Category: 2023

In This Issue:
Answered Prayer
A Sincere Prayer
In Jesus’ Name
Revival through Prayer
When Should You Pray?

Volume: 908   May 22, 2023
Theme: Prayer

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Answered Prayers
Dr. J. Campbell, 1871

• Abraham’s servant prayed; Rebekah appeared.
• Moses cried to God; the sea divided.
• Moses prayed; Amalek was discomfited.
• Joshua prayed; Achan was discovered.
• Hannah prayed; Samuel was born.
• David prayed; Ahithophel hung himself.
• Asa prayed; a victory was gained.
• Jehoshaphat cried to God; God turned away his enemies.
• Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed; 185,000 Assyrians were dead within 12 hours.
• Daniel prayed; the meaning of a dream was revealed to him.
• Daniel prayed; the lions did not harm him.
• Ezra prayed; God answered (Ezra 8:21-23).
• Nehemiah darted a quick prayer; the king’s heart softened in a minute.
• Elijah prayed; rain descended.
• Elisha prayed; the Jordan River was divided.
• Elisha prayed; a child came back to life.
• The Apostles prayed; the Holy Ghost came down.
• A church prayed for Peter’s release from prison; Peter soon knocked at their door.
• You prayed and ____________________________.

A Sincere Prayer
Bill Brinkworth

“To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.  Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.” Psalm 61:1

David revealed an important ingredient that should be in more prayers — a cry.  A “cry” is a desperate utterance, often accompanied by heartfelt tears. 

Unfortunately, prayers are not the sincere pleas in times of distress they should be.  For many, their prayers are more like a list a child hopes Santa Claus will fulfill.  Their “prayer” usually goes something like: “Gimmee this and gimme that.  Oh, yea.  Bless Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Frank, and keep the bullies away.  Oh Lord, could you give me an ‘A’ in Arithmetic.”

Sadly, “lists” are the most popular form of talking to God.  Occasionally, one will open a prayer book and recite what someone else has written and labeled to be prayed in the situation one finds oneself.

Prayer to a Christian is communicating with a Holy God.  He owes us nothing, but we are indebted to Him for everything.  It is an honor and privilege that we are even permitted to speak to our Creator. 

We should not dishonor him with empty, thoughtless, insincere pleas.  Our conversation with God can be like we have with no other person.  We can tell Him everything on our hearts. 

We can tell the Lord things we would dare not tell others.  He is our God, and He desires conversation with His people.
“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Mat.  6:7

The words are not as crucial as our sincerity.  God is more interested in the condition of our hearts when we talk to Him.  A sincere, real “cry” shows Him that we are in desperate need, and we realize He is the only solution to our situation.  He sees our reliance and dependence on Him, which is what He desires. 

Christian,  have a real prayer time with God today!  Talk to Him as if He is your best friend.  He is!

“When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart.” — Bunyan

In Jesus’ Name
Barbara Brinkworth

The table was set, the food steaming hot, and the guests seated.  It was time to eat, but first, the blessing.  “Dear Lord, thank you for this food, for friends and family to share it with…  Please bless it to our bodies and use us to serve you today.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

How often have we heard the phrase used — “in Jesus’ name”?   Have we ever given much thought as to what it means?  It can be used in several ways.

When we pray, we come to the Father in Jesus’ name.  Why is that necessary?  As fallen, sinful people, we have no right to request anything of God Almighty.  Were it not for Jesus, there would be no fellowship with God.  Once we are born-again (John 3:3) and have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we also are accepted by God.  He will honor our requests because of His love for Jesus and for all those who belong to Him.  We ask all in Jesus’ name.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commanded his disciples to be witnesses in His name.  He would soon return to Heaven (Acts 1:8) because His work on Earth was finished.

The awesome task of evangelizing the world was left to His church.  They would go in the power of the Holy Spirit, but the name they proclaimed was that of Jesus Christ.  To this very day, all successful witnessing and missionary work is done in the name of Jesus.

As a believer goes through his daily tasks, he acts as an ambassador for Jesus Christ.  All that is done is done in the name of Jesus.  Does the Christian have a good testimony in the community?  The credit goes to Jesus.  Does the believer have a reputation for not paying his debts?  The blame goes to Jesus.  Is he living a life that others would desire to have?  If so, many will inquire about his Jesus.  If not, he may turn people away from the kingdom of God.

The Bible says in Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  We must take seriously all we do in Jesus’ name to glorify our worthy God.

Revival through Prayer
C. H. Spurgeon

All the mighty works of God have been attended with great prayer, as well as with great faith.  The Great American Revival (1850s to early 1900s) had such a beginning.

An unknown and obscure man was convicted about praying that God would bless his country.  After praying, he made a soul-stirring inquiry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” A burden was soon put on his heart.  He then got to work! 

He rented a room and announced that there would be a prayer meeting there at such an hour of the day.  At the appointed time not a single person was there.  However, he began to pray and continued for half an hour alone.  At the end of the half-hour, one joined him, and soon two more came in.  I believe his prayer meeting closed with six concerned praying believers.  

The following week came, and there were about fifty that attended.  Soon the prayer meeting grew to a hundred.  Others began to start other prayer meetings. 

Soon there was scarcely a street in New York without a prayer meeting.  Merchants found time to run in to pray.  The meetings became daily ones.  Some lasted for about an hour.  

Petitions and requests were sent up.  These were asked and offered before God, and the answers came.  Many were the happy hearts that stood up and testified that the prayer offered last week had been fulfilled.

It was when all were earnest in prayer that the Spirit of God worked among the people.  In a certain village, a preacher had been preaching, and hundreds were converted in a week.  The matter spread throughout the Northern States.  A quarter of a million people were believed to be converted in two or three months.

Oh, for earnest, sincere hearts to again change this nation through such prayer.  God is able.  He awaits our concern and dependence on Him. Will you faithfully pray for a revival in your country?

“When God starts changing things, He usually begins with changing us.”

When Should You Pray?

• “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalm 5:3
• “O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:” Psalm 88:1
• “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” Palms 55:17
• “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12
• “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;” Romans 12:12
• “Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17

In This Issue:
The Pet Rattler
Little Sins
The Apple with A Wormhole
I Believe
Sin
How Heavy Is The “Burden of Sin”?
The Pressure of Need

Volume: 901    March 20, 2023
Theme: Sin

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The Pet Rattler
Robert G. Lee, in Whilrwinds of God

The Memphis Commercial Appeal carried a news dispatch of a man in Arkansas who had a pet rattlesnake.  The fellow found the snake as a baby snake.  He took, fed, and made quite a pet of it.  The reptile would come when he whistled.  It would eat from his fingers.  It would coil around his arm and let him stroke its head with the palm of his hand or the tips of his fingers.

One day, he took it to town to exhibit it among his friends.  They marveled at its gentleness, how it coiled itself around his arm, how it would come when he whistled, and were amazed that it would eat from his hand.

He went back home with his pet.  When he got home, suddenly, with only the slightest provocation, the reptile became angry.  Quicker than the zig-zag lightning flashes from the bosom of a dark cloud, that pet rattler buried its fangs in the man’s arm.  In a few hours, the man was dead.  In one quick instant, with poisonous fangs, the serpent had written the man’s death in his own blood.  Two nights later, the man who should have been sitting with his family was buried in the mud of an Arkansas grave.

With such dread cometh such an hour to every man and woman who makes a pet of sin.  A time of terror awaits the person who disregards what God forbids.

Do not befriend sin.  It is hazardous and always has a price that no one desires to pay. A day of dreaded despair may come, as that man learned when he pulled the pet snake’s fangs from his arm.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7

Turn away from iniquity now.  There’s danger and death in delay.  Let go of that sin!  Drop it now!

Little Sins
Spurgeon

Years ago, there was not a single thistle in Australia.  A Scotchman, who admired thistles, thought it a pity that such a great island should be without that great symbol of his nation. 

He collected a pack of thistle seeds and sent it over to one of his friends in Australia.  When it landed, the inspection officers may have said, “Oh, let them in.  There’s only a few seeds?  It is only to be sown in a garden.”

Yes, it was but a few, but now entire districts of the country are covered with it, and it has become the farmer’s pest and plague.   Just a “few” sins, like several seeds, can spread, soon become uncontrollable, and ruin lives.
“Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”  I Corinthians 5:6

The Apple with A Wormhole
Author Unknown

You may have seen an apple with a wormhole in it.  Do you know whether the worm bore the apple from the inside or the outside? 

Most would say “from the outside,” but the scientist would disagree.  Sometimes the worm began from the inside.  The egg may have been laid on the blossom, and the worm hatched in the apple’s heart.  Later, it bored its way out.

That is precisely the way the worm of sin starts its destructive work.  It begins in one’s spiritual heart, bores its way out, and can ruin lives. 

One’s “heart” can direct one’s life.  If one is determined to do what is biblically right, one will avoid many mistakes and hardships.  If one allows sin and temptation guide them, they surely will encounter regrets and ruin.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” — Jeremiah 17:9

I Believe
Written before 1900 by General Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army

I believe that the chief dangers that confront the coming twentieth century will be:

• Religion without the Holy Spirit,
• Christianity without Christ,
• Forgiveness without regeneration,
• Morality without God, and
• Heaven without Hell.

Sin
Author Unknown

Man calls sin an accident; God calls it an abomination.
Man calls sin a blunder; God calls it blindness.
Man calls sin a chance; God calls it a choice.
Man calls sin a defect; God calls it a disease.
Man calls sin an error; God calls it an enmity.
Man calls sin fascination; God calls it fatality.
Man calls sin infirmity; God calls it iniquity.
Man calls sin luxury; God calls it leprosy.
Man calls sin liberty; God calls it lawlessness.
Man calls sin a trifle; God calls it a tragedy.
Man calls sin a mistake; God calls it madness.
Man calls sin a weakness; God calls it willfulness.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

How Heavy Is The Burden of Sin?
Author Unknown

As a preacher talked, a flippant youth interrupted him, “You tell about the burden of sin.  I feel none!  How heavy is it?  Eight pounds?  Two pounds?  Twenty?”

The preacher answered, “Tell me, if you laid four hundred pounds of weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?”

“No,” replied the youth, “because it is dead and can feel nothing.”

“An unsaved soul is dead and does not feel the load of sin,” was the preacher’s answer.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” Ephesians 2:1-6

The Pressure of Need
Gospel Herald

If we have a conviction of sin, we will feel the pressure not to commit iniquity.  Sin is not a theological abstraction; it is a genuine threat to one’s life. 

Iniquity is the evil of the world brought home to our door.  It is the lust of the world that brings men to ruin.  It is the lowered moral standard that threatens our youth.  The greed for power and money fills the economic world with corruption.  It is impatience without discipline that breaks up our homes. 

Sin crouches at the doors of all people to weaken them.  Iniquity is as real as the flu or cancer.  We daily face the sickness of the soul which sin has created.

Much of the world is lost.  Men are lost when they do not trust Christ as payment for all their sins.  They do not know or care where they are, where they are going, or why they are here. 

They are lost when their moral compass does not operate and when the price tags on sin are so demanding, they cannot tell what life’s values are. 

We should not be surprised if people stay away from church meetings.  Why should they come?  They are lost.  They do not know God or the Father’s will and way. 

In This Issue:
Free the Slaves
Sin’s Damage

Volume: 898     February 20, 2023
Theme: Sin’s Stranglehold

Start your day with some good news from the Bible!  Sign-up at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/a26cc9M to receive the DAILY VIEW devotion.  The daily e-mail includes a KJV chapter, a brief commentary on the chapter’s teachings, and more spiritual food for the hungry soul. 

View 16+ years of printable, free BIBLE VIEWs at https://openthoumineeyes.com/newsletters.html.  Make as many copies as you need.  Use them at your church, nursing homes (large print version available), Sunday school, deaf ministry, bus ministry, and as a church bulletin insert. 

Free the Slaves
Bill Brinkworth

When speaking of slavery, most immediately think of those taken against their will from Africa and other countries in the early-to-mid 1800s.  However, forced labor continues today and is more prevalent than in the 1800s. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates today 49.6 million men, women, and children around the world are “forced to work for little or no pay and at the complete mercy of their ‘employer’” (www.antislavery.org).  Those statistics have drastically increased since 2013!

The numbers forced to work in mental or physical slavery or owned or controlled by an “employer” are not close to those in bondage in a different, less obvious way.  Those in that type of slavery outnumber the 49+ million many times over.  To make matters worse, those in that popular type of bondage may not even know they have lost their freedoms!

The Bible has much to say about that type of oppression:

• There are two choices in this world.  One can serve oneself and selfish desires, which are often sin and sometimes the devil’s destructive enticements, or one can serve and live for God.  There are only those two choices, if man realizes it or not.  One’s decision can enslave one to sin or free one from its strangling, controlling grasp!
  “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon [the self-serving desires of our flesh].” Matthew 6:24  Also: Luke 16:13.

• Although sin is always an individual’s choice, it soon becomes “addictive” and leads to more iniquity.  Soon, sin controls one’s thoughts and is a decisive force in one’s life.

Lying and deceitfulness lead to more lies and alienation from others as one becomes mistrusted.  Bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, and jealousy rob many of peace and good relationships.  Drinking, drugs, pornography, and most sins never fulfill one’s lust and often lead one to commit more sin hoping their cravings will be satisfied.  Sexual sins ruin lives and families, wreck relationships, but still leave the committer with a feeling of loneliness and failure.

On and on goes the list of the consequences of iniquity. Transgression against God’s commandments leave one’s life changed, and often physically damaged from its commission. No one gets away without paying the horrible cost of sin.

Iniquity does nothing but rob and destroy what could be good in one’s life.  Sin’s grasp steals one of joy and enslaves.  The committer of sin is led by one’s desires and loses freedoms.

• When one chooses to “do his own thing” and ignores the life God desires one to have, one will not only reap the terrible consequence of sin but will alienate himself from God.
  “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” I John 2:15
  “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?  whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4
  “For do I now persuade men, or God?  or do I seek to please men?  for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Gal. 1:10

• Jesus addressed a group of saved Jews and told them they could be free (John 8:31-32).  They replied they were not in bondage.  The Jews thought they were free. 
  “They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” John 8:33

Then Jesus pointed out to them they were indeed slaves to the sins they had committed.
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34

• Those given over to sin have no permanent desire to live a life that pleases the Lord.
  “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.” Rom. 6:20

• Trusting Christ’s payment for all our iniquities is the only way to be free of sin’s control and from the ultimate cost for sinning — Hell!
  “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36
  “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:2

• The choice is always up to the individual!  One does not have to serve sin, although many, even the saved, often freely choose to continue doing wrong.  We have the opportunity not to be forced to serve iniquity.  We have the liberty to do right.
  “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Gal. 5:1
  “For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.” I Cor. 7:22

• When free from the desire to sin, one will want to live righteously. However, the longer one is involved in doing wrong, the harder the battle will be against the temptations it will bring.  Sinful lifestyles can be changed to one that is pleasing to God.
  “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Rom. 6:18
  “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Rom. 6:22
  “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.” Mat.  12:18

• One freed from the desire to sin can freely serve God and will get their sights off themselves and desire to serve others.
  “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” Mark 10:44

• Although one may choose to serve God, it is servitude out of gratitude and love, not out of forced control.  When one surrenders control of selfish desires and lives the way God commands, one will have a life blessed and honored by Him!  God looks at his servant not as a bound slave, but with special love — as a friend.
  “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:15
  “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” John 12:26

• Jesus, our example, was that type of servant also.
  “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” Philippians 2:7

• Ultimately, God rewards those who choose to live the way He commands.
  “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Mat.  25:21   Also: Mat.  25:23.

The most dangerous and ever-present threat to anyone, even a saved person, is the commission of sin.  It always has a price tag that no one ever dreamed would come with the commission of iniquity.  The charge for the sin usually continues for longer than anyone would ever want to pay.  Its cost often comes due at a time that the sin’s commission is forgotten, but there is always a payday for doing wrong.  No one avoids its cost.

When a believer sins, he can always pray to the Father, seek forgiveness, and plead with God for strength not to commit the trespass again.  The guilt may be gone, and he will not have to answer for the sin.  However, iniquity’s temptation will often appear in one’s life again and be a future difficulty one must battle to avoid.

An unsaved person can also go to God in prayer.  However, unless one realizes and admits one’s sin and fully trusts that Christ’s death on the cross is the only payment God will recognize to cover one’s wrongdoings, the eternal payment for sin will not be removed.  All the good intentions and halting of sin’s commission will not eliminate its expensive cost.  Without God’s help, one will still be a slave to sin.  You must be born again (John 3:3) to have the free pardon from all transgressions committed.

Do you realize that your sin is against what God desires for your life?  Confess it to God (He knows about it already but wants you to humble yourself and admit it), and seek to live the way God commands in His Word, the Bible.  Serving God, and living the way He desires you to live, will break the chains of sin that are keeping you in bondage to it.  You can be free.  There is hope!

“The way to keep the heart quiet is to keep ourselves in the love of God and to do nothing to offend him.”  — Henry

Sin’s Damage
Keach

Sin is composed of naught but subtle wiles,
It fawns and flatters and betrays by smiles;
‘Tis like the panther, or the crocodile,
It seems to love and promises no wile.
It hides the soul and hates when it vows most love.
It plays the tyrant most by gilded pills (unpleasant people),
It secretly ensnares the souls it kills.
Sin’s promises they all deceitful be,
Does promise wealth but pays us poverty;
Does promise pleasure, but doth pay us sorrow;
Does promise life today; pays death tomorrow.
No thief so vile, nor treacherous as sin,
Whom fools do hug and tame much pleasure in.

“Sin will keep you from the Bible.  The Bible will keep you from sin.”  — D. L. Moody