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#09/ 29-Apl-1999

          P O S I T I V E     W O R D S
               Editor: Peter Wade

     ----- http://www.peterwade.com/ -----

IN THIS ISSUE...
1. At the Positive Words site
2. Songs I Remember
3. Positive Words for Today
4. Searchlights from the Word
5. Humor

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1. NEW AT THE POSITIVE WORDS SITE
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Our friends in the US have had taxation on their minds
this past month, and many of us in other countries will
face the unescapeable fact at 30th June. So we have chosen
as our first audio teaching "Tackling the Tax Problem", a
study from a forthcoming CD-ROM on "The Prosperous Jesus".
Check it out at http://www.peterwade.com/modules.php?name=zina . 
I am NOT teaching the Prosperity Gospel, but I do believe
in gospel prosperity... thanks to Nick Park for pointing
out the obvious in a great article "A Prosperity-Free
Bible" at 
http://members.tripod.com/~nickpark/Prosperity.htm .

OTHER ARTICLES 
Following Hard (E.W. Bullinger). "My soul followeth hard
after Thee; Thy right hand upholdeth me" (Psalm 63:8).
David's Darkness, Desire, Determination, and Delight.
http://www.peterwade.com/articles/bullingr/follow.shtml

Studies in Giving & Receiving (Peter Wade). A Bible study
folder on God's financial plan for believers.
http://www.peterwade.com/articles/wade/giving.shtml

Free From Condemantion (Peter Wade). Positive teaching on
handling condemnation. There are two types of condemnation
in the Bible.
http://www.peterwade.com/articles/wade/condemn.shtml

How Did Jesus Use His Bible? (Peter Wade). We can learn
from how Jesus handled His Bible, and follow His pattern of
using God's Word in our everyday life.
http://www.peterwade.com/articles/wade/bible.shtml

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2. SONGS I REMEMBER
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Those of us who were brought up in a church will remember
many of the songs we sung in Sunday School. Philip Bliss
wrote many songs in the late 1800s specifically to teach
Christian truth to young people. Here's one he wrote based
on Daniel 1:8, "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself."
It takes courage to be another Daniel today in a godless
society.

Standing by a purpose true, heeding God's command,
Honor them, the faithful few! 
All hail to Daniel's Band!

    Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone!
    Dare to have a purpose firm!
    Dare to make it known.

Many might men are lost, daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host, 
By joining Daniel's Band!

Many giants, great and tall, stalking thro' the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall, 
If met by Daniel's Band!

Hold the gospel banner high! On to vict'ry grand!
Satan and His host defy, 
And shout for Daniel's Band!

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3. A POSITIVE WORD FOR TODAY
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             APPLYING GOD'S PRINCIPLES

"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around
your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart"
(Proverbs 3:3 NKJV)

As I apply these four principles in Proverbs (see previous
issues), I believe and trust God that He wishes for me to
have a long life and prosperity. Computers never make a
mistake, so they tell us. So who makes the mistakes? The
people who write the programs or type in the information.
GIGO -- Garbage In, Garbage Out! Often I need to go back to
the manual, to find out where I have gone wrong and then
apply the principle.  

I will trust God, acknowledge Him, fear [reverence] Him
and honor Him. "And so find favor and high esteem In the
sight of God and man" (Proverbs 3:4), or as the KJV margin
says, "...and good success." As a Christian I have favor in
the sight of God. Applying His principles produces good
success.

God has four principles in the third chapter of Proverbs
for me to apply in order to have a successful day, month,
year. They are simple principles that anyone can apply. I
will mark my Bible in Proverbs 3:5, trust; verse 6,
acknowledge; verse 7, fear; and verse 9, honor. 

"Do not forget my teaching, let your heart [mind] keep my
principles" (Proverbs 3:1 Jerusalem Bible).(From "Outdo,
Outwit, & Outperform", Chapter 6, adapted by Hildy
Matthews.)

AFFIRMATION: I will make this hour a successful hour and
this day a successful day, resulting in a successful week.
This way I will have a successful year.

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4. SEARCHLIGHTS FROM THE WORD
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G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher and writer
from the turn of the century. In this spot each issue we
reproduce a comment from one verse in every chapter of the
Bible. We continue with the so-called "Prison Epistles" of
Paul: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon.

  "The mystery of God, even Christ" (Colossians 2:2).

  The phrase occurs in the record of another of the
Apostle's prayers. His desire for all the saints was that
they might know "the mystery of God, even Christ." That he
desired this, shows us that in the true Christian sense a
mystery is not something which cannot be known, it is
something which man is unable to discover or explain; but
it is something which may be disclosed to him, and which
therefore he may know. And that is perhaps Paul's ultimate
word about Christ. The last word has never yet been spoken
about Him. 
  There is nothing more wonderful than the persistence and
ever-increasing discussion of all sorts and conditions of
thinking men concerning the Person of our Lord. The subject
is never exhausted, it never becomes out of date. Again and
again men feel that they have formulated a Christology,
only to find that some others have seen other facts not
included in their system. And so He moves on, the Enigma of
the ages, the inclusive Word, whose ultimate secret is not
expressed, the very mystery of God. 
  Nevertheless through all the intellectual processes, He
finds the heart of man, and gives Himself to it, so that in
Him it finds rest, joy, satisfaction. Multitudes of simple
souls who are unequal to any explanation, live in daily
comradeship with Him. They know Him, and know Him well.
They are more intimate with Him than with their dearest
earthly friends. They tell Him all their griefs and joys,
their doubts and hopes, their successes and failures; and
they hear Him speak to them positively, prevailingly. He is
indeed the Mystery of God, profound in the wonder of His
being, and yet so real that the tiniest child talks of Him
with sweet familiarity. 

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5. HUMOR
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Each issue includes some of the best pieces we have seen
since our last issue. So here goes...

I AM WOMAN
An English professor wrote the words, "woman without her
man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed the students
to punctuate it correctly. 

The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing." The
women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing!"

MOTHER'S DAY
You know you're really a mom when...
1. You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make
sure they're equal. 
2. You have time to shave only one leg at a time. 
3. You hide in the bathroom to be alone. 
4. You mastered the art of placing food on a plate without
anything touching. 
5. Your child insists that you read "Once Upon a Potty"
out loud in the lobby of the doctor's office, and you do
it. 
6. You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with
your husband in ages, then spend half the night talking
about and checking on the kids. 
7. You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only
one your child eats. 
8. You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches
into unusual shapes. 
9. You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth
when you say, "Not in your good clothes." 
10. You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you. 
11. You read that the average five-year-old asks 437
questions a day and feel proud that your kid is "above
average." 
12. You say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this
job," but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything.

"CLOSE TO, ROUND ABOUT, OR NEARBY" 
One Sunday, the Minister was giving a sermon on baptism
and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating the
fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not
by immersion. He pointed out some instances in the Bible.
He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the
River Jordan, it didn't mean in - it meant close to, round
about, or nearby. And again when it says in the Bible that
Philip baptized the eunuch in the river, it didn't mean in -
it meant close to, round about, or nearby.
 
After the service, a man came up to the minister and told
him it was a great sermon, one of the best he had  ever
heard, and that it had cleared up a great many mysteries he
had encountered in the Bible. 

"For instance," he said, "the story about Jonah getting
swallowed by the whale has always bothered me. Now I know
that Jonah wasn't really in the whale, but close to, round
about, or nearby, swimming in the water. Then there is the
story about the three young Hebrew boys who were thrown
into the furious furnace, but were not burned. Now I see
that they were not really in the fire, just close to, round
about, or nearby, just keeping warm. But the hardest of all
the stories for me to believe has always been the story of
Daniel getting thrown into the lions' den. But now I see
that he wasn't really in the lions' den, but close to,
round about, or nearby, like at the zoo. 

"The revealing of these mysteries have been a real comfort
me because I know I am a wicked man. Now I am  gratified to
know that I won't be in Hell, but close to, round about, or
nearby. And next Sunday, I won't have to be in church, just
close to, round about, or nearby. Thanks. You have really
put my mind at ease."

DRY CLEANING
Did you hear the one about the man who opened a dry-
cleaning business next door to the convent?  He knocked on
the door and asked the Mother Superior if she had any dirty
habits. 

BE CAREFUL WITH E-MAIL
Consider the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-
filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida.  His
wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him
there the next day.  When he reached his hotel, he decided
to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap
of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did
his best to type it in from memory.

Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was
directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife, whose
husband had passed away only the day before. When the
grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the
monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor
in a dead faint. When her extremely alarmed family rushed
into the room they saw this note on the screen:
DEAREST WIFE: JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR
YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW. P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE

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THANKS for reading Positive Words. Please share it
with a friend!
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(c) 1999 Peter Wade
http://www.peterwade.com/