Casey Rivers - Once Was Enough

How You See It Matters!

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Psalm 5:1-3

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help, 
my King and my God, 
for to you I pray.
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; 
in the morning I lay my requests before you 
and wait in expectation. 

Psalm 5:1-3

Standing on the Promises

A lot of church members who are singing "Standing on the Promises" are just sitting on the church premises.

Who changes who?

We don't change the message, the message changes us.

God's will

The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.

Where d'ya sit in church?

People are funny, they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.

PRAYER!

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

PERSISTENT, FOCUSED and CONFIDENT

       One day I walked along a National Park, doing reconnaissance for a hike we'd do some other day. I once watched a most incredible thing of something I'd heard about birds.. I watched a small bird trying to gather string, which I presumed would have gone into the building of a nest. It is amazing that this little creature acting on instinct alone would gather this kind of material for building. You see, a bird cannot reason, "A piece of string would be nice to use for building my nest, so I'll take it." God has given this little bird the natural instinct to function.

        You probably are thinking, "What's so incredible about watching a bird do what it naturally does?" I watched as the bird made several attempts to gather the string. She would pick up one end of the string in her beak and fly upward, but the string would fall, and she would try again. This activity went on for several minutes. What made this so incredible to me was that the other end of the string was attached to a boat sitting on a boat trailer at the edge of a dam, or is it fish pond?  (You know those things that tug boats, if you've ever done fishing you do.)

        I thought of the bird's PERSISTENCE in her efforts. No matter how many times she failed, the bird kept on trying. How often do you and I show this kind of persistence in our endeavors? Even though the odds of getting that particular piece of string were greatly against the bird, I found myself hoping that she would succeed.

        I thought of the bird's FOCUS on the string. She was oblivious to the fact that the string was attached to an immovable object. All she saw was the string, and she went after it. How often do we keep a singular focus on a particular goal? Too often we allow our focus to scatter to several objectives, and then we wonder why we don't succeed in achieving any of them.

        I thought the bird had great CONFIDENCE. Her intention was to get that string. The bird was not deterred by the fact that a large boat was in her way. Watching the scene unfold as time and again the bird would try to fly away with that string, I almost expected to see the boat lift off the ground. 

        We need to be PERSISTENT, FOCUSED, and CONFIDENT in our efforts as we serve the Lord. I am sure we will find more success in our endeavors.Haha, just a thought! God Bless You!

WILLIAM BRANHAM. LOS ANGELES WILL SINK

William Branham - The Spirit behind modern and contemporary christian Music

CHRIST & HIS BRIDE by WILLIAM BRANHAM