Unqualified?

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" —Acts 4:7

When Peter and John were brought before the religious leaders of their day, it was a source of amazement that ordinary fishermen were so well-versed in the Scriptures and, more importantly, in the understanding of them. They appeared to have more understanding in the Word of God than even the rabbis, the trained professionals. How was this so? "They had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13).

There are kids who are a part of our church and part of what we call the SWAT team, which is an acronym for Students with a Testimony. I have seen these teens go out and share the gospel and give great answers to hard questions that nonbelievers ask them. How can they do it? It is because they have been with Jesus, and God can use ordinary people that spend time in His presence.

The Bible includes example after example of people God used whom we might describe as "unqualified," yet they were mightily used by the Lord. Noah was a great of man of faith who built the ark, but he got drunk. Abraham was a liar on more than one occasion. Jacob was a conniver and a schemer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were considered too young. David committed adultery. Moses was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal at one point. Jonah ran from God. Peter denied Christ. The disciples fell asleep when they were praying. The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. Timothy had an ulcer. John the Baptist ate bugs. And Lazarus, well, he was dead at one point.

That is not to condone what these people did, but it is to say that if we were honest, we would have to acknowledge that God used every one of these people. Why could He not use you?

Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.organdto listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com, click here.

Double-Minded Service

1 Kings 18:16-21 - So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.” So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

The Old Testament presents idolatry as a serious issue, but who in the modern civilized world gives it much thought? The worship of idols seems archaic, but the truth is, all of us will struggle with this heart issue.

During the days of King Ahab, Israel was pulled in two directions. They’d previously served the Lord, but Ahab had recently instituted Baal worship. When Elijah challenged the people to make up their minds about whom to serve, they were speechless.

You may be thinking, This doesn’t apply to my life, but modern idols come in many different forms. When we depend on—or give priority to—anything besides the Lord, it becomes our god.

Does something in your life have a higher value than the Lord? He gives us relationships, possessions, and meaningful work, but we are constantly tempted to cherish the gifts more than the Giver. An accurate measure of priorities is the use of our time. Do you reserve a part of each day for God, or is every minute consumed by the demands of life?

On what or whom do you depend? The Lord gives us His strength and provision, but so often we choose to rely on ourselves, others, or even money. The tendency to worry or control is a sign of self-reliance rather than dependence upon God.

Double-minded service will not work (Matt. 6:24). We must make up our minds and follow through with actions. If we really believe that the God of the Bible is the only true God, we ought to give Him our whole life, follow Him faithfully, and serve Him with all our gifts and abilities.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org

The Church and New Believers

The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

—Proverbs 11:25

I remember the first time we took our granddaughter Stella to Disneyland. It is so fun to go to Disneyland with kids, because when you go with adults, it is a different experience altogether. We tend to start whining right off the bat. Either the lines are too long or we are tired or hot. We see things differently as adults. But when you go to Disneyland with a child, everything changes, because you see it through their eyes.

It is the same when you spend time around young believers and see them discover, for the first time, what it means to know Jesus. It can revive you. The Bible tells us that "those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25). Spending time around new believers will replenish you in your walk with Christ.

The early church had new believers constantly coming in, and we need this today as well. I make no apology as a pastor for emphasizing Bible exposition, worship, discipleship, helping people who are in need, and the preaching of the gospel. This is the way God wants the church to be.

There was regular, even daily, growth in the early church. Their evangelism was not an occasional or sporadic thing; it was happening all the time. They were engaging in continual evangelism, and that is what every church ought to be doing. Every week, we should be giving people an opportunity to come to Christ, not just doing a periodic event here and there.

Show me a church that doesn't have a constant flow of new believers coming in, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. The church needs new believers to remind us of what it is all about. And new believers need the church to stabilize them.

Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and to listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com, click here.

The Gift Inside

OK fellas, at church on Sunday (what did you think Iceman?), we had a pretty powerful sermon on God dwelling in us. The point is obviously that He is working on us to shape us into something to use for His purposes. The example given was how artisans can take a simple block of aluminum and turn it into a beautiful piece of art. In the particular example used in the sermon, Billy showed us an object that had an amazing impression left in it. The artist was able to do this by pounding the metal into a form and the reveal was left imprinted on the surface of the metal. Some pretty powerful imagery here.

Here is a link to the sermon call "God in 3 Dimensions: A Work in Progress" -
http://visitchristcommunity.com/message_library

And yes, there will be a quiz for you all. All 20 of you :o)

So this really got me thinking a lot about what impression do those around us see in us? Do my kids and wife see the imprint of Christ in/on me? How about my co-workers? What about that person that cut me off in traffic this morning? Ok, you get the point. However, I even started wondering about what reflection we see when we look in the mirror. Not our real reflection obviously, but the one of our heart and disposition. Something to think about, right? Maybe something we should be thinking about 24/7/365!

The other think worth noting was also extremely moving and many of you may have already seen this. It is a short video of Penn from Penn and Teller talking about receiving a bible from someone who attended the show in Vegas. Penn is an outspoken atheist so you should all find this very interesting.

So that is your homework tonight. Tomorrow’s blog will be a discussion of the video clip. It only takes about 5 minutes, so not a big time commitment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM&feature=fvst

The Motions

These are the lyrics from a song by Matthew West called "The Motions"

I thought they would make a great morning devotional or prayer.

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

Here is a link to the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHmiFaX_pk

Wearing His Righteousness

There is an army vaster than any other on earth. An army of fierce and deadly warriors greater than all the Caesers, Stalins, Hitlers, or Ghengis Khans put together. This army is stronger than Alexander's invincible hordes, and the Father of Lies, the Murderer from the Beginning, heads this army: Satan.

There is a war swirling around us.

Yes, Satan is alive and well on planet Earth. We can see the trail he leaves wherever he goes.

-Behind divisions is the slanderer, the devil.
-Behind temptation is the tempter from Eden.
-Behind the lies is the liar and father of lies.
-Behind death and blood shed is he who is a murderer from the beginning.
-Behind confusion is the one whose name is destroyer and Apollyon.

There is a war swirling within us.

In C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape, a devil, offers his nephew a little advice on the goal and strategy of tempting a human:

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Your affectionate uncle

Screwtape

The victory comes from choosing Christ.

Armor for Paul was more than pictures from daily life of the nearly omnispresent Roman legionaries. Very literally, the "whole armor of God" he describes is a picture of Jesus Christ. Eph 6:10-20

Make holiness a habit:

We need to seek daily to be holy and righteous. We need to be confessing and repenting of sin in our lives. That is a clear command in the New Testament.

To continue reading this message please copy and paste this URL into your browser bar: http://www.dtbm.org/sermon/wearing-his-righteousness/

A Childlike Faith

This devotional was written by Leslie Snyder

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." —Matthew 18:3

I overheard some four- and five-year-old children following their teacher in a familiar cheer. “Give me a J,” cheered the teacher. “J,” yelled the children. “Give me an “E,” encouraged the teacher. “E,” yelled the children. The teacher continued, “Give me an “S.” “S,” chorused the children. Their voices grew louder as the teacher led them to the final letters of “U” and “S.” Together they said J-E-S-U-S! With excitement rising, the teacher shouted, “What’s that spell?” A strange pause followed and one child finally answered, “I don’t know.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the innocence of the answer.

Kids are like that. They believe what you tell them, celebrate the simple joys of discovery, and become excited when given new ideas and experiences. That is the joy of a childlike faith. Unfortunately, something happens between childhood and adulthood that changes everything. Expectations, pains, failures and disappointments enter the picture and the once joyous innocence of childhood becomes marred. Faith can slowly gives way to cynicism, and hearts that were once open and filled to overflowing become closed, cold and empty.

Jesus calls us, however, to return to a childlike faith. The late author Mike Yaconelli wrote of this “place all children know about.” “This voice of our childhood is the voice of wonder and amazement, the voice of God, which has always been speaking to us, even before we were born.” He then describes what happens when things change. “One sad day, we are aware of an absence. We can no longer hear the God-voice, and we are left with only silence—not a quiet silence, but a roaring silence.”*

Yaconelli suggested the reason we stopped hearing God’s voice was not because we wanted to stop hearing it, but that our lives became louder. I am convinced that children have an innate ability to hear the voice of God, and it is that clarity which makes it easy to believe. As we go through life, other noise enters the scene and muffles the once-clear voice of God. Now we must spend the rest of our lives “clearing the air” in order to return to the simple clarity of our childhood.

Jesus invites us to come to Him as little children, eager to be with Him, to simply enjoy His presence. Today, take some time to remember the simple pleasures of childhood. Laugh out loud, sing too loud, lighten your step a little and remember Who waits to share this time with you.

GOING DEEPER: Sometimes children say it the best. Consider this child’s prayer: “Dear God, I don’t ever feel alone since I found out about you.” Nora**

FURTHER READING: John 11:25-26; Romans 1:16, 10:4

*Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli. Nav Press Publishing. Colorado Springs, CO: 1998.
**Children's Letters to God, The New Collection. Compiled by Stuart Hample and Eric Marshall. Workman Publishing, 1991.

Resist the Devil

In Jude 9 we are told how Michael the archangel dealt with Satan.

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

My concern is that some people have tried to use this Scripture to say that we do not have authority over the devil. They believe we have no recourse other than to pray that the Lord will do something about him.

But that is not the point he is making here at all. Jude was referencing the previous verse where some would “speak evil of dignitaries.” He used Michael’s conversation with the devil to show that this was wrong. To say that we do not have the right to resist the devil and cast him out on the basis of this Scripture is ridiculous. Here are five things to think about:

1. This event between Michael and Lucifer (Satan) happened before New Testament times—before Jesus defeated the devil and broke his power.

2. James 4:7 tells us, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It does not say, “Pray that God will resist the devil for you.”

3. Jesus, in the Great Commission, told us to cast out devils (or demons). Jesus wouldn’t tell us that if He hadn’t given us the authority.

4. In Luke 10:19 Jesus said, “I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

5. In the book of Acts, as the Church carried out their mission, they commanded demons to come out, and they came out in Jesus’ name.

My friend, Jesus has broken the authority of the devil in your life. Resist him and he will flee!

Sacrament of Broken Seed

by Charles R. Swindoll

Titus 3:3-8 - Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

Chances are running high that you're in a hurry today. Am I right? Your "To Do" list stretches on and on. If you're reading this in the morning, you're wondering how in the world you'll get it all done. If the day has already slipped away as you read these words, you're wondering where in the world the hours went.

Yeah, I can identify. It's been that kind of week. Really, that kind of month. But let's take five and ponder a word that gets overlooked in the midst of a breakneck schedule. Just a simple word . . . helping.

Think about that. About being of assistance . . . your arm around the hunched shoulder of another . . . your smile saying "try again" to someone who's convinced it's curtains . . . your cup of cool water held up to a brother's cracked lips, reassuring and reaffirming.

Every time I pick up my pen, the thought of helping urges me to push ink into words. There are enough---more than enough---specialists in body blocks and pass defense and tackling those with the ball, causing fumbles, bruises, and injuries. I'd much rather run interference. Open up holes. Slap some fanny and say, "You can do it, now git at it!" I couldn't agree more with Philip Yancey, a man who models his own advice:

C. S. Lewis once likened his role as a Christian writer to an adjective humbly striving to point others to the Noun of truth. For people to believe that Noun, we Christian writers must improve our adjectives.

Whether in the sweltering heat of summer or during winter's bitter blast, I'd like to think that some carefully selected turn of a phrase, some pointed story, even the choice of a single word I used reached over to your hand with a grip of fresh hope. The Noun is so attractive, so satisfying, we dare not get sloppy with our adjectives.

It's all part of helping folks "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering . . ." and being committed to "stimulate one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:23-24).

I hope that the following poem will stimulate you to reach beyond the safe bounds of your private, fenced-off territory. It's called "At the Winter Feeder," a perceptive piece by John Leax, professor of English and poet-in-residence at Houghton College:

His feather flame doused dull
by icy cold,
the cardinal hunched
into the rough, green feeder
but ate no seed.
Through binoculars I saw
festered and useless
his beak, broken
at the root.
Then tw one blazing, one gray,
rode the swirling weather
into my vision
and lighted at his side.
Unhurried, as if possessing
the patience of God,
they cracked sunflowers
and fed him
beak to wounded beak
choice meats.
Each morning and afternoon
the winter long,
that odd triumvirate,
that trinity of need,
returned and ate
their sacrament
of broken seed.¹

If birds had souls, I have no doubt that that cardinal would, long before springtime, yield to the God of his friends. Attractive adjectives plus unselfish verbs equal faith in the Noun of truth.

It's an axiom that holds true at the winter feeder and at any season of the year.

1. "At the Winter Feeder," copyright © 1985 by John Leax. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Search the Scriptures

After Paul preached the gospel to the Bereans, they did something that others had not done—they searched the Scriptures.

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so (Acts 17:11).

According to the next verse, the result of their search was that many of them believed.

Jesus said in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

I once heard a Jewish believer share his testimony. His daughter, who had become a Christian, challenged him to read through the New Testament.

He began in Matthew and was astonished to find so many Old Testament references to the Messiah being fulfilled by Jesus.

His initial reason for searching the Scriptures was to prove that his daughter was wrong, but instead, he ended up giving his heart to Christ. The Scriptures testified of Jesus!

Look for Him as you read the Holy Scriptures, and encourage others to do the same.

The Disturbing Church

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” —Acts 17:6–7

Some today are telling us that the most important thing the church should be focusing on is global warming. That is the priority we are to have, they say. But there is another kind of warming the church should focus on preventing, and that is people spending eternity separated from God in hell.

The church of the first century made its impact on the world through prayer and through preaching. It was said of the early church that they turned the world upside down. And that, by the way, was offered as a criticism, not as a compliment (see Acts 17:6).

May God give us more “criticisms” like this, because it seems today the opposite is happening in the church. We have double standards and moral compromise and little to no power. G. Campbell Morgan said, “Organized Christianity which fails to make a disturbance is dead.”

What concerns me is that we are not making a disturbance anymore. We are so worried about fitting in. We are so worried about relating. We are so worried about being cool that we have forgotten what it is to make a stand for what is true. My fear is that instead of the church turning the world upside down, the world is turning the church upside down.

Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.” That is why we need to get back to what the early church experienced as given on the day of Pentecost, because they turned their world upside down. And in this crazy, topsy-turvy world where wrong is right and right is wrong, we need to do the same.

Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie , PO Box 4000 , Riverside , CA 92514 . All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org

Are you making your soul a priority?

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
--Mark 8:36

Did you know that you can neglect your soul to the point that you can lose it? That’s exactly what Jesus is saying in today’s verse.

Every day, people make other things higher priorities than their souls. Some people are fixated on their physical condition, and they go to great lengths to exercise and eat right. Yet they do little to maintain the health of their soul.

Then there are others who focus on developing their minds. They pursue and often attain the highest levels of education, but in the process they fail to expand and enrich their soul’s relationship with God.

And of course, there are others who get caught up in wealth. They’re the kind of people who make business deals all day long, but they fail to do business with their soul.

Perhaps today you’d admit that you’ve been putting other things… even good things… ahead of your soul, which is destined for eternity. If so, remember this is serious business.
It’s time to do business with your soul!

YOUR SOUL IS DESTINED FOR ETERNITY. SO DO BUSINESS WITH IT TODAY!

A Faith Based on Facts

A Faith Based on Facts

He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. —Acts 1:2–3

Christianity is not a feel-good belief system that asks you to accept some misguided fairy tale. It is based on reliable and documented evidence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, thereby justifying His claims and promises. Granted there is an element of faith that is required to believe, but it is based on the clear facts.

Yet going back to the earliest centuries, there have been those who have suggested that Jesus never rose from the dead. Some have said it was a hoax, while others have said the disciples were just hallucinating. But Luke, writing about what he had seen, said that Jesus “presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

The word Luke used for “seen” could be translated “eyeballed.” The disciples “eyeballed” the risen Lord. Here was Jesus, who had been crucified and put to death. And He didn’t just appear once or twice—He was popping up everywhere. Five hundred people saw him on a single occasion. That is no mass hallucination; that is evidence.

If this were a hoax the apostles dreamed up, certainly one of them would have broken ranks and admitted it. But they all died the death of a martyr except John, who survived an execution attempt and was banished to the island of Patmos. Not one of them broke ranks, because they could not deny what they knew was true.

Jesus was alive. They had seen Him. They eyeballed Him. It transformed their lives, and they had to share the gospel message with others. They were real people just like you and me. Yet God used them to change the world.

Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org and to listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com, click here.

Innovation, Part Two

by Charles R. Swindoll

2 Corinthians 5:17 - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Yesterday, we talked about innovative people, and I mentioned that there are a whole lot more innovative people around than any of us can imagine. Could you be one of them?

Let's take a little test and see. I have Earl Nightingale to thank for this list of twenty-five traits generally found in creative, innovative people. No, relax. You don't need all twenty-five . . . but if you have most of them, you may be closer than you think.

Drive---a high degree of motivation
Courage---tenacity and persistence
Goals---a sense of direction
Knowledge---and a thirst for it
Good health
Honesty---especially intellectual
Optimism
Judgment
Enthusiasm
Chance taking---willingness to risk failure
Dynamism---energy
Enterprise---willing to tackle tough jobs
Persuasion---ability to sell
Outgoingness---friendly
Patient yet impatient---patient with others, yet impatient with the status quo
Adaptability---capable of change
Perfectionism---seek to achieve excellence
Humor---ability to laugh at self and others
Versatility---broad interests and skills
Curiosity---interested in people and things
Individualism---self-esteem and self-sufficiency
Realism/idealism---occupied by reality but guided by ideals
Imagination---seeking new ideas, combinations, and relationships
Communication---articulate
Receptive---alert

Okay, that's enough. I told you creative thinking was hard work! But there is something even harder . . . and that's change. It's admitting the need, being honest and humble enough to face the facts, then secure enough to consider new ideas, methods, or devices, to pull it off. Swallowing our pride shouldn't be that difficult, since that's what we eat all day.

Go ahead and give it a whirl. Take one of those many things that keeps dragging you under and search for a creative way to solve the problem. And don't quit until it's done . . . and that smile of relief returns to your face.

I know you can do it! You did it before and it worked. And that problem was so huge you could hardly continue. Then came the change . . . the most important decision you ever made based on the most innovative combination ever devised. A man. A cross. Blood. And belief.

God defines it: "The introduction of something new . . . a new birth."

Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Innovation, Part One

by Charles R. Swindoll

Proverbs 12:1 - To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

Webster defines it: "The introduction of something new . . . a new idea, method, or device." When we innovate, we change, we flex. We approach the standard operating procedure, not like a soft-footed Native American scout sneaking up on a deer by the brook, but rather like Wild Bill Hickok in a saloon with both guns blazing.

It takes guts to innovate, because it requires creative thinking. Thinking is hard enough, butcreative thinking---ah, that's work! To get the juices squirting, you have to be dissatisfied with the status quo.

Take photography, for example. For years, the same old procedure . . . which required long periods of delay. Nobody even thought about hurrying up the process. Not until a guy named Edwin Land formed a company with a funny name---Polaroid.

Sometimes innovation is forced on us. Take December 7, 1941. We got caught with our military pants down. Before American planes could get airborne, or even out of the hangar, most of them were destroyed. We were forced to ask the obvious: "How can we get the planes out of the hangars fast?"

A fellow by the name of Mitchell solved the problem in a most innovative way. He simply turned the question upside down and asked the unobvious: "How can we get the hangar away from the planes---fast?" The result (after the inevitable laughter and rejection) was a two-piece hangar. Each section was mounted on wheels with sufficient power to separate the two at thirty-five miles an hour . . . which enabled the fighter planes to take off in several different directions. Fast.

Now, you're thinking: Land and Mitchell are geniuses. And you are ready to toss in Newton and Bell and Edison and Ford and the Wright brothers. And you're also telling yourself that there aren't many of those gifted people spread around. Granted, those men might very well qualify as geniuses . . . but if you ask them, they'll tell you another story. J. C. Penney once observed, "Geniuses themselves don't talk about the gift of genius; they just talk about hard work and long hours." It's the old one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration answer.

Let's have four "greats" take the stand and testify. These are their actual words:

Michelangelo: "If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery; it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all."

Thomas Carlyle: "Genius is the capacity for taking infinite pains."

Ignancy Jan Paderewski: "A genius? Perhaps, but before I was a genius I was a drudge."

Alexander Hamilton: "All the genius I may have is merely the fruit of labor and thought."

Are innovative people really that rare? Not if you listen to Sheldon David, TRW's former vice president:

The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.

You know what that says to me? It says there are a whole lot more innovative people (who currently see themselves only as "drudges") than any of us can imagine. In fact, you may very well be one of them!

We'll look into that tomorrow. You might be surprised at what you discover.

Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission

My Heart: Christ's Home Part 7

TRANSFERRING THE TITLE

A thought came to me. "Lord, is there any chance that You would take over the management of the whole house and operate it for me as You did that closet? Would You take the responsibility to keep my life what it ought to be?"

His face lit up as He replied, "I'd love to! That is what I want to do. You cannot be a victorious Christian in you own strength. Let me do it through you and for you. That is the way. But, "He added slowly, "I am just a guest. I have no authority to proceed, since the property is not mine."

Dropping to my knees, I said, "Lord, You have been a guest and I have been the host. From now on I am going to be the servant. You are going to be the owner and Master." Running as fast as I could to the strongbox, I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, location and situation. I eagerly signed the house over to Him alone for time and eternity. "Here," I said. "Here it is, all that I am and all that I have, forever. Now You run the house. I'll just remain with You as a servant and friend."

Things are different since Jesus Christ has settled down and has made His home in my heart.

My Heart: Christ's Home Part 6

THE HALL CLOSET

One day I found Him waiting for me at the door. An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, "There is a peculiar odor on the house. Something must be dead around here. It's upstairs. I think it is in the hall closet."

As soon as He said this, I knew what He was talking about. There was a small closet up there on the hall landing, just a few feet square. In that closet, behind lock and key, I had one or two little personal things that I didn't not want anyone to know about. Certainly, I did not want Christ to see them. I knew they were dead and rotting things left over from the old life. I wanted them so for myself that I was afraid to admit they were there.

Reluctantly, I went up with Him, and as we mounted the stairs the odor became stronger and stronger. He pointed to the door. I was angry. That's the only way I can put it. I had given Him access to the library, the dining room, the living room, the workroom, and now He was asking me about a little two-by-four closet. I said to myself, "This is too much. I am not going to give Him the key."

"Well," he said, reading my thoughts, "if you think I'm going to stay up here on the second floor with this smell, you are mistaken. I will go out on the porch." Then I saw Him start down the stairs.

When one comes to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen is to sense Him withdrawing His fellowship. I had to give in. "I'll give you the key," I said sadly, but You will have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven't got the strength to do it."

"Just give me the key," He said. "Authorize me to take care of that closet and I will." With trembling fingers I passed the key to Him. He took it, walked over to the door, opened it, entered, took out all the putrefying stuff that was rotting in there, and threw it away. Then He cleaned the closet and painted it. It was all done in a moment's time. Oh, what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life!