CULTURE NEWS: Loud Muslim Prayer: Takeover of Michigan Town

CULTURE NEWS: Loud Muslim Prayer: Takeover of Michigan Town

Fathers and Sons

One day, Charles Francis Adams (son of U.S. president, John Quincy Adams) wrote in his personal journal, "Went fishing with my son today, a day wasted." His son, Brooke Adams, didn't quite see it the same way -- he wrote in his journal: "Went fishing with my father today, it was the most glorious day of my life."

Many fathers are amazed to learn that what was most important to their children was the meaningful time they spent enjoying Dad's company, doing what otherwise might have seemed unimportant and forgettable.

Give It Away by Gaither Vocal Band

I love the message in this song!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Q90D9zvmc

Give It Away by Gaither Vocal Band

(chorus)

If you want more happy than your heart will hold

If you want to stand taller if the truth were told

Take whatever you have, and give it away

If you want less lonely and a lot more fun

And deep satisfaction when the day is done

Then throw your heart wide open and give it away

He was workin' in his garden when I happened by

He waved me over with that look in his eye

And he started breakin' off some ears of corn

Here boy, today this corn is just right

Just boil it up for your supper tonight

I've learned it's true what my pappy used to say

Nothing's quite as good 'til you give it away

(repeat chorus)

There's been a lotta water go over the dam

Since the day in the garden with my Uncle Sam

So I hope you'll hear these words I have to say

There are two kinds of folks-takers and givers

There's gripers and complainers and big hearted livers

It depends on how we choose to spend our days

We can hoard up all we've got, or give it all away

(repeat chorus) 3 times

Elisha and the widows oil

2 Kings 4:1-7 give the whole account of this miracle of provision. I'm looking for a "now" application of this for my life and my family! Anyone have any comments?

His Word is our Health!

Proverbs 4:20-22 (New International Version)

²⁰ My son, pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.

²¹ Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;

²² for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body.

What's Your Price?

What’s your price? What would it take to cause you to sell out? We already know who we are. We are sinners who have been saved by faith in Christ. None of us is immune to sinful behavior. Even Paul the apostle stumbled and fell. Peter, when faced with possible persecution at the time of the Crucifixion, denied Christ three times. He had his price.

Both Peter and Paul grew in their faith, though, becoming strong and courageous. Both of them died as martyrs because no amount of money, no amount of pain could cause them to turn their backs on their Lord.

Some of us are fair-weather Christians. We stick with Christ until something better comes up, or until the going gets rough. Our goal as Christians is to allow Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to make us into the kind of people who are strong, firm and steadfast in faith. (See 1 Peter 5:10.)

Healing Scriptures & Confessions

God's Medicine - A Daily Dose

Say these scriptures and confessions to yourself. Meditate on them. Ponder them in your heart. Use them in praise to your Heavenly Father. His Word is medicine to all your flesh!

Exodus 15:26

. . . If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

(New English Bible) . . . I the Lord am your healer.

(Leeser) . . . for I the Lord am thy physician.

(Basic English) . . . I am the Lord your life-giver.

(Smith-Goodspeed) . . . for I, the Lord, make you immune to them (diseases).

(Knox) . . . I, the Lord, will bring thee only health.

Confession:

God is speaking to me now, saying, "I am the Lord that healeth thee." He is watching over His Word to perform it. He is the Lord that healeth me. He is healing me now. This Word contains the ability to produce what it says. His Word is full of healing power. I receive this Word now. Healing is God's nature. God is in me. My body is the temple of the Lord that healeth me. God is bigger than sickness and Satan. God is dwelling inside of me, healing me now.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

(Good News) Being cheerful keeps you healthy.

(Smith-Goodspeed) A happy heart is a healing medicine.

(Basic English) A glad heart makes a healthy body.

(Moffatt) A glad heart helps and heals.

(Jerusalem) A glad heart is excellent medicine, a spirit depressed wastes the bones away.

(Knox) A cheerful heart makes a quick recovery.

Confession:

Ha, ha, ha! I have a merry heart. Sickness can't dominate me. What do you think you're trying to do, devil? You can't put sickness on me. I have a merry heart and I'm full of joy! Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(Leeser) But only our diseases did he bear himself, and our pains he carried. . . . Through his bruises was healing granted to us.

(Basic English) But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.

(Rotherham) . . . by his stripes there is healing for us.

Confession:

Surely Jesus hath borne my sicknesses and diseases and carried my pains. He bore them and carried them away to a distance. I don't have to bear what He bore for me. I refuse to bear what He bore for me. Satan cannot put on me what Jesus bore for me. By His stripes I am healed and made whole.

Matthew 8:16-17

When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

(Norlie) . . . He took away our illnesses and lifted our diseases for us.

(Amplified) . . . He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.

(New English Bible) . . . He took away our illnesses and carried away our diseases.

Confession:

Jesus Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. He carried away my sicknesses and diseases. He bore them away and removed them. Disease is not mine. Healing is mine. I refuse to bear what Jesus bore for me. Satan, you cannot put disease on me. I refuse to accept sickness. I will not tolerate sickness. Sickness and disease are totally unacceptable to me.

1 Peter 2:24

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

(20th Century) . . . his bruising was your healing.

Confession:

By Jesus' stripes I was healed. Healing belongs to me. I was healed 2,000 years ago by the stripes Jesus bore. I'm not trying to get healed. I've got healing, because by His stripes I was healed.

1 John 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

(Amplified) The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].

(Basic English) . . . and the Son of God was seen on earth so that he might put an end to the works of the Evil One.

(Wand) . . . that He might neutralize what the Devil has done.

(Phillips) Now the Son of God came to the earth with the express purpose of liquidating the devil's activities.

Confession:

Sickness is a work of the devil. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Sickness has been dissolved, broken up, annulled, undone, and liquidated as far as I am concerned. Jesus put sickness to an end for me.

Are you part of the "End Time Army?"

In a day where darkness is called light...

In a day where popularity reigns over morality...

In a day where metal detectors take the place of prayer in our schools...

In a day where sexual immorality is joyfully accepted as "normal"...

In a day where millions are given to save the whales but our own children are being murdered upon the altar of "choice"...

In a day where jezebel pop stars raise a generation instead of it's own mothers and fathers...

In a day where same-gender marriage is viewed as a civil rights issue instead of a moral issue...

In a day much like Noah's...

There is still hope. God still has a remnant. Is it you?

Are you part of the "End Time Army?"

Chai & Shiloh

Our "puppies" Chai and Shiloh are now almost 1 year old.  They are brothers; Golden Retriever/Labrador mix.  Chai's name is short for La Chaim which means "to life!" and Shiloh's name means "peace!"  We sure do enjoy them!  They are so cute even though they are now 50-60 pound "puppies!"  Chai has a classic Golden Retriever color and Shiloh is black.  

We have a 100 foot cable run set up in our back yard so they don't have to stay penned up all day.  It gives them a lot of freedom without having to worry about losing them in our heavily wooded surroundings.  Every day our Grandson Caleb takes them from their pen and hooks them both up to the cable pulley before he goes to school.

There were a few problems when we first put the cable run in place.  You see both dogs are attached to the same pulley that runs along the cable.  This means that they must agree as to which end of the cable run they want to go to.  Shiloh will usually win out by "tugging" at the cable until Chai joins him in heading one way or the other.  Also, they would easily get all tangled up because in playing with each other and just moving around, their individual leads would get tangled together.  When I would go out to untangle them, I would have to unwind the mess by making them move one way or another.  They didn't always agree with these "backward" movements.  They usually wanted to go one way while I was having to make them go another in order to straighten out the mess they had gotten themselves into.  (Do you sense an example happening here!?)

I know God sometimes has to help us unravel the messes we get ourselves into.  We can get all tangled up, and when He is helping us get untangled, He sometimes has to make us go backwards for a time, or in a direction we don't want to go or we may think is wrong.  But He knows what He is doing and what it takes to get things straightened out, even if it doesn't seem like the direction He is asking us to go makes sense to us in the moment.

So to expedite the process, what do we (and Chai and Shiloh!) need to do?  Cooperate and willingly go in the direction we are lead without fighting against it.  We must trust that God is patiently working with us to get us free so we can move again!

Have a great week.....and don't resist the leading of the Lord!

Two Signs of Trust

Imagine that you are in the Garden of Eden. (Humor me, ok!) You are surrounded by wonderful sights and smells! There are trees of every kind there with more fruit than you can imagine to choose from and eat.

Then you come upon this one tree which also has great looking fruit on it, but there is a sign hanging from a branch saying"Do Not Eat from this tree." If you're like most people, your first reaction would likely be "Why not?" Am I right? You may start feeling like something good is being withheld from you. You might even feel a little angry or jealous. "So who is this fruit being saved for if not for me?"

Now let's imagine the exact same scenario except that now the sign hanging from this one tree reads "A terrorist has sprayed this tree with deadly poison. If you eat this fruit, you will die." Now what is your reaction? You would probably try to get far away from this tree right away lest you somehow get the poison on you! No questions asked!

I guess the message here is one of simple trust. We know who put the first sign in the tree right? Do we trust Him? Do we believe that He is protecting us in His instructions to us? Do we know that He ALWAYS has our best interests at heart in the way He deals with us? Sometimes we don't always want to obey His instructions to us but "Our's is not to question why. Our's is just to do...or die." I don't know where this poetic line came from, but I understand it now better than ever.

Have a great week.