Tell us what it is you like, don’t like and would like to like J Here’s the link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9MX867D So far I must say that the comments have been encouraging and food for thought. If we claim to be better than the world, well then we have to maintain a high level of professionalism and BE better than the world. We really need your input and criticism please.

Catch the Wild Windmill Wednesday competitions every Wednesday if you live in the Buffalo City Metro (East London) or relatively close by and win food vouchers from East London’s landmark fast food roadhouse, THE WINDMILL.

Thanks to Auto Tires in Queen Street, Cambridge, East London for getting on board and sponsoring the morning surf report with legendry surfer Nick Pike. Also to NFB in Beach Road for the Wednesday morning financial feature @ 7h40, don’t miss it!

Be safe on the roads this weekend people. Go out and love them like Jesus!

Titch

"Daddy’s Smile." By Ron Hutchcraft……

I remember my son’s first football game in high school. He was all decked out in his football armor and looking appropriately intimidating like you’re supposed to look. And he came on the field with the rest of the team, but as macho as he was (or was trying to be), as soon as he came out he just glanced up at the stands, and I knew why. He wanted to be sure his Father was there watching him.

And there weren’t too many there, but I was able to make it that day. And when that happened, I was reminded of another day when he was much younger. We were out working in the yard together on a very hot day. And he was clipping and I was mowing, and I kind of just flashed a smile in his direction. A few minutes later, he came up, yelled over the lawn mower and said, "Daddy, please do that again." I said, "Do what again?" He said, "The smile. It’s your smile that keeps me going, Dad." Well, actually, you and I are a lot like that.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Deuteronomy chapter 28, and God is actually giving the Jewish nation instructions as they’re about to enter the Promised Land. And listen to what He says about how their life is going to go and what it depends on. I’ll be reading from verse 1 to start with, "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commandments I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on the earth." All right, that sounds good. Now, listen to verse 15, "However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you."

Now, you can see here that everything that matters in life depends totally on the blessing of God, or I guess we could call it the smile of God. Is God smiling when He looks at the way you’re living? You see, His blessing depends on obediently carrying out that part of my life as the Bible says to. Now, this passage shows that in many areas. It talks, for example, about their enemies. It says, "The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction, but they will flee from you in seven." That’s if you’re obeying Him. If you don’t, here’s what it says, "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies." He says that "you’ll leave as seven, though you came as one." Same army – opposite result.

Listen to what it says about financial stability. If you’re obeying the Lord; if He blesses you, you will lend to many nations, but will borrow from none." And later on in the chapter it says, "The alien in your land will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head; you will be the tail." It goes on to talk about how your daily work will go; the kind of results you’re going to get from your work. And in each case, these people put in the same effort, but they get opposite results. And the determining factor is the smile of God. Not the effort, but the blessing; the difference between fruit and frustration.

Now, maybe there’s an area of your life right now that’s particularly frustrating, and you’ve tried everything. You’ve worked harder, you’ve planned, you’ve used every trick you know. Could it be you’re missing God’s blessing on it? Is there in that part of your life something He can’t bless: an attitude, a secret sin, a relationship, a method you are using to go about getting it, an untruth maybe? So often the answer to frustration is not greater effort, it’s greater obedience.

Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, said, "Lord, we ask not that You bless what we do, but that we do what You bless." You see, after all is said and done, all that really matters; all that keeps us going is Daddy’s smile.

The morning Business proverb……….

In your business, do you strive to build capital to become debt free or do you borrow to the hilt?

Moses instructed, "He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:44 NASB).

WRITTEN BY STEVE MARR

Many businesses borrow from necessity. But borrowing places the lender in charge of the borrower. Business leaders like to be in charge and make key decisions, but when money is borrowed, many of the decisions will come from the bank. Banks require much when granting loans, like balance sheet requirements or approving new spending initiatives. Consider the total cost of borrowing before taking on business debt.

Thanks for spending the time reading the Devotion and Business Proverb. Every morning I try and find a song that ties in with the devotion and slot it in. While I was reading briefing the devotion, “God is Smiling” by Delirious? came to mind. I figured that’s what I will play immediately after the devotion today. HOWEVER when I arrived in the studio the play out software we use had already lined up “God is Smiling” by Delirious? This software generates play lists entirely on its own, so I thought. God was smiling. Is He smiling upon you today? I truly hope so.

Every once in a while another turf fight breaks out in places like New York City, and it’s not between rival youth gangs. It can be between, well say, the police department and the fire department. They’ll clash over whose job is whose.

A while back there was a commuter helicopter that crashed in the East River. I’ve never forgotten this incident, it was haunting. The passengers were trapped in that helicopter under water. And here’s what the news reported, "Some police divers arrived on the scene first, and they went right to work. Minutes later, nine divers arrived from the fire department all suited up ready to go, and the police supervisor said, ‘We got it covered. It’s our territory; don’t worry about it.’" You know, five passengers were rescued that day, but one man died. He was strapped in under water for an hour and a half while nine possible rescuers stood on the dock and watched, apparently because of a turf battle.

Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul says, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no division among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul.’ Another, ‘I follow Apollos.’ Another, ‘I follow Cephas.’ Still another, ‘I follow Christ.’"

Sound like turf? The church was divided into turf and well, I’m afraid nothing has changed. Today our turf is denomination, or our organization, or my church. "We’re charismatic." "We’re not. We’re against that." Or even a personal empire that someone is building in Jesus’ name. Or, "Who will get the credit?" "Is my name next to that in the bulletin?" "Are you going to announce who did this?"

Paul brings them back to the real issue in verses 17 and 18, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. Not with words of human wisdom, less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God." Paul says, "Guys, people are dying because they don’t understand what happened on the cross. How can you waste time arguing among yourselves?"

A man died there in New York in the East River while the rescuers argued over territory. But don’t we do that? We’re so concerned about losing our members, or our contributions, or our credit. And all that really matters is that we’re losing the people around us to a Christ-less eternity. The two factors that really matter are number one, the lostness of our neighbors, and number two, the message of the cross. Those two essentials are bigger than any of our differences, or any of our labels, or any of our empires or egos.

Maybe you and I have cared too much about our group, or our glory. And while we’re building our little kingdoms and our walls, people are dying. We need to get together to make a greater difference. Are we standing on the dock arguing? Or are we all in the river together, rescuing every person we can find? Time’s running out!

Turf is for now; lost is forever. Dear Lord, may we never let the people around us be lost over turf.

Ask yourself, "Will I risk losing something precious or powerful to stand for my belief?" It’s time to reaffirm whose you are, and whose you will be long after your current position is a memory. God will honor you if you honor Him. So, break out of the prison of loving men’s praise more than God’s.

If you won’t stand for Christ where you are, then it might be time to ask, "Do you have that position, or does that position have you?"

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15. "Be very careful about how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil."

Right now, God is probably assigning someone to be your confronter. He does that because He loves you. You need one. Who is it? Are you listening even if the news is hard to take? Or do you leap to the defensive and you shut down if you don’t like what you’re hearing? Your confronters may or may not say it well. They may or may not have the right attitude. But they may have a point. Listen to your confronters. They may help you avoid a crash later.

Too often us Christians tend to try and save the saved but there is a whole world out there who do not know about Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 15 verse 20, "It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written, those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand." There have probably never been so many lost people in the world who have known so little about Jesus as people today.

Martin Marty, a church historian, wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "If you’re part of the evangelical subculture, it’s your whole life. You go to church, buy the religious books, watch the television programs." But he says, "If you’re NOT part of the subculture, you don’t even know it exists."

We had a home of our own! The ministry I was working with that is. We rented a facility for many years, and then God provided this rambling old home that we called our headquarters and the home of our ministry finally. And, it was a great gift, but it took a lot of work to get it in shape, like most old homes do. So, a lot of friends came in to help us with painting, and wallpapering, and electrical work. And then we were in, but one big job remained. See, the outside looked kind of shabby. It very much needed a good paint job. The problem was that our staff didn’t have the time, and I’m not sure they really had the ability to do it right. And we for sure didn’t have the real equipment to do a big painting job.

Well, along came a friend of the ministry who is a painter. Bless his heart, he had the equipment, he had the ability. He said to us, "I’ll make you a deal. You get the paint, you get some helpers, you tape up all the trim around the building, and I’ll do the rest." He had a deal. Couldn’t pass that one up! So, he would do what we couldn’t do on this basis, "You get it ready, and I’ll do the job." I know someone else who works like that.

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings chapter 4. Let me begin reading at verse 1, "The wife of the man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, ‘Your servant, my husband, is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.’ Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me what do you have in your house?’ ‘Well, your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, except a little oil.’ Elisha said, ‘Well, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars, and don’t ask for just a few.’" I like that part. "’Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’ So she left him, shut the door, and they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’ But he replied, ‘There’s not a jar left.’ And then the oil stopped flowing."

Now, I love this story! Elisha, representing the Lord, is basically saying, "You get it ready, and God will do the job." Just like my painter friend. You get all those jars in here. Now, I know that you’ve only got a little oil. She’d look like a fool with her neighbors. She’s out on a limb. "Give me all your jars. Give me all your jars!" For that little bit of oil?

But God is saying to her, "You prepare for a supernatural result. You just get it prepared; God will produce it." He does it all the way through the Bible; you just see it over and over again. He says, "I want you to walk into the waters of the Jordan River, and then they will part. You act like there’s going to be a miracle, and I’ll do the job."

Remember the wedding feast at Cana? "Bring the water pots, fill them with water, and I’ll take care of the rest. But you act like there’s going to be a miracle."……. "Bring that lunch to Me and I’ll make plenty of it."……….. "Move the stone away from Lazarus’ tomb, and if you act like there’s going to be a miracle, I’ll do the rest."

Here’s an important principle: the size of the preparation often determines the size of the miracle. See, we live in unnecessary poverty because we overestimate the problem and we underestimate God. So, pray as if something God-sized is going to happen. Plan as if something God-sized is going to happen. Budget, and dream as if something God-sized is going to happen. Live as if that obstacle will move like the waters of the Jordan River. Live as if there’s going to be plenty of what we’ve run out of like that wedding feast at Cana. Live as if what’s dead will come to life, like Lazarus coming back from his tomb.

Remember, the size of the preparation determines the size of the miracle. Now, maybe you’re in a situation that’s too big for you right now. Can’t you just hear God saying, "You get it ready. I’ll do the job."

Link FM’s Facebook Fan Page is growing at a rapid rate. If you’re not a fan please logon to Facebook and become a follower of Link FM. We’d love to hear from you. If you are in and around East London, there is a lot happening at the churches in our area. The founder of Kings.net, Alan Rockhill is at the Quigney Baptist Church on 9th and 10th March @ 7:00pm and Sunday morning @ 9:00am. Don’t forget you can get along to the Mug ‘n Bean @ Vincent Park Centre every Tuesday night @ 7pm for prayer. This month the focus of the prayer meetings will be specifically aimed at the crisis in education in our country. A huge thank you to Russell Kruger of the Mug ‘n Bean @ Vincent Park and Hemmingways for making his Vincent establishment available for these Tuesday prayer meetings! Get along and support the Mug ‘n Bean!

That’s it for now.

Catch you on the other side of the radio!