The Chaplain’s Corner

 

April 9, 2001

 

 

The purpose of The Chaplain’s Corner is to provide meaningful information that will encourage & equip its readers to first receive a deeper understanding of our Father’s love and then be able to share it with others.

 

“My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) -  ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,“ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’

We live in a world that sometimes seems void of hope. Wars, famine, pollution, recessions, etc. can cause us to become easily discouraged when we look at the prospects of our future. Discouragement can lead to depression, and depression can lead to hopelessness. When we are feeling hopeless, we see our circumstances and surroundings through a filtered lens that can cause us to continue to spiral downwards in our emotions and our attitudes.

 

In this week’s devotional scripture, God says that He has a plan for you, a plan that will prosper you and not to harm you, a plan that will give you hope and a future. While the economy may be saying one thing to us, God is saying another. While your circumstances may cry out hopelessness, God is saying that He has a plan to prosper and not to harm you.

 

While we don’t know what the future does hold, we know who holds the future. We can trust in the goodness of God to care for us in the midst of situations that seem hopeless. Our hope is not in our circumstances, but in God our Father. That does not necessarily mean that life will always turn out the way we expected, but it does mean that we can always trust in our Father to love us and watch over us. If we commit our lives into His care, we are guaranteed from an everlasting perspective, that we will have an incredible future filled with hope awaiting us, that will last forever.

IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES

 

If I knew it would be the last time that I’d see you fall asleep,

I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord your soul to keep.

 

If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss and call you back for one more.

 

If I knew it would be the last time I’d hear your voice lifted up in praise.

I would video tape each action and word, so I could play them back day after day.

 

If I knew it would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute or

 two to stop and say “I love you,”  instead of assuming, you would KNOW I do.

 

If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day,

well I’m sure you’ll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.

 

For surely there’s always tomorrow to make up for an oversight,

and we always get a second chance to make everything right.

 

There will always be another day to say our “I love you’s”,

And certainly there’s another chance to say our “Anything I can do’s?”

 

But just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get,

I’d like to say how much I love you and I hope we never forget.

 

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike,

And today may be the last chance you get to hold you loved one tight.

 

So if you’re waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today?  For if tomorrow

never comes, you’ll surely regret that day that you didn’t take that

extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss and you were too busy to grant

someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.

 

So hold your loved ones close today, whisper in their ear,

tell them how much you love them and that you’ll always hold them dear.

 

Take time to say “I’m sorry,” “please forgive me,” “thank you” or “it’s okay”.

And if tomorrow never comes, you’ll have no regrets about today.

 

~Author Unknown~

 

 

 

 

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW... CAN BE LEARNED FROM NOAH'S ARK

One--Don't miss the boat.
Two--Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three--Plan ahead.  It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four--Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do
something really big.
Five--Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to
be done.
Six--Build your future on high ground.
Seven--For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
Eight--Speed isn't always an advantage.  The snails were on board with
the cheetahs.
Nine--When you're stressed, float a while.
Ten--Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by
professionals.
Eleven--No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a
rainbow waiting.

Contributed by Cheri

 

 

 

“Darkness for Light”

 

The man stood on the shore line where the police had cornered him after a long chase.  The water lapped around his feet as he boldly proclaimed to the police, “you cannot catch me for I am Jesus and I can walk on water.”  With that he spun around and walked out into the water, only to be knocked down by the waves.  The police simply waded in and retrieved the soggy confused soul.

 

The young man was convinced that he had the ability to fly.  Many attempted to convince him otherwise, but he was sure he could.  He proceeded to hurl himself from a second story window to prove that he could do what he said, only to plunge to his death.

 

There is probably no more gripping deception than self-deception.  It is a tragic thing when someone has accepted darkness as light – false for true.  Jesus spoke clearly about this problem:

“The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”  Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV)

 

It is exceedingly difficult to share the light with people who have embraced darkness as light.  We cry with Isaiah:

 

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”  Isaiah 5:20 (NIV)

 

What a vivid description of the society we live in.  It is a world where good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral have become so vague as not to exist.  Our society consistently embraces darkness and calls it light.  This is one great obstacle in sharing the gospel.  When people are convinced that they are all right, they have no need of a savior.  When people have concluded they are fully self-sufficient there is no need for God.  When people have embraced the lie that God is a matter of personal preference, there is no separation from God and no need of reconciliation.  Woe to those who are full of darkness and call it light.

 

Let us not to be quick to point the finger.

 

Self-examination is crucial here.  If we are ever to be able to fulfill our responsibility to “go and make disciples” in such a world as this, we must be sure that we are “walking in the light as He is in the light.”  (I John 1:7)  We must be sure that we are fully surrendered to God so that His Spirit abides in His fullness making our eyes good.  This is why Jesus went on to caution that we cannot serve two masters.  (Matthew 6:24)  Only as Jesus is Lord can we have good eyes that can distinguish between darkness and light.  Only as Jesus is Lord will we crave and feast upon His Word so that every fiber of our being is saturated with the Living Truth.  Only as Jesus is Lord will we submit to the body of Christ , being accountable for what we believe, say, teach and preach.  Only as Jesus is Lord can we walk in true light with blessed assurance.

 

There are many purveyors of false light in our world.  No wonder for “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (I Corinthians 11:14)  Therefore, we must be very sure that our hungering and thirsting is for righteousness.  For as we hunger and thirst for righteousness, God fills us with Himself (Matthew 5:6) and thereby gives us good eyes – eyes able to recognize true light.

 

Mary Alice Kelly

 

 

I CRY OUT OH GOD CLEANSE MY HOUSE OF PRAYER!

A HOUSE OF PRAYER

 

And Jesus went into the temple (whole temple enclosure) and drove out all who bought and sold in the sacred place, and He turned over the four-footed tables of the money-changers and the chairs of those who sold pigeons.  He said to them, “The Scripture says, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but you have made it a den of robbers.”  And the blind and the lame came to Him in the porches and courts of the temple, and He cured them.  Matthew 21:12-14 (Amplified)
 
A POEM: MAKE ME A HOUSE OF PRAYER!

MAKE ME A HOUSE OF PRAYER!
WHERE FAITH AND HOPE ARE ABIDING THERE.

LORD CAUSE MY EYES TO SEE ANSWERS OF VICTORY!
CLEANSE ME OF ALL THAT BRINGS FALSE SECURITY!

COME LORD!
MAKE ME A HOUSE OF PRAYER.
WHERE TRUTH AND HONESTY ARE ABIDING THERE.

COME LORD MAKE MY HOUSE YOUR HOME.
COME LORD JESUS!
ENTER THERE TO SET UPON YOUR THRONE!

COME TO THE OUTER CHAMBERS AND PORCHES WHERE WE WILL MEET.
THERE YOU WILL SHOW ME!
WHAT IS THERE THAT CAUSES YOUR HEART TO GRIEVE.
THERE YOUR PRESENCE WILL LEAVE A FRAGRANCE SO SWEET.

TURN OVER THE TABLES OF WEALTH AND GREED.
CLEANSE THE TEMPLE WITH HEAVENS GREAT SPEED.

REMOVE ALL THAT IS DISPLEASING TO YOU.
UNTIL MY LIFE IS A TEMPLE OF PURITY TRUE.

SOMETIMES WE BECOME JUST AS THOSE WHO ARE GREEDY FOR GAIN.
MAKING OURSELVES RICH IN JESUS NAME!

COME TO OUR OUTER CHAMBERS AND PORCHES.
DRIVE OUT ALL!
THAT WITH SHAME SCORCHES.

TEACH ME NOT TO ERECT TABLES OF GREED.
WHERE OTHERS ERRED AND THE SPIRIT THEY GRIEVED.

THEY ARE CALLING FROM THEIR CHAMBERS AND PORCHES!

BUY WHAT I SELL AND YOU WILL SEE!
GOD WILL MAKE YOU RICH JUST LIKE ME!

DISTORTING THE WORD OF GOD FOR GREED AND GAIN.
CAUSING GODS CHILDREN TO ERR IN SHAME.
ALL OF THIS DONE IN JESUS'S HOLY NAME.

I CALLED YOU TO A HOPE SO TRUE!
DO NOT DO THE THINGS THEY DO.

SELLING THE GOSPEL FOR GREED AND GAIN!
THINKING THAT I AM JUST THE SAME!

O’ MY CHILDERN IF YOU WILL HEAR?
COME AND LISTEN AND I WILL DRAW NEAR.

WITH CLOTHES FOOD AND SHELTER BE CONTENT!
THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL TELL YOU.
IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR MONEY! GOD WILL PAY YOUR RENT.

YOU SHALL NEVER ERR IF YOU HEED.
BE NOT CAUGHT IN THE NET OF RICHES AND GREED.

DO NOT FOLLOW IN THEIR WAYS LET ME DWELL IN YOU.
LET YOUR HOUSE OF PRAYER BE HONEST AND TRUE.

THEN THOSE WHO ARE BLIND AND LAME.
WILL COME TO YOU IN JESUS NAME.

YOU WILL SPEAK WORDS OF HEALING AND LIFE THERE.
THERE MY CHILDREN IN YOUR HOUSE OF PRAYER!

MY HEALING SPIRIT WILL ABIDE IN YOU.
TO HEAL YOU AND GIVE YOU A HEART SO TRUE.

BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT DWELLS THERE!
LORD MAKE ME A HOUSE OF PRAYER!

LET LOVE, FAITH, AND HONESTY ABIDE THERE!
OH MY LORD!
I CRY OUT TO YOU!
MAKE MY HEART A HOUSE OF PRAYER.

POETRY BY RUTHIE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 http://www.ourchurch.com/view/?pageID=26829

 

 

 

Believing Jesus died -- that is history;

believing Jesus died for me -- that is salvation. Unknown

 

 

Our Community Bible Study this week will be studying “God is True and Faithful”

 

Time: 10:00

Place: Spirit Wind Church

Teacher: Mary Alice Kelly

 

 

 

Mary Alice Kelly – P.O. Box 237 – Iredell, Texas 76649