Lesson For The Week (Jan. 19)

God Is Our Provider
The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want. (Psalm 23:1)
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Lisa's Story
Growing up, I had a hard time making and keeping friends. Bad experiences with friendship made me feel like I wasn’t “good enough” to have friends. But I desperately wanted friends, true friends, so I constantly sought friendship. In friendship I hoped to find things like acceptance and security.
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My freshman year of high school, five girls I thought were my friends started to form a clique. I tried to stay friends with them, but as the clique got tighter, the girls ignored me more and more. Finally, things got so bad the five of them wrote me a letter. In the letter, they rejected me, saying they weren’t my friends. At the bottom, they all signed their names.
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I felt like the letter confirmed all my worst fears. Fears like: Nobody wanted to be my friend, or that something was wrong with me. I didn’t know who would be my friend the next day when I went back to school. I could only think of one or two girls to sit next to during lunch. And in a way, that’s how I survived high school: I always found friends to “sit next to.”
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When I went to university, I met some people who were different. They had a value for true friendships. This value came from their Christian faith. Slowly, through the friendship of these people, God healed me. Really, He healed my heart. I realized that I didn’t need to “seek” friends anymore. God helped me to forgive. And most importantly, He gave me the courage to open my heart to friends and friendship again. And in college, I made some awesome friends!
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During my senior year, a verse from the Bible, John 15:13, really touched me. It said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” I realized this was one of my purposes in life—to lay down my life, or sacrifice, for my friends. And not just for my college friends, but friends in other places—even countries—which I would go to. God’s healing was complete. I no longer felt I had to seek friends for the acceptance and security they could give me. Now I was willing to give myself for my friends.
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And as I have followed God and done that, He has blessed me abundantly! God is the ultimate Provider of all I need. He knows my everyday needs and my deepest needs, and He provides for them. God has given me great friendships—but He is my best friend. The love I receive from these friendships is awesome—but His love is the most pure, most true, and it never fails. I know that because of Him, I will never lack anything.
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God's Word
Matthew 7:9-11:
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Mark 10:29, 30:
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Psalm 23:1:
The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want.
Philippians 4:19:
And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
John 15:12-14:
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.”
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Download the lesson (English) - word file
http://www.ortv.com/chinese/ebs_c/doc/2007/20070119_L8_GodIsOurProvider.doc
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Download the lesson (English) - pdf file
http://www.ortv.com/chinese/ebs_c/pdf/2007/L8_20070119e.pdf

Download the lesson (Chinese):
http://www.ortv.com/chinese/ebs_c/pdf/2007/L8_20070119c.pdf

Past Lessons:
http://www.ortv.com/english/ebs_c/ebs_e.htm