Days 232 - 234 Secret Decoder Ring

Remember the little boy from "Christmas Story" movie? The one who waited expectantly for days on end for his secret decoder ring to arrive in the mail? Every day this anxious and excited little boy ran to the mailbox, breathless and eager to find his package from the Ovaltine company, with his long-awaited decoder device inside.

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For days, he's deflated and let down as he opens the mailbox and finds only bills for his parents. Until...the magical day...his long-awaited and highly anticipated gift arrives!!!

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He runs upstairs to his bedroom desk, tears open the package, and begins the tedious process of decoding the secret message meant just for him! A message that will change his life and forge his destiny!

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With pencil and paper, he quickly but carefully studies and decodes this message, only to discover the message instead says something very generic like, "Drink more Ovaltine." The boy is immediately crushed. His dreams of a larger destiny than the one that awaits him is out of reach because of the generic, all-purpose message meant for millions of other children around the country.

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The Bible, however, IS meant just for me -- (And you, too!) -- with a message that will drastically and forever change your path in life. Although it's meant for millions, God speaks to each of us individually through the written word, through scripture verses that apply to our current circumstances and those that we will someday face in the future.

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"God's saving grace! Jesus Christ's death on the cross! Become a fisher of men! Be ye not conformed to this world! Follow God! Put to death your evil desires! Be humble! Love your enemies! Forge a new and better way on this earth!" These are all God's messages in the Bible meant for each and everyone of us! And guess what? No secret decoder ring needed! Just a humble spirit and a thirst for Christ.

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There are those verses that mesmerize me, escape my ability to comprehend, and I wish I could understand more fully! But if I pray and ask God to reveal to me those things that I do not understand, He is faithful to comply with my request. Either through my pastor, or through a Christian radio talk show, or through my fellow Christian friends, these confusing scriptures become suddenly understandable, and I grasp hold of the idea, the message, and cling to it, longing to play it out in my own life on earth.

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James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

Ecclesiastes 2:26 says, "To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness."

And my favorite: Proverbs 2:3-5: "Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."