FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Upon waking this morning (Sunday), luxuriating in the comfort of our bed of the last 36 years, with Kathy asleep beside me, I was thinking and musing, as you sometimes tend to do in the early morning. Four days to go before Africa calls.

Naturally, my thoughts wandered from what I have yet to do before I go, of leaving my Kathy for 2 months until she joins me in the UK, to the excitement of meeting old friends and making new ones over the next 3 months. And naturally, of spending 2 weeks with family in Scotland and seeing 2 grandchildren for the first time.

You see, like you, I am a very ordinary person. I live a life of highlights and lowlights, of upward steps of faith and downward moments of doubt and failure, all while seeking to live in the image of Jesus. If only I could be more like Him!

I take great heart though, from my namesake, King David. I too suffer from many of his weaknesses. Maybe it is inherent in the name! Or more likely, common to all us men, if we are really honest. Yet I take heart that David's 'ready repentance' and heart his for the Lord made him truly a man after God's own heart. There is hope for me - yes, for all of us!

What I have to share now, I am reluctant to do, in case it is taken the wrong way! But I need to, to encourage those of you who may be going through similar situations or who, like me, have been afraid to fully submit yourself to the Lord's will in your life.

This trip is a new and big challenge for me. By nature, I am an independent, self-reliant person. By natural gifting, a businessman. Six years ago the Lord clearly told me to put my business aside and work fulltime for Him. "Okay Lord." He then proceeded to deal with my independence when I lost my fortune trying to provide an income for ministry in my own strength, by undertaking a large property development, meant to provide us with ongoing rental income. It went horribly wrong, throwing me into bankruptcy! A huge blow to independence and ego alike!

Of course, old habits, reinforced by people's well-intentioned but misguided advice, die hard. I started a hobby growing plants called succulents. The few quickly grew to a few thousand, just to keep the critics happy! But, incredibly for me, I simply couldn't sell them! The Lord finally said, "Give them away!" "Yes Lord." So I gave them to our church and the church gave away heaps! But after a couple of years, there was still some left. I brought them home a few months ago. This week I have finally got rid of the remainder, by creating gardens at our rented home and planting them here. The landlady is very happy! And I am so relieved that finally, they have all gone! Another lesson learned.

In addition, we also received a small inheritance from my family. It has been a 'nest egg' over recent years, helping to pay ministry expenses, including travelling. All very good and worthy! But finally, earlier in the year, God told me to get Kathy to give my inheritance away! The last vestiges of my independence! Gone! The Lord is truly stripping the me from me!

As I have mentioned already, this trip is a watershed. He has had to provide - everything! This is difficult for me to accept! But He has provided! The fare and associated expenses, to date. But the walk of faith continues! The testing! The doubt! Of knowing too, the expectations of the people I am visiting that I will be able to help them financially. For they are very poor and putting on conferences and meetings is often beyond their means. And me with nothing! How will He do it? I don't know. But He has so far!

"Give up your planning and scheming David, and leave it in My hands." "Yes Lord, I will - but it's not easy!" "I know, but it is a lesson you need to learn." "Yes Lord."

Can I therefore encourage you too, in whatever area of life the Lord is calling you to submit to Him in today, to do so. Like me, you might be fighting against it. But I have learned that the ladder of faith is climbed one step at a time. So why not take that first, second, or even final step today? For that is His call, both to you and to me.

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FROM THE WORD

"All this took about 450 years. “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts13:20-22)

FAITH AND DEEDS
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:14-26)

FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:1-12)

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DAVID'S DOODLINGS

FAITH

301. Faith is to heaven as doubt is to hell.

302. Faith builds, doubt destroys.

303. An ounce of faith in God's hand is worth a tonne of mans self-belief.

304. Ten men of faith will defeat ten thousand without.

418. Faith and risk are constant companions.

419. Our bucket of faith is filled one drop at a time.

420. Faith is like walking up a hill. You get to the top one step at a time.

421. When you reach the top of the mountain of faith, you look round at the view and see an even bigger mountain to climb.

422. Faith moves mountains - shovel by shovel!

423. Faith comes through experience, not learning. Ask the bumblebee!

424. Faith is god's gift to the poor, for it is often all they have.

425. Desperation breeds faith or despair. We make the choice.

426. Comfort kills faith.

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CRANWELL'S CARTOON

JESUS CALMS THE STORM
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:22-25)








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TUESDAY TEACHINGS

A REVELATION OF....... THE SEVEN REVELATIONS OF 'THE LAMB' Part 5

LAMB OF GOD
Jesus

The coming of the 'Lamb of God' Himself was, and remains, the pivotal point in history.

Without the death and resurrection of Jesus we would be completely without comfort in a human centred world.

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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES

***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***

*** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***


532. THE PENSIVE PARROT
One day an elderly priest confides in his parishioners that he's feeling a bit lonely and depressed. So one of the parishioners suggests to the priest that he buy a pet. Thinking this a grand idea, the priest hurries into town and after much deliberation, buys a parrot.

Unfortunately not five minutes after arriving home, the parrot starts hurling a string of expletives at the priest.

After about an hour it gets to be too much, so the priest walks up to the parrot, slaps him on the beak, and yells, "QUIT IT!" But this just makes the parrot madder and he starts swearing at the priest in even more colourful language.

Finally the priest has had it and says, "All right, that's it. Grabbing a blanket, the priest throws it over the parrot's cage and screams, "Now, SHUT UP!" Well, this really irritates the parrot and he starts clawing and scratching at the bars of his cage. Finally the priest removes the blanket. Immediately the parrot starts right in on the priest again.

By this time, the priest is so infuriated that he grabs the parrot by the throat and throws him into the freezer. Well, the parrot starts swearing and thrashing about so loudly that the priest is considering killing the bird. Just as he's thinking this, it gets very...very quiet.

At first the priest just stares at the refrigerator, but then he starts to think that the parrot might be seriously injured. He becomes so worried that he runs over to the refrigerator and throws open the freezer door.

The parrot climbs out of the freezer, flaps the ice off his wings, and says, "Awfully sorry about the trouble I've caused you father. In the future, I'll do my best to improve my vocabulary."

The priest is astounded. He can't believe the sudden transformation that has come over the parrot. Finally the parrot turns to the priest and says, "Um.... by the way father, what did the chicken do?"

531. THE REAL OIL
This man and lady couldn't have any children, so they went to the pastor and asked for prayer.

The pastor prayed for them and annointed them with oil.

Sure enough about 9 months later they had triplet babies. The couple once again showed up at the pastor's study and as soon as the woman saw the pastor she ran up to him, threw her arms around him and gave him the biggest hug. "What was that all about?" he asked.

She replied "I'm just glad you used three in one oil and not WD40."
FREE DOWNLOAD: You can now download the book 'Laughing At Ourselves' in PDF format at LAUGHING AT OURSELVES

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FACTS FOR FUN

LAST WEEKS QUESTION: Which Shakespearean play is the only one that has a dog in its cast?

ANSWER: The dog's name is Crab, appearing in ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’. (To nip its fellow actors?)

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do penguins live at the North Pole?

Answer Next Week.

SOME FUN FACTS

457. KEEP DIGGING
On average, it takes a ton of ore to produce sufficient gold to make one wedding ring. (And tons of experience to make the marriage work.)

458. THAT SINKING FEELING
Fourteen years before the Titanic sailed on an April day in 1912 on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, a novel titled "Futility" was published about an unsinkable and glamorous Atlantic liner, the largest in the world. Like the Titanic, the fictional vessel was triple-screw and could make 24-25 knots. At 800 feet, it was a little shorter than the Titanic, but at 70,000 tons, its displacement was 4,000 tons greater. Like the Titanic itself, its passenger list was the creme de la creme and there were not enough lifeboats on board. On a cold April night, the fictional ‘unsinkable’ vessel strikes an iceberg and glides to the bottom of the Atlantic. The name of this liner, in the story by Morgan Robertson, was ‘The Titan.’ (A sad story of man’s ‘irresistible force’ meeting nature’s ‘immovable object’. Nature won – again!)

459. THEN___
Florence in Italy, was the first city to mint its own gold coins in 1252. The ‘fiorino’ became known as the ‘florence’, then finally as the ‘florin’. (Since then we have all been trying to ‘make a mint’!)

A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU

Make another word from this word using all the letters.

UNTIMELY

Answer at the end of A David Musing

FREE DOWNLOAD: You can download the full version of our Trivia Book at TRULY TRIFFLING TRIVIA

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BIBLE QUESTION - THE PARABLES

In the Parable of the Pearl, why did Jesus compare the kingdom of God to a pearl?

a. The Word of God is like a "pearl of wisdom."
b. The kingdom grows in people's hearts, like a pearl grows in an oyster.
c. Like a pearl in the sun, the kingdom is a shining light.
d. The kingdom, like a pearl, is of great value.


Answer at the end of A DAVID MUSING.

Source: "TwoPaths Bible Study, www.twopaths.com"

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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!

"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""

!!!!!!! Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away." -Tom Brokaw

!!!!!! It takes twice as much money to live beyond your means as it used to.

!!!!! The fellow who's busy pulling on the oars hasn't got time to rock the boat.

!!!! Noah's remark as the animals were boarding the ark: Now I've herd everything!

!!! Love may not make the world go round, but it certainly makes a lot of people dizzy.

!! Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.

! If you are willing to admit you are wrong when you are wrong, you are all right.

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JUST JOKES!

319. THE FAMILY TREE
In my search of the family tree, it was pretty exciting to learn my great-grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains were pioneers in iron and steel. I could hardly stand the excitement until I learned the truth that Great-Grandma stayed home and ironed while Great-Grandpa went off to steal. - Lawrence Brotherton

320. DREAMS ARE FREE!
The school of agriculture's dean of admissions was inter- viewing a prospective student, "Why have you chosen this career?" he asked.

"I dream of making a million dollars in farming, like my father," the student replied.

"Your father made a million dollars in farming?" echoed the dean much impressed.

"No," replied the applicant. "But he always dreamed of it."

319. RECOGNISE IT
A vacationer e-mailed a seaside hotel to ask its location. "It's only a stone's throw away from the beach," he was told.

"But how will I recognize it?" asked the man.

The reply was, "It's the one with all the broken windows."

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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN BIBLICAL LANDS

FRUITS

Included olives, and grapes eaten both fresh and dried as raisins, (1 Samuel 25:18) or made into wine. Pomegranates were juiced and it is possible, although unlikely, that apples were grown too. Both these were mentioned in Song of Songs.

Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys

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***NEW*** 'PSALM OF THE WEEK' FREE AUDIO DOWNLOAD ***NEW***

PSALM 24

A Psalm of David.
Commemorating the occasion when David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and upset his wife Michal by dancing exuberantly before the Lord.

Each week, be encouraged, comforted and inspired by listening to a track from our Psalms CD, 'The Mighty Lord Reigns'.

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THE ARAB WORLD: TV MINISTRY IS BROADCASTED

Explosive church growth and evangelism in Ethiopia and Sudan has caused Nazarene missionary Howie Shute to call this "the greatest movement of God that I have seen in my lifetime. Churches are planting churches that are planting churches." The Nazarene south central district (including Ethiopia and Sudan) reported 200 churches in the last 11/2 years. In addition, more than 50 Bible study groups are in the process of becoming churches. "There are evangelists on the road and in the bush everywhere, all planting Bible studies and churches," he said. "They continue despite a lack of money." The denomination expects to plant more than 400 new churches this year while the Ethiopian leadership has a target of 1,000 new churches. "Pastors and congregations are being persecuted, but they are faithful to God's call to preach this message," Shute said. "The great miracle of Pentecost was 3,000 new believers in one day, but we have had 20,000 in one day praying for their sins to be forgiven!" [EVANGELICAL NEWS/HORN OF AFRICA NEWS 06] (Via World Mission Global News)

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DAVID'S DOWNLOAD

A REVELATION OF... THE CHARACTER OF GOD

Understanding God takes more than a lifetime! Through into eternity. Even then, I suspect he may come up with a surprise or two! But this simple revelation may help you understand Him better, as it has helped me.

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WAXING LYRICAL

LORD HELP ME!

It is so easy to blame the Lord, or others, when things go wrong in our life. Yet the answer is found not in struggle, but in submission. Putting our life in His hands.

Now's the time when you are feeling low,
All your effort, with so little to show.
When life is getting on top of you,
God's Word doesn't seem true.
You're looking for a boost,
Chickens home to roost!
Nothing's working,
Life so hurting!
Indescribable!
Unbearable!

"Hey!
Pray!"
"Do I hear,
Voice in ear?"
"Now, listen to me,
One plus two, can be three!
If today, you will let me help you,
Your dreams, they can still come true.
When you rest your all in my gentle hand,
Your horizons, I will again, begin to expand."

Why do we ignore His advice?
Unwilling to pay the price,
Of giving all our being over to Him,
Rather let life's light, grow so dim.

Yes I'm still learning to understand,
Life, when it's placed in His hand,
Will simply, so much better be,
Than if it's only guided by me!

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A DAVID MUSING

One of the great things about this trip is that I have needed only 1 injection, as previous ones are still viable. Besides saving a lot of money, the idea of being a pincushion for nurses plying their dastardly injection trade does not have huge appeal - to any of us, does it?

I have always kept good health in Africa. The only occasion I had diarrhoea (other than verbal!), happened the one time my luggage was misplaced at Nairobi, Kenya, the transfer point on a fight from Nigeria to Ethiopia, with my medical kit in it! It didn't turn up for 3 days. Oh dear! But when it did arrive, 1 pill 'gummed me up'! The best laid plans of mice and men... Now I carry my kit in my cabin luggage. Hopefully security will let me! There is always another challenge!

Must go and get packed! Sounds good! Well, good intentions..., maybe on Wednesday!

Until next week...

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.

His servant and yours

David Tait

Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: MINUTELY

TODAY'S 'DO YOU KNOW?' ANSWER: d. The kingdom, like a pearl, is of great value. Matthew 13:45-46

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ABOUT US

WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.

Walking With Jesus Ministries
290 Flaxmere Avenue
Flaxmere
Hastings
New Zealand

Phone: (06) 8799 911 International (+64) 6 8799 911
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz

Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!

For comments upon and contributions to this service, please contact
david@wwj.org.nz