I believe God gives each one of us gifts. These gifts are for us to learn how to use them and watch them manifest into maturity. If we stay mindful of our gifts and talents, and are productive with them, what do you believe you can do with yours?
I call what I feel inside of me, colors. I can be whatever color I want to be, but the more I stay tuned in to my brighter colors, the more I seem to accomplish, the more I feel grateful for, and the more I feel love around me.
When I have a bright yellow day, I have had a good nights sleep. I wake up feeling productive, inspired, and full of joy, the kind of joy you feel when you wake up and your spirit has been praising the Lord, and it is automatically coming out as words from your mouth. What a joyous experience!
Bright orange days include alot of laughter and radiant love, the kind of love you feel that lasts forever, the love between sisters, or a mother and her child. My gray days are special to me. Gray represents the quietness in my spirit. Days where you are able to linger in your bed, soaking in the silence of the moment. As when the rain is falling so softly, it kisses the earth without any noise, what a beautiful softness it has!
My pastel days are when there is a newness in my life. Either I am learning and experiencing growth in myself, or I am watching it occur in another persons life. Those are beautiful moments. Those are also some of my most treasured memories. Pastels represent change for me. Change is rarely easy or comfortable, but I am teaching myself to look forward to it, instead of cringing, while watching it come my way.
Each of us have our own ways of describing our personalities, ways of thinking, and our belief systems. I chose to share mine because I feel very happy to have come to this place of understanding in my life. Some people, even elderly people, never do, so I am very grateful for this knowledge.
This is what I think makes me great. I choose to look at obstacles, pain, loss, love, desire, beliefs, everything that happens to me, as pieces of the puzzle that is called "me"". I choose to make the most of my gifts and talents to help myself, my family, and all others, because that is what I believe we are here to do. It also makes a person feel great, knowing that even as specks of dirt in the universe, we choose to love, care, and give to others.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Trials and Tribulations - A Part of Our Christian Walk by Sandi M Lewanika
At one point or another most of us have experienced trials, they are a part of our Christian journey. No one no matter how rich, powerful, good or bad is exempt from going through trials and tribulations. When times get so rough we find our selves asking God if our troubles will ever end. We find ourselves wondering why things don't seem to be working out for us, or why God has allowed these things to happen to us. This is when we have to remember that God loves us and he wants the best for us, he hears our faintest cry. No matter what hardship we're experiencing in our lives God has not forgotten about us.
We've got to understand that going through trials is not by any means meant to punish us. God from time to time allows us to go through trials and tribulations in order for us to become stronger, and to gain spiritual enrichment through our experiences. Trails tend to bring out the person whom we truly are deep down inside.
Going through trails is meant to soften our hearts and gives us compassion towards others who are in the same or worse situation than ourselves. Trails bring humility and open up our minds to our dependency on God and the purpose that he has for us. They put us in a place where the only person who we can rely on and turn to for help is God.
Trails give us the opportunity to turn our sufferings into testimonies that give God the glory. Trials help us realize that there is much more to life than fulfilling our own selfish desires. They remind us that God is in control of our lives. They stop us from being self centered individuals, and instead help us to turn to God and make him the center and focus of our lives. Once we allow God to be the center of our lives everything begins to fall into place, and it's at that point when we can begin to experience peace even in the midst of our troubles.
Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."
Prayer
I lay down all my plans, my dreams, my actions and my thoughts before you,
Lord you know my hearts desires,
Meet me at my point of need,
Do for me what no man can do for me,
Let everything in my life go according to your will,
Give me the patience to wait on you through my trials,
Give me the faith to trust in you at all times,
And not only when things are going right,
Be my guide, my friend and my confident Lord,
Let me find comfort in you and only you Lord,
I put all my hope and trust in your Precious Savior,
Take full control of my life,
In Jesus' Mighty Name I pray.....
We've got to understand that going through trials is not by any means meant to punish us. God from time to time allows us to go through trials and tribulations in order for us to become stronger, and to gain spiritual enrichment through our experiences. Trails tend to bring out the person whom we truly are deep down inside.
Going through trails is meant to soften our hearts and gives us compassion towards others who are in the same or worse situation than ourselves. Trails bring humility and open up our minds to our dependency on God and the purpose that he has for us. They put us in a place where the only person who we can rely on and turn to for help is God.
Trails give us the opportunity to turn our sufferings into testimonies that give God the glory. Trials help us realize that there is much more to life than fulfilling our own selfish desires. They remind us that God is in control of our lives. They stop us from being self centered individuals, and instead help us to turn to God and make him the center and focus of our lives. Once we allow God to be the center of our lives everything begins to fall into place, and it's at that point when we can begin to experience peace even in the midst of our troubles.
Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."
Prayer
I lay down all my plans, my dreams, my actions and my thoughts before you,
Lord you know my hearts desires,
Meet me at my point of need,
Do for me what no man can do for me,
Let everything in my life go according to your will,
Give me the patience to wait on you through my trials,
Give me the faith to trust in you at all times,
And not only when things are going right,
Be my guide, my friend and my confident Lord,
Let me find comfort in you and only you Lord,
I put all my hope and trust in your Precious Savior,
Take full control of my life,
In Jesus' Mighty Name I pray.....
Define Yourself - Mystically by Kevin Uhrich
If someone asked me to define who or what I was, I am afraid it would be about the most difficult thing that I could possibly contemplate. I know that I am so much more than say, what I could account for in the physical realm of things and even usable physical words would run far short of defining even one aspect of who I am. If defining who I am is that mystical, it is the same with you and all people; we are mystical, spiritual entities that defy simple explanation. We are all deeply mysterious and is that not the most exciting thing???
People define themselves as their body, or their job, or their illnesses and think this is who they are. That's not who you are, you are at the very essence Pure Divine Energy, Pure Consciousness. You are a spiritual being! You are Source Energy! And if you don't wake up and realize this to be true, you will likely go through life dealing with fantasies of 'chance' and 'luck' until you "die", (there's really no dying, but you get the picture.) Oh and when you "die" you will look back and say, "Wow, all of that stuff was pretty much true, I could have created a far better life than I could have imagined!" This is truth.
So if you have never thought about any of this stuff before, perhaps Now you are thinking about it. I am not asking you to just believe me, all I hope is that you will think about it and come to your own truth about things. I am always so grateful when someone causes me to stop and contemplate reality; anything that causes me to stretch my mental muscles always brings me such gratitude and joy!
So we are not just a meat suit running around, as James Ray puts it, we are actually "Individuated Aspects of God". We are co-creators with Source Energy. That is absolutely mind blowing, and once you stop the mental chatter in your head and become quiet, all the power of the universe is yours. It always has been, but Now you are conscious of it!!!! And we must remain conscious of it at all times.
People define themselves as their body, or their job, or their illnesses and think this is who they are. That's not who you are, you are at the very essence Pure Divine Energy, Pure Consciousness. You are a spiritual being! You are Source Energy! And if you don't wake up and realize this to be true, you will likely go through life dealing with fantasies of 'chance' and 'luck' until you "die", (there's really no dying, but you get the picture.) Oh and when you "die" you will look back and say, "Wow, all of that stuff was pretty much true, I could have created a far better life than I could have imagined!" This is truth.
So if you have never thought about any of this stuff before, perhaps Now you are thinking about it. I am not asking you to just believe me, all I hope is that you will think about it and come to your own truth about things. I am always so grateful when someone causes me to stop and contemplate reality; anything that causes me to stretch my mental muscles always brings me such gratitude and joy!
So we are not just a meat suit running around, as James Ray puts it, we are actually "Individuated Aspects of God". We are co-creators with Source Energy. That is absolutely mind blowing, and once you stop the mental chatter in your head and become quiet, all the power of the universe is yours. It always has been, but Now you are conscious of it!!!! And we must remain conscious of it at all times.
Why Must I Be Saved? by Anthony Smith
There are many that ask, “Why must I be Saved? I never asked to be born, and I shouldn't be made to make any kind of decision. Its not right to hold me accountable for something I didn't ask for." Did you ever think what you were, or where you were, before you were born?
Did you ever think about being born or who your parents were to be? Or did you think that all that you are and all that you see, in this life, were all pre-established or just coincidence? There is nothing in this life, on this earth, nor in this universe, that was ever created by mistake.
Romans 9:20-21; “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? We had no choice into being born or not, we were created by God for God and His Good pleasure.
Just as the wood, steel, brick and concrete, that we use to form and shape into things that we desire, knowing that these elements can not object to what they are to be, we also are formed and shaped and created to please a Higher being, God.
Some mistaken the meaning of Pro 16:4, sense God cannot create evil, nor sin, or cause any man to sin, The meaning is simple, God created man and man became evil by free will, and the day of the wicked was created by God for the evil men to be punished.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
For himself - Better, The Lord has done everything for its own end; and this includes the appointment of an “evil day” for “the wicked” who deserve it.
Brns.
“for its answer,” or “purpose,” that is, according to God’s plan; the wicked are for the day of evil (Psa_49:5; Jer_17:18); sinning and suffering answer to each other, are indissolubly united. jfb
Why must You be Saved? The answer is simple. You were born into sin and from sin you must be, Redeemed, Reconciled, and Reestablished, into what is acceptable to God. God formed you into a being that He desired to exist. He made you a people unto Himself, only after the Jews rejected Christ.
Rom 9:25-26; As he saith also in Osee(Hosea), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. God established you into a vine(Christ) and grafted you into it, grafting out the old, and grafting the new.
But we must remember that we boast not of the grafting, because we are a wild branch.
And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Barnes makes a thought provoking statement here; The doctrine which he had established, he proceeds now to confirm by quotations from the writings of Jews, that he might remove every objection. The doctrine was,
(1) That God intended to call his people from the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
(2) that he was bound by no promise and no principle of obligation to bestow salvation on all the Jews.
(3) that, therefore, it was right for him to reject any or all of the Jews, if he chose, and cut them off from their privileges as a people and from salvation.
In point (2) of what Barnes states, (that he was bound by no promise and no principle of obligation to bestow salvation on all the Jews.) we also must admit that not only the Jews but also of the Gentiles, God has no written obligation to save all even tho the Bible states, That It is the Will of God that no man should perish but all should come into repentance.
In Osee - This is the Greek form of writing the Hebrew word Hosea. It means in the book of Hosea, as “in David” means in the book of David, or by David, Heb_4:7.
The passage is found in Hos_2:23. This quotation is not made according to the letter, but the sense of the prophet is preserved. The meaning is the same in Hosea and in this place, that God would bring those into a covenant relation to himself, who were before deemed outcasts and strangers.
Thus, he supports his main position that God would choose his people from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews, or would exercise toward both his right as a sovereign, bestowing or withholding his blessings as he pleases.
The God of Heaven has the right to make us as He pleases and also to Choose whom He wills. Mat 22:14 For many(A multitude; a great number of individuals; the people.) are called, but few are chosen.
You are in the multitude of mankind and have a chance to accept or reject, God and His word. The word “few”, is speaking not of, 144,000 as many believe, but rather a difference between the number saved and those that will remain lost. A percentage of the total world population. “A number that no man can number.”
We must look at the key words of John 15:16; Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
The Bible is full of Reward and Punishment, and so shall it be at the Judgment Day. Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
So then, Why must You be Saved?
1.You were pre-ordained and pre-established before the foundation of the world. 2.The God of Heaven had the right to make us as He pleases.
3. That It is the Will of God that no man should perish but all should come into repentance.
4. You were born into sin and from sin you must be, Redeemed, Reconciled, and Reestablished, into what is acceptable to God.
ars.
Did you ever think about being born or who your parents were to be? Or did you think that all that you are and all that you see, in this life, were all pre-established or just coincidence? There is nothing in this life, on this earth, nor in this universe, that was ever created by mistake.
Romans 9:20-21; “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? We had no choice into being born or not, we were created by God for God and His Good pleasure.
Just as the wood, steel, brick and concrete, that we use to form and shape into things that we desire, knowing that these elements can not object to what they are to be, we also are formed and shaped and created to please a Higher being, God.
Some mistaken the meaning of Pro 16:4, sense God cannot create evil, nor sin, or cause any man to sin, The meaning is simple, God created man and man became evil by free will, and the day of the wicked was created by God for the evil men to be punished.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
For himself - Better, The Lord has done everything for its own end; and this includes the appointment of an “evil day” for “the wicked” who deserve it.
Brns.
“for its answer,” or “purpose,” that is, according to God’s plan; the wicked are for the day of evil (Psa_49:5; Jer_17:18); sinning and suffering answer to each other, are indissolubly united. jfb
Why must You be Saved? The answer is simple. You were born into sin and from sin you must be, Redeemed, Reconciled, and Reestablished, into what is acceptable to God. God formed you into a being that He desired to exist. He made you a people unto Himself, only after the Jews rejected Christ.
Rom 9:25-26; As he saith also in Osee(Hosea), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. God established you into a vine(Christ) and grafted you into it, grafting out the old, and grafting the new.
But we must remember that we boast not of the grafting, because we are a wild branch.
And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Barnes makes a thought provoking statement here; The doctrine which he had established, he proceeds now to confirm by quotations from the writings of Jews, that he might remove every objection. The doctrine was,
(1) That God intended to call his people from the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
(2) that he was bound by no promise and no principle of obligation to bestow salvation on all the Jews.
(3) that, therefore, it was right for him to reject any or all of the Jews, if he chose, and cut them off from their privileges as a people and from salvation.
In point (2) of what Barnes states, (that he was bound by no promise and no principle of obligation to bestow salvation on all the Jews.) we also must admit that not only the Jews but also of the Gentiles, God has no written obligation to save all even tho the Bible states, That It is the Will of God that no man should perish but all should come into repentance.
In Osee - This is the Greek form of writing the Hebrew word Hosea. It means in the book of Hosea, as “in David” means in the book of David, or by David, Heb_4:7.
The passage is found in Hos_2:23. This quotation is not made according to the letter, but the sense of the prophet is preserved. The meaning is the same in Hosea and in this place, that God would bring those into a covenant relation to himself, who were before deemed outcasts and strangers.
Thus, he supports his main position that God would choose his people from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews, or would exercise toward both his right as a sovereign, bestowing or withholding his blessings as he pleases.
The God of Heaven has the right to make us as He pleases and also to Choose whom He wills. Mat 22:14 For many(A multitude; a great number of individuals; the people.) are called, but few are chosen.
You are in the multitude of mankind and have a chance to accept or reject, God and His word. The word “few”, is speaking not of, 144,000 as many believe, but rather a difference between the number saved and those that will remain lost. A percentage of the total world population. “A number that no man can number.”
We must look at the key words of John 15:16; Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
The Bible is full of Reward and Punishment, and so shall it be at the Judgment Day. Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
So then, Why must You be Saved?
1.You were pre-ordained and pre-established before the foundation of the world. 2.The God of Heaven had the right to make us as He pleases.
3. That It is the Will of God that no man should perish but all should come into repentance.
4. You were born into sin and from sin you must be, Redeemed, Reconciled, and Reestablished, into what is acceptable to God.
ars.
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