Gospel tract saving lonely old lady, attempting suicide Tuesday, Sep 26 2006 

Inspirational story – Gospel tract saving lonely old lady, attempting suicide

Dear All Greetings!

Hoping that you are doing well. Hereby sending you an inspirational story. May be most of you would have read the same story more than one time. However I believe that this story can remind/refresh you something that you are supposed to do. Take time to read. IT IS WORTH READING ONCE AGAIN!!!

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven-year- old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, “OK, dad, I’m ready.” His Pastor dad asked, “Ready for what?” “Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.” Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring down rain.” The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?” Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.” Despondently, the boy asks, Dad, can I go? Please?” His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful son.” “Thanks Dad!” And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted. Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer. Finally, this eleven-year- old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch. He rang again and this time the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, “What can I do for you, son?” With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that *JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU* and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE.” With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave. She called to him as he departed. “Thank you, son! And God Bless You!” Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, “Does anybody have testimony or want to say anything?” Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, “No one in this church knows me. I’ve never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on that chair, so lonely and broken-hearted I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, “I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.” I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, “Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.” I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder. When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you! The words that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead, TO LEAP TO LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, ” Ma’am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.” Then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand. As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn’t need them any more. You see—I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of your church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say THANK YOU to God’s little angel who came just in the nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell.” There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of praise and honour to THE KING resounded off the very rafters of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated. He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably. Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and probably this universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love & honour for his son… Except for One. This Father also allowed His Son to go out into a cold and dark world. He received His Son back with joy unspeakable, and as all of heaven shouted praises and honour to The King, the Father sat His beloved Son on a throne far above all principality and power and every name that is named.

Spiritual Pride Wednesday, Sep 20 2006 

Spiritual Pride

Christians attending Charismatic/famous church with lively worship thinks better about her/his position in worshipping God when compared to those who cannot attend a similar one. S(he) who have better knowledge of Bible and other spiritual related issues would have room to be proud of  their knowledge. S(he) who sacrifices their time, talent and other resources would at times convey their achievements and accomplishments in a way which in turn would promote pride. The one, who is good at singing, preaching/teaching, leading etc., would often think low of others. When we grow spiritually and get involved in Christian activities and accomplishments, we tend to display pride in Spiritual matters. It could be called as Spiritual Pride.

And also if we look into the matter, we will realize that we will have no reason to boast about our works and us because whatever the success we have earned would have come from the contributions from so many known and unknown means and persons. Could we have achieved, what we achieved if we would not have had the exposures to the writings of   others, experiences of others, the skills learnt from others and without the support of those who has inspired and helped us. We have not chosen God; He has chosen us (John 15:16). It is God Who wills in us to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). It is God Who gives to every man his measure of faith (Romans 12:3). It is God Who orders the thoughts of a righteous man (Proverbs 16:3). Anything and everything that a Christian might accomplish is by grace, and God’s Holy Spirit.

Spiritual pride is more like Cancer and it originates and grows secretly and it would kill our Spiritual nature unless we diagnose and treat it at the right time. Spiritual Pride can become mother of other sins like lust, lie, etc. Humble Christian would display lowliness, mildness, meekness, gentleness of spirit and behavior, and with a soft, sweet, condescending, winning air and deportment; these things are just like garments to him, he is clothed all over with them. So let us take time and conscious efforts to crucify the sin in spiritual dressing. May God give us sufficient grace to grow in true humility  

Overcoming Sinful nature Monday, Sep 11 2006 

Overcoming Sinful nature 

We regularly struggle with sin, the weakness that tempts us and causes us to fall almost every time. All of us struggle with sin in our lives. Living life in the spirit is not an easy task, but it is necessary if we have to live life up to His expectation. Living for Christ is very counter culture.  

The following 4 helpful steps can help every Christian to overcome Sin 

Deny yourself.  The problem most of us have to deal with is that we are not ready to deny ourselves. We cannot hold on to our old sinful nature and reach for a life of spiritual fulfillment at the same time. We must let go of one or the other. The ‘one more times’ never ended and never will end. There are countless ways to justify just one more sin but you must be determined to say “No“. 

Identify areas of compromises in your life. When it comes to sinful habits; we need to identify compromises. The silly common compromises and self justifications we make every day, feed our Sinful nature and make Carnal nature stronger and spiritual man weaker.  The temptation battle is won or lost by how we choose to live our everyday life. The key to resisting temptation is to identify the habits and compromises that leads from one step to another 

Set yourself disciplines. Job 31:1 says, I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a beautiful woman. That is discipline. Make a decision /commitment and stick to it. If we never compromise, we will never fall back into temptation.

 

Feed your spiritual nature. To live a victorious life the way God intended, we have to shift that balance of power away from our sinful nature. We spent most of our lives allowing our old nature to grow and it has become very strong. The discipline that is spoken above will starve that old nature, but alternatively we must feed the spiritual nature. Time of prayer, fellowship with believers in God, time with Bible, involvement in ministries etc will help to feed the spiritual nature. 

Wishing you a successful Christian living!