A Goat for Christmas

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift? Check out what this week's ministry video has to offer.



--Gospel for Asia

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Let It Rain

All of us are covered with the dirt and grime of this life: so many mistakes, so many times where we have failed Him, so many sinful thoughts and attitudes. All of us desperately need daily renewal, healing rain from the Father to wash us clean again.



--Michael W. Smith - Healing Rain

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Waiting for a Revelation

"Do I stay or do I go? What is my next move, Lord, because I desire to be in your complete and holy will." If these words are the echo of your spiritual heartbeat, then this Saturday's video will speak to your soul.



--Third Day - Revelation

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The Umbrella

Photo credit: Nasey

Storms will come,
Rains will fall,
It's easy to get trapped
In Life's deluge.

But when all seems lost
As flood waters rise,
Remember to look up
To find His rainbow.

Because no matter
How wet the weather
Our loving Father
Is our umbrella.

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Kingdom Building

Photo credit: Yin.Shen

We go through life
Building our kingdoms,
Creating our castles,
Guarding our stuff.

Yet in the final days
Only one Kingdom matters
And will stand forever:
The one built on Christ.

Tell me,

Are we helping build
His spiritual Kingdom
One soul at a time
Or still working on ours?

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Outwardly Mobile

Photo credit: rossanacarparelli

So many lives,
So many souls,
Young and old,
Needing Christ.

Are we...

Praying upwards,
Reaching outward,
Speaking boldly,
Loving unconditionally,
Trying desperately,
To see them come
To Him?

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Lonely Souls

Photo credit: harunoyono

In the silence
Of others' indifference
Loneliness squeezes
Our souls.

Yet,
As believers,
We are never truly alone
Are we?

May you feel His love
Ever and always,
And pray faithfully
For the lonely ones
Who don't.

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Basement Buzz

Christian ministries come in great variety...and volume levels. This Monday's focus is on a work that targets the MTV generation, utilizing drama, music, and the latest technology to share the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.



--The Basement

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Committed

We live in a time when commitment can seem old-fashioned. Yet how refreshing it is to hear of marriages that have weathered life's storms and survived social pressures by people refusing to back down from their promise on the altar to both God and each other. This Sunday's video celebrates the kind of love that endures.



--Needtobreathe - Washed By The Water

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For the Next Few Days...

Due to a family health emergency, there will be no updates to Soul Strokes for the next few days. Please take advantage of the many posts from the past that you might have missed. Blessings.

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Expect the Unexpected

Photo credit: _delmiomeglio_

Learn to expect
Unexpected blessings
To come shining down.

Our sovereign Lord
Takes great pleasure
In surprising us with grace.

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Like the Baobab

Photo credit: 'sebastien.mamy'

Like the baobab
Which bears fruit
In dry, dusty lands,
We too can bear fruit
When we are planted
In adverse climes
If we learn to submit
To the Master Gardener.

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Born Wondering

Photo credit: ishkamina

We are born as wonderers,
Explorers of mysteries,
Seekers of truth.

May we daily find
God's truth, His ways,
And embrace the secrets
Of His matchless love for us.

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Something for Everyone

For this Monday's ministry video I've decided to give you a glimpse of a mission I am intimately familiar with. My family and I have been with WorldVenture for almost twenty years, living and serving with them in four countries on three continents during these past two decades. Here is a taste of some of the opportunities available with our organization.



--WorldVenture

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Ever Faithful

Life is filled with uncertainties. People let us down, situations spin out of control, and the personal tragedies of living in a fallen world can sometimes crush us. There is only one sure thing we can all count on: our God's love. As we turn to Him we can be assured, even when all hope seems lost, that He will fail us not.



--1000 Generations - Fail Us Not

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Love From Above

God's greatest gift to the world is Christ, but the motivation for that blessing is what today's video celebrates: the unmatchable, unquenchable love that can be funneled through us from Heaven to those around us.



--Group 1 Crew - Love Is A Beautiful Thing

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Moving Up in the World

Photo credit: LeenerBeener91

One thing is certain: the call of Christ is always a promotion. Were Christ to call a king from his throne to preach the gospel to some tribe of aborigines, that king would be elevated above anything he had known before. Any movement toward Christ is ascent, and any direction away from Him is down.

Yet though we recognize the honor bestowed upon us, there is no place for pride, for the follower of Christ must shoulder his cross and a cross is an object of shame and a symbol of rejection.

Before God and the angels it is a great honor to follow Christ, but before men it is not so. The Christ the world pretends now to honor was once rejected and crucified by that same world. The great saint is honored only after he is dead. Rarely is he known as a saint while he lives. The plaudits of the world come too late, when he can no longer hear them; and perhaps it is better that way. Not many are selfless enough to endure honor without injury to their souls.

In those early Galilean days Christ's followers heard His call, forsook the old life, attached themselves to Him, began to obey His teachings and joined themselves to His band of disciples. This total commitment was their confirmation of faith. Nothing less would do.

And it is not different today. He calls us to leave the old life and to begin the new. There must never be any vacuum, never any place of neutrality where the world cannot identify us. Peter warming himself at the world's fire and trying to seem unconcerned is an example of the kind of halfway discipleship too many are satisfied with. The martyr leaping up in the arena, demanding to be thrown to the lions along with his suffering brethren, is an example of the only kind of dedication that God approves.

--from Man - The Dwelling Place of God by A. W. Tozer

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Called Out of the Crowd

Photo credit: Donncha@InPhotos.org

Jesus Christ is a Man come to save men. In Him the divine nature is married to our human nature, and wherever human nature exists there is the raw material out of which He makes followers and saints. Our Lord recognizes no classes, high or low, rich or poor, old or young, man or woman: all are human and all are alike to Him. His invitation is to all mankind.

In New Testament times persons from many and varied social levels heard His call and responded: Peter the fisherman; Levi the publican; Luke the physician; Paul the scholar; Mary the demon possessed; Lydia the businesswoman; Paulus the statesman. A few great and many common persons came. They all came and our Lord received them all in the same way and on the same terms.

From any and every profession or occupation men and women may come if they will. The simple rule is that if the occupation is good, continue in it if you so desire; if it is bad, abandon it at once and seek another. If the call includes detachment from all common pursuits to give full time to the work of the gospel, then no profession or occupation, no matter how good or how noble, must keep us from obeying the call.

--from Man - The Dwelling Place of God by A. W. Tozer

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The Wrong Approach

Evangelical Christians commonly offer Christ to mankind as a nostrum to cure their ills, a way out of their troubles, a quick and easy means to the achievement of personal ends. They use the right words, but their emphasis is awry. The message is so presented as to leave the hearer with the impression that he is being asked to give up much to gain more. And that is not good, however well intentioned it may be.

What we do is precisely what a good salesman does when he presents the excellence of his product as compared with that of his closest competitor. The customer chooses the better of the two, as who would not? But the weakness of the whole salesmanship technique is apparent: the idea of selfish gain is present in the whole transaction.

--from Man - The Dwelling Place of God - A. W. Tozer

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Honor in Humility

Photo credit: abennett23

To be called to follow Christ is a high honor; higher indeed than any honor men can bestow upon each other.

Were all the nations of the earth to unite in one great federation and call a man to head that federation, that man would be honored above any other man that ever lived. Yet the humblest man who heeds the call to follow Christ has an honor far above such a man; for the nations of the earth can bestow only such honor as they possess, while the honor of Christ is supreme over all. God has given Him a name that is above every name.

--from Man - The Dwelling Place of God by A. W. Tozer

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God's Athletes

Many ministries focus on reaching those that are somehow removed from the general populace either by position in society or by nationality. These works such as those among the homeless, people caught in the web of addiction, individuals from a culture foreign to ours, etc. are crucial in the quest to expand the Kingdom. Equally vital, however, are missions to the segment of the population that we may personally belong to, some of whom may be our own family members. One such ministry that focuses closer to home is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Curious how effective such a work among student athletes can be? Watch this video of how one group of girls was eternally impacted for Christ.



--Fellowship of Christian Athletes (www.FCA.org)

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First Light

Are you sitting down as you read this? You might want to stand up, crank the volume, and get ready to praise. Today's video is a powerful rendition of a classic song that is almost guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat.



--Travis Cottrell - In The First Light

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