Wednesday, August 12, 2015

SPIRITUAL GROWTH OR SPIRITUAL SHRINKAGE

These One A Days are added to daily.  A thank you to all of you who have gone back and read all of the posts since the beginning.
  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND COPY and paste THE FOLLOWING URL 
 http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/             
       There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.
 
Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry.
 
     I don't know about you...but I need to grow. 

       The Apostle Peter realized tha need to grow and he knew it...after he showed himself to be a coward by denying Christ three times...he knew he had to become a man of courage.

       And he found it...time and time again during in his ministry... and when he was to be crucified, with courage and commitment, asked to be crucified upside down... because he said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.

       We all share such moments when we lack courage... faced with spiritual, physical or emotional weaknesses we do not have the wherewithall to face such defeatist moments down.

       And what then should we do.  When someone asked General Norman Schwarzkopf the secret of his solving problems, he replied very simply, “I never walk past them.” 

       Problems?  Face them...pray about them...work with the help of God to overcome them.  They aren't going to go away all by themselves.

       Spiritual maturity has muscles and muscles grow strong with exercise.

                             Some questions.

       Are you spiritually mature? Am I spiritually mature?

       What does a spiritually mature person look like?

       Pursing good thoughts and entertaining them on a regular basis in heart, mind and soul.

       Doing good things and more of them with the passing of time.  Doing bad and doing less of them with the passing of time.

       Being results oriented is one way of putting it.

       Prayer on fire toward action.

       In his book "Folk Psalms of Faith", Ray Stedman tells a story of a woman who had been a schoolteacher for 25 years.

       When she heard about a job that would mean a promotion, she applied for the position. However, someone who had been teaching for only one year was hired instead. She went to the principal and asked why. 

       The principal responded, “I’m sorry, but you haven’t had 25 years of experience as you claim; you’ve had only one year’s experience 25 times.” During that whole time the teacher had not improved.

       Spiritually mature folk are constantly looking for ways to improve their faith factor, their action factor, their prayer factor, each and every factor their Bible reading has taught them is THE WAY.

       High in the Alps is a monument raised in honor of a faithful guide who perished while ascending a peak to rescue a stranded tourist. Inscribed on that memorial stone are these words: "He Died Climbing."

       Spiritual maturity is obvious.  You can see it in a person, " Galatians 5:22-23 underlines the truth of the statement, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

       Why aim for the center of the spiritual bulls eye?  Why work toward spiritually perfected maturity when we know it is impossible?

       Because anything less than 100% changes us and the world around us beyond what we would commonly imagine.  A 1 % improvement...a 1 % deraillment.

       By way of example...a decrease of 1 % produces...

       • No electric service for 14 minutes each day,
• 1.7 million pieces of first-class mail lost each day,
• 35,000 newborn babies dropped by nurses each year,
• 200,000 people getting wrong drug prescriptions each day,
• 3 misspelled words on the average page of type, and
• 2 million people dying from food poisoning each year.

       So then while perfection is indeed impossible all labors, even just a 1 % improvement aimed at personal improvement, are certainly a worthwhile project and goal.

       PLUSE or MINUS! Who would vote for a minus?

&&&&&&&&&&

            It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

(Clive Staples) C. S. Lewis

                        QUOTES BELOW ARE FROM WYRICK'S WRITINGS...CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO TAKE YOU THERE... http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

(These are selected sermons from over 50 years of ministry and as a worldwide evangelist have been preached all over the world)

                        +++++++++++++++++++  

      A new quote below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN...available on amazon.com, barnes and noble and many other book sites) (read the rave reviews below)

 How much differently would government function if all elected officials were as good historians as politicians and statesmen?  The school-of-yesterday is such a worthy teacher.  It is a shame that so many who have shaped our nation’s directions have not better studied and remembered the good and bad directions of the past.

                   ++++++++++++++++++++

            CLICK ON  www.go60.us   IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....click on "Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click on Neil Wyrick

Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS


·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

Just remember that “the pain of discipline will cost you pennies, whereas the pain of regret will cost you millions.”

++++++++++++++++++

How can we keep our faith from being a weak and fruitless thing?  How can we not be foolish little men and women groveling in the dark shadows of overeager egos. 

          Well, first we must do more than just pray.  We must believe in our own prayers.

+++++++++++++++++++

Anxiety out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot forward.

++++++++++++++++++

        It's an old joke, I went to the doctor and I said, “Doc, when I do this, it hurts.” And the doctor said, “Then don't do that.”

++++++++++++++++++

        How many things have you been anxious about that were things which you knew before you got into them were probably going to create some problems for you?  And if you asked your doctor, or your minister, or common sense and your God, all of them would have said, “Don’t do that.”

++++++++++++++++++++

        To buy into the community of accountability we have to realize that like bikers we are divided into two categories.  Those who have fallen and those who will fall for anything. None of us are perfect.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
          Think on it this way, some philosopher of old wrote it and it endures because there is so much truth in it… every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty

++++++++++++++++++++++

      Some of the sermon titles posted recently

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Before you decide to purchase or not purchase his book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.... view his Award Winning One Man Dramatization of Lincoln (since he wrote the script for this drama it will give you an insight into what you will find in the book itself)

Available on Amazon.com in printed form and on Amazon Kindle Books. and at many other sites

TO VIEW THE LINCOLN One Man DRAMA and 3 other dramas; Ben Franklin, Martin Luther & Charles Wesley

click on the following URL

http://www.speakerneil.com/

      ++++++++++++++++++++++

BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS

       ++++++++++++++++++
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED


       Two stores faced each other across a very busy street.  Their owners were in constant competition with each other.  One day, the owner of one store put out a sign that read – If you want it, we have it!

Almost immediately the other owner put out a sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!


A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED

WHO ARE YOU?

NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?

       Who are you?  Whose are you?

You influence and are influenced according to the answer you give.     

Are you are the flavor of the month because you are determined to be like everyone else no matter what?  If so, consider being more independent in our thinking and actions...because God wants you to grow up.

It may be easier being someone's shadow but wouldn't you really rather be a sun. 


       QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS  POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED "Who Are You?  Whose Are You?"

       This is an old quote, and a romantic one as well but, nevertheless, can anyone say of you, “I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

            QUOTE FROM THOUGHT PIECE POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED

" WHEN A NATION STRAYS TOO FAR FROM BEING MORAL IT IS WELL ON IT'S WAY TO BECOMING A MESS

        James 4:17

To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

        Someone once said: “A belief is what you hold, a conviction is what holds you!”

        So what holds you, constructs you, leads you with a push when needed?

       Quotes POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING ENTITLED WHO ARE YOU?

NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?

        In a Peanuts cartoon strip Peppermint Patty is shown talking to Charlie Brown.

“Guess what, Chuck? It’s the first day of school and I got sent to the principal’s office.

And it’s your fault!”

Charlie Brown responds, “My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?”

To which she declares, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”

In the comics, it’s funny… but in real life it’s much more complicated.

       Would you like to read the entire thought piece?  Then... TO TAKE YOU TO THE WYRICK'S WRITING'S SITE

                  click on the following


          Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

      Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER


       To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

       GO TO amazon.com

       QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

       STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

       "Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

       Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

       "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

       William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

       "Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

              Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

       Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

No comments:

Post a Comment