If He Had Not… Now Think On This by Steve Martin

If He Had Not…

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” (Psalm 37:23, NASU)

One of my recent Now Think On This messages was entitled The What Ifs. It has been one of my most read and shared ones. It is because we often find ourselves thinking about the “what ifs” in life, don’t we? But then, on the other hand, how often do we consider the “if He had nots” that I believe are just as important, if not more so.

As you look back on the road you have taken in life thus far, where would you be if the Lord Himself had not intervened in your life? What would have happened if His Almighty hand had not guided you to take that one specific step, or prevent you from taking one that would have had serious consequences?

During my first and only year of college (no degree here), I had become engaged to a sophomore who wanted to be an English teacher in Iowa. I wanted to be a missionary in Africa. As you guessed, the engagement did not last long. She wasn’t going the way I felt led to go. But two years later, I met the one who would be my life mate, and take the road the Lord had planned for the two of us, and yes, the kids and grandkids that followed. If He had not intervened…

I think back on that decision He led us to make when I left a well-paying, next rung-on-the-ladder VP job in Michigan in 1987. Moving our family then to the southern end of Florida, accepting a financial position with an international Christian ministry, was not the typical way to go for a 33 year-old with wife and four kids. Following that path had me help lead three ministries over the next 24 years with the administration and financial skills He has gifted me with. If He had not directed…

Where would you be today if you had married that one whom you knew deep down was not His choice? What would have happened if He had not sent you the wisdom of another, to give you scriptural advice in your decision?

If He had not closed that door to the one job you thought you desperately needed, because He knew you were to be at another, to bring His light into a dark place? Where would you be now?

If the Lord had not enabled you to escape that addiction gripping your life, whether it be drugs, alcohol, pornography, anger? What sorry state would you still be in?

If Jesus had not saved you from hell, your eternal life would end up there.

There are many situations that the Lord has not only protected us from, but even more so are the several times He has led us down the path of the narrow one. Those paths we have taken, knowingly and unknowingly.

For all those times when He intervened, He is worthy of our thankfulness and eternal love.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 02.20.17 - #276 – “If He Had Not…” – Monday 9:30 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

Got A “D” On My Review - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Got A “D” On My Review

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Speak up, judge righteously, defend the cause of the poor and the needy.” (Proverbs 31:9, Complete Jewish Bible)

It certainly wasn’t the best of weeks. My wife and I spent a lot of time sitting in the hospital as one son went through two surgeries, for internal bleeding and fractured vertebrae, after a horrific car accident. That in itself wore us out. (You can read more in my message, The What Ifs).

And then after the postponement four times in much the same time period, my mid-year work review finally happened. I had had some concerns going into it, and had hoped it would just get over.

I normally am not concerned about the regular six month review process. Having been a good employee for much of my life, I generally got high marks, and was considered a valuable worker. But this time I wasn’t so sure, as I was aware of a few mistakes in my accounting job I had made in the last six months. The world hadn’t come to an end over them, nor would it, but being my boss is very good at catching, and pointing out, every error made on my part, I had some trepidation what would be said and written.

And there it was. On the 2^nd page of the three page printed document, was a “D” in one area. I can’t ever remember getting a “D” in my life. I was almost always a straight “A” student throughout my educational years, and it regularly showed on other job reviews these many decades. But I had never imagined I would get a “D” on a work review.

The two mistakes pointed out were easily fixable, and had been already. And they hadn’t cost the company money either. But in their opinion, I needed to again be reminded of them (having happened a few months ago) and it would be noted on this permanent review.

After the half hour was over, I signed the paper and left their office, not quite on the happy note I usually experienced. I do take “pride” in doing a good job, and want to excel in my position for the company’s sake. But this set me back emotionally. Throughout the night it would not leave my mind.

The next day in our daily office meeting, after going over current accounting work, I brought it up to my boss. I said I had never received a “D” in my life, and pointed out that these two mistakes did not warrant that low grade. I had other objections to share, which I did, and awaited the response. The “D” was changed to a “C” on the review.

My boss afterward said they were questioning why I hadn’t said anything during the review the day before, and also said it was the COO who was the one who had made my boss change it from the original “C” to the “D” in this category. But she was willing to change it back, and didn’t want me to feel that my work was on a “D” level. (My overall review was 3.7 out of 5. I was also told that the company policy had changed, dropping everyone basically a full point on their reviews. Now it would be rare if anyone would get a 5 (“A”) anymore in any category, as no one was thought able to reach perfection. How encouraging is that?! On my previous year-end review I had gotten a 4.6 out of 5.)

I don’t have any big spiritual advice or wisdom to share with you at this point. Just maybe the Lord wanted me to say something that in this matter seemed unjust. Certainly there are far more greater situations happening in the world that are of far more of concern that this, like speaking for the unborn or those who are continually mistreated and misjudged. Of those important concerns I will certainly keep speaking up.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 02.12.17 - #275 –“Got A “D” On My Review” – Sunday 2:30 pm

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

The What Ifs - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

The What Ifs

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2, NKJV)

We all have asked the “What if?” questions. Usually they come after a major tragedy in our life, or before a long anticipated event is about to happen, and we start asking the question.

Our son was involved in a single car accident very recently, resulting in the hospital ER and the ICU; with one surgery completed and another yet to come. On top of that, no insurance was in place by him to cover anything. No auto coverage except the bare bones, and no medical insurance either. It didn’t take long for the “What if” questions to start coming, both of those that came inwardly to our minds and the ones that came from without, from others who heard of the tragedy.

After seeing the mangled 2009 Hyundai Elantra he had been driving, just bought the week before, at its final towed location, the questions really started to flow in my brain.

“What if he had hit that tree head on?”

“What if there had been a passenger on that side, which took the major blunt of the horrible wreck?”

“What if another vehicle had been coming head on the other side of the median which he had crossed over during that midnight moment, which normally has much traffic on that city street?”

More and more they came, as further observations were made of Ben lying in the hospital bed fully sedated, the vehicle and the tree.

But then there was the tree. We most certainly know of the other tree, the one which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ hung on, to save us from the world which seeks to kill and destroy, and the eternal damnation hereafter for those with no hope.

Paul put it this way, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised; and if the Messiah has not been raised, then what we have proclaimed is in vain; also your trust is in vain; furthermore, we are shown up as false witnesses for God in having testified that God raised up the Messiah, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised either; and if the Messiah has not been raised, your trust is useless, and you are still in your sins. Also, if this is the case, those who died in union with the Messiah are lost.

If it is only for this life that we have put our hope in the Messiah, we are more pitiable than anyone. But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man.” (1 Cor 15:13-22, Complete Jewish Bible)

So I am most grateful for the “what” that did occur. I am most grateful that our son’s life was spared, to fulfill the call on his life which began 37 years ago at birth. I am most grateful for the uncertainties that will become certainties – being certain because His Lord still has him in the palm of His hand, directing his steps along the way, using His guardian angels to cover the missteps with their protection assignments on that path.

Both Ben, Laurie and I and his family will face a lot of “what ifs” in the coming days, but we are standing on solid ground that our Lord Jesus’ grace, provision and assurance will always be ours, as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

The “what ifs” have, and will yet to be, the completed “See what the Lord has done.”

For this and all things we certainly give thanks to the Lord for His abundant grace and His ongoing mercy and love daily in each of our lives.

You can be certain of that too.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

  

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 02.04.17 - #274 – “The What Ifs” – Saturday 8:30 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve