Women of God

Stand up!

Stand up and speak!
Speak out!
Tell the world of My love.
Tell them of My salvation.

Daughters of the Lord

Give words of encouragement.
Give them to your children.
Give them to your parents.
Give them to your spouses.
Give them to your friends.
Give them to strangers.
Give from deep down in your heart

Study, My daughters,

Study and learn.
Immerse yourselves in My Word.
Imprint My word on your heart.

Then speak, speak My Word.

Speak it to those you love
And speak it to your enemy.
Tell them of My forgiveness.
Tell them of my promises.
Tell them of life eternal.
Tell them! Tell them!

Then receive from My hand

Rewards for your righteousness,
And rewards for your obedience.

You are My precious daughters.
You are My arms reaching out.
You are loved beyond measure.
You are the vessels through which

My Word is to be birthed.

So stand up women of God
And speak out!

Thank you sister Ann Martin, for such lovely words of encouragement for my sisters in Christ.

Blessing a Child

One of the most important, but yet the most neglected way to influence positive change in the life of a child is to speak blessings over the child.

To bless means to speak good rather than evil, to encourage rather than discourage, to project success rather than failure, to give faith rather than doubt, to instill boldness rather than fear, to impart hope rather than distress, and to share love rather than neglect.

Here is a brief outline for blessing a child.
1. prayerfully discern the natural and spiritual gifts of the child.
2. prayerfully look at the child's potential by the grace of God and though faith.
3. formulate the blessing in a written form.
4. place your hands upon the head of the child.
5. speak the blessing over the child and repeat it periodically for reinforcement.

Blessing a child both encourages and gives a child a strong sense of direction. Since God works through the established authority of parents, God will also work in the life of the child toward fulfilling the blessings that the parents speak over the child.

Speaking blessings over a child is like prophesying over the child ( Ezekiel 37:4 for an example of speaking a prophesy). Let us look at how Isaac blesses Jacob (Genesis 27:28-29). Isaac blessed Jacob by saying that God would give him the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Jacob was to let people serve him and nations honor him. Even his brothers were to honor him. Isaac also placed a curse upon those who would curse Jacob and a blessing on those who would bless him.

In Genesis 27:38-40 we see that from Esau's reaction just how significant a father's blessing is. We should understand that the custom was that the elder son was to receive the greater blessing; however, Jacob had deceived his father into blessing him as the elder son. In Genesis 48:14-20 we get a picture of how Jacob (Israel) blessed the sons of Joseph by placing his hands upon their heads. Then in Genesis 49:22-28 we see Jacob also blessing Joseph.

In the New Testament in Luke 2:34, we see Simeon, an aged saint, blessing both Mary and Jesus. "And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against" (Luke 2:34).

Christmas Then and Now

And the angel said unto them, fear not: For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! Luke 2:10-11

For a child growing up in New York City, Christmas was like a dream land. What a time it was! It was beautiful - the lights, the snow, the cold weather, the people, the festivities and let's not forget the big Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, the Macy's Parade, and of course all the food you can eat! But the memory that sticks in my mind most was that great big train track built around a city on display in Macy's on the 7th floor! I can see it now. Somehow it seemed like people knew more about the meaning of Christmas back then.

So much has changed since then, mostly in how we celebrate Christmas, not necessarily that we do celebrate Christmas. Getting toys was never my main focus even then, it was friends and family, and they made sure I knew the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. Today our kids do not know the true meaning of Christmas. Keep quiet, someone may hear you say the word 'Christmas'.

People are compromising more now than ever about Christmas for fear of offending someone. What happened? I cannot understand why we are not on the same page with this. Through the years Christmas has become more and more commercial, a religious debate, a corporate business decision. It has become just another day.

Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, period. Yes, all of the other things are great— family, friends, lights, trees, toys, etc, but in my heart it is all about Jesus Christ.

Will you compromise or will you share with your children the true meaning of Christmas? Put in your heart that no matter what is around you or who you may offend, we must realize that on that day, the Savior, Jesus Christ was born.

A belated Merry Christmas to you all from my family to yours!

CHRISTMAS IS ETERNAL FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY

Luke 2:11 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (KJV)

Christmas is the day that marks your deliverance from eternal slavery. After reading many translations of Luke 2:10-11, I wasn’t satisfied. So I wrote my own (smile) based on the literal Greek meaning of the words, and in a today language that I could understand.

If you would, allow me to share with you Luke 2:10-11 from the "The Elder Dre Living Letters" edition: The angel said, in Butler speech: Don’t be scured (southern alteration of the word scared). I was told to bring you news that is the bomb (Something or someone that is really cool).

Today in the city of David, the Deliverer, the Preserver, the Messiah is born to release you from your shackles of slavery. And guess who He is. It’s our Master, Owner, Creator, and the One who has supreme authority, who is the anointed One. His name is Jesus. I know I’m not a theologian, but I just had to see it in a today language.

Jesus is the one that is empowered enough, and the one who loves us so much, He’s willing to deliver us from the bondage of slavery. See, the word redeem means to buy back out of slavery. You’ve seen the affects of slavery in Africa. People were kidnapped from their homes, chained, beaten, put on ships to cross the ocean. Many died, and many were murdered as they were thrown overboard to the sharks to lighten the weight of the ship. It did not only happen to the Africans, but there has been slavery in every race of mankind. But I’m here to tell you that all of the suffering that those people went through does not compare to eternal suffering in Hell. At least their suffering on earth would end when they died. But suffering does not end in Hell. There is no refuge, no comfort, no place of rest and peace. This is the slavery state for which God had to send a deliverer to release us. It is slavery that is eternal.

But Jesus came that Christmas morning to set you free. If you receive Him then you can walk through the open door of salvation. Jesus, the only one who was qualified to do it, kicked open the slave door of sin, and said to you, "Come on, walk out with me." And I’m glad He did. We ought to thank God on Christmas morning, for it marks the day that we were freed from eternal slavery.

Scripture reference: Romans 6:23; Ephesians 4:9-10; Matthew 28:18

A belated Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

The 12 Steps For Christians

Step 1. ADMISSION

We admitted that we are powerless over sin2 - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2. BELIEF

We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to wholeness.

Step 3. SUBMISSION

We made a decision to turn our life and will over to the care of God, as we understood Him.

Step 4. MORAL INVENTORY

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5. CONFESSION

We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 6. We became entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step 7. PRAYER

We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8. PERSONAL INVENTORY

We made a list of all the people we had hurt, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9. AMENDS.

We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others.

Step 10. PERSONAL GROWTH

We continued to take personal inventory and promptly admitted our mistakes when we were wrong.

Step 11. SPIRITUAL GROWTH

We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will and the strength to carry it out.

Step 12. SERVICE TO OTHERS

Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Thanks Dr. Gerald May

50 Reasons Why Christ Suffered and Died:

1 To Absorb the Wrath of God
2 To Please His Heavenly Father
3 To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected
4 To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead
5 To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners
6 To Show His Own Love for U
7 To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us
8 To Become a Ransom for Many
9 For the Forgiveness of Our Sins
10 To Provide the Basis for Our Justification
11 To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness
12 To Take Away Our Condemnation
13 To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation
14 To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful
15 To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect
16 To Give Us a Clear Conscience
17 To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us
18 To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness
19 To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him
20 To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age
21 To Reconcile Us to God
22 To Bring Us to God
23 So That We Might Belong to Him
24 To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place
25 To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God
26 To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become the Eternal High Priest
27 To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest
28 To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry
29 To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin
30 That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness
31 So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God
32 To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves
33 To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting
34 To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him
35 To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning
36 To Create a People Passionate for Good Works
37 To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love
38 To Create a Band of Crucified Followers
39 To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death
40 So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death
41 To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead
42 To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities
43 To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel
44 To Destroy the Hostility Between Races
45 To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation
46 To Gather All His Sheep from Around the World
47 To Rescue Us from Final Judgment
48 To Gain His Joy and Ours
49 So That He Would Be Crowned with Glory and Honor
50 To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good

You can choose…

To accept Christ as the true Son of God who died for you on the Cross.
To accept Christ into your heart and life rather than just thinking about Him.
To ask questions and seek answers.
To ask questions rather than keep silent.
To be honest rather than dishonest.
To believe rather than doubt.
To bring cheer into the gloom rather than letting the gloom take away the cheer.
To care for others rather than cold and insolent.
To carry a light carrier in the darkness rather than groping and hurting with others.
To carry others burdens rather than pile your burdens on to them.
To confess your sins before God rather than carrying guilt.
To free your conscience through confession rather than letting your conscience burn and imprison you.
To console others in times of grief.
To choose contentment over turmoil.
To be contrite rather than shrugging your shoulders because you do not care.
To control your life rather than letting "whatever" operate in chaos over you.
To live a life of self-control rather than letting life control you.
To live in conviction rather than letting everything slide.
To have courage by acting in spite of your fear rather than letting fear control you.
To dedicate your life to something rather than hoping something will draft you into an activity you like.
To deliver as much of the goods as you can for others instead of staying at home waiting for someone to deliver the goods to you.
To develop your character and do the right thing rather than ignoring your character and doing the wrong thing.
To give beauty rather than ugliness.
To give blessings and be a blessing rather than give curses and be a curse.
To give compassion when someone is hurting rather than doing nothing.
To visit the widow for a few minutes.
To hear and comfort the weeping.
To help rather than hurt.
To honor and cherish the important persons in your life.
To hunger for the things of God rather than the things of darkness.
To invite the Holy Spirit to become real in your life or ignore this love.
To live a holy life rather than a secular life.
To live as a child of God rather than as an orphan who has been abandoned.
To live in humility rather than living with ego and pride
To live with hope by seeing over the horizons.
To meditate upon the things of God rather than thinking about the things of darkness.
To live in meekness rather than living so others will notice you.
To bestow mercy and forgiveness on those who hurt you rather than trying to get even.
To develop your mind rather than letting your mind waste away.
To minister to others who are in pain rather than believing someone else will help them.
To pray for miracles and be present to assist in their delivery.
To live a moral life rather than living an immoral life.
To see each morning as an opportunity to produce for God rather than a burden to bear for God.
To lay your sorrows of mourning at the foot of the Cross.
To be mystified by the mysteries of God and life.
To mold your character to be decisive for God rather than indecisive.
To put your energy to use rather than letting it evaporate.
To rise up in controlled anger at injustice rather than looking the other way.
To seek answers instead of avoiding them.
To take action when you face anxiety rather than shrink back.
To ask questions rather than keep silent.
To give beauty rather than ugliness.
To give blessings and be a blessing rather than give curses and be a curse.
To share the Bread of Life rather than trying to hoard it and keep it all to yourself.
To care about others rather than caring about only yourself.
To read His word rather than watch TV.
To search for wisdom rather than living in ignorance.
To see how all things are continually made new even when it appears all things grow old and are about to die.
To live in obedience to God's commandments rather than disregarding them.
To live as a child of God rather than as an orphan who has been abandoned.
To live as a person who has been truly rescued from the depths.
To see that pain is a weapon of Satan and the darkness.
To live in peace with your brothers and sisters rather than wanting to make war against them.
To understand that persecution comes to all who love the Lord.
To reach out to the poor.
To understand that poverty of the spirit is a choice for all persons.
To seize the real power that is the love of God rather than letting that power slip through your fingers.
To share the Bread of Life rather than trying to hoard it and keep it all to yourself.
To turn dependence into an opportunity to warn others.
To turn dependence into a victory against more dependence.
To turn dependence into a war for independence.
To turn a time of depression into a time of counting your blessings.
To turn a time of depression into a time of reaching out to others and producing goofiness.
To turn a time of depression into a time of creative outlet rather than a time of disabled hell.
To devote your time rather than letting your time slip away.
To disobey the conventional wisdom that keeps you down and obey the Love of God which propels you upward.
To be devout in your beliefs rather than throwing them in the trash.
To be as difficult with the difficulties as the difficulties are difficult with you.
To use the Holy Bible as a source of God’s truth and wisdom.

DIARY OF A BIBLE -- COULD THIS BE YOURS?

JANUARY: A busy time for me. Most of the family decided to read me through this year.

They kept me busy for the first two weeks, but they have forgotten me now.

FEBRUARY: Cleanup time. I was dusted yesterday and put in my place.

My owner did use me for a few minutes last week.

He had been in an argument and was looking up some references to prove he was right.

MARCH: Had a busy day first of the month.

My owner was elected president of the PTA and used me to prepare a speech.

APRIL: Grandpa visited us this month.

He kept me on his lap for an hour reading 1st Corinthians 13:13.

He seems to think more of me than do some people in my own household.

MAY: I have a few green stains on my pages.

Some spring flowers were pressed in my pages.

JUNE: I look like a scrapbook.

They have stuffed me full of newspaper clippings -- one of the girls got married.

JULY: They put me in a suitcase today.

I guess we are off on vacation.

I wish I could stay home; I know I'll be closed up in this thing for at least two weeks.

AUGUST: Still in the suitcase.

SEPTEMBER: Back home at last and in my old familiar place. I have a lot of company.

Two women's magazines and four comic books are stacked on top of me.

I wish I could be read as much as they are.

OCTOBER: They read me a little bit today.

One of them is very sick.

Right now I am sitting in the center of the coffee table.

I think the Pastor is coming by for a visit.

NOVEMBER: Back in my old place.

Somebody asked today if I were a scrapbook.

DECEMBER: The family is busy getting ready for the holidays.

I guess I'll be covered up under wrapping paper & packages again ... just as I am every Christmas.