WHEN WE HAD NOTHING, OUR KNEES LOOKED LIKE A PAIR OF BADLY WORN SHOES, BECAUSE WE HUMBLED OURSELVES AND LOWERED OUR TORSO, LOOKING UP TO OUR HELPER. OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED WE HAD GOOD JOBS, GOOD HOMES, THE GOOD LIFE. GOD IS CALLING A PEOPLE TO HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY. CAN GOD USE YOU? LOOK AT YOUR KNEES.

  SMOOTH KNEES

Luke 19:41-43; "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, if thou hast known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.
For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side."

Employment isn't what it used to be in America. There was a study done: Americans work more than any other culture. We have very little down time for vacation, while other countries or cultures take at least two or three months a year for time away from work.

It is a known fact that Americans work so that they can have…THINGS. When working alone, doesn't afford them these luxuries, Americans rely on their good name, or CREDIT.

Credit automatically gives you that which you couldn't afford. It postpones paying for any item for days; weeks; months or years. This luxury then leaves room for acquiring of many THINGS that ordinarily, the borrower couldn't afford. The borrower now can attract a new and different caliber of people by the lust of the eye. Now the objective will be to keep up this deception and to increase in its falsehood. A lie is never satisfied.
Exodus 20:3; …"Ye shall have no other gods before Me."

My house; my car; my clothes; my job; my…my…my. After a while, what's real (GOD) becomes vaguely unfamiliar, and the path to what matters, becomes MAGNIFIED. The path alluded to in this instance, is . . . your job.

The Job, has become the god that allows and makes all things possible. The Job pays your bills and keeps you and your family fed. The Job, pays your rent, or house mortgage. The Job pays your car note and puts gas in your tank. If it weren't for your Job, you wouldn't have all THAT EXQUISITE furniture. And you know, the Job is responsible for you having that wonderful vacation which you planned, last year. The Job has given you an excellent insurance policy, and when you retire, you will have a splendid retirement; because of the…Job.

Who allowed you to have the Job?
Who is responsible for you having the health to go to the Job? Who gave you the mental capacity to function on this Job? (How do your knees look?)

Jobs that we thought would never be replaced or discontinued have been lost to a new player on the block…Downsizing. Downsizing first reduced the square footage of our places or locations of jobs. That didn't bother anyone much because we didn't really need our own offices. Cube space was just fine.

The CEO's and Presidents were moved out because they were costing the company too much in yearly salaries. But, that's just fine because that strategic move just might increase your Job's pay. (They weren't doing anything, anyway.)

The Senior workers have been asked to leave early and take an early retirement. Some of them have been released because their salaries were too great and the Job was getting done with employees making less per hour. The company has enlarged the cubicle space. Now that all of the top heavy weight is gone, my Job is just right.

Just right? Yes, just right. It took months to dig up enough scandal to warrant the release of the CEO and President; it took negotiations to release the Senior employee; it takes nothing to "Downsize" you right out of your Job.Your Job is just right!

In Luke nineteen Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. The people worship Him and call Him their King. They throw palm branches on the ground as a symbol of royalty and future prosperity. In hailing Jesus, they anticipated their own good. They knew their future was secure, because of this man Jesus. The only security they had ever known was houses, lands freedom and food. They surmised, ‘their king would treat them good.' Hardly did they guess their King would be falsely accused, brutally beaten, and crucified dead. They were disappointed and angry. Their anger spilled over into the guile which screamed, "Crucify Him." (Barely was there any room for Thanksgiving in this crowd.)

Downsizing has disrupted and destroyed many jobs and workers find themselves in the same position as those in Luke nineteen, who were looking toward their King for all the answers. GOD's wisdom took their king in the flesh and gave them, "The King of their Salvation."

Note: Is it possible that GOD is moving us from these jobs of the flesh and herding us to prayer? "We all like sheep have gone astray." Isa. 53:6; "We are the sheep, He is the is the Door, by Him we are led to pasture. Jn 10:7-18. So many of us have become "self made" and do not reflect our Shepherd's image. Sometimes Shepherds have to break the leg of wayward sheep.

Joseph's father, Jacob, gave him a coat of many colors. GOD took that coat and replaced it with a robe. It is certain that while in the dungeon, Joseph wondered and pondered his life; but, he remembered his GOD given gift, and GOD used it to elevate him from the dungeon to the palace. He was out of work, but, not out of GOD. He continued to exercise his gift from GOD. The other prisoners observed his godly demeanor even in the dungeon , and at the appointed time, they referred the king to Joseph which released him from imprisonment.

Did GOD give you your job? Job said, "The Lord GOD giveth and the Lord GOD taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job wore sack cloth and ashes which was a sign of humility. It was a sign indicating unworthiness in His presence. (There is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy. Our best clothing and the finest of things are but, "Filthy Rags" in His sight.

After the Pharaoh's palace, Moses the Shepherd, heard GOD, in the burning bush who commissioned him to lead His people out of Egypt. Then this great leader spent forty years in the wilderness with GOD's people. He saw the promised land, but never entered in. David was a Shepherd over his father's sheep. GOD anointed him to be King over Israel. (This was the beginning of woes.) He played music for King Saul; He killed the giant Goliath; he also spent long years in the wilderness hiding from King Saul, fearful of losing his life.

Where are you? Are you in the wilderness, like Moses and David, or are you in the dungeon, like Joseph? Maybe you're sitting in sack cloth like Job. Jesus wants us all to know…(according to Luke 19:42); Jesus has seen the plight of our cities and the carnality of our thoughts and ways. He has seen our enemy encompass us and take away our peace. Peace that was stolen, not when we lost our jobs, but, in the midst of having our jobs, we fell and succumbed to the god of greed and increase. Never satisfied with GOD alone, we had to have more. More to express our place in ‘this world.'
Have our jobs become our gods? Do we align ourselves with prosperity and ignore GOD? GOD forbid!

The employment in America may be low at this time, but, GOD through Jesus Christ has promised never to leave us nor to forsake us. He never left Moses; nor David; nor Joseph. All of these great men lived patterns of life that we can readily follow. They were all stripped of things so that their raising up could only be credited to GOD.

Do you think that perhaps GOD has relieved us of our little gods so that He would be given the Glory? It's a great question to ponder, when you consider the power that these jobs have had over many of us.

FRIDAY'S WORD: Praise; Praise is an _expression of approval or admiration; of gratitude and devotion for blessings received. When directed toward men, it should never descend to fulsome flattery; nor should the love of it become so great as to hush the voice of conscience and of duty. While without it there will be no sense of reproach, when it has gone beyond its proper place, instead of improving, it corrupts.

IN THE MIRROR:
Maybe you saw it, "Jesus and Paul."It carried over the network at what one would consider a perfect time, (Easter) and it seemed to have more commercials than Superbowl Sunday. I would describe myself as one who watched with the greatest of intensity, and tried to listen to every word that would assist in the validity of what I've trusted in my whole life.

What I don't want to do is direct your attention to any particular statement or comment that was made because all I can tell you is that, if I had no previous Christian experience prior to that Documentary, any type of faith, hope, or trust in Jesus Christ as God would be completely unthought of, or unheard of.

Listen again to what you either said, or confessed to when you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans10:9&10)

At the end of this extensive documentation, I was left with the awesome impression that Jesus was just ‘a great man' [not God] and that the Gospel was spread by the ‘will of Paul', not the ‘will of God'. It was fascinating to listen to the different accounts on how everything took place when Jesus, and Paul walked the earth, and after contemplating and construing the presentation and thinking about everything I heard, my faith in God's Word grew to an even greater degree. How's that? I'm glad you asked!

They never mentioned about the Prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ; they never explained the virgin birth by which Jesus came into the world; they never explained how the two blind men were cured in the ninth chapter of Matthews; they never explained how the deaf and dumb man of Decapolis was healed in the seventh chap. Mark; they never explained in the book of Luke seventh chap. how Jesus returns life to a widow's son; they never explained how Jesus cleansed the ten lepers, recorded in the book of Luke, (a most dreaded disease of that day); they forgot to mention how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John eleventh chapter. They never told me how Jesus had power over life and death, and they surely can't explain your life if you've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord.

Christian Friend please understand that when you learn to deny any part of the life of Jesus, you forfeit, or stand to jeopardize your own salvation and God's Sovereign plan of Redemption that affects all of mankind.

I can promise you that if you've accepted Jesus' sacrifice for your sins, somebody somewhere is going to make sure you don't believe, so you won't receive; but on the other hand there's going to be somebody like me somewhere witnessing the power of God, adequate, sufficient and capable of transforming a human life now and throughout Eternity. Now that's shoutin stuff!
S.L.C.

INGREDIENTS:
¾ PKG. THIN SPAGHETTI
3 BOUILLON CUBES.
FROZEN GREEN PEAS
1 STICK BUTTER.
1 MEDIUM ONION SLICED THIN OR CHOPPED (YOUR CHOICE.)
¼ CUP ALL PURPOSE FLOUR.
½ CUP CARNATION EVAPORATED MILK.
1-2 CUPS WATER (OR MORE TO DESIRED CONSISTENCY.)
1-2 TBLSPS. GARLIC POWDER OR FLAKES (TO DESIRED TASTE.)
SALT AND PEPPER (TO TASTE.)

IN LARGE POT BRING WATER TO A BOIL; ADD 2 BOUILLON CUBES, STIR; ADD ¾ PKG. OF SPAGHETTI; LET BOIL TO DESIRED TENDERNESS. DRAIN AND SET ASIDE.
IN SMALLER SAUCE PAN COOK GREEN PEAS (ADD BOUILLON CUBE TO WATER) UNTIL TENDER; SET ASIDE.
IN A LARGE PAN: MELT BUTTER; ADD ONION SAUTEED.
ADD FLOUR MAKE GRUEL AND BRING UP WITH MILK AND WATER.
ADD SPICES; DRAINED PEAS; THEN DRAINED SPAGHETTI.
TOSS SPAGHETTI IN THE SAUCE UNTIL COVERED.
SERVE HOT.
NOTE: VARIATION – USE MIXED VEGETABLES INSTEAD OF GREEN PEAS; OR ADD COOKED GROUND MEAT TO THE CREAM SAUCE. IF YOU LIKE SPAGHETTI AND THE ONLY WAY YOU KNOW TO COOK IT IS WITH TOMATO SAUCE THIS IS AN INTERESTING VERSION. ENJOY! TER