No. 46
From Wendy Howard [Editor of Despatch magazine], Sunshine Coast, Qld, Australia.
Access Online  http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Main/tabco_main

We knew what was wrong with Fluffy Dax.
There is a snake skin twelve foot long on our shed roof.
A Christian man came to help us with our work, and he was up on the roof.
He said, "hey! there's a great big snake skin up here!"
Well, our mother cat had come across that skin.
She went around it carefully, looking both brave and cautious.
Then suddenly she pounced!
Her two front feet came down hard on the skin. Bang!
The tin roof rattled a bit.
She did it again, came down hard. Bang! And again. Bang!
Then she stood up tall, and sniffed the snake skin carefully.
And she walked off tall.
You know she sniffed all along the trail the snake had taken.
Right across the shed to the verandah.
Right up to the place where the snake had gotten into our house.
Then she jumped down and came into us.
She was pretty smug! Pleased with herself. I reckon she thought,
"I killed the snake! I got it! Biggest snake I've even seen, too!"

Of course old Fluff hadn't killed the snake at all.
The policeman came and took it away into the bush at the back of our place.
All Fluff did was pounce on a skin.
That was awfully brave, I guess,
but the real snake would have swallowed her straight up.
You know, we can think we can handle Satan and his troubles by ourselves.
We can think that we don't need Jesus Christ or the Heavenly Father.
If you think that, you are wrong.
You might have handled some of your own problems, and thought you managed well. But Satan is too strong for any of us.
We need the Lord to care for us every day, forever.
He will too, if you let Him.
He is like the policeman who took away the snake.
Jesus has broken the power of Satan,
He defeated him on the Cross of Calvary.

Have you received Jesus as your Saviour?
If you still haven't, you should do so now.
Here is a prayer for you to say
"Thank you for sending Your Son to earth, Heavenly Father. I believe that He died on the Cross to save me from sin. I trust Him to be my Saviour. I am sorry for doing wrong things. I want Jesus to come into my heart and live in me by His Holy Spirit.
 I want to belong to You forever. Help me do the things that please You. Amen."

Some Church goers, if they were asked the question I am going to ask you, could not give a proper answer.
That question is, "what is a Christian?"
The basic answer is
"A Christian is one who, believing that God sent His Son into the world to die for its sin, believes in His shed Blood for them, and welcomes Him as Saviour and Lord. They repent of sin, and come back to God."
When we come to God and are saved we cannot just go on doing what WE want to do. Individual wills are now subject to the Lord. But when we are truly born-again we find ourselves wanting to do what is God's will. We have new life, and God's will becomes our desire and delight. Your whole adult life lies ahead, so "get set, ready to go!"
A lifetime lived for God is a wonderful life indeed.

Abundant life means:
a real life, a thrilling life, a joyful life, and a life filled to the full with God!