Dear friends:

Last night I remembered the below story as told by my friend, the late Dr. Bill Bright, who went to be with the Lord in 2003.  It is such an amusing story, and pertinent, that I purposed to share it with everyone today.  It illustrates a great spiritual principle.

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(We miss you, Dr. B.!)
_______________________________________

The Chicken Lady
 
From the late Dr. Bill Bright
Founder and Chairman
Campus Crusade for Christ International
 
Dear friends:
 
Do you know who you are in Christ, and your authority in Him?
 
There is an amusing story about the late Christian A. Herter, former U.S. Secretary of State, when he was running hard for reelection as Governor of Massachusetts.  One day he arrived late at a barbecue. 
 
He'd had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished.  As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken.  The governor said to the serving lady, "Excuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken.  I'm very hungry." 
 
"Sorry," the lady responder, "I'm supposed to give one piece to each person."
 
"But I'm starved," he repeated.
 
Again she said: "Only one to a customer." 
 
Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office, and said, "Madam, do you know who I am?  I am the governor of this state." 
 
"Do you know who I am?" she answered.  "I'm the lady in charge of chicken.  Move along, mister."
 
Now personally, I would have probably given the governor an extra piece of chicken.  However, the lady's stubbornness is noteworthy for two reasons.  First, she knew who she was -- that is, the lady in charge of chicken.  Second, she knew what her authority was -- that is, she diligently implemented the instructions given to her.
 
More Christians need to be more like the chicken lady.  They need to know who they are in Christ, that they have been filled with His Spirit and have received His power (Acts 1:8), they are joint heirs with Him (Romans 8:17), and are seated with Him in heaven (Ephesians 2:6).  When we walk in the Spirit, we walk in His authority, we speak His words, and we do His acts.   We are not intimidated by the powerful of this world, or by the powers of darkness.  The devil should be intimidated by all Spirit-filled followers of Christ.  Pastor John Hagee humorously says that when the devil sees us coming, "He should grab his Maalox and dial 9-1-1."
 
When facing the giant (Goliath), symbolic of Satan, David knew who he was.  "David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied'" (1 Samuel 17:45, NIV).
 
Now, some 3,000 years later, we have the indwelling Christ and the revelations of the New Covenant.  Like the chicken lady, let us walk in the knowledge of who we are and in the authority given to us in Christ.
 
Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission
each year until our Lord returns,
 
Bill Bright
 
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Dr. Bill Bright was founder and chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and at the time of this writing in about 2002 had more than 25,000 full-time staff and 553,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population.  In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide.  The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into more than 1,100 languages and viewed or listened to by more than 6 billion people in 236 countries.  Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books.  (Statistics need updating.)

 
Copyright (c) 2002, Bill Bright.  All rights reserved.  However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered.  Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged.  For many free evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site at http://www.ccci.org. See http://www.newlifepubs.com for Bill Bright's own materials.