Here is a Man . . .
Fist First for Faith
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SEVEN THINGS MY FATHER/MENTOR TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE as ascertained from interviews with Warren Fredrick Mathis and Dean Everst Mathis (1) My father/mentor Warren Frederick Mathis taught me that the most important decision I would ever make in my life is finding my FAITH and accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!!! Simply to believe is the first step. To begin is simple, but to live out one’s faith is not easy!!! Living by FAITH, instead of living in fear is the keynote! Living in FAITH means trusting GOD and choosing obedience no matter what the cost, or how inopportune it may seem. That can only be done by faith. For ultimately, if you have no faith, you have no FAITH!!! (2) The second most important decision I would ever make in my life is choosing my life mate! In the Christian context choosing a life mate is for all your life!!! That decision will affect every decision one makes up to and including faithfulness to one’s faith—every family decision and every financial decision among thousands of other decisions! (3) Once that second decision is made choose to love my wife/spouse with extreme abandon!! ! Love only GOD more!!! Each beholds the other as better and more important. That is Marriage Counseling 101 in a nutshell! When that kind of unconditional love exists in a marriage only good things will flow from that marriage!!! (4) Always build good, high self-esteem into my children!! Bring them up in the light of the Lord’s Love and Grace!! As they grow and get older they will never depart from that love and teaching! Warren Mathis would on many occasions take one of his son’s face into his two hand and tell them “I love you as if you were my only son!!” He would do that in the presence of the other sons, not to show favoritism, but to show that he loved each child very uniquely and without reservation!!! Each son has brought that kind of special love to their children!! In the end, The Circle will not be broken!!! (5) There is no such thing as a throw away person!!! Everyone has value!!! Everyone who is made by GOD has the potential for doing some real good!! Without GOD one may chose to do some serious wrong. But everyone is worth redeeming because the Lord Jesus Christ said so. Christ further illustrated this point as He redeemed a probable lifelong sinner and thief on a cross beside Him as both were dying!!! (6) Let GOD be the Author of my dreams!!! If you do you will always dream BIG—Larger than Life! Dreams often come true because nothing is impossible with GOD!! And “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4: 13) (7) Work hard at learning not to take myself too seriously and even harder at learning to take the things of GOD very seriously!!! The perfect union of God’s will and a human soul’s will is the ultimate mark of maturity in a Christian. For one to do this requires the application of “the potter and the clay theory” always allowing GOD to be the POTTER!!! That requires total submission to Christ, to GOD’S will! By doing so, one honors God’s sovereignty to do with us as He wills in His Will. Only by doing so does one begin to approach “Christ in me.” Part of this molding requires thee steps. A) Clear the path—of any sin that stands between you and GOD. Have a clean heart and a clean mind!! B) Be patient!! Rely on GOD’S timing, not on your own or man’s!! C) Be persistent in prayer!!! GOD knows your needs and wants even before you pray them. But pray it anyway because GOD wants to hear it from you and affirm your FAITH!!! Let the peace of Christ rule in your life and you will always have the true PEACE OF GOD THAT SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING!!
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About the Book
A book that honors faith, family, friends and relationships...and especially the provident hand of God. There is no room for ongoing crippling self pity. There is no room for quitting because acquiring what one really wants often requires a man or woman with no quit in them. Winning what one really wants requires a certain passion which includes first, that sure knowledge of what one wants, secondly, a burning desire to achieve it and thirdly, a definiteness of purpose. (Definiteness of purpose means it is not enough to merely know what you want; you must know why you want it and how you are going to use it). Mr. Mathis advocates that in the Christian context one must be aware of just two primary concerns in regard to what one really wants: First, that what one wants is in God’s will and; secondly, that what one really wants comes from God’s well. There are many things out there to want that don’t come from God’s well, and if it doesn’t come from God’s well, it is not in God’s will. The final and one of the most important elements according to Mr. Mathis is that once all the preceding tests are met, and one is truly sure of what he or she wants with all their heart; then, one must become a part of what he or she really wants. One must lose his or her self in the pursuit. This is where creation and creator merge to become one. This is where a great horseman and a great horse merge into one continuous flowing motion to reach one common goal. This is the jockey Red Pollard and Seabiscuit merging and moving toward victory at Santa Anita Stakes, the comeback of not one but two heroes, who were injured and down but not defeated because their SPIRIT was stronger than any force of defeat. This is the wounded healer and Christ merging for the common goal of building God’s glorious Kingdom. This is what it’s all about in the Christian context. In the most explicit Christian context, it is one being baptized into Christ and fully submitting himself to God’s will and becoming one with Christ in the singleness of purpose of building God’s Eternal Kingdom. That one is in Christ and Christ is in him moving in God’s will toward the fulfillment of God’s will. That one has acquired what he wants most of all because what he wants most of all and what God wants most of all are one and the same -- fully synonymous!
About the Author
James Bvone “Pete” Miller is a multidegreed minister and counselor. He holds an undergraduate BA degree from the University of Indianapolis, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University Law School, a Master of Arts in Religion (cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Counseling (cum laude) from Trinity vangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Jim has had a widely varied and eclectic professional life. He practiced law in Indianapolis for twelve years (and for seven years as a United States Army reserve JAG Officer). He was, for seventeen years, a citizen soldier as an Army reservist. He has been an Indianapolis Public School teacher and two-sport (basketball and football) coach. He has also taught Community College, and was an adjunct faculty member of Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has served as a minister and Christian counselor for the last seventeen years in the greater Indianapolis area. • 1995-2000: Christian Center of Brown County, Associate Pastor of Pastoral Counseling • 2000-2003: Jail and Prison Ministry, Greenwood Vineyard Community Church • 2003-2005: Community Education Center (Liberty Hall Indianapolis) Case Manager and Counselor • 2005-2014: BOAT - Bridge Over a Troubled Water - Counseling Ministry, offering gratuitous counseling for the poor • 2009-2014: James Needs Ministry of the And More Charitable Trust jamesbmiller1227@gmail.com