Saturday, October 30, 2010

Don't Let This Stranger Take Your Household Captive?


The STRANGER
-Author Unknown.





Years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mum taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mum would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honour them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any
visitors. Our long time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing..

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name???

We just call him "TV." I really fear what his grandkids will be like.

(Note: He has a wife now... we call her "Computer." Their first child is "Cell Phone." Second child "I Pod.")







Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Father's Love Letter












My Child ,


You may not know me, but I know everything about you - Psalm 139:1


I know when you sit down and when you rise up - Psalm 139:2


I am familiar with all your ways - Psalm 139:3


Even the very hairs on your head are numbered - Matthew 10:29-31


For you were made in my image - Genesis 1:27


In me you live and move and have your being - Acts 17:28


For you are my offspring - Acts 17:28


I knew you even before you were conceived - Jeremiah 1:4-5


I chose you when I planned creation - Ephesians 1:11-12


You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book - Psalm 139:15-16


I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live - Acts 17:26


You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14


I knit you together in your mother's womb - Psalm 139:13


And brought you forth on the day you were born - Psalm 71:6


I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me - John 8:41-44


I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love - 1 John 4:16


And it is my desire to lavish my love on you - 1 John 3:1


Simply because you are my child and I am your father - 1 John 3:1


I offer you more than your earthly father ever could - Matthew 7:11


For I am the perfect father - Matthew 5:48


Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand - James 1:17


For I am your provider and I meet all your needs - Matthew 6:31-33


My plan for your future has always been filled with hope - Jeremiah 29:11


Because I love you with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3


My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore - Psalm 139:17-18


And I rejoice over you with singing - Zephaniah 3:17


I will never stop doing good to you - Jeremiah 32:40


For you are my treasured possession - Exodus 19:5


I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul - Jeremiah 32:41


And I want to show you great and marvellous things - Jeremiah 33:3


If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me - Deuteronomy 4:29


Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4


For it is I who gave you those desires - Philippians 2:13


I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine - Ephesians 3:20


For I am your greatest encourager - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17


I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4


When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you - Psalm 34:18


As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart - Isaiah 40:11


One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes - Revelation 21:3-4


And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth - Revelation 21:3-4


I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus - John 17:23


For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed - John 17:26


He is the exact representation of my being - Hebrews 1:3


He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you - Romans 8:31


And to tell you that I am not counting your sins - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19


Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19


His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you - 1 John 4:10


I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love - Romans 8:31-32


If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me - 1 John 2:23


And nothing will ever separate you from my love again - Romans 8:38-39


Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen - Luke 15:7


I have always been Father, and will always be Father - Ephesians 3:14-15


My question is, Will you be my child? - John 1:12-13


I am waiting for you - Luke 15:11-32




♥Love, 


Your Dad. Almighty God







Rejoice Not in What You Have, But Who You Have With You!










PSALM 23 EXPLAINED




This an eye opener; probably we never thought nor looked at this Psalm in this way, even though we say it over and over again.

  • The Lord is my Shepherd
    • That's Relationship!

  • I shall not want
    • That's Supply!

  • He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
    • That's Rest!

  • He leadeth me beside the still waters
    • That's Refreshment!

  • He restoreth my soul
    • That' s Healing!

  • He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
    • That's Guidance!

  • For His name sake
    • That's Purpose!

  • Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
    • That's Testing!

  • I will fear no evil
    • That' s Protection!

  • For Thou art with me
    • That's Faithfulness!

  • Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me
    • That's Discipline!

  • Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
    • That's Hope!

  • Thou annointest my head with oil
    • That's Consecration!

  • My cup runneth over
    • That's Abundance!

  • Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
    • That's Blessing!

  • And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    • That's Security!

  • Forever
    • That's Eternity!

Face it, the Lord is crazy about you. What is most valuable is not what we have in our lives, but WHO we have in our lives!








Sunday, October 10, 2010

Keep Yourself Plugged in to God's Power Source



Plug in to the Power of His Word





The Bible says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb 4:12). The word of God is living and powerful and it has always been like that. But those who take it and assimilate it in to their soul by the power of the Spirit will bring the same power of God in to their lives. 

My question to you is? The WORD OF GOD IS POWERFUL, but are you? 

The hunger to eat the word of God is not a natural thing, but it is a supernatural thing that comes from the throne of heaven. When we come to the Lord, our spirit get born anew with the life of God (JOhn 3:5-8). This new spirit will long after the word of God and the Spirit of God. 

The more we feed the longing of this spririt-man with the Word of God and the Spirit of God, the more it will grow in the image of Jesus who is the first-born Son of God in to this world (Col 1:15; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:10-11). The  word of God is like food and the Spirit of God is like water to the spirit-man. When Jeremiah started to eat the word of God he began to fulfill the powerful calling of God to prophecy the rise and fall of many nations (Jer 1:5, 10). Even though Jeremiah suffered in the natural and was a weak man physically for God's sake (Jer 15:15), in the spirit-realm he became a powerful man to deal all the demonic forces that were trying to hinder him from fullfilling God's mighty prophetic calling over his life (Jer 10:10-11).

Here is the testimony that Jeremiah himself gives, "Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts." (Jer 15:16). Because the word of God was consumed continiously by Jeremiah in to his spirit, God Almighty's word became the joy and rejoicing of his heart. This same joy and rejoicing gave him the strenth to endure the hardships of life to eventually fullfill the mighty prophetic calling of God in his life (Neh 8:10).

THE WORD OF GOD IS THE POWER BEHIND ALL GREAT MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD.

God first teaches His word to a man before He brings His power to and through that man. The word should become flesh, before God can tabernacle in His power through that flesh (John 1:14)

What are you waiting for? Set a time to read the word of God everyday. Discipline yourself for a regular intake of the WORD OF GOD for a good healthy spirit-man. Before you can realise it yourself, the power of God will be seen through your lives by people around you. You will become a COOL naturally supernatural man and woman of God.     

    
"The seed [of the WORD OF GOD (Luke 8:11)] once sown grows...of itself, from its own impulse and power of life....The self-inherent power of growth of the kingdom of God." - Rudolph Stier







Awesome! Noah's Ark...



Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!
  

Working Replica of Noah's Ark opened In SCHAGEN, Netherlands. Man Builds Noah's Ark to the exact scale given in the Bible.




The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was opened and  the first crowd of curious townsfolk beheld the wonder. This replica of the biblical Ark was built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.


  

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.


   

Life-sized models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animalsgreet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.     




A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.   




Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top deck .... not quite ready in time for the opening .... will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel. 


  

Visitors on the first day were stunned. 'It's beyond comprehension', said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape.  



'I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big! '  There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark. Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years. 



Now that I am old and gray....give me the time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all of Your mighty miracles.
Psalm 71:18

In the midst of so much negative news here is a positive story about a devout Christian man wanting to share the story of Noah with this and the next generation hoping he will bring their faith alive. Amazing isn't it?