February 2016 – Thought of the Day

February 29, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Monday

Trusting God trumps understanding God. The train will have long left the station and left us on the platform if we determine to ride only with full understanding. Life will have passed us by. I’m choosing to trust the conductor and the track he’s laid down for me.
Terry Esau

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Revelation 2:10
The English Standard Version

He prayed as he breathed, forming no words and making no specific requests, only holding in his heart, like broken birds in cupped hands, all those people who were in stress or grief.
Ellis Peters

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 28, 2016

This Day’s Thought From The Ranch- God’s Provision

GOD’S PROVISION
by Eric Elder
The Ranch

Are you in need of something from God today? If so, let me encourage you (as a friend recently encouraged me) that “God’s provision is there before the need has presented itself. It is merely a matter of the light shining on the provision so it can be seen.”
I’ve been amazed to see this truth lived out in my own life over the last few weeks.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to another friend who shared with me, rather unintentionally, that his family was down to their last $49 in their bank account. He was trying hard to fill it back up, but his hard work wasn’t bearing as much fruit as he needed.
He had done so much for me over the years that I wondered what I could do for him. I looked in my own bank account and saw that I had $500.36. Before I had time to talk myself out of it, I wrote out a check for $500 and put it in the mail to my friend. I knew it was the right thing to do. I just had to trust that God would somehow provide for us both.
The day my check arrived at my friend’s house, another need presented itself, this time, a bill I hadn’t anticipated for $2,000! To make matters worse, I got a message from my bank saying that a check I had deposited a few months earlier had accidentally been deposited twice, so they were removing the amount of that check, which just happened to be $500, from my bank account! And I found out from my friend that same day that my check to him for $500 had just arrived at his house!
I took a deep breath and said, “God, I know You were prompting me to do this. I’m going to have to trust You to cover it.” I was headed out of town for the weekend and didn’t have time to think about it or hardly even worry about. I had to trust that God would work it out.
When I got back from my trip, I saw an email in my inbox that I had already seen just before I left on my trip, but had simply ignored it because it looked like spam. It was an agent for a company who said he had a client who was interested in buying one of the domain names I owned. (A domain name is a website address, like www.theranch.org or www.thisdaysthought.org. I’ve bought and used several domain names over the years for different projects, each of which has cost me about $15 a year.)
I checked out this agent’s website, and the company actually looked legitimate. And the domain name their client wanted to buy was one which I had used many years ago, and thought I might use again some day, but I wasn’t sure if I ever would. So I wrote to the agent and asked what his client was offering to pay for the domain name.
He wrote back and said, “$1,000.”
$1,000! I couldn’t believe it! On one hand, I wanted to jump at the opportunity. But on the other hand, I was still wondering if maybe I should hang onto that domain name in case I decided to use it someday again.
I thought, If they had offered me $10,000, that would be a no-brainer. I’d just pick out another domain name if I ever needed one in the future. But for $1,000, I’m not sure if I should give it up.
There was a button on the agent’s website where I could make a counter offer. I thought about entering $10,000, but that seemed ridiculous. I would have been happy for maybe $2,000 or $3,000 for it. But for $10,000, it would certainly be an easy decision.
Not wanting to give it much more thought, especially since I still wondered if this was even a legitimate offer, I clicked the button to make a counter offer. I entered $10,000 and pushed “Send.”
A few hours later, I got an email saying the client would like to move forward with the purchase, and they were willing to offer $2,500, but that would be their final offer.
$2,500! That was right in the $2,000-$3,000 range that I said I would be happy for! And not coincidentally, that was exactly the amount I was needing to cover for my two unexpected expenses of $500 for my friend and $2,000 for myself.
“God, I can’t believe it! I’m sorry I had so little faith!” Trusting now that it was God’s provision, I clicked the “Accept Offer” button. By the end of the week, I had transferred my domain name to the client and deposited their check into my bank account. My friend cashed my check, and I paid my unexpected bill.
When I looked back at the original email from the agent, I saw that it had come on the same morning as my friend had received my check (and I received my notice from my bank), and the same day I received that unexpected bill for $2,000. God’s provision was already right there in my inbox. It was merely a matter of the light shining on the provision so it could be seen.
This reminded me of the unusual way Jesus paid a bill for a friend and Himself one day, too.
When a tax collector came to Jesus and Peter asking them to pay their two-drachma “temple tax,” Jesus gave Peter these unusual instructions. Jesus said:
“…go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours” (Matthew 17:27b).
I can imagine the surprise on Peter’s face when he threw out his fishing line, reeled in a fish, and there in its mouth was a four-drachma coin!
The provision for both Peter and Jesus was there all along, either already in the fish’s mouth, or perhaps on the bottom of the lake, just waiting for the God of the universe to direct the fish to nibble along till it picked up the coin in its mouth and went to the spot where Peter would be fishing. God’s provision was already there before the need presented itself. It was merely a matter of the light shining on the provision so it could be seen.
I was thinking about sharing my story with you today, about God’s provision for me, but then something else unexpected came up that made me hesitate. Another need presented itself that I had no way of meeting. I thought, God, how can I write this story about You providing for our needs even before the needs even present themselves when I’m facing another need right now that I have no idea how I’m going to meet?!? But then something amazing happened–just yesterday.
Back on Thursday, when this need arose, we had a terrible snowstorm. Schools and businesses were closed for the first time all winter. My mail had been delivered to my mailbox before the storm got too bad, but by the time I made it out to the mailbox later in the day, the door to the mailbox had blown open by the storm and a magazine was hanging half-way out, soaked in snow. I wondered if anything else had blown out, and as I around, I did find one piece of junk mail, almost completely covered and soaked by the wet snow. I tried to look for any other mail that might have blown out, but the storm was too fierce to keep searching any further.
Then yesterday, when almost all of the snow had finally melted, I looked out in my yard. There were six pieces of mail, strewn all over the yard, that had been completely covered by the snow a just a few days earlier. I picked up each one, some important, others not, and one from a church where I used to attend. When I finally opened the last letter from the church, I was in shock! Enclosed was a check for the exact amount of the need I had learned about on the day of the snowstorm! A letter was attached explaining that the church wanted to give a special one-time gift from their surplus offerings from last year to gospel-centered ministries. This check was a portion of that surplus for the year! In all the years since we attended that church, we had never received such a gift before!
Again, I was astounded, not only that the need was covered, but that it was already covered on the same day that the need had presented itself. God’s provision was already there; it was merely hidden under a blanket of snow until the light of the sun shown upon it!

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 26, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Friday

I look forward, not to what lies ahead of me in this life and will surely pass away, but to my eternal goal. I am intent upon this one purpose, not distracted by other aims, and with this goal in view I press on, eager for the prize, God’s heavenly summons. Then I shall listen to the sound of Your praises and gaze at Your beauty ever present, never future, never past. But now my years are but sighs. You, O Lord, are my only solace. You, my Father, are eternal. But I am divided between time gone by and time to come, and its course is a mystery to me. My thoughts, the intimate life of my soul, are torn this way and that in the havoc of change. And so it will be until I am purified and melted by the fire of Your love and fused into one with You.
Augustine

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”
Matthew 22:37
The New King James Version

True peace is found by a man in the depth of his own heart, the dwelling place of God.
Johann Taller

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February 25, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Thursday

Your greatest ministry will likely come out of your greatest hurt.
Rick Warren

In this new life one’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and he is equally available to all.
Colossians 3:11
The Living Bible

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 24, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Wednesday

In religion our exclusions are nearly always wrong, and our inclusions, however inconsistent, nearly always right.
Evelyn Underhill

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:10
The King James Version

One other thing stirs me when I look back at my youthful days, the fact that so many people gave me something or were something to me without knowing it.
Albert Schweitzer

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February 23, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Tuesday

A relationship with the Living God shouldn’t just fade away or wear out like an old pair of shoes. It’s meant to be new every morning, just like the mercy it responds to.
Matt Redman

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Proverbs 25:11
The English Standard Version

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 22, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Monday

When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.
Norman Vincent Peale

Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Psalm 144:15
The New International Version

Christ is the referee of our troubled hearts.
Jarl Wahlstrom

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 21, 2016

This Day’s Thought From The Ranch- Asking For Blessings

ASKING FOR BLESSINGS
by Eric Elder
The Ranch

In this photo: Janette Oke praying for me and signing my notepad the night before my daughter and I visited the set of When Calls The Heart, a Hallmark TV series based on Janette’s book by the same title.

Last month I had the rare opportunity to meet Janette Oke, author of the book which served as the basis for the new TV series running on the Hallmark Channel called “When Calls The Heart.” My daughter and I were invited to attend a special event on the set near Vancouver where the show is filmed, as my daughter is going into acting herself. I have to admit, I’ve never read any of Janette Oke’s books before; I’ve only seen them all over the shelves at bookstores (she’s written over 75 novels, selling more than 30 million books!).

And yet, when the key people were introduced at a gathering for fans and friends of the show on Friday night–including actors, producers and script writers–I was floored when Janette was introduced. Why? Because here was the woman behind this entire “world” I had been watching for two years on TV with my family. She’s the one who envisioned the characters, described the settings, and infused them with her faith and values. While it’s taken hundreds of cast and crew members to bring that world to the screen, it all started in her mind 33 years ago when she first wrote the book When Calls The Heart (she’s now 81 years young).

As a writer myself, I was struck by how our words can have an effect on people all over the world, even decades or generations after our words are first written. I thought, “I would love to have a portion of whatever God has given to Janette!”

When I saw her standing in the ballroom at one point during the night with only one or two others around her, I thought perhaps I could ask her to pray for me. Although I didn’t know what she might say, I thought it was worth it to try. I walked over and introduced myself, saying, “Thank you for using your gift to reach so many people, including me. I’m a writer, too, and I wondered if you would pray for me, that God would use my words to reach many people for His kingdom as well?”

Janette said she’d be glad to pray for me, pulled me in close, and launched into a beautiful one or two minute prayer, speaking directly into my ear.

After praying, she signed a notebook I carrying, writing, “Eric, May God continue to lead you. Janette Oke”

It may seem bold or unusual to ask someone to bless you with a portion of that which God has blessed them. Yet it’s not the first time I’ve asked someone to pray for me like that. I’ve taken courage from those in the Bible who have asked others to bless them as well, like Elisha asking for a blessing from Elijah: “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” (2 Kings 2:9b) or Jacob asking for a blessing from the man with whom he had wrestled all night: “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” (Genesis 32:26b).

It’s not that I’m expecting instant answers from these prayers, and it’s not like I’m trying to rub a magical charm for good luck. It’s asking for a prayer of blessing from those whom God has already blessed. And as a believer in prayer, I trust that God will answer those prayers some day, in some way–and even in ways that might go beyond all I could ask or imagine.

I remember asking a famous singer one time if he would pray for my voice. He said, “Sure,” then asked, “What happened to your voice?” thinking that perhaps I had injured it in some way.

I said, “Oh, my voice is fine, I just wish I could sing like you!” He laughed, then prayed for me, gladly. It’s not that I thought my voice would suddenly change to sound like his, for we’re all gifted and wired in unique ways. He didn’t get to where he was by just a prayer–it takes lots of hard work, training, and “practice, practice, practice.”

But I also know that Jesus has “good gifts” He wants to give us, and He encourages us to ask in order to receive them. As Jesus said: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

My daughter and I asked for prayers of blessings from two other people during our weekend on the set, too.

We met the father of one of the child actors on the show and were able to talk with him about how their family got connected with the production. As he answered our questions, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if he would pray for my daughter that God would open some similar doors for her?” I didn’t know if he was a Christian or not. But at one point while we were talking, he mentioned how “blessed” he felt by all that had happened to their family. I decided then and there that it was worth asking him for a blessing, too.

I asked, “Would you mind praying for my daughter that God would bless her as you and your family have been blessed?”

He paused for a moment, then said, “No one’s ever asked me to do that before. But sure, I’d be glad to.” He took our hands in his and prayed an honest, godly, and heart warming prayer.

The third blessing we received came at the end of the weekend’s activities when my daughter talked to an actor with whom she was very impressed. He wasn’t an actor on this particular show, but happened to be on the set that day with us. Again, we weren’t sure if he was a Christian or not, but had heard from a member of the crew that they thought he was involved with a church nearby. My daughter stepped up to talk to him, looked at him sincerely and asked, “Would you pray for me? I’m going into acting, too, and I would love to receive what you have.”

He looked at her and said, “Not many people ask me that! But okay, let’s pray.” He then launched into a lengthy prayer for her, which turned into a 45-minute conversation about acting, Hollywood, boundaries, and balancing work and family life. That prayer and conversation turned out to be the highlight of the whole weekend for my daughter.

I tell you these stories not to be a name dropper, for I have no interest in that. I tell you these stories because I want to encourage YOU to ask blessings from those you meet, those who have been gifted in ways that you may want to grow, too.

It’s good to check your motives before asking for a blessing, as this isn’t meant to be a substitute to try to curry someone’s favor or as a way to get close enough to someone to get their autograph! It’s simply and truly a way to ask God to bless you as others have been blessed. If that’s your desire, then let me encourage you to consider asking, too! If the person you ask says, “Yes,” then receive whatever blessing God chooses to pour out on you. Who knows how your life and the lives of those around you–perhaps even the lives of people all around the world for generations to come–might be affected by your asking!

When I came home from our weekend in Vancouver, a friend told me that she had been praying that I would receive everything God wanted me to receive on the trip. As I thought about her prayers, I thought about those three blessings that others had prayed over my daughter and me. I thought, “Yes, Lord, I think I have received everything You wanted me to receive.”

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask God, yes, but don’t be afraid to ask people sometimes, too. Their prayers of blessings may rock more than just your world.

P.S. If you’ve never seen When Calls The Heart, Season 3 starts tonight, Sunday, February 21st, here in the U.S. It’s a show that’s filled with faith, strong values, and beautiful characters and scenery, all shot in the Canadian West. If you have a DVR, set it to record the show every Sunday night! (You might even catch Janette Oke in a cameo role in the season finale!)

And here are some links if you want to catch up on previous episodes:

Click to get Season 1 from Amazon

Click to get Season 2 from Amazon

Click to get the premiere of Season 3 from Amazon

In this photo: “Cody,” “Clara,” and dozens of other cast and crew members sign posters on the set of When Calls The Heart. Bottom: a highway sign we saw on our way to the set for the show (the set also happens to be named “Hope Valley.”)

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 19, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Friday

I shuddered to think how many times in the past several years I’d made the mistake of confusing faith in myself with faith in God.
Christi Paul

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
1 Chronicles 16:29
The King James Version

There is nothing we can desire or want that we do not find in God.
Catherine of Siena

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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February 18, 2016

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch- Thursday

Thank you for your patience as we had experienced technical delays with Wednesday’s message and through this morning.

His kingdom is so simple–one person telling another about the Savior. Yet we’re busy and full of excuses. Just remember, someone’s eternal destiny is at stake. The joy you’ll have when you meet that person in heaven will far exceed any discomfort you felt in sharing the gospel.
Charles Stanley

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
John 12:25
The English Standard Version

This Day’s Thought from The Ranch, P.O. Box 3784, Greenwood Village, CO 80155, USA

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