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Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 25, 2008 at 5:23am

This is the Day That the Lord Has Made
by Dr. David C. Cooper
In his book, "To See the World in a Grain of Sand," C.L. James tells the fable of a wise old cat that notices a kitten chasing its tail. "Why are you chasing your tail so?" asked the wise old cat. The kitten replied, "I have learned that the best thing for a cat is happiness, and happiness is my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it; and when I catch it, I shall have happiness."
The wise old cat said, "My son, I too have paid attention to the problems of the universe. I too have judged that happiness is in my tail. But, I noticed that whenever I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, and when I go about my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go."
Jesus promised us real happiness and true joy. "I have spoken these things to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11).
Happiness results from positive emotions such as joy, gratitude and hope. Negative attitudes are toxic to the mind and body. Research shows that negative emotions narrow thought. We can't dream or envision new possibilities when we are filled with negative emotions such as fear, resentment and pessimism. Positive emotions make thinking more creative and resourceful. Everyday is a celebration of life. Begin every day with this affirmation of faith: "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps 118:24).
First, today is the day the Lord has made so receive it with joy and gratitude. "In everything give thanks" (1 Thes 5:18).
Second, God only gives you today, not tomorrow, so focus on today. Don't get distracted by the failures of yesterday or the worries of tomorrow.
Third, He has made this day especially for you. Today is not an accident; not just another 24 hours.
Fourth, everything in each day is made for you -- the ups and the downs, the joys and the sorrows. God is involved in every aspect of your today. So, "give thanks for everything" (Eph 5:20).
Finally, expect something good to happen today. Then go out and make something good happen. You've got to make something happen in order to be happy

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 24, 2008 at 7:38am

TO KNOW CHRIST

Philippians 3:10-14
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Philippians+3:10-14

Father,

I want to do this because I want to know Christ and the power of
his resurrection, and be allowed even to share in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the
resurrection from the dead.

Dear Father, I know that I have not made this my own yet, but one
thing let me do: Let me forget what lies behind and strain forward
to what lies ahead. Help me to keep pressing forward toward the
goal so that I may win the prize according to your will in Christ
Jesus, my Lord.

In his name of our Lord Jesus I ask these things and pray that you
will grant us a spirit of perseverance unto eternal life. Amen.

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 24, 2008 at 6:37am

A Moment of Thanks
Dr. David Jeremiah
Life is hard, and every day is challenging. You may be wondering just now if you can go on. Perhaps another person is vexing you. Perhaps you've been maligned or criticized. You're discouraged with unanswered prayer. Maybe you're feeling like Elijah under the broom tree, wanting to die.
Try praying with thanksgiving. A thankful attitude is the cure for many emotional ailments. Take depression, for example. What is depression or discouragement except the total collapse of thanksgiving in our lives?
Thanksgiving is also the opposite of discontent. It's easy for us to become disgruntled with various factors in our lives; but let's be like one man who was thankful...
* For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
* For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that I have freedom of speech.
* For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.
* For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV because that means he is at home and not on the streets.
* For the taxes that I pay because it means that I'm employed.
* For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
* For weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
* For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.
Thanksgiving is the opposite of anxiety. Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Worship and worry cannot live in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive, according to Ruth Graham.
Thanksgiving is also the corrective for sadness and even grief. While working on a message from Psalm 100, my phone rang. It was from a family dear to me. Our children were about the same age and had played together growing up.
The caller told me there had been an accident in the woods, and a portion of a tree had fallen on one of the boys. He'd been pinned for over an hour before the ambulance arrived, and it appeared the young man would be paralyzed from the waist down. His spinal cord had been crushed.
Well, that just destroyed my afternoon. I couldn't get it out of my mind. This was a blond-headed kid, very athletic, full of life; and in one moment, his life was shattered and changed. I wrestled with my own thoughts and emotions until evening, then I placed a call to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Frankly, I didn't know what to say; but I didn't have to say much at all. The boy's father ended up comforting me.
He said, "Pastor, I want you to know that my wife and I are, first of all, thankful that our son is alive. Second, we're thanking God that it wasn't the upper part of his body that was paralyzed. And thirdly, though we don't understand why, we know God is good and that somehow in the midst of this, He has a plan for our son's life that must go beyond anything we can imagine. Though it's hard and we wish it hadn't happened, we have committed it to our God, for He is good."
Is the race of life wearing you down?
Try a moment of thanks.

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 23, 2008 at 5:57am

A PRECIOUS PROMISE

Philippians 3:8
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Philippians+3:8

Dear Father, Keeper of all your promises,

You have promised: "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a
crown of life." Thank you for such a precious promise! You are so
gracious to me!

Help me to count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For his sake I would gladly suffer
the loss of all things - at least I hope I would - and count them
as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Father, you know my heart. You know that I don't want a
righteousness of my own based on self-sufficient rule-keeping, but
one which comes from trusting Christ.

I want the righteousness that you provide when I commit myself to
your trustworthy care.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 23, 2008 at 5:57am

The Prayer of Praise and Worship
Dr. Frederick K.C. Price
Have you ever watched a talented mechanic or craftsman work? He always has the right tool. You or I might strain to reach underneath an engine or struggle with pliers to put together some little piece of furniture. But for a master mechanic or trained craftsman, it seems that no task is too great. The mechanic whips out a long instrument that has a ratchet on the end, slithers it up through the crowded engine compartment, and has a bolt out in seconds. A craftsman can affix the perfect-sized screwdriver head to an electric drill and assemble a complex-looking bookcase in minutes. If you talk to these people, they will always tell you that it is critical to use the right tool. A screw won't come off easily with pliers--if at all, and you can't drive in a nail with a screwdriver.
This principle is critical when it comes to prayer. Many Christians aren't aware that there are several different types of prayer discussed in the Bible, and if you use the rules or tools from one prayer when you should be using the tools from another prayer for your needs or your request, it won't work. You would be applying the wrong spiritual tool to your needs or your request. Consider what Paul wrote to the Ephesians. He concludes a long section in which he urges the Christians at Ephesus to "put on the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6:11), then to "stand" (v. 14), saying this should be done by "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (v. 18). Notice that Paul tells us to pray with "all prayer." This refers to all kinds of prayer, or to put it in a different way, Paul is saying there are different kinds of prayer.
A failure to understand that there are different kinds of prayer and that they don't all do the same thing has let some ministers to claim we cannot pray correctly at all, or to conclude each prayer with "if it be Thy will." They frequently use Romans 8:26 as a proof text to show that we do not know what we need, so, in essence, we can't possibly pray correctly.
It is for this reason that we must know from the outset what the different prayer tools are--to know a ratchet from a screwdriver, as it were, in the realm of prayer. We have no problem understanding that baseball, basketball, and soccer all have different types of balls, different paying surfaces, and different rules. Why is it so hard to think that prayer is any different? In fact, there are six different types of prayer mentioned in the Bible, and God intended them for different functions.
THE PRAYER OF PRAISE & WORSHIP
In this prayer, you are not asking God to do something for you or to give you something. You are not even asking for direction and dedicating your life to whatever it is God has called you to do. Rather, you just want to praise the Lord, to thank Him for His many blessings and mercy. You want to tell Him how much you love Him. A good example of this type of prayer appears in Luke 2:20, discussing the reaction of the shepherds who had seen the baby Jesus:
Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
This means that it happened just as the angel of the Lord said it would. In Luke 18:43, we see the blind man "glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God." Ostensibly, they prayed prayers of thanksgiving.
Look at how Jesus prayed in John 11:41 "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me," referring to His previous prayer regarding Lazarus. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). This says that even when we pray the prayer of faith, we should always intersperse worship and praise.
The prayer of praise and worship is the only prayer that you are permitted to direct to Jesus rather than the Father. It is perfectly acceptable to say, "Thank You, Jesus, for Your love, Your sacrifice, Your obedience, and Your perfection. Thank You for saving me." In John 15:16, Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." All petition prayers are to be directed to "the Father, in Jesus' Name." No exceptions!
In the prayer of consecration and dedication, you are asking God for His direction--not Jesus. But in the prayer of praise and worship, you are free to address the Son directly and thank Him for His sacrifice, His courage, His consistency, His mercy, and His love

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 23, 2008 at 5:54am

It's Better Not To Know Better
Steven Furtick
My youngest son Graham lets me throw him up in the air so high that he almost goes through the ceiling. He loves it. He just turned 1 about a month ago.
His older brother Elijah used to let me do the same thing. He's 3 now, and he doesn't like it so much any more. It scares him. Didn't used to scare him, but my wife Holly says now that he's more aware of his surroundings, being thrown in the air freaks him out. I guess that's understandable.
Sometimes our awareness of our surroundings can take the naiveté out of our faith in God. When I first came to Christ, it was like I was letting Him throw me up in the air as high as He could (or would, more like it), and it never crossed my mind that this was dangerous.
It never crossed my mind that He might drop me.
If He prompted me to speak out for Him, I spoke up. If He urged me to give something to Him, I gave. If He wanted me to give up something for Him, I gave it up.
Then came mortgage payments, adult responsibilities and the like. Now I'm more aware of my surroundings. And it's a little more unnerving to get thrown up in the air.
It didn't frighten me at all when I didn't know any better...and sometimes I think it's better not to know any better. As a child of God, and even more so as a leader, I don't ever want to become so aware of my surroundings that I stop innately trusting God because it's dangerous.
Not that we should stay in a state of perpetual childhood. It's good to grow up, to exercise wisdom, and to analyze the risks.
But when it comes time to jump, never let your awareness of your surroundings be the final factor when deciding how high to go and how much to trust.
As you finish this year strong, find confidence in the strength of the one who caught you the last time, and who is positioned to catch you again.

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 23, 2008 at 5:54am

VERSE:
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed
took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said,
Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of me.
-- 1 Corinthians 11:23-24
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Corinthians+11:23-24&translation=kjv

THOUGHT:
Remember Jesus! Remember his great sacrifice. Remember his
incomparable love for each of us! Remember him through his Supper!
Remember Jesus! Remember!

PRAYER:
O Father, thank you so much for Jesus! Thank you for blessing me
with a spiritual meal which reminds me and proclaims again that
Jesus died, offering his body and blood as the atoning sacrifice
for my sins. Thank you for giving me the day of his resurrection as
the day I can powerfully remember this great sacrifice and
anticipate the great day of reunion that his resurrection has
secured for your children. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Comment by V.D. Coleman on November 19, 2008 at 10:04am

blessings all.. so good to network with GOD'S FINEST

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 19, 2008 at 8:37am

Greetings,

My Dear Friends. Yes I still am Proclaiming that beautiful name LORD JESUS CHRIST, However, today I am lead to ask you for your concerns. You can email me with your pacific prayer request that, I may bring before the LORD. I will be going into a shut in on 12midnite Friday morning, November 21, 2008, until 12midnite Monday morning November 24, 2008, at which I will continually bring your request before the LORD. Lets see who is really out there paying attention, there is not much time so get your requests in early, so that your request can be heard on high. I also want to encourage you to email me with questions that you make be having, concerning the faith, and of course with your praise reports that I most enjoy reading. I will give special attention, and time before GOD to each request received, please only serious request, for example please don¢t email me talking about, "I want GOD to move in my finances", and you¢re not seeking God and HIS righteousness. However, if it¢s a concern for your self or a loved one, and you need a miracle from GOD, I¢ll be laying before the LORD for you. Someone asked a question " are you a religious fanatic" if you replace religion with relationship then I¢m guilty. I choose to believe GOD and I desire for you to join in believing HIM by making you request known unto the LORD. "You may be asking yourself why, must I send my request to him", I can get to GOD for myself. If that¢s where your faith is honey, more power to ya...is my prayer, and while you¢re at it get a prayer through for me, that GOD continues to manifest HIMSELF in all areas of my life, the more, rooting and grounding me deeper in HIM. However, if you are asking that question out of a lack of understanding, then let me help you...Lets go to the word: Finally, brethren , pray for us that the word of the LORD may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you. 2 Thessalonians (3:1) Now here was Paul writing to the church of the Thessalomians to request prayer, knowing that prayer changes things. We are ordered to pray one for the other. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for the another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James (5:16). Don¢t send your request simply because I asked, but rather in faith believing GOD, and watch GOD manifest to you that HE cares.
May GOD Bless and Keep You All In HIM...I Do It Because HE Loves You...and...I Love HIM...Doc.

Comment by Ladyjd721 on November 19, 2008 at 6:23am

Two Choices

“What should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?”
Matthew 27:22 (NCV)

Pilate is correct in his question. “What should I do with Jesus, the one
called the Christ?” Perhaps you, like Pilate, are curious about this one
called Jesus.

What do you do with a man who claims to be God, yet hates religion? What do
you do with a man who calls himself the Savior, yet condemns systems? What
do you do with a man who knows the place and time of his death, yet goes
there anyway?...

You have two choices.

You can reject him. That is an option. You can, as have many, decide that
the idea of God’s becoming a carpenter is too bizarre—and walk away.

Or you can accept him. You can journey with him. You can listen for his
voice amid the hundreds of voices and follow him.


From: And the Angels Were Silent
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)
Max Lucado

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