"I don't think there's ever been an article that I've written that has been more than 95 percent for the Lord. There's always some bit of self in it," a Christian writer confessed.

We tend to think of our enjoying God's communion as simply His gift to us. But, amazingly, He says our time with Him is first of all for His pleasure! Before the priests could eat the shewbread, it was to be offered to God for six days. "Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times," God instructed Moses in Exodus 25:30.

Through the centuries many have found great value in seeking God in the early morning. One of those is the late T. M. Anderson. One January, Dr. Anderson was suddenly awakened at Midnight. He felt he should sleep a few more hours, but at that moment Jesus asked if he could remain awake long enough to give Him time to talk with him in the quiet hours of the morning. He reminded him that there is a fast in denying ourselves sleep just as there is a fast in abstaining from food.

Commissioner Brengle became one of the most beloved and effective preachers in The Salvation Army. On one occasion Brengle was introduced as "the great Dr. Brengle." In his diary he wrote: "If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him, and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me. But I am so concerned that He use me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside; it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this."

Gwen came to my home one day and shared her recent encounter with God. She had became aware of a spiritual problem. Her feelings of resentment, hostility, guilt, and regrets had become a habit and seemed normal. After all she was human, she decided!

Dallas Willard recalls the first time he spent the better part of a day just reading and rereading the Gospel of John. He was in his second year of college and it was a holiday week-end so the campus was largely deserted. He began by reading the Gospel while machines washed his clothes. But that was done in an hour or two, and by then he was engrossed in John's account.

The four Gospels describe the terrible suffering and shame that surrounded Jesus' crucifixion. For instance, the soldiers bound Him and led Him away. Some spit at him, blindfolded Him, struck Him with fists. Even the Sanhedrin spit in His face and struck Him.

Three years ago this week, I attended the memorial service of my cousin, Wesley Duewel who passed away at the age of 99. He gave his life to the cause of Christ and world missions for the past 75 years. When he was five playing in his sandbox, he heard God call him to be a missionary in India.