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PRAYERGEAR.COM / SPIRITUAL RESOURCE
SERVICES NEWSLETTER
April 27, 2000 Issue 42: Wisdom Versus Knowledge, Part 4
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<>< CONTENTS <><
1. Mini-Reflection
2. Cruising Christian Cyberspace!
3. Prayergear.com product and services updates
4. Let us know!
5. Weekly Reflection: "Wisdom Versus Knowledge", Part 4
of 4
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Greetings to all of you in the Name of our Lord! We thank you for
your expressions of prayer. The importance of a strong prayer
life is increasingly becoming a ministerial and personal burden
for me. Prayer is a time and experience of intimacy with our Lord
and God. As in time spent with human intimates, I cry, laugh,
contemplate, become silent, listen, ask, discuss, and
question...and know that my Heavenly Father does all those things
with me. The scriptures say His Holy Spirit groans with our own
spirits, in "words that cannot be uttered" or spoken in
the way we speak words, interceding for us out of infinite love.
This prayerful engagement with our God, this joyful intimacy,
takes time. I don't believe it can be done during a 30 second
memorized prayer any more than you hearing an answering machine
message and leaving a message constitutes an intimate exchange
with that person. The Bible is not an answering machine tape and
God doesn't have voice mail. The Bible is the living word and God
is closer to us than we are to ourselves. God bless you this week
and always!
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1. ~~ ** Mini-Reflection ** ~~
"For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great
Name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His
people." (I Samuel 12:22)
Imagine with me the frustration and pain of a father whose young
son just sits in front of the television day after day. The
father is outside creating things, making tables and wood
carvings, wishing his son would show interest in what he is
doing, wishing his son would expend some productive energy.
Imagine that one day the boy approaches the father with this
sudden desire to build a tree house. The father is delighted!
That the boy's plans are not realistic, and he has a design in
mind that his father knows won't work, doesn't matter to the
father. He doesn't stifle his son's excitement with criticism or
explanations of the flaws in his idea. Instead, he is delighted
to help fulfill the delightment of his son's heart and joins his
boy in getting the job done. As the son meets frustration at
making different steps in the project work, his father gently
provides suggestions and help in overcoming the obstacles which
makes the son quite happy and eager to keep going. The finished
tree house doesn't look quite like what the boy envisioned, but,
together, father and son created something that was even better.
The father was always willing and waiting for his son to get off
the couch and create and learn on his own free will. But the
father's will couldn't be fulfilled until his child approached
him with a rough idea of what would delight his heart. Now the
father's will could be engaged and the boy adjusted his ways and
approaches in response to that will and both their hearts were
delighted, not just in the accomplished job, but in the process
and in each other.
I believe our Heavenly Father needs his children to approach Him
with the "desires of our hearts" and "boldly
before His throne" so that His "will be done on earth
as it is done in heaven." What do you think? Let us know!
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2. ~~ ** Cruising Christian Cyberspace! ** ~~
"In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the
decree shall go far and wide." (Micah 7:11)
Our web site feature of the week is
Abiding in the Healing Word
(http://home1.gte.net/nulife4us)
This is an example of a "Home Page," as opposed to a
web site with it's own domain. In previous newsletters we
encouraged you to consider making your own home page as another
way of reaching out to the "four corners of the earth"
with the Gospel. They are free, readily available (probably from
your own Internet Service Provider), and easy to create since you
usually just have to put your content into an existing template.
And if you do have one, we would love to check it out!
This Home Page opens with a personal testimony of the designer.
Click on "Page Directory" to see the categories of
"The Healing Word" (great commentaries on the theme of
the Page), "Testimonies," "Gems of Truths"
(devotional essays) and "Ministry Directory." Let your
heart feast.
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3. ~~ ** Prayergear.com Product and Service Updates ** ~~
We have plans to produce audio cassette tapes of selected Weekly
Reflections topics. Audio tapes of books, the Bible, etc., are
becoming increasing popular for a busy world since they fill
"down time" as we commute on the highways or pump our
stationary bikes. Subscribers will be offered a 25% discount on
our first production.
Please continue to shop our online Products Store and help
support our ministries...and share this with others! And remember
Mother's Day at
www.prayergear.com/mdg.html
and order by this weekend to ensure ontime delivery!
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4. ~~ ** Let us know! ** ~~
Every week we receive inquiries about obtaining a certain
product. There is also an interest in various printed Bibles for
special occasions. We are responsive to your inquiries and
suggestions, so do let us know!
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5. ~~ This week's Weekly Reflection follows below ~~
Please encourage others to subscribe! Share this newsletter with
many of your friends and help spread the word. Your
recommendations to others is our only means of growing and
reaching more people. We'll talk to you next week, unless, of
course, you email us before then! We are blessed to hear from
you!
"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face
shine upon you, and be gracious to you." (Numbers 6:24-25.)
John
John S. Hilkevich, Ph.D.
Spiritual Resource Services: Prayergear.com
~ Education, Services and Products
in the Christian Faith ~
www.prayergear.com
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For a more attractively formatted Weekly Reflection or links to
previous
Reflections, point your browser to
http://www.prayergear.com/weeklyintro.html
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