FIVE GOLDEN NUGGETS OF TRUTH

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FIVE GOLDEN NUGGETS OF TRUTH & WISDOM


(Mini-Teaching Devotionals by Os Hillman)


*UNDERSTANDING THE SOURCE OF ANGER


*THE DEPTH AND WIDTH OF YOUR CALLING


*LIVING FOR A CAUSE GREATER THAN YOURSELF


*SUFFERING FOR THE SALVATION OF ANOTHER


*WHEN GOD RESTORES WHAT THE LOCUSTS EAT


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"UNDERSTANDING THE SOURCE OF ANGER"


~ Os Hillman

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"The circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life, do not make me the way I am, but reveal the way I am." [Dr. Sam Peeples]


This simple quote has had a profound impact on how I view my anger now. Anger only reveals what is inside of me. I can't blame anyone but me for my response to a situation.


I have learned that anger is only the symptom of something else that is going on inside of me. This quote now resides on my refrigerator door as a daily reminder of the truth about my response to life's situations.


It has been said that anger is like the warning panel on the dash of your car. It is the light that tells us something is going on under the hood and we need to find out what is the source of the problem.


I discovered that the source of anger is often unmet expectations or personal rights. We believe we are entitled to a particular outcome to a situation. When this doesn't happen, it triggers something in us.


At the core of this is fear, often a fear of failure or rejection, fear of what others think, fear of the unknown.


If you struggle with anger, ask God to reveal the source of that anger. Ask Him to heal you of any fears that may be the root of your anger. Ask God to help you take responsibility for your response to difficult situations.


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"THE DEPTH AND WIDTH OF YOUR CALLING"


~ Os Hillman


If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. - 2 Corinthians 1:6


"God must love you a lot! He doesn't allow someone to go through the kinds of adversity you have experienced unless He has a special calling on your life." Those were the words said to me by two different mentors at two different times within a three-year period.


Later I would learn another related truth from a respected man of God - a man who lives in another country, a man whom God uses throughout the globe.


"The depth and width of your faith experiences are directly proportional to your calling." What were these men of God saying?


They were describing a process of preparation that God takes each of His leaders through when He plans to use them in significant ways.


A "faith experience" is an event or "spiritual marker" in your life about which you can say, "That is where I saw God personally moving in my life."


It is an unmistakable event in which God showed Himself personally to you. It was the burning bush for Moses; the crossing of the Red Sea or the Jordan River for the nation of Israel; Jacob's encounter with the angel.


It was the feeding of the 5,000 for the disciples. It was the time when you saw God face to face in your life.


If God has plans of using you in the lives of many others, you can expect that He is going to allow certain faith experiences to come into your life in order to build a foundation that will be solid.


That foundation is what you will be able to look back on to keep you faithful to Him in the times of testing. Each of us must have personal faith experiences in which we experience God personally so that we can move in faith to whatever He may call us.


Do you need a personal faith experience right now in your life? Pray that God will reveal Himself to you. He delights in doing that.


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"LIVING FOR A CAUSE GREATER THAN YOURSELF"


~ Os Hillman


I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:13


In the thirteenth century a man named William Wallace became the instrument of freedom from England's tyranny over Scotland. A very wicked king ruled England. A tragedy in the life of William Wallace launched him into living for this cause.


Initially his cause was revenge, but soon his cause turned to something bigger than himself - freedom for a nation. When he challenged the commoners to fight for this freedom, they responded that the enemy was too great and that they might die on the battlefield.


They also refused to fight for the nobles, the knights and leaders who had a vested interest in gaining more land for themselves versus a pure cause of freedom. Wallace's response:


"Yes, we might die. We will all die sooner or later. But we will die for a cause worth dying for. So that our children and their children might live in freedom." This story was popularized in the movie Brave Heart (Sherman Oaks, California: Paramount Pictures, 1995).


Today we find many Christian workplace believers living a status quo relationship with God that is more characterized as "business as usual" than a life demonstrating God's power.


Our focus is often more concerned with improving our standard of living than improving the Kingdom of God through our circle of influence. While this takes place, millions upon millions die without the saving grace of Christ. Many other Christians die never experiencing the freedom in Christ that His blood paid for.


God has called each of us to live for a cause greater than ourselves - a life that is dependent on His grace and power to achieve things we never thought possible through our lives. This is His plan for your life.


The apostle Paul prayed that He might experience the power of the resurrection in his life. This power is available to you and me to live for a cause greater than ourselves.


Ask God what He wants to achieve through your life today. And consider yourself dead already to the consequences of what that might mean for you.


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"SUFFERING FOR THE SALVATION OF ANOTHER"


~ Os Hillman


Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. - Matthew 5:11


Recently, a friend told a true story about one of his closest friends who experienced great suffering for the soul of his persecutor. This man worked on a cargo ship. His boss was the captain.


This friend was a committed Christian who shared his faith with others and was a good worker. One day the friend led the sea captain's girlfriend to Christ. The sea captain already hated and ridiculed the Christian worker because of his faith in Christ.


When his girlfriend came to Christ, she stopped sleeping with the captain. The captain blamed the Christian man for the change in his girlfriend.


One day he entered the restaurant where the Christian man was having lunch. He walked over to his table and began hurling obscenities and began beating him.


The Christian man simply tried to defend himself but did not fight back. The captain kept beating him until eventually the man lay on the floor bleeding.


Two men entered the restaurant and saw what was taking place. They jumped the sea captain and took him outside and began beating him.


The sea captain was beaten so badly that he needed immediate medical attention. The Christian worker saw the condition of the sea captain, came to his aid, and began helping him.


The sea captain was so moved that this man could do this after he had literally beaten him bloody that he began to weep, not understanding what could move a man to have such love in the face of being beaten. The sea captain accepted Jesus at that moment.


The Bible tells us that while we were yet sinners Christ came and paid our penalty so that we might live eternally. Many in the workplace have never known the love of Christ.


You might be the only one they ever meet who can introduce them to this love. Ask God to show you how to love the unlovable in your workplace today.


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"WHEN GOD RESTORES WHAT THE LOCUSTS EAT"


~ Os Hillman


I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you. - Joel 2:25


There are seasons in our lives that involve times of famine and times of restoration. Solomon tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time and that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. (See Ecclesiastes 3:1,11.)


God brings about both the good and the bad. The seasons of famine have a divine purpose in our lives. They accomplish things that only these hard places can accomplish.


But there is a time when those hard places have accomplished their purpose and He begins to restore. God did this with the nation of Israel after a season of famine and devastation.


Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.


"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - My great army that I sent among you.


You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed.


Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed." (Joel 2:23-27)


God wants each of us to know that there is a time when He will restore in order to demonstrate His gracious hand in our lives. He is a loving Father who tenderly guides His children through the difficult places.


If God has taken you through a time of leanness, know that He is the restorer of that which the locusts have eaten. Wait patiently for Him to bring this about in your life. He will do it.


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