Lord's Prayer

     The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Psalm 23:1-6

     As I begin my next voyage upon the dark ocean of the writing world, my Lord lights my way with his celestial navigational lights from the heavens above.  He arouses within me an overwhelming desire to sail into the, at times stormy, at times serene, ocean to adventure and heavenly bliss.  For he has shown me time and again that he is always here for me.  Piloting me to destinations of his choosing...not of mine.  He fills my sails with the power of his word.  filling my heart, my soul with his holy spirit, making the voyage always stimulating.  The storms I encounter are meager impediments on the voyage, also adding exhilaration.  My Lord always teaching, always right beside me, delighting in my delight...I in his.  My Lord, in addition to being my savior, is my friend, my brother.  

     That this thing which I do to glorify him gives me such pleasure makes me, at times, uncomfortable, but he assures me this is the reward for his glorification.  I always ask that I do justice to his name.  I fail often, but he merely smiles and reassures me.  That's my Lord Jesus Christ. 

Holy Spirit

     I respect and admire people who live their lives quietly, peacefully, doing the everyday things in a steady manner.  They always exude serenity, a calmness.  But, then come people like me that for some reason, unknown to mankind, God inwardly and, at times, outwardly churns and stirs up a great and beautiful tempest.  The waves reach great heights and the winds intense speeds.  The holy spirit moves intensely within me, constantly bursting forth like a solar flare from the sun.  It has been this way all my life.  I burn and yearn to tell those things he reveals to me.  Though others, at times, fail to believe, I set forth only that which the spirit mixed with the word reveals to me.  Why would you want to hide these holy things?  Let it burst forth for others to see the glorious things our Father reveals to us.  Do not fear the laughter or scorn of others.  Let that be the salt upon the spiritual food making it all the more flavorful.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

Psalm 51 :10-17

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1: 1-18

WELCOME

     I would like to welcome our new readers from Russia, Bulgaria, France, Malaysia, the United States, and many more that increase daily.  Know this; the blog herein is for the glory of our Father, not for myself, and may it truly be so.
     Whether you are newly considering Christianity or a long time Saint, know that I accept our Lord Jesus as my lord and savior trying to put more faith in him each new day he blesses me with.  I am not a minister, only a lay person with the spiritual gift of faith.  I do this blog to make a poor attempt to let the world know what I know...that our God, our Father, loves us each unconditionally.  He may not love some of our actions, but loves us just the same unconditionally.  Put your faith in him who tells us to love every person as a creation of a most loving, perfect God, forgive all who ask, give to any who ask, do not judge for God himself will judge us all by our entire lives, not just a few actions of that life. And, remember, most of all, here, you are loved and will learn to give yourself completely to our Lord Jesus who teaches you about our Father and his love.  You will put your faith in and find comfort in him who is, was, and forever shall be...who created all things, all places, all times.  Jesus was and is always teaching us.  Know these verses:

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[c] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[d] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22: 34-40 

     When you enter this blog, you are an equal with and loved by all the other saints reading herein.  Once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and begin to build your faith in him, you will begin to change, to throw off your old clothing and put on your new.  You are most welcome and loved here. 
     I feel I need to add something to this post.  I would like to say that we know no national boundaries in Christianity.  Our love and faith supersedes all worldly boundaries.  When you enter Christianity, your nationality, your station in life, your skin color, or whatever classification fades away and you become one with all God's creation which he loves without end and divinely.  Welcome my fellow Saint.  

Smile!

     Smile!  If you are a Christian and have faith, smile.  For, if God has guided you to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, how can you have anything but joy in your heart.  Let it explode from within for others around you.  Let the spirit burst forth to radiate and be a beacon for those hurting and in need.  We need to put out our signs for people to know where to go to find comfort in our Lord.  He is not a secret for us to jealously guard.  Let his light shine through you.  Lift up your head and be a beacon for those souls in distress.  Let our Savior save through you.  Show the love to world that he has shown to you.  Love is God's gift that increases the more you give it away. What a wondrous God is he that loves us so dearly that he sacrificed his only son for us.  Let his love shine through you, his most loved...Smile!

Hunger

Starting yesterday at the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sudan’s crisis is being highlighted by calls from African states – including host Ethiopia – to end the bombing of civilians and open aid delivery. Sudanese and international groups also want the AU and the United Nations to investigate war crimes and genocide allegations.
The Sudanese situation reached a higher volume in a Jan. 18 Nairobi meeting of African civil society leaders, who warned in a statement that, “One of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights disaster is unfolding there.”
“It is getting worse. Children are dying. There is no vaccination or medicine. The people are hungry. Their crops have been were bombed and burned,” says Anglican bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of South Kordofan, who adds that the various bush and leaf foliage that have been a source of food are “drying up.”
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

     This is one of the areas hurting so badly in this world.    The people most affected in the region are Christian, but I am certain the Muslim peoples in Northern Sudan are affected, also.  The Sudan separated into two countries July 9, 2011.  The south being Christian and the north being Muslim.  Oil on the border, of course, is the dispute.  I'm sure it's wealth will be misused as is usually the case.  

     We need to help those in need.  It matters not their faith for it is just another opportunity to add glory to our Father's name in giving as Christians.  Remember our simple motto:  Give, give, give...love, love, love...then give some more and love some more.  

     As I have said before, this world is too small for wars and there should be no person go hungry, especially, children.  We have the resources.  We need to take less to give more.  Love is the basic ingredient to feed the world.  Love begets concern begets giving begets love.  

     My wife and I know that all people have good inside them.  It may be hidden by years of abuse, but it is there for our Father created them, and anything he creates is good and he loves us all.  We must change our thinking to love and think most positive that, with our Lord God's guidance, wisdom, courage, and love, we can overcome any obstacles to bringing his kingdom way of life to the world's daily life.  Remember, he never said it would be easy, and told us he would always be right beside us and would give us strength and courage and the way, if we but ask.  Put a smile on your face to show the beauty within and let his holy spirit shine through you. 

  

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

1 CORINTHIANS 13

FALSE PROPHETS

An increasing number of South Korean Christians are becoming disillusioned with organised religion and are leaving their churches, a recently published report says.
Greed, unthinking obedience, and hypocrisy among church leaders in recent years has led to a new phenomenon of ‘unchurched Christians’, the report says, who believe in the religion but avoid joining a congregation.
In a country famous for its zealous subway preachers and the largest church congregation in the world, the idea that you can be spiritual without being religious is novel.

     The above lines written by Dan Olson about the Korean church are disconcerting but not surprising.  Many of my blog readers are South Korean.  I feel a need to say to you that if you base your faith in God on mankind and not on Jesus Christ, then you have a misdirected faith.  Mankind is flawed...every last one of us, except Jesus Christ.  As incredible as it may seem, there are many people in this world that have or are using the Christian pulpit and it's money and power to debase our Lord's name and his mission.   
     Please, do not be naive, concentrate your faith in our Father and his son, our Lord Jesus.  He will never disappoint nor fail us.  Try to forgive those who do these horrible things in the name of our Father, as he commands.  If you have faith and know the word, you are in the holy spirit of God, and will be guided to know the truth of mankind's words and actions.  Do not fear them.  Our Father knows what they do.  He knows, also, all that you do and believe, and rewards your faith in him.  Continue believing and loving.  Do not let mankind spoil the beauty of our Lord and Father.  We know we all have weaknesses.  See through those weaknesses in your fellow man and give them love and forgiveness.  Let our Father be the judge...not mankind.  Steer away from false prophets, but do not fear them.  Only fear him who is ruler over all, our Father. 

Self Righteousness

    Recently, I heard a person expressing some very self righteous opinions at church.  It immediately brought to mind this story told by the famous American writer, Mark Twain:

The other day I walked into the sitting parlor at my home and sitting there talking with my wife was the snooty, self righteous biddy from next door.  I had a glass of whiskey in one hand and a cigar in the other.  She looked, disapprovingly, at me and said, Mr Twain, I do not smoke or drink.  

I looked her in the eye and told her these facts; mam, when I get sick, I go to the doctor and he tells me to give up smoking or drinking for awhile and I get well.  My dear lady, when you get sick, you have no vices to give up.  Therefore, you are in mortal danger.

     Remember, our Lord said he did not come to save the righteous.  The fact hidden in his statement is that none of us are free from sin.  The lady, in the above account, was suffering from the sin of self righteousness.  Too often to count, Christians display this attitude and destroy any chance of conversion for, at least, that time and person they are speaking with.  Remember, we are all sinners and need to exhibit love, understanding, and compassion for those opportunities our Father presents to us.  Be humble and look through the exterior to find the beauty beneath.  Always, look to our Lord Jesus' example.