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Living The Solution – Online Newsletter |
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March 7, 2005 ISSUE |
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Opening Thoughts:
Opposites can teach us a lot. The themes of light and dark
or sight and blindness are often used in scripture to make
the point that we frequently don’t see things the way
God does. The sins of hypocrisy and spiritual blindness are
some of the most difficult to root out because when we are
this way we can believe we are right, and therefore, righteous.
I do believe there are fundamental true
principles in life. However, I must never stop seeking
to understand more fully God’s great love for all
of creation. This understanding is not head knowledge
(although growing intellectually can be a positive) nor
is it a bible-thumping legalistic approach.
What it comes down to is a willingness to be open-minded
and honest that “I” am not the god in my
life and the trap of operating that way can only result
in futility. Being separate from God is a choice we can
make because of our free will. The flipside of the choice
is to be with God and absorbed into the mystery. It’s
a hard choice because you give up what you know for something
vast and beyond our limited understanding.
Don’t worry – they are many others traveling
this path – and One who went before and is leading
the way.
Peace and joy,
Tom Gilbert
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IN THIS ISSUE
Feature Article: The Gospel of The Righteousness of God
In The Spotlight: God’s
Politics
Daily Thoughts: Your Personal Relationship
Prayer & Sharing Requests
Quotable: Truth and Joy
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| FEATURED
ARTICLE |
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The
Gospel of The Righteousness of God
Article by Donna J. Shepherd
God is the judge
God is the moral governor of the universe, the judge of all the earth. Isaiah 45:24
— "Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have
I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come;
and all that are incensed
against him shall be ashamed.” We see our need
to come to the Lord for righteousness.
We need a Savior
Starting with the first chapter of Romans, Paul proclaims, “For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness"
(Romans 1:16-18).
These verses state the power of the gospel, the aim
of the gospel which is salvation, and that the extent
of the gospel is to everyone, to the Jew first, and also
to the Greek, and that the righteous will live by faith.
Read the entire article here.
Discover more thought provoking articles
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| IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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God’s Politics
 Since
when did believing in God and having moral values make
you pro-war, pro-rich and pro-Republican? While the Right
in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop
up its political agenda, the Left hasn’t done much
better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating
moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy.
This new book by respected evangelist,
writer and speaker Jim Wallis challenges some of the
common held ideas about religion and politics in our
country today. Buy it here
See more at our Spotlight Specials page
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has resources to help you grow spiritually. It’s
secure, extensive with many great gift ideas!
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There is something for everyone. When you shop with us,
you support our ministry – thank you!
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DAILY THOUGHTS & REFLECTIONS |
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Your Personal Relationship
Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple
Jesus loved following right behind. When Peter noticed him, he asked Jesus, "Master,
what's going to happen to him?" Jesus said, "If I want him to
live until I come again, what's that to you? You--follow me." That
is how the rumor got out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn't
die. But that is not what Jesus said. He simply said, "If I want
him to live until I come again, what's that to you?"
(John 21:20-23 — The Message)
The relationship God wants with us is
a personal relationship. What about the word personal do
we not understand? Most of us go around comparing ourselves
and our relationship with God with the relationship He
has with others. Most of the time we are doing the comparison
in an effort to show that we are doing OK, we’re
not as bad as the other guy, but we also spend time worrying
about how and why God blesses them and not us. We wonder
why they get the “good” stuff we don’t.
In C.S. Lewis’ book, A Horse And His Boy, the central
character in the book, after learning that the lion that
has been chasing him the whole story, and who has just
recently severely wounded the boy’s companion, is
Aslan, the character of God in Lewis’ story. The
boy asks Aslan why He did it, to which Aslan replies, “That’s
her story, that’s between me and her. You and I have
a relationship and she and I have a relationship, and how
I deal with each of you is just as individual and different
as you are different from each other and how I choose to
relate and deal with someone else is none of your concern,
it’s not your story, it’s theirs.”
The same goes for our God and the relationships He has with people all over the
world. There is only one relationship we need to worry about and that is ours.
We have enough problems and difficulties of our own in understanding what God
is doing in our lives and what He wants us to do; we certainly don’t need
to be wasting valuable time and energy on worrying about God’s relationship
with others. If we would spend half as much time working on and developing our
relationship with God as we do worrying and complaining to God about His relationship
with others, we would be so much closer to Him, stronger in Him and usable by
Him, we would actually be close to being who He created us to be.
God created us each unique for a unique personal relationship with Him and for
a task or mission that only we can, with His help and power, fulfill. We are
all different by design for a purpose, for God’s purpose, and our job is
to find out what that purpose is and make ourselves available to God to be used
for that purpose. What God does and what mission He has for some else is, well,
none of our concern. As Jesus said “...what is that to you?”
Choose this day what you are going to do. Will you continue to worry about God’s
personal relationship with others or His relationship with you? Become what you
were meant to be, be that unique person that God created you to be, for that
special purpose and mission that only you can fulfill.
Live it with Passion
Pete Reinbold
Get daily inspiration with a Scripture verse and commentary
at
Daily Thought
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PRAYER REQUESTS & RESULTS |
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Prayer works. It really does.Submit your prayer
requests and we will pray for them.
Of course, we keep your information confidential.
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My thoughts are shared regularly on the pages of
our web site, especially on
the Journal pages.
We welcome and appreciate your feedback. If you would
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It is our hope that the content of Living The Solution will
stimulate you to deepen your faith. That is certainly a result for us in both
our writing and reading. If you would like to see articles on a particular topic
or you have comments please let us know.
Send an email
Quotable: Truth and Joy
"As for joy, you cannot separate
joy from truth. There is no joy in ignoring or denying
truth. The rejection of truth is the rejection of joy.
And by embracing truth, even truth that is difficult
and unpleasant, we are made ready to really embrace
joy."
— Randy Alcorn
Copyright 2005 Living the Solution, all rights reserved.
Tom Gilbert
Editor/Web-servant
Living The Solution
www.livingthesolution.com
P O Box 25584
Albuquerque, NM 87125-5584
Toll free 1-800-399-2564 ext 105 (US only) or 505-247-3232
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God's
Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left
Doesn't Get It
by Jim Wallis
order
here
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