I miss MC hammer; but in honor of his classic
I thought I’d give you a few simple reminders. If communication is the most important part of a healthy relationship, then prayer is the most important aspect of our relationship with God. It is the ongoing communication of us talking to God and Him talking to us. In John 15:7 Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Holding to Jesus teaching are essential and they open the way for us to pray to the father. Asking or petition prayers are not the only kinds of prayers we should pray. Sometimes it’s important just to spend time thanking God. During thanksgiving we recall of the blessing that God has brought in our lives. Often when I’ve spent time in thanksgiving, I’m left with the sense that I really don’t need to ask for anything since I’ve been so blessed. There are also times where we confess our sin and short comings to God. God already knows our hearts before we pray (Matt 6:8); however being transparent before the Father allows us to stay into intimate contact with him. Finally there are times were we are simple to praise and adore him for who He is. When we magnify his Greatness and Goodness, the fears and anxieties of life will fade away.
Archive for January, 2010
With love from a grateful son.
I received this email below from a first cousin of mine and couldn’t resist the chance to post the story. I’m proud of both of these women (the one writing and the one being wrote about) in the story, because they both reflect character qualities that were found in the life of our late Grandmother. If some of you guys wonder why I don’t hunt more; then read on. I’m starting to realizing why my Granddad my never really had to hunt either. This is a great story, enjoy!
Hey Y’all,
Just wanted to share a “crazy” event with you! My younger sister, Amber, killed this 280 lb. hog on Saturday evening, January 9, 2010 in the county where we grew up . She and her family and our parents still live there.
Amber has always had a love for “the great outdoors”. At one time, she was the cute thin blonde with a Jeep and a bass boat who could change the oil in a vehicle and maintainence most anything… every guys dream! We are both in our mid 30’s now, raising kids, trying to keep our homes and husbands in check, and she’s a manager with Progressive Insurance. She’s cuter and thinner now than she was back then, minus the Jeep and bass boat. You have to give-in on some things when responsibilities begin to set in.
If I could vote one lady “Woman of the Year” for her drive, ambition, and endurance… it would be her! In the midst of her very busy schedule, she still finds time to stay connected with the extra-curricular activity that she enjoyed before “life happened” and added a lot to her plate! I admire her for that, because in the midst of her major life changes, she has not lost “her identity” as so many individuals feel they do.
There’s another funnier side to this story. When I called her to see if she was really the one who killed the hog, I asked her if she had a picture taken with it. For you non-hunters, it’s a big deal to make sure you have evidence of your kill. The evidence is that you stand, sit, or squat next to it and have a picture taken as proof. This has never been a big deal to Amber. She’s not into all the gloating and bragging that can go along with hunting. It’s her hobbie and “release from the world” for a time. She does sport a few mounted animals in her home… like a bobcat, an 8-point deer in velvet (I think she killed in bow season… I’m not very knowledgeable on all that), and some other things that I know I’ve forgotten about. Getting back to my request for a picture of her with the hog… she said she didn’t have one made. What? Why not? Well, Progressive Insurance was having their end-of-the-year party, that evening and Amber knew she’d only have a limited time to hunt. So, over her attire that she dressed in for a casual party, she put on her hunting “cover-alls” and set out to hunt for the evening…
not knowing she’d kill anything. She had to leave the hog in the field and drive straight to the scheduled work party. Her husband and friend picked up the hog and made the pictures. I laughed so hard when I heard the story. I’m still laughing just thinking about it! She’s a rare diamond… maybe rough around the edges at times… but she’s very precious, valuable, and finds her time to sparkle. She’s probably going to hate this email, because Amber does not like to sparkle. She’s not fru-fru like me, even though looking at her, you’d never know that!
Here’s to you…Amber… sister, daughter, wife, mother, home-keeper, business leader, tractor driver, hunter, fisher, bearing mechanical skills, who changes pampers, keeps up laundry, and has a husband who cooks good…
You’re my “Woman of the Year”! I’m sending this email out to every person I know and will probably be glad, for once, that I live 450 miles from you…. cause I’m pretty sure you could still beat me up like you did when we were younger! Just kidding, not really!
The bigger side to my story about Amber is that we make the time to invest in what we deem important to us. Life is going to happen whether your driving, riding, or being drug through it. Don’t lose focus on the original person God created you to be, and in doing so, live to serve Him.
Amber’s “not-too-much-older” sister,
Tonya Davis Johnson
P.S. You have my permission to pass this on to as many people as you’d like!
Godly goals are those expectations that we can establish based on the Word of God. Godly goals are not dependant on anyone other than ourselves and the LORD. Primarily these have to do with our character and becoming all that God has created and intended for us to become. Godly desires on the other hand are noble expectations that depend on the behavior of others. These are ultimately out of our control. We may desire to have a giving family or a loving church, but while these are certainly godly; they are dependent upon others to bring them about. These godly desires may never come to fruition the way with envision them.
We all live by faith according to our belief system. Our emotions serve as a red flag to signal when to identify a belief that has moved from a desire to a goal. When we sense anger, we can be sure we feel as if someone is standing between us and goal we “must” accomplish”. When anxiety sets in, we may be sensing that one of our goals maybe in jeopardy of coming to fruition. Finally when we become depressed, we may sense that all hope has faded from our goal being accomplished.
In the end we should stop and revaluate our goals and desires and set our expectations based on God’s Word and the things that we can control. People places and things that are beyond our control, we should entrust them to God. However we can stand confident that goals centered around our becoming more like Christ will come to pass. The LORD is faithful and he will accomplish it.
A well done video encouraging people to give.
Matthew 22:1-14 (NIV)
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 ”Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 ”But they paid no attention and went off–one to his field, another to his business.
6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 ”Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.
9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’
10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 ”But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
12 ’Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
13 ”Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 ”For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
The Kingdom is moving on with or without you.
Temptation – Being enticed through the flesh to satisfy our desires through illegitimate ways that are contrary to the character of God. Temptations come at us through our senses and are burdens that we must endure. It is not sin to be tempted, it is only when we give into these, that it becomes sin.
Accusation – Lies originating from Satan about the character of a child of God based their temptations and sin. Temptation then accusation is the one-two punch of Satan. Here he entices Christians to sin, and then accuses them of their standing before God; which undermines their confidence in who they are in Christ.
Deception – Satan’s primary tool for defeating a believer by getting them to believe a lie about themselves, God, or someone else. Deception is different in nature of temptation and accusation in that it goes undetected by the believer. A person is aware of temptation and accusation; but they are unaware when being deceived.
If we are being deceived right now, we won’t even know it.
Continue to pray for this young pastor as he deals with his brain cancer before his family, his church congregation and the world. Very gifted, very passionate, but like us all- a jar of clay. Follow his blog at http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/
