Windows On The Soul

"I confess to you honestly that I have no wings with which to fly or even legs on which to run - but listen, by the grace of God, I am still on my feet! I have not fainted yet. I have not exploded in the anger of presumption, nor have I keeled over into the paralysis of despair. All I am doing is walking and not fainting, hanging in there, enduring with patience what I cannot change but have to bear. "This may not sound like much to you, but to me it is the most appropriate and most needful gift of all. My religion has been the difference in the last two weeks; it has given me the gift of patience, the gift of endurance, the strength to walk and not faint. And I am here to give thanks to God for that! "And who knows, if I am willing to accept this gift, and just hang in there and not cop out, maybe the day will come when Laura  Lue and I can run again and not be weary, that we might even soar some day, and rise up with wings as eagles! But until then - to walk and not ...

“ I ask... that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ” ( John 17:20,21 ). The squabbles in the church must sadden our Lord who prayed that his followers may be one. If the church worldwide were united (in spirit, not necessarily in one organisation), the world would take notice. As it is, critics of the church are constantly mocking us for our sectarian divisiveness. The church is both human and divine. It comprises fallible humans, and has yet to be perfectly redeemed. It is divine - the Body of Christ. So we need to be patient with an imperfect church. Henry Scott Holland put it this way in 1914 when the Bishop of Zanzibar wrote a pamphlet asking where the church stood. Scott Holland said that it did not stand at all, but 'moves and pushes and slides and staggers and falls and gets up again, and stumbles on and presses forward and falls into the right positi...

Among the many miracles of construction of the human body, is the wonderful structure of bones, muscles, flesh and skin. Without bones, we would be mere blobs of flesh, unable to stand or move. Without flesh and muscles, the bones would collapse into a heap. Although each individual bone is rigid, the skeleton being a jointed structure, is not rigid. It relies on pairs of muscles and sinews connecting pairs of jointed bones, with opposing muscles maintaining perfectly balanced tension. Further, the flesh and skin cover the harsh, hard bones, with the soft, flexible, cuddly exterior to the world. Paul's analogy of the body to the church, in many ways also applies to our individual spiritual "bodies". We must have a skeleton of doctrine, rigid in part, but jointed and movable, kept strong and in balance by the paradoxes of Righteousness and Mercy. Then our doctrine must be clothed with the warm, soft, tender "flesh" of love as our face to the external world. --...

Acceptable offerings - by faith Heb.11:4 Access to grace - by faith Rom.5:2 , Eph.3:12 Assurance - by faith Heb.10:22 Bold witness - by faith 1 Tim.3:13 Christ indwells - by faith Eph.3:17 Healed - by faith Acts 14:9 , Jas.5:15 Hearing - by faith Rom.10:17 Inherit God's promises - by faith Heb.6:12 Justified - by faith Rom.3:28 , 5:1 , Gal.2:16 Live - by faith Hab.2:4 , Rom.1:17 , Gal.2:20 , Heb.10:38 Made whole - by faith Mt.9:22 , Mk.5:34 , Lk.8:48 , 18:42 , 17:19 Overcome the world - by faith 1 Jhn.5:4 Patience in persecution - by faith 2 Thes.1:4 Pleasing God - by faith Heb.11:6 Prophesy - by faith Rom.12:6 Purifying hearts - by faith Acts 15:9 Receive the Spirit - by faith Gal.3:14 Righteousness - by faith Rom.3:22 , 4:5 , 9:30 , 10:6 , Phil.3:9 Sanctified - by faith Acts 26:18 Saved - by faith Lk.7:50 , Eph.2:8 , 1 Pet.1:9 Shielded from Satan - by faith Eph.6:16 , 1 Th...