Patricia's Principles for Living

Something was wrong with the washing machine. The power cord was plugged into the outlet and was fine. My appliance repairman husband took the machine apart to see what was wrong with it. As he was examining a part I inquired as to what was wrong. He said that the gears on the control knob had been stripped. I asked him how that could have occurred. He said that it happened because the knob had been repeatedly turned the wrong way. Explaining that the gears were not designed to be run counterclockwise he showed me the worn part.. He explained that over a period of time of incorrect usage it wore the gears down so that they were smooth and had lost their effectiveness. In the wee hours of the morning his explanation came back to me. It dawned on me this is what we do when we disobey God’s principles, His laws. For a long time it is easy to go against the way God designed us to live. Just like that washing machine it works fine for a while. Nevertheless we are stripping the effect...

Sometimes I've felt that I've only had very little to give so why give it at all. This morning the thought came to me "All you you have is all you need to give." This thought came as I was reading the following passage in II Kings 4: 42 A man came from Baal Salishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain. "Give it to the people to eat, "Elisha said. 43 " How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked. But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat," For this is what the Lord says:" They will eat and have some left over" 44Then he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. This man only had twenty loaves to give to the prophet. The principle at work is: All that we have is all that we need to give. When we obey, God gives the increase. There are many examples in the Bible of this principle in action: Like the widow at ...