Hi all-
Please check our most recent newsletter here!
Also - in one of my previous posts, I was attempting to provide a link to all previous newsletters but ended up not being successful. Well - now everything seems to be fixed so please follow this link to see our archived newsletters and see what our ministry has been doing over the past few years!
Thanks,
Paul
INTERNATIONAL PRAYER CONNECTIONS
January 2012
“Globalizing Prayer, Transforming our World”
IN THIS EDITION
http://www.ipcprayer.org/newsmaster.cfm?&menuid=6&action=view&retrieveid=44
In this post from National Network of Youth Ministries, Kristi DeVito shares how important it is to find time for silence in this loud world.
God loves having relationship with me! But I miss God’s attempts to capture my attention. My life is so busy and noisy that I hardly notice God’s constant presence.
Henri Nouwen said, “There was a time when silence was normal and a lot of racket disturbed us. But today noise is the normal fare, and silence, strange as it may seem,silence has become the real disturbance.”
In my own Christian journey the need for silence and solitude has seldom been spoken of or practiced. Much of my training and experience has been about working hard and accomplishing things for God.
Working hard is good. But I didn’t realize that all of this doing is much more rewarding when it flows from my being – that place inside where God loves and lives in me, and I love and live in God…Jesus calls that abiding.
Often I’ve been impressed with the Psalmist’s words: “Be still and know that I am God.”In recent years I’m embracing the practice of “stillness” or silence. In the beginning, and sometimes still, it feels awkward; I wonder if I’m doing “it” correctly. My mind may be everywhere, and it can even feel like a waste of time. But God continues to draw me to silence, and I’m feeling more and more comfortable being still in God’s presence.
So what is silence? I’m learning that it is one of the ways I create space in my life to pay attention to God. God is always paying attention to us; always present to us. It is we who are seldom attentive and present to God. So as I create space for silence, I’m providing myself with the opportunity to listen to God;and listening is necessary for growth and love in any relationship.
Why is silence important? The Bible encourages us to embrace solitude and silence (Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 30:15; Exodus 14:14). Jesus took time for silence (Luke 4:42; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12).
From early Christian history, men and women of God have observed silence as an integral part of their daily lives. Dallas Willard writes, “Of all the disciplines of abstinence, solitude is generally the most fundamental in the beginning of the spiritual life and must be returned to again and again as that life develops.” Even as I write this, I’m still amazed at how little I have seen this practiced throughout my years of following Jesus.
What role can silence play in your life? Larry Warner says, “God desires to communicate His love, grace, peace and very self to us, but sometimes we move too fast and live with too much noise to receive them. In silence and solitude we slow down, extend our open, empty hands of faith and ready ourselves to receive from God whatever God may have for us.”
I like that; especially the last phrase, “receive from God whatever God may have for us.” That says to me that there is nothing manipulative or magical about silence. God’s presence to us is always a gift. We can only provide the opportunity to pay attention, listen and receive.
In my practice of silence and solitude I have run across some helpful suggestions to encourage me along the journey. I hope you will find these encouraging, too.
Suggestions for those who are new to silence…from Larry Warner
More suggestions…from Karen Cooper
How do I begin to practice silence and/or being alone?
What do I do once I get alone?
What do I do when my mind won’t stay focused?
Mother Teresa wrote, “We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we care in our active life. We need silence to touch souls.”
O God, I thank you for experiencing You anew in silence. Help us touch more souls with Your active love.
Recently I had the privilege of visiting a Grandparents@Prayer (G@P) group in Branson, MO. It was such a blessed time as we prayed together for our grandchildren. I am pleased that there are many G@P groups seeing the urgency of meeting together to pray for their grandchildren. We now have a number of G@P intercessory groups meeting in Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota, Alabama, Florida Colorado, Texas, and England. Some of the groups meet in retirement centers, schools, churches, and homes, meeting weekly, some twice a month or once a month, whatever the group desires.
Christian Grandparenting Network has a passion to encourage and equip grandparents to pray for their grandchildren. Therefore, we have organized “Grandparents@Prayer” (G@P) intercessory prayer groups. Our goal is to encourage grandparents to be prayer warriors through the personal discipline of intercessory prayer in the battle against the enemy. We encourage grandparents to meet together in small or large groups on a regular basis to unite in prayer.
As we start the year of 2012, I would like to challenge grandparents to think about getting involved in a Grandparents@Prayer intercessory prayer group
I want to challenge you to join the Grandparents@Prayer group on this PRAY! Network. Go to the “Group” link and look for “Grandparents@Prayer” We would love to have you join us.
We do not know the challenges that lay before us in 2012. In addition to our economy, the moral and social issues in our world are troubling us. Our grandchildren are growing up in a godless environment. However, God has promised to walk with us in the sin-stained world we live in when we hold his hand in deliberate dependence on Him. We read in Hebrews 13:5, “God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Let’s pray deliberately for our grandchildren with urgency for God’s protection spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
By Lilllian Penner
National Prayer Coordinator
Christian Grandparenting Network
I’ve been delighted with the magnificent photo on the cover of this year’s Seek God for the City. The beautiful city, bathed in light, with a river running through it, is Calgary, Alberta, if you’re wondering. Several friends have asked. Only a few days ago I had an insight about that image that I’d like to share with you.
As many do around the turn of the year, I was at home pondering the days ahead. On the table beside me was a copy of Seek God for the City 2012. Recently, I’ve been meditating on Psalm 46. Somehow one phrase from the psalm lit up in full color: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”
Elsewhere in that Psalm there are nations that roar; there are kingdoms that tremble; there are wars and weapons that bring desolation. But in the midst of all the raging chaos, there is a city, unshaken by the noise, sustained with a fearless joy by God Himself. And there is a river that flows, sourced in heaven’s life. But it’s not just one river with a single channel. It has streams, many of them. That gives me hope. Just a little stream of God’s river can bring to life the gladness of hope, the fearlessness of faith and the awesome hush of love.
But it wasn’t just that river with many streams that I saw symbolized on the cover of Seek God for the City, it was the light of morning. Consider these astounding words: “God will help her when morning dawns.” Do you realize that this means that it is not yet the morning? We are even now in the darkest hour before the dawn. God’s presence is steady as a river. But He is coming like a long-awaited dawn. And He will help her (the city is somehow a feminine entity) when that day comes.
Even though the photo depicts a sunset on the city, I was moved by the truth of the coming dawn. How bright the coming of our Lord. How sure His help even now in the day of trouble!
And that was all it took to remind me that amidst all of the other projects and urgencies before me, that I am summoned to pray with the joy of hope. An important part of prayer is knowing what to say. But a greater aspect of prayer is hearing what God is saying. In the midst of the noise of these crazy days, I recognized that God was calling me to hush, to be still, to listen and to know and behold what His works and purpose are all about.
So I’m going to be praying in these days. I want to urge you to do the same. Seek God for the City can be a tool to help you and the people who walk with you to pray with steady uplifted hope. But whether you use this resource or not, let’s pray great things. The river flows. The unshakable city stands steady. And the morning soon dawns.
Yours in hope,
Steve Hawthorne
PS: This year we’ll be releasing Seek God for the City as an app. It’s almost ready. Watch for it in the first days of February. Go to www.waymakers.org/seek-god-for-the-city.html.
In John 13-18, at the last supper, we have an interesting snippet into the life of Jesus. Like a parent who is leaving his child at college for the first time, Jesus covers everything important his “kids” needed to know before leaving them on their own for the first time. In this talk, Jesus reveals something they had never heard before: “Ask in my name.” Pray in my name. It was so important that he comes back to that point three times.
They got it. In Acts four we seek a crippled man healed in the name of Jesus. Throughout Acts they continually call on the name of Jesus. We need to learn what that means to ask and pray in Jesus’ name.
For many of us, however, that phrase has become just a perfunctory tack on, to indicate the end of a prayer. “Okay, my prayer is over,” or “your turn to pray,” are more what it means in a prayer. Most believers—including myself—jump past that important theological truth like it means nothing.
A recent study on the topic in order to preach on it, really impacted me. I was struck by how much I had forgotten what it means to pray in Jesus’ name. While I can’t do justice to all that it means in a blog entry (books could be written on the topic), I hope this stimulus will encourage you to pray with more power and authority.
Praying in Jesus name gives us a level of authority that no other created being in the universe possesses! We have three “types” of authority because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
First we have a legal authority, very much like a business manager has been given by an owner. Whatever a manager decides is binding, because he was given that authority by the owner. We represent Christ as ambassadors Scripture says. An ambassador acts in the interest of a nation in a foreign nation. God has given us authority to act for Him on earth—to represent Him. When we pray in Jesus’ name, what we ask for needs to be in line with what we know He would do.
Second we have the authority and rights of a child-father relationship. We are co-heirs with Christ. This gives us access to the throne room. But because of who God is, we are given a huge level of authority as His heir. When we pray, we have confidence, because we know who our Father is. The more we know Him, the more we know what He would want to do in a situation—and we can declare that to be done.
Finally, we are in bride-bridegroom relationship, and have all the authority that comes to a bride when she gets married. When a couple joins, everything the one has now also belongs to the other. Everything Christ has is ours! But we also have to recognize that everything we have belongs to Him. That speaks of huge surrender. When this comes to prayer, it means that it can no longer be what I want . . . but what we want. I can only pray what is in synch with what my bridegroom also wants. That speaks of intimacy.
So the next time you tack on “in Jesus’ name, Amen” on to the end of your prayer, consider what it implies. Better yet, it might be good to think of that even before you pray! Maybe it will change how you pray.
Jon Graf is the publisher of Prayer Connectand the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network.
I got caught by the police! Red handed! On Christmas Day! Every year I purchase Starbucks’s Gift Cards, drive around on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day giving them to Police Officers with a quick, “Thanks for working on Christmas.” This is done anonymously in the tradition of one of the early versions of Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, a saint who was known for giving anonymous gifts, especially to children during the night as they slept. This idea, of course, was popularized by Clement Moore, who wrote a simple poem for his children in 1822 entitled, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” that begins with the now famous words, “Twas the night before Christmas . . .” And of course in the spirit of Jesus who told His disciples, “when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). For the first time, I got caught. One of the recipients apparently recorded my car license tag. My wife was surprised when a Police vehicle pulled up to our front curb and gave her a hand-made note for me. It read, “Of all the gifts bestowed this year . . . the greatest is the appreciation of those like you” and it was signed by nineteen police officers, complete with their badge numbers. I wept. One of my greatest Christmas joys, passed onto me my Father, is the anonymous giving of gifts. This year, I was blessed to be caught on Christmas.
"Caught on Christmas" is an entry in "Dr. Dan's MondayMorning Memo" written by Dr. Dan Crawford, located at www.discipleallnations.org/blog.
I want to share an idea that our family has used over the years as tool to help us pray together. We stopped using this for a while when my youngest came along, but I am resurrecting it this year.
First, allow me to step on my soapbox. I am passionate about praying, and I believe that children need modeling in order to develop their prayer life. Our Family Intercessory Prayer File helped my kids to expand their prayer lives toward less self-focused prayers (“Dear God, please bring me a Wii.”). It also has enabled them to develop a heart for people and issues beyond their own inner circle. Intercessory prayer is a type of prayer defined as praying on behalf of others. It is necessary, it is a calling for all Christ-followers, and God chooses to move when we pray. He really does! Imagine Him looking around, seeing a child on his knees for another, and then moving to answer. That picture excites me! It thrills my heart when we hear an ambulance siren, and my youngest’s first words are, “Mom, let’s pray for whoever’s hurt!”
Stepping off my soap box now. There are plenty of books on the topic of prayer. But here’s a fun and organized way that we’ve prayed with our family at dinner time for years:
Here’s all you need:
~A little binder that holds the two-hole punched index cards. Or you could use a little recipe-type box.
~Eight different color categories of index cards.
~A pen.
Simple enough so far, right?
Here’s what we did:
Take eight different colored index cards, and label with these topics:
~Day One: Pray for Missionaries Around the World.
~Day Two: Pray for a Family Member.
~Day Three: Pray for a Friend.
~Day Four: Pray for a Current Event.
~Day Five: Pray for Our Community, State & Country.
~Day Six: Pray Your Dreams.
~Day Seven: Any Prayer Request.
~Answered Prayer.
Here’s what we do: This is the fun part. Put each index card into the binder. If you choose the color pink for the first category, fill out pink index cards with all the countries you want to. We happen to know a few missionaries, so we include their names as well. File the pink cards you’ve filled out in the Missionaries category. On Day One, everyone takes an index card and prays for the missionaries in that particular country.
Our Family Members index cards are green. I include each of the five of us, the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on those cards. We each take a green card on Day Two, and pray for that particular family member.
The Friends and Current Events I leave blank. We pray whomever God puts on our hearts. Perhaps there is a friend who is currently sick, or one that is struggling in some way. For Current Events, we think of stories that are in the news. Is there a missing child? A family who lost their home in a fire? A country that is devastated from an earthquake? Whatever moves our hearts is where we know God wants us to pray.
Our Community, State & Country category has us praying for our neighborhood, schools, church, public servants, the homeless, our governor, the military, the president, etc. I teach my children not to complain about political leaders if they are not covering them or our nation in prayer.
Praying Your Dreams is simple enough. I write down our dreams, big and small, and we pray them to God. Since they are kept in the file, we can see how God answers them over the years. I prayed for God to expand my territory one year, and He answered by sending Ben to us.
On Day Seven, everyone prays for whatever they want. Anytime a prayer is answered, I write it down or take it out of its previous category and file under Answered Prayer. This is a way to catalog God’s faithfulness to our family’s intercession.
We keep it all simple when we pray as family. When dinner is finished, we light a candle to remind us that Christ is present, and we begin. One or two sentence prayers per person are perfect. This keeps my children growing in knowing how to pray in one accord within a group. I’ve experience many a church group where someone prays such a long, flowery prayer I feel myself dozing off.
Maybe different prayer topics would work better for your family. This is what has served our particular family well. The important thing is stand before God as a family committed to praying together for others. Then rejoice in the creative ways God answers!
After the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they immediately ran to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the baby was lying in a manger. Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel said about the baby. The people who heard their story were astonished.
The shepherds returned to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God. However, Mary quietly treasured all these things in her heart and thought about them often. Later some wise men from the East guided by a star came to their house fell down before baby Jesus and worshipped him, bringing expensive gifts with them.
Now that the Christmas celebrations are over, the tree must come down, the decorations put away for another year. What is your response to the birth of Jesus Christ?
Don’t pack Jesus away with the Christmas ornaments until next Christmas.
My prayer is that your response is to grow in your spiritual life so you will be able to be an even greater godly influence in the lives of your grandchildren in 2012.
₁ Taken from Luke 2:15-20 TLB
₂ Matthew 2:11
Christmas was a day that i once dreaded,in my life i`ve seen hurts and pains but the day they celebrated Christmas was always painful,and dark for me see that was the day that the savest woman i knew died a shell of her.beautiful self with the death stinch of cancer,i would here others talk about family,friends,love ,hope and peace on earth goodwill towards men,those sounds mock & tormented my soul because,Sara E Alexander was dead( my mom) died at 57 yrs young,a women that was saved and filled with the Spirit of GOD, servant,prayer warrior,church mother, a minister of the Gospel,my mom,my friend,my wise council,i was a babe in the LORD, newly married with kids and a pass that was so evil i could still smell sometime brimstones i could`nt fathom in my mind and heart for a longtime peace on earth and goodwill towards men;then one day i told GOD i was tired,AND SAID PLEASE forgive me ,and visit me with your saving,healing,delivering power,i declared JESUS IS MY LORD,one of the first things the HolyGhost brought back to my rememberance was my mommy praying 4 me:O`LORD fill up my son tony with JESUS and drive out every evil thats in him fill him with Your love,save him.now i look at Christmas with salvation on the inside 2 Corinthians 9:15 thank you FATHER GOD 4 JESUS our gift amen....!!!!
Prayer is the key to successfully overcoming the problems we face on a daily bases. We are commanded to "Pray Without Ceasing" 1 Thessalonian 5:17. Prayer does work for us spiritually, emotionally, and physically. When we pray in faith, we invite God into our situation. He is faithful so trust Him.
Hi all-
Please check out the prayer newsletter that Central sent out last month in if you want to learn more about our ministry!
- Paul
True Meaning of Christmas … “Tell the Children!”
Just a week before Christmas I had a visitor. I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room and, to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree. He placed a finger over his mouth so I would not cry out.
"What are you doing?" I started to ask. The words choked up in my throat, as I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager boisterous soul we all know.
He then answered me with a simple statement, "TEACH THE CHILDREN." I was puzzled; what did he mean?
He anticipated my question, and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood there bewildered, Santa said, "Teach the children! Teach them the meaning of Christmas. The meaning that children now-a-day's have forgotten!"
Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle. "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year around, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind. All the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts toward heaven."
He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR. "Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a savior for the world, and the star was the sign of the fulfillment of that promise."
He then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDLE. "Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaced the darkness."
Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree. "Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the eternal nature of love. Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection."
He then pulled out from his bag an ornament of HIMSELF. "Teach the children that I, Santa Clause symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December."
-- original source unknown; submitted by C. Neal Davis, Ph.D., ACFRE (12/22/11) nealpatdavis@hotmail.com
He reached in again and pulled out a HOLLY LEAF. "Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the Crown of Thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him."
Next he pulled out a GIFT from the bag and said, "Teach the children that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ..." "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. Teach the children that the Wise Men bowed before the Holy Babe and presented Him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We should always give gifts in the same spirit as the Wise Men."
Santa reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree. "Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds crook. The crook on the shepherd's staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brothers keeper."
He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL. "Teach the children that it was the Angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace, and good will toward men."
Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, from his bag he pulled out a BELL. "Teach the children that the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should bring man to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return."
Santa looked back at the tree and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes. He said, "Teach the children the true meaning of Christmas, and to not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the ONE That Is, and I bow down and worship HIM, our LORD, our GOD.
I Corinthians 13 -- Christmas Style
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, sing carols in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.
Be Mindful That Happiness Is Not Based On Possessions, Power, or Prestige, But On Christ And Relationships With People You Love And Respect
-- original source unknown (submitted by C. Neal Davis, Ph.D., ACFRE (12/22/11)
13,372 (written) Prayers ... and still counting
It sounds rather simplistic, but I just "pray and write" ... about whatever is on my mind! (I could say, "however God leads," but some of my prayers surely don't please Him as much as I wish they did) ...
On June 1, 1975, I began keeping two journals: "A Thought Journal" and "A Prayer Journal." There are days when I don't write but, if so, I catch up; on other occasions, I write ahead. Nevertheless, for these 36 1/2 years, I have an entry for every day. I have no particular discipline re: subject or length, but the "Thought Journal" entries are always at least one-page in length, sometimes longer; the "Prayer Journal" entries tend to be shorter, but can range from one line to a few pages.
I have a "Ten Things to Enjoy" (TTTE) mailing list; I send these items out on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month (35 editions per year).: On November 5, 2005, I put ten items together qand sent the combined list to five friends; I titled them "Ten Things to Enjoy" ... and the response was excellent; so, I continued to send these mailings on a regularly scheduled basis ... and have now been doing this for 6+ years -- (#CCXV -- or #215) was forwarded to my list of almost recipients as of December 20, 2011.
On June 1, 2010, I began including/adding an item called "PDQ" (Prayers, Daily journal entries, and Quotations from one of the four books I have written); in other words, some "samples" of my prayers have been included with each edition of TTTE for the past 18 months [as you can surmise, though, 18 of 13,37 is a rather small sample]. My TTTE/PDQ mailing list has almost 500 names. It began after I retired and, at age 75, it is one of the ways I minister and engage in interaction with people across the US and around the world ...
I'm afraid I am a much better writer than marketer; I sell very few books, TTTE/PDQ involves no income on my part nor expense on anyone else's part; it has been and continues to be a labor of love.
The Prayer Journal simply keeps me in touch with God and myself; for me, I need more than an intangible spiritual relationship. I read voraciously, write extensively and, in the process, grow in knowledge, grace and, hopefully, wisdom and discernment. I write in longhand on notebook paper and there are more than 100 loose-leaf volumes of "journals" in my home office in Oregon.
A little bit about me: I have been blessed beyond belief: born in the Arkansas Ozarks, educated (formally) in Missouri (BA, MA, Ph.D.), served at the Dean's level or higher for nine colleges and universities, eight of which were church-related (three kinds of Baptist, two UCC colleges, one Episcopal, one ELCA Lutheran); I am an Emeritus Professor and Emeritus Senior Vice President for Advancement and Marketing at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois; I am also an Emeritus member of the Board of Directors for Holt International Children's Services in Eugene, Oregon -- the largest adoption agency in the world. My wife and I have been married for 54 1/2 years, we have six successful children (three of whom are Korean adoptees), seven grandchildren (two of whom are Korean adoptees), have had 60 foster kids (licensed in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Virginia), etc. Three of our children live in Oregon and three live in Virginia; and we spend six months in each state. Although I have been a member of 17 Baptist churches in my lifetime, we presently belong to a Presbyterian church in Glen Allen (Richmond), Virginia and are Associate members of a Presbyterian church in Aloha (Portland), Oregon. I have lived in ten states, visited all 50 states (often), been around the world twice -- including visits to 30+ nations.
To quote the final line in the blind, anonymous Confederate soldiers' poem, "I am, among all men, the one most richly blessed."
If you would like to receive "Ten Things To Enjoy"/"PDQ", just send me your e-mail address. There is no charge ...
and remember to "Pray without ceasing ..." (I Thes. 5:15)
C. Neal Davis, Ph.D., ACFRE / nealpatdavis@hotmail.com
80 SW 172nd Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97006 (April-September)
9710 Candace Court, Glen Allen, VA 23060 (October-March)
I have heard this fanciful interpretation almost since it's beginning, which no one seems to be able to find any history associated with any further back than the 1990's. It does strain credibility just on the face of it and knowing some church history. I suggest we check our facts and not pass on hearsay as truth, or we lessen the power of the truth we pass on.
click here
One of my prayers this Christmas revolves around a word, actually two words. These two words make all the difference in how Christmas is observed. For many people, Christmas is an event – by definition, an observable occurrence, a gathering. It is an event marked by parties, gifts, parades, decorations, family gatherings, etc. While these event-related activities are often involved, Christmas for others is an advent. Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning coming or arrival. Christians celebrate Christmas as the arrival of the Christ-child, the world’s Savior and Lord. While the actual date for the physical arrival of Jesus is debatable, the observance of that birth is at Christmas time. The Latin word, adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, which appears twenty-four times in the New Testament, seventeen of which are used in reference to the second coming of Christ, as when the disciples asked Jesus for a sign of His second coming in Matthew 24:3. For Christians, the season of Advent serves as a reminder both of the first coming of Jesus, His physical birth, as well as Christ's return from Heaven. How you celebrate Christ’s second coming, depends largely on how you celebrate His first coming – event or advent. So, for the sake of your preparation for the second coming of the Lord, I pray that you celebrate His first coming as an advent, not simply as an event.
This paragraph is a part of Dr. Dan’s Monday Morning Memo, a one paragraph, spiritual jump-start sent free of charge via E-mail every Monday morning. To see more samples and possibly join the subscription list, go to www.discipleallnations.org.
