#67 / 06 October 2003

Positive Words Newsletter
Editor: Peter Wade
----- http://www.peterwade.com -----
... the realities of Christ in you and you in Christ!
----- http://www.inChristRadio.net -----
Weekly broadcast of positive biblical teaching, listen anytime on the Internet

This month's additions to help you...

    * "The Prosperous Jesus" series continues on our weekly broadcast. The complete series gives you three hours of positive teachings on His life, miracles, and parables from a prosperity viewpoint. Previous teachings in the series can be heard from our Audio Teachings section from the Main Menu. Go to inChristRadio.net/, and also available on our Home Page.
    * We want to give away 100 CDs this week!   "In Christ" -- the power of position. This 72-minute CD is a great introduction to the power of knowing who you are in Christ. Get your copy now! (Simple conditions apply.) Also available is a six-pack for $20 postpaid, so you can hand them out to your friends.
    * New articles...
   The Grand Canyon of Scripture by Ruth Paxson. A beautiful, devotional bird's-eye view of the book of Ephesians, from one of the treasured books in my library.
   Free As Sons by Cecil Hook. Another thoughtful article on the responsibilities of being a son or daughter of God.
    * Have you read the article yet? "Why I Don't Go To Church Anymore: One Man's Story" -- challenging, controversial, but you'll think about it!
    So ENJOY! And tell us how you like our site in the Survey on the right or click on Feedback in the Main Menu.

Insights From My Writing...

I Will Act, Not Re-Act

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

As I meditate on God's Word and look back at all these years I have been studying His Word, I think about those persons who knew so much more than I did about the Bible. Overwhelmed about joining God's family when I received Christ into my life, I admired and revered the teachers who shared God's Word with me (Ephesians 4: 11-12).
     I realize now, and thank God for it, that God loves me as much as anyone else in His family. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift (Ephesians 4:7). He appointed teachers so that I could learn His Word. Step by step I have learned from God His truths which keep me living steadfastly, not swaying to the left or right.
     As I practice the presence of God, I have the tools to maintain a peaceful attitude no matter what the circumstances may be. This means that I must act in a peaceful manner, not re-act to outside sources. I know enough now to expect Satan to try to upset my peaceable kingdom. He sends darts all the time trying to bring me down to his level of darkness. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11). If I get upset by someone's rude remark or start condemning myself because Satan is reminding me of something unpleasant, I must remain calm and act on God's Word, not my own imperfect reaction.
     When I first began studying the Bible, I memorized Romans 8:35-39. It would do me well to memorize these verses again because it was thirty years ago. "In all these things we are more than conquerors..." I remember my teacher asking me "what things?"
    "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
    As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long;
    We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
    Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
    For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39). (From "Renewing Your Mind", Chapter 6, by Peter Wade, adapted by Hildy Matthews.)
    Affirmation: Thank you, Father, for giving me the resources for a sound mind. Thank you for showing me how to act on Your Word and not to re-act to worldly prodding. Today I am more than a conqueror and I radiate with God's love.

Insights from Every Chapter in the Bible
G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher and writer of over 60 books from the first half of the 20th century. In each issue he gives a comment from one verse in every chapter of the Bible. We continue with Paul's letter to the Romans.

"Present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead " (Romans 6:13).

Christianity is a living religion. The way of entrance is that of death, but it is the way that leadeth into life. This was so in the work of our Lord. In order to save, He died. The salvation into which He brings men through His death is that of life, and that more abundantly. So with all who receive that salvation. The condition upon which they do so is that of death, the self-denial which is the ending of all confidence in self, and all endeavour to win life by effort. When that condition is fulfilled, life is received as a grace-gift of God. Then dedication begins. This is an important distinction.
    When the soul yields to Christ, it is not giving anything to God. It has nothing to give. It is sinful, unworthy. It yields just as it is, because it cannot make itself worthy, and because in grace He calls for its surrender and trust. When this surrender of a sinful and unworthy being is made, He takes the polluted life, and pardons, cleanses, and renews it. Now the renewed, cleansed, pardoned one is called upon to present himself or herself to God, as alive from the dead. "Just as I am," I cannot dedicate myself to God; but I can yield myself to the Saviour. When I am what the Saviour makes me, I can present myself to God, and I shall be accepted in the Beloved. Such dedication is implicit in my yielding to Christ. It must be explicit in the resulting life.

Hymns we no longer sing...

It was a real thrill to me to hear in person songwriter Robert Harkness in the late 1960s. He was in the sunset of his life, having travelled the world as a pianist with many of the leading evangelists of his day. An Australian, he wrote several hundred hymns, some of which appeared in "Alexander's Hymns". In the meeting, he asked for a scripture verse from the audience and composed a chorus on the spot! He also made a statement about songwriting that I've never forgotten... "Remember the power of repetition!" Here's one of his hymns that we don't hear any more.