parables and pearls (AS FEATURED OVER "TH E BIOLA HOUR")
ANSWERING PRAYER Sometimes, when we pray for cer tain things, we fail to realize that we may supply our own answer. A minis ter had called a meeting of his board ■as they considered a serious financial situation in the church. Without ques tion, the most important thing to do was to pray, asking the Lord to supply the need. In the middle of the petition, the preacher interrupted, “Gentlemen, wait a moment; before we go any fur ther, there’s something I feel I should do.” A rather shocked hush fell over the men as the pastor got out a blank sheet of paper and without any fur ther word of explanation wrote at the top, “I will give SO dollars,” and signed his name. He then passed this to the next man in the circle, explaining, “I can’t feel that th6 Lord would have us ask Him to do something which we our selves are not willing to take part in.” When the paper had reached every man and returned to his hand the minister declared, “I suggest we return , to prayer, only now, it can be with praise, for the entire deficit has been complete ly met.” James puts it this way, “Faith without works is dead.” Have you ever stopped to think that perhaps you may be God’s answer to that about which you’re praying? As a young person you may be asking the Lord to reach the lost in foreign lands, and rightly so. God may, however, want you yourself to be a missionary. Have you prayed for your church and Christian organi zations, that the Lord will supply every need? Did you ever stop to think, even though you may have very little of this worlds goods, that perha/ps the Lord intends you should be the answer to such a prayer? God wants to do for us that which only He can do, and He want's us to do for ourselves that which He gives us the ability to per
form through the power of His blessed Holy Spirit.
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT Dr. A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, de clared forcefully, “There are some spir itual conditions that cannot be accom plished in a moment. The frosts of winter are as necessary as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fer tility. God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His dis cipline, grinding every particle of self life to powder. Then He mellows and saturates us with His blessed Holy Spirit until we’re ready for the blessing He has to give us. May we wait upon the Lord with a brokenness of heart, an openness of soul, and a willingness of spirit to hear what the Lord will say.” PRIDE One of Satan’s most effective and insidious tools in the life of a Christum is pride. Humility has been described as that feeling which, unfortunately, the moment we think we have it, we’ve actually lost itl A fellow remarked to a friend, “You know, I’m a ‘self-made’ man.” The fitting reply was, “Well, at least that releases God of an embar rassing responsibility.” In fa c t, of course, to be “self-made” we would have to have some material unth which to begin. You may be a success in business, but never forget, it was God who endowed you unth a mind and ability. Which one Of us had a choice in our birth? We couldn’t possibly select our parents or environment. You may have excelled in athletics, but who gave you that strong body? You might have been a paralytic, or if handica/pped, 25
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