PREPARATION

Vol. 15 No. 6

                       

Dear Friend,

Preparation is basic for most of the events of life.  Before the baseball game, the players prepare.  Before the farmer sows seed, the ground is prepared.  Before a dramatic performance, the actors prepare.

Preparation is basic to our spiritual lives as well.

Bobby Knight, the basketball coach at Indiana University, once said, "It is not the will to win that counts but the will to prepare to win that counts.

The will to be prepared as followers of Jesus Christ is basic to our spiritual lives because God wants to prepare and equip the person who is willing to be taught.

"Prepare the way for the Lord", said the prophet Isaiah. God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus Christ.

In a similar way, God sends messengers into our lives to prepare us, to ready us to meet Jesus Christ and grow in our relationship with Him. 

Those messengers include parents, friends, sermons, small group Bible Studies, personal times of Bible Study and prayer as well as other people and events in life.

The motto of the Boy Scouting movement is "Be Prepared".

Be prepared as a follower of Jesus Christ. Cultivate the will to be  prepared. Be alert to the messengers he sends into your life as means of preparing you to trust and serve him. Be diligent in your practice of the spiritual disciplines that draw you closer to Christ.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott               

HOSPITALITY

Vol. 15 No. 5

                                                                                   

Dear Friend,

Hospitality is the practice of the open door. 

Whenever you welcome someone into your home for conversation, or a meal, or to stay overnight you are practicing hospitality. 

You are practicing hospitality whenever you include anyone with you in anything you are doing. Indeed, hospitality goes deeper than a welcome into your home or your activities, it is a welcome into your life.

Hospitality in its deepest and truest form offers a warm welcome to the stranger. Ask yourself, "When is the last time I shared a meal with someone outside my family or close circle of friends or co-workers?"

Hospitality is defined by the word in.  It includes, pulls in, welcomes in, and invites in.

Hospitality moves beyond friendliness. You can be friendly and warm to persons you meet in the church or supermarket and yet never intend to involve them in your life.

Hospitality for your church goes far beyond the openness of its services and meetings to guests.  Your church is hospitable when you are hospitable in your personal life.

Be alert to those people God brings to you with whom you may practice hospitality.

"Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9).

 "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it "(Hebrews 13:2).

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott           

EASTER

Vol. 15 No. 4

Dear Friend,

Easter Sunday we celebrate the most significant event in all of history and eternity.

Something overwhelming, stupendous, and unexpected happened on that first Easter.

Jesus Christ, killed on a cross and truly dead, was raised to life.

Indeed, Jesus Christ truly is alive...

            not merely alive when we remember him,

                        not simply alive in the stories we tell of him,

                                    not only alive when we obey his teaching,

but literally really alive.

This Easter, confess aloud, "Jesus is Lord,

            believe in your heart God raised him from the dead,

                        and rejoice in the life and love of Jesus Christ that God has given you.

If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom.10:9 NIV).

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11).

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

LENT

Vol. 15 No. 3

Dear Friend, 

Beginning with Ash Wednesday and lasting until Easter, Lent is the season of the year in which the follower of Jesus Christ is invited to review and renew the depth of his or her commitment to Jesus Christ.

A Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, one of the great devotional classics of our century was written by Hannah Whitall Smith. Her words of clear love for Jesus Christ and positive encouragement have stirred literally millions of Christians to reach more eagerly for a deep relationship with God.

Hannah Smith recommended a simple prayer for the Christian to be used as a means of growing deeper in God's love:

Lord, I am thine; I do yield myself up entirely to thee, and I believe that thou dost take me. I leave myself with thee. Work in me all the good pleasure of thy will and I will only lie still in Thy hands and trust Thee.

Hannah Smith suggested that this simple prayer of surrender and trust be prayed several times each day.

As part of my own spiritual disciplines during this season of Lent, I have enjoyed memorizing Hannah's prayer and using it three or four times each day, on waking, upon going to bed, and during the day.

I encourage you to carry this prayer with you this week or memorize it (it is fairly short).

If you prefer to substitute "yours" for "Thine" and "You" for "Thee", go right ahead.

Use this simple prayer several times a day each day this week as one way of growing in your love for Jesus Christ as we drawer nearer to Easter.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

SPIRITUAL THIRST

Vol. 15 No. 2

Dear Friend,

On hot summer days, it is easy to find ourselves growing thirsty.

The psalmist wrote, "As the deer pants for streams of  water, so my soul pants for you O' God" (Psalm 42:1 NIV).

A growing thirstiness for  God, an increasing longing to know God, to enjoy His presence and His love, and to serve Him are evidences of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is God's intent to make us spiritually thirsty and to satisfy that thirst with Christ and Christ alone.

Central to our life with Christ is that we discover in Him is life. A vacation may renew you for a couple of weeks.  Jesus Christ will sustain you for a lifetime.

During these summer days, I urge you to stir up that spiritual thirstiness in you and then quench that thirst with Jesus Christ by means of  worship and his Word.

Commit yourself to worship in church. Be there every Sunday you are physically able to attend.

God designed the Sabbath to be a weekly meeting with him all year round.  Don't take a vacation from the number one priority of your life.

Enjoy some special times of Bible reading and reflection during the summer.

The summer  is a good time to practice Psalm 23. Go to a park or scenic place where you can literally "lie down in a green pasture" or sit beside some still waters.  There you may read your Bible and allow God's Spirit to restore your soul.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott