God provides for those who trust him

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans it also wrecked the home of a retired clergyman, Reverend Jones. His daughter wanted him to get to Atlanta and stay with her, but he had no money and all the banks were closed. After the storm had passed, he was allowed back home to grab a few belongings. But the only thing worth salvaging were several framed photos floating in the water. Later, when he removed a photo of his father from its frame to dry it, to his amazement, four hundred dollars fell out of the frame. The astounding thing was that his father had died when Reverend Jones was only twelve. He had no idea that the money was in the frame, but it was just enough to pay for him and his wife to get to safety.
Just another example of how God provides for those who trust him.

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There’s nothing to fear

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a story about a man from Canada who left the frozen north for a holiday in the Florida Sun. His wife was due to follow him next day. When he got to his hotel he sent her an email. Unfortunately he missed one letter in the email address and his message went to an elderly preacher’s wife, whose husband had died the day before. When she read the message she let out a scream. Her family rushed in to see this message on her computer: ‘Dearest Wife. Just checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. PS Sure is hot down here!’
Well. I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have to rely on email messages for information on the afterlife. But, if we have faith in Jesus, there’s nothing to fear. His message also was: ‘I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also.’

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Those who look for beauty will see it everywhere,

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A man walking through Times Square, where the sounds of the city are almost deafening, told his friend he could to hear a cricket. His friend said he didn’t believe him until the man walked to a small shrubbery and, sure enough, found a small cricket. ‘It all depends on what you’re listening for’ he said. Then, to prove his point, he dropped a handful of coins onto the pavement, and, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, every head within twenty feet turned and looked to see if the money was theirs. ‘See what I mean?’ He said. ‘You can always hear the things that mean the most to you.’
That’s why the Bible says ‘Whatever is pure, noble and lovely, think on these things.’ Those who look for beauty will see it everywhere, just as those who look for dirt will always find it.

Posted in Abundant life, Beauty, Spiritual blindness, Spiritual discernment, Spiritual Insight | Leave a comment

Priceless gifts

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Oseola McCarty was an African-American woman who earned a living by washing and ironing other people’s clothes. She never married and had to leave school early to help support her family. She never owned a car and worked every day until arthritis forced her to retire at the age of eighty six. All her life she scrimped and saved, but in her will she left one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to set up a scholarship to enable poor families to send their kids to university. Well, after hearing the story, billionaire Ted Turner was so moved he decided to add a billion dollars to her gift.
Oseola McCarty was like the poor widow in the gospel whose tiny offering Jesus said was priceless. To God, it’s not the size of the gift that counts, but what it means to the person who gives it and what it does to those who see it.

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Image of the Cross

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A friend told me about a remarkable incident that took place at the Perth Commonwealth Games years ago. A member of the high diving team decided to practice one night. He climbed to the very highest diving board, stood on the edge with his arms outstretched, and was about to launch himself into space when the full moon re-appeared from behind a cloud and threw his shadow down onto the floor of the pool in the form of a cross. He then realised there was no water in the pool. It had been drained for cleaning. He’d been a couple of seconds away from death, but his own shadow, reflected in the image of a cross had saved him.
For twenty centuries that image of the Cross has shown people the way to life. No wonder the Bible refers to it as ‘the power of God unto salvation.’

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God, who sees in secret

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Donald Trump often gets a lot of bad press, but one story tells of how he was driving home from a weekend trip and his luxury car broke down on a very busy freeway. An unemployed mechanic stopped to help, got his car going again and then refused to accept any payment. But Trump, who refused to confirm or deny the story, next day sent flowers to the mechanic’s wife, along with a certified letter stating that their mortgage had been paid in full. That Good Samaritan – motor mechanic still thanks his lucky stars that he followed his Christian principles and helped a fellow motorist in trouble.
Even though thoughts of reward should not be the motivating factor in our desire to help people in need, the Bible does say that ‘God, who sees in secret, shall reward us openly.’

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Surrounded by the miraculous

Posted on December 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

The poet Walt Whitman once said that we are surrounded by the miraculous but don’t recognise it. Science has increased our sense of awe, as it unfolds the marvels of the Universe; but many assume that because we know how far it is to a given planet, we have, therefore, grasped all its significance. That’s a lot different from Dr. Werner Von Braun, the person primarily responsible for putting man on the Moon, who said that for every answer his scientific research produced it opened up four new questions; and that’s what eventually caused him to accept that there is a mind behind the Universe, immeasurably greater than anything we can understand.
The Bible says, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God.’ And regardless of what we may think, it’s ‘In Him that we live, move and have our being.’

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Seeing things in their true perspective

Posted on December 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

In the wake of the Global Economic Crisis, USA Today ran an article entitled Bubble burst: Views on sour economy. It reported that nearly half of the people surveyed believed the recession was a payback for society’s overindulging, and that it has finally shown them what is really important.
It’s strange but true that it often takes the loss of something to help us see things in true perspective. It’s a theme that runs continuously through the Bible. The Old Testament Book of Proverbs says: ‘Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone.’ Jesus said the same thing about our obsession with storing up stuff on earth that we know we’ll not be able to hold on to. ‘It’s your spiritual assets that count,’ he said. ‘So stockpile treasure in heaven, because it’s the place you will most want to be, and will end up being.’

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Reflect on the ‘Maggies’

Posted on December 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Hidden away in a Dublin park is a bench with a plaque that says: ‘To the women who worked in the Magdalen laundry institutions — reflect here upon their lives.’ The Magdalen laundries, named after Mary Magdalene, belonged to an order of nuns who took in pregnant girls whom they called ‘maggies’. They came to public attention a few years ago following the discovery of scores of their graves, and soon former ‘maggies’ were giving accounts of how thousands of young women had their illegitimate babies taken from them and were forced to work unpaid and in silence as a form of atonement for their sins.
How different this is from the example Jesus set in the way he treated the original ‘maggie’, Mary Magdalene – she of the seven demons – whom he honoured as the very first witness of the Resurrection.

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Only God knows the effects of our good deeds

Posted on December 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A Scottish farmer named Fleming once pulled a terrified boy out of a bog. The next day the boy’s aristocrat father arrived at Fleming’s humble cottage to reward him. But Fleming wouldn’t accept any payment except the offer of help with his own son’s education. Eventually the younger Fleming graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School and went on to become Sir Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin. Years later, that same boy, whom old Farmer Fleming had rescued from the bog, was stricken with pneumonia; his life, this time, was saved by the penicillin that the younger Fleming had discovered. The name of that man was Winston Churchill.
Only God knows the effects of our good deeds. ‘Do good…without seeking any reward,’ Jesus said. ‘And your reward shall be great.’

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