Note: Remember these words:
God has someone very special for you.
You just wait--your day is coming.
You'll make somebody a perfect wife.
He just doesn't know what he's missing.
You never know who you'll meet.
I hope you meet someone special; I really want you to be happy.
You have if you are single. Sometimes we kind of give the impression that singleness is a disease of some sort. If you have it, you are looked upon as having something wrong with you. And the makers of the feeling of “single disease” comes most often from those of us who are married. Our questions and prodding can leave singles feeling uneasy and out of place.
That’s why I think if you’re single, you will appreciate this article. I have spoken with singles who wished they were married; and I have spoken with some married people who wished they were still single. It is a matter of being content where God has us in our present season and brining God into the situation. Enjoy!
Isn't It About Time You Got Married?
Wendy Widder
I've got a few unanswered questions about my life. I'd like to know if I'll ever be a homemaker and homeowner. I'd like to know how to sell and buy, as well as manage maintenance on, a car as a single woman. I'd like to know if I'll ever walk down the aisle as the main attraction instead of as a member of the supporting cast. I've discovered, though, that I rarely have to ask questions like this. There are plenty of other people in my life asking them for me.
At a church event one evening, I was serving punch, stocking cookie trays, and cleaning up messes, when a mere acquaintance asked one. Punch ladle in hand, attention focused on stirring pink sherbet, I heard his voice. "So, isn't it about time you got married?" Glancing left and right with the desperate hope that he was speaking to anyone else, I slowly looked up. Nope, I was the lucky target, and he hit the bull's-eye.
"Isn't it about time you got married?" He voiced one of those questions that lurks in the heart of every single adult who desires to be married. It resides next to half a dozen others we've been asked over the years--questions for which we either don't have the answers or don't like the answers:
Do you have a boyfriend?
You're a nice girl; why aren't you dating anyone?
How's your love life? [Would you dare ask a married person this?!]
Are you looking for a husband?
So, you're still single?
Do you want to get married?
If you are single, you've fielded most of these and countless other remarks for which any answer seems inadequate. You've probably mastered the courtesy laugh and polite smile, and chances are you're an expert at shifting conversations away from your marital status.
While I laugh at both well-meaning friends and rude acquaintances for asking such bold things, they are really only voicing questions I have in my own head. I just don't ask them because I know there aren't answers.
If I'll marry, who I'll marry, when I'll marry, are some of God's question marks in my life, unknown obstacles in my race. That's the way God planned it. After wrestling repeatedly with these and other questions about singleness, I've resigned myself to the fact that God is the only One who knows the answers, and He's not telling. Most days I can live with that. Not everybody in my life has struggled through these issues, though, and so for them, I sometimes just don't fit into a preconceived mold.
One of my sisters is an expert puzzler. She holds the box in one hand and stirs through it with the other, looking for certain pieces. When she strikes, she's rarely wrong. Her practiced eye knows where pieces fit without even trying them. I love puzzles, too, and while I learned much of my skill from watching my sister, I can't compete with her prowess. I have a knack for picking a piece that looks like it should fit, but no matter how many times I try, it doesn't. I turn it and try again. Nope. I set it down in the corner of the board and when I come back to it, I think all over again that it must fit in that place. Like a dull-witted dog chasing parked cars, I keep putting the same right piece in the same wrong place. It makes no sense to me--how a piece with the right coloring and the right shape just doesn't fit.
To married friends and relatives, singles are sometimes those puzzle pieces. It looks to them as if we should fit in a certain place. In attempts to make us fit, they often ask bold questions.
At times they answer their own questions when our responses fall short of what they hoped to hear:
God has someone very special for you.
You just wait--your day is coming.
You'll make somebody a perfect wife.
He just doesn't know what he's missing.
You never know who you'll meet.
I hope you meet someone special; I really want you to be happy.
Begging the forgiveness of my friends and family, I don't have nearly as many problems with the unanswered questions in my life as I do with their answers! I wholeheartedly recognize their good intentions. They never mean to be invasive or rude; they really want only the best for me. I love them for it, and I've learned to laugh at them for it, too.
Like I said, most days I can live with God's absence of answers. But sometimes, I allow myself to listen to the well-meaning advice of bystanders, and I choose to hear their answers above the silence of God. When I filter their pieces of intended encouragement through my emotional sieve, I want to believe them. I want to take their statements as divine wisdom.
Maybe time will prove their words correct in my life, but I can't afford to live with that expectation. If I do, chances are good I will park myself on the side of the road or hoist a heavy bag over my shoulder and squander this leg of the race.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Praying to Our Father
Note: Remember hearing these words? “We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right” -- Rev. Joseph Lowery, President Obama inaugural benediction, Jan. 20, 2009.
Even Rick Warren’s opening prayer in which he uses the name “Isa” at the end of his prayer caused a stir as to whom was he referring to. Some suggest that he was praying to a Muslim god. But nothing could be further from the truth. All Rick Warren was doing was saying the name “Jesus” in Arabic, “Isa.” He used the Hebrew name, “Jeshua,” the Greek name, “Jesus,” and the Arabic name, “Isa.” Remember, although the New Testament was written in Greek, when Jesus walked the earth, He along with most living at that time spoke Arabic. So let’s not be too quick to throw one of our dearest brothers under the bus by claiming that he was praying to some Muslim god.
However, how we do address God and by what name we use is vitally important. One of my favorite theologians is R.C. Sproul. He has written a short but powerful article on the terms we use in addressing God, especially the phrase, “Our Father.” Check it out!
Praying to Our Father
R.C. Sproul
Renewing Your Mind
The next time you attend a prayer meeting, pay close attention to the manner in which individuals address God. Invariably, the form of address will be something like this, "Our dear heavenly Father," "Father," "Father God," or some other form of reference to God as Father. What is the significance of this? It would seem that the instructions of our Lord in giving the model prayer, "The Lord's Prayer," is emulated by our propensity for addressing God as Father. Since Jesus said, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father,'" that form of address has become the virtual standard form of Christian prayer. Because this form of prayer is used so frequently, we often take for granted its astonishing significance.
The German scholar Joachim Jeremias has argued that in almost every prayer that Jesus utters in the New Testament, He addresses God as Father. Jeremias notes that this represents a radical departure from Jewish custom and tradition. Though Jewish people were given a lengthy number of appropriate titles for God in personal prayer, significantly absent from the approved list was the title "Father."
God has only one child, His only-begotten Son, the monogenēs, which restricts this filial relationship to Christ. We do not have the natural right to call God "Father." That right is bestowed upon us only through God's gracious work of adoption. This is an extraordinary privilege, that those who are in Christ now have the right to address God in such a personal, intimate, filial term as "Father."
Therefore, we ought never to take for granted this unspeakable privilege bestowed upon us by God's grace. We note in the Lord's Prayer that Jesus instructs us that now when we pray, we are to refer to God as "Our Father." Again the "ourness" of this relationship is grounded in the unique ministry of Jesus by which, through adoption, He is our elder brother and He gives to us those privileges that by nature belong only to Him. Now, by adopting us, He says that we may regard God, not only as His Father, but as our Father.
The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is found in the words, "Hallowed be Thy Name." The opening address, "Our Father, who art in Heaven," is simply that, an address. From that address, Jesus instructs His disciples to offer certain petitions in prayer.
The first and chief of those petitions is that we pray that the name of God will be hallowed. This is also extraordinary in that as the prayer continues, we ask that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven and that His kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Both of these desires can only be met when and if the God of the kingdom of heaven and of earth is treated with supreme reverence, honor, and adoration. When we fail to observe the third commandment, when we fail to honor God as God, and use His name as a curse word, or in a flippant, careless manner, we fail to fulfill this first petition.
Perhaps nothing is more commonplace in our culture than the expression that comes from people's lips on many occasions, when they say simply, "Oh, my God." This careless reference to God indicates how far removed our culture is from fulfilling the petition of the Lord's Prayer. It should be a priority for the church and for every individual Christian to make sure that the way in which we speak of God is a way that communicates respect, awe, adoration, and reverence. How we use the name of God reveals more clearly than any creed we ever confess our deepest attitudes towards the God of the sacred name.
Dr. R.C. Sproul is chairman of Ligonier Ministries and senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida.
Even Rick Warren’s opening prayer in which he uses the name “Isa” at the end of his prayer caused a stir as to whom was he referring to. Some suggest that he was praying to a Muslim god. But nothing could be further from the truth. All Rick Warren was doing was saying the name “Jesus” in Arabic, “Isa.” He used the Hebrew name, “Jeshua,” the Greek name, “Jesus,” and the Arabic name, “Isa.” Remember, although the New Testament was written in Greek, when Jesus walked the earth, He along with most living at that time spoke Arabic. So let’s not be too quick to throw one of our dearest brothers under the bus by claiming that he was praying to some Muslim god.
However, how we do address God and by what name we use is vitally important. One of my favorite theologians is R.C. Sproul. He has written a short but powerful article on the terms we use in addressing God, especially the phrase, “Our Father.” Check it out!
Praying to Our Father
R.C. Sproul
Renewing Your Mind
The next time you attend a prayer meeting, pay close attention to the manner in which individuals address God. Invariably, the form of address will be something like this, "Our dear heavenly Father," "Father," "Father God," or some other form of reference to God as Father. What is the significance of this? It would seem that the instructions of our Lord in giving the model prayer, "The Lord's Prayer," is emulated by our propensity for addressing God as Father. Since Jesus said, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father,'" that form of address has become the virtual standard form of Christian prayer. Because this form of prayer is used so frequently, we often take for granted its astonishing significance.
The German scholar Joachim Jeremias has argued that in almost every prayer that Jesus utters in the New Testament, He addresses God as Father. Jeremias notes that this represents a radical departure from Jewish custom and tradition. Though Jewish people were given a lengthy number of appropriate titles for God in personal prayer, significantly absent from the approved list was the title "Father."
God has only one child, His only-begotten Son, the monogenēs, which restricts this filial relationship to Christ. We do not have the natural right to call God "Father." That right is bestowed upon us only through God's gracious work of adoption. This is an extraordinary privilege, that those who are in Christ now have the right to address God in such a personal, intimate, filial term as "Father."
Therefore, we ought never to take for granted this unspeakable privilege bestowed upon us by God's grace. We note in the Lord's Prayer that Jesus instructs us that now when we pray, we are to refer to God as "Our Father." Again the "ourness" of this relationship is grounded in the unique ministry of Jesus by which, through adoption, He is our elder brother and He gives to us those privileges that by nature belong only to Him. Now, by adopting us, He says that we may regard God, not only as His Father, but as our Father.
The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is found in the words, "Hallowed be Thy Name." The opening address, "Our Father, who art in Heaven," is simply that, an address. From that address, Jesus instructs His disciples to offer certain petitions in prayer.
The first and chief of those petitions is that we pray that the name of God will be hallowed. This is also extraordinary in that as the prayer continues, we ask that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven and that His kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Both of these desires can only be met when and if the God of the kingdom of heaven and of earth is treated with supreme reverence, honor, and adoration. When we fail to observe the third commandment, when we fail to honor God as God, and use His name as a curse word, or in a flippant, careless manner, we fail to fulfill this first petition.
Perhaps nothing is more commonplace in our culture than the expression that comes from people's lips on many occasions, when they say simply, "Oh, my God." This careless reference to God indicates how far removed our culture is from fulfilling the petition of the Lord's Prayer. It should be a priority for the church and for every individual Christian to make sure that the way in which we speak of God is a way that communicates respect, awe, adoration, and reverence. How we use the name of God reveals more clearly than any creed we ever confess our deepest attitudes towards the God of the sacred name.
Dr. R.C. Sproul is chairman of Ligonier Ministries and senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Today's Great Fear: What if I Lose My Job?
Note: “Your job is to look for a job,” writes Steve Diggs as he puts it. You may be in a position where you’re laid off from work, or worse, get fired! Don’t sit around depressed and moping. Your job is to go looking for a job! I like that because jobs don’t coming looking for workers – at least not on a common basis. We have to go looking for it. And then he adds this: “If you don’t have rent or grocery money —get some work in a hurry! Deliver pizzas. Clean houses. Rake yards. Do anything that is legal and moral! This will help you maintain the sense of control that is all important in tough times. Depression frequently occurs when a person feel like they have no control over the events of their lives.”
This is a very practical and encouraging article. It will inspire hope and prove to be quite motivating if you find yourself jobless. Enjoy!
Today's Great Fear: What if I Lose My Job?
Steve Diggs
No Debt, No Sweat! Money Management Seminar
As I write this, unemployment is at about seven percent and we’re being told that it may rise to nine percent or higher. Of course, it's good to remember that TV news is less about dispensing the news than it is about keeping viewers. So, rather than report that ninety-three percent of all Americans are employed we’re reminded on a daily basis of the threat of unemployment.
To give some perspective to our current situation, historically economists felt that anything under six percent was great. But in the last couple of decades we’ve had such great prosperity that anything over four percent seems cataclysmic. So with the help of the mainstream media, we’re all scared. Some are even predicting another Great Depression. While, anything is possible, let's not forget that during the Great Depression unemployment ran around twenty-five percent. In those days people were trying to sell apples on street corners to get by. Today, we’re more likely to be concerned about whether we can afford an Apple Computer!
Now, this doesn't mean that our fears are completely unfounded. If you’re part of the jobless seven perscent, you know it’s tough! To give you some more statistics, the average time to find a new job right now is about four and a half months. I’d like to help you shorten that. If you have a minute, let me share some tips that might be helpful if you’ve lost your job and are in a dessert period.
1. Remember, it’s nothing personal. After a job lose, many people go into a real funk and find themselves asking over and over, “Why me? What did I do wrong? Am I not up to the task? Am I a failure?” This is what is sometimes referred to as “stinkin’ thinkin.’” The truth is, you probably didn’t do anything wrong.
Because of economic realities, it simply became more profitable for the company to cut your job. Businesses don’t have feelings. To be successful a business, by definition, means the business must make a profit. Otherwise, it ceases to exist. So your dismissal wasn’t a personal attack on you. It was simply a tough, pragmatic decision made to lower the company’s cost of operation.
2. Negotiate with your boss. Try to get an extension. See if she will let you work for an extra month or two while you attempt to find new work. Ask for a severance package. While this may sound unlikely, some employees are wise enough to parlay a boss’ request for a “non-compete” clause or a “no solicitation agreement” into the promise of several months of salary in the form a severance.
3. Fake it ‘til you make it. Don’t fall into the trap of acting like a depressed person. If you act that way—you’ll become that way. And, depressed people aren’t very appealing to employers. Sitting on the couch, eating chips, and watching Oprah ain’t going to fix it! This means that you maintain a disciplined schedule. Get up early every morning. Eat a decent breakfast. Go to the gym. Get dressed like you would for the job.
Then go to work!
You may be thinking What do you mean, ‘Go to work?’ Don’t you remember this article is about the fact that I don’t have a job!” Oh, yes you do. Your job is to look for a job. Note: I didn’t say, “Your job is to find a job.” No, it’s to look for a job. If you do enough “right” things for a long enough period of time—you will find a job. Set tough (but doable) goals for yourself. For instance, determine to shake hands with twenty-five new people each day. Cold call five businesses each day. Call five people you know each day and tell them that you’re looking for a job. Aggressively seek out and respond to on-line job openings. And, of great importance: keep a daily journal. At the end of each week you can review it and see whether you’ve truly stayed on course.
4. Learn to network. This may not be in your “comfort zone” but this isn’t an option — it’s a requirement. To stay sharp, engaged, and in other people’s minds it is vital that you get out and shake hands. Go to support meetings. Go to job fairs. Go anywhere there are people. Have a card made with your name, phone number, address, and email. Hand it to everyone you meet. Don’t be shy.
5. Get work before getting a “position.” This is especially important if you are laid off without the three to six month job fund I teach about in the No Debt No Sweat! Christian Money Management Seminar. If you don’t have rent or grocery money —get some work in a hurry! Deliver pizzas. Clean houses. Rake yards. Do anything that is legal and moral! This will help you maintain the sense of control that is all important in tough times. Depression frequently occurs when a person feel like they have no control over the events of their lives.
Besides helping you maintain some control of your destiny, there is another wonderful thing that an interim job can do. It can become a career! There are thousands of businesses all across America that were started simply to make a few extra bucks through a hard time — which grew into major enterprises. Maybe this is what Paul was referring to in Romans 8 when he reminded faithful Christians that “all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”
6. Use this time as a period to reassess your life plan. Ask hard questions, “Is this the field I want to go back into?” “Do I have a skill set that will be in demand in the future?” “Should I re-educate myself for a totally different field?” “What do I really want to do with the rest of my life?”
Often painful periods like this can be turned into opportunities for productive life change. There’s a great old saying, “Sometimes a flower blooms best when it’s re-potted.”
I’m certainly not minimizing the pain and concern you’re feeling. But, as Christians, we do have a great resource. During dessert moments in our lives we have a strong protector. That Strong Protector never told us that we'd avoid long, dry dessert periods. But He did promise to give us the “living water” we need for the journey.
Steve Diggs presents the No Debt No Sweat! Christian Money Management Seminar at churches and other venues nationwide. Visit Steve on the Web at www.stevediggs.com or call 615-834-3063. The author of several books, today Steve serves as a minister for the Antioch Church of Christ in Nashville. For 25 years he was President of the Franklin Group, Inc. Steve and Bonnie have four children whom they have home schooled. The family lives in Brentwood, Tennessee.
This is a very practical and encouraging article. It will inspire hope and prove to be quite motivating if you find yourself jobless. Enjoy!
Today's Great Fear: What if I Lose My Job?
Steve Diggs
No Debt, No Sweat! Money Management Seminar
As I write this, unemployment is at about seven percent and we’re being told that it may rise to nine percent or higher. Of course, it's good to remember that TV news is less about dispensing the news than it is about keeping viewers. So, rather than report that ninety-three percent of all Americans are employed we’re reminded on a daily basis of the threat of unemployment.
To give some perspective to our current situation, historically economists felt that anything under six percent was great. But in the last couple of decades we’ve had such great prosperity that anything over four percent seems cataclysmic. So with the help of the mainstream media, we’re all scared. Some are even predicting another Great Depression. While, anything is possible, let's not forget that during the Great Depression unemployment ran around twenty-five percent. In those days people were trying to sell apples on street corners to get by. Today, we’re more likely to be concerned about whether we can afford an Apple Computer!
Now, this doesn't mean that our fears are completely unfounded. If you’re part of the jobless seven perscent, you know it’s tough! To give you some more statistics, the average time to find a new job right now is about four and a half months. I’d like to help you shorten that. If you have a minute, let me share some tips that might be helpful if you’ve lost your job and are in a dessert period.
1. Remember, it’s nothing personal. After a job lose, many people go into a real funk and find themselves asking over and over, “Why me? What did I do wrong? Am I not up to the task? Am I a failure?” This is what is sometimes referred to as “stinkin’ thinkin.’” The truth is, you probably didn’t do anything wrong.
Because of economic realities, it simply became more profitable for the company to cut your job. Businesses don’t have feelings. To be successful a business, by definition, means the business must make a profit. Otherwise, it ceases to exist. So your dismissal wasn’t a personal attack on you. It was simply a tough, pragmatic decision made to lower the company’s cost of operation.
2. Negotiate with your boss. Try to get an extension. See if she will let you work for an extra month or two while you attempt to find new work. Ask for a severance package. While this may sound unlikely, some employees are wise enough to parlay a boss’ request for a “non-compete” clause or a “no solicitation agreement” into the promise of several months of salary in the form a severance.
3. Fake it ‘til you make it. Don’t fall into the trap of acting like a depressed person. If you act that way—you’ll become that way. And, depressed people aren’t very appealing to employers. Sitting on the couch, eating chips, and watching Oprah ain’t going to fix it! This means that you maintain a disciplined schedule. Get up early every morning. Eat a decent breakfast. Go to the gym. Get dressed like you would for the job.
Then go to work!
You may be thinking What do you mean, ‘Go to work?’ Don’t you remember this article is about the fact that I don’t have a job!” Oh, yes you do. Your job is to look for a job. Note: I didn’t say, “Your job is to find a job.” No, it’s to look for a job. If you do enough “right” things for a long enough period of time—you will find a job. Set tough (but doable) goals for yourself. For instance, determine to shake hands with twenty-five new people each day. Cold call five businesses each day. Call five people you know each day and tell them that you’re looking for a job. Aggressively seek out and respond to on-line job openings. And, of great importance: keep a daily journal. At the end of each week you can review it and see whether you’ve truly stayed on course.
4. Learn to network. This may not be in your “comfort zone” but this isn’t an option — it’s a requirement. To stay sharp, engaged, and in other people’s minds it is vital that you get out and shake hands. Go to support meetings. Go to job fairs. Go anywhere there are people. Have a card made with your name, phone number, address, and email. Hand it to everyone you meet. Don’t be shy.
5. Get work before getting a “position.” This is especially important if you are laid off without the three to six month job fund I teach about in the No Debt No Sweat! Christian Money Management Seminar. If you don’t have rent or grocery money —get some work in a hurry! Deliver pizzas. Clean houses. Rake yards. Do anything that is legal and moral! This will help you maintain the sense of control that is all important in tough times. Depression frequently occurs when a person feel like they have no control over the events of their lives.
Besides helping you maintain some control of your destiny, there is another wonderful thing that an interim job can do. It can become a career! There are thousands of businesses all across America that were started simply to make a few extra bucks through a hard time — which grew into major enterprises. Maybe this is what Paul was referring to in Romans 8 when he reminded faithful Christians that “all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”
6. Use this time as a period to reassess your life plan. Ask hard questions, “Is this the field I want to go back into?” “Do I have a skill set that will be in demand in the future?” “Should I re-educate myself for a totally different field?” “What do I really want to do with the rest of my life?”
Often painful periods like this can be turned into opportunities for productive life change. There’s a great old saying, “Sometimes a flower blooms best when it’s re-potted.”
I’m certainly not minimizing the pain and concern you’re feeling. But, as Christians, we do have a great resource. During dessert moments in our lives we have a strong protector. That Strong Protector never told us that we'd avoid long, dry dessert periods. But He did promise to give us the “living water” we need for the journey.
Steve Diggs presents the No Debt No Sweat! Christian Money Management Seminar at churches and other venues nationwide. Visit Steve on the Web at www.stevediggs.com or call 615-834-3063. The author of several books, today Steve serves as a minister for the Antioch Church of Christ in Nashville. For 25 years he was President of the Franklin Group, Inc. Steve and Bonnie have four children whom they have home schooled. The family lives in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Does Weight Matter?
Note: “While the evangelical world seldom speaks of fat as a sin, I came to believe that it does indeed represent our clinging to attitudes that Satan uses to keep us from the fullness of our faith” – Barbara Curtis Every New Year’s Resolution has at the top of its list a need to lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier or something that involves health. Naturally, when I read this article, my eyes became glued to the content. In actuality, this is a well-written article that is more encouraging than informative. Here’s another quote from Barbara Curtis: “Why would a woman with several decades of life still ahead cripple herself, her family and her future by lugging around an extra hundred pounds?” Hmmmmm. Something to think about for both men and women whether it is 100 pounds or 30. Enjoy!
Does Weight Matter?
Barbara Curtis
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20
So far, it had been like any other speaking trip: decent flight, new city, nice hotel, my room service tab taken care of.
Mmmm. Room service.
But shortly after I boarded my flight home, there was a glitch: after much concentration and effort – all the while trying to look “normal” – I hadn’t succeeded in buckling my seatbelt. How I’d come to hate this moment, when no matter how well I thought I’d camouflaged it, I had to acknowledge the reality of my belly. But the crisis usually passed and I conveniently forgot.
Now I was panic-stricken: Would I have to ask the flight attendant for help? Did they have extenders for people like me? I sucked it in as best I could and gave it one more try. Click. A sigh of relief. But what about the next time?
Sigh and Surrender had been the name of the game for me for twenty years as I shifted up from "Petites" to "Misses" to what they politely call "Woman" – omitting the still silently screaming adjective Big/Abundant/and let’s face it: FAT. As I continued to march my ponderous way up the clothes rack, at 22w I wondered what was to come: I was on the next-to-the-last size.
Today, after losing 80 pounds, I look back and see a spirit of defeat I can hardly believe was part of me – white flags everywhere!
Where did it start? Was it my obsessively-thin mother who wore only skintight 50s sheath dresses – a woman anorexic way before the problem had a name? As a 5’5” teen weighing in at 135 pounds, I was hopelessly convinced that I was fat – I only had to look at my perfect mom to be reminded.
Was it the early sexual abuse which eventually led me to promiscuity, drugs and alcohol during my twenties and thirties? Was it my desire to become a good Christian mother that led me to distance myself from my pagan confusion by making myself as shapeless and unattractive as possible?
The answers to these questions are not as important as the fact that it wasn’t until I started losing weight that I began asking: Why would a woman with several decades of life still ahead cripple herself, her family and her future by lugging around an extra hundred pounds?
For me, being fat – and, yes, I use the f-word because early on I decided honesty was the best policy – was not a victimless crime. With a husband and 12 children I was certainly not the wife and mother I could/would/should have been. As the excess inches peeled off, so did my denial. As my energy level increased, I came to grips with the fact that through the years I had become less and less involved in the things we had once loved: the outdoors, hiking, discovering new places. If forced past my reluctance to don a bathing suit, I sat glued to one spot until the ordeal was over.
Early on I felt the need to acknowledge the loss my obesity represented to my family and to apologize to them for it. No matter their protestations – “We love you the way you are, Mommy!” – they were dealing with a mom twice the size she should have been with half the get-up-and-go.
I thought my family’s acceptance meant unconditional love. Looking back eighty pounds lighter, I see it means something else: hopelessness and denial.
While my original resolution was shaped as a simple imperative – Lose Weight! – just a few days into my diet I was convicted in no uncertain terms that my obesity was but a symptom of spiritual problems standing in the way of a completely authentic relationship with God. While the evangelical world seldom speaks of fat as a sin, I came to believe that it does indeed represent our clinging to attitudes that Satan uses to keep us from the fullness of our faith.
I saw it as I began to reckon with my sense of entitlement. Since I was responsible for feeding my family – none of whom had a weight problem – I had to learn to handle food without sampling it myself. As I resisted the nagging impulse to bring my hand to my mouth, I could feel another layer of denial being stripped away. I had eaten more than I’d admitted to myself.
I resisted self-pity by imagining a broke bank teller who had to handle other people’s money all day while struggling to pay her own bills. I fought my envy of those gifted with I-can-eat-and-eat-and-not-gain-weight metabolisms by thinking of my son Jonny who has Down syndrome and has to work a lot harder than others, yet who is consistently full of joy.
As I learned how much less I needed to eat to survive and thrive, I found the same true in other areas of my life. I found myself cleaning out closets and drawers – riding the downsizing trend. It seemed in every area of our family’s life, I’d over-consumed: Too many clothes, toys, dishes, knickknacks. All crowding out the One in Whom we live, move and have our being.
As I lost my reluctance to let things go, I found a spirit of liberation as exhilarating as the new freedom which allowed me to sprint to the bus stop to meet my kids – without running out of breath at all.
At the doctor’s office a year later, when the nurse weighed my son in at eighty pounds – the exact amount I’d lost – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But it all became clear, as I imagined carrying him with me 24/7, how I’d burdened myself while trying to pretend my life was normal.
In fact, as I freed myself from excess weight, I found my imagination soaring as my mental energy was no longer consumed with denial of what had truly been my greatest limitation – a limitation I had to admit had been completely self-imposed.
I won’t gloss over the grieving process I’ve had to deal with – for the loss of the years before I finally heard God’s call to surrender this area of my life. Being able to buckle my seatbelt like a normal person, wearing size 10 jeans, having normal blood pressure and energy to play with my children – these are the outer benefits and powerful motivators for staying fit.
But above those is the unfettered relationship I can enjoy with my Heavenly Father, before whom I can finally stand unashamed about the temple of my body. I can almost hear the whisper, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
For anyone beginning 2009 with a yearning to confront this area of your life – to recognize in a literal and tangible way the truth that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30), I bring you glad tidings of great joy: With God’s help and the inspiration of the Holy Sprit, all things are possible to us.
The only cost is surrender. Give this final frontier to our Heavenly Father, Who gave so much for us. Then, like a rider at the top of the roller coaster, be ready for the ride of your life.
Barbara Curtis is author of nine books and blogs at MommyLife.net, where she will be embarking January 5 on the last stage of her diet to close in on her original target weight. Several dozen readers have already pledged to join her and offer each other practical and spiritual support.
Does Weight Matter?
Barbara Curtis
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20
So far, it had been like any other speaking trip: decent flight, new city, nice hotel, my room service tab taken care of.
Mmmm. Room service.
But shortly after I boarded my flight home, there was a glitch: after much concentration and effort – all the while trying to look “normal” – I hadn’t succeeded in buckling my seatbelt. How I’d come to hate this moment, when no matter how well I thought I’d camouflaged it, I had to acknowledge the reality of my belly. But the crisis usually passed and I conveniently forgot.
Now I was panic-stricken: Would I have to ask the flight attendant for help? Did they have extenders for people like me? I sucked it in as best I could and gave it one more try. Click. A sigh of relief. But what about the next time?
Sigh and Surrender had been the name of the game for me for twenty years as I shifted up from "Petites" to "Misses" to what they politely call "Woman" – omitting the still silently screaming adjective Big/Abundant/and let’s face it: FAT. As I continued to march my ponderous way up the clothes rack, at 22w I wondered what was to come: I was on the next-to-the-last size.
Today, after losing 80 pounds, I look back and see a spirit of defeat I can hardly believe was part of me – white flags everywhere!
Where did it start? Was it my obsessively-thin mother who wore only skintight 50s sheath dresses – a woman anorexic way before the problem had a name? As a 5’5” teen weighing in at 135 pounds, I was hopelessly convinced that I was fat – I only had to look at my perfect mom to be reminded.
Was it the early sexual abuse which eventually led me to promiscuity, drugs and alcohol during my twenties and thirties? Was it my desire to become a good Christian mother that led me to distance myself from my pagan confusion by making myself as shapeless and unattractive as possible?
The answers to these questions are not as important as the fact that it wasn’t until I started losing weight that I began asking: Why would a woman with several decades of life still ahead cripple herself, her family and her future by lugging around an extra hundred pounds?
For me, being fat – and, yes, I use the f-word because early on I decided honesty was the best policy – was not a victimless crime. With a husband and 12 children I was certainly not the wife and mother I could/would/should have been. As the excess inches peeled off, so did my denial. As my energy level increased, I came to grips with the fact that through the years I had become less and less involved in the things we had once loved: the outdoors, hiking, discovering new places. If forced past my reluctance to don a bathing suit, I sat glued to one spot until the ordeal was over.
Early on I felt the need to acknowledge the loss my obesity represented to my family and to apologize to them for it. No matter their protestations – “We love you the way you are, Mommy!” – they were dealing with a mom twice the size she should have been with half the get-up-and-go.
I thought my family’s acceptance meant unconditional love. Looking back eighty pounds lighter, I see it means something else: hopelessness and denial.
While my original resolution was shaped as a simple imperative – Lose Weight! – just a few days into my diet I was convicted in no uncertain terms that my obesity was but a symptom of spiritual problems standing in the way of a completely authentic relationship with God. While the evangelical world seldom speaks of fat as a sin, I came to believe that it does indeed represent our clinging to attitudes that Satan uses to keep us from the fullness of our faith.
I saw it as I began to reckon with my sense of entitlement. Since I was responsible for feeding my family – none of whom had a weight problem – I had to learn to handle food without sampling it myself. As I resisted the nagging impulse to bring my hand to my mouth, I could feel another layer of denial being stripped away. I had eaten more than I’d admitted to myself.
I resisted self-pity by imagining a broke bank teller who had to handle other people’s money all day while struggling to pay her own bills. I fought my envy of those gifted with I-can-eat-and-eat-and-not-gain-weight metabolisms by thinking of my son Jonny who has Down syndrome and has to work a lot harder than others, yet who is consistently full of joy.
As I learned how much less I needed to eat to survive and thrive, I found the same true in other areas of my life. I found myself cleaning out closets and drawers – riding the downsizing trend. It seemed in every area of our family’s life, I’d over-consumed: Too many clothes, toys, dishes, knickknacks. All crowding out the One in Whom we live, move and have our being.
As I lost my reluctance to let things go, I found a spirit of liberation as exhilarating as the new freedom which allowed me to sprint to the bus stop to meet my kids – without running out of breath at all.
At the doctor’s office a year later, when the nurse weighed my son in at eighty pounds – the exact amount I’d lost – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But it all became clear, as I imagined carrying him with me 24/7, how I’d burdened myself while trying to pretend my life was normal.
In fact, as I freed myself from excess weight, I found my imagination soaring as my mental energy was no longer consumed with denial of what had truly been my greatest limitation – a limitation I had to admit had been completely self-imposed.
I won’t gloss over the grieving process I’ve had to deal with – for the loss of the years before I finally heard God’s call to surrender this area of my life. Being able to buckle my seatbelt like a normal person, wearing size 10 jeans, having normal blood pressure and energy to play with my children – these are the outer benefits and powerful motivators for staying fit.
But above those is the unfettered relationship I can enjoy with my Heavenly Father, before whom I can finally stand unashamed about the temple of my body. I can almost hear the whisper, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
For anyone beginning 2009 with a yearning to confront this area of your life – to recognize in a literal and tangible way the truth that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30), I bring you glad tidings of great joy: With God’s help and the inspiration of the Holy Sprit, all things are possible to us.
The only cost is surrender. Give this final frontier to our Heavenly Father, Who gave so much for us. Then, like a rider at the top of the roller coaster, be ready for the ride of your life.
Barbara Curtis is author of nine books and blogs at MommyLife.net, where she will be embarking January 5 on the last stage of her diet to close in on her original target weight. Several dozen readers have already pledged to join her and offer each other practical and spiritual support.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Secret to Knowing God
Note: Jesus defined knowing God as having eternal life (John 17:3). Knowing God is the highest compliment a Christian can honor the Lord with. Don’t we love it when a spouse or friend takes the time to really get to know and understand us? And don’t we get tired and weary of people who always come to us asking for things? Getting to know the Lord is one of the greatest adventures you can embark on this year. Start now by reading this article and putting it to practice immediately. Enjoy!
The Secret to Knowing God
Bayless Conley
How to walk in deeper intimacy with your Creator
Deep down, I truly believe every Christian wants to experience a deeply personal and intimate relationship with God. And I also believe each and every believer in Christ can have this kind of relationship with their Creator.
But there is often a problem in how we approach God. We often go to Him looking for rewards… or we’re constantly asking Him for things. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go to God with our cares and burdens. In fact, He tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 to tell Him about our concerns because He cares so much for us.
But if you want to know God… I mean, really know Him… there is another prayer He wants to hear from you. It’s a prayer like the one we hear Moses pray in Exodus 33:13.
In my mind, this is one of the greatest prayers in all of Scripture:
“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
Moses didn’t just say, “Come with us, God” but he said, “Show me Your way because, God, I want to know You.” And then Moses added to it in verse 18, when He said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
The Hebrew word for “glory” literally means “weight, mass, or substance.” So in essence Moses is saying, “God, I want to know what You’re made of. I don’t just want to know about You. I want to know You. I want to know who You are.”
The word that Moses used when he said he wanted to know God is the same word that’s used in Genesis 4:1 where it says, “Adam knew Eve his wife.” Moses is requesting to have the most personal, intimate relationship with God. He wants to draw close to God.
Friend, prayers like that touch the heart of God because not too many people pray them!
I read a story about Abraham Lincoln that took place during the Civil War. A woman actually came to the White House and somehow got in with a plate full of cookies.
When she finally got through to the president, she said, “Mr. President, I don’t want anything at all. I was just thinking about you today and the load that you are carrying… and I just thought maybe some cookies would brighten up your day.”
Lincoln began to weep and said, “Madam, I see a great many people every day, and they want a great many things from me. But of all the people I’ve seen since being in office, you are the first one that has ever come not asking something of me but wanting to bring something to me.”
While God delights in answering our prayer, He also desires for us to bring something to Him. But how often do we... do you… come just to bring Him something?
It’s the kind of prayer that says, “God, I want to know You. I just want to hang out. I want to find out who You are. Show me what You are made of.”
Friend, I think we can all know God in a personal and intimate way… just like Moses did… the way Paul did… even the way Abraham did.
Paul cried out in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” And Abraham discovered what God meant when He said in Genesis 15:1, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Life is about knowing God! So let me challenge you today to pray a prayer like this:
God, show me who You are. I’m not coming with a request. I’ve got a long list, but I’ll leave it outside the door for now. God, I’m just coming to You because I want to know You. I just want to make Your heart happy. I want to make You smile. God, show me Your ways.
Doing this will delight the heart of God! And you’ll be surprised at some of the things that begin to happen within your life when you pray this prayer. Because I truly believe God is crying out, saying “Oh, that they walk in My ways!”
He wants you to know Him today!
The Secret to Knowing God
Bayless Conley
How to walk in deeper intimacy with your Creator
Deep down, I truly believe every Christian wants to experience a deeply personal and intimate relationship with God. And I also believe each and every believer in Christ can have this kind of relationship with their Creator.
But there is often a problem in how we approach God. We often go to Him looking for rewards… or we’re constantly asking Him for things. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go to God with our cares and burdens. In fact, He tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 to tell Him about our concerns because He cares so much for us.
But if you want to know God… I mean, really know Him… there is another prayer He wants to hear from you. It’s a prayer like the one we hear Moses pray in Exodus 33:13.
In my mind, this is one of the greatest prayers in all of Scripture:
“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
Moses didn’t just say, “Come with us, God” but he said, “Show me Your way because, God, I want to know You.” And then Moses added to it in verse 18, when He said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
The Hebrew word for “glory” literally means “weight, mass, or substance.” So in essence Moses is saying, “God, I want to know what You’re made of. I don’t just want to know about You. I want to know You. I want to know who You are.”
The word that Moses used when he said he wanted to know God is the same word that’s used in Genesis 4:1 where it says, “Adam knew Eve his wife.” Moses is requesting to have the most personal, intimate relationship with God. He wants to draw close to God.
Friend, prayers like that touch the heart of God because not too many people pray them!
I read a story about Abraham Lincoln that took place during the Civil War. A woman actually came to the White House and somehow got in with a plate full of cookies.
When she finally got through to the president, she said, “Mr. President, I don’t want anything at all. I was just thinking about you today and the load that you are carrying… and I just thought maybe some cookies would brighten up your day.”
Lincoln began to weep and said, “Madam, I see a great many people every day, and they want a great many things from me. But of all the people I’ve seen since being in office, you are the first one that has ever come not asking something of me but wanting to bring something to me.”
While God delights in answering our prayer, He also desires for us to bring something to Him. But how often do we... do you… come just to bring Him something?
It’s the kind of prayer that says, “God, I want to know You. I just want to hang out. I want to find out who You are. Show me what You are made of.”
Friend, I think we can all know God in a personal and intimate way… just like Moses did… the way Paul did… even the way Abraham did.
Paul cried out in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” And Abraham discovered what God meant when He said in Genesis 15:1, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Life is about knowing God! So let me challenge you today to pray a prayer like this:
God, show me who You are. I’m not coming with a request. I’ve got a long list, but I’ll leave it outside the door for now. God, I’m just coming to You because I want to know You. I just want to make Your heart happy. I want to make You smile. God, show me Your ways.
Doing this will delight the heart of God! And you’ll be surprised at some of the things that begin to happen within your life when you pray this prayer. Because I truly believe God is crying out, saying “Oh, that they walk in My ways!”
He wants you to know Him today!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Our global Big Brother
Note: I will be sending a series of articles for you to read yourself on how the world is moving fast toward a one-world government just as predicted in the bible (Rev. 13). The first one is given below. Some of these articles are technical with a lot of political jargon, but I will highlight for you the important sentences and words to note. The world is hoping, desiring and moving in a global direction. The vocabulary that is being used, the plans that are being implemented, and the people that are being put in office to get such plans implemented means that the time of the Tribulation Period is moving closer to us. We don’t know when the Rapture of the Church will occur, but we can look at the signs of the times to get a feel on how close the Tribulation actually is. And since we know that the Rapture of the Church occurs before the Tribulation Period, then we have a reasonable hope and expectation that the time of the Lord’s Appearing is very soon. Read up, become informed, and get your life in order. You are about to meet your Savior face to face! Enjoy!
Our global Big Brother
Exclusive: Henry Lamb exposes United Nations' infringement on Americans' freedom
Posted: October 25, 2008 WND
By Henry Lamb
Global Governance: United Nations Goal
October 24 was U.N. day, celebrated by many as the birthday of the United Nations. In its 63 years of operation, it has spent untold billions of dollars in its quest to create global governance. Its goal is almost in its grasp. European leaders are pushing for a summit meeting with President Bush to create a new global "central bank" with the authority to control global monetary policy in much the same way U.S. monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve.
The U.N. has failed miserably at most of its major projects. Its first task, to create a two-state solution in Palestine in 1948, was a disaster. Other projects have been even worse. The genocide in Rwanda, the oil-for-food scam with Saddam Hussein and the on-going sex abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers are but a few examples.
UN Policies That Govern All U.S. Citizens
In recent years, however, the U.N. has been extremely effective in influencing U.S. domestic policy, more than people realize. Few people know that current U.S. land use policy is deeply rooted in and reflective of the policies set forth in a 1976 document adopted by the U.N.Conference on Human Settlements. U.S. wetland policy is the result of the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. U.S. law relating to endangered species is the direct result of the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Human Rights Commissions of the 1960s were created to comply with a variety of Human Rights treaties adopted by the U.N.
Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights gave rise to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which was expanded in 1995 to essentially require banks to make housing loans to unqualified people. This is the root cause of the current chaos in financial markets.
The concept of "Sustainable Development" came from a 1987 U.N. Conference on the Environment, headed by Gro Harlem Brundtland, former vice president of the International Socialist Party. The concept was codified in another U.N. policy document, Agenda 21, adopted in 1992 at another U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. This conference also produced the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. These are only a few of the U.N. policy documents and international treaties that so heavily influence the laws, rules, regulations and policies that govern every U.S. citizen.
Those who champion individual freedom, private property, and free markets find little to celebrate about the United Nations, and even less about global governance.
How The UN Was Created
Too few people realize that many of the people and organizations that created the League of Nations in 1921 are the same people and organizations that created the United Nations in 1945. The League of Nations was created by Edward Mandel House's "Inquiry" and Woodrow Wilson's Democrat administration, with help from Alfred Milner's "Chatham House Group" in Europe. Republicans killed the League of Nations in the U.S. Senate. House's "Inquiry," met with Milner's "Chatham House Group" at the Majestic Hotel in Versailles in 1919, and decided to formalize their organizations. The Milner group became the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs in Europe, and House's group became the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States.
Plans for a new United Nations were well under way even before the Second World War. Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt appointed a committee to plan for a post-war world. Ten of the 14 members were members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since Roosevelt, virtually every administration, both Democrat and Republican, has been filled with members of the Council on Foreign Relations. The vast majority of cabinet secretaries have been members of the CFR. These are the people who appoint the delegates to represent the United States at the various U.N. meetings.
It is little wonder that the U.N. has had such influence over domestic policy when the very people who make the policy at the U.N. are members of, or are appointed by members of, the Council on Foreign Relations, who work for the government and are empowered to implement the U.N. policies they create.
Citizen of the World
When Barack Obama spoke to his audience in Berlin, he declared that he was a citizen of the world, and that he, as president, would comply with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. He has sponsored a bill to increase international aid to the tune of more than $800 billion, to comply with the recommendations set forth in the U.N. Millennium Declaration. There is every reason to believe that U.N. influence will continue and even expand in the years ahead. U.N. policies are socialist policies. As U.N. influence expands, freedom diminishes.
Diminishing Freedom
Perhaps October 24 should become a day of national protest – not celebration. Global governance pursued by the United Nations must first erase the principles of freedom enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Every U.N. policy adopted by the United States erases a little more freedom. Thanks to U.N. influence, there is not much freedom left to erase.
Our global Big Brother
Exclusive: Henry Lamb exposes United Nations' infringement on Americans' freedom
Posted: October 25, 2008 WND
By Henry Lamb
Global Governance: United Nations Goal
October 24 was U.N. day, celebrated by many as the birthday of the United Nations. In its 63 years of operation, it has spent untold billions of dollars in its quest to create global governance. Its goal is almost in its grasp. European leaders are pushing for a summit meeting with President Bush to create a new global "central bank" with the authority to control global monetary policy in much the same way U.S. monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve.
The U.N. has failed miserably at most of its major projects. Its first task, to create a two-state solution in Palestine in 1948, was a disaster. Other projects have been even worse. The genocide in Rwanda, the oil-for-food scam with Saddam Hussein and the on-going sex abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers are but a few examples.
UN Policies That Govern All U.S. Citizens
In recent years, however, the U.N. has been extremely effective in influencing U.S. domestic policy, more than people realize. Few people know that current U.S. land use policy is deeply rooted in and reflective of the policies set forth in a 1976 document adopted by the U.N.Conference on Human Settlements. U.S. wetland policy is the result of the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. U.S. law relating to endangered species is the direct result of the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Human Rights Commissions of the 1960s were created to comply with a variety of Human Rights treaties adopted by the U.N.
Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights gave rise to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which was expanded in 1995 to essentially require banks to make housing loans to unqualified people. This is the root cause of the current chaos in financial markets.
The concept of "Sustainable Development" came from a 1987 U.N. Conference on the Environment, headed by Gro Harlem Brundtland, former vice president of the International Socialist Party. The concept was codified in another U.N. policy document, Agenda 21, adopted in 1992 at another U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. This conference also produced the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. These are only a few of the U.N. policy documents and international treaties that so heavily influence the laws, rules, regulations and policies that govern every U.S. citizen.
Those who champion individual freedom, private property, and free markets find little to celebrate about the United Nations, and even less about global governance.
How The UN Was Created
Too few people realize that many of the people and organizations that created the League of Nations in 1921 are the same people and organizations that created the United Nations in 1945. The League of Nations was created by Edward Mandel House's "Inquiry" and Woodrow Wilson's Democrat administration, with help from Alfred Milner's "Chatham House Group" in Europe. Republicans killed the League of Nations in the U.S. Senate. House's "Inquiry," met with Milner's "Chatham House Group" at the Majestic Hotel in Versailles in 1919, and decided to formalize their organizations. The Milner group became the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs in Europe, and House's group became the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States.
Plans for a new United Nations were well under way even before the Second World War. Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt appointed a committee to plan for a post-war world. Ten of the 14 members were members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since Roosevelt, virtually every administration, both Democrat and Republican, has been filled with members of the Council on Foreign Relations. The vast majority of cabinet secretaries have been members of the CFR. These are the people who appoint the delegates to represent the United States at the various U.N. meetings.
It is little wonder that the U.N. has had such influence over domestic policy when the very people who make the policy at the U.N. are members of, or are appointed by members of, the Council on Foreign Relations, who work for the government and are empowered to implement the U.N. policies they create.
Citizen of the World
When Barack Obama spoke to his audience in Berlin, he declared that he was a citizen of the world, and that he, as president, would comply with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. He has sponsored a bill to increase international aid to the tune of more than $800 billion, to comply with the recommendations set forth in the U.N. Millennium Declaration. There is every reason to believe that U.N. influence will continue and even expand in the years ahead. U.N. policies are socialist policies. As U.N. influence expands, freedom diminishes.
Diminishing Freedom
Perhaps October 24 should become a day of national protest – not celebration. Global governance pursued by the United Nations must first erase the principles of freedom enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Every U.N. policy adopted by the United States erases a little more freedom. Thanks to U.N. influence, there is not much freedom left to erase.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Peace through Destruction? Israel's War on Hamas
Note: “The only hope for attaining a just peace in this tragically afflicted region is the complete destruction of Hamas,” these are the words of Dr. Earl Tilford in the article below. Strong words? You bet, but a fact as well. How so? Of the two – Israel and Hamas, there is no way in heaven’s will that the destruction will be Israel. The nation is destined to survive.
Here is how I know. The Lord says,
35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me” (Jer. 31:35-36 NIV).
God says, “in order for Me to allow Israel to be wiped out, the sun, moon and stars would have to first cease to shine.” What are the chances of that happening? Israel is here to stay because God keeps His promises. He has not completely fulfilled all of His promises to the nation yet – especially those that have to do with the nation’s restoration (cp. Rom. 11:26-27).
If you want to gain a good perspective on what is now taking place in the Middle East, read carefully the article below. Much of what you’ll be receiving in the media will be bias and a conscious attempt to make the fighting seem like it is all Israel’s fault.
Furthermore, check out the Youtube video below and see for yourself that the attitude of hate is not limited to the Middle East, but right in our own nation as well – (click on or copy and paste in your browser)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo
Peace through Destruction? Israel's War on Hamas
Dr. Earl Tilford
Center for Vision & Values
December 31, 2008
The Hamas Charter proscribes peace with Israel. Ceasefires are possible only when advantageous to Hamas and always are temporary. Accordingly, as soon as the latest ceasefire expired, Hamas operatives fired a barrage of rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel. On Dec. 27, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) responded with air attacks on specific terrorist targets including training camps, command centers, rocket manufacturing facilities and military storage areas. While there will be collateral damage and innocents killed or maimed, the majority of the nearly 300 persons killed so far are Hamas operatives.
As soon as the first strikes went in, Hamas released video images of children being carried to ambulances. The world will continue to see homes and apartments turned to rubble, lots of injured children and weeping mothers. In most—not all, but most—cases this is pure fiction. Hamas provides the pathos the Western press craves.
Israel’s concerted response has also been measured. As of Dec. 28, 210 fighter-bomber and attack-helicopter sorties had delivered 240 munitions of various sorts from laser-guided bombs to Hellfire anti-tank missiles. These precision-guided munitions limit collateral damage. The word “response” is important.
Absent provocation, there would be no Israeli attacks on Gaza. Hamas launched over 300 rockets and countless mortar shells in the six days following the cease-fire. Evidently the terrorists used the ceasefire to rebuild and restock their arsenals. Nevertheless, a United Nations condemnation of Israel is almost certain.
Passions in the Arab world run high with promises to avenge the deaths in Gaza. Many Western governments will add their condemnations as the American Christian left chimes in with a chorus of loquacious laments.
One wonders how the world would react if Spain moved forcefully to stop Basque terrorism or if the American Christian left would bleat quite so loudly if Mexican insurgents targeted San Diego with rocket and terrorist attacks. How would Britain react to similar attacks launched by the Irish Republican Army? Why should Israel be denied the right to respond to aggression? How many rockets does it take to warrant a strong and decisive response?
An Israeli ground invasion may be forthcoming. It will be bloody because Hamas is dug in and ready to make it costly for the IDF. Urban warfare, especially amid the rubble and ruin of city streets, is the most difficult form of modern warfare. Nevertheless, Israel is justified in moving decisively against Hamas.
Three years ago Israel pulled out of Gaza, using military force to remove Jewish settlers and relinquishing its southern border crossings to Egyptian control. Israel offered the Palestinians an opportunity to live side-by-side in peace. How did Hamas respond? Hamas fighters took over Gaza in a wave of violence, murdering hundreds of Palestinian political rivals and destroying much of the urban infrastructure left by the departing Israelis.
One example was the destruction of greenhouses in northern Gaza, facilities that could have provided food and potentially agricultural exports for the Palestinian economy. Hamas destroyed these facilities because Jews built them. Israel offered its hand in peace and Hamas responded with shouts of “Next year in Jerusalem!”
Then came the incessant rocket attacks into nearby Sderot and Ashkelon, a major metropolitan area just north of Gaza. Over three years, Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel and in 2006 dug a tunnel into Israel to kill two Israeli soldiers and kidnap Israeli Private Gilad Shalit, whose fate remains unknown.
And what of Egypt? Israel’s “partner in peace” allowed Hamas to dig over 100 tunnels under its border with Gaza. Egyptian border guards looked the other way while weapons and ammunition flowed through those tunnels into Gaza.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in agreement over the creation of a Palestinian state. Negotiations are over where the lines will be drawn. Hamas’ intransigence and terrorist attacks complicate those negotiations. Indeed, Hamas does not want any agreement with Israel. It is impossible for Israel to reach an accommodation with an entity dedicated to its extermination. The only hope for attaining a just peace in this tragically afflicted region is the complete destruction of Hamas.
(Dr. Earl Tilford, a fellow with The Center of Vision & Values at Grove City College, is currently working on a history of the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A former Air Force intelligence officer and former Director of Research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University.)
Here is how I know. The Lord says,
35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me” (Jer. 31:35-36 NIV).
God says, “in order for Me to allow Israel to be wiped out, the sun, moon and stars would have to first cease to shine.” What are the chances of that happening? Israel is here to stay because God keeps His promises. He has not completely fulfilled all of His promises to the nation yet – especially those that have to do with the nation’s restoration (cp. Rom. 11:26-27).
If you want to gain a good perspective on what is now taking place in the Middle East, read carefully the article below. Much of what you’ll be receiving in the media will be bias and a conscious attempt to make the fighting seem like it is all Israel’s fault.
Furthermore, check out the Youtube video below and see for yourself that the attitude of hate is not limited to the Middle East, but right in our own nation as well – (click on or copy and paste in your browser)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo
Peace through Destruction? Israel's War on Hamas
Dr. Earl Tilford
Center for Vision & Values
December 31, 2008
The Hamas Charter proscribes peace with Israel. Ceasefires are possible only when advantageous to Hamas and always are temporary. Accordingly, as soon as the latest ceasefire expired, Hamas operatives fired a barrage of rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel. On Dec. 27, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) responded with air attacks on specific terrorist targets including training camps, command centers, rocket manufacturing facilities and military storage areas. While there will be collateral damage and innocents killed or maimed, the majority of the nearly 300 persons killed so far are Hamas operatives.
As soon as the first strikes went in, Hamas released video images of children being carried to ambulances. The world will continue to see homes and apartments turned to rubble, lots of injured children and weeping mothers. In most—not all, but most—cases this is pure fiction. Hamas provides the pathos the Western press craves.
Israel’s concerted response has also been measured. As of Dec. 28, 210 fighter-bomber and attack-helicopter sorties had delivered 240 munitions of various sorts from laser-guided bombs to Hellfire anti-tank missiles. These precision-guided munitions limit collateral damage. The word “response” is important.
Absent provocation, there would be no Israeli attacks on Gaza. Hamas launched over 300 rockets and countless mortar shells in the six days following the cease-fire. Evidently the terrorists used the ceasefire to rebuild and restock their arsenals. Nevertheless, a United Nations condemnation of Israel is almost certain.
Passions in the Arab world run high with promises to avenge the deaths in Gaza. Many Western governments will add their condemnations as the American Christian left chimes in with a chorus of loquacious laments.
One wonders how the world would react if Spain moved forcefully to stop Basque terrorism or if the American Christian left would bleat quite so loudly if Mexican insurgents targeted San Diego with rocket and terrorist attacks. How would Britain react to similar attacks launched by the Irish Republican Army? Why should Israel be denied the right to respond to aggression? How many rockets does it take to warrant a strong and decisive response?
An Israeli ground invasion may be forthcoming. It will be bloody because Hamas is dug in and ready to make it costly for the IDF. Urban warfare, especially amid the rubble and ruin of city streets, is the most difficult form of modern warfare. Nevertheless, Israel is justified in moving decisively against Hamas.
Three years ago Israel pulled out of Gaza, using military force to remove Jewish settlers and relinquishing its southern border crossings to Egyptian control. Israel offered the Palestinians an opportunity to live side-by-side in peace. How did Hamas respond? Hamas fighters took over Gaza in a wave of violence, murdering hundreds of Palestinian political rivals and destroying much of the urban infrastructure left by the departing Israelis.
One example was the destruction of greenhouses in northern Gaza, facilities that could have provided food and potentially agricultural exports for the Palestinian economy. Hamas destroyed these facilities because Jews built them. Israel offered its hand in peace and Hamas responded with shouts of “Next year in Jerusalem!”
Then came the incessant rocket attacks into nearby Sderot and Ashkelon, a major metropolitan area just north of Gaza. Over three years, Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel and in 2006 dug a tunnel into Israel to kill two Israeli soldiers and kidnap Israeli Private Gilad Shalit, whose fate remains unknown.
And what of Egypt? Israel’s “partner in peace” allowed Hamas to dig over 100 tunnels under its border with Gaza. Egyptian border guards looked the other way while weapons and ammunition flowed through those tunnels into Gaza.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in agreement over the creation of a Palestinian state. Negotiations are over where the lines will be drawn. Hamas’ intransigence and terrorist attacks complicate those negotiations. Indeed, Hamas does not want any agreement with Israel. It is impossible for Israel to reach an accommodation with an entity dedicated to its extermination. The only hope for attaining a just peace in this tragically afflicted region is the complete destruction of Hamas.
(Dr. Earl Tilford, a fellow with The Center of Vision & Values at Grove City College, is currently working on a history of the University of Alabama in the 1960s. A former Air Force intelligence officer and former Director of Research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University.)
Friday, January 2, 2009
Fast When You Hunger for God
Note: You want to move things up a couple of notches in your spiritual walk with God for 2009? How about learning to fast! I think we often avoid fasting because we simply have the wrong perspective. This article will help to change that. Read on and if you do fast (and I hope you will), please jot me a note and inform me how it went. Enjoy!
Fast When You Hunger for God
Whitney Hopler
Editor's Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Scot McKnight's new book, Fasting: The Ancient Practices, (Thomas Nelson, 2009).
The ancient practice of fasting is a natural way to express your faith with your whole being – body and spirit together – whenever you experience a sacred moment that compels you to respond. Your spirit's hunger for God can find fulfillment when you fast with your body.
Here's how you can respond to your hunger for God through fasting:
View fasting as a response instead of a request. Don’t use fasting as a way to try to get the results you want from your prayers. Adding fasting to your requests to God when you want to convince Him to answer your prayers in a certain way amounts to using fasting as a manipulative tool. Instead of fasting to try to get God to respond to you, fast to respond to God. When you notice God at work in a special way in your life, you can express your awe, gratitude, and love back to Him by fasting. In the process, you may experience God’s presence on a deeper level.
But fasting doesn’t guarantee any particular results. Fasting is simply a natural, inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life – a moment when focusing on the physical pleasures of eating pales in comparison to focusing on the spiritual reality you’re encountering. Rather than fasting for what you can get from God, fast for what you can give to God. Fasting is simply a way of worshipping Him.
Embrace a healthy body image. Reject the dualistic way of thinking about people’s bodies that’s so popular in our culture. Your body and spirit aren’t two separate entities; they’re united as one whole. When you understand the profound connections between your body and spirit, it will become natural for you to respond to spiritual experiences by doing something physical like fasting.
Distinguish between fasting and abstinence. Fasting means not eating food (and sometimes not drinking) for a period of time (usually not more than 12 hours) in order to respond to a moment so sacred that indulging in food or drink would profane it. While some people say that they’re fasting when giving up something besides all food – like watching TV, having sex, or eating a specific kind of food, such as chocolate – for a while, that’s really abstinence, not fasting. Fasting is a more complete expression of devotion to God that can free you to focus your attention better on God.
Repent through fasting. Empathize with God’s grief over your sins by fasting. Engage your entire person in repentance by using your body to turn away from self-indulgence and toward God. At church, schedule some times to fast with others for group repentance, just as you all sometimes gather to feast together in celebration (at church parties, potluck dinners, etc.). Express your personal repentance through fasting at times like during Lent and Holy Week, when God seems absent from your life, and when you realize your own complicity in society’s moral wrongs.
Plea through fasting. While keeping mind that fasting isn’t a manipulative tool to add to your prayer requests, you can still fast to give yourself wholly to God when you’re pleading for something or someone. Fast when you find a particular condition intolerable, and you can’t be satisfied until you spend time with God expressing your concerns about it.
Grieve through fasting. Consider fasting when someone dies as a way of expressing your respect for that person and your pain at losing him or her. If eating seems sacrilegious at the time, fast for a while.
Discipline your body through fasting. When you become especially aware of your own sins and weaknesses and your resulting need for God’s grace, consider fasting as a way to learn discipline that will help you grow. If you discipline your body through fasting, your spirit will follow, and you’ll grow closer to God – which will transform you into a more loving and holy person. Routinely schedule one or two days each week to fast.
Use the time to respond physically to the reality of a broken world, the presence of sin in your life, and your yearning for more love and holiness. But beware of using fasting as a weapon to battle your body’s appetites. Remember that food isn’t an evil to be battled; it’s a good gift from God that you’re simply choosing to refrain from for a time in order to focus on responding to a sacred moment.
Add fasting to your church’s calendar. Throughout each year, schedule some time for your church’s congregation to fast to respond to different purposes, such as commemorating the major events in Jesus’ life or dealing with serious issues facing the world (poverty, abuse, the environment, the economy, wars, etc.).
Encourage people in your church to fast before they’re baptized, and join with others in your congregation to fast before celebrating Communion. Also, remember to fast together regularly for repentance whenever God leads you all to do so.
Confront injustice through fasting. Fast as a way of expressing poverty in your body, to show solidarity with those who are impoverished by injustice in our fallen world. Divest yourself of some resources – food – for the good of others. Convert what you give up in food when you fast into gifts for the poor by estimating the cost of the food you would have eaten if you hadn’t fasted and giving that amount to charities that help poor people. Use the time you would have spent eating to serve people in need and help bring more justice to the world. Use your fasting to call attention to other people’s needs, such as when you’re working to find solutions to the problems causing injustice and want to inspire others (like government leaders) to take action as well.
However, be sure not to call attention to yourself, simply to try to impress others with your fasting. Use fasting to confront injustices in our own attitudes and behaviors, as well – to break the hold of unhealthy habits in your life and help you grow in holiness. Ask God to give you a clear vision of what He would like your life to look like. Then, through fasting, express your complete surrender to that vision.
Prepare yourself to encounter God through fasting. When you realize that your intimacy with God is superficial and you long to experience Him more directly, respond by fasting, and you may find that you encounter God more deeply and powerfully.
Through fasting, render yourself freer to hear from God through prayer than you may be when you’re not fasting. Let your love for God motivate you to reach out to Him through fasting.
Embody hope through fasting. Protest the problems in our fallen world and embody God’s hope for a better world by fasting. Fast to express your hope for the world to become as God intends for it to be. As you fast, become more motivated to do your part to make the world a better place.
Take care of your health. Understand the demands that fasting places on your body. Don’t fast at all if you have special physical concerns, such as pregnancy or a chronic illness. If you do fast, be sure to do so in a balanced way that doesn’t harm your health.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you break your fast before the appointed time, simply confess your failure to God and try to do better next time. God is merciful when an intended fast doesn’t work out well. Be merciful to others who fail after they’ve committed to fast with you.
Avoid hypocrisy. Regularly evaluate your fasting efforts and ask yourself what difference they’re making for the better in your life. If fasting isn’t improving your morality and relationship with God, something’s wrong.
Shift attention off yourself and toward God. Always keep in mind that you should be fasting to draw closer to God – not to impress other people or try to earn God’s favor.
Beware of gluttony before and after fasting. If fasting is leading you to over-indulge in food either prior to or after your fasts, it’s not healthy for you because it’s leading you to bounce between the extremes of gluttony and self-deprivation. Fast only when you can do so in a healthy, balanced way.
Keep the benefits of fasting in mind. Although fasting is simply a response to sacred moments rather than a way to obtain benefits, often God will choose to bless you through the process of fasting. Some of the benefits include a deeper sense of God’s presence with you, freedom from bad habits that had previously controlled you, answers to prayer, and justice for people in need. But always keep in mind that these benefits emerge out of your response to sacred moments.
Fast When You Hunger for God
Whitney Hopler
Editor's Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Scot McKnight's new book, Fasting: The Ancient Practices, (Thomas Nelson, 2009).
The ancient practice of fasting is a natural way to express your faith with your whole being – body and spirit together – whenever you experience a sacred moment that compels you to respond. Your spirit's hunger for God can find fulfillment when you fast with your body.
Here's how you can respond to your hunger for God through fasting:
View fasting as a response instead of a request. Don’t use fasting as a way to try to get the results you want from your prayers. Adding fasting to your requests to God when you want to convince Him to answer your prayers in a certain way amounts to using fasting as a manipulative tool. Instead of fasting to try to get God to respond to you, fast to respond to God. When you notice God at work in a special way in your life, you can express your awe, gratitude, and love back to Him by fasting. In the process, you may experience God’s presence on a deeper level.
But fasting doesn’t guarantee any particular results. Fasting is simply a natural, inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life – a moment when focusing on the physical pleasures of eating pales in comparison to focusing on the spiritual reality you’re encountering. Rather than fasting for what you can get from God, fast for what you can give to God. Fasting is simply a way of worshipping Him.
Embrace a healthy body image. Reject the dualistic way of thinking about people’s bodies that’s so popular in our culture. Your body and spirit aren’t two separate entities; they’re united as one whole. When you understand the profound connections between your body and spirit, it will become natural for you to respond to spiritual experiences by doing something physical like fasting.
Distinguish between fasting and abstinence. Fasting means not eating food (and sometimes not drinking) for a period of time (usually not more than 12 hours) in order to respond to a moment so sacred that indulging in food or drink would profane it. While some people say that they’re fasting when giving up something besides all food – like watching TV, having sex, or eating a specific kind of food, such as chocolate – for a while, that’s really abstinence, not fasting. Fasting is a more complete expression of devotion to God that can free you to focus your attention better on God.
Repent through fasting. Empathize with God’s grief over your sins by fasting. Engage your entire person in repentance by using your body to turn away from self-indulgence and toward God. At church, schedule some times to fast with others for group repentance, just as you all sometimes gather to feast together in celebration (at church parties, potluck dinners, etc.). Express your personal repentance through fasting at times like during Lent and Holy Week, when God seems absent from your life, and when you realize your own complicity in society’s moral wrongs.
Plea through fasting. While keeping mind that fasting isn’t a manipulative tool to add to your prayer requests, you can still fast to give yourself wholly to God when you’re pleading for something or someone. Fast when you find a particular condition intolerable, and you can’t be satisfied until you spend time with God expressing your concerns about it.
Grieve through fasting. Consider fasting when someone dies as a way of expressing your respect for that person and your pain at losing him or her. If eating seems sacrilegious at the time, fast for a while.
Discipline your body through fasting. When you become especially aware of your own sins and weaknesses and your resulting need for God’s grace, consider fasting as a way to learn discipline that will help you grow. If you discipline your body through fasting, your spirit will follow, and you’ll grow closer to God – which will transform you into a more loving and holy person. Routinely schedule one or two days each week to fast.
Use the time to respond physically to the reality of a broken world, the presence of sin in your life, and your yearning for more love and holiness. But beware of using fasting as a weapon to battle your body’s appetites. Remember that food isn’t an evil to be battled; it’s a good gift from God that you’re simply choosing to refrain from for a time in order to focus on responding to a sacred moment.
Add fasting to your church’s calendar. Throughout each year, schedule some time for your church’s congregation to fast to respond to different purposes, such as commemorating the major events in Jesus’ life or dealing with serious issues facing the world (poverty, abuse, the environment, the economy, wars, etc.).
Encourage people in your church to fast before they’re baptized, and join with others in your congregation to fast before celebrating Communion. Also, remember to fast together regularly for repentance whenever God leads you all to do so.
Confront injustice through fasting. Fast as a way of expressing poverty in your body, to show solidarity with those who are impoverished by injustice in our fallen world. Divest yourself of some resources – food – for the good of others. Convert what you give up in food when you fast into gifts for the poor by estimating the cost of the food you would have eaten if you hadn’t fasted and giving that amount to charities that help poor people. Use the time you would have spent eating to serve people in need and help bring more justice to the world. Use your fasting to call attention to other people’s needs, such as when you’re working to find solutions to the problems causing injustice and want to inspire others (like government leaders) to take action as well.
However, be sure not to call attention to yourself, simply to try to impress others with your fasting. Use fasting to confront injustices in our own attitudes and behaviors, as well – to break the hold of unhealthy habits in your life and help you grow in holiness. Ask God to give you a clear vision of what He would like your life to look like. Then, through fasting, express your complete surrender to that vision.
Prepare yourself to encounter God through fasting. When you realize that your intimacy with God is superficial and you long to experience Him more directly, respond by fasting, and you may find that you encounter God more deeply and powerfully.
Through fasting, render yourself freer to hear from God through prayer than you may be when you’re not fasting. Let your love for God motivate you to reach out to Him through fasting.
Embody hope through fasting. Protest the problems in our fallen world and embody God’s hope for a better world by fasting. Fast to express your hope for the world to become as God intends for it to be. As you fast, become more motivated to do your part to make the world a better place.
Take care of your health. Understand the demands that fasting places on your body. Don’t fast at all if you have special physical concerns, such as pregnancy or a chronic illness. If you do fast, be sure to do so in a balanced way that doesn’t harm your health.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you break your fast before the appointed time, simply confess your failure to God and try to do better next time. God is merciful when an intended fast doesn’t work out well. Be merciful to others who fail after they’ve committed to fast with you.
Avoid hypocrisy. Regularly evaluate your fasting efforts and ask yourself what difference they’re making for the better in your life. If fasting isn’t improving your morality and relationship with God, something’s wrong.
Shift attention off yourself and toward God. Always keep in mind that you should be fasting to draw closer to God – not to impress other people or try to earn God’s favor.
Beware of gluttony before and after fasting. If fasting is leading you to over-indulge in food either prior to or after your fasts, it’s not healthy for you because it’s leading you to bounce between the extremes of gluttony and self-deprivation. Fast only when you can do so in a healthy, balanced way.
Keep the benefits of fasting in mind. Although fasting is simply a response to sacred moments rather than a way to obtain benefits, often God will choose to bless you through the process of fasting. Some of the benefits include a deeper sense of God’s presence with you, freedom from bad habits that had previously controlled you, answers to prayer, and justice for people in need. But always keep in mind that these benefits emerge out of your response to sacred moments.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
4 Reasons to Face the New Year without Fear
Note: Some of the best articles I come across from time to time are the short ones – those that get right to the point. Below is such an article. I just know that for many of us, fear of what 2009 may bring will be an issue to contend with. We worry about our health, the economy, whether or not we will be numbered with those who will be laid off from work, and of course, the relationships we have – whether or not they will last and bring about sweat bearing fruit into our lives. Be of good cheer, you’re not alone in your concerns. We can face the New Year without Fear. This article will show you how. Enjoy!
4 Reasons to Face the New Year without Fear
Adrian Rogers
Love Worth Finding
God's Word brings us a comforting promise, along with an insightful command as we face a New Year: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
We can live this coming year without fear if we apply these four incredibly wonderful truths to our lives and root them deep into our hearts.
The Contentment of His Provision
Contentment is not getting what you want, but it is wanting what you already have. First Timothy 6:6-8 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us therewith be content." If you know Jesus Christ, you have contentment. If you've got clothes on your back, something to eat, and Jesus Christ in your heart, you're rich!
Do you know why we have fear? Because we think our needs or the needs of someone we love are not going to be met. Or we fear that the things we think are meeting our needs are going to be taken away from us. The deepest need of your heart can only be met in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Companionship of His Presence
I don't know what I'm going to face next year. But there's one thing I know, He will never leave me. Are you a child of God? He will never leave you either. Isn't that wonderful!
What's another reason we may fear in the coming year? Because we're afraid we're going to have to face something we don't understand, and we're going to have to face it alone.
When God's Word promises that God will never forsake you, it literally means that He will never abandon you. He will not give up on you. We need to practice the presence of the Lord this coming year. When the devil comes and knocks at you heart's door, you can simply say, "Jesus, please go answer the door."
The Confidence of His Promise
We're going to zero in on a little phrase in our verses in Hebrews, "He hath said." A promise is no better than the one who makes it. Who says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"? It is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. This is the confidence of His promise.
In the coming year, when you say, "God, I just don't have the strength." The omnipotent God will answer, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." When you say, "God, I'm afraid of what is going to happen." The omnipresent God says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And when you say, "God, I don't know what to do." The omniscient God will respond, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." He himself hath said it.
The Comfort of His Protection
Hebrews 13:6 promises, "So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Now, put that with verse five which says, "He hath said."
Like I said earlier, I don't know what you're going to go through this coming year. But I know you can boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not fear what man shall do to me." When you find your contentment, companionship, and confidence in Jesus. Then, you'll find your comfort and courage in Jesus.
4 Reasons to Face the New Year without Fear
Adrian Rogers
Love Worth Finding
God's Word brings us a comforting promise, along with an insightful command as we face a New Year: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
We can live this coming year without fear if we apply these four incredibly wonderful truths to our lives and root them deep into our hearts.
The Contentment of His Provision
Contentment is not getting what you want, but it is wanting what you already have. First Timothy 6:6-8 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us therewith be content." If you know Jesus Christ, you have contentment. If you've got clothes on your back, something to eat, and Jesus Christ in your heart, you're rich!
Do you know why we have fear? Because we think our needs or the needs of someone we love are not going to be met. Or we fear that the things we think are meeting our needs are going to be taken away from us. The deepest need of your heart can only be met in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Companionship of His Presence
I don't know what I'm going to face next year. But there's one thing I know, He will never leave me. Are you a child of God? He will never leave you either. Isn't that wonderful!
What's another reason we may fear in the coming year? Because we're afraid we're going to have to face something we don't understand, and we're going to have to face it alone.
When God's Word promises that God will never forsake you, it literally means that He will never abandon you. He will not give up on you. We need to practice the presence of the Lord this coming year. When the devil comes and knocks at you heart's door, you can simply say, "Jesus, please go answer the door."
The Confidence of His Promise
We're going to zero in on a little phrase in our verses in Hebrews, "He hath said." A promise is no better than the one who makes it. Who says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"? It is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. This is the confidence of His promise.
In the coming year, when you say, "God, I just don't have the strength." The omnipotent God will answer, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." When you say, "God, I'm afraid of what is going to happen." The omnipresent God says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And when you say, "God, I don't know what to do." The omniscient God will respond, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." He himself hath said it.
The Comfort of His Protection
Hebrews 13:6 promises, "So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Now, put that with verse five which says, "He hath said."
Like I said earlier, I don't know what you're going to go through this coming year. But I know you can boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not fear what man shall do to me." When you find your contentment, companionship, and confidence in Jesus. Then, you'll find your comfort and courage in Jesus.
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