Is The Picture Perfect?

Posted on 19 Jul 2007 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION for Friday, July 20, 2007

Hardly! And certainly, it was not painted by someone famous. Not even by one who thought she could. With each stroke of the brush she belittled her work; she struggled to keep it on the easel – but she did. At day’s end, it was finished; now it’s a testimony, year after year, for when she thinks she cannot, she knows with time and instruction, she can.

Placing our Time and our Trust in the Great Instructor makes all things possible.

Mark 10: 27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

It may be hard right now and you may be thinking of scrapping the ‘canvas’ and putting away your ‘paint’ and your ‘brushes’. Please, Don’t! Give GOD your trust in this and wait to see what He ‘frames’ up for you.

Father, thank You that with You the impossible is possible. Thank You that You enable us to do more than we think we can. Thank You that You take the drawings and paintings and even the scribblings of our lives and You frame them into something of Beauty. Thank You Father, You are AWESOME. I ask You today to encourage and bless every soul who reads these words to trust You and give You all the times of their lives. And now we bring these precious ones and we pray for their health and wealth and that they may prosper according to Your Riches in Christ Jesus. We continue to ask You to protect our IDOK Troops in mind and body and spirit and to bring them home to us safe and sound and more in love with You than when they deployed. Not only in Iraq but other places we ask for Your Intervention. We know that corruption and evil is rampant but You are still in control and You are still our God so we pray for peace and successful conclusions to these conflicts. And we pray for revival in America. And all this we ask in Jesus Mighty Name.
Lisa W. John Thomas. Cole. Gary and Becky. Erby’s family. Tonya and family. Melannie and family. Taylor & family. Anita. Kathy. J Lloyd and family. Janet and Steve. Jennifer and Kevin. Cathy. Mitch and wife. Toy and family. Katelyn. Caleb and family. Bay and family. Jennifer B. John and Carolyn. Larry and Claudia and family. Jennifer L and family. Jeanette and Earl and family. Libby and family. Randy and Vivian and Chase. Chris. Callie. Madie. Ruth. Martha F and Bob. Rev and Mrs. Carpenter. Allyson and Glen and family and Kaitlyn. Brittney and Kersten and family. Marcia and Larry and family. Sharron and girls. Frankie and girls. Sheila and Andy. Carrie and Rachel and Jacob and family. Billy and Gina and boys. Lance and family. Grace and family. Tressa and Brad and family. Cindy K and family. Cindy L and family. Chuck. Windy and Jared and families. Helen and Dan and family. Jen and Larry and family. Chad and Brittany and family. Mollie and family. Jenny. Julia. Bobbie. Tj. Zack. Phillip. Jessica. Larry. Kayla. Trey. Jacob. Ashely. Lance. Christian. Cecil. Laura and family. Mary. Doris. Chassidy. Lisa M and Family.
Every IDOK and every IDOK son and daughter and grandchild. Every IDOK Pastor and Family. Every IDOK church. Revival in America.
IDOKs Military Families.
IDOKs Troops – Tim. Lee. Mack. The 226. Shaun. Ethan. Tommy. Christopher. Raul. Troy. Desi. Robert. Billy. Brad. Josh. George. Jonathan. Buddy. Mark. Josh W. James. Bryan. Nick. Hawk. Tommy T. Brant W.
Injured and brought State side: Anthony. Hector
Military at home adjusting – Danny. Drew.
Civilian in Country – Mike.

As I post this it is 88°F and clear in Balad, Iraq & the time there is 2:56 AM ADT – on July 20, 2007

This devotion is available in CARD form absent the prayer and names, of course,

at http://www.whitestonephotographyart.com/

HIS MINISTRY TO YOU

GO ON

Posted on 18 Jul 2007 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION for Wednesday, July 18, 2007

This was last night’s Bedtime quote by Charles Swindoll:
Grace means that God, in forgiving you, gives you the strength to endure the consequences. Grace frees us so that we can obey our Lord. It does not mean sin’s consequences are automatically removed. If I sin and in the process of sinning break my arm, when I find forgiveness from sin, I still have to deal with a broken bone.

Romans 6:17 NIV — But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

As I read the words: ‘Grace means that God, in forgiving you, gives you the strength to endure the consequences’, I stopped before even going on to the next sentence to read it again just to hear those words again. By the very act of forgiving us Father is telling us to GO ON; to continue on with living a life that honors Him and yes the consequences of the sin may not be easy to deal with BUT God is there giving us the STRENGTH to do it!

This reminds me of a Scriptural Account, the account of the Woman who was snatched out of her house in the very act of adultery, the text says, and brought to Jesus by the Scribes and Pharisees. I don’t know if they cared so much about actually stoning the woman. What they really wanted was to ‘test’ Jesus. As it happened they were the ones who were tested – by the way they failed! But back to our point this morning. The penalty due the woman was death (by stoning). The Scribes and Pharisees knew that quite well. So did Jesus. But the stoning she did not get. What she got was forgiveness. She was forgiven of the PENALTY of adultery and in verses 11 and 12 she said and Jesus said:

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

With this link you can read all of John chapter 8. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%20;&version=50;I see here that Jesus gave her the strength to get up off that ground and GO ON. The PENALTY for her sin was paid but she would still have to face ‘the world’ and I believe she did! I believe she drew upon the STRENGTH of the Lord Jesus Christ and she did GO ON. One of these days when we all get to Heaven, maybe she will tell us about it!

So whatever has gone on in your life this week; if you messed up and you have some consequences, get up off the ground, the PENALTY is paid, receive His Forgiveness AND the strength only He can give you AND GO ON!

Thank You Father Lord that You have paid our penalty and You have given us forgiveness and strength to GO ON. Please help us receive this from You. We don’t know all the needs, and we don’t even know the faces of each but You do and that is enough for us to KNOW that You are working in their lives. We pray Holy Spirit that You will give each of them strength to go on and to receive from You all that You desire to give them in whatever lot and circumstance they are today. We pray Thy Will be done. We ask You to protect our People in mind and body and spirit and Holy Spirit help them and encourage them to Love even in a world of hate. And we pray for America that You will enable Her to repent and be revived for Jesus’ sake.

As I post this it is 97°F and Sunny in Baghdad, Iraq & the time there is 3:59 PM ADT – on July 18, 2007

HIS MINISTRY TO YOU

Dennis, Joey and the Umbrella

Posted on 9 Jul 2007 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION for Monday, July 9, 2007

Friday, Dennis was right on target. Some days there is a lot of wisdom in the “Funny Papers”.
Picture this: Mom is standing at the door; Dennis and Joey are stepping off the stoop into the peppering rain and she hears Dennis say to Joey: “C’mon, Joey, If you wanna see a rainbow, you gotta put up with a little rain.”

How insightful is that?! As we live and breathe here on planet earth unpleasant and downright hard stuff comes our way but we can be sure if we keep looking up the rainbow will appear. However, there is one more thing I need to mention about Dennis and Joey and the rain … Dennis had the umbrella. I think the umbrella gave Dennis a leg up on his upbeat attitude, don’t you?

I think you and I have an umbrella against the enviable rain that falls upon each and every soul … His Name is Jesus. The question is though — do we have Dennis’ attitude about our rainfall?

Matthew 5: (NKJV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

At first, I thought this passage fit perfectly for our illustration, but now I think the ‘fit’ needs some consideration. Obviously, Dennis and Joey’s rain was one of those ‘hard’ things that come to us in life since they were looking for a rainbow. Bad stuff is inevitable upon the JUST (that’s us who are saved) and the UNJUST (that’s those who have not said yes to Jesus for Salvation). Before writing this IDOK devotion, I think I may have overlooked that in this passage it is Father who is doing the SENDING which gives me a whole new light on this. Father only sends GOOD STUFF, so the sun and rain in this passage are good and beneficial and pleasant, not bad; not something that we have to wade through and hope to find the rainbow. But rather the kind of rain that you stand out in with your head back, your mouth open, arms stretched out, twirling around laughing. And on top of all that glorious fun, you see the rainbow! It’s that kind of stuff He sends and we the JUST benefit from it. The UNJUST do too, but just maybe they don’t know from Whom it comes. We do! We need to tell them!
Think about it this way: lost folks benefit from just walking around this planet with us but they still need to come under our UMBRELLA for Eternal Protection and we still need to offer THE UMBRELLA to folks getting rained on — be it pleasant rain or unpleasant rain. I sure hope I get to share my UMBRELLA with someone who doesn’t have ONE today. How about you?

Father, thank you for the weekend; for the sermons heard, for family and friends, for good food, for little boy birthdays, for mercy and grace. Right now we are thinking of Steve and his surgeon and the medical staff and we pray for a rested, alert surgeon and staff and we pray for a textbook perfect procedure and recovery for Steve and for peace and comfort for Janet and all the family. We continue too to pray for Tonya that You will dissolve that tumor and make the surgery unnecessary; continue to minister to Erby’s family as they grieve and not only Erby’s family but others who still miss loved ones who have passed from here to there with You. We pray for strength and practical helps for children taking care of parents and we pray for repentance for wayward children who are diseased and ill because of sin and unholy choices. And we pray for healing of those whose minds are tortured – somehow Lord reach them even as You did the man in the tombs. Again we bring America and pray for her repentance and revival and again we pray for IDOK that we be willing and useful vessels to help this Country return to holiness. As we do daily we remember our IDOK Troops and we pray for their safety in mind and body and spirit. We ask You to bring them home to us safe and sound and more in love with You than when they deployed. Thank You for the UMBRELLA picture and as we see umbrellas and as we use them, help us praise You each time for the protection from hell and sin that You have given us in Christ Jesus and it is in His name we offer this prayer.

As I post this it is 86°F and clear in Balad, Iraq & the time there is 7:15 AM ADT – on July 9, 2007

HIS MINISTRY TO YOU