Why We Are Here - Apples of Gold - September 21, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 21, 2009

“Why We Are Here”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Many students are required to do community service.

One student told me she didn’t like that idea.

“They just do it to get it on their record,” she said.

“But at least they’re doing it,” I said.  “It’s better to do good because you are required to than to do no good at all.”

So I like the idea of required community service for students.  The main reason is that it opens the student’s eyes to the world around them.  It gets them outside the box of their little teenage existence.

For example, how many kids will volunteer on their own to help out at a homeless shelter?  Not many.  But some that are required to will end up having a passion for it.

Our communities are full of volunteers doing good deeds.  People helping people. 

And as Christians, that’s exactly what we are supposed to be doing:  good works.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works…”

This is what we were made for.  It’s why we are here.  We function at our best when we are doing good works.

Steve Smith was a local man who recently passed away.  He was the head of The Men’s Fraternity of Wakulla.  One of the key missions for this group of men was to pool their talents and do good deeds for the people of Wakulla County.  For example, say an older woman had a back porch that was rotting.  They would go in and build a new one.

Then, instead of leaving a bill, they would just leave a little card with this headline, “Why We’re Here.”  One line inside the card says, “I want you to see God’s love in my service.”

The Men’s Fraternity of Wakulla is just one example of people doing good deeds.  Of course there are unlimited ways of doing good deeds. 

My goal today is to bring the need for good deeds back to the top of your mind.

What can you do as a good deed for others?

I know one woman with a passion for people in old folk’s homes.  She will visit them and take them gifts and even entertain them.  It’s not a paid job, it’s just a good deed that she does.

Titus 2:14 uses this phrase, “zealous for good works.”  That’s what we need to be, zealous for good works.

What good work are you zealous for?

I know several people who are foster parents.  That is an amazing good work, so necessary and so difficult.  I know people who adopt children, which becomes a lifelong good deed.

Galatians 6:10 says, “…as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

That means, when you are looking around for good deeds to do, a good place to start is within your own church. 

But we don’t hide our good deeds inside the church.  First Peter 2:12 says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

So we do good deeds within the church, and we do good deeds out in the community.  And we do them in such a way that people will see them and glorify God in the process.

Titus 3:8 says we should, “…be careful to maintain good works.”

Maintaining good works is a little more challenging than just doing a good work once in a while.  It’s not that hard to do the occasional good deed.  But doing good deeds is something we should do, and keep on doing.

Titus 3:14 uses this phrase, “…learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs…”

So when you are looking around for a good deed to do, look for the most urgent needs.  Yes, there are many nice things we can do, but urgent needs take priority.

One thing that can quickly dry up your good deeds is when you suddenly have a great need yourself.  Don’t let that happen. 

First Peter 4:19 says that, even when we ourselves are suffering, we should continue to do good. 

One thing to keep in mind is that, as you do good works, you are setting a good example for others.  Paul wrote in Titus 2:7 that in all things he should show himself to be a pattern of good works.

So when other people look at our lives, do they see us as a pattern of good works?

Tabitha was, according to Acts 9:36.  It says she was a woman “full of good works and charitable deeds…”

First Timothy 6:18 uses this phrase, “…to be rich in good deeds…”

So what can you do to be full of good works and rich in charitable deeds?  Look around.  There are so many needs.  No, you can’t meet them all, but you can meet some. 

Hebrews 10:24 says we should spur one another on “toward love and good deeds,” so consider this your spur today.  It’s time to get the horse moving.

This is what we were made for.  It’s why we are here.  We function at our best when we are doing good works.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

What Did Jesus Mean By Resist Not Evil? - Apples of Gold - September 18, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 18, 2009

“What Did Jesus Mean By Resist Not Evil?”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Do not resist an evil person.”

That’s exactly what it says in Matthew 5:39.  The King James says, “…resist not evil…”

Well what on earth does that mean?

Do we take that literally?  Does it apply in all situations, for everyone, all the time?  Are we to never resist evil?

Just think what kind of society we would have if no one resisted evil.  If good people didn’t take a stand, evil would prevail.  Gangs would run the cities.  Hitlers would run the nations.  The world would quickly become a terrible place.

Now look what Jesus said in Luke 6.  “If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.”

Well what would that world look like?  First of all, you would have nothing, because plenty of people want everything you have and would ask for it instantly if you were giving it away.  And if they knew you wouldn’t resist, they would just come take it.

And don’t forget all the sickos out there.  Someone would take your wife and kids.  And if we give to everyone who asks, and we don’t resist evil, then evil people will ask for all kinds of evil things.

The world would become a wretched place so fast you would go insane.

Does something inside you say, “That can’t be right”?

But if it isn’t, then what did Jesus mean?  And how do we know?  I mean, we can’t just take the Bible and make it fit our preconceived notions. 

Well here is what we do.  We use the Bible as a whole to help us understand the parts.

For example, Jesus said, “Do not resist an evil person.”

So here is a simple question.  Did Jesus Himself ever resist an evil person?

The answer is yes.  For example, in Matthew 21 the chief priests and the elders asked Him, “By what authority are you doing these things?”

A simple question, right?  But did Jesus give a simple answer?  No.

In Mark 8 the Pharisees asked Jesus for a “sign from heaven.”  Did He give it to them?  No.

More than once they tried to seize Jesus.  They even wanted to kill Him.  In Luke 4 they took him “to the brow of the hill…in order to throw him down the cliff.”  That’s what they wanted, but did Jesus give it to them?  No.

At his trial, several times, they asked for answers, but Jesus refused to give them.

In Luke 13 Jesus was told that Herod wanted to kill him.  So when Jesus learned what Herod wanted, did he go give it to him?  No.

In Luke 23, during the trial, Herod wanted Jesus to perform a miracle.  Did he?  No.

So Jesus resisted evil people many times.

And so did the disciples.  More than once they were told to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, but did they?  No.  Acts 5:42 says, “…they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

So is there an explanation for this behavior? 

Yes there is.  Look at Acts 4:18, 19.  “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.’”

So there’s the answer.  What God wants from us takes priority over what people want from us.

For example, First Timothy 5:8 says that I must provide for my family.  So what if an evil person wants to take my provision for my family?  Or what if someone simply asks for everything I own.  Am I supposed to give it to them?

Well if I do, then I’m not providing for my family. 

And you know what?  There are plenty of people out there who would love to kill me just for the sport of it.  There are places in this world where radical Muslims would love nothing more than to decapitate me for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So should I just let them, not resist them?

That’s not what Jesus did, so that must not be what He meant by, “Do not resist an evil person” and “Give to everyone who asks.”

So what did He mean?  What did Jesus mean by anything He said?  We find out by looking at the entirety of His teaching, not just by pulling one thing out here and there and treating it like a blanket statement. 

Yes, we do what Jesus said – within the context of all that He said.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Remember That Omnipotence Has Servants Everywhere - Apples of Gold - September 17, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 17, 2009

“Remember That Omnipotence Has Servants Everywhere”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

 

One hundred and fifty-four years ago, Thomas T. Lynch wrote:

“Say not, my soul, ‘From whence
Can God relieve my care?’
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere.”

I know it’s hard to follow poems on the radio, so let me say it again.

“Say not, my soul, ‘From whence
Can God relieve my care?’
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere.”

That really encourages me, to know that God has servants everywhere.  That means that wherever I go, whatever situation I’m in, God has someone nearby that can help.

Like when our washer broke down the other day.  It’s not that old, and my wife was none too pleased.  Who wants to spend a bunch of money fixing something that shouldn’t be broken in the first place?

Meanwhile, somewhere along the line, I guess one of the kids put a Wave 94 window cling on the washing machine.  You know how it is when you have a bunch of kids in the house, things end up in weird places.  So there it was, plain as day on the washer, Every Day is a Praise Day at Wave 94.

So anyway, the washer repairman showed up, and guess what?  Turns out he listens to Wave 94.

Now I’m not saying he treated us differently.  I don’t know.  But he did treat us very well.  We were very blessed to have that man work on our washer.

So that was a situation that felt like a curse, but ended up feeling like a blessing – because one of God’s servants came walking through the door.

And I can’t tell you how many times that has happened in my life, where I found myself in a jam, then all of a sudden one of God’s servants came on the scene.

“Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.”

It reminds me of the story in Mark 14, when Jesus sent two disciples to prepare for the Last Supper.  He told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him.  Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks; Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’  He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.”

Apparently the disciples didn’t know the owner of the house, yet he had a larger upper room, furnished and ready. 

That meant that, before the disciples knew anything about it, that man was prepared for them.

“Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.”

Now I’m thinking of the story in First Kings 19, when Elijah was whining to God.  “I have been very zealous for You, but the Israelites have rejected You and killed Your prophets and I am the only one left.”

And God said, “…I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal…”

Elijah thought he was all alone, but God informed him that there were actually 7,000 more like him.

“Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.”

Now I’m thinking of something that Paul said at the end of the book of Philippians.  He wrote about the saints in “Caesar’s household.” 

In the household of Caesar you might not expect to find fellow Christians, and yet there they were, servants of God.

Remember the Philippian jailer, how he and his whole household were saved?  I wonder how many times after that he served other Christians at surprising points in their life.

And it’s more than just people.  Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

And remember the story in Second Kings 6, when Elisha’s servant looked out and saw an army surrounding the city?  He ran back to Elisha and said, “Oh my lord, what shall we do?”  And Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”  And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire.

And don’t forget Balaam’s donkey, or the fish with money in its mouth, or the fish that swallowed Jonah. 

Psalm 119:91 says of the Lord, “…for all things serve You.”

So be encouraged today, no matter what situation you find yourself in.

Just remember these lines that Thomas T. Lynch wrote so many years ago:

“Say not, my soul, ‘From whence
Can God relieve my care?’
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


Here is that poem in its entirety:

Say not, my soul, 'From whence
'Can God relieve my care?'
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere.

God's help is always sure,
His method seldom guessed;
Delay will make our pleasure pure,
Surprise will give it zest.

His wisdom is sublime,
His heart profoundly kind;
God never is before His time,
And never is behind.

Hast thou assumed a load,
Which few will share with thee,-
And art thou carrying it for God,
And shall He fail to see?

Be comforted at heart,
Thou art not left alone;
Now, thou the Lord's companion art;
Soon, thou wilt share His throne.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Don't Give Up On Them! - Apples of Gold - September 16, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 16, 2009

“Don’t Give Up On Them!”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“He was just a stubborn old you-know-what.”

That’s what Allison said about her father-in-law, Arnold Dean.

And when it came to church his attitude was, “Just do your own thing and leave me out of it.”

His wife begged him, and he actually did come when she was baptized, but going to church was something he had no interest in.

Now let me ask you, do you have a loved one like this?  They’re just not interested in God or church or religion – and they certainly don’t want to hear anything about Jesus or sin or forgiveness.

Well here is the message for you today.  Don’t give up on them!

Now back to crusty old Arnold Dean.  I said “old,” but really he was only 51, and he wasn’t all that crusty.  His heart was just hard to the things of God.

Then he got cancer.  And that changed everything, right?

Well, no.  It didn’t.

Even after the radiation, even after losing his hair, they still had to basically beg him just to go to church on Easter Sunday.

So there he was, reluctant, but there.  Allison decided that she just had to get her father-in-law down to the altar. 

So she grabbed him and said, “Come up front with me.”

“No, no, no, no,” he said.

“Please just come up there,” she said.  She was crying.

“Allison, this is more for you than for me.”

“Then do it for me.” 

“So I drug him up there,” she said, “and he was just grumbling.  I asked the pastor, ‘Will you just pray for him?’”

And guess what happened to Mr. Arnold Dean there at the altar that beautiful Easter Sunday?

Well, apparently nothing.

“I’m gonna kill you,” he told Allison afterwards. 

“He was embarrassed and irritated,” she said. 

Have you ever done that with a loved one?  You thought it was just the right moment.  “This is the day!  This is the time, I just know it!”  And then…nothing.  They just get more irritated with you than ever.

Maybe you’re in that spot right now, that “nothing zone” where you have tried and failed and you almost feel like washing your hands of them.  “It’s between them and God now,” you say to yourself.  “I’ve done all I can do.”

Well here is the message for you today.  Don’t give up on them!

June rolled around and Arnold’s health was getting worse.  He was in the hospital and not doing well.

One Monday Allison and a friend went to visit.  Her mother-in-law Barbara was there, and also there to visit were the pastor and the pastor’s brother.

At some point, as pastors always do when making hospital visits, Pastor Brian said to Arnold, “Well, can we pray for you?”

So they all stood around his bed and held hands.  It was nothing special, Allison said, just normal praying.

“All of a sudden,” she said, “we heard this childlike voice.  I had to look around to see who it was.”

It was Mr. Arnold Dean – crying out to God.

“Jesus, Jesus.  I’m sorry.  I’ve ran from you my whole life.  I can’t do this anymore.  I can’t do this alone.  Please, the rest is yours.  If you’ll just forgive me for what I’ve done until now, you can have what’s left of it.”

He continued blurting out to God in broken sentences, repenting in that humble, childlike voice.

“It was thick in that room,” Allison said.  “I have never been in a room like that.  The Spirit was strong.  It was a glorious and intense moment.  I can’t even explain it.”

The pastor said, “I’ve been around this stuff since I was 15 years old, but I’ve never felt anything like that.”

And from that moment on, Allison said, Arnold Dean was a changed man. 

“I thought he would just go through the motions,” she said, “but it was complete.  He was surrendered.”

After that he prayed and he told others how he just wanted to love God.

That was on June 15^th, 2009.

This past Thursday Mr. Dean passed away.

“I’m so grateful for his salvation,” Allison said, “and knowing where he’s at now.”

And what would Allison say to anyone who is struggling with an unsaved loved one?

“There’s hope!” she said.  “If he can change, anybody can change.”

So if you have a lost loved one, and their heart seems hard toward the things of God, and it just seems like they will never come to the Lord, well here is the message for you today.

Don’t give up on them!


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.



© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

New Creations, Old Temptations - Apples of Gold - September 14, 2009 -vi-

To listen to the radio version, click here.

 

To search archives, click here.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 14, 2009

“New Creations, Old Temptations”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Paul was born again. 

If there was ever anyone who was born again, it was Paul.

If there was ever anyone walking in the Spirit and living in the Spirit and having the fruit of the Spirit, it was Paul.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…”

Then in Galatians 5:24 he wrote, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

So in Christ, Paul was a new creation; the old was gone!  The old Paul was crucified and no longer lived.  He had crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

That’s awesome!  No more battles with sin.  No more problems with temptation.  That’s what we will all get when we become born again Christians, right?

But wait.  In Romans 7 Paul wrote, “…what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.”  “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”  “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”  “What a wretched man I am!”

Wow, that doesn’t sound like the old was gone.  It doesn’t sound like his sinful nature had been crucified with its passions and desires.

It sounds to me like the old sinful Paul was still alive and kicking in there somewhere. 

Maybe you have experienced this, too.  You came to Christ.  You repented.  You were forgiven.  And you could really tell the difference.  You were born again!  The weight of sin had been lifted!  You were a new person, a new creation in Christ!

But then you noticed a temptation or two.  You noticed a sinful desire.  You knew it was bad, but something was pulling you towards it anyway.

“But wait a minute!  I’m a new creation in Christ!  The old has gone, the new has come!  I thought that old nature was crucified with Christ!  Why do I still feel drawn to some sin, some evil?  I thought I was done with all that.”

“Wait a minute.  Maybe it’s because I’m not saved.  Maybe I never was saved.  I mean, I thought I was.  I really thought God had changed my life.  But maybe not, otherwise, why would I struggle with this temptation?”

Well do you think the Apostle Paul was saved?  Of course he was.  And yet he battled temptation.

The Apostle Peter called it a war.  In First Peter 2:11 he wrote, “Beloved, I beg you…abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.” (NIV and NKJV)

Ephesians 2:3 calls it “the cravings of our sinful nature…its desires and thoughts.”

Different verses call it different things.  It’s the sinful nature, the old self, the old man, the earthly nature, the flesh.

“But Doug, if I still have to battle the flesh, what good did it do to get saved?”

Read Romans 6.  Before we were saved, we were slaves to sin.  But now through Christ we have been set free from that slavery.  Sin does not have to be our master.  Sin’s chains were broken.

Plus, we now have the Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us. 

So through Christ we have the tools to be victorious over sin.  That’s the good it did.

But we still have that earthly, sinful nature, with its desires that war against our soul.  In Romans 7 Paul went so far as to call it “sin living in me.”

So if there is this living thing within me, with its evil desires, what should I do about it?

Well Paul said to put it to death.  Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death…whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”

How do you do that?

Well think of this illustration.  Think of our sin nature like a pile of wood.  Technically it could burn any minute, but it won’t without heat.  For the wood to ignite, something has to come along and heat it up.  But if you keep the heat away from the wood, it will never burn.

Our sin nature is like that.  If we keep the heat away from it, it won’t burn.

Now here is a key to keeping the heat away.  Romans 13:14 says, “…do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Don’t even think about it. 

A temptation pops up.  Your sinful nature taps you on the shoulder and says, “I want that.” 

Now the battle is in your mind.  What you think about will win the battle.  And Romans says don’t even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

The King James says, “…make no provision for the flesh…”

Give the flesh no provision – no food, no water, no tools, no opportunities.  Give it nothing to work with.

Galatians 6:8 warns us that if we sow to please our sinful nature, from that nature we will reap destruction.

So we don’t even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  Instead, like it says in Romans 8:5, we should set our mind on what the Spirit desires.  Verse six talks about the “mind controlled by the Spirit.”

We are to set our mind on things above.  (Colossians 3:2)

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2)

We are to love the Lord with all of our mind.  (Mark 12:30)

And we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.  (Colossians 3:16)

So yes, we are saved, but we still have a sinful nature warring against our soul.  To win the war, we must not even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Instead, we think about what the Holy Spirit desires.  We renew our mind.  We fix it on the Lord and His Word. 

This is living the Spirit-led life, the victorious life.  It’s the life God set us free to live – a life more abundant. 

We have the power to overcome any and all of those old temptations, for in Christ we really are new creations.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.



© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Do the Hard Thing - Apples of Gold - September 10, 2009 -vi-

To listen to the radio version, click here.

 

To search archives, click here.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 10, 2009

“Do the Hard Thing”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“Do the hard thing.”

I just sent that in a text message to my daughter.

It’s something I say a lot to my children, usually when they are trying to get out of something.

Maybe they don’t feel well.  Maybe they just don’t feel like doing it.

That’s when it’s my job as Dad to step in and say, “Just do it.”

“But it’s hard.”

“Yes it’s hard.  So do the hard thing.”

One hundred and ten years ago Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech at the Hamilton Club in Chicago entitled “The Strenuous Life.”*

Roosevelt said, “I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes…to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil…”

The strenuous life – that’s interesting coming from Roosevelt.

Oh I know, you’re probably thinking of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, or Roosevelt the big game hunter.  Living a strenuous life sounds like a perfect fit for him.

But did you know that, as a child, Roosevelt was not healthy?  He had asthma and was in poor physical condition.  Then as a young man, due to heart problems, his doctor told him to find a desk job and to – get this – avoid strenuous activity.

But Roosevelt decided to do the hard thing.  Instead of taking it easy, he did the opposite.  He exercised and took up tennis and hiking and rowing and polo and horseback riding.  As governor of New York, and even as President, he actually spent time boxing until a punch left him blind in one eye.

So when Roosevelt said, “I wish to preach…the doctrine of the strenuous life…” he was his own best example.

This morning I was reading about a man in the Bible who did not shy away from the strenuous life:  Daniel.

If anyone was justified in going along with the flow, it was Daniel.  Here he was, a young captive in a foreign country. 

Then he was chosen to serve the king of Babylon.  He went into training, learned from the best teachers, and was even served food and drink from the king’s table.

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine…” it says in Daniel 1:8.

That’s what I’m talking about.  That is doing the hard thing.

He could have just “went along,” but instead he did the hard thing.

The rest of verse eight says that he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself with the king’s food and drink.

No big deal, right?  But wait.  In verse 10 we find that the chief official feared for his life!  If Daniel turned up looking less than fit, he said the king would have his head!

So here was Daniel, sacrificing his own pleasure, risking the king’s disapproval, and risking the life of the chief official – who probably had the power to do whatever he wanted to Daniel!

But Daniel made the bold move anyway, based on his conviction that, even though it was the hard thing, it was also the right thing.

And now comes the most exciting part of the story!

Verse 9 says that God caused the official to show favor to Daniel.

Daniel didn’t know it, but God was working behind the scenes on his behalf.  Daniel stepped out to do the hard thing, and the official helped him, because God caused the official to show favor to Daniel.

Proverbs 12:2 says, “A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but the Lord condemns a crafty man.”

If we take the wrong way, we end up with disfavor from the Lord.  But when we take the right way we obtain favor from the Lord.

That’s what happened to Daniel.  He took the right way, even though it was the hard way, and God granted him favor!

And that is just what I expect from the Lord in my own life.  And you can, too!

So take on the challenge.  Live the strenuous life.  Don’t just sit back and take the easy way, the lazy way, the do-nothing way.

Be inspired by Daniel.  Step out and just do it! 

And know this.  The Lord is working behind the scenes on your behalf, and favor will rise to meet you – as you do the hard thing.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


You can read the entire speech here:  http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trstrenlife.html

© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Choose Your Child's Water Fountain Carefully - Apples of Gold - September 9, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 9, 2009

“Choose Your Child’s Water Fountain Carefully”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

She walked down the hall toward the water fountain.

When you walk to the water fountain, you never think that a life-changing moment is about to happen; especially when you’re only ten years old. 

At the water fountain she talked with her two best friends, Mandy and Katie, about the latest candy craze to hit Crestview Elementary School:  Sour Patch Kids. 

Suddenly they were surrounded by a bunch of fifth grade boys.

Now remember, this is just a group of ten year olds at a school water fountain, a seemingly innocuous moment.  But watch what happened.

The boys started joking about which of the girls was sexually attractive, who was hot and who wasn’t, and who was more “developed.”

And Lesly Ludy wasn’t, according to her book “Authentic Beauty.”*

“Hey,” said one of the boys, “check out this ugly chick – she’s flatter than the plains of Kansas!”

In that unexpected moment, a seed of doubt was planted in Lesly’s mind, watered with a drop of insecurity. 

“Maybe men would always see me as ugly and undesirable,” she said.  “Maybe I was not pretty enough or talented enough or vivacious enough.  Maybe in order to be found attractive…I needed to change.”

So over the next couple of years, Lesly says she poured her energies into making herself as desirable as possible to the opposite sex. 

“I was surrounded by a culture that was constantly pushing this agenda,” she said, “that you need to have a sexual attitude as a young woman.  You need to flaunt your figure and be flirtatious and be seductive and be sensual.  By the time I was probably 12, in middle school I just played right into it.  I acted the part of being flirtatious and sexual and seductive and encouraged that kind of behavior from guys.”

By the age of fifteen, Lesly said, “I found myself being molded into the kind of girl the world expected me to be.  The next season of my life was the most hellish I have ever experienced.  I had listened to the voice of the culture and become the young woman it convinced me to be.”

When I hear Lesly’s story, my big question is, where were her parents?

She says, “I think my parents knew that I was slipping away from the values that they had instilled in me growing up, but I don’t think they understood what I was truly exposed to.”

Now let me say this.  Parents, you may be like Lesly’s parents.  You may not know what your child is being exposed to. 

And as a father of four, I fully realize you can’t follow your kids around all day and hold their hand.

But here is what you can do.  You can minimize the risk.

Yes, our children will be exposed to things, but we can minimize the risk.

One of the best things we did for our children was send them to a Christian school.  I know it’s expensive.  For most people it’s a big sacrifice.  Maybe you end up driving an older car and living in less of a house, but if that’s what it takes, I say do it. 

I know Christian schools aren’t perfect, but you are minimizing the risk.  Your daughter is less likely to be treated like a pre-teen sex object at a Christian school.  She is less likely to adopt worldly values at a Christian school. 

Lesly Ludy is less likely to have had that encounter at the water fountain at a Christian school.  Maybe she wouldn’t have sacrificed so much of herself for the boys at a Christian school. 

Your child is more likely to keep their innocence longer at a Christian school.

First Corinthians 13:7 says that love always protects.  When we love our children, we protect them.  And that means minimizing risk.

And it’s not just at school.  What about when they go over to a friend’s house?

You know what?  Your child can’t just go to everyone’s house.  You have to protect them.  You have to minimize the risk of them losing their innocence in various areas of life.

What happens when your seven-year-old goes to the friend’s house where the big brother has pornography under his bed? 

What happens when your nine-year-old stays at a friend’s house where every cable channel is unblocked?

I just heard this week about a woman who was exposed to same-sex porn as a child and it helped send her life careening down a hellish path.

And what about night spending?  Does your child really have to spend the night?  Can’t they just visit then come home?  How well do you know these people?  Even their cousins?

And you know what?  You can’t just hire the first babysitter that comes along.

And don’t think that every relative is safe.  How many terrible stories come out years later about Aunt and Uncle So-And-So?

It may sound like I’m being paranoid, but I’m just trying to get you to open your eyes to your responsibility as a parent, and that is to protect your child, minimize the risk, and prevent their exposure to certain things.

If Lesly doesn’t have that water fountain moment, maybe the next few years of her life don’t become “hellish,” as she described it. 

You see, mom and dad, things happen at water fountains.  Things happen in the most seemingly innocuous moments.  It doesn’t mean we keep our children away from every water fountain, but it does mean we choose their water fountains carefully. 

It’s about minimizing the risk.

It’s about protecting our children; because, like the Bible says, love always protects.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


*  You can read excerpts from Lesly Ludy’s book here:  http://shortcovers.com/shortcovers/Authentic-Beauty/sc-sDS0Wd3yQ0eo6HfzHkToVg/page5.html#2

You can read or listen to the interview with Lesly on Family Life Today here:  http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3832113&ct=7323137


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Remove Complaining From Your Vocabulary - Apples of Gold - September 8, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 8, 2009

“Remove Complaining From Your Vocabulary”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“I never heard them complain.”

That’s what Elisabeth Elliot said after living with the Auca Indians in Ecuador.*

“It was amazing to me how hard those Indians had to work,” she said.  “The men and the women and the children had to work their heads off in order to survive.  But I never heard them complain.”

They could put up with all kinds of things without making a fuss.  “Indians never fuss,” she said.  “In fact, there is hardly any vocabulary for complaining.”

Did you catch that?  Not only were the Auca Indians not in the habit of complaining, they really didn’t even have the words for it.

On the other end of the spectrum are people who complain about everything.  

It makes me think of Ebenezer Scrooge.  Remember in “A Christmas Carol” when Scrooge’s nephew says “Merry Christmas”? 

Now this is the mark of a professional complainer – they can even complain when someone says, “Merry Christmas!”

So the nephew says, “Merry Christmas!” and Scrooge says, “Merry Christmas?  What right have you to be merry?  You’re poor enough.”

And I love the nephew’s response.  “Come, then.  What right have you to be dismal?  You’re rich enough.”

See, complaining has nothing to do with your circumstances.

Elisabeth Elliot has a great illustration of this in her own mother.  She said, “My mother had come from a very wealthy family.  They had two maids and a butler, so she never had to do any housework until she married my father, who was relatively poor by comparison.”

So her mother went from being rich with two maids and a butler, to being married to a man of average means.  Then in the early 1900’s they became missionaries in Belgium.   

Elisabeth said, “They lived in a fifth-floor walk-up.  My father had to lug all the water up the stairs and all the water back down the stairs after it had been used.  And things were very, very tight when they were missionaries.  And that’s where I was born,” said Elisabeth.  “So it was always on my mind, ‘We don’t have anything.’”

“But,” she said, and now listen to this, “But there was never a word of complaint from my mother.”**

You talk about setting a great example for your children. 

Now stop and think about that.  What kind of example are you setting for your children?  Do they hear you complain?

Does anyone hear you complain?

When you hear complaining, it’s like a dark cloud enters the room.  Now think about what happens to children who have to live under that dark cloud.  What kind of a home is that?

Philippians 2:14 says, “Do everything without complaining…”

Have you ever run across someone that you don’t dare ask them how they are doing?  It’s because you know they will just start complaining. 

And yet we are supposed to do everything without complaining.  There should be no complaining about anything.

Now that doesn’t mean you close your eyes to problems.  It doesn’t mean you can’t discuss problems or work on them.  But that’s not the same as complaining about them.

Ephesians 4:29 says this is what should come out of our mouth:  “…what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Complaining never edifies, it never imparts grace.

Numbers 11:1 says this, “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and His anger was kindled…”

Complaining:  people don’t want to hear it, and the Lord doesn’t want to hear it.

How to stop?  First of all, pay attention to your own words.  Are you complaining?  Keep track of it. 

Another thing, avoid people who complain.  It’s too easy to join in.  Hang around complainers and you will end up just like them.

Instead, work on Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

We must remove complaining from our vocabulary.

We don’t want to be the complainers that bring the dark cloud in the room.  Instead, we want to be like the people in Philippians 2 who don’t complain and become blameless and pure, children of God who shine like stars in the universe!


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


Elisabeth Elliot talks about the Auca Indians:  http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Gateway-to-Joy/Responses-to-Feelings.html

Elisabeth talks about her mother:  http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Gateway-to-Joy/Women-Today.html

© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place - Apples of Gold - September 2, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 2, 2009

“A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

The shoes were all over the floor.

You couldn’t even go into the closet because of all the shoes.

They weren’t sitting upright.  They weren’t even paired together.  It was literally just a pile of shoes.

That’s what our closet looked like right after we moved.  And you know, when you move into a new home, getting the shoes straight is not the first order of priority.  So it stayed that way for a couple of days.

I got up in the morning and had to kick shoes out of the way to reach my clothes.  Then I had to root around in the pile to find a pair that matched.

That is a great example of disorder, and you can see the problems it caused.

First of all, you can trip on the pile.  Second, looking through the pile is a waste of time.  And third, it’s hard on the shoes.

As you can imagine, we didn’t put up with that for long.  I bought a little rack that fit perfectly in the closet, and now the shoes are lined up neatly in pairs, row by row.

In the morning I take a pair off the rack and put them on.  And in the evening I take off the shoes and put them right back on the rack.

It reminds me of one of my all time favorite sayings, one I tried to drill into my children.  Here it is:

“A place for everything and everything in its place.”

So start with “a place for everything.”  At first we didn’t have a place for shoes.  The shoes had no place.  Then I bought the rack.  Now the shoes have a place.  That’s the first step toward order, that everything has a place where it belongs.

Look around your house, or your office, or your vehicle.  Is there disorder? 

“Yes, but who cares, Doug?”

Well disorder causes problems.  It wastes time, it’s hard on the stuff, and sometimes it’s downright hazardous. 

So take the first step towards order.  Pick up something and ask, “Does this have a place?”  If the answer is no, then create a place for it, a place where it belongs, where it can always be found, where it’s out of the way and protected.

“But Doug, I’m just not an orderly person.”

I understand that.  Some people are more gifted in this area than others.  First Corinthians 12:28 talks about people with “gifts of administration.”  Some people can just “see” how to administer things, to organize them and put them in order.

But we can all be more orderly.  It makes us better stewards of what God has given us, both our stuff and our time.

Now back to that old saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place.” 

You start by taking control of the situation and creating a place for everything.  Then comes the hard part for some people, and that is getting into the habit of keeping everything in its place.

Yes, I have a shoe rack, but what happens if everyday I come home and just kick off my shoes into the closet?  Soon I’m right back to that disorderly pile.

So the trick is simply putting things back into their place. 

This works for bigger things, too, such as cars.  There are six cars in our household, and no, we don’t have a six-car garage.  That means six cars parking here, there and everywhere; people parking people in, people having to move cars so others can get out.  It could be a real nightmare.

So I took control of the situation.  I mapped out a parking spot for everyone, so that no matter who’s coming or going, or when, everyone can come and go as they please without bothering anyone else.  That’s “a place for everything;” even every car.

But what happens if people don’t park in their spot?  “Oh, I was just running in the house and running right back out.  That’s why I parked you in, Dad.”

“Uh, that was five hours ago.”

“A place for every car, and every car in its place!”

Paul told the church in Colossians 2:5, “I…delight to see how orderly you are…”

In First Corinthians 14:40 the King James says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

Proverbs 28:2 says, “…a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.”

This applies at home and at work.  It applies to our money and our time.  It applies in business and government and education.

To be good stewards of what God has given us, we must take control of disorderly situations and put them in order.

And the old saying sums it up so nicely.

“A place for everything and everything in its place.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Remember the Lion and the Bear - Apples of Gold - September 1, 2009 -vi-

To listen to the radio version, click here.

 

To search archives, click here.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for September 1, 2009

“Remember the Lion and the Bear”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“You can’t do this.  You are only a boy!”

That’s what King Saul told David when he volunteered to fight Goliath.

See, Goliath was an experienced warrior, and David was just a shepherd.  Where on earth did David get the idea that he could face a giant Philistine?

Well listen to David’s reasoning.  He started by looking back on his life and finding other instances where God had delivered him.

For example, there was the time when a bear came and carried off one of his sheep.  In First Samuel 17 David said, “I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.” 

The same thing happened with a lion.  David said, “When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.”

Now it sounds like David is conceited.  In fact, that’s what his oldest brother said in verse 28, “I know how conceited you are…”

But in verse 37 David gives credit where credit is due.  He said it was the Lord who delivered him “from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear.”

So David had great confidence going into that battle with Goliath.  Why?  Because he had already seen what God could do in smaller battles.

David remembered the lion and the bear, and that strengthened his faith in the Lord for the next big battle.  He concluded, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.”

Now what about you today?  Are you standing in a valley, looking up at some Goliath?  Are you nervous and afraid, not sure how it’s going to turn out?

Then remember the lion and the bear.  Remember times in your life when God delivered you, when He provided for you and cared for you, when He came through in the clutch.

Last night my daughter sent me a text message.  It was very good news, and at the end she wrote, “Yay!  Jesus loves us, Dad!”

Now five or ten years from now she might forget all about what happened yesterday.  She might forget how God provided in a wonderful way.  And then when she faces a new challenge, she might lose heart.  She might feel nervous and afraid.

What she will need to do is remember how God provided yesterday, and so many other days.  She’ll need to remember the lion and the bear, and it will build up her faith for the next battle.

Jack Morris is a karate instructor in Tallahassee.  He maintains a little black book of remembrance.  He simply writes down the little miracles God does in His life, then he goes back and reads them.  They are excellent reminders of God’s work in the past, which build up his faith in the present.

For me this often comes in times of thanksgiving.  Sometimes when I’m praying I will take time to do nothing but give thanks.  I will let my mind wander to all the things I’m thankful for.

The other day I started thanking God for allowing me to work in Christian radio, and I remembered back when I was trying get my first full time job at a Christian radio station.  I was working at a country and pop station combo, and my convictions were running deeper by the day that I should get out of there and use whatever abilities I had for the Lord. 

I sent out a couple resumes and figured the doors would just fling wide open.

They didn’t.

I wrestled with that for a few months, and it seemed like I would never get a job in Christian radio.

Then the door finally opened, and the other day I was just remembering how grateful I was to God at the time for that opportunity, for my job to be a full time ministry.

Then it dawned on me, that was over 23 years ago.  I just turned 46, so I did the math and realized that I have now been in full time Christian radio over half my life.

And that’s funny because there were those few brief weeks when I thought I would never get into Christian radio, and now I’ve been in it forever.

God provided for me.  He opened the door for me to work in the ministry full time, which was my heart’s desire. 

And now I look back on that time and remember.  My faith is built up for the challenges of today as I remember how God met the challenges of yesterday.

 So what about you?  Are you facing a great challenge?  Is your faith withering in the shadow of the giant?

Then look back.  Think back to what the Lord has done. 

Now you might say, “Yes, but I’ve never faced anything like this before.”

That’s okay.  David had never faced Goliath before.  He had never faced any warrior before.  But he built up his faith by doing this one thing, and you can do it to, and here it is.

Remember the lion and the bear.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
 
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
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