Power in your shoes

I find it amazing how fear or past failures can often keep us from trying new things, working to realize our dreams, or even take to steps from the lonely island where the last broken dream or failure marooned us!

  "You always had the power my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself," said Glinda the good witch in the movie "The Wizard of Oz. Though it is true that this was only a movie, it is no secret that fiction often imitates life. In this case though, it is the complete truth!

We, as children of God have always had the power.. the power to be happy, the power to be healed, the power to succeed, we have always had whatever type of power we may need in our lives.

It isn't power that we lack, it is instead a strong an unwavering trust in the one who holds all that power!
The Word of God says that "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life."  We need only to tap into that indestructible power by calling on the name of Jesus, and believing that it is indeed ours, we just have to believe!
 The "tap," or "switch" or power source is Jesus Himself!

Survey of the Week

       Survey of the Week:

                  Please pick one question below, and post your answer 
                  under this post.
 
                  1. If someone asked you why you believe in God, 
                      what would your reply be?

                         2.  How would you feel if someone called you a
                      "Jesus Freak," or a "Fanatic"?

                 3.  What is your reply (if any) to someone who
                      says they don't believe in God?

You Are Important!

....That's the absolute truth! so never give up, become your own best friend!

Make the most important call of your life ( and the one to come) today!

WITH GOD THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE! THE WORD OF GOD SAYS THAT WE SHOULD CALL UPON THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND, WHICH IS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT THIS  MINUTE! WE KNOW THAT TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED TO ANYONE, SO WE SHOULD MAKE SURE WE ARE RIGHT WITH GOD TODAY! IF YOU HAVEN'T ACCEPTED JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR YET JUST CALL ON HIS NAME RIGHT NOW, ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS AND TO COME INTO YOUR HEART, AND HE WILL, IT'S AS SIMPLE AND BEAUTIFUL AS  THAT!

Used Boats wanted!

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the idea of jumping out of the boat, or getting out of my comfort zone! It isn't an easy thing to do when I am safe and snug inside the "boat" to decide it's time to get out and swim! Every time I try, I start thinking about how cold the water might be, or perhaps about what poisonous fish might be lurking in the water, just waiting for me to put just one foot in and then bite my foot off! At the same time, I am wondering what wonderful adventures I am missing, or how many people I might meet in whose life I might be able to make a difference even in some small way! I believe the Lord is telling me it's time to step out, and step into my destiny, the destiny that He has planned for me, not the one that will surely befall me if I stay in this boat! I know it's too late in the book of time to just stick my toes in the water and say, "there, at least i tried," It's too late to just sit here and feel the warmth of the sun on my face, or the cool wind tousle my hair. No it is time for me, for you too if your still sitting in your snug little boat, time for all those of us who call ourselves children of God to get out and swim. There are souls out there in that vast ocean, souls who are drowning while they hang on to a little plastic life preserver that is rotting away from just floating and getting nowhere! I for one am ready to answer the Father's call, "who will go for me?" I know it won't be easy but it will be eternally worth it!

 

MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU ALL!

I would like to thank all of you my friends for your prayers and wonderful words of love and strength that you "gave" me at the home-going last week of my wonderful sister Maggie. Words will never be able to express how very comforted and warm you all made me feel! Thank you a thousand times and may you all be greatly blessed!

Guest Author of the Week- John Piper

How to Read the Bible for Yourself

March 17, 2015

• by John Piper
• Topic: The Bible

1. Read for the author’s meaning, not your own.

When we read, we want to know what an author intended us to see and experience in his writing. He had an intention when he wrote. Nothing will ever change that. It is there as a past, objective event in history.
We are not reading simply for subjective experiences. We are reading to discover more about objective reality. I’m not content with what comes to my mind when I read it. The meaning of a sentence, or a word, or a letter is what the author intended for us to understand by it. Therefore, meaning is the first aim of all good reading.

2. Ask questions to unlock the riches of the Bible.

When we read, we do not generally really think until we are faced with a problem to be solved, a mystery to be unraveled, or a puzzle to be deciphered. Until our minds are challenged, and shift from passive reading to active reading, we drift right over lots of insights.
Asking ourselves questions is a way of creating a problem or a mystery to be solved. That means the habit of asking ourselves questions awakens and sustains our thinking. It stimulates our mind while we read, and drives us down deep to the real meaning of a passage.

2.1 Ask about words.
Ask about definitions. What does this word mean in this specific sentence? And remember, we’re asking what the author intended by the word, not what we think it means. This assumes words will have different meanings in different sentences.
2.2 Ask about phrases.
A phrase is a group of words without a verb that describe some action or person or thing. For instance, “Put sin to death by the Spirit.” “By the Spirit” describes the activity. It tells us how we kill sin in our lives. Look closely at phrases like these and ask what specifically they’re explaining.
2.3. Ask about relationships between propositions.
A proposition is a group of words with a subject and a verb. How propositions relate to each other is one of the most important questions we can ask. Often, there will be a small connecting word that holds the answer (e.g. but, if, and, therefore, in order that, because, etc.). Sometimes the major differences between whole theologies hang on these connections.
2.4 Ask how the context helps define the meaning of words and phrases.
You can’t know accurately what a proposition means until you know the meaning of the words, and you can’t know the meaning of words until you know the meaning of the proposition. It is a circle, but it’s not a hopeless circle. Words have a limited range of shared meanings.
Wrong guesses about a word’s meaning are often set right by the end of the sentence or paragraph. Even though words, in and of themselves, can have several meanings, the content and relationships of the propositions around them usually clarify the specific meaning the author intended them to have.
2.5 Ask about connections with other parts in the Bible.
We have to ask how the meaning we’re seeing in a passage fits together with other passages. Are there confirmations elsewhere in the Bible? Are there passages that seem contradictory or inconsistent?
When I feel tension between two verses or passages, I never assume the Bible is inconsistent. I assume I’m not seeing all I need to see. If I have not seen enough to explain the apparent inconsistency, asking more questions will likely help me see more. Few things make us deeper and richer in our knowledge of God and his ways than this habit of asking how texts cohere in reality when at first they don’t look like they do.
2.6 Ask about application.
The aim of biblical writers is not only that we “know,” but that we “be” and “do.” So we need to form the habit of asking questions concerning application. To us. To our church and our relationships. To the world. The task of application is never done. There are millions of ways a text can be applied, and millions of situations and relationships for them to be applied. Our job is not to know every application, but to grow in applying the meaning of Scripture to our lives.
2.7 Ask about affections — appropriate responses of the heart.
The aim of our Bible reading is not just the response of the mind, but of the heart. The whole range of human emotions are possible responses to the meaning of the Bible. God gave us the Bible not just to inform our minds, but also to transform our hearts — our affections. God’s word is honored not just by being understood rightly, but also by being felt rightly.

3. At every page, pray and ask for God’s help.

O Lord, incline our hearts to your word. Give us a desire for it. Open our eyes to see wonders there. Subdue our wills and give us an obedient spirit. Satisfy our hearts with a vision of yourself and your way for our lives.

Light in Darkness

The Word of God says that we are to let our light shine! When life is full of darkness it's easy to feel like an old storm battered ship adrift in the vast ocean with no anchor or compass to guide it's path! It is during these seasons in life that the light of the Lord who dwells in us should shine brighter than ever before, even brighter than in the days of sunshine and light.
 If one spends time with the Lord and trusts in His Word, then there is no way that that bright light  won't shine force and light the path and even that of those who are around it's bright and far reaching beams of everlasting brightness!

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Wheels of Life!

Albert was right on! God never intended for us to spend our lives on our butts, unless it is with two wheels under these butts to keep us moving! Motion is necessary in order for one to get anywhere (pun intended!)motion is what it takes to achive our dreams and succeed! So if you have fallen off your bike, as I have many many times, look up at the son, brush yourself off, and get right back on that bike! Keep pedaling my friend!

She won her race!

Today makes one whole week since my sister went home to be with the Lord, I miss her so much! 

 

Rest in Peace sis until we meet again!!!