happened to you? The way you left 1 thought I m ight never see you again. The transform ed man eagerly volun teered, “When I left here two w eeks ago, I thought your suggestion was the most unreasonable, outlandish, u n h e a r d - o f idea in all the world. Thinking it over, however, I began to see that I was the one at fau lt. I was making my own life m iserable. I saw I didn’t have anything to lose trying your prescription. I start ed praying fo r the man whom I hated. I even called him to let him know, asking i f he had any specific requests. I don’t know what it’s done fo r him, Pastor, but I want you to know it’s made a new man out o f me.” P rayer, you see, my friend, is not designed to change God’s tnind but rath er to prepare us to accept the Lord’s will fo r the personal problems which confront our lives day by day. HOW TO M A K E A M A N A medieval king once demanded o f an artist that he m ake a man. The sculptor replied, “Sire, no m atter what you would pay me it is impossible to m ake a man." The king, however, was unreason able. He demanded, “I will give you one year to m ake me a man. You must not fa il, or you will be banished from the kingdom.” The artist, thinking o f his dilemma, realized that a statue carved out o f wood or stone would never be con sidered a man. What was he to do. In terestingly enough, however, when the year was through the artist w alked into the presence o f the king and presented him a man. He could declare, to the mon arch’s amazement and delight, “H ere’s the man I made fo r you. It is the crown ing achievement o f my year o f work. A fter some searching, I found this poor, helpless creature in the gutter o f our city. He seemed to be the lowest, filthi est beggar I could find. I took him in, cleaned him up, clothed him, fe d him, and had him live with me fo r these many months. I trained him to break his bad habits and to use his mind fo r profitable things. Sire, he was only a lump in the 21
pointing efforts this fa ith fu l worker continued to press his purpose. Then one day he hit upon a very novel idea. It was one the authorities couldn’t turn down. He took a m irror and on the back o f it printed the message o f John 3:16. This was all placed in an attrac tive fold er bearing on the outside the statem ent, “I f you want to see who it was God loved, and for^whom He gave His Son to die, ju st look inside." A clev er and yet forcefu l way to reveal the individual need o f a man to receive Jesu s Christ as personal Saviour. MO RA L DETERIORATION Did you know that shop-lifters an nually steal more than two billion dol lars worth o f merchandise? This volume o f th eft fa r exceeds the take o f all bur glars and robbers combined. What is known as “employee p ilfering” accounts fo r staggering losses. Statistics reveal that most people involved in shop-lift ing don’t come from the recognized crim inal elements o f society. They are often housewives, college students, teen agers, and even the kindly “ grandmoth er?’ type. They will steal items they ac tually have the money to buy. Sociolo gists warn that we are in advanced stages o f moral and spiritual breakdown. The B ible says, “Where there is no vision the people perish." “And i f the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Today, the foundations are being threatened. The Word o f God clearly reveals that we will only suc ceed as a country where that fo r which the B ible stands is given its rightful place. “B lessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” THOSE YOU DISLIKE A man in a certain church rightly came to his pastor fo r counsel. The fe l low fran kly confessed that he was sour on life, hating almost everyone he knew. What was he to do about it? He was somewhat surprised to hear that the preacher had a ready cure to suggest fo r this all too common malady. He asked the man to name the individual whom he hated the most. There was si lence while he thought o f all o f those whom he disliked. Finally he came up with just one name. The minister sug gested, “H ere’s my prescription. 1 want you to pray fo r that man every day. P ray fo r his w elfare, pray that God will bless him, pray that his business will in
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