CHANGE

Vol. 15 No. 9

Dear Friend,

Sometimes we love changes in life... a newborn baby, a new season, a new friend.

At other times we dislike change... something becomes different about a friend or our home or work or church that we preferred the way it was before.

We embrace the changes we choose for our own lives... a re-decorated room, a new hair style, a new car.

We easily resent changes that someone else chooses for us, that is imposed upon us, such as a change in work schedule, a new house chore, or the way something is done in our church.

We tend to experience imposed change as loss, the loss of something or someone we liked. We grieve. Sometimes we are angry about it.

Consider this: our God is a God of change... not change for its own sake but change that builds life, the changes that growth must bring, the changes that accompany anything new.

Be alert to the changes God is bringing or wants to bring into your life.

In all humility, invite Jesus Christ to work in your life, allow Him, in fact to implore Him to bring about those changes in your life that will enable you to better love and serve Him.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott    

SPEECH

Vol. 15 No. 8

Dear Friend,

One of most beautiful things written about speech may be found in the Book of Proverbs: A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver [Pr 25:11 NIV].

Wow!  To be able to say the right word, the helpful word, the encouraging, correcting, guiding, blessing word is like apples of gold set forth in a stunning and beautiful way.

There is something incredibly powerful about our words.

Reflect for a moment on the nature of your own speech.

Do your words reveal you to be a believer, a blesser, a builder, an encourager, a teacher, a counselor, a consoler?

Do your words show you to be a curser, a grumbler, a complainer, a blamer?

Perhaps you are a little bit of all of these things, the up-builder and the tear-downer.

James wrote, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be" (James 3:9-10 NIV).

The way we manage our mouths is in itself a "good work" by which we give evidence that we are believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.

Allow the Holy Spirit become the Master of your tongue so that what you say and how you say it may build people and honor the Lord.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

THE ROCK

Vol. 15 No. 7

  

Dear Friend,

Ever walked in a swamp? I have many times and the question is always, "where is a firm place for me to put my foot down for my next step?'

We need a firm place, a solid place to place our foot, to build a building or construct a road. 

We need a firm foundation upon which to base and build our personal lives.

Jesus spoke of the person who built a house on sand and the wind blew and rains came and the house fell.  Wind, rain, and uncertainty do come into our lives. 

We need a solid place, a place of security and shelter, a place of promise upon which to base our lives.

The psalmist wrote, "The Lord is my Rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my Rock, in whom I take refuge" (Ps. 18:2).

The apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthian church of, "the gospel I preached to you, which also you received and on which you have taken your stand."

Jesus Christ is the Rock of Ages, the absolutely reliable dependable Son of God who offers you a place to stand. 

Whatever currents of activity and demand swirl around your life, what ever presses you from without or within, remember the Rock, and find refuge in him.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                

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