Quote from Forum Archives on July 21, 2001, 11:31 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

For a special weekend edition of Word for Today, I could like to
combine two daily mailings of Neil Anderson's Daily Devotional.
The reason that I would like to send both of these to you is that
they are good messages for those who struggle with relationships.
Some of us may be doing very well right now, and others of us may
be having difficulties, but if there is someone out there who
never struggles with relationships, I'd like to know them and
their situation. Either they don't know anyone, or they are in
denial about themselves and others around them. Life is a
struggle, relationships, even good ones, tend to be a struggle.
These messages have some good perspectives and possibly some
relevant answers for dealing with our struggles.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Part One - Friday's Message:

Reply-to: Neil Anderson <neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com>
Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Friday, July 20, 2001

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N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

July 20

PERCEPTIONS AND EMOTIONS

The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His
compasssions never fail. They are new every morning; great is
Thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22, 23).

In a general sense, your emotions are a product of your thought
life. If you are not thinking right, if your mind is not being
renewed, if you are not perceiving God and His Word properly, it
will be reflected in your emotional life.

One of the best scriptural illustrations of the relationship
between perceptions and emotions is found in Lamentations 3. In
verses 1-6, Jeremiah expresses despair as he wrongly perceives
that God is against him and that He is the cause of his physical
problems. In verses 7-11, 18, he vents his feelings of
entrapment and fear. If your hope was in God, and these words
were a correct portrayal of God, you would probably feel bummed
out too.

What was Jeremiah's problem? His perception of God was way off
center. God wasn't the cause of his affliction. God isn't a
wild beast waiting to chew people up. But Jeremiah wasn't
thinking right, perceiving right, or interpreting his
circumstances right, so he wasn't feeling right or responding
right either.

Suddenly, Jeremiah's countenance changes: "This I recall to my
mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed
never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every
morning; great is Thy faithfulness" (verses 21-23). What a
turnaround! Did God change? Did Jeremiah's circumstances
change? No. His perception of God changed and his emotions
followed suit.

You are not shaped so much by your environment as you are by your
perception of your environment. Life's events don't determine
who you are; God determines who you are, and your interpretation
of life's events determines how well you will handle the
pressures of life. In reality we have very little control over
our emotions, but we do have control over our thoughts, and our
thoughts determine our feelings and our responses. That's why it
is so important that you fill your mind with the knowledge of God
and His Word. You need to see life from God's perspective and
respond accordingly.

Lord, continually adjust my perception of my environment to match
Your perspective found in Your Word.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil
Anderson at christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors -
CBD). < shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na >

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.

-----------
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religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

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Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

Part Two - Saturday's Message:

Reply-to: Neil Anderson <neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com>
Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Saturday, July 21, 2001

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N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

July 21

A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth (John 1:14).

What effect did the Fall produce in Adam's mind? He and Eve lost
their true perception of reality. We read in Genesis 3:7, 8,
that they tried to hide from God. Doesn't that reveal a faulty
understanding of who God is? How can you hide from God? After
the Fall, Adam and Eve weren't thinking straight.

In essence, when Adam and Eve sinned, their minds were robbed of
the true knowledge of God. In God's original design, knowledge
was relational. Knowing someone implied an intimate personal
relationship. You can see it in Genesis 4:1: "Adam knew Eve his
wife; and she conceived" (KJV). Yet we don't generally equate a
knowledge of someone with personal intimacy.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve knew God, not sexually of course,
but in the intimacy of a close, personal relationship which we
associate with marriage. They knew God by being with God. When
they sinned and were banished from the garden, Adam and Eve lost
their relationship with God and the knowledge of God which was
intrinsic to that relationship. And you and I inherited Adam and
Eve's darkened mind. Before Christ, we knew something about God,
but we didn't know God because we had no relationship with Him.

The necessity of being in relationship to God in order to know
God comes into sharp focus in John's announcement: "The
Word"--logos in the Greek--"became flesh" (John 1:14). The word
logos represented the highest form of philosophical knowledge.
For the Greeks, saying that the logos became flesh was the same
as saying that ultimate knowledge became personal and relational.
God was announcing to the world through John: The true knowledge
of God, which can only be discovered in an intimate relationship
with God, is now available to the world through God in the
flesh--Jesus Christ. In Christ we are able to know God
personally, not just know about Him.

Lord, I thirst for deeper intimacy in my relationship with You.
I want to know You more personally today.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil
Anderson at christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors -
CBD). < shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na >

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.

-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

-----------
For Copyright Terms go to
www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright

____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________
* To subscribe, send an email to:
< SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com > or go to
< www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list of our
newsletters.
* Copyright 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/
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