BLOGGER TEMPLATES - TWITTER BACKGROUNDS »

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Here Are Some Great New Ideas ....

1. Plant a Tree in your yard

2. Instead of spending money on going out for entertainment, be creative- start a hobby or renew intrest in an old hobby

3. Read a Book

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, March 26, 2010

God is BIGGER than ANY problem you have!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

in the end, FREEDOM is the only thing worth living for!

There is a very fine line between idolatry and reverence for God.
If you love something and use it accordingly, that is fine- with all moderation and regard for yourself, others and most of all God.
But if you misuse and abuse anything- then it becomes a problem.
Again, if you use something, and you are in control of how much, how often, and to better your life and the lives around you, then good.
But if the object controls you, your habits, your attitudes and your destiny, then it is an idol.

Many people hear the word "idol", and think of an unspecified person... or maybe they think of greek gods.... or maybe they don't really know what to think.
The first few definitions of "idol" in the merriam-webster online dictionary would easily confuse , or confirm the uncertainty of what exactly an idol might me... they call idol things like, "false god", "the likeness of something", "imposter"... but then we get to a better description of what an idol really is, that we can understand in "layman's terms":
'Idol' is defined and described as "an object of extreme devotion".

So, to break this down, an idol is something someone is extremely devoted to.
It could be anything.
It could be sex. It could be clothes, or vanity. It could be drugs. It could be money. It could be a lifestyle. Anything that consumes your mind - other than GOD - is an idol.

You may wonder then, How can anyone live and please God? Or How can anyone not be called an idolater?
The easiest answer is to confront your idols, and get rid of them.

But there's a biggger problem... and the main reason idolatry is suck a tricky demon to defeat.
Most people do not want to get rid of their idols... or their drug habits, or their spending habits, or their sexual gratifications, or their pride- yes pride is an idol. An idol of the ego, an idol of the self.
HMMMMMM.........................................................???


People - if people want to be TRULY and WHOLLY satisfyed in their lives should realize that if something is needed to make them happy in life, or feel better about thier life, unless it's GOD, then it's an idol.

I see people never satisfyed, never satusfyed with thier lives, or thier work or their relationships because they try to find satisfaction in ways that will never satisfy.

The things that truly bring satisfaction and peace and contentment and glory to life and to people are things from GOD, pure things... true things, good things....
let me tell you of some...
LOVE


PEACE


JOY


RIGHTEOUSNESS


GOODNESS

GENTLENESS

KINDNESS


HUMILITY


MODERATION aka TEMPERANCE aka SELF-CONTROL


which brings us back to the subject of this message.

Idolatry vs. Self- Control


I confess: I used to be a chain smoker. And I used to be a "pot-head". I used to be a lot of other things.

Then I got set free.


I will make another confession.
I have smoked cigarettes since I quit.
I have even smoked pot since I quit.

But the difference is this:
cigarettes do not control me..... the urge or craving for cigarettes do not control me... getting high on weed does not control me... I don't have to spend money every week on drugs or cigarettes every week to maintain my inner peace and sanctity. I don't have to smoke a joint every day to enjoy the day. I know some people who can't LIVE and be happy and normal with out consuming some type of substances. Yeah, I take herbs, but thier legal, and I can survive pretty good without them. I treat them like a luxury, not a neccessity.
When we start depending on things, like drugs for happiness, sex for pleasure, money for entertainment, then we begin to lose the true value of happiness, pleasure, and enjoyment of life... for what it is.

I have learned the glory of the liberty of not being in chains to things that kill and waste and uses and makes poor.

I used drugs and cigarettes --- they were my friends.
If I was lonely or alone or bored, smoking made me feel like I was doing something... it took my mind off of it's lonliness... but it was hurting me. And it was making me tired and I was wasting all my money and my precious energy and I was only becomeing unhealthier and unclean because of them... I can go on and on.

I know the victory of conqering my addictions.
I know what it's like to be freed from chains of the mind... of the spirit.. of the self.

YOU CAN BE FREE~!

FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM~

FIGHT FOOR YOUR PEACE~

BELIEVE IN REAL SATISFACTION~
BELIEVE IN REAL LOVE -
THESE THINGS DO NOT FIND US , NOR DO WE FIND THEM; WE CREATE THEM. WITH OUR LIVES, OUR LOVE, AND OUR WILL.

FAITH AND STRONG HOPE TO ALL WHO DARE TO BELIEVE!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

10 Ways

10 Ways to Destroy a Relationship

10. Don't Communicate Honestly

9. Never Listen

8. Disrespect the other person's feelings, thoughts and ideas

7. Gossip about them - (talk about them instead of TO them)

6. Send them negative energy

5. Put the other person last on your list (Ignore the other's needs and desires)

4. Always be right, Make sure the other is always wrong

3. Be inconsiderate

2. Never Forgive (Never Believe in them, never pray for them..)

1. Hate the other person



10 ways to Keep a Relationship

10. Think good things about the other person often

9. Pray for that person, and pray how to be a blessing to the other person

8. Believe in the Very Best for the other person

7. Want the Very Best for the other person

6. Trust (Obedience--- also being open emotionally)

5. Be Responsible for Yourself

4. Be A Good Example...
3. Eat together

2. Give Room for Grace (pray together, or for each other)

1. Love the other person

Thank You for Reading my Letter~

I think people want good lives.
I do!
I think people would like to be happy and not sad. I think people would like to be respected and appreciated, not angry or disrespected ...
but what does it take to be happy, you can't MAKE people honor and respect you... sometimes you can't even get people to LISTEN to you!
So what can we do?!
I think people want good lives.... but we can't expect to do whatever we want (good or bad) and then expect everything to be good.
Everything in life that we experience is a result from choice.
Everything WE do is our choice... Every one has choice. AKA FREE WILL.
Our Free Will goes as far as our attitude to our outfit, our job to our integrity, our dinner to our workout routines..... and we all know that good things sometimes take effort and discipline.
Sometimes though, good things are easy.
Sometimes we do not recognize just how easy they good things are!

(because everything else in life is a struggle)

We have to choose if we want the good or the bad.
If what you think is good is good, then you should be happy right?
Or maybe you are not happy because you are subject to someone else's Free Will. And in the Truth, we all are subject to one another in that we all have Free Will.
We have the power to love or hate each other. We have the power to hurt or heal.
We have power to forgive and forget, ourselves and each other.....we only have to choose it.

We should not let other people's Free Will affect OUR Free Will, or we can now call Good Will.
Sometimes our Good Will is hurt when others do not appreciate or respect it.
So sometimes (I speak from experience) Good Will turns south .... well, maybe WE turn south, when we feel dishonored, disrespected or unappreciated.
But - we can only be what we are.
I love the fact that we are all individuals. It gives me hope to think that hopefully, other people can forgive me, as I learn to forgive myself. And I also forgive others that have hurt me.
Sometimes people don't realize that they are hurting another person...maybe they can only see where they are right now and life, and have forgotten that there is a future ahead of them. Maybe they are living for the moment instead of seizing the moment.
Sometimes I don't realize how I hurt others... sometimes I don't see my self the way I really am.
And when people try to tell me, I either don't believe them, don't understand them or am so hurt that I don't seem to care (because of my passion in self-)

We are all human beings.

Who are you?

Who am I to you?

But if we look inside, sometimes we have to open up and say... I am human. This means I am vulnerable.... I am weak, sometimes I am too strong.
But I have a heart... I have a mind .... (of my own) and so do you.
I bleed, but don't we all?

Jesus bled so we would remember that---- and His message is to forgive one another completely (from our heart) and to love one another as He loved us.
Embarrassed...Ashamed (he was naked on the cross), humiliated (he was God's Son, right? and look at Him on the Cross!)Rejected, Neglected, Hated.... but now we can be AWARE of the Reason He existed....Truth, Love, Life Eternal.

~They Say Thankfulness is the Mother of All other Virtues~

Saturday, March 6, 2010

_If You Make a Mistake, Learn From It_

I hang around with a lot of men. It's because I was raised by my Daddy and my brother. I lived at my grandmother's house, and was also influenced by my grandpa.

I watch and listen - and a couple things I want to say - that I have seen recently - are that men fear death.
All some men talk about is dying, fear of dying - -- maybe it's a fear of not accomplishing the LIFE God has given to you.
BUt, nevertheless, the point I want to make is that I see these types of men, and I see this in common- they would rather dye, than forgive one another.
They would rather dye than give something to a brother- (or a sister sometimes?)
they would rather dye than go to church. They would rather dye, than dye to self.

so they fear death... because fo their pride. Because of their shame, they are afraid of what other people think. But they don't repent.
They are so ashamed of their sin, they feel so misunderstood, so ruled by thier emotions- and try to figure it out by themselves, or ask each other- or abuse themselves with substances that temporarily relieve the emotional pain (the continual reminder of thier "failure" "wrong", "hurt", "conviction") that they lose the truth- and they want someone to come an save them, but they need to get up and save themselves.

They need to realize that only God Almighty is perfect, and that He is Merciful, He is Faithful, and It's all about HIM.
The conviction is, Maybe THEY were wrong---- (not the other person)-- but maybe NOBODY "taught" them "HOW" to FORGIVE ~someone~ (you fill in the blanks)---
maybe they have never seen -witnessed- a "scenerio" of someone giving another one - of humbling thyself and LEARNING HOW to change a situation for a greater cause.
Maybe they think they are better than others- (I think that type of thinking is backwards)-


That, my dear ones, is called "Live and Learn." Maybe also you could say ... "If you make a mistake, Learn from it!".....
And Turn Toward God.


God is The Saviour- Seek the LORD GOD and Be SAVED~!