Well, I am awake!
Also, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with lung cancer was prayed for by his church and now there is not lung cancer. PET scans are wonderful.
My wife has decided to shut down her custom drapery company, as she is just not a businesswoman. Some people would be sad about this because it really had great potential (her clients loved her so much they even offered to fly her to their vacation homes to do the drapes for them), but her heart isn't in it. If your heart isn't in something then you are wasting your time doing it. I am proud of her for realizing this and facing it instead of trudging through life doing something she doesn't want to do.
I am blessed because I have friends.
I was blessed today because another family which we had prayed for (as have many, many others) received a great gift from the Lord which lifted them up and helped them get back onto the right path.
I was blessed today to receive a letter from my friend in Northern Iraq. He is doing a great work for God and is persevering in the midst of some very tough times.
American evangelicalism is giving Christianity a bad name. There are bright spots, mainly among some younger groups, but by and large, ours is a nation filled with largesse, gluttony and greed, and I am not speaking of the pagan population. Some have the misguided notion that to express our gratitude for God's blessings is to pander to an outward desire to be heard, or somehow to demonstrate some form of spiritual superiority. Actually, vocalizing God's blessings is commanded by sacred scripture and if my eschatology and Koine Greek are near correct, has been practiced since eternity past by the Angels in heaven, the four living creatures, (whom I now think represent creation) and by the 24 Elders seated around the throne of God in the book of Revelation.
To express our thanksgiving to God is a natural response of redeemed sinners who have no other material way of thanking Him - we can't offer Him anything. David put it this way, "What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people. (Psalm 116)
Shouldn't we do the same?
Thursday, July 20, 2006
How God blessed me today - July 20, 2006
Well, I am awake!
Also, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with lung cancer was prayed for by his church and now there is not lung cancer. PET scans are wonderful.
My wife has decided to shut down her custom drapery company, as she is just not a businesswoman. Some people would be sad about this because it really had great potential (her clients loved her so much they even offered to fly her to their vacation homes to do the drapes for them), but her heart isn't in it. If your heart isn't in something then you are wasting your time doing it. I am proud of her for realizing this and facing it instead of trudging through life doing something she doesn't want to do.
I am blessed because I have friends.
I was blessed today because another family which we had prayed for (as have many, many others) received a great gift from the Lord which lifted them up and helped them get back onto the right path.
I was blessed today to receive a letter from my friend in Northern Iraq. He is doing a great work for God and is persevering in the midst of some very tough times.
American evangelicalism is giving Christianity a bad name. There are bright spots, mainly among some younger groups, but by and large, ours is a nation filled with largesse, gluttony and greed, and I am not speaking of the pagan population. Some have the misguided notion that to express our gratitude for God's blessings is to pander to an outward desire to be heard, or somehow to demonstrate some form of spiritual superiority. Actually, vocalizing God's blessings is commanded by sacred scripture and if my eschatology and Koine Greek are near correct, has been practiced since eternity past by the Angels in heaven, the four living creatures, (whom I now think represent creation) and by the 24 Elders seated around the throne of God in the book of Revelation.
To express our thanksgiving to God is a natural response of redeemed sinners who have no other material way of thanking Him - we can't offer Him anything. David put it this way, "What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people. (Psalm 116)
Shouldn't we do the same?
Also, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with lung cancer was prayed for by his church and now there is not lung cancer. PET scans are wonderful.
My wife has decided to shut down her custom drapery company, as she is just not a businesswoman. Some people would be sad about this because it really had great potential (her clients loved her so much they even offered to fly her to their vacation homes to do the drapes for them), but her heart isn't in it. If your heart isn't in something then you are wasting your time doing it. I am proud of her for realizing this and facing it instead of trudging through life doing something she doesn't want to do.
I am blessed because I have friends.
I was blessed today because another family which we had prayed for (as have many, many others) received a great gift from the Lord which lifted them up and helped them get back onto the right path.
I was blessed today to receive a letter from my friend in Northern Iraq. He is doing a great work for God and is persevering in the midst of some very tough times.
American evangelicalism is giving Christianity a bad name. There are bright spots, mainly among some younger groups, but by and large, ours is a nation filled with largesse, gluttony and greed, and I am not speaking of the pagan population. Some have the misguided notion that to express our gratitude for God's blessings is to pander to an outward desire to be heard, or somehow to demonstrate some form of spiritual superiority. Actually, vocalizing God's blessings is commanded by sacred scripture and if my eschatology and Koine Greek are near correct, has been practiced since eternity past by the Angels in heaven, the four living creatures, (whom I now think represent creation) and by the 24 Elders seated around the throne of God in the book of Revelation.
To express our thanksgiving to God is a natural response of redeemed sinners who have no other material way of thanking Him - we can't offer Him anything. David put it this way, "What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people. (Psalm 116)
Shouldn't we do the same?
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
How God blessed me today - July 18, 2006
Here's how God blessed me today:
For one thing, I was not born an Arab in Jordan or Israel to a fanatical muslim family.
Two, I was born in America, where we have the ability to worship as we please (for the time being).
I was blessed to eat today as well as walk and see. I also have all of my faculties and am healthy by God's grace.
God blessed me today because He has told me history in advance - this is called "prophecy" in the Bible. No, I am not a prophet, and I do not have the gift of prophecy, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11 in the Bible. But I do know what is going to happen in history. One day, perhaps soon, conflict and evil will advance to such a state that people cannot believe what is happening. Then, someone, somewhere, will emerge upon the world's stage and be hailed as a great peacemaker - offering to quell the world's violence and offer peace to Israel and the Arabs. At some point during this process, I will be out of here, because Jesus Christ, who is God, will return and take me with Him. Then literally, all Hell will break loose.
Imagine Al Queda without restraint, child molesters without prisons or police and rapists without civil or criminal law. That's what it will be like. Then this peace person will convince the world to appoint him ruler over everyone and he will declare martial law to end the violence and restore some peace. People will love it and him. But after 3 1/2 years, he will turn nasty and declare himself to be God - and demand that people worship him. Thos who don't will be killed instantly.
All the while, I'll be in heaven having a feast with Jesus and all the other believers. (hope they have Chick-fil-a chakes there - they are awesome)
Anyway, you can be blessed in this manner also, by reading the Bible books of Daniel, Ezekiel, 1 Thessalonians and the book of Matthew. Then you too can know history in advance.
God blessed me today by letting me out of physics class early to study for my huge exam tomorrow. (Harmonic motion, electromotive forces, electric field theory and stuff like that)
I wish that everyone would be blessed as I am. St. Paul told the Roman governor Festus that he wished he (Festus) would be just like Paul and follow Jesus. If you notice, I said "would" not "could". Anyone "can" be blessed. Not everyone wants to be, which really puzzles me.
To be blessed as I am requires only that you put all of your hope, faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your eternal savior. Nothing less and nothing more.
For one thing, I was not born an Arab in Jordan or Israel to a fanatical muslim family.
Two, I was born in America, where we have the ability to worship as we please (for the time being).
I was blessed to eat today as well as walk and see. I also have all of my faculties and am healthy by God's grace.
God blessed me today because He has told me history in advance - this is called "prophecy" in the Bible. No, I am not a prophet, and I do not have the gift of prophecy, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11 in the Bible. But I do know what is going to happen in history. One day, perhaps soon, conflict and evil will advance to such a state that people cannot believe what is happening. Then, someone, somewhere, will emerge upon the world's stage and be hailed as a great peacemaker - offering to quell the world's violence and offer peace to Israel and the Arabs. At some point during this process, I will be out of here, because Jesus Christ, who is God, will return and take me with Him. Then literally, all Hell will break loose.
Imagine Al Queda without restraint, child molesters without prisons or police and rapists without civil or criminal law. That's what it will be like. Then this peace person will convince the world to appoint him ruler over everyone and he will declare martial law to end the violence and restore some peace. People will love it and him. But after 3 1/2 years, he will turn nasty and declare himself to be God - and demand that people worship him. Thos who don't will be killed instantly.
All the while, I'll be in heaven having a feast with Jesus and all the other believers. (hope they have Chick-fil-a chakes there - they are awesome)
Anyway, you can be blessed in this manner also, by reading the Bible books of Daniel, Ezekiel, 1 Thessalonians and the book of Matthew. Then you too can know history in advance.
God blessed me today by letting me out of physics class early to study for my huge exam tomorrow. (Harmonic motion, electromotive forces, electric field theory and stuff like that)
I wish that everyone would be blessed as I am. St. Paul told the Roman governor Festus that he wished he (Festus) would be just like Paul and follow Jesus. If you notice, I said "would" not "could". Anyone "can" be blessed. Not everyone wants to be, which really puzzles me.
To be blessed as I am requires only that you put all of your hope, faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your eternal savior. Nothing less and nothing more.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
How God blessed me today - July 16, 2006
I am going to talk about how God blessed me today, but before I do, I must address the 1 person who actually reads this blog besides me (anonymous Chris).
I write here because I am too lazy to use a pen and write in my prayer journal. Plus, perhaps in some small way, if CHrist does come soon, those who are not taken up with the Lord will see this and have some idea of who He is and what He has done.
God blessed me today because he allowed me to attend a church service where the Pastor preached about the benefits of Christ. The Roman church calls these things the "merits" of Christ, but they do not understand how to achieve them. The only way, is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on a cross and that God raised Him from the dead. Other than that, you are wasting oxygen.
God blessed me today because he allowed me to eat a nice, healthy lunch.
God blessed me today because even though the world is in an almost global state of war, I and my family have no fear. I don't own a gun or even a bow and arrow. You know, if I may digress, when I think back on my earlier life, how disobedient I was, it's amazing that God can be so merciful. When I was much younger, serving in the military and afterwards, I participated in military shooting competition and self-defense courses. I followed Jim Cirillo who as a NYC cop survived more than 200 gunfights. In fact, I even had custom-made bullets, mimicking his, which would kill a horse instantly. I carried a H&K USP 45 custom in a custom-designed invisible holster that I even wore with gym shorts and no one could ever tell I had a gun. I used to practise until within 1.5 seconds, I could draw this pistol and hit a bullseye at 40 feet. I would practise, telling myself that one day I may be in a store or restaurant when some freak entered and tried to rob me - and I would kill him.
This is what Jesus meant when He said, "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,And seeing you will see and not perceive;" (Matthew 13:14). I heard the bible and saw what was written in it but I didn't understand what it literally said.
I wasn't a law-enforcement officer, nor a soldier, just a foolish man. But God didn't strike me down or turn me into a porcupine. Instead, He waited and brought others into my life to tell me the truth of His Son and how I should live. I'm not saying that no one should defend themselves who is a Christian. C.S. Lewis wrote an excellent book entitled, "Why I am not a pacifist" on this subject. But no Christian should live as I lived, hoping and training for violence. You can't turn the other cheek to someone while you are carrying a weapon that would instantly kill them.
God blessed me today because I am a Gentile and I was born during the "time of the Gentiles". This means that God could have had me born in first-century Israel as a Jew, where most likely I would have rejected His Messiah, like most other Jews did and have. Instead, He has allowed me to become "grafted in" so to speak into His original human family - the Jewish nation, because they rejected His Son. One day, they won't reject Him anymore, but we have no idea when that will be.
God blessed me today because He has given me faith. I really don't have any idea how I am gong to pay for upcoming school costs, medical school registration, courses, etc. I only know that I am a child of the King of the Universe and He has made a way for me too many times to even count.
God blessed me today because at church we had a baby dedication.
God blessed me today because we took my 92 year old grandmother to church with us.
God blessed me today because He has given us refrigerant to recharge the A/C in our car.
God blessed me today because He has allowed me to pray for my friends in Pakistan.
This morning's sermon was on the benefits of being a child of God. There are many, among them, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, love, meekness, etc. People who are not followers of Jesus Christ cannot have these benefits. Of course, there are non-Christians who say, "I want peace", but they either follow a religion which does not or they do not understand what peace actually is. Peace is not the absence of violence. Peace is an all-encompassing love for others flowing from the fountain of God. Sure, Buddhists and Hindu's pray for peace, but step on their toes and they will seek revenge just as would any other "normal" person. But Jesus said, this is not to be so for His followers. Peace is asking yourself, "will I offer my only blanket to that cold person even though I am cold?" and then acting upon it.
You can have this kind of peace, but only by following Jesus Christ. I didn't make up this rule - He did. If you disagree, you'll have to take it up with Him. But, if you are willing to endure a bit of advice - take it up with Him BEFORE you die. Afterward, you will be out of options.
I write here because I am too lazy to use a pen and write in my prayer journal. Plus, perhaps in some small way, if CHrist does come soon, those who are not taken up with the Lord will see this and have some idea of who He is and what He has done.
God blessed me today because he allowed me to attend a church service where the Pastor preached about the benefits of Christ. The Roman church calls these things the "merits" of Christ, but they do not understand how to achieve them. The only way, is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on a cross and that God raised Him from the dead. Other than that, you are wasting oxygen.
God blessed me today because he allowed me to eat a nice, healthy lunch.
God blessed me today because even though the world is in an almost global state of war, I and my family have no fear. I don't own a gun or even a bow and arrow. You know, if I may digress, when I think back on my earlier life, how disobedient I was, it's amazing that God can be so merciful. When I was much younger, serving in the military and afterwards, I participated in military shooting competition and self-defense courses. I followed Jim Cirillo who as a NYC cop survived more than 200 gunfights. In fact, I even had custom-made bullets, mimicking his, which would kill a horse instantly. I carried a H&K USP 45 custom in a custom-designed invisible holster that I even wore with gym shorts and no one could ever tell I had a gun. I used to practise until within 1.5 seconds, I could draw this pistol and hit a bullseye at 40 feet. I would practise, telling myself that one day I may be in a store or restaurant when some freak entered and tried to rob me - and I would kill him.
This is what Jesus meant when He said, "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,And seeing you will see and not perceive;" (Matthew 13:14). I heard the bible and saw what was written in it but I didn't understand what it literally said.
I wasn't a law-enforcement officer, nor a soldier, just a foolish man. But God didn't strike me down or turn me into a porcupine. Instead, He waited and brought others into my life to tell me the truth of His Son and how I should live. I'm not saying that no one should defend themselves who is a Christian. C.S. Lewis wrote an excellent book entitled, "Why I am not a pacifist" on this subject. But no Christian should live as I lived, hoping and training for violence. You can't turn the other cheek to someone while you are carrying a weapon that would instantly kill them.
God blessed me today because I am a Gentile and I was born during the "time of the Gentiles". This means that God could have had me born in first-century Israel as a Jew, where most likely I would have rejected His Messiah, like most other Jews did and have. Instead, He has allowed me to become "grafted in" so to speak into His original human family - the Jewish nation, because they rejected His Son. One day, they won't reject Him anymore, but we have no idea when that will be.
God blessed me today because He has given me faith. I really don't have any idea how I am gong to pay for upcoming school costs, medical school registration, courses, etc. I only know that I am a child of the King of the Universe and He has made a way for me too many times to even count.
God blessed me today because at church we had a baby dedication.
God blessed me today because we took my 92 year old grandmother to church with us.
God blessed me today because He has given us refrigerant to recharge the A/C in our car.
God blessed me today because He has allowed me to pray for my friends in Pakistan.
This morning's sermon was on the benefits of being a child of God. There are many, among them, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, love, meekness, etc. People who are not followers of Jesus Christ cannot have these benefits. Of course, there are non-Christians who say, "I want peace", but they either follow a religion which does not or they do not understand what peace actually is. Peace is not the absence of violence. Peace is an all-encompassing love for others flowing from the fountain of God. Sure, Buddhists and Hindu's pray for peace, but step on their toes and they will seek revenge just as would any other "normal" person. But Jesus said, this is not to be so for His followers. Peace is asking yourself, "will I offer my only blanket to that cold person even though I am cold?" and then acting upon it.
You can have this kind of peace, but only by following Jesus Christ. I didn't make up this rule - He did. If you disagree, you'll have to take it up with Him. But, if you are willing to endure a bit of advice - take it up with Him BEFORE you die. Afterward, you will be out of options.
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