LOL! (Philippians 4)

LOL! (Philippians 4)

Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! [niv]

In recent years some medical doctors have used "laugh therapy" with their patients. I heard a story about a lady who was healed through laughter. Her doctor prescribed a steady diet of "The Three Stooges." She was instructed to watch the videos of their old films as much as possible. It worked. She actually laughed her way to health. Although there is not a lot of scientific proof when it comes to laughter as a medicine, researchers are gathering evidence that the way we feel can directly affect chemicals in our bodies, influencing everything from our brain to our heart. Laughter is thought to decrease stress and lower blood pressure. It may even increase blood flow and act as a natural pain killer.

Even though this is a relatively new and unknown frontier in modern medical science, King Solomon wrote about it thousands of years ago in Proverbs. "A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones."

The Bible says a lot about joy and laughter. As I have been reading, the one thing that God has been speaking to me over an over again is the fact that the source of my joy is not found in what I own, who I know, how much money I have or how healthy I feel. I could be walking through hell on earth, yet according to scripture, still be able to lift my hands, sing and rejoice!

The source of my joy is God. He is good. He is full of grace and love. I find that when I put my trust in Him, even when things don't make sense, I still have peace. I view life from a different perspective. I see things how He sees them and I am able to laugh in the face of adversity.

The Apostle Paul knew this better than anyone. He was whipped, beaten, tortured, shipwrecked, imprisoned, falsely accused and suffered illness, yet through it all was able to rejoice. Amazingly he even wrote this verse while imprisoned in a damp, dark, cold, rat infested Roman jail cell.

The trick of the enemy is to keep us focused on the things around us, because he knows that when we do that, we take our eyes off God and off the source of joy. Eventually our strength will fail and we will fall.

How he must hate it when a Christian stands up against all odds and lifts their hands and voice to praise their God and laughs out loud! I want to be that person!

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Age is a Funny Thing! (Philippians 3)

Age is a Funny Thing! (Philippians 3)

Philippians 3.12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. [nkjv]

Age is a funny thing. Do you realise that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we are kids? When I was younger, I can remember being so excited about aging that when asked how old I was, I'd respond in fractions. I may have been 5 years old but I would say, "I'm five and a half!" I never people hear people in their 30's say, when asked the same question, "I'm 36 and a half."

In our teenage years, rather than think in fractions, we jump whole numbers. When asked how old you are, the response is "I'm going to be 16!" You may only be 12 but you're going to be 16!

Then comes the greatest day of your life, you become 21! Even the way we say it sounds impressive, you BECOME 21! And that's where things begin to go downhill. You turn 30. It makes us sound like bad milk. He turned. We had to throw him out. Then you're pushing 40, you reach 50, you make it to 60 and by then you have built up so much speed on your downhill journey that you hit 70!

After that, its a day by day thing. You hit Wednesday. You hit lunch!

A child can't wait to be bigger, older, better, taller, stronger, smarter, richer. It becomes a driving force in their life. There has got to be more out there. But somewhere along the way, we trade in that passion and drive for something less. We become cynical. Complacent. Content. We settle.

Now these aren't all bad things but they become very dangerous when the same attitude creeps into our relationship with God. There is so much we don't know about God and there is so much He has in store for us. He is the God who does exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask, dream, think or imagine. The Apostle Paul once declared, "I want to know Him. I want to be intimately acquainted with Him!" I want to spend my whole life getting to know Him. Our Christian life is about moving forward, pressing on, growing from glory to glory. The minute we decide to settle where we are, we cap our potential and singing the shoulda, coulda, woulda's.

Henry Varley, a British Revivalist once said, "The world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to the Holy Spirit."

Is it any wonder the Word of God tells us to come to God with child-like faith. The adventure awaits us. Our best days are still to come. We need to let go of the past. Be spontaneous. Courageous. Take a step of faith and press on. A spiritually mature person is one who loves God with all their heart, lives life to the full and loves people unconditionally.

Rather than holding ourselves back, hiding behind our religious maturity, perhaps we should let our lives reflect our love for the One who has saved our souls and given us hope.

And just be a child again.

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A Six Year Old Can Make a Difference! (Philippians 2)

A Six Year Old Can Make a Difference! (Philippians 2)

Philippians 2.4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. [niv]

In 1998, when Ryan Hreljac was in grade one he learned from his teacher that people were dying because they didn't have clean water to drink. He started doing simple household chores to raise money to buy a well for a village in Uganda. After four months of hard work, he managed to save $70 only to discover that a well would take $2000 to drill. Undaunted, he set out talking with family and friends, challenging them and raising much needed funds. By then end of 1998 he had raised $3000, making headlines in the local newspaper.

Ryan’s determination continued to grow. Today the Ryan's Well Foundation, has raised millions of dollars and has built a total of 502 water and sanitation projects in 16 countries bringing clean water and sanitation services to over 621,712 people.

And Ryan is not alone. Erin Oquindo received 99 pairs of shoes and 154 pairs of socks last September for her 9th birthday. All of which she promptly gave away. When Erin invited friends to her birthday party, she told them she didn't want gifts for herself but asked them to bring shoes and socks to donate to a local charity for orphans. This is just one of the many mission projects Erin has participated in. She has donated her time and efforts to an array of causes including hurricane relief, clothing and food drive and aid for animals. When asked why she does what she does, Erin commented, "It makes me happy and it honours God. I think it makes Him happy too!"

Although they may be young, these amazing kids have learned something that we as adults tend to forget. They have learned to look out for the interests of others. In our 'me' focussed world, imagine just how different life would be if we all spent a little more time helping others instead of helping ourselves.

After all, this is how Jesus lived!

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God Finishes What He Starts! (Philippians 1)

God Finishes What He Starts! (Philippians 1)

**Please welcome the beautiful Cathy Swan as she guest writes today's s2s post.

Philippians 1.6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (NIV)

In 1921 a young missionary couple from Sweden felt the call of God to go to Africa. David and Svea Flood met up with a couple called the Ericksons from Scandinavia, who also felt the call of God. After praying for direction they all felt to leave the main mission in the Belgian Congo and go to a remote village and take the Gospel there.

The chief of the village refused to let them enter the town for fear they would convert the locals and anger their gods. So they went a half mile up the hill and built their own mud huts.

They prayed hard for a breakthrough into the village, but nothing happened. The only contact they were allowed was with a young boy who could come and sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood was a small woman of only 4 feet, and she decided that if this young boy was the only African she could have contact with, then she would try to lead him to Christ. She succeeded!

Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike each of the families down, and in time the Scandinavian couple decided they had had enough and went back down to the main mission. Shortly after, Svea found she was pregnant in the middle of this primitive wilderness. The chief at least allowed the local midwife to help her deliver, and a little girl was born. However the labour was exhausting and because of her many bouts of malaria Svea was too weak and lasted only another seventeen days.

That was the last blow for David Flood. He dug a grave, buried her, and took his newborn daughter down the mountain to the mission station. There he gave his newborn daughter to the Ericksons saying, “I’ve lost my wife, I obviously can’t take care of this baby, God has ruined my life!” He then left for Sweden, turning his back on his calling, and on God.

Within eight months the Ericksons were struck down with an illness and died also. The little baby girl 'Aina' was given to some American missionaries who changed her name to Aggie and brought her back to the States. They loved her and gave her a wonderful upbringing.

She later married a young man named Dewey Hurst and had her own family. After many years Dewey became president of a Christian college that had strong roots in Scandinavia. One day a Swedish magazine was sent to her and as she couldn't read the language she flipped through it. As she turned the pages she saw a picture of a primitive grave with a white cross and the name of Svea Flood on it. She ran to one of the lecturers who could speak the language and asked him to read it to her.

He quickly told her: - It was about missionaries who had come to N'dolera long ago...the birth of a white baby...the death of the young mother...the one little African boy who had been led to Christ...and how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village. The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ...the children led their parents to Christ...even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were six hundred Christian believers in that one village... All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood!

She later found her father, a broken, bitter man who was very ill and still fell into a rage at the mention of ‘God’. As she talked to him, and told him of her life and the testimony of the African village, he slowly began to soften. By the end of that day he had come back to God and felt peace after so many years.

A few years later, the Hurst's were attending a high-level evangelism conference in England, where a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood.

"Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother's grave and her memory are honored by all of us.

God in all His brilliance will begin a great work in us, and even if circumstances derail us He will be faithful to see that work finished in us. Even though David Flood lived with bitterness for most of his life, God still used the testimony of David’s sacrifice to ultimately win him back to the Fathers heart. God finishes what He starts!

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