I have to confess to you. Last night I went to bed at 9:30. I never go to bed that early, usually it is 11:30 or 12:00. This is not what I want to confess. For the first time in a long, long time, I went to bed with fear in my heart. Why? For a moment, I took my focus off of who is really in control and what matters most in this life.
When was mankind introduced to fear? When he took his mind off God and let sin enter the world by his disobedience. In Genesis chapter 3:7-11 God asked Adam, "where are you?" and Adam said, "I heard your voice and was afraid". Why was he afraid? He had sinned and saw himself naked before God.
The only fear that God wants us to have is to fear Him. Ecclesiastes 12:13 " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all"; Psalms 111:10 " the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"; Isaiah 8:13 "The Lord of host, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread."; Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."; in verse 31 Christ says ,"Do not fear ..." and in Hebrews 13:6 "So we may boldly say", "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (all verses are taken from the NKJV)
There are many more passages we could look at, but these are enough to make a point. Should we fear anything other than God? Which do Americans fear more today, what's happening to their material possessions or God? I only hear the news media talking about the economy and upcoming election. The only time I hear God mentioned by the news media is in a negative way. No wonder we are having problems.
I remember one time when one of my daughter's was learning how to swim. I told her to jump in the water, and I would catch her. She would not do it because her fear was greater than her faith in me catching her. Remember the story when God tested Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. God told him to take his only son Issac and offer him as a burnt offering to Him. Abraham's faith in God was stronger than the fear he had of losing his son. Not only did God know how strong Abraham's faith was, but Abraham also knew. Then we have in the the book of Luke chapter 22 Peter told Jesus he was ready to go with Him to prison and even to death. Peter thought that he had a strong faith. When they carried Jesus away Peter followed at a distance. He warmed himself in the courtyard by the fires of the world. When they accused Peter of being with Jesus, he denied him three times. Peter's fear of the world was stronger than his faith in his Lord.
God is our creator, He is sovereign, and He is definitely in control. We as Christians need to never forget this. We do not need to dishonour Him by fearing what man can do to us over fearing Him. We please Him when we have faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Satan tries to weaken our faith by increasing our fears.
One very important scripture, that was brought to my attention today, is found in John 17:23, in the later part of the verse, Jesus says to the father, "You have loved them as You have loved Me". Do you realize what He said? God loves you and me just as much as He loves His Son. Does this not make your faith in our heavenly Father greater than any worldly fear you might have today?
We are Christians. Let us not fear. God loves us and I trust that He will also take care of us. God told Joshua in Joshua chapter 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go".
God is stronger and more powerful than anything Satan can do to us. Let us trust Him, get this country respecting and fearing Him again, and sleep good tonight knowing He loves us. May your faith always be stronger than your fear.
I hope this helps you increase your faith and conquer any fears this world may send your way. Please pass on to others and send your comments to rhepler52@gmail.com .
Thanks and have a good day!
Rick Hepler
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Communication Today
Growing up we lived on the KY-TN state line. We lived in Ky but had a TN telephone, which caused a problem for me. All of my classmates had a Kentucky phone and to call them would have been "Long Distance". It was unheard of for my family to make a long distance phone call unless it was a matter of life or death. The risk for me at the time was, if I wanted a date with a classmate, I would have to risk a long distance phone call to ask a girl out. If she said yes, I would have a few days to explain to my parents about the call. I figured going out on a date would take the pain out of any punishment I might receive for the call. But if she said no, I could not handle both rejection and explaining a useless "long distance" phone call. So, I found a solution.
I had a cousin that lived in Union City, TN. One night while sitting on the car outside the Dairy Queen in Union City, my cousin introduced me to some Union City girls and a few even said that I could call them.
YES, YES, YES they had phone numbers that I could call without it being "LONG DISTANCE". My problem was solved. I did start dating a girl from Union City which then caused another problem . We had a party line. Now to you young folks it is not what you think. Having a party didn't have anything to do with it. Just so you can understand this, it was like having a hacker on your computer, not really, but that is the closest I can come to explaining it. You see, we had neighbors that shared the same phone line. If you were talking to someone and a neighbor picked up, the polite thing for them to do was immediately hang up. Some were not so polite. For example, my uncle James would always try to listen to my conversations. So, I again came up with another bright idea. I would call around 11:00 PM. No one in the neighborhood would be awake at that time of night. So I did, and it worked perfectly until one night.
We only had one phone in the house. It was in the hallway on a desk. One night I was really tired, but I wanted to talk to my girlfriend. Same routine as before, I called her around 11:00PM. I was all comfortable, leaning back in a kitchen chair, then it happened. I went to sleep and fell out of the chair. The noise was so loud that my hard of hearing dad jumped up out of bed. It liked to have scared my parents to death. So my calling late at night was ended. I was back to the old time face to face line of communication.
Communication today is unbelievable. We can communicate all over the world in seconds for pennies in cost. With cell phones, facebook, twitter, emails, web cams and numerous others, we can be as close to each other as we want to be. No more party lines. People do not even care about other people seeing what they have to say. Even their family pictures are posted for all of the world to see, whether you want to see them or not. Texting seems better, for many, than face to face or even "voice to voice". Serious problems are now discussed by these modern forms of communications instead of the face to face old time discussions. I don't know where all of this will lead our society.
One form of communication that I have been leading up to, some may think is antiquated, is communication with God. God inspired holy men, with His thoughts and commands, to write what we now call the Holy Bible . In the bible we see numerous examples and even commands for us today to communicate with God through reading His word and by praying to Him. ( God's Spirit put in those men's mind what to write down. Our technology can't come close to this.)
When I email you, or if I texted you, it would be difficult for you to see my heart. With God, when we pray, He can also see what is in our hearts. Also, we try each day to communicate, in one of the ways above, to our friends and family daily if not hourly. I check my email every hour to see if I have any comments from these post, messages from friends and family or my clients. If I go a day without hearing from my loved ones, it saddens me. Do you have that feeling?
Even with all of these different modern ways of instant communication, there is still one that is highly overlooked.
I can communicate with my heavenly Father without any internet connections, chances of being hacked, and always quicker than instant messaging. I want you to think with me now. What will be your feelings today if you do not hear from your children or other loved ones? You immediately wonder what has happened to them.
What about God? He has made, through His son Jesus, a way for us to approach Him instantly in prayer. Will He wonder at the end of the day what has happened to you if He has not heard from you? He already knows. Do you? Why don't you pray to Him now and thank him for this instant avenue of prayer that He has provided for His children.
Let me hear from you at rhepler52@gmail.com Remember, it is not "LONG DISTANCE".
Have a great day!
Rick Hepler
I had a cousin that lived in Union City, TN. One night while sitting on the car outside the Dairy Queen in Union City, my cousin introduced me to some Union City girls and a few even said that I could call them.
YES, YES, YES they had phone numbers that I could call without it being "LONG DISTANCE". My problem was solved. I did start dating a girl from Union City which then caused another problem . We had a party line. Now to you young folks it is not what you think. Having a party didn't have anything to do with it. Just so you can understand this, it was like having a hacker on your computer, not really, but that is the closest I can come to explaining it. You see, we had neighbors that shared the same phone line. If you were talking to someone and a neighbor picked up, the polite thing for them to do was immediately hang up. Some were not so polite. For example, my uncle James would always try to listen to my conversations. So, I again came up with another bright idea. I would call around 11:00 PM. No one in the neighborhood would be awake at that time of night. So I did, and it worked perfectly until one night.
We only had one phone in the house. It was in the hallway on a desk. One night I was really tired, but I wanted to talk to my girlfriend. Same routine as before, I called her around 11:00PM. I was all comfortable, leaning back in a kitchen chair, then it happened. I went to sleep and fell out of the chair. The noise was so loud that my hard of hearing dad jumped up out of bed. It liked to have scared my parents to death. So my calling late at night was ended. I was back to the old time face to face line of communication.
Communication today is unbelievable. We can communicate all over the world in seconds for pennies in cost. With cell phones, facebook, twitter, emails, web cams and numerous others, we can be as close to each other as we want to be. No more party lines. People do not even care about other people seeing what they have to say. Even their family pictures are posted for all of the world to see, whether you want to see them or not. Texting seems better, for many, than face to face or even "voice to voice". Serious problems are now discussed by these modern forms of communications instead of the face to face old time discussions. I don't know where all of this will lead our society.
One form of communication that I have been leading up to, some may think is antiquated, is communication with God. God inspired holy men, with His thoughts and commands, to write what we now call the Holy Bible . In the bible we see numerous examples and even commands for us today to communicate with God through reading His word and by praying to Him. ( God's Spirit put in those men's mind what to write down. Our technology can't come close to this.)
When I email you, or if I texted you, it would be difficult for you to see my heart. With God, when we pray, He can also see what is in our hearts. Also, we try each day to communicate, in one of the ways above, to our friends and family daily if not hourly. I check my email every hour to see if I have any comments from these post, messages from friends and family or my clients. If I go a day without hearing from my loved ones, it saddens me. Do you have that feeling?
Even with all of these different modern ways of instant communication, there is still one that is highly overlooked.
I can communicate with my heavenly Father without any internet connections, chances of being hacked, and always quicker than instant messaging. I want you to think with me now. What will be your feelings today if you do not hear from your children or other loved ones? You immediately wonder what has happened to them.
What about God? He has made, through His son Jesus, a way for us to approach Him instantly in prayer. Will He wonder at the end of the day what has happened to you if He has not heard from you? He already knows. Do you? Why don't you pray to Him now and thank him for this instant avenue of prayer that He has provided for His children.
Let me hear from you at rhepler52@gmail.com Remember, it is not "LONG DISTANCE".
Have a great day!
Rick Hepler
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The World Means Everyone
He was very rough around the edges. He had tatoos, long hair and to some he would probably frighten on their first impression of him. I got to know him several years ago while I was still in banking. He came in one day and needed a small loan. I checked him out and found that he paid his payments on time so I made the loan. Through that year I got to know him better. He would come in sometimes to just talk. Under his rough outer crust he was a nice guy. You know, he was about like a fried pie. You sometimes don't know what kind of pie it is until you look under the crust.
One day the opportunity came up and I invited him to go to church with me that next Sunday. He said, "No, I can't go. I need to try to clean my life up a little before I can go to church and besides I don't look like a church goer. Anyway,I don't have the clothes to wear" .
This man's statement about going to church still bothers me. Have Christians left the impression to the world that you have to be dressed up, sinless and problem free to go to church? This man did not know that God loves him just as much as he loves me. Christians, somewhere down the line, we have missed the mark.
Let's read John 3:16 telling about God's love and who He excludes from that love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life". (NKJV) The key word is world. That includes everyone and excludes no one.
Christians, we need to quit looking at our fellow man through our eyes and start using God's eyes. Remember whose image mankind is made in. Read Genesis 1:26. We know God hates sin but he loves the sinner. His son, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.(Romans 5:8)
I want to give you an example using my youngest grandson, Connor, who is one year old. Let's say that his blood has something in it that cures cancer. But for the doctors to get what they need, Connor has to die.( I know this is far fetched and has been used before, but I want to make a different point.) So Connor dies and everyone that has cancer now can be cured. Now, I want to ask you a question. When I see someone with cancer am I going to tell them about the cure? But, most importantly, how much do you think that I will love them? My grandson has died for them. I am going to love them so much as if they were my grandson.
Now, when I look at anyone, I try to use God's eyes. I should love them as God does. When they see me loving them unconditionally they will see Christ living in me. Do you think that if we as Christians loved the sinner as God does, our Sunday morning worship services would have more visitors of different walks of life? They would come to seek the love of God and also, by the way we treat them they would feel comfortable around us, even though they didn't have nice clothes to wear.
I do not condone sin and I do not believe God does either. So don't go telling that Rick Hepler says that everyone will be saved. We have to be in contact with Christ's blood to wash away our sins the same way in the example I used with my grandson. The cancer patients would have to have what came from his blood to get the cure and they would have to do something to obtain that cure. We can only have our sins washed away by the blood of Christ.
There are many people in our communities that are hurting. Christians, we need to show them a love that they have never seen. We need to be Christians like we have never seen.
This has been very hard for me to write. I want to do "that main thing" that a Christian should do." That main thing, is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and next you shall love your neighbor as yourself". You notice, the heart is first and everything else will fall into place. I must remember that I need a saviour.
I want to live a life that on the day of my funeral the preacher will not have to tell anyone that Rick loved the Lord. I want those that will be in attendance to know also that I loved them. What greater purpose in this life can I have? What about you?
You and I have the rest of our life to do God's purpose for our lives. The rest of our lives may be only today. Let's do it today.
I hope you are enjoying reading this. Many are wondering why I have this blog. Well, I am in the process of writing a book and I needed to develop writing skills and the discipline to do it. The title I think will be "Christians, We need To Talk". The title could change, but the content will still have the same theme.
Please send this to others if you enjoy reading it. Send comments of encouragement or criticism, either one I will use to help me grow. Thank you so much! Send comments to rhepler@gmail.com Have a good day!
Rick Hepler
One day the opportunity came up and I invited him to go to church with me that next Sunday. He said, "No, I can't go. I need to try to clean my life up a little before I can go to church and besides I don't look like a church goer. Anyway,I don't have the clothes to wear" .
This man's statement about going to church still bothers me. Have Christians left the impression to the world that you have to be dressed up, sinless and problem free to go to church? This man did not know that God loves him just as much as he loves me. Christians, somewhere down the line, we have missed the mark.
Let's read John 3:16 telling about God's love and who He excludes from that love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life". (NKJV) The key word is world. That includes everyone and excludes no one.
Christians, we need to quit looking at our fellow man through our eyes and start using God's eyes. Remember whose image mankind is made in. Read Genesis 1:26. We know God hates sin but he loves the sinner. His son, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.(Romans 5:8)
I want to give you an example using my youngest grandson, Connor, who is one year old. Let's say that his blood has something in it that cures cancer. But for the doctors to get what they need, Connor has to die.( I know this is far fetched and has been used before, but I want to make a different point.) So Connor dies and everyone that has cancer now can be cured. Now, I want to ask you a question. When I see someone with cancer am I going to tell them about the cure? But, most importantly, how much do you think that I will love them? My grandson has died for them. I am going to love them so much as if they were my grandson.
Now, when I look at anyone, I try to use God's eyes. I should love them as God does. When they see me loving them unconditionally they will see Christ living in me. Do you think that if we as Christians loved the sinner as God does, our Sunday morning worship services would have more visitors of different walks of life? They would come to seek the love of God and also, by the way we treat them they would feel comfortable around us, even though they didn't have nice clothes to wear.
I do not condone sin and I do not believe God does either. So don't go telling that Rick Hepler says that everyone will be saved. We have to be in contact with Christ's blood to wash away our sins the same way in the example I used with my grandson. The cancer patients would have to have what came from his blood to get the cure and they would have to do something to obtain that cure. We can only have our sins washed away by the blood of Christ.
There are many people in our communities that are hurting. Christians, we need to show them a love that they have never seen. We need to be Christians like we have never seen.
This has been very hard for me to write. I want to do "that main thing" that a Christian should do." That main thing, is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and next you shall love your neighbor as yourself". You notice, the heart is first and everything else will fall into place. I must remember that I need a saviour.
I want to live a life that on the day of my funeral the preacher will not have to tell anyone that Rick loved the Lord. I want those that will be in attendance to know also that I loved them. What greater purpose in this life can I have? What about you?
You and I have the rest of our life to do God's purpose for our lives. The rest of our lives may be only today. Let's do it today.
I hope you are enjoying reading this. Many are wondering why I have this blog. Well, I am in the process of writing a book and I needed to develop writing skills and the discipline to do it. The title I think will be "Christians, We need To Talk". The title could change, but the content will still have the same theme.
Please send this to others if you enjoy reading it. Send comments of encouragement or criticism, either one I will use to help me grow. Thank you so much! Send comments to rhepler@gmail.com Have a good day!
Rick Hepler
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Encouragement: Good and Bad
We all need encouragement throughout our life here on earth. Sometimes it could be the last link in the chain that pulls us over the top of the mountain of trial. I usually get the encouragement I need from my family and friends. I have had an enormous amount of encouragement from the readers of my blog and for that I am very grateful. Think back to a time that you didn't think you could keep going and someone said," You can do it. I am praying for you". Do you remember the strength those words gave you at the time?
We all like and need encouragement, but how many people in a week do we encourage? We agree that there are many people in our communities today that are suffering. Do they ever receive encouragement? Encouragement can be an act of prevention. We all know at least one person that has taken the wrong path in their life that maybe has led to drug addiction, marital problems or have just given up. What if before they chose the wrong path you were there to encourage them and (do something completely out of the box in today's culture) had prayer with them ?
I would not be afraid to say that there are some people that go week after week with no one ever encouraging them and I dare say that some may even go a lifetime without anyone ever mentioning their name in a prayer. How sad. Don't you think it would make a difference? I thought so. Who are you then encouraging today?
We must know what we are encouraging them to do. I am going to tell you a true story about one time my mistake of giving encouragement to the wrong action.
One time, when I was child, on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, my brother Randy and I decided to go to the barn and play. We usually would build tunnels through the bales of hay. We had played for about an hour and we heard our beagle hound "Poochy" starting to bark. Looking for something else to do we got down out of the loft to see what he had. We found Poochy digging and barking. He was digging a hole and was going back and forth. So we started yelling,"Get it Poochy, Get it." That's all the encouragement Poochy needed. He began to dig as if his life depended on it.(Remember this is on a Sunday afternoon and we our going to have to get ready to go to church in a few minutes) Poochy started barking frantically. We were all excited, yelling and screaming, encouraging our little dog on, wondering what he was after. Then, all of the sudden we heard a growl and Poochy started backing out of the hole pulling something out with him.
Out of the hole he came dragging a big, mad skunk. When the skunk got his footing he let Poochy have it first and then Randy and I got a big spraying. Smelling a skunk from a distance is bad enough, but point blank range with a full dose is awful. Not only can you smell it, you can taste it. The worse part was telling mama. There is nothing worse than being naked in your own backyard on a rainy , cold Sunday afternoon, smelling like a skunk, with your mama mad at you. The moral of this story is always check out what you are giving them encouragement to do.
Our silence can sometimes be an encouragement to our children or someone else to continue in a wrong activity. Take for an example if you walk through the den and your teenager is watching a movie with their friends. Bad language comes from the TV getting your attention. You turn around and look and see a sexual scene happening in the movie. Your children know you heard the language and saw the graphic sexual material. Now there is no margin for error in this scenario. If you say nothing, I guarantee , your teenagers will think it is ok for them to continue to watch that filth. So will their friends. Their moral balance is depending on you. Be very careful of your silence. You do not want to make the wrong choice.
Look at the immorality in our country today that was encouraged by our silence. You can list them. I will name one, same sex marriage.
Give someone encouragement today. Be sure what you are encouraging them to do and let us make it a practice never again to encourage wrong doing by our silence.
Please send me your comments at rhepler52@gmail.com If you enjoy reading my blog pass it on to others.
Thanks,
Rick Hepler
We all like and need encouragement, but how many people in a week do we encourage? We agree that there are many people in our communities today that are suffering. Do they ever receive encouragement? Encouragement can be an act of prevention. We all know at least one person that has taken the wrong path in their life that maybe has led to drug addiction, marital problems or have just given up. What if before they chose the wrong path you were there to encourage them and (do something completely out of the box in today's culture) had prayer with them ?
I would not be afraid to say that there are some people that go week after week with no one ever encouraging them and I dare say that some may even go a lifetime without anyone ever mentioning their name in a prayer. How sad. Don't you think it would make a difference? I thought so. Who are you then encouraging today?
We must know what we are encouraging them to do. I am going to tell you a true story about one time my mistake of giving encouragement to the wrong action.
One time, when I was child, on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, my brother Randy and I decided to go to the barn and play. We usually would build tunnels through the bales of hay. We had played for about an hour and we heard our beagle hound "Poochy" starting to bark. Looking for something else to do we got down out of the loft to see what he had. We found Poochy digging and barking. He was digging a hole and was going back and forth. So we started yelling,"Get it Poochy, Get it." That's all the encouragement Poochy needed. He began to dig as if his life depended on it.(Remember this is on a Sunday afternoon and we our going to have to get ready to go to church in a few minutes) Poochy started barking frantically. We were all excited, yelling and screaming, encouraging our little dog on, wondering what he was after. Then, all of the sudden we heard a growl and Poochy started backing out of the hole pulling something out with him.
Out of the hole he came dragging a big, mad skunk. When the skunk got his footing he let Poochy have it first and then Randy and I got a big spraying. Smelling a skunk from a distance is bad enough, but point blank range with a full dose is awful. Not only can you smell it, you can taste it. The worse part was telling mama. There is nothing worse than being naked in your own backyard on a rainy , cold Sunday afternoon, smelling like a skunk, with your mama mad at you. The moral of this story is always check out what you are giving them encouragement to do.
Our silence can sometimes be an encouragement to our children or someone else to continue in a wrong activity. Take for an example if you walk through the den and your teenager is watching a movie with their friends. Bad language comes from the TV getting your attention. You turn around and look and see a sexual scene happening in the movie. Your children know you heard the language and saw the graphic sexual material. Now there is no margin for error in this scenario. If you say nothing, I guarantee , your teenagers will think it is ok for them to continue to watch that filth. So will their friends. Their moral balance is depending on you. Be very careful of your silence. You do not want to make the wrong choice.
Look at the immorality in our country today that was encouraged by our silence. You can list them. I will name one, same sex marriage.
Give someone encouragement today. Be sure what you are encouraging them to do and let us make it a practice never again to encourage wrong doing by our silence.
Please send me your comments at rhepler52@gmail.com If you enjoy reading my blog pass it on to others.
Thanks,
Rick Hepler
Monday, July 11, 2011
Silver And Gold I Do Not Have
Today in our country many people are experiencing unemployment and others just hard financial times. Even the government is in serious financial shape. The financial problems that I have seen over the last 35 years have sometimes led to other problems. I have seen many marriages fail, some suicides and mental depression resulting from experiencing hard financial times. It was just announced this morning that one of our major employers, in our town, locked their doors last night.
Let's now look in the New Testament about a man who was having hard financial times. Please turn to Acts chapter 3. We see a man that was lame from birth. In his condition he could not work. He had no means at all to provide anything for himself. His only alternative was to beg for alms at the gate of the temple called Beautiful. He even had to depend on people to carry and lay him there each day. As the people would go in the gates each day, he would beg for alms.
Now let's get closer to this. How do you think this man feels? He had to depend on everyone just to survive. How many times do you think people just walked by not even looking at him? Could this man handle rejection? Did he ever have a hope that someday he could walk through the temple gates by himself? Do you think the people got so used to him sitting there each day that they began to just overlook him?
This man had no hope. He had no long term financial goals or retirement goals. His dreams were just to get through the next day. Is it possible to live like this? Some people across this world are living like this every day. I try to feel the thoughts this man was having. I cannot come close, but thanking God for my daily food has more meaning now. I am very grateful for everything large or small that I receive from Him.
The lame man sees Peter and John about to go into the temple. His head looking down with shame he asked them for alms as he had done, to the people entering, hundreds of times. This wonderful time it was different! Peter and John fixed their eyes on him and said, "Look at us". So it says he gave them his attention. This man never dreamed of what was about to take place. (Are you excited for him?)
Peter, a man of God, tells him "Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you." Now, place yourselves in this man's situation. Money was always on his mind and he depended on it for survival. These men even stopped to talk to him. Don't you know he expected that they were going to give him more money than the others, since they took the time to stop and talk to him.
The next words out of Peter's mouth would change this man's life forever. "...but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (NKJV) In vs. 8 it says that he stood up and walked into the temple with them. Can you imagine how he felt? He never dreamed that he would ever be able to walk into the temple. I am sure his family rejoiced with him and also the people that had to carry him to the gate of the temple each day. We would be, too.
He was walking , leaping and praising God. He knew by what authority he was healed. Do you think for one minute he questioned who Jesus was? In vs.16 it tells us it was in His name and and faith in His name that made this man strong. The material blessings from God, silver and gold, did not make this man walk. The spiritual blessings in Christ did.
I and many of you today have or are now focusing on material things to give us peace. Can we hear those same words from Peter? "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk" That walk to us should not be the kind on two legs but the spiritual kind that faith lifts us up to rejoice, leaping with praise, being able to walk the christian walk. Walking in the Light from God, giving us the spiritual strength to carry on and that wonderful hope of Heaven someday, gives us the spiritual legs to walk with God through any crisis we might have in this life.
We do live in troublesome times. These are times that call for clean hearts before God to pray "two-knee" prayers. You know, the kind that involves us down on two knees before God surrendering our total self to Him and seeking His guidance and protection through fervent praying.
We will see our country walking again when we see this kind of praying by everyone that calls themselves Christians.
Debbie and I usually have our devotional and prayer every night between 9:30 and 10:00. Christians, please pray with us tonight that our country will walk again. Not by Gold and Silver but by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth.
Please encourage someone today and also if you have any comments send them to: rhepler52@gmail.com
Thank you for reading and your comments.
Rick Hepler
Let's now look in the New Testament about a man who was having hard financial times. Please turn to Acts chapter 3. We see a man that was lame from birth. In his condition he could not work. He had no means at all to provide anything for himself. His only alternative was to beg for alms at the gate of the temple called Beautiful. He even had to depend on people to carry and lay him there each day. As the people would go in the gates each day, he would beg for alms.
Now let's get closer to this. How do you think this man feels? He had to depend on everyone just to survive. How many times do you think people just walked by not even looking at him? Could this man handle rejection? Did he ever have a hope that someday he could walk through the temple gates by himself? Do you think the people got so used to him sitting there each day that they began to just overlook him?
This man had no hope. He had no long term financial goals or retirement goals. His dreams were just to get through the next day. Is it possible to live like this? Some people across this world are living like this every day. I try to feel the thoughts this man was having. I cannot come close, but thanking God for my daily food has more meaning now. I am very grateful for everything large or small that I receive from Him.
The lame man sees Peter and John about to go into the temple. His head looking down with shame he asked them for alms as he had done, to the people entering, hundreds of times. This wonderful time it was different! Peter and John fixed their eyes on him and said, "Look at us". So it says he gave them his attention. This man never dreamed of what was about to take place. (Are you excited for him?)
Peter, a man of God, tells him "Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you." Now, place yourselves in this man's situation. Money was always on his mind and he depended on it for survival. These men even stopped to talk to him. Don't you know he expected that they were going to give him more money than the others, since they took the time to stop and talk to him.
The next words out of Peter's mouth would change this man's life forever. "...but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (NKJV) In vs. 8 it says that he stood up and walked into the temple with them. Can you imagine how he felt? He never dreamed that he would ever be able to walk into the temple. I am sure his family rejoiced with him and also the people that had to carry him to the gate of the temple each day. We would be, too.
He was walking , leaping and praising God. He knew by what authority he was healed. Do you think for one minute he questioned who Jesus was? In vs.16 it tells us it was in His name and and faith in His name that made this man strong. The material blessings from God, silver and gold, did not make this man walk. The spiritual blessings in Christ did.
I and many of you today have or are now focusing on material things to give us peace. Can we hear those same words from Peter? "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk" That walk to us should not be the kind on two legs but the spiritual kind that faith lifts us up to rejoice, leaping with praise, being able to walk the christian walk. Walking in the Light from God, giving us the spiritual strength to carry on and that wonderful hope of Heaven someday, gives us the spiritual legs to walk with God through any crisis we might have in this life.
We do live in troublesome times. These are times that call for clean hearts before God to pray "two-knee" prayers. You know, the kind that involves us down on two knees before God surrendering our total self to Him and seeking His guidance and protection through fervent praying.
We will see our country walking again when we see this kind of praying by everyone that calls themselves Christians.
Debbie and I usually have our devotional and prayer every night between 9:30 and 10:00. Christians, please pray with us tonight that our country will walk again. Not by Gold and Silver but by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth.
Please encourage someone today and also if you have any comments send them to: rhepler52@gmail.com
Thank you for reading and your comments.
Rick Hepler
Friday, July 8, 2011
Why Brokenness?
Brokenness is what you experience when you are stripped of everything, bankrupt, crushed by grief or despair, made weak, and not complete or full. I am sure you can add more, but you get the idea. I have often wondered why we have it and have looked upon it as being a very negative condition that hinders any happiness that we may seek to find. Boy was I wrong.
Follow me for just a minute. After the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3, sin entered and stained this world that God created for man. We now live in a fallen world because of it. Did God want man to live for ever in this state? No, look carefully at vs 22-24. God said , "And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever". Then God sent man out of the garden and placed a cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life. Why is this important? God did not and does not want man to live in this fallen world forever. He immediately put a plan in place to draw us back to Him so we can live with Him, where there is no sin, for all eternity. And to show us that He wants that to happen, He sent His only son Jesus to die for us. He still gives man the choice to choose to accept His love or not. Does He still love us? Yes, look at 2Pet. 3:9. ...not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV) to warn us He says in 1John 2:15 to not love this world or the things in this world. Why? He does not want us to become so attached to this world that we miss the one he has prepared for us.
This answers the age old question," why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" He allows it so we will come back to Him. The book of Job shows us that God allowed Satan to afflict Job. Satan's main purpose was to get Job to curse God. That didn't happen. We have the advantage over Job because he didn't know why God was allowing this but we do.
There is a parable in Luke that gives me great comfort. It is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).
The loving father gave his younger son his inheritance and it says the son went into a far country. I want to ask you, what did the son want more, his money or his independence from his father? Notice, he went to a far country far away from his father. A father that loved him and blessed him with his inheritance. Did the younger son show any gratitude? All I see is, that he wanted his possessions and his own independent life. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?
When did the prodigal son remember his father? When he was living it up in the world having money to spend on his pleasures or when he was eating slop with the hogs? You got it. He first had to experience extreme brokenness before, as it says, came to himself.
The most beautiful part of this parable is the father never stopped loving his son. He watched for him every day hoping, yes hoping, he would come home. Also, the son knew who to come home to, but never realized there would be such a homecoming feast awaiting him.
After writing this, I welcome brokenness. My brokenness has brought me closer to God. God has used brokenness in my life to cause me to shift my life in a direction that best serves him. I still do not understand all the trials that we all experience but I do know this , God is in control and if we let Him, He will one day make it right.
Satan uses our brokenness to get us to curse God, but remember, God allows him to do it so we will be like the prodigal, come to ourself, and return back to Him.
I now can rejoice knowing that God always wants us to come home and be with Him and when I stray off that path to Him, he allows trials in this life to get me back on the path.
Read Habakkuk chapter 3:17-18. Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut of from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
We need to rejoice that we can have salvation in Jesus. This helps us overcome any degree of brokenness that we may be experiencing.
I need to finish for today. Thank you so much for reading this. Please feel free to send your comments to: rhepler52@gmail.com
I hope you have a good day and if this helps you please pass it on to someone else who might enjoy reading it.
Thanks,
Rick Hepler
Follow me for just a minute. After the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3, sin entered and stained this world that God created for man. We now live in a fallen world because of it. Did God want man to live for ever in this state? No, look carefully at vs 22-24. God said , "And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever". Then God sent man out of the garden and placed a cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life. Why is this important? God did not and does not want man to live in this fallen world forever. He immediately put a plan in place to draw us back to Him so we can live with Him, where there is no sin, for all eternity. And to show us that He wants that to happen, He sent His only son Jesus to die for us. He still gives man the choice to choose to accept His love or not. Does He still love us? Yes, look at 2Pet. 3:9. ...not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV) to warn us He says in 1John 2:15 to not love this world or the things in this world. Why? He does not want us to become so attached to this world that we miss the one he has prepared for us.
This answers the age old question," why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" He allows it so we will come back to Him. The book of Job shows us that God allowed Satan to afflict Job. Satan's main purpose was to get Job to curse God. That didn't happen. We have the advantage over Job because he didn't know why God was allowing this but we do.
There is a parable in Luke that gives me great comfort. It is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).
The loving father gave his younger son his inheritance and it says the son went into a far country. I want to ask you, what did the son want more, his money or his independence from his father? Notice, he went to a far country far away from his father. A father that loved him and blessed him with his inheritance. Did the younger son show any gratitude? All I see is, that he wanted his possessions and his own independent life. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?
When did the prodigal son remember his father? When he was living it up in the world having money to spend on his pleasures or when he was eating slop with the hogs? You got it. He first had to experience extreme brokenness before, as it says, came to himself.
The most beautiful part of this parable is the father never stopped loving his son. He watched for him every day hoping, yes hoping, he would come home. Also, the son knew who to come home to, but never realized there would be such a homecoming feast awaiting him.
After writing this, I welcome brokenness. My brokenness has brought me closer to God. God has used brokenness in my life to cause me to shift my life in a direction that best serves him. I still do not understand all the trials that we all experience but I do know this , God is in control and if we let Him, He will one day make it right.
Satan uses our brokenness to get us to curse God, but remember, God allows him to do it so we will be like the prodigal, come to ourself, and return back to Him.
I now can rejoice knowing that God always wants us to come home and be with Him and when I stray off that path to Him, he allows trials in this life to get me back on the path.
Read Habakkuk chapter 3:17-18. Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut of from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
We need to rejoice that we can have salvation in Jesus. This helps us overcome any degree of brokenness that we may be experiencing.
I need to finish for today. Thank you so much for reading this. Please feel free to send your comments to: rhepler52@gmail.com
I hope you have a good day and if this helps you please pass it on to someone else who might enjoy reading it.
Thanks,
Rick Hepler
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Enemies of Persistence (conclusion)
I am going to try to finish this topic today. There are several "enemies " of persistence that we could probably talk about. You can look back over your life and remember the goals that you failed to keep by not having the persistence needed to follow through. We each can, if we look back, usually identify why we gave up. Maybe our goal changed or our desire to meet that goal changed, which is not a bad thing. After thinking about it, what was the real reason that you could not persist in what you wanted to do? Only you can answer this and work on not letting the same thing ever destroy your persistence again.
Now, I would like to share an enemy of my own persistence and this may be one of yours, too. The name of this enemy is "Baggage From The Past". When I really want to accomplish a goal, I usually start that self talk of "you gave up before and this time is no different". Our failures from the past seem to always come up and, at least for me, have a tremendous power to weaken us.
Here is how I am working on dealing with this. When Debbie and I carried the kids to Disney World, about three years ago, we packed several bags with our clothes, shoes and everything we thought we would need while staying there. Upon arrival in our hotel room we unpacked our bags and put them away, which seems like a logical thing to do. We would looked silly carrying our bags with us each time we left the room. Can you imagine how tired you would be lugging those bags all day. We were exhausted not carrying anything .
When we carry our emotional baggage from the past day in and day out it will absolutely wear us out mentally. We do not even think about goals, persistence or anything else. All we want sometimes is just a few minutes of peace.( I would like to know. Is this only unique to me?)
Some times little things happen that can have a major impact on our thinking. Let me tell you one that has really helped me. A few days ago, as I walked through the office to the back room, at one of our computers sat Debbie with our 4 year old granddaughter, Anna Jewell, in her lap. They were doing something on the computer. As I was in the back I heard, in a loud voice, "MAMMAW!, MAMMAW!, MAMMAW! make it white!, make it white!" (You know, grand kids can be pretty loud and persistent when they want something) I walked back through and asked Debbie," what in the world is she wanting you to do?" She said, "she is typing on the computer and wants me to clear the typing off so she will have a white page to start fresh typing again". It hit me. I slowly walked back to my desk and sat down. My eyes teared up and I prayed "Heavenly Father!, Heavenly Father!, Heavenly Father!, please, make my page white." You all know what I was thinking. I cannot change mistakes and failures of the past but God can make the page white again to begin a new chapter in my life. That's it. A new chapter that can be filled with serving God and my fellow man. That alone gives me the courage to go on with all the persistence I need to accomplish whatever good works I want to seek. Maybe, just maybe, you want your page white too.
Living in a fallen world with bad news broadcast 24/7, the problems may seem like giants. But I want you to read I Sam. chapter 17. David was not afraid and knew that God would deliver him because He had done so on previous occasions. But the verse, using the NKJV, that really has an impact for me is in vs. 29. And David said, "What have I done now? Is there not a cause?"
Friend, is there not a cause? We need to persistently seek to do good. Get our page white. Let's all remember the song we used to sing, in VBS, "This Little Christian Light of Mine I Am Going to Let It Shine".
If we all shine together, the darkness we fear will be overcome.
I hope this encourages you and gets you to thinking. Please send this to a friend . Help someone today to "make their page white".
Please if you have any comments you can email me at rhepler@gmail.com
Thanks so much for your time. Have a good day.
Rick
Now, I would like to share an enemy of my own persistence and this may be one of yours, too. The name of this enemy is "Baggage From The Past". When I really want to accomplish a goal, I usually start that self talk of "you gave up before and this time is no different". Our failures from the past seem to always come up and, at least for me, have a tremendous power to weaken us.
Here is how I am working on dealing with this. When Debbie and I carried the kids to Disney World, about three years ago, we packed several bags with our clothes, shoes and everything we thought we would need while staying there. Upon arrival in our hotel room we unpacked our bags and put them away, which seems like a logical thing to do. We would looked silly carrying our bags with us each time we left the room. Can you imagine how tired you would be lugging those bags all day. We were exhausted not carrying anything .
When we carry our emotional baggage from the past day in and day out it will absolutely wear us out mentally. We do not even think about goals, persistence or anything else. All we want sometimes is just a few minutes of peace.( I would like to know. Is this only unique to me?)
Some times little things happen that can have a major impact on our thinking. Let me tell you one that has really helped me. A few days ago, as I walked through the office to the back room, at one of our computers sat Debbie with our 4 year old granddaughter, Anna Jewell, in her lap. They were doing something on the computer. As I was in the back I heard, in a loud voice, "MAMMAW!, MAMMAW!, MAMMAW! make it white!, make it white!" (You know, grand kids can be pretty loud and persistent when they want something) I walked back through and asked Debbie," what in the world is she wanting you to do?" She said, "she is typing on the computer and wants me to clear the typing off so she will have a white page to start fresh typing again". It hit me. I slowly walked back to my desk and sat down. My eyes teared up and I prayed "Heavenly Father!, Heavenly Father!, Heavenly Father!, please, make my page white." You all know what I was thinking. I cannot change mistakes and failures of the past but God can make the page white again to begin a new chapter in my life. That's it. A new chapter that can be filled with serving God and my fellow man. That alone gives me the courage to go on with all the persistence I need to accomplish whatever good works I want to seek. Maybe, just maybe, you want your page white too.
Living in a fallen world with bad news broadcast 24/7, the problems may seem like giants. But I want you to read I Sam. chapter 17. David was not afraid and knew that God would deliver him because He had done so on previous occasions. But the verse, using the NKJV, that really has an impact for me is in vs. 29. And David said, "What have I done now? Is there not a cause?"
Friend, is there not a cause? We need to persistently seek to do good. Get our page white. Let's all remember the song we used to sing, in VBS, "This Little Christian Light of Mine I Am Going to Let It Shine".
If we all shine together, the darkness we fear will be overcome.
I hope this encourages you and gets you to thinking. Please send this to a friend . Help someone today to "make their page white".
Please if you have any comments you can email me at rhepler@gmail.com
Thanks so much for your time. Have a good day.
Rick
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