The Torah states that the LORD is close to us… 

“in all our calling to Him” (Deut. 7:7). 

He listens to all of our heart’s cry – our yearning, our lament, as well as our praise, and attends to our daily needs. 

Our part is to turn to God for help in all that we do: we are to “know Him in all our ways” (בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ) by trusting in his nearness (Prov. 3:5-6). 

The Torah states that the LORD is close to us “in all our calling to Him” (Deut. 7:7). He listens to all of our heart’s cry – our yearning, our lament, as well as our praise, and attends to our daily needs. 

Our part is to turn to God for help in all that we do: we are to “know Him in all our ways” (בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ) by trusting in his nearness (Prov. 3:5-6). 

Even if we feel our prayer is unanswered, we trust despite our temporary darkness, believing that God sees our need and knows what is best for us. 

God is close “in all our calling to Him” (בְּכָּל־קָרְאֵנוּ אֵלָיו), and therefore we are often brought to a place of need. 

We can endure suffering and find acceptance as we call upon God for help in all that we do, then if we feel our prayer is unanswered, we trust despite our temporary darkness, believing that God sees our need and knows what is best for us. 

God is close “in all our calling to Him” (בְּכָּל־קָרְאֵנוּ אֵלָיו), and therefore we are often brought to a place of need. We can endure suffering and find acceptance as we call upon God for help in all that we do. 

[Hebrew for Christians] 

The Twelve Disciples: Were they management potential?

MEMO

TO: JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH, WOODCRAFTER CARPENTER SHOP, NAZARETH

FROM: JORDAN MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS, JERUSALEM

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.

We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely yours, 
Jordan Management Consultants

[From: “Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time” by Greg Ogden – printed in SoJo Mail for 30 October 2003.] 

—

Getting our head around the fact that God’s ways and thoughts are truly not the ways of man or of this world. 

Jesus instructed His disciples to come to Him and learn of Him, and we are told in the Bible that the wisdom of this world is far different from the wisdom of God, and so by the spirit we are to operate with the mind of Christ. 

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  <ΙΧΘΥΣ><

     Jesus 

    Christ

    Son of 

    God

    Saviour

Sent on a 

Samsung Galaxy Note® 3

Breaking through the obstacles and resistance of life… 

Success in life for the Christian means reaching  your destiny and fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. 

Jesus said that he came that we may have life and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Are we not all intuitively looking for that Abundant Life, something to give our life meaning and purpose, to rock our world and give us a sense of completeness and fullness? 

Who better to determine how to give us that sense a completeness and purpose, than the One who authored and gave us our life to begin with?

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible:

Psalm 139:13-18

Living Bible (TLB)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. 15 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! 16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!

17-18 How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me.<span data-fn="#fen-TLB-14038a" class="footnote" data-link="[a]” style=”box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;”>[a] And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

God has created each of us with a god-sized void inside of us, that can only be filled with Himself! 

So if we’re going to learn to be successful at life, the way God wants us to be, the way he has intended for us to be, then we’re going to have to learn to cooperate with Him, and put on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11). 

God’s ways are not ours, and if we’re going to comply with the plan God has predestined for us, then we’re going to have to learn His ways and forsake our own. 

This is true in every part of our life and particularly in spiritual warfare. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 

5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 

6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Come join the Adventure! 

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                   ΙΧΘΥΣ

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior

—

Ps 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! 

Sent from my 

Samsung Galaxy Note® 3 

—

Break Through the Wall

By Kenneth Copeland

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. – Philippians 4:13

You’re running the race set before you, moving full speed ahead with God’s blessing overtaking you at every step.

Then suddenly, wham! You hit the wall. It may be a wall of sickness or financial trouble, of spiritual failure or family problems. But, regardless of the form it takes, the effect of “the wall” is always the same. It stops you cold.

The question is, once you hit a wall like that, what will you do?

You’ll be tempted to quit, to turn back in defeat. But don’t do it. Because God will enable you to break through that wall and keep right on going.

I’m not going to tell you it’s easy. The truth is, it’s tough. But you have to push on through the tough times if you’re ever going to have a breakthrough.

Ask any athlete. He’ll tell you that! Because if he’s a winner, he’s been there. He’s pushed his body to what seems to be the maximum. His side has hurt. His lungs have ached. He’s had cramps in his legs and thighs. And just when he felt like he couldn’t go on, he’s heard some coach yell, “Come on! Move it!”

Athletes call that “hitting the wall.” It’s a time when the body says, “That’s it. That’s all I can do. I can’t go any further. I can’t go any faster. I quit.”

But the seasoned athlete knows that “the wall” isn’t the end. It’s a signal that he’s on the verge of a breakthrough. If he’ll toughen up and push himself a little more, he’ll get a second wind. Suddenly, he’ll go faster than before. He’ll reach a level of excellence he couldn’t have reached any other way.

When you feel the worst, when failure is breathing down your neck, press into the Word as never before. 

You may meditate on a particular scripture for days and even weeks sometimes, trying to get a revelation of it, seemingly without success.

Then suddenly, like the dawn of the morning, light will come pouring in. You’ll see the way to break through. 

All you have to do is punch one little hole in that wall of problems, dig one tiny hole in it with your faith and with the Word of God.

Then keep tearing away at that hole. Don’t quit! And, before long, the forces of God will come bursting through, demolishing every obstacle in their path!

Once that happens you’ll never be the same again. You’ll be hooked. It will only take one breakthrough like that to make a never-dying, never-quitting champion out of you.