E.C.H.O. ~ Encouragement Can Help Others
                            Volume 10       Edition 04       16 Oct 2006
http://www.forministry.com/USWAIFCAISBCSB
***************************************************

ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”   Hebrews 10:22

3 - EDITOR's CORNER  

WALK ACCORDING TO HIS COMMANDMENTS 

Dear Friends,

The mention of another child brings me back to when ECHO originally began publication with electronic mail (and the eventual various web pages).  The first article included a short story about my young son (and then only child, with a second one on the way)…

                      IN THE EYES OF A CHILD

Last summer, as I was mowing the lawn, James (my four year old son) would love to follow at a safe distance with his toy mower.  He so much loves to be involved with the events that his daddy and mommy are in.  He enjoys being apart of the projects so much, that many times he will mimic what he sees us do.  The mower would die many times due to the thickness of the grass.  As I would bend over to restart the engine, James would bend over and say, “My mower quite to!”  My shoes came untied, and I bent over to tie them, James would stop pushing his mower, bend over, and pretend to tie his shoes.  Over and over he continued to copy every move I made.

Today, we received about 4 inches of snow (on top of 5 - 7 inches of previous snow and 1 1/2 inches of ice).  The snow was wet enough that James and I went out to build a family of snow people.  We built a daddy, pregnant mommy, and child snowman.  James would build a snowball, then I’d take it and roll it up into a larger ball for the snow bodies.  Everywhere I went in the yard, James would follow in my foot tracks.

James has shown me so much by viewing life IN THE EYES OF A CHILD again!  Everything is so new, fresh, and exciting to James.  He is so eager to learn and be part of what his father does.

We as Christians need to have that same enthusiasm... to want to learn and be just like our Heavenly Father!  To follow Him anywhere and everywhere!  To desire to be so close to Him that our life is involved intimately with His!

Seek the Lord with your whole heart!  Desire His every words!  And share His love to all!

II John 1:6  “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”

Jer 29:13  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Your servant,

Daniel
Phil 1:6/ Isa 6:8

4 - PICTURE of the DAY!!! 

______________________________________________

EXCELLENCE
_______________________

“The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!”

Ps 8:8-9

Photo by J. Sazil
Turkey Shore – September 2006
Barnabas Ministries/E.C.H.O

Your comments, suggestions, ideas, and thoughts are welcomed.
Do you have an image (not copyrighted) you would like to share?
Please e-mail an image and feel free to suggest a verse/verses you think might go well with the picture.
(Photo's / images submitted become the property of E.C.H.O. and might be altered.
Images, requested verses, and topics are subject to display per discretion of E.C.H.O.)

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”   Hebrews 10:22

5 - DEVOTIONAL

(1 John 4:17-19)

LOVE &  FEAR  .

1Jo 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Perfect… to be complete, finished, fulfilled, accomplished…

We are confidently reminded (in Phil 1:6) “…of this very thing, that HE who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

Complete, that is being fulfilled, accomplished, perfected, finished…. Our God working in and with every true believer (Phil 2:13) guiding, molding, shaping, and perfecting them… and this action will not stop during our lifetime on this earth.  HE will continue to accomplish this until we have the opportunity to personally “meet our maker.”

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness… NKJV

¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence … NAS

¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence… NIV

¹⁷ In this way love is made complete in us, so that we may be without fear… BBE

How can we boldly face our God, our creator, or provider, our Savior, our redeemer, our Lord… on our own?   We can not.  We are born sinners in a sinful world.  Until we experience God’s holy, and perfect love, and accept HIS gift of salvation, we are lost and without hope, confidence, boldness, and living imperfect, incomplete, and unfinished.  It’s not our love (or lust, to be more accurate) that gives us confidence or hope, but the love of God (John 3:16) given to us that once inside us do we not only change from darkness to light, but from bondage in sin to freedom in Christ!  It is God’s love that perfects us, completes us, finishes us, and makes us whole again.  And as a child of God, through the sacrifice of Christ’s gift on the cross (with HIS death, burial, and resurrection – 1 Cor 15:3-4), we are being made perfect, now having boldness, becoming more like Christ…  “¹⁷ …because as HE is, so are we in this world.”

There is no fear in love… 

¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. NKJV

¹⁸ There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  NAS

¹⁸There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is, there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love. BBE

The word “fear” comes from the Greek work phobos (fob'-os ), basically meaning to be exceedingly afraid, with terror…  But yet the same Greek word is also used in Eph 5:21:

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. KJV

(Gk. phobos, “dread, terror,” Matthew 14:26; etc.). Fear is that affection of the mind that arises with the awareness of approaching danger. The fear of God is of several kinds: superstitious, which is the fruit of ignorance; servile, which leads to abstinence from many sins through apprehension of punishment; and filial, which has its spring in love and prompts to care not to offend God and to endeavor in all things to please Him. It is another term for practical piety and comprehends the virtues of the godly character (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 14:2), whereas its absence is characteristic of a wicked and depraved person (Romans 3:18). It is produced in the soul by the Holy Spirit, and great blessing is pronounced upon those who possess this trait: His angels protect them (Psalm 34:7); they “abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). This fear would subsist in a pious soul were there no punishment of sin. It dreads God’s displeasure, desires His favor, reveres His holiness, submits cheerfully to His will, is grateful for His benefits, sincerely worships Him, and conscientiously obeys His commandments. Fear and love must coexist in us in order that either passion may be healthy and that we may please and rightly serve God. “The fear of the Lord” is used for the worship of God, e.g., “I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 34:11) and for the law of God (Psalm 19:8-9). The “fear of Isaac” (Genesis 31:42, 53) is God, whom Isaac worshiped with reverent awe. The “fear of man” is that dread of the opinions of our neighbors that makes us cowards in the performance of those duties that we fancy they do not practice (Proverbs 29:25).

From The New Unger’s Talking Bible Dictionary (Software): Original work copyright © 1957 The Moody Bible…

Consider this.  My children love me, respect me, and wish to obey me.  Yet, they are still human, living with the ability to sin, and desire personal pleasures.  As their father, certain rules and guidelines are established for the family to respect, honor, and obey.  As long as these instructions are followed correctly, there is no dispute, no need for confrontation, nor any reason to hide or have fear.  BUT, the moment any one of the children break away from the directions given to them, and they travel a path of their own choosing (not in agreement with the commands already made known to them), then the same children change their views from wanting to be near dad to trying to avoid him, especially if they think HE knows what they did. 

Why is that?  What causes this?  What’s involved here???  Fear… fear of the consequences from the produce of their sin.  Just like the fear Adam and Eve had in the garden after partaking of the forbidden fruit.

While abiding in the will of their father, there is no fear, rather, the warmth of his love is experienced and enjoyed.  And yet, even greater yet, when we are abiding in the will of our Heavenly Father (who is perfect, with perfect love) even greater joy is experienced without fear or wanting to hide.

Perfect love CAST’S OUT FEAR.  How can we experience and know “perfect love?”  We must abide in the will of God, do as HE has directed us, and to obey HIS commands and instructions.  Yet, at the same time we must submit “to one another in the fear of God.” (Eph 5:21 NKJV).

Being human, not yet dead, we are still influenced by an old nature… sin.  And while we have the strength and power within us to obey God and resist sin, we still sin.  Sometimes we sin knowing what we are doing, and most often we sin unaware of what we are doing… but sin is sin, and is wrong none-the-less.

… [Paul] gives them a general direction to  submit themselves one to another in the fear of God, that is, by yielding and mutually condescending to each other, stooping to the meanest office of love and kindness one towards another; and this in the fear of God, that is, either in obedience to the command of God, which enjoins this submission, for then we perform our duty one towards another acceptably, and as we ought, when we eye the command of God in what we do: or else in the fear of God, that is, making the fear of God the rule and measure of our submission one to another; …

From William Burkitt’s notes on the New Testament from the Power Bible Software

19 We love Him because He first loved us.

We were heading down the path of sin and death, on our way to hell when God, out of HIS love, pulled us out of our pit of sin and called us unto HIM.  If it were not for God, and His love, we would never know HIM, nor be drawn to Him.  Because of His love, we can know Him, draw closer to Him, and love Him in return.  Although our love can never be equally compared to His (His, being perfect for all eternity, past, present, and future), it is wonderful that we can love the very God who created us and has called us unto Him!

How perfect is God’s love in us?  Is His love dwelling in us?  Does His love flow through us?  Is His love part of our every day life?  The more I read about love, and the love of God, the more I see it as a verb, and not a noun.  It a response, and personal decision, and action, not an emotion or felling.  In fact, “emotions” tend to get in the way of love and mess things up.  We shouldn’t base your Christianity and way of life on “how you feel,” but on what is right in the sight of God.  Act upon HIS Word, and live according to it!  Jesus told Philip in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  That shows action, commitment, desire ... love.  That shows not emotion’s, but love.  Christ gave Himself for and to us, because of love, and we love Him because He first loved us (1Jo 4:19).... 

So… where does this leave us?  1) We must love God… Love HIM, with honor through respect and obedience knowing the right HE has to punish us for any and all sins; 2) Keep HIS commandments… (Jn 14:15).  This is how we can show our love to and for HIM; 3) Share God’s love with those you come in contact with TODAY!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands… and purify your hearts…”  James 4:8

.

6 - NEXT ISSUE

Join us in the next issue, as we’ll pick back up in 1 John 4
as we look at a lie.

7 - PARTICIPATION

Please feel free to share your stories of encouragement with ECHO.  Share your letters of hope, your favorite verses … a web link you enjoy or have been blessed by… etc.

----- Original Message -----

From: David & Vicky

This is a story about a little girl who, on the way home from church, turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the Preacher's sermon this morning confused me. "

The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?

The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true? "

"Yes, that's true, " the mother replied.

"He also said that God lives within us. Is that true too?"

Again the mother replied, "Yes."

"Well, " said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"

THINK ABOUT IT

----- Original Message -----

From: James

Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 6:50 PM
Subject: Christian One Liners

Christian One Liners

• Don't let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

• Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews.

• Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.

• It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

• The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

• When you get to your wit's end, you’ll find God lives there.

• People are funny; they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.

• Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

• Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn't belong.

• If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has.

• God Himself does not propose to judge a man until he is dead.  So why should you?

• Some minds are like concrete thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

• I don't know why some people change churches;  what difference does   it make which one you stay home from?!

• A lot of church members who are singing "Standing on the Promises" are just sitting on the premises.

• We were called to be witnesses, not lawyers or judges.

• Be ye fishers of men.  You catch them - He'll clean them.

• Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.

• Don't put a question mark where God put a period.

• Don't wait for 6 strong men to take you to church.

• Forbidden fruits create many jams.

• God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

• God grades on the cross, not the curve.

• God loves everyone, but probably prefers "fruits of the spirit" over "religious nuts!"

• God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage

• He who angers you, controls you!

• Don't give God instructions -- just report for duty!

• The Will of God never takes you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.

• We don't change the message, the message changes us.

• You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to… discourage him.

• The best mathematical equation I have ever seen:

   

1 cross + 3 nails= 4 given.

ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,
Sincerely yours,

Daniel
"Family For God"
Philippians 1:6
 

ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO ~ ECHO