*~*Prayer Requests for 11/21/09:
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Nov 20, 2009, 2:54:55 PM11/20/09
to The Lords Work Email Ministry
*~*Prayer Requests for 11/21/09:
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**Special Prayer Request**
Noah Biorkman is a 5yr old boy who is in his last stages of
neuroblastoma cancer after a 2 1/2 year battle. His family is
celebrating Christmas next week and all he wants are Christmas cards.
Lets try and see how many we can get to him from all over the world
please. His address is 1141 Fountain View Circle, South Lyon MI 48178.
Please re-post this as your status and let's ask God to heal him while
we are at it.
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"You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.
Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name
we trample our foes" (Psalm 44:4-5 - NIV).
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This year, with the help of churches and volunteers across the
country, we hope to serve over 400,000 Angel Tree children. But we
can't do it without you.
As we get closer to Christmas there are still thousands of children
who need to know they haven't been forgotten. If you've already
supported this year's campaign, thank you so much for your generosity.
https://www.angeltree.org/at-appeal-donation?dc=APPEAL4-1009
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"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you
may not understand at the time" (Oswald Chambers).
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EARLY Christmas Present: *FREE* ESV Study Bible
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Register to access the ESV Study Bible notes or save your personal
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Visit: http://www.esvstudybible.org/promos/Christmas2009
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There are so many problems with dispensatinalism like: three separate
judment days, three separate resurrections, two returns of Christ, and
Christians having to leave heaven to return to live on a sin-cursed
earth. None of this, ofcourse, is even hinted at in Scripture.
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Hi friend,
Please keep the following individuals in your prayers:
1) "Please pray for my brother Jim hearing to be healed. Also please
pray that he gets approved for his mortgage to be refinanced fast.
Please pray for his busines to be profitable so he can employe his
employees and self. Please pray he gets financial blessings. God Bless
you, In Jesus name, Amen." -Cellis;
2) Jamie asks for our prayers: "Please pray for Kyle - 22 yrs old. He
was in a serious car accident and is now in a coma with brain
injuries. His brain is swelling and we need a miracle.";
3) "PLEASE LORD CONTINUE TO BLESS MY FAMILY WITH THERE HEALTH IN
STRENGTH, ALSO BLESS ME AND MY FAMILY WITH A HOME THAT WE CAN CALL OUR
OWN. AND FOR A MIRACLE OF MONEY BLESSING." -Regina;
4) Debbie asks us to remember her in our prayers. She writes, "Bless
us alll Father. We're in need of Blessing in 1 way or another!!! We
need the Favors and gifts that are Promised in the Bible...Amen.";
5) "I would like you to pray for my mother who is far from the truth
as she can be. Please pray for her soul, please pray that God touch
her life please, I ask, please pray for her. Thank you." -Ashley;
6) "Please pray for healing and recovery for Thomas -who has had a
bad fall resulting in a serious head injury. Please also pray for his
family who are doing a great deal of traveling to be with him at a
care facility far from home. Most importantly please pray that both he
and his family will come to the Lord and accept him as their Lord and
saviour. Thank you." -NN;
7) Michelle asks for our prayers. She writes, "My husband left the
home on July 10, 09 and went to his mothers. From that time till
September 14th he was not really helping us out so it left me no
choice but to file for a divorce. He was served on September 18th.
Since then I have told him many times and he is very aware of the fact
that this is not what I want. However, this is what he wants. I have
repented of my sins on October 18th and since have really been seeking
in the Lord. I have even got my 3 youngest children to attend church
and a youth group. The Lord fought that battle for me before it
started and lead me to a church of non-denomination, I grew up
catholic. Big change but worth it. I understand what is being said to
me and my children like it as well. I never had to fight to get the
kids to go and that was a huge blessing in it self. I was very
thankful that the Lord helped me out in that. What I am really wanting
is my marriage restored. I admit I have made many mistakes and am
truly sorry for doing so. My husband is not perfect either but for
what ever reason can't seem to get on the same page as me. This is
breaking my heart and our son's heart as well. My husband is not
religious so it makes it more of a challenge. Please pray for me and
my husband to have a restored marriage and a loving marriage. MY name
is Michelle and his name is Bob (Robert).";
8) "I have a son who namis Timothy. He is in -correctional institute
facing 18 years to life. He has served 13 years already. He was sent
to the hospital for chest pain over the weekend. I am asking for
prayer agreement for his health, his mental stability, protection from
the devil and the evil whipsers. Please pray that God keep him safe
from harm dangerous people. Protection from his enemies. I am seeking
an attorney to help him get an appeal or a sentence reduction. I pray
that God guide me to the right attornty to help me with my son getting
released early from his snetence. Prayer that judge's heart be
softened when it isw time to talk to him again. Pray for love and
mercy, mercy. mercy. Amen." -T.P.;
9) Christine asks for our prayers. She writes, "Dear Jesus I pray
family please take the demons out of their heads, and stop them from
listening to them. Jesus can you take over my moms mouth when it is
time, and take me off of my medication. Thank you amen TO those who
are reading this and will pray God will talk to you.";
10) "I'm studying carpentrey in Job Corps, and I'm very close to
completing my trade. I want to transfer to -Job Corps to study Medical
Assisting after this, because there are no jobs in carpentrey. In
order to do that, I needed to have Mr. M, our lead trade instructor,
to request a transfer. I thought he might be opposed to makeing the
request, so I asked Mr. H to talk to him about it. Please pray that
God will guide Mr. H when he talks to Mr. M. Pray that God will move
Mr. M's heart, and that he will request the transfer. Also, please
pray that God will guide Mr. M in how he makes the request, and pray
that it will be accepted. Please pray that God will draw a lot of
prayer warriors to pray for this with wisdom." -Seth;
11) Michael asks to be remembered in our prayers: "My daughter Jeana
age 5 her mom Amber. My former friend Ursa attending U of- My
personal prayer needs. A vision, obedient heart, deliverance from
cruel harrasement at -, desire to remain sober from marijuana and
anger/depression. I need a tremendous financial miricle to help with
going back to college, handle on overwhelming debts, a job and
car...simply a lot of prayer! Protection from Satan and his attacks on
me and my friends/family."
12) "I have been unemployed for over nine months now and am
simultaneously in seminary. The stress is sometimes overwhelming and
money is running out. Please pray for leads to ministry role or return
to corporate world if that is what God desires." -Elke;
13) Terry asks for our blessings: "Lord I pray for my married
friends who are fighting. I dont know all the issues but they are not
getting along. I pray for peace and happiness in their marriage Bless
Travis & Linda in the name of Jesus, Amen.";
14) "My name is Deborrah and I very much would like for you to pray
for me. I want to be closer to the Lord. I need him very much in my
life. I am in dire need of a job. I'm behind in my bills. My son (John
-)bis in prison for drugs and will be home soon. May 2010. I would
like for him to be prayed for as well. We both believe in the Lord, we
know He died on the cross for us. I need praying for some kind of
money to pay to get my fathers will probated and sell his home. Please
pray that I can get a job and that I may get the funds to move closer
to my grandchildren and live the life God intended me to live. Thank
you and May God Bless You.";
15) "PLEASE PRAY FOR MY GRANDAUGHTER AMANDA AND GRANDSON ERIC, THEY
ARE HAVING DIFFICULTIES AND DEPRESSION ISSUES. THANK YOU." -Mary;
16) Deb asks for our prayers: "Please pray for my little brother,
Timmy, and my sis, Julie, who has taken care of him for 25 or 30
years. He is severely retarded, with pneumonia, and very sickly now. I
s 51 years of age, the docs told Mom & Dad that he would live to be 10
or 12. We have been blessed with him. But, I think the Lord is calling
him home. He has been very sick the last 6 or 8 months now. And this
time, he is VERY sick. Please pray for strength and comfort for Tim,
Julie, his caretaker and sister, and her daughters who help her so
with him, and all of her grandkids, who also are very, very close to
Timmy.... Thank you so, and God Bless you all.";
17) "I need prayer. My husband left four years ago in the middle of a
major renovation project. The house is still unfinished it is cold in
the winter. I am continually without money and I am tired of trying to
do this myself. Pray that the Lord would intervene as we are all
feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. Pray for Steve L my friend that he
would know how much I love and care for him. Pray for his salvation.
And for my son Kyle to resolve his anger. Thank you for your prayers."
-Rose;
18) Sherril asks for our prayers. She writes, "That my family be
safe and learn that love is the answer to all of our problems. God
Bless all of my family.";
19) "Pleae pray that my husband and I will find an affordable home.
We live with my Mom who has Dementia and may have to be placed in a
nursing home soon. Her home may be lost to Medicaid and we don''t have
the money to buy it. Please pray that she will be calm and lucid for
her remaining days. We are so stressed and feel so unstable. I am
working but my husband needs a job which is even more stressful.
Thanks for your prayers." -Frances;
20) Tom asks to be remembered in our prayers. He writes, "I am
starting a new online business. Please pray that God will bless my
business with reasonable success. Thank you. GOD Bless.";
21) "Thank those that have joined their voice to mine to pray for me
and Bruce. I continue to ask for prayers for Bruce and I to be joined
back together under God's love. May God help him overcome his fears or
whatever they are and have him call me to re establish our
relationship quickly. May we be back together for the holidays
starting 2010 off as a couple joined in God's holy name." -Deb;
22) Annie asks for our prayers: "My business has been struggling for
the last two years and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't afford to
give up because so many people are depending on me. Please pray that
some miracle will happen to help me. I'm desperate. Thank you!"; and
lastly...
23) "I am asking all you prayer warriors to pray for a dear friend of
mine who is in the hospital in ICU. Her name is Doreen. Please take a
few moments of your time and hold her up to our precious Savior
in prayers of healing. Thank you." -Donna
**God bless you for caring enough to pray!!!**
........................................
"Whoever says, I know Him but fails to keep and obey His commandments
is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But he who keeps His Word,
truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected. By this we
may perceive that we are in Him; Whoever says he abides in Him ought
to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and
conducted Himself" (1 John 2:4-6 - Amp.).
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*~*Spotlight Site*~*
http://promiseland-books.com
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"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and
bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you
whatever you ask in my name" (John 15:16 - NIV).
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Heavenly Rates
A man dies and goes to heaven.
Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says,
"Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You
tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain
number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you
reach 100 points, you get in."
"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years
and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"
"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and
supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth a point."
"One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city
and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.
"TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into
heaven is by the grace of God!"
"Come on in!!"
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"Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The
tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It
corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,
and is itself set on fire by hell" (James 3:5-6 - NIV).
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Jesus, Mediator of Mystery (Part 1 of 2)
By Rev. Dudley C. Rose
LighthousePrayerLine.org
John 17:20-26 (The Living Bible)
20“I am not praying for these alone but also for the future believers
who will come to me because of the testimony of these. 21My prayer for
all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as you
and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they
will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
22“I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being
one, as we are—23I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—
so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you
love them as much as you love me. 24Father, I want them with me—these
you’ve given me—so that they can see my glory. You gave me the glory
because you loved me before the world began! 25“O righteous Father,
the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you
sent me. 26And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing
you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in
them.”
Because this morning’s reading from John is a first-person prayer, a
personal word from Jesus, I have chosen to present the sermon in a
similar fashion. For the next several minutes you will hear from
Stephen, a late second century Christian from near Jerusalem. I am
not, of course, the Stephen in Acts of the Apostles, who was stoned to
death as a Christian martyr. He was alive much earlier than I, but I
do think my parents may have named me after him. For when they would
read aloud in our home of Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit,
they would say, “Nothing greater can be said of a man, Stephen,
nothing.”
I do not presume to come before you today as a man full of faith and
the Holy Spirit, at least not like Stephen the martyr. But I was a
faithful Christian, who came to love the church and Jesus the Christ.
And I want to tell you this morning about what it was like. I want to
tell you what it was like to be in the church back then. And I want to
tell you a little bit about the scripture you read this morning from
the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, oh what a gorgeous and strange
Gospel it is, filled with so many things that are hard to quite get
your mind around. And especially this morning’s piece, where Jesus
talks about being one with God.
Now I know that you have heard about being at one with things,
especially the universe. In your day you even have jokes about it. You
must have heard the one about the Buddhist who went up to the hotdog
vendor and said, “Make me one with everything.” It’s a pretty lame
joke, but I like it anyway.
Anyway, a lot of people have heard about being one with everything,
but I’m not sure how many people really know what it means. And I hope
I can say what it is, but I have to confess that it’s more than a
little hard to describe. I cannot tell you the number of times we
would read the Gospel of John in our home and I would ask my parents,
“What does Jesus mean? What does he mean when he says, ‘21My prayer
for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as
you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so
they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me”? I used to
ask my parents, “How can one thing be another thing? How can one
person be in another person. And how can a person be inside of God?
And how can God be inside of another person?”
They used to laugh and say to me, “Stephen, how did so many questions
get inside of you? Maybe those questions are filling you up and
there’s no room for God to get inside you.”But they didn’t really mean
it. I could tell they liked it that I asked questions. But finally
they would say, “Stephen, one day it will make sense to you.” I have
to tell you, though, for a very long time it did not make any sense at
all. I would sit out in the yard with two stones in my hand, and I
would try everything I could think of to get one of them inside the
other, or to squeeze them into one thing. But, of course, it never did
work, no matter how hard I tried.
After awhile, I gave up thinking about making things one or how one
thing could get
inside another. After awhile, I just forgot about those ideas and
played ball and did all the things that young boys do. One day,
though, I got into a mess of trouble. An older boy down the street
took the stone I was hitting with a stick, and he threw it a long way
into the bushes. And then he laughed as hard as he could. I got so mad
at him that I wacked him as hard as I could with my stick. Of course,
he was bigger than I was, so he grabbed another stick, and he beat me
up. It was the first fight I was ever in, but my mother took one look
and knew right away that I was in
a fight.
My mother washed by cuts and bruises and she put something on them
that didn’t smell too good, but which she said would make me feel
better. Then she sat me down, and she said, “Stephen, please tell me
what happened.” I told her the whole story, and it made her a little
sad, I think, but she didn’t get too mad at me. Then she said,
“Stephen, when you got mad and hit the boy down the street because he
stole your rock, do you think that was what Jesus would have done?” I
told her I didn’t think so. Then she said, “Well, Stephen, remember
when you used to ask what it meant for Jesus or God to be inside of
you?” I nodded. She said, “Well, maybe a part of what it means is that
you do what Jesus would do.”
I said to her, “Geez, Mom, I’ve seen those bracelets that say WWJD
(You know, what would Jesus do?), but is that really all that it means
to be one with Jesus?
She looked at me and said, “No, that’s not all there is to it,
Stephen, but it’s not a bad place to start. And you found out today,
didn’t you Stephen? that it’s not all that easy to do, either.”
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"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one
can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9 - NIV).
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The Love of Christ
TruthMinistry.org
(Experienced and written by a member of Truth Ministry Men's Support
Group)
WOW! What a thought! Jesus Christ, a Man I never met in flesh and
blood, a Man who lived 2000 years ago, a Man who was so special that
angels sang at his birth…this Man loves me. Not only that, it gets
better. He is God in the flesh. That means that the God of heaven who
knows what it’s like to live on this earth loves me.
But it gets even better. Jesus Christ knew me before I was born, He
formed me in the womb, and He planned out my life so that I would be
born to the parents I was born to. I would marry the wife that I
married. I would beget the children I have. He planned out all of
those blessings for me because He loved me.
But there is one more thing that is so amazing it’s almost beyond
belief. Jesus Christ loved me when I was powerless to love him. He
loved me even when I was ungodly and didn’t think about spiritual
things at all. He loved me when I was an outright sinner. He loved me
when I was his enemy. Can you believe that? Everyone of us was
powerless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies -- every one of us. And yet
Christ loved me.
Christ loved me and saved me even though He knew I would fail Him and
sin against Him. You see, He’s omniscient. He knows all things: past,
present, and future. So when I was a defeated backslider who could
seem to never free myself from my sin, He loved me. When I was
disobedient to His commands, He loved me. When I made all my own
decisions the way I thought best, He loved me. When I acted like He
didn’t see me and thought that I could operate in secret, He loved me.
When I was trapped in my sin because of my own doing, and my sin shut
out the work of His Spirit, He loved me. When sin began to produce bad
fruit in my life, He loved me. When sin’s harvest was brought in, He
loved me.
For many years I took the love of Christ for granted. I cheated on Him
and worshipped other objects. I ignored Him. I gave Him little of my
time. I did little or nothing for Him. I went to Him in minor crises
and asked for His help, but I never really trusted Him for big things.
I rarely told others about His great love. I was so ungrateful. Many
times praise was not genuine, just some lip service on a Sunday
morning. In all of this He loved me.
Oh, there were seasons of repentance, rejoicing, service and praise,
but then I would slip back into lethargy. And over and over again, the
One who loved me and created me for His purposes have to watch me
return to a place of sin, defeat, and self-destructive behavior. The
sad thing is that as sin wore me down, I became more and more
withdrawn from the things that could give me life. I did not drink
from the fountain of living water. I did not eat from His feasting
table. I wandered in the wilderness, having lost my way, in the dead
of winter, with no knowledge as to how to get home. Even when I was as
far away from Him as possible, He loved me.
I was a lone sheep. I did not enjoy the fellowship of Christ’s Church.
And the place where I should have experienced the love of Christ, the
place where the love of Christ is supposed to be manifest in human
form, where the love of Christ is felt by the human touch of one
brother reaching out to another, I was even farther from the love of
Christ. If Christ loved me, then why didn’t I feel loved by His
people?
Why didn’t I experience the love of Christ in Church?
Because at church we all pretend to be perfect.
Because men don’t know how to love other men as Jesus commanded in the
New Testament.
Because church had become a sermon-listening exercise where I, as a
believer was merely an audience member.
Because at church it seems that there is conditional love and
conditional acceptance.
Because I did not cultivate a camaraderie among the men at church .
Because at church men didn’t see the need to be intimate with other
men and never advanced beyond sharing news about the weather.
Because the men in the church didn’t learn how to be accountable to
each other.
Because pride pervaded the church to the point that no one would dare
admit that he struggles with sin.
Because there was this idea that you and God were supposed to work
everything out in the prayer closet or during the sermon.
Because John 13:35; James 5:16; Galatians 6; and 1 John were ignored.
Because sexual sins are disgusting, taboo, and never mentioned even
though Christ and the apostles recognize their existence and even
teach of great deliverance from them.
Because I was too proud to ask for help.
Because I was too afraid to ask for help.
Because keeping appearances was more important than having the reality
of a life free from sin’s dominion.
Because my sin blinded me to the healing power of confession.
Because the devil is good at keeping people enslaved to their sin and
the church sometimes doesn’t take spiritual warfare seriously.
Because the shepherds of the church didn’t know the sheep intimately.
The good news is that even when the Church is lacking and when I
didn’t take advantage of the means of grace that were there, Jesus
still loves me and He has plans for me, plans for deliverance, and
plans for sanctification.
Jesus loved me so much that he was there during seasons of disaster in
my life. I endured storm after storm so that I felt like Florida had
it easy during its worst hurricane season. Then came an earthquake.
The storms did not drown me, and no buildings crushed me during the
earthquake.
Jesus loved me so much that He stood with me as I experienced the same
kind of rejection He experienced on the cross. Many who loved Him, and
those who hated Him, rejected Him. Because He endured that, He can
minister to me in times of rejection. When the first hurricane hit I
thought all was soon to be lost. An overwhelming sense of rejection
came in like a tidal wave. First, I felt rejected by my wife, the one
I loved the most in this world. Secondly, I feared that if my wife
decided to leave for another man, the reasons would be known that
triggered her infidelity and that everyone would blame me, reject me,
and hate me. I feared the loss of my wife, my children, my parents, my
in-laws, and all my friends. Having been a lonely soul my whole life,
I would rather have people like me for who they thought I was. I could
not risk letting them know those dark secrets that I had buried in my
heart. But Christ had other plans; He was cleaning out my heart,
unearthing buried skeletons, and creating a new man. He wanted me to
be transformed into His image. He wanted me to be healed of the pains
that I had bottled up for decades. He wanted to make me whole. He was
not willing to let me languish any longer. So all the rejection had to
be dealt with.
So more hurricanes came, week after week a new wind blew in to destroy
my old life. The counseling and recovery I had to experience required
that I face all the rejections in my life that had crippled me. I
faced the pains of rejection by my father, by my peers, by my spouse.
Each new remembrance and reliving of the pains of my past allowed me
to cast my cares on Christ. His presence in my life was so real that I
began to experience His love like I had never known it before. What
was once head knowledge became heart knowledge. I gave over to my
Savior all the pains of the sins that were committed against me, and
He took that all away. Even if all forsake me, even if all reject me,
I know that I am accepted in the Beloved. Rejection cannot hurt me as
it did before. I know where to take my rejection and I know Who will
take it away.
There were groves in my life; those had to be leveled too. In the Old
Testament, the children of Israel became idolaters and planted groves
of trees where they would worship false gods and commit sexual
immorality in that worship. God put His finger on idols that I had in
my life and, one by one, they were destroyed. At that time, He took
away from me all the guilt and shame of the sins that I had become a
willing participant in. Liberty was a reality. Freedom could be
quantified by the measure of how little the former things attracted
me.
While living life in the dungeon of despair, the wicked jailer will
keep moving you deeper and deeper into the bowels of the dungeon. My
heart was becoming freer day by day, but there were still several jail
doors to pass through before being really free. Old habits still
enslaved me. I still had too much love of the things of the world like
TV, movies, and computer networking. I would not be completely free
until my spirit could walk out with no jail doors to keep me locked
up. So another earthquake hit. And just like the time when Paul was in
prison and God sent an earthquake and all the prison doors fell off
their hinges, my jail doors have fallen off too. Television, movies,
Facebook, and other frivolous wastes of time don’t have the appeal
that they once had.
The love of Christ is not merely a doctrine to be taught. It must be
experienced in life. His love moves Him to intervene in your life’s
affairs. And when it seems like the waves are going to drown you and
the earthquakes are going to level everything to rubble, rest assured
that those disasters will not destroy you. Does everyone have to
experience His love in such disastrous surroundings? Perhaps those who
are full of faith and obedience experience it to a greater degree and
without the need of such dramatic dealings by our Lord. In any case, I
do know that the heart that yearns to experience Christ’s love will
not be disappointed.
So how do you conclude such a story? Well, what have I learned?
Christ’s love for me is UNCONDITIONAL and it NEVER WAVERS!
Christ’s love is ACTIVE, He is working all things out for my good.
Christ’s love is ETERNAL, nothing I do can cause Him to give up on me
EVER.
Christ’s love is ALL-CONSUMING, He is a jealous lover and perfectly
capable of tearing my idols down, if I don’t do it myself.
Christ’s love is PATIENT, He endures my follies and forgives over and
over again.
Christ’s love is KIND, He only does what is best for me.
Christ’s love is MYSTERIOUS, I will not know how or when He will
shower His love on me.
Christ’s love is MARVELOUS AND WONDERFUL AND MERCIFUL AND
COMPASSIONATE AND CANNOT BE FULLY DESCRIBED OR EXHAUSTIVELY
EXPLAINED.
I can’t just stop there though. Otherwise all of this will just be
doctrine in your head, where I’ve just been the illustration and
nothing more may come of it. You have to experience it for yourself.
Do you have pain that you have kept bottled up? Christ’s love can take
away your pain.
Do you have loneliness that is overpowering and drives you to
compulsive and self-destructive behavior just so that someone can
accept you at any cost? Christ’s love can flood your most inner self
with feelings of acceptance and He can take away that compulsive, self-
destructive behavior of trying to get your needs met improperly.
Do you need the tough love of another brother in Christ who will
strengthen you like iron strengthening iron? Christ wants to love you
through brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do you need intimacy and a place where you can confess your sins and
receive healing? Christ will provide you with such friends and give
you the help you need. He is the Great Physician and He knows how to
heal broken hearts and mend bruised souls.
Are you too afraid to become vulnerable? Christ has never rejected or
mocked one who opens the deepest part of one’s soul to Him.
The love of Christ can reach into your life and change everything!
Wait, there’s one more thing.
When you’ve experienced the love of Christ, there is one super-amazing
side effect. You will now have the ability to love others
unconditionally.
You will be able to forgive anyone of any sin they have committed
against you.
You will be empowered to speak of Christ’s love to perfect strangers.
You will be able to love those who were just like me and I’m perhaps
like you.
You will be able to love the ones in your life who have disappointed
you, because you will gain the stamina of Christ and His persevering
love.
You won’t look at people as sinners and saints; you will look at
people as another person who needs to know the love of Christ.
You will be able to love others as Christ has loved you.
So go experience the love of Christ.
Go and share the love of Christ.
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Whether you are a young person trying to make a place for yourself in
the world, a parent trying to give your children the best possible
opportunities, or a more mature person trying to enjoy the fruit of
your hard work, you have likely discovered that life can be very
challenging. The answers are not always clear and the choices are not
always easy. Fortunately, no matter where you are in life, you don't
have to try to work it all out yourself. There is a God Who has all
the answers and a church that wants to help you tap into them.
Tap into: RealLifeSC.org
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Daily Devotional
By Bill Keller
LighthousePrayerLine.org
I have to admit to you, that through all that I have seen and
experienced in my life and during over a decade in ministry, VERY
little shocks me any more. It is not that I am apathetic to what
happens in this world, but I realize that sinful men and women who
rebel against God are capable of doing ANYTHING. But the other
afternoon was one of those rare times that I was both shocked and
deeply saddened.
I was at the salon the other day getting my hair cut. As I was
waiting, I saw the cover of the recent Cosmopolitan magazine and the
BOLD PRINT featuring an article on "50 Sex Tricks ." Now my friend, I
am 51 years old, I have been married over 25 years, and prior to fully
surrendering to Christ 20 years ago lived in rebellion to God for many
years. So I am fully aware of what goes on between men and women not
committed to the Lord. But here was a well established, national
publication, geared primarily to young women in a place ANYONE of ANY
AGE could see, espousing the glory of having sex outside of marriage.
Yes, I was shocked and saddened by the message that Cosmopolitan was
sending out.
When I got home, I told my wife about the Cosmopolitan cover and she
told me that she was in the supermarket check-out line a few weeks ago
and saw a past issue of Cosmopolitan. She told me that as she looked
through it, she was appalled at the graphic detailed nature of what
they were promoting to young women as perfectly acceptable sexual
behavior. While I couldn't believe what the cover I saw had said, I
assumed that it was just for shock value to get people to buy the
magazine.
So my wife and I went out, bought the copy that I had seen, and I can
only tell you that I became even MORE SHOCKED as I read through the
contents of the entire magazine. It was pure pornography. The saddest
thing to me was that this a very prominent national publication that
has been around for years, and is responsible in shaping the views of
the young women who read it. What they were promoting as acceptable
behavior was not only 100% AGAINST God's plan, but does not "empower"
women as they claim, it cheapens them!!!! IT DESTROYS THEM!!!!
I make this an issue today for 2 reasons. First, moms and dads, DO NOT
let your daughters read this garbage. It is as bad as any pornography
that is on the market, and worse since instead of being in a plastic
cover behind the counter, it is on shelves where YOUR daughter can see
it and can purchase it. Second, young women, I often talk about
"garbage in, garbage out." What is on the pages of that magazine is
GARBAGE. Stay away from it!
Just so that I am clear, I am NOT for censorship. I believe in and
support the first amendment of our Constitution. There are MANY out
there who would love to censor what I say each day. The publishers of
Cosmopolitan have EVERY RIGHT to print that garbage, just as Larry
Flynt and Hugh Hefner have every right to print the garbage they do.
BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE TO CONSUME THEIR GARBAGE!!!! Sadly,
what I saw in that issue of Cosmopolitan was just that, pure garbage
since it was 100% in opposition to God's Word.
Young women, listen to me. I am saying this because I love you and
care about you so much. Sex is a WONDERFUL thing. God created it so it
HAS to be wonderful. But God created sex to be enjoyed between a man
and a woman in the bonds of marriage. Period! The Bible talks over and
over about fornication. That is literally, ANY sex outside of the
bonds of marriage. It includes ALL sexual acts, NOT just sexual
intercourse! The line was clearly set by Jesus when He said that if
you "lust in your heart" you have sinned.
God created you in His own image. He loves you. You are special!!!
Sex does not make you special, you are special because God made you.
If you have made the choice to accept Jesus Christ into your heart,
YOU are a daughter of the King! Don't ever let Cosmopolitan, or any
other magazine, or any TV program, or other person make you forget
that you are special! You have a ROYAL bloodline if you know Jesus!!!
The sad thing about what Cosmopolitan, TV, the movies, and our culture
do is glamorize sin. They make sex seem SO WONDERFUL, which it is
IF...IF..IF...it is the way God designed it to be enjoyed....IN THE
CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE!!!! NOT OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE!!! Well, I have news
for you. I receive thousands of emails daily from young women and
young men who fell for satan's (Cosmopolitan's) lie. Their problems
range from unwanted pregnancies, to STD's that they will have always
have to deal with, deep emotional issues, and a full range of other
problems.
These are permanent scars that they will carry with them for the REST
OF THEIR LIVES!!! Many have had their world shattered at such a young
age. So many are wonderful, good young people who simply fell for the
lie of the enemy. LISTEN TO ME. YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO
LIVE.....DON'T MESS IT UP!!!!
The enemy is here for what? TO KILL, STEAL , AND DESTROY! Jesus
promised what? LIFE, AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY!!!!
I have broken one of my rules about length today. But I have SO MUCH
passion about this issue since I see daily thousands who have bought
into the "Cosmopolitan view of life." I will go so far today, without
any hesitation and say that Cosmopolitan is just as much a tool of
satan to destroy the lives of God's precious young women, as Playboy
and Penthouse are in the destruction of men!
I pray this day, that this Devotional gets to the publishers of
Cosmopolitan. I pray for their souls because of the damage that they
are doing to young women all over the world with their magazine. I say
to them that you are simply a tool of satan and you are as guilty as
he is in the lives you are destroying. For those who read my
Devotionals each day, you know that I don't say these things lightly.
But I SEE THE DESTROYED LIVES EVERY DAY. I KNOW WHAT SATAN IS DOING
THROUGH INSTRUMENTS LIKE COSMOPOLITAN IN DESTROYING THE LIVES OF YOUNG
WOMEN!
I do love you and care about you so much. In closing, let me just say
this. God loves you, never forget that! Follow Him daily and your
life will be blessed. He gave us His Word so that we didn't have to
get lost on our journey. He gave us the roadmap. If we follow it, we
will know the joy, the peace, the abundance of this life. If we take a
detour, we are on our own and there is a very real enemy out there
just waiting for us to get off the path to destroy us! To those young
women who are reading this today, forget Cosmopolitan and use that
time reading God's Word. IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT GOD IS LETTING YOU
READ THIS TODAY! God, NOT Cosmopolitan will make you a REAL WOMAN, ALL
THE WOMAN GOD RAISED YOU UP TO BE!!!
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"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved
by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy,
being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of
God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things
we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing
of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been
justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of
eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7 - NIV).
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Neil Pope has been ministering through gospel music since he was 15
years old. Growing up under the wings of artist like Wendy Bagwell,
Jan Buckenr, Amy Lambert, and Mike Speck, Neil has been on the gospel
music scene since a very young age.
Visit: NeilPope.org
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Jesus, Mediator of Mystery (Part 2 of 2)
LighthousePrayerLine.org
Over the years it seemed that I had to learn over and over again how
hard it was to do what Jesus would do, or what he would have wanted me
to do. I remember the time that a popular group of boys said I could
be in their group. But they told me I could no longer be friends with
some of my other friends, because they were Geeks. I really wanted to
be popular, so I said okay. But I knew it wasn’t right.
They say that as they grow older, boys don’t really grow up. Their
toys just bit bigger. Well, it’s not just their toys. A lot of choices
get bigger, too. I mean, when I think back about getting in a fight
over a stone, or trying to be accepted in the popular group, I realize
that those things were small olives (We didn’t have potatoes near
Jerusalem, so we used to say small olives.). Anyway, the stakes became
greater and greater. Was I going to turn in my friend to the Romans,
or was I going to risk protecting him? Was I going to ruin another
person’s career so I could get ahead at work? Was I going to charge a
fair price for the furniture I made even though I could get more
money? Was I going to be honest with my wife when it was so much
easier and less stressful to lie. Was I really going to turn my cheek
or walk the extra mile or give up my cloak, when I didn’t have to?
During all this time, I kept going to our church. In a way, it was
confusing. It seemed that at almost every turn the message the world
gave was opposite to the message that Jesus gave. There were lots of
times that I thought I should just give up on what Jesus said. I mean,
what good was he if nothing he said fit into the world. But I kept on
going. Maybe it was remembering my mother’s instruction to me when I
was a boy. Maybe it was habit. But in truth, I think it was more than
that. Because no matter how ridiculous what Jesus said was, somewhere
deep inside of me there was this voice, well it wasn’t a voice ,
really, maybe more a realization. That’s it, even though what Jesus
said was ridiculous, I more and more realized that it actually made
sense. Now, of course, what I just said doesn’t make any sense, does
it? How can something be ridiculous and make sense at the same time.
Well, I think it must be something like what the apostle Paul meant
when he said: “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” In any case, I kept
going to the church, and this idea, this strange sense of things kept
growing within me.
As time went on, something even stranger began to happen. I began to
think like the voice, the realization that was within me. How can I
explain it? Let’s see. Ah, yes. Do you remember in the other Gospels,
Matthew, Mark and Luke, when Jesus was tempted in the desert. He was
starving and the devil offered him bread? How the devil took him high
up on an overlook and waved his hands and said, “All of this can be
yours”? I remember thinking what great moral strength Jesus had when
he refused the devil. And that was certainly true to some degree. But
what I had missed, and what began to come clear to me, was that Jesus
was much more in tune with, much more disposed to do the right thing
than the wrong thing.
For me, in the beginning, the ways of the world were the most obvious
and present, and in the background, within me, was a small voice,
telling me things weren’t as they seemed. But as time went on, the
whole thing became reversed. After awhile it suddenly dawned on me,
that the voice within me had moved to the front and was much stronger,
and the wiles of the world were more and more becoming the background
noise. I wouldn’t want to sound too bold, but in some sense I began to
feel as though I were in tune with the heart and mind of God.
It was not long after this realization dawned on me that I read the
passage from John that we are talking about, and I began to understand
more fully what Jesus was praying to God about. Jesus knew that the
world on its own inclinations does not know God. And Jesus knew that
by its own efforts it is almost impossible for the world to come to
know God. Without help, the way of the world has too strong a hold on
humankind, and it cannot break free.
This is the sense in which I understand that God’s son came to save
the world. And Jesus knew that the project was just beginning with his
first disciples. They were beginning to get the picture. But he was
worried, and he prayed to God with these words: “20“I am not praying
for these alone but also for the future believers who will come to me
because of the testimony of these.” Jesus thought of the future
generations, and he imagined, I believe, the church. He imagined the
continuation, whereby this first generation would continue to grow in
their faith, and whereby the testimony of this first generation would
go on to the next and the next and the next. For Jesus recognized that
without the church, without a vehicle for the testimony and the
teaching and the lived celebration of the love of God, the people
could not become one with God.
When I reread this passage back then, it suddenly washed over me what
had happened. It was just as Jesus had prayed. In the church, with
teachings that at first seemed quite at odds with my instincts, day by
day, gradually, I came more and more to know the presence of God
within me, dare I say it? to more and more feel at one with God.
Listen again to the prayer of Jesus, and know that it was meant for
you. 20“I am not praying for these alone but also for the future
believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. 21My
prayer for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind,
just as you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in
you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
22“I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being
one, as we are—23I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—
so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you
love them as much as you love me. 24Father, I want them with me—these
you’ve given me—so that they can see my glory. You gave me the glory
because you loved me before the world began! 25“O righteous Father,
the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you
sent me. 26And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing
you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in
them.” Amen.
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"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares
about you" (1 Peter 5:7 – NLT).
Be sure to send in your prayer request for the next
mailing.
You are in my thoughts and prayers! May the Lord
continue to bless you with knowledge of Himself.
Prayerfully in Christ Jesus,
Mark Seay
Lighthouse Prayer Line
105 Quincy Drive
Greer, SC 29650
LighthousePrayerLine.org
"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm
118:24 - NIV).
.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
What God Hath Promised!
By Annie Johnson Flint
God hath not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised
Sun without rain
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.
But God hath promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way,
Grace for the trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
We hope you have found today's newsletter encouraging to your
walk with Jesus Christ. Please send all prayer requests and
praise reports to us by using the "comments" hyperlink, which
can be found at the end of each blog/article. God is Good!!!
A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle. Please Keep This
Candle Going!
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I'm just a nobody
trying to tell everybody
that there is somebody
who can save anybody!!
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♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Never get so busy doing the work of the kingdom
- that you forget who the King is.
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**Special Prayer Request**
Noah Biorkman is a 5yr old boy who is in his last stages of
neuroblastoma cancer after a 2 1/2 year battle. His family is
celebrating Christmas next week and all he wants are Christmas cards.
Lets try and see how many we can get to him from all over the world
please. His address is 1141 Fountain View Circle, South Lyon MI 48178.
Please re-post this as your status and let's ask God to heal him while
we are at it.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
"You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.
Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name
we trample our foes" (Psalm 44:4-5 - NIV).
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
This year, with the help of churches and volunteers across the
country, we hope to serve over 400,000 Angel Tree children. But we
can't do it without you.
As we get closer to Christmas there are still thousands of children
who need to know they haven't been forgotten. If you've already
supported this year's campaign, thank you so much for your generosity.
https://www.angeltree.org/at-appeal-donation?dc=APPEAL4-1009
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you
may not understand at the time" (Oswald Chambers).
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
EARLY Christmas Present: *FREE* ESV Study Bible
Crossway is excited to give you the gift of FREE access to the ESV
Online Study Bible for 30 days!
Register to access the ESV Study Bible notes or save your personal
notes and highlights.
Visit: http://www.esvstudybible.org/promos/Christmas2009
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
There are so many problems with dispensatinalism like: three separate
judment days, three separate resurrections, two returns of Christ, and
Christians having to leave heaven to return to live on a sin-cursed
earth. None of this, ofcourse, is even hinted at in Scripture.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
Hi friend,
Please keep the following individuals in your prayers:
1) "Please pray for my brother Jim hearing to be healed. Also please
pray that he gets approved for his mortgage to be refinanced fast.
Please pray for his busines to be profitable so he can employe his
employees and self. Please pray he gets financial blessings. God Bless
you, In Jesus name, Amen." -Cellis;
2) Jamie asks for our prayers: "Please pray for Kyle - 22 yrs old. He
was in a serious car accident and is now in a coma with brain
injuries. His brain is swelling and we need a miracle.";
3) "PLEASE LORD CONTINUE TO BLESS MY FAMILY WITH THERE HEALTH IN
STRENGTH, ALSO BLESS ME AND MY FAMILY WITH A HOME THAT WE CAN CALL OUR
OWN. AND FOR A MIRACLE OF MONEY BLESSING." -Regina;
4) Debbie asks us to remember her in our prayers. She writes, "Bless
us alll Father. We're in need of Blessing in 1 way or another!!! We
need the Favors and gifts that are Promised in the Bible...Amen.";
5) "I would like you to pray for my mother who is far from the truth
as she can be. Please pray for her soul, please pray that God touch
her life please, I ask, please pray for her. Thank you." -Ashley;
6) "Please pray for healing and recovery for Thomas -who has had a
bad fall resulting in a serious head injury. Please also pray for his
family who are doing a great deal of traveling to be with him at a
care facility far from home. Most importantly please pray that both he
and his family will come to the Lord and accept him as their Lord and
saviour. Thank you." -NN;
7) Michelle asks for our prayers. She writes, "My husband left the
home on July 10, 09 and went to his mothers. From that time till
September 14th he was not really helping us out so it left me no
choice but to file for a divorce. He was served on September 18th.
Since then I have told him many times and he is very aware of the fact
that this is not what I want. However, this is what he wants. I have
repented of my sins on October 18th and since have really been seeking
in the Lord. I have even got my 3 youngest children to attend church
and a youth group. The Lord fought that battle for me before it
started and lead me to a church of non-denomination, I grew up
catholic. Big change but worth it. I understand what is being said to
me and my children like it as well. I never had to fight to get the
kids to go and that was a huge blessing in it self. I was very
thankful that the Lord helped me out in that. What I am really wanting
is my marriage restored. I admit I have made many mistakes and am
truly sorry for doing so. My husband is not perfect either but for
what ever reason can't seem to get on the same page as me. This is
breaking my heart and our son's heart as well. My husband is not
religious so it makes it more of a challenge. Please pray for me and
my husband to have a restored marriage and a loving marriage. MY name
is Michelle and his name is Bob (Robert).";
8) "I have a son who namis Timothy. He is in -correctional institute
facing 18 years to life. He has served 13 years already. He was sent
to the hospital for chest pain over the weekend. I am asking for
prayer agreement for his health, his mental stability, protection from
the devil and the evil whipsers. Please pray that God keep him safe
from harm dangerous people. Protection from his enemies. I am seeking
an attorney to help him get an appeal or a sentence reduction. I pray
that God guide me to the right attornty to help me with my son getting
released early from his snetence. Prayer that judge's heart be
softened when it isw time to talk to him again. Pray for love and
mercy, mercy. mercy. Amen." -T.P.;
9) Christine asks for our prayers. She writes, "Dear Jesus I pray
family please take the demons out of their heads, and stop them from
listening to them. Jesus can you take over my moms mouth when it is
time, and take me off of my medication. Thank you amen TO those who
are reading this and will pray God will talk to you.";
10) "I'm studying carpentrey in Job Corps, and I'm very close to
completing my trade. I want to transfer to -Job Corps to study Medical
Assisting after this, because there are no jobs in carpentrey. In
order to do that, I needed to have Mr. M, our lead trade instructor,
to request a transfer. I thought he might be opposed to makeing the
request, so I asked Mr. H to talk to him about it. Please pray that
God will guide Mr. H when he talks to Mr. M. Pray that God will move
Mr. M's heart, and that he will request the transfer. Also, please
pray that God will guide Mr. M in how he makes the request, and pray
that it will be accepted. Please pray that God will draw a lot of
prayer warriors to pray for this with wisdom." -Seth;
11) Michael asks to be remembered in our prayers: "My daughter Jeana
age 5 her mom Amber. My former friend Ursa attending U of- My
personal prayer needs. A vision, obedient heart, deliverance from
cruel harrasement at -, desire to remain sober from marijuana and
anger/depression. I need a tremendous financial miricle to help with
going back to college, handle on overwhelming debts, a job and
car...simply a lot of prayer! Protection from Satan and his attacks on
me and my friends/family."
12) "I have been unemployed for over nine months now and am
simultaneously in seminary. The stress is sometimes overwhelming and
money is running out. Please pray for leads to ministry role or return
to corporate world if that is what God desires." -Elke;
13) Terry asks for our blessings: "Lord I pray for my married
friends who are fighting. I dont know all the issues but they are not
getting along. I pray for peace and happiness in their marriage Bless
Travis & Linda in the name of Jesus, Amen.";
14) "My name is Deborrah and I very much would like for you to pray
for me. I want to be closer to the Lord. I need him very much in my
life. I am in dire need of a job. I'm behind in my bills. My son (John
-)bis in prison for drugs and will be home soon. May 2010. I would
like for him to be prayed for as well. We both believe in the Lord, we
know He died on the cross for us. I need praying for some kind of
money to pay to get my fathers will probated and sell his home. Please
pray that I can get a job and that I may get the funds to move closer
to my grandchildren and live the life God intended me to live. Thank
you and May God Bless You.";
15) "PLEASE PRAY FOR MY GRANDAUGHTER AMANDA AND GRANDSON ERIC, THEY
ARE HAVING DIFFICULTIES AND DEPRESSION ISSUES. THANK YOU." -Mary;
16) Deb asks for our prayers: "Please pray for my little brother,
Timmy, and my sis, Julie, who has taken care of him for 25 or 30
years. He is severely retarded, with pneumonia, and very sickly now. I
s 51 years of age, the docs told Mom & Dad that he would live to be 10
or 12. We have been blessed with him. But, I think the Lord is calling
him home. He has been very sick the last 6 or 8 months now. And this
time, he is VERY sick. Please pray for strength and comfort for Tim,
Julie, his caretaker and sister, and her daughters who help her so
with him, and all of her grandkids, who also are very, very close to
Timmy.... Thank you so, and God Bless you all.";
17) "I need prayer. My husband left four years ago in the middle of a
major renovation project. The house is still unfinished it is cold in
the winter. I am continually without money and I am tired of trying to
do this myself. Pray that the Lord would intervene as we are all
feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. Pray for Steve L my friend that he
would know how much I love and care for him. Pray for his salvation.
And for my son Kyle to resolve his anger. Thank you for your prayers."
-Rose;
18) Sherril asks for our prayers. She writes, "That my family be
safe and learn that love is the answer to all of our problems. God
Bless all of my family.";
19) "Pleae pray that my husband and I will find an affordable home.
We live with my Mom who has Dementia and may have to be placed in a
nursing home soon. Her home may be lost to Medicaid and we don''t have
the money to buy it. Please pray that she will be calm and lucid for
her remaining days. We are so stressed and feel so unstable. I am
working but my husband needs a job which is even more stressful.
Thanks for your prayers." -Frances;
20) Tom asks to be remembered in our prayers. He writes, "I am
starting a new online business. Please pray that God will bless my
business with reasonable success. Thank you. GOD Bless.";
21) "Thank those that have joined their voice to mine to pray for me
and Bruce. I continue to ask for prayers for Bruce and I to be joined
back together under God's love. May God help him overcome his fears or
whatever they are and have him call me to re establish our
relationship quickly. May we be back together for the holidays
starting 2010 off as a couple joined in God's holy name." -Deb;
22) Annie asks for our prayers: "My business has been struggling for
the last two years and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't afford to
give up because so many people are depending on me. Please pray that
some miracle will happen to help me. I'm desperate. Thank you!"; and
lastly...
23) "I am asking all you prayer warriors to pray for a dear friend of
mine who is in the hospital in ICU. Her name is Doreen. Please take a
few moments of your time and hold her up to our precious Savior
in prayers of healing. Thank you." -Donna
**God bless you for caring enough to pray!!!**
........................................
"Whoever says, I know Him but fails to keep and obey His commandments
is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But he who keeps His Word,
truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected. By this we
may perceive that we are in Him; Whoever says he abides in Him ought
to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and
conducted Himself" (1 John 2:4-6 - Amp.).
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~*Spotlight Site*~*
http://promiseland-books.com
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and
bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you
whatever you ask in my name" (John 15:16 - NIV).
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Heavenly Rates
A man dies and goes to heaven.
Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says,
"Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You
tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain
number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you
reach 100 points, you get in."
"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years
and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"
"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and
supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth a point."
"One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city
and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.
"TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into
heaven is by the grace of God!"
"Come on in!!"
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"Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The
tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It
corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,
and is itself set on fire by hell" (James 3:5-6 - NIV).
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Jesus, Mediator of Mystery (Part 1 of 2)
By Rev. Dudley C. Rose
LighthousePrayerLine.org
John 17:20-26 (The Living Bible)
20“I am not praying for these alone but also for the future believers
who will come to me because of the testimony of these. 21My prayer for
all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as you
and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they
will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
22“I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being
one, as we are—23I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—
so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you
love them as much as you love me. 24Father, I want them with me—these
you’ve given me—so that they can see my glory. You gave me the glory
because you loved me before the world began! 25“O righteous Father,
the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you
sent me. 26And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing
you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in
them.”
Because this morning’s reading from John is a first-person prayer, a
personal word from Jesus, I have chosen to present the sermon in a
similar fashion. For the next several minutes you will hear from
Stephen, a late second century Christian from near Jerusalem. I am
not, of course, the Stephen in Acts of the Apostles, who was stoned to
death as a Christian martyr. He was alive much earlier than I, but I
do think my parents may have named me after him. For when they would
read aloud in our home of Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit,
they would say, “Nothing greater can be said of a man, Stephen,
nothing.”
I do not presume to come before you today as a man full of faith and
the Holy Spirit, at least not like Stephen the martyr. But I was a
faithful Christian, who came to love the church and Jesus the Christ.
And I want to tell you this morning about what it was like. I want to
tell you what it was like to be in the church back then. And I want to
tell you a little bit about the scripture you read this morning from
the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, oh what a gorgeous and strange
Gospel it is, filled with so many things that are hard to quite get
your mind around. And especially this morning’s piece, where Jesus
talks about being one with God.
Now I know that you have heard about being at one with things,
especially the universe. In your day you even have jokes about it. You
must have heard the one about the Buddhist who went up to the hotdog
vendor and said, “Make me one with everything.” It’s a pretty lame
joke, but I like it anyway.
Anyway, a lot of people have heard about being one with everything,
but I’m not sure how many people really know what it means. And I hope
I can say what it is, but I have to confess that it’s more than a
little hard to describe. I cannot tell you the number of times we
would read the Gospel of John in our home and I would ask my parents,
“What does Jesus mean? What does he mean when he says, ‘21My prayer
for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as
you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so
they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me”? I used to
ask my parents, “How can one thing be another thing? How can one
person be in another person. And how can a person be inside of God?
And how can God be inside of another person?”
They used to laugh and say to me, “Stephen, how did so many questions
get inside of you? Maybe those questions are filling you up and
there’s no room for God to get inside you.”But they didn’t really mean
it. I could tell they liked it that I asked questions. But finally
they would say, “Stephen, one day it will make sense to you.” I have
to tell you, though, for a very long time it did not make any sense at
all. I would sit out in the yard with two stones in my hand, and I
would try everything I could think of to get one of them inside the
other, or to squeeze them into one thing. But, of course, it never did
work, no matter how hard I tried.
After awhile, I gave up thinking about making things one or how one
thing could get
inside another. After awhile, I just forgot about those ideas and
played ball and did all the things that young boys do. One day,
though, I got into a mess of trouble. An older boy down the street
took the stone I was hitting with a stick, and he threw it a long way
into the bushes. And then he laughed as hard as he could. I got so mad
at him that I wacked him as hard as I could with my stick. Of course,
he was bigger than I was, so he grabbed another stick, and he beat me
up. It was the first fight I was ever in, but my mother took one look
and knew right away that I was in
a fight.
My mother washed by cuts and bruises and she put something on them
that didn’t smell too good, but which she said would make me feel
better. Then she sat me down, and she said, “Stephen, please tell me
what happened.” I told her the whole story, and it made her a little
sad, I think, but she didn’t get too mad at me. Then she said,
“Stephen, when you got mad and hit the boy down the street because he
stole your rock, do you think that was what Jesus would have done?” I
told her I didn’t think so. Then she said, “Well, Stephen, remember
when you used to ask what it meant for Jesus or God to be inside of
you?” I nodded. She said, “Well, maybe a part of what it means is that
you do what Jesus would do.”
I said to her, “Geez, Mom, I’ve seen those bracelets that say WWJD
(You know, what would Jesus do?), but is that really all that it means
to be one with Jesus?
She looked at me and said, “No, that’s not all there is to it,
Stephen, but it’s not a bad place to start. And you found out today,
didn’t you Stephen? that it’s not all that easy to do, either.”
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"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one
can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9 - NIV).
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The Love of Christ
TruthMinistry.org
(Experienced and written by a member of Truth Ministry Men's Support
Group)
WOW! What a thought! Jesus Christ, a Man I never met in flesh and
blood, a Man who lived 2000 years ago, a Man who was so special that
angels sang at his birth…this Man loves me. Not only that, it gets
better. He is God in the flesh. That means that the God of heaven who
knows what it’s like to live on this earth loves me.
But it gets even better. Jesus Christ knew me before I was born, He
formed me in the womb, and He planned out my life so that I would be
born to the parents I was born to. I would marry the wife that I
married. I would beget the children I have. He planned out all of
those blessings for me because He loved me.
But there is one more thing that is so amazing it’s almost beyond
belief. Jesus Christ loved me when I was powerless to love him. He
loved me even when I was ungodly and didn’t think about spiritual
things at all. He loved me when I was an outright sinner. He loved me
when I was his enemy. Can you believe that? Everyone of us was
powerless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies -- every one of us. And yet
Christ loved me.
Christ loved me and saved me even though He knew I would fail Him and
sin against Him. You see, He’s omniscient. He knows all things: past,
present, and future. So when I was a defeated backslider who could
seem to never free myself from my sin, He loved me. When I was
disobedient to His commands, He loved me. When I made all my own
decisions the way I thought best, He loved me. When I acted like He
didn’t see me and thought that I could operate in secret, He loved me.
When I was trapped in my sin because of my own doing, and my sin shut
out the work of His Spirit, He loved me. When sin began to produce bad
fruit in my life, He loved me. When sin’s harvest was brought in, He
loved me.
For many years I took the love of Christ for granted. I cheated on Him
and worshipped other objects. I ignored Him. I gave Him little of my
time. I did little or nothing for Him. I went to Him in minor crises
and asked for His help, but I never really trusted Him for big things.
I rarely told others about His great love. I was so ungrateful. Many
times praise was not genuine, just some lip service on a Sunday
morning. In all of this He loved me.
Oh, there were seasons of repentance, rejoicing, service and praise,
but then I would slip back into lethargy. And over and over again, the
One who loved me and created me for His purposes have to watch me
return to a place of sin, defeat, and self-destructive behavior. The
sad thing is that as sin wore me down, I became more and more
withdrawn from the things that could give me life. I did not drink
from the fountain of living water. I did not eat from His feasting
table. I wandered in the wilderness, having lost my way, in the dead
of winter, with no knowledge as to how to get home. Even when I was as
far away from Him as possible, He loved me.
I was a lone sheep. I did not enjoy the fellowship of Christ’s Church.
And the place where I should have experienced the love of Christ, the
place where the love of Christ is supposed to be manifest in human
form, where the love of Christ is felt by the human touch of one
brother reaching out to another, I was even farther from the love of
Christ. If Christ loved me, then why didn’t I feel loved by His
people?
Why didn’t I experience the love of Christ in Church?
Because at church we all pretend to be perfect.
Because men don’t know how to love other men as Jesus commanded in the
New Testament.
Because church had become a sermon-listening exercise where I, as a
believer was merely an audience member.
Because at church it seems that there is conditional love and
conditional acceptance.
Because I did not cultivate a camaraderie among the men at church .
Because at church men didn’t see the need to be intimate with other
men and never advanced beyond sharing news about the weather.
Because the men in the church didn’t learn how to be accountable to
each other.
Because pride pervaded the church to the point that no one would dare
admit that he struggles with sin.
Because there was this idea that you and God were supposed to work
everything out in the prayer closet or during the sermon.
Because John 13:35; James 5:16; Galatians 6; and 1 John were ignored.
Because sexual sins are disgusting, taboo, and never mentioned even
though Christ and the apostles recognize their existence and even
teach of great deliverance from them.
Because I was too proud to ask for help.
Because I was too afraid to ask for help.
Because keeping appearances was more important than having the reality
of a life free from sin’s dominion.
Because my sin blinded me to the healing power of confession.
Because the devil is good at keeping people enslaved to their sin and
the church sometimes doesn’t take spiritual warfare seriously.
Because the shepherds of the church didn’t know the sheep intimately.
The good news is that even when the Church is lacking and when I
didn’t take advantage of the means of grace that were there, Jesus
still loves me and He has plans for me, plans for deliverance, and
plans for sanctification.
Jesus loved me so much that he was there during seasons of disaster in
my life. I endured storm after storm so that I felt like Florida had
it easy during its worst hurricane season. Then came an earthquake.
The storms did not drown me, and no buildings crushed me during the
earthquake.
Jesus loved me so much that He stood with me as I experienced the same
kind of rejection He experienced on the cross. Many who loved Him, and
those who hated Him, rejected Him. Because He endured that, He can
minister to me in times of rejection. When the first hurricane hit I
thought all was soon to be lost. An overwhelming sense of rejection
came in like a tidal wave. First, I felt rejected by my wife, the one
I loved the most in this world. Secondly, I feared that if my wife
decided to leave for another man, the reasons would be known that
triggered her infidelity and that everyone would blame me, reject me,
and hate me. I feared the loss of my wife, my children, my parents, my
in-laws, and all my friends. Having been a lonely soul my whole life,
I would rather have people like me for who they thought I was. I could
not risk letting them know those dark secrets that I had buried in my
heart. But Christ had other plans; He was cleaning out my heart,
unearthing buried skeletons, and creating a new man. He wanted me to
be transformed into His image. He wanted me to be healed of the pains
that I had bottled up for decades. He wanted to make me whole. He was
not willing to let me languish any longer. So all the rejection had to
be dealt with.
So more hurricanes came, week after week a new wind blew in to destroy
my old life. The counseling and recovery I had to experience required
that I face all the rejections in my life that had crippled me. I
faced the pains of rejection by my father, by my peers, by my spouse.
Each new remembrance and reliving of the pains of my past allowed me
to cast my cares on Christ. His presence in my life was so real that I
began to experience His love like I had never known it before. What
was once head knowledge became heart knowledge. I gave over to my
Savior all the pains of the sins that were committed against me, and
He took that all away. Even if all forsake me, even if all reject me,
I know that I am accepted in the Beloved. Rejection cannot hurt me as
it did before. I know where to take my rejection and I know Who will
take it away.
There were groves in my life; those had to be leveled too. In the Old
Testament, the children of Israel became idolaters and planted groves
of trees where they would worship false gods and commit sexual
immorality in that worship. God put His finger on idols that I had in
my life and, one by one, they were destroyed. At that time, He took
away from me all the guilt and shame of the sins that I had become a
willing participant in. Liberty was a reality. Freedom could be
quantified by the measure of how little the former things attracted
me.
While living life in the dungeon of despair, the wicked jailer will
keep moving you deeper and deeper into the bowels of the dungeon. My
heart was becoming freer day by day, but there were still several jail
doors to pass through before being really free. Old habits still
enslaved me. I still had too much love of the things of the world like
TV, movies, and computer networking. I would not be completely free
until my spirit could walk out with no jail doors to keep me locked
up. So another earthquake hit. And just like the time when Paul was in
prison and God sent an earthquake and all the prison doors fell off
their hinges, my jail doors have fallen off too. Television, movies,
Facebook, and other frivolous wastes of time don’t have the appeal
that they once had.
The love of Christ is not merely a doctrine to be taught. It must be
experienced in life. His love moves Him to intervene in your life’s
affairs. And when it seems like the waves are going to drown you and
the earthquakes are going to level everything to rubble, rest assured
that those disasters will not destroy you. Does everyone have to
experience His love in such disastrous surroundings? Perhaps those who
are full of faith and obedience experience it to a greater degree and
without the need of such dramatic dealings by our Lord. In any case, I
do know that the heart that yearns to experience Christ’s love will
not be disappointed.
So how do you conclude such a story? Well, what have I learned?
Christ’s love for me is UNCONDITIONAL and it NEVER WAVERS!
Christ’s love is ACTIVE, He is working all things out for my good.
Christ’s love is ETERNAL, nothing I do can cause Him to give up on me
EVER.
Christ’s love is ALL-CONSUMING, He is a jealous lover and perfectly
capable of tearing my idols down, if I don’t do it myself.
Christ’s love is PATIENT, He endures my follies and forgives over and
over again.
Christ’s love is KIND, He only does what is best for me.
Christ’s love is MYSTERIOUS, I will not know how or when He will
shower His love on me.
Christ’s love is MARVELOUS AND WONDERFUL AND MERCIFUL AND
COMPASSIONATE AND CANNOT BE FULLY DESCRIBED OR EXHAUSTIVELY
EXPLAINED.
I can’t just stop there though. Otherwise all of this will just be
doctrine in your head, where I’ve just been the illustration and
nothing more may come of it. You have to experience it for yourself.
Do you have pain that you have kept bottled up? Christ’s love can take
away your pain.
Do you have loneliness that is overpowering and drives you to
compulsive and self-destructive behavior just so that someone can
accept you at any cost? Christ’s love can flood your most inner self
with feelings of acceptance and He can take away that compulsive, self-
destructive behavior of trying to get your needs met improperly.
Do you need the tough love of another brother in Christ who will
strengthen you like iron strengthening iron? Christ wants to love you
through brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do you need intimacy and a place where you can confess your sins and
receive healing? Christ will provide you with such friends and give
you the help you need. He is the Great Physician and He knows how to
heal broken hearts and mend bruised souls.
Are you too afraid to become vulnerable? Christ has never rejected or
mocked one who opens the deepest part of one’s soul to Him.
The love of Christ can reach into your life and change everything!
Wait, there’s one more thing.
When you’ve experienced the love of Christ, there is one super-amazing
side effect. You will now have the ability to love others
unconditionally.
You will be able to forgive anyone of any sin they have committed
against you.
You will be empowered to speak of Christ’s love to perfect strangers.
You will be able to love those who were just like me and I’m perhaps
like you.
You will be able to love the ones in your life who have disappointed
you, because you will gain the stamina of Christ and His persevering
love.
You won’t look at people as sinners and saints; you will look at
people as another person who needs to know the love of Christ.
You will be able to love others as Christ has loved you.
So go experience the love of Christ.
Go and share the love of Christ.
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Whether you are a young person trying to make a place for yourself in
the world, a parent trying to give your children the best possible
opportunities, or a more mature person trying to enjoy the fruit of
your hard work, you have likely discovered that life can be very
challenging. The answers are not always clear and the choices are not
always easy. Fortunately, no matter where you are in life, you don't
have to try to work it all out yourself. There is a God Who has all
the answers and a church that wants to help you tap into them.
Tap into: RealLifeSC.org
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Daily Devotional
By Bill Keller
LighthousePrayerLine.org
I have to admit to you, that through all that I have seen and
experienced in my life and during over a decade in ministry, VERY
little shocks me any more. It is not that I am apathetic to what
happens in this world, but I realize that sinful men and women who
rebel against God are capable of doing ANYTHING. But the other
afternoon was one of those rare times that I was both shocked and
deeply saddened.
I was at the salon the other day getting my hair cut. As I was
waiting, I saw the cover of the recent Cosmopolitan magazine and the
BOLD PRINT featuring an article on "50 Sex Tricks ." Now my friend, I
am 51 years old, I have been married over 25 years, and prior to fully
surrendering to Christ 20 years ago lived in rebellion to God for many
years. So I am fully aware of what goes on between men and women not
committed to the Lord. But here was a well established, national
publication, geared primarily to young women in a place ANYONE of ANY
AGE could see, espousing the glory of having sex outside of marriage.
Yes, I was shocked and saddened by the message that Cosmopolitan was
sending out.
When I got home, I told my wife about the Cosmopolitan cover and she
told me that she was in the supermarket check-out line a few weeks ago
and saw a past issue of Cosmopolitan. She told me that as she looked
through it, she was appalled at the graphic detailed nature of what
they were promoting to young women as perfectly acceptable sexual
behavior. While I couldn't believe what the cover I saw had said, I
assumed that it was just for shock value to get people to buy the
magazine.
So my wife and I went out, bought the copy that I had seen, and I can
only tell you that I became even MORE SHOCKED as I read through the
contents of the entire magazine. It was pure pornography. The saddest
thing to me was that this a very prominent national publication that
has been around for years, and is responsible in shaping the views of
the young women who read it. What they were promoting as acceptable
behavior was not only 100% AGAINST God's plan, but does not "empower"
women as they claim, it cheapens them!!!! IT DESTROYS THEM!!!!
I make this an issue today for 2 reasons. First, moms and dads, DO NOT
let your daughters read this garbage. It is as bad as any pornography
that is on the market, and worse since instead of being in a plastic
cover behind the counter, it is on shelves where YOUR daughter can see
it and can purchase it. Second, young women, I often talk about
"garbage in, garbage out." What is on the pages of that magazine is
GARBAGE. Stay away from it!
Just so that I am clear, I am NOT for censorship. I believe in and
support the first amendment of our Constitution. There are MANY out
there who would love to censor what I say each day. The publishers of
Cosmopolitan have EVERY RIGHT to print that garbage, just as Larry
Flynt and Hugh Hefner have every right to print the garbage they do.
BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE TO CONSUME THEIR GARBAGE!!!! Sadly,
what I saw in that issue of Cosmopolitan was just that, pure garbage
since it was 100% in opposition to God's Word.
Young women, listen to me. I am saying this because I love you and
care about you so much. Sex is a WONDERFUL thing. God created it so it
HAS to be wonderful. But God created sex to be enjoyed between a man
and a woman in the bonds of marriage. Period! The Bible talks over and
over about fornication. That is literally, ANY sex outside of the
bonds of marriage. It includes ALL sexual acts, NOT just sexual
intercourse! The line was clearly set by Jesus when He said that if
you "lust in your heart" you have sinned.
God created you in His own image. He loves you. You are special!!!
Sex does not make you special, you are special because God made you.
If you have made the choice to accept Jesus Christ into your heart,
YOU are a daughter of the King! Don't ever let Cosmopolitan, or any
other magazine, or any TV program, or other person make you forget
that you are special! You have a ROYAL bloodline if you know Jesus!!!
The sad thing about what Cosmopolitan, TV, the movies, and our culture
do is glamorize sin. They make sex seem SO WONDERFUL, which it is
IF...IF..IF...it is the way God designed it to be enjoyed....IN THE
CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE!!!! NOT OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE!!! Well, I have news
for you. I receive thousands of emails daily from young women and
young men who fell for satan's (Cosmopolitan's) lie. Their problems
range from unwanted pregnancies, to STD's that they will have always
have to deal with, deep emotional issues, and a full range of other
problems.
These are permanent scars that they will carry with them for the REST
OF THEIR LIVES!!! Many have had their world shattered at such a young
age. So many are wonderful, good young people who simply fell for the
lie of the enemy. LISTEN TO ME. YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO
LIVE.....DON'T MESS IT UP!!!!
The enemy is here for what? TO KILL, STEAL , AND DESTROY! Jesus
promised what? LIFE, AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY!!!!
I have broken one of my rules about length today. But I have SO MUCH
passion about this issue since I see daily thousands who have bought
into the "Cosmopolitan view of life." I will go so far today, without
any hesitation and say that Cosmopolitan is just as much a tool of
satan to destroy the lives of God's precious young women, as Playboy
and Penthouse are in the destruction of men!
I pray this day, that this Devotional gets to the publishers of
Cosmopolitan. I pray for their souls because of the damage that they
are doing to young women all over the world with their magazine. I say
to them that you are simply a tool of satan and you are as guilty as
he is in the lives you are destroying. For those who read my
Devotionals each day, you know that I don't say these things lightly.
But I SEE THE DESTROYED LIVES EVERY DAY. I KNOW WHAT SATAN IS DOING
THROUGH INSTRUMENTS LIKE COSMOPOLITAN IN DESTROYING THE LIVES OF YOUNG
WOMEN!
I do love you and care about you so much. In closing, let me just say
this. God loves you, never forget that! Follow Him daily and your
life will be blessed. He gave us His Word so that we didn't have to
get lost on our journey. He gave us the roadmap. If we follow it, we
will know the joy, the peace, the abundance of this life. If we take a
detour, we are on our own and there is a very real enemy out there
just waiting for us to get off the path to destroy us! To those young
women who are reading this today, forget Cosmopolitan and use that
time reading God's Word. IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT GOD IS LETTING YOU
READ THIS TODAY! God, NOT Cosmopolitan will make you a REAL WOMAN, ALL
THE WOMAN GOD RAISED YOU UP TO BE!!!
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"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved
by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy,
being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of
God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things
we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing
of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been
justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of
eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7 - NIV).
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Neil Pope has been ministering through gospel music since he was 15
years old. Growing up under the wings of artist like Wendy Bagwell,
Jan Buckenr, Amy Lambert, and Mike Speck, Neil has been on the gospel
music scene since a very young age.
Visit: NeilPope.org
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Jesus, Mediator of Mystery (Part 2 of 2)
LighthousePrayerLine.org
Over the years it seemed that I had to learn over and over again how
hard it was to do what Jesus would do, or what he would have wanted me
to do. I remember the time that a popular group of boys said I could
be in their group. But they told me I could no longer be friends with
some of my other friends, because they were Geeks. I really wanted to
be popular, so I said okay. But I knew it wasn’t right.
They say that as they grow older, boys don’t really grow up. Their
toys just bit bigger. Well, it’s not just their toys. A lot of choices
get bigger, too. I mean, when I think back about getting in a fight
over a stone, or trying to be accepted in the popular group, I realize
that those things were small olives (We didn’t have potatoes near
Jerusalem, so we used to say small olives.). Anyway, the stakes became
greater and greater. Was I going to turn in my friend to the Romans,
or was I going to risk protecting him? Was I going to ruin another
person’s career so I could get ahead at work? Was I going to charge a
fair price for the furniture I made even though I could get more
money? Was I going to be honest with my wife when it was so much
easier and less stressful to lie. Was I really going to turn my cheek
or walk the extra mile or give up my cloak, when I didn’t have to?
During all this time, I kept going to our church. In a way, it was
confusing. It seemed that at almost every turn the message the world
gave was opposite to the message that Jesus gave. There were lots of
times that I thought I should just give up on what Jesus said. I mean,
what good was he if nothing he said fit into the world. But I kept on
going. Maybe it was remembering my mother’s instruction to me when I
was a boy. Maybe it was habit. But in truth, I think it was more than
that. Because no matter how ridiculous what Jesus said was, somewhere
deep inside of me there was this voice, well it wasn’t a voice ,
really, maybe more a realization. That’s it, even though what Jesus
said was ridiculous, I more and more realized that it actually made
sense. Now, of course, what I just said doesn’t make any sense, does
it? How can something be ridiculous and make sense at the same time.
Well, I think it must be something like what the apostle Paul meant
when he said: “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” In any case, I kept
going to the church, and this idea, this strange sense of things kept
growing within me.
As time went on, something even stranger began to happen. I began to
think like the voice, the realization that was within me. How can I
explain it? Let’s see. Ah, yes. Do you remember in the other Gospels,
Matthew, Mark and Luke, when Jesus was tempted in the desert. He was
starving and the devil offered him bread? How the devil took him high
up on an overlook and waved his hands and said, “All of this can be
yours”? I remember thinking what great moral strength Jesus had when
he refused the devil. And that was certainly true to some degree. But
what I had missed, and what began to come clear to me, was that Jesus
was much more in tune with, much more disposed to do the right thing
than the wrong thing.
For me, in the beginning, the ways of the world were the most obvious
and present, and in the background, within me, was a small voice,
telling me things weren’t as they seemed. But as time went on, the
whole thing became reversed. After awhile it suddenly dawned on me,
that the voice within me had moved to the front and was much stronger,
and the wiles of the world were more and more becoming the background
noise. I wouldn’t want to sound too bold, but in some sense I began to
feel as though I were in tune with the heart and mind of God.
It was not long after this realization dawned on me that I read the
passage from John that we are talking about, and I began to understand
more fully what Jesus was praying to God about. Jesus knew that the
world on its own inclinations does not know God. And Jesus knew that
by its own efforts it is almost impossible for the world to come to
know God. Without help, the way of the world has too strong a hold on
humankind, and it cannot break free.
This is the sense in which I understand that God’s son came to save
the world. And Jesus knew that the project was just beginning with his
first disciples. They were beginning to get the picture. But he was
worried, and he prayed to God with these words: “20“I am not praying
for these alone but also for the future believers who will come to me
because of the testimony of these.” Jesus thought of the future
generations, and he imagined, I believe, the church. He imagined the
continuation, whereby this first generation would continue to grow in
their faith, and whereby the testimony of this first generation would
go on to the next and the next and the next. For Jesus recognized that
without the church, without a vehicle for the testimony and the
teaching and the lived celebration of the love of God, the people
could not become one with God.
When I reread this passage back then, it suddenly washed over me what
had happened. It was just as Jesus had prayed. In the church, with
teachings that at first seemed quite at odds with my instincts, day by
day, gradually, I came more and more to know the presence of God
within me, dare I say it? to more and more feel at one with God.
Listen again to the prayer of Jesus, and know that it was meant for
you. 20“I am not praying for these alone but also for the future
believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. 21My
prayer for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind,
just as you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in
you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
22“I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being
one, as we are—23I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—
so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you
love them as much as you love me. 24Father, I want them with me—these
you’ve given me—so that they can see my glory. You gave me the glory
because you loved me before the world began! 25“O righteous Father,
the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you
sent me. 26And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing
you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in
them.” Amen.
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"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares
about you" (1 Peter 5:7 – NLT).
Be sure to send in your prayer request for the next
mailing.
You are in my thoughts and prayers! May the Lord
continue to bless you with knowledge of Himself.
Prayerfully in Christ Jesus,
Mark Seay
Lighthouse Prayer Line
105 Quincy Drive
Greer, SC 29650
LighthousePrayerLine.org
"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm
118:24 - NIV).
.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
What God Hath Promised!
By Annie Johnson Flint
God hath not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised
Sun without rain
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.
But God hath promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way,
Grace for the trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love.
((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))((¯`»¦«´¯))
We hope you have found today's newsletter encouraging to your
walk with Jesus Christ. Please send all prayer requests and
praise reports to us by using the "comments" hyperlink, which
can be found at the end of each blog/article. God is Good!!!
A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle. Please Keep This
Candle Going!
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I'm just a nobody
trying to tell everybody
that there is somebody
who can save anybody!!
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Never get so busy doing the work of the kingdom
- that you forget who the King is.
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