OzThoughts Friday 5th December 2008

OzThoughts Friday 5th December 2008

In my devotional time, I read again what we know as we know as the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the
Serenity to accept the things I can not change...
Courage to change the things I can and
Wisdom to know the difference...

As I write this I think of Robert, the blind man I led from the captivity of his almost bare bedroom where he was imprisoned by his “relatives”. I think of his joy at being free.

I think of Nick born in a body that had no arms or legs. I see and hear his joy in accepting that his different body does not imprison him to a life of despair. I hear the joy of his freedom to serve God with what God has given him.

I think of one woman I visited yesterday in hospital. She is a woman in the middle years of her life. She has suffered much and is recovering from yet more surgery. Pain has been a constant companion. At the moment she is not eating solid food, but she is full of hope and Christian faith for the future. She was telling me how she will eat Christmas lunch with friends and what a wonderful time it will be. By the way, her husband has his own health battles and is being given treatment for leukemia.

I think of another woman of similar age who has just undergone brain surgery to remove the part which is causing her to have regular seizures. She has been sharing the love of Jesus and the hopes he has in him with all who come to her hospital bed. Her witness is carried out quietly but with great confidence.

I think of Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth:

16 He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read,
17 he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

18 God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
19 to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent.
21 Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I rejoice in the freedom to live that comes through Jesus. I pray that I may do my part to announce that Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem came that we might have freedom and life.

Father, I pray today for my friends who are captured for the moment by illness, worry and stress, and sadness at the passing of love ones. I pray that you will be with them and the prayers, smiles and hugs of loved ones may minister to them in your name and they shall find freedom through Jesus. Amen.

[Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_163.mp3 ]

Jesus, tender lover of my soul,
Pardoner of my sins, and friend indeed,
Keeper of the garden of my heart,
Jesus, thou art everything to me.

Chorus
Jesus, thou art everything to me,
Jesus, thou art everything to me,
All my lasting joys are found in thee;
Jesus, thou art everything to me.

What to me are all the joys of earth?
What to me is every sight I see,
Save the sight of thee, O Friend of mine?
Jesus, thou art everything to me.

Here I lay me at thy bleeding feet,
Deepest homage now I give to thee;
Hear thy whispered love within my soul;
Jesus, thou art everything to me.
Authors: Edward Henry Joy (1871-1949) (verses),
Arthur Smith Arnott (1870- 1941) (chorus)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 600
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