Issue 4 - Summer 2018

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your requests be made known to God!” That’s the best cure for all your anxieties and frustrations. Do you bring your needs and burdens before the Lord during a time of daily prayer and devotions? If you are and still feel restless, helpless, and hopeless, then it may be because you are not praying WITH THANKSGIVING. An all-important key in having faith is having A THANKFUL HEART! Paul learned the secret of CONTENTMENT (Verse 11), and it is God’s will for every Christian single to learn CONTENTMENT, also!! So, the first element that can revolutionize your attitude and life as a single person is FAITH and rejoicing in your relationship with God (verses 4, 7) and thereby learning contentment. VICTORY God wants us to learn the secret of VICTORY in our spiritual lives. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7) God cares about you! That’s why in verses 8 and 9, He is warning you against the enemy of your soul: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” Your enemy, Satan the devil, knows how to attack you in your weak areas. He knows what tempts you most, and the Bible says that he is “seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8) Satan knows how to get you discouraged. He knows how to get you feeling sorry for yourself. He is so sly that you might not even realize that he is behind the thoughts that he may be tempting you with. Be aware of his tactics, and do what verses 8 and 9 tell you to do: “Be sober, be vigilant...and resist him steadfast in the faith.” The apostle James gives us another promise: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The most effective way to resist the devil is by knowing and quoting the Word of God even as Jesus did while being tempted in the wilderness! To continue in victory, read and meditate upon Philippians 4:4-13 until it takes root in your heart. Not only do we have Satan to resist and reject, but we also have our own natural carnal flesh nature to go against. As a single person, you need to be keenly aware of the danger of thinking on the wrong things. You need to steer clear of TV programs and movies that are designed to activate your sexual appetites and other lusts that cause discontentment in your heart. For the most part, TV and most movies DO NOT get you thinking about those things that are HONEST, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, AND OF GOOD REPORT. (Php. 4:8,9) Usually, it is just the opposite. When your THOUGHT LIFE is negatively influenced in this way, SIN IS JUST WAITING TO HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE! SELF CONTROL Moderation or self-control is a fruit of the spirit. (Php. 4:5; Gal. 5:23) Through Christ and the Holy Spirit we can have self-control. However, self-control will not be a part of our Christian lives without selfdiscipline. A disciplined Christian keeps himself under strict training. There will be times when he must deny himself of all personal comfort and ease. He must be ready to go against any unspiritual tendency and be determined to not compromise with even the smallest of sins. The apostle Paul’s testimony in Php. 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” can be your testimony, also. FULFILLMENT In conclusion, God is not only interested in our lives being full of FAITH and VICTORY, but our spiritual FULFILLMENT is His TOP PRIORITY! God has created us to enjoy His fellowship more than any other relationship. God has promised us, if we make Him our first love, He will bless us in all other aspects of our lives: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [natural needs] shall be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33) The question of fulfillment is not whether we marry or remain single but our fulfillment is in Christ, being a Christian in the family of God. A single missionary friend of ours was on the mission field until her mid 40’s. She returned home to care for her mother. After a time of asking the Lord to give her a husband, she finally gave up and accepted the fact that it must be the Lord’s will for her to remain single. She told the Lord that she was willing to remain single if that was what He wanted for her life. It wasn’t long before she met a fellow missionary who had lost his wife a few years earlier. They became close and were married. An interesting feature about this relationship is that she knew this man and his wife for many years and was a close friend to his wife. She had made a statement to someone that if she ever got married, she would like a man like this man. She knew that he was a wonderful and unselfish husband until his wife died of cancer. She never dreamed that she would end up marrying him someday and have a wonderful marriage. Let’s conclude this message with some final advice from the scriptures: “I say therefore to the unmarried -10-
and widows: It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn.” (I Cor. 7:8-9) Some Christian singles learn to gain grace and are happy. Other Christian singles find that they fall into sexual sin. If that is your dilemma, then verse 9 is for you: “But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn” or give in to sexual passion and thereby be guilty of the sin of fornication or adultery. However, singles have the unique opportunity of devoting themselves more fully to the Lord and His work. (I Cor. 7:32, 33, 39, 40) “But she [the single person] IS HAPPIER IF SHE SO ABIDE [as a single].” (Verse 40) Singles and single parents, you don’t have to wait until you marry to be fulfilled and happy. God wants you to be fulfilled as a single person!! Your Christian life can be an exciting adventure while you are a single person. You can experience FAITH, VICTORY, and you can experience FULFILLMENT! What can we who are married do to help and encourage singles and single parents? When was the last time you invited a single person or a single parent with their children to your house for a meal? Invite them to your house for a meal or dessert and fellowship. They probably won’t refuse you! Remember, it isn’t meant to be just a social time but also a time of emotional and spiritual encouragement. Let’s pray for our singles and single parents, those in our church and those outside our church. Be a big brother or a big sister by taking the children or teens of a single parent to some sporting event or concert. Invite the children of single parent homes to your house to spend time with your children. Finally, I would suggest all singles and all single parents to spend their time in God’s house whenever the doors are open. You need all the encouragement and fellowship that you can get! This also applies to those who are married!! There is a time to be married and there is a time to be single. “…for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content…I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Php. 4:11-13) Whatever your state, may you learn and experience FAITH, VICTORY AND FULFILLMENT THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU!!! And may those of us who are married with families, reach out to our singles and single parent families. It’s all part of being in the Family of God! ~P.C. WORKING TOGETHER IN THE LOCAL CHURCH By: Dan Detweiler Dan Detweiler was an Amish farmer in Ohio. He was saved and became a pastor for many years. He was my spiritual father and was one of my three mentors. I met him in 1969 (see story in this issue: “How I met my spiritual father.”) In I Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul speaks of the church being a body. He also speaks about various members of that body. It is very important that each of us find a local church and make it our home. You will never come into the potential that God has for you unless you find a church home and grow together with others. Paul spoke of the various members of the body such as the eye, ear, foot, and hand. Let’s look at a typical church situation. Brother Foot begins to look at himself as not being very important. He looks at Brother Hand and sees everything that he is doing. Brother Hand does everything so efficiently. Have you ever felt like Brother Foot? Brother Foot needs to realize that the body needs him in order to be transported from one place to another. Brother Foot carries more of the burden than any other member of the body. Brother Ear begins to feel insignificant because he is not in front like Brother Eye. But if the body couldn’t hear, what would happen to the body? There would be a severe lack in the body. Brother Ear, we need you! Brother Nose just hangs there and begins to feel very rejected. In a conversation with the other members he says, “I just hang there and filter out the air and smell everything and nobody seems to appreciate me. I’m very insignificant. The eyes are different. They get pampered. They get a lot of attention. The only time that I get any attention is when I start running and I don’t have a tissue.” THE BODY OF CHRIST There are members in the body of Christ that have these feelings. That’s why God is trying to tell us through the apostle Paul of how important each of us are as members. That’s why it is so important that we get connected to a local church. -11-
Page 1 and 2: Issue #4 Living Messages For Family
Page 3 and 4: We need to be shaken into the spiri
Page 5 and 6: is humanly possible. They had many
Page 7 and 8: idges. We need to get rid of our pr
Page 9: ambassador to them. You are their o
Page 13 and 14: and to meet one another’s needs.
Page 15 and 16: astronomer, He is the “sun of rig

Issue 4 - Summer 2018

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