An East African proverb says, "When minds are the same, that which is far off will come." When 3,000 Mexican soldiers faced 6,000 invading French soldiers, a Mexican victory looked far off.
But Mexican soldiers asked Mexican farmers called campesinos to help fight, and united they defeated the French on May 5, 1862, in Puebla, Mexico. Mexican President Benito Juarez, who was of Native American heritage, made the victory a national celebration called Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May).
The French used defeat to renew their determination to fight and fought with Mexico while the Civil War was being fought in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy. France was interested in defeating Mexico, so that they could weaken the Union. France favored the Confederacy. Mexico was an ally of the Union.
Mexican President Benito Juarez and American President Abraham Lincoln both grew up in poverty and later on became lawyers and presidents of their nations; they were also political allies.
The Mexicans kept defeating the French and celebrating each May 5th. After the Union defeated the Confederacy, President Lincoln sent soldiers to America's border with Mexico to help Mexico fight off the French. Of the 30,000 US troops sent, 20,000 were African Americans. Finally in 1867, France had enough of war and left Mexico.
A free Mexico was good for Mexicans, the Union and African Americans.
In the Bible book of Joshua God gave the Hebrews the Promised Land. God also has a nation for various groups of people. Boundaries can be beautiful.
Sometimes people need to leave the nation of their birth or choice and join another nation. Today and throughout American history Mexicans and other people have sought to join America. The Bible way is to welcome strangers and to make them friends and family, not to shackle them with debt, a long path to citizenship and splitting apart families.
Proverbs 17:17 Amplified Bible says, "A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity."
During African American slavery many friends helped runaway slaves escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad. While many advocates of slavery practiced splitting apart African American families, many abolitionists found ways to keep families together. God put children and parents together.
May 5th is also celebrated in Japan as Children's Day. Parents honor children by flying carp-shaped kites or banners.
Happy May 5th! Share stories of U.S. citizens helping immigrant families. Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on the social media Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Even more wonderful than being a free citizen family in an earthly nation is to be one in an eternal kingdom family. Today is Resurrection Sunday for Orthodox Christians when the resurrection of Jesus Christ from His death is celebrated. Are you a family member of the eternal kingdom of God? Talk to God and allow Him to give you a new kingdom life. John 1:12-13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God."
In China Qi means the foundation of courage, will and intention. Courage requires conviction in love. Immigrants and all people need love. 1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version Bible says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Showing posts with label Eternal Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eternal Life. Show all posts
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Living Forever
When I was in elementary school, a girl asked me a question like, "How long do you want to live?" I answered forever.
God designed us with desires that draw us to Him even when we don't have a relationship with the Designer. At the time of the girl's question, I did not have a relationship with God.
The Chinese were the first to notice the circulation of blood through the human body. One day our blood will stop circulating.
Science hasn't found a way to keep our physical blood flowing forever. God has a way for our life to flow forever.
While most of us won't be able to by-pass the first death, some of us can by-pass the second death and live forever. The human body must change to live eternally. 1 Corinthians 15:53 Amplified Bible says, "For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death)."
Do you also desire to live forever? Ask God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost to exchange your limited life for His eternal life.
God designed us with desires that draw us to Him even when we don't have a relationship with the Designer. At the time of the girl's question, I did not have a relationship with God.
The Chinese were the first to notice the circulation of blood through the human body. One day our blood will stop circulating.
Science hasn't found a way to keep our physical blood flowing forever. God has a way for our life to flow forever.
While most of us won't be able to by-pass the first death, some of us can by-pass the second death and live forever. The human body must change to live eternally. 1 Corinthians 15:53 Amplified Bible says, "For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death)."
Do you also desire to live forever? Ask God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost to exchange your limited life for His eternal life.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Multiplication
"Sadly, many people don't really know true love--that is, God's love for them. I'm talking about a real revelation of His unwavering, unconditional love. This may be an underlying cause of many problems in relationships today. Quite honestly, many people just don't like themselves, and it's mainly due to the lack of a revelation that God, the Creator of the universe, is absolutely crazy about them," writes International Bible Teacher Joyce Meyer in her February 2013 Enjoying Everyday Life magazine.
Booker Taliaferro Washington liked himself even as a boy. People who like themselves seek to improve themselves and other people. Shortly after Washington was freed from African-American slavery as a boy, he was forced into the slavery of child labor. Sometimes he had to go to work starting at 4 a.m. in salt mines and working throughout the day. He also later in his childhood had to work in coal mines. Nevertheless, Washington and his mother schemed together for ways to send him to night school and to home school him. Washington taught himself the English alphabet.
While liking himself, it took some time to get over envy of others who were born into lives with more opportunities. Washington, an educator, speaker, author and Civil Rights Leader who was born into slavery and rose to the top of African-American leadership during Jim Crow segregation, writes in his book, Up From Slavery, about his boyhood, "In those days, and later as a young man, I used to try to picture in my imagination the feelings and ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no limit placed upon his aspirations and activities. I used to envy the white boy who had no obstacles placed in the way of his becoming a Congressman, Governor, Bishop, or President by reason of the accident of his birth or race. I used to picture the way that I would act under such circumstances; how I would begin at the bottom and keep rising until I reached the highest round of success.
In later years, I confess that I do not envy the white boy as I once did. I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at from this standpoint, I almost reach the conclusion that often the Negro boy's birth and connection with an unpopular race is an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race."
Besides his mother, a multiplicity of people helped Washington to overcome the obstacles of being born into slavery. God never meant for us to live lives of isolation. Proverbs 18:1 Amplified Bible says, "He who willfully separates and estranges himself [from God and man] seeks his own desire and pretext to break out against all wise and sound judgment."
Self-centeredness is stupid and Satanic.
Jesus Christ talks to God the Father shortly before Christ is going to be crucified, killed and resurrected in three days from the dead. One of the things Christ asks God the Father for is that all believers may be one as Christ and the Father are one.
The Complete Jewish Bible says in Psalm 133:1, "Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony."
Francis Chan writes in his book, multiply disciples making disciples, "Jesus prayed that we would be united. Why? So that the world would believe that Jesus was sent by God, and so that the world would know that God loves us. Isn't it amazing that Jesus believed that the unity of His church would communicate all of this to the world? So often we assume that having right and logical arguments will be enough, but Jesus said the world will be convinced by our unity. And when you think about it, haven't we all heard the objections from unbelievers who point to divisions in the church as a cause for their disbelief?
... Jesus prayed for our unity, which means that we have to focus on loving and serving each other. But we need to be doing this in such a way that the world can see what we are doing and recognize it as a picture of unity."
Let's live in advocacy without atrocity. While there is plenty we will not agree on, disagreement does not give us permission to mistreat people.
Try to understand people. Ask God for revelation about why someone is sinning.
Everyone is a candidate from coming into relationship with Christ. Don't write-off anyone. Naomi Zacharias writes in her book, the scent of water grace for every kind of broken, about women who appear to be choosing prostitution, "Someone's willingness to subject herself to something has never made a harmful act any less exploitive (sic) or relieved the offender of responsibility. If this were so, then neither should we intervene on behalf of the abused wife who chooses to endure beatings or the laborer who willingly goes to work in the sweatshop because he needs an income in order to eat."
The answer for everything in life is God. He knows how to change us, so that we can get along with people and do other good things. Jennifer Salinas sings, "Ven A Cristo" ("Come to Christ;") He is "Incomparable" (Incomparable).
Booker Taliaferro Washington liked himself even as a boy. People who like themselves seek to improve themselves and other people. Shortly after Washington was freed from African-American slavery as a boy, he was forced into the slavery of child labor. Sometimes he had to go to work starting at 4 a.m. in salt mines and working throughout the day. He also later in his childhood had to work in coal mines. Nevertheless, Washington and his mother schemed together for ways to send him to night school and to home school him. Washington taught himself the English alphabet.
While liking himself, it took some time to get over envy of others who were born into lives with more opportunities. Washington, an educator, speaker, author and Civil Rights Leader who was born into slavery and rose to the top of African-American leadership during Jim Crow segregation, writes in his book, Up From Slavery, about his boyhood, "In those days, and later as a young man, I used to try to picture in my imagination the feelings and ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no limit placed upon his aspirations and activities. I used to envy the white boy who had no obstacles placed in the way of his becoming a Congressman, Governor, Bishop, or President by reason of the accident of his birth or race. I used to picture the way that I would act under such circumstances; how I would begin at the bottom and keep rising until I reached the highest round of success.
In later years, I confess that I do not envy the white boy as I once did. I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at from this standpoint, I almost reach the conclusion that often the Negro boy's birth and connection with an unpopular race is an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race."
Besides his mother, a multiplicity of people helped Washington to overcome the obstacles of being born into slavery. God never meant for us to live lives of isolation. Proverbs 18:1 Amplified Bible says, "He who willfully separates and estranges himself [from God and man] seeks his own desire and pretext to break out against all wise and sound judgment."
Self-centeredness is stupid and Satanic.
Jesus Christ talks to God the Father shortly before Christ is going to be crucified, killed and resurrected in three days from the dead. One of the things Christ asks God the Father for is that all believers may be one as Christ and the Father are one.
The Complete Jewish Bible says in Psalm 133:1, "Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony."
Francis Chan writes in his book, multiply disciples making disciples, "Jesus prayed that we would be united. Why? So that the world would believe that Jesus was sent by God, and so that the world would know that God loves us. Isn't it amazing that Jesus believed that the unity of His church would communicate all of this to the world? So often we assume that having right and logical arguments will be enough, but Jesus said the world will be convinced by our unity. And when you think about it, haven't we all heard the objections from unbelievers who point to divisions in the church as a cause for their disbelief?
... Jesus prayed for our unity, which means that we have to focus on loving and serving each other. But we need to be doing this in such a way that the world can see what we are doing and recognize it as a picture of unity."
Let's live in advocacy without atrocity. While there is plenty we will not agree on, disagreement does not give us permission to mistreat people.
Try to understand people. Ask God for revelation about why someone is sinning.
Everyone is a candidate from coming into relationship with Christ. Don't write-off anyone. Naomi Zacharias writes in her book, the scent of water grace for every kind of broken, about women who appear to be choosing prostitution, "Someone's willingness to subject herself to something has never made a harmful act any less exploitive (sic) or relieved the offender of responsibility. If this were so, then neither should we intervene on behalf of the abused wife who chooses to endure beatings or the laborer who willingly goes to work in the sweatshop because he needs an income in order to eat."
The answer for everything in life is God. He knows how to change us, so that we can get along with people and do other good things. Jennifer Salinas sings, "Ven A Cristo" ("Come to Christ;") He is "Incomparable" (Incomparable).
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Embrace Disability. Reject Abortion.
Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, a 29-year-old woman 33 weeks pregnant entered the Germantown Reproductive Health Center in Germantown, Maryland, on February 3, 2013. LeRoy Carhart peformed a multi-day abortion procedure where the goal was to induce labor and deliver a dead baby. Instead by February 7 both Jennifer Morbelli and her daughter, Madison Leigh, were dead.
Morbelli, a full-time substitute teacher at the Church Street School in White Plains, New York, may have sought the late-term abortion due to a medical condition of her daughter. Dan Morse in his February 11, 2013, Washington Post article, "Antiabortion activists blame Germantown clinic for woman’s death," writes, "The family of the dead woman, preparing to bury her this week, could not be reached for comment. An online gift registry linked to her and her husband indicated that her pregnancy had been wanted.
In Maryland, late-term abortions — those that occur when the fetus is developed enough to survive — are legal when the life or the health of the mother is at stake or when the baby develops a fetal abnormality."
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9 Amplified Bible, "Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead."
Learning that we have a disabled child to raise may feel like a sentence of death to some.
Did Morbelli have people around her telling her regularly that anything can be overcome?
No matter who we are we need to regularly hear words of encouragement and edification. Proverbs 18:21 the Message Bible says, "Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose." What we say and do comes from what we think which is influenced by what we are hearing.
We need to hear that God still does miracles, and He wants us to ask Him for them. Miracles come in different manners.
Sometimes God can work through fetal surgery to fix a problem. Most ectopic pregnancies occur when new human life grows in mom's too-small fallopian tubes instead of her uterus/womb creating a life-threatening situation for mom and child. Two percent of ectopic pregnancies occur outside the fallopian tubes. Jayne Jones could have had a life-of-the-mother abortion since, her son, Billy, was growing outside her uterus threatening both his and her lives, but she choose to continue her pregnancy. At this time science is not usually sophisticated enough to preserve both the life of the mother and child when an ectopic pregnancy occurs. But Jayne and Billy's story has a happy outcome. Billy was born through a special surgery called a laparotomy on April 19, 2008, weighing 2lb 2oz and breathing on his own at 28 weeks gestation.
We also need to hear that sometimes people make mistakes, and we need to ask God for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. A child diagnosed inside the womb with a medical problem can be born without a medical problem due to a wrong diagnosis.
We also need to hear that a child diagnosed in the womb with a medical problem can be prayed for, and God will supernaturally heal the child.
We also need to hear that sometimes it is God's will for a child to live with a disability.
God meant for us to have an enjoyable life with or without having a disability. In John 10:10 Amplified Bible Jesus Christ says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell;" it means "to deceive oneself." We are deceived if we think we can have an enjoyable life without the energy of the Holy Spirit. God's idea of joy does not mean that we will not experience pain. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." Romans 5:3-5 Amplified Bible says, "Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] [joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us."
With a disability and without a disability there are some days and even some years where we just rather not deal with them and/or are not sure where it all is going to end up. But the good thing about being one of God's people is that nothing that happens is without purpose. The Apostle Paul writes about God the Son Jesus Christ in Colossians 1:16-17 Amplified Bible, "For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)."
God created people with disabilities and abilities to live and not to be killed by abortion, infanticide, suicide or any other deadly scheme to handle problems.
God wants to spend now and eternity with us. John 17:3 Amplified Bible says, "And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."
God want us to ask to receive a now and eternal relationship with Him. John 1:12 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name."
"I like you very much just as you are," says Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) to Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) when she lists her faults to him in the romantic comedy Bridget Jones's Diary. God would like for us to do like Bridget, and He'll respond like Mark. We don't have to get ourselves together before seeking a relationship with God. God considers all our faults (sins) forgiven and forgotten because of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God accepts us as we are, and He wants us to keep on getting better empowered by His Spirit. God is God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Amplified Bible, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit."
Morbelli, a full-time substitute teacher at the Church Street School in White Plains, New York, may have sought the late-term abortion due to a medical condition of her daughter. Dan Morse in his February 11, 2013, Washington Post article, "Antiabortion activists blame Germantown clinic for woman’s death," writes, "The family of the dead woman, preparing to bury her this week, could not be reached for comment. An online gift registry linked to her and her husband indicated that her pregnancy had been wanted.
In Maryland, late-term abortions — those that occur when the fetus is developed enough to survive — are legal when the life or the health of the mother is at stake or when the baby develops a fetal abnormality."
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9 Amplified Bible, "Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead."
Learning that we have a disabled child to raise may feel like a sentence of death to some.
Did Morbelli have people around her telling her regularly that anything can be overcome?
No matter who we are we need to regularly hear words of encouragement and edification. Proverbs 18:21 the Message Bible says, "Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose." What we say and do comes from what we think which is influenced by what we are hearing.
We need to hear that God still does miracles, and He wants us to ask Him for them. Miracles come in different manners.
Sometimes God can work through fetal surgery to fix a problem. Most ectopic pregnancies occur when new human life grows in mom's too-small fallopian tubes instead of her uterus/womb creating a life-threatening situation for mom and child. Two percent of ectopic pregnancies occur outside the fallopian tubes. Jayne Jones could have had a life-of-the-mother abortion since, her son, Billy, was growing outside her uterus threatening both his and her lives, but she choose to continue her pregnancy. At this time science is not usually sophisticated enough to preserve both the life of the mother and child when an ectopic pregnancy occurs. But Jayne and Billy's story has a happy outcome. Billy was born through a special surgery called a laparotomy on April 19, 2008, weighing 2lb 2oz and breathing on his own at 28 weeks gestation.
We also need to hear that sometimes people make mistakes, and we need to ask God for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. A child diagnosed inside the womb with a medical problem can be born without a medical problem due to a wrong diagnosis.
We also need to hear that a child diagnosed in the womb with a medical problem can be prayed for, and God will supernaturally heal the child.
We also need to hear that sometimes it is God's will for a child to live with a disability.
God meant for us to have an enjoyable life with or without having a disability. In John 10:10 Amplified Bible Jesus Christ says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell;" it means "to deceive oneself." We are deceived if we think we can have an enjoyable life without the energy of the Holy Spirit. God's idea of joy does not mean that we will not experience pain. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." Romans 5:3-5 Amplified Bible says, "Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] [joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us."
With a disability and without a disability there are some days and even some years where we just rather not deal with them and/or are not sure where it all is going to end up. But the good thing about being one of God's people is that nothing that happens is without purpose. The Apostle Paul writes about God the Son Jesus Christ in Colossians 1:16-17 Amplified Bible, "For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)."
God created people with disabilities and abilities to live and not to be killed by abortion, infanticide, suicide or any other deadly scheme to handle problems.
God wants to spend now and eternity with us. John 17:3 Amplified Bible says, "And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."
God want us to ask to receive a now and eternal relationship with Him. John 1:12 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name."
"I like you very much just as you are," says Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) to Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) when she lists her faults to him in the romantic comedy Bridget Jones's Diary. God would like for us to do like Bridget, and He'll respond like Mark. We don't have to get ourselves together before seeking a relationship with God. God considers all our faults (sins) forgiven and forgotten because of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God accepts us as we are, and He wants us to keep on getting better empowered by His Spirit. God is God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Amplified Bible, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit."
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Second-Class Christian Citizens?
Are non-virgins second-class
Christian citizens compared to virgins? No! Someone who has had one or
more sexual partners is not a second-class Christian or a second-best
marriage partner.
While a virgin has not sinned in having sexual relations with another human being, a virgin has sinned in some ways. Virgins and non-virgins have sinned in multiple ways. Romans 3:10 Amplified Bible says, "As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one." The solution to a lack of righteousness is offered to virgins and non-virgins in Romans 6:23 Amplified Bible which says, "For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord."
When considering someone to marry we don't want to disqualify a person based on being a virgin or non-virgin. What is much more important is marrying a person who has received an eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. While many are concerned about the chronological age of a spouse, what is more important is to be and to marry someone spiritually mature; someone whose relationship with God is deep like the earth's deepest lakes of Lake Tanganyika in Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia; someone who constantly chases God, and is consequently constantly improving.
A person can be a virgin or non-virgin and still be spiritually immature. A good marriage is the fellowship of two spiritually mature Christians who are continuously cooperating with God to change into His likeness.
Many people receive Christ, but refuse to grow in their relationship with Christ, themselves and other people. The Bible gives us the blueprint for living. Joshua 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." Some people want to succeed, but they are not willing to do what it takes to succeed. Brian Tracy writes in his book, No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline 21 Ways to Achieve Lasting Happiness and Success, "One of the most important requirements for success, once you have decided what it is that you want, is the quality of willingness. Successful people are willing to pay the price, whatever it is and for as long as it takes, until they achieve the results they desire. Everyone wants to be successful . . . . But most people are not willing to pay the price. Occasionally, they may be wiling to pay part of the price, but they are not willing to pay the whole price. They always hold back. They always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals."
Being a virgin before marriage may indicate that a person has some love of God. John 14:15 Amplified Bible says, "If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands." Virgins have been obedient to one aspect of Exodus 20:14 the Message Bible which requires us to practice, "No adultery."
A non-virgin may also love God irregardless of having sex outside of marriage once or thousands of times. Some non-virgins have sinned sexually, received the forgiveness, transformation and love of God and have been walking in beautiful, Biblical, sexual balance for a while.
God does not consider virgins more spiritual or worthy or better people than non-virgins. God offers His love to everyone. God inspired the Apostle Paul to say in Galatians 3:28 New Living Translation Bible, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."
In some parts of the globe a woman can be killed if she is not a virgin before marriage. Hymenoplasty surgery to attempt to restore a broken hymen is routinely performed in parts of the world, such as Muslim countries and other places. In Japan hymenoplasty is called "virginity rebirth." Jesus Christ does not require hymenoplasty and other mutilation of our bodies to be holy.
If you are a non-virgin who has sought the forgiveness, transformation and love of God to empower you to celebrate single sexuality and to celebrate sexual relations inside of marriage, but find yourself struggling with your self-worth, shame, fear, guilt or something else, keep on asking God to help you to fully receive His love. God views us as individual, priceless treasures. He wants us to have the same view of ourselves as He has of us.
If you are a virgin who looks down on non-virgins, repent of being judgmental, condemning, haughty and self-righteous like many of the religious leaders during the time of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. Jesus Christ tells a story in Luke 18:10-14 Amplified Bible which says, "Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain. But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am! I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
When we have received
a lot of the love of God, we are able to give out a lot of the love of
God. Having received the love of God, non-virgins will not feel bad
about themselves and/or envy virgins; also virgins will not feel
superior to non-virgins or envy non-virgins. God takes all of our sins
and works them out for His glory and our good. International practical
Bible teacher Joyce Meyer was repeatedly raped by her father as a child and as an
adolescent. As a young adult she went through a divorce. Later she
married Dave Meyer, and later still together they have a Christian
ministry potentially impacting 4.5 billion. Luci Swindoll is a single who
has an international Christian ministry and writes in her book, I Married Adventure,
"It's daring to be curious about the unknown, to dream big dreams, to
live outside prescribed boxes, to take risks, and above all, daring to
investigate the way we live until we discover the deepest treasured
purpose of why we are here."
Whether we are a non-virgin or virgin, if we have received God and are continuously seeking to mature in our relationship with God and people, then celebrate who we are just as we are.
While a virgin has not sinned in having sexual relations with another human being, a virgin has sinned in some ways. Virgins and non-virgins have sinned in multiple ways. Romans 3:10 Amplified Bible says, "As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one." The solution to a lack of righteousness is offered to virgins and non-virgins in Romans 6:23 Amplified Bible which says, "For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord."
When considering someone to marry we don't want to disqualify a person based on being a virgin or non-virgin. What is much more important is marrying a person who has received an eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. While many are concerned about the chronological age of a spouse, what is more important is to be and to marry someone spiritually mature; someone whose relationship with God is deep like the earth's deepest lakes of Lake Tanganyika in Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia; someone who constantly chases God, and is consequently constantly improving.
A person can be a virgin or non-virgin and still be spiritually immature. A good marriage is the fellowship of two spiritually mature Christians who are continuously cooperating with God to change into His likeness.
Many people receive Christ, but refuse to grow in their relationship with Christ, themselves and other people. The Bible gives us the blueprint for living. Joshua 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." Some people want to succeed, but they are not willing to do what it takes to succeed. Brian Tracy writes in his book, No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline 21 Ways to Achieve Lasting Happiness and Success, "One of the most important requirements for success, once you have decided what it is that you want, is the quality of willingness. Successful people are willing to pay the price, whatever it is and for as long as it takes, until they achieve the results they desire. Everyone wants to be successful . . . . But most people are not willing to pay the price. Occasionally, they may be wiling to pay part of the price, but they are not willing to pay the whole price. They always hold back. They always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals."
Being a virgin before marriage may indicate that a person has some love of God. John 14:15 Amplified Bible says, "If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands." Virgins have been obedient to one aspect of Exodus 20:14 the Message Bible which requires us to practice, "No adultery."
A non-virgin may also love God irregardless of having sex outside of marriage once or thousands of times. Some non-virgins have sinned sexually, received the forgiveness, transformation and love of God and have been walking in beautiful, Biblical, sexual balance for a while.
God does not consider virgins more spiritual or worthy or better people than non-virgins. God offers His love to everyone. God inspired the Apostle Paul to say in Galatians 3:28 New Living Translation Bible, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."
In some parts of the globe a woman can be killed if she is not a virgin before marriage. Hymenoplasty surgery to attempt to restore a broken hymen is routinely performed in parts of the world, such as Muslim countries and other places. In Japan hymenoplasty is called "virginity rebirth." Jesus Christ does not require hymenoplasty and other mutilation of our bodies to be holy.
If you are a non-virgin who has sought the forgiveness, transformation and love of God to empower you to celebrate single sexuality and to celebrate sexual relations inside of marriage, but find yourself struggling with your self-worth, shame, fear, guilt or something else, keep on asking God to help you to fully receive His love. God views us as individual, priceless treasures. He wants us to have the same view of ourselves as He has of us.
If you are a virgin who looks down on non-virgins, repent of being judgmental, condemning, haughty and self-righteous like many of the religious leaders during the time of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. Jesus Christ tells a story in Luke 18:10-14 Amplified Bible which says, "Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain. But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am! I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
If
you are a virgin envying a non-virgin, repent. Never envy sinful
behavior. Sin hurts multiple people in multiple ways whether we see the
pain or not.
Most people are not virgins when the marry. However, 73 percent of non-virgins say sex inside of marriage is better than sex outside of marriage.
Most people are not virgins when the marry. However, 73 percent of non-virgins say sex inside of marriage is better than sex outside of marriage.
Whether we are a non-virgin or virgin, if we have received God and are continuously seeking to mature in our relationship with God and people, then celebrate who we are just as we are.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Some Haters Make the Best Lovers
Sometimes those haters of God who are forgiven much, love much. A woman who committed many sins, hating God and people, later washed Jesus Christ's feet with her tears and hair. Jesus says about her in Luke 7:47 New Living Translation Bible, "I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."
Killing people, or any other sin, does not disqualify one from receiving the forgiveness of God, an eternal relationship with Him and being changed to love much. Before he was the Apostle Paul in love with God traveling the world to share God, Paul was Saul the serial murderer threatening to track down as many Christians as he could to take them to jail and to have them sentenced to death. Likewise before he was a mediator and interpreter named Paulo de Santa Fe for missionary Francis Xavier sharing God with the Japanese, Japanese Anjiro murdered a person and fled Japan. After God changed him and began the love affair between Himself and Anjiro turned Paulo de Santa Fe, Paulo de Santa Fe and Francis Xavier in the middle 1500s entered Japan and were among the first Christian missionaries to the Japanese.
A bad beginning does not have to lead to a bad ending. No matter what we have done, the love of God can reach us and change us. Instead of eternal hate and death; we may live in eternal, overflowing, lavish love and life.
Keep on praying to God to reveal His love and person to people who are slaves to sin. Talking to God is not in vain. God may take a long time to answer believers' requests from our perspective, but He is not deaf, dumb or disabled to affirmatively answer at the right time. 1 John 5:14-15 Amplified Bible says, "And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him."
God does not always call the "good" people to be His messengers. That hater on the wrong path today, one tomorrow may be God's appointed messenger of love to many like the Apostle Paul, Paulo de Santa Fe, the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair or one of Jesus' other lovers who started out as haters. It's even possible for the gang rapists of 23-year-old, physiotherapy student, Nirbhaya, in south Delhi, India, on December 16, 2012, who caused her death on December 30, 2012, to repent of their sins and to receive an eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. May India, which has 1.2 billion people, undergo a godly transformation of is view and treatment of women. Cada veinte minutos se comete una violación en la India. Every twenty minutes a violation/rape has occurred in India, according to the census of crimes of the ministry of the interior of New Delhi, India.
Yes, former rapists and murderers will be married to God in heaven for all eternity. "And every human being is precious," says Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who came to public prominence in the 1980s as an anti-apartheid advocate. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:4 Amplified Bible that God, ". . . wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth."
Please share testimonies of haters turned into lovers. SEND ME A MESSAGE.
Killing people, or any other sin, does not disqualify one from receiving the forgiveness of God, an eternal relationship with Him and being changed to love much. Before he was the Apostle Paul in love with God traveling the world to share God, Paul was Saul the serial murderer threatening to track down as many Christians as he could to take them to jail and to have them sentenced to death. Likewise before he was a mediator and interpreter named Paulo de Santa Fe for missionary Francis Xavier sharing God with the Japanese, Japanese Anjiro murdered a person and fled Japan. After God changed him and began the love affair between Himself and Anjiro turned Paulo de Santa Fe, Paulo de Santa Fe and Francis Xavier in the middle 1500s entered Japan and were among the first Christian missionaries to the Japanese.
A bad beginning does not have to lead to a bad ending. No matter what we have done, the love of God can reach us and change us. Instead of eternal hate and death; we may live in eternal, overflowing, lavish love and life.
Keep on praying to God to reveal His love and person to people who are slaves to sin. Talking to God is not in vain. God may take a long time to answer believers' requests from our perspective, but He is not deaf, dumb or disabled to affirmatively answer at the right time. 1 John 5:14-15 Amplified Bible says, "And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him."
God does not always call the "good" people to be His messengers. That hater on the wrong path today, one tomorrow may be God's appointed messenger of love to many like the Apostle Paul, Paulo de Santa Fe, the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair or one of Jesus' other lovers who started out as haters. It's even possible for the gang rapists of 23-year-old, physiotherapy student, Nirbhaya, in south Delhi, India, on December 16, 2012, who caused her death on December 30, 2012, to repent of their sins and to receive an eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. May India, which has 1.2 billion people, undergo a godly transformation of is view and treatment of women. Cada veinte minutos se comete una violación en la India. Every twenty minutes a violation/rape has occurred in India, according to the census of crimes of the ministry of the interior of New Delhi, India.
Yes, former rapists and murderers will be married to God in heaven for all eternity. "And every human being is precious," says Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who came to public prominence in the 1980s as an anti-apartheid advocate. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:4 Amplified Bible that God, ". . . wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth."
Please share testimonies of haters turned into lovers. SEND ME A MESSAGE.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
God Chose Us
God chose each believer to be in relationship with Him before He created the universe. He did this because He loves us and has a good plan for us.
The individual plan He has for us is part of a larger plan He has whereby all things except God the Father are to be brought into the leadership of Jesus Christ.
Believers have been redeemed from the ultimate effect of sin. When Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead 2,000 years ago in Calvary, Israel, He took care of the penalty for all sins we ever did, are doing or will do in the future.
God is for us. He has set us apart to grow increasingly like Him.
When we first come into relationship with God He has a lot to change in us to make us like Him. Before God revealed Himself to us, we could not recognize Him or be transformed into His likeness. We had a veil over our mind and spirit. But when we receive the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord removes the covering (veil).
We become free in Christ to do many things, but not to sin.
The individual plan He has for us is part of a larger plan He has whereby all things except God the Father are to be brought into the leadership of Jesus Christ.
Believers have been redeemed from the ultimate effect of sin. When Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead 2,000 years ago in Calvary, Israel, He took care of the penalty for all sins we ever did, are doing or will do in the future.
God is for us. He has set us apart to grow increasingly like Him.
When we first come into relationship with God He has a lot to change in us to make us like Him. Before God revealed Himself to us, we could not recognize Him or be transformed into His likeness. We had a veil over our mind and spirit. But when we receive the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord removes the covering (veil).
We become free in Christ to do many things, but not to sin.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Being Human and God
The same person who formed the stars, the planets, the oceans, our known universe is the same person who chose to become like us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on a body of flesh and blood, so that He might die and rise again to reconcile us with God and to destroy the devil who was given the power of death.
God didn't save believers from their sins and give them eternal life from a distance. He desires close fellowship. John 17:3 New International Version Bible says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Believers are part of the family of God. God calls us things like friends, brothers, children and His bride.
God wants to talk with us about our lives. Hebrews 2 tells us that He is also a priest, so we can go to Him when we are tempted to do evil, and He is able to strengthen us. Scriptures like Psalm 100 say that God also likes for us to thank Him for His character and His deeds. We can also make requests of Him. When we talk with Jesus we are not talking with someone who does not know what it is to be human. Jesus Christ went through a variety of life experiences in His earthly ministry more than 2,000 years ago. Although He is fully God, Jesus Christ suffered the constraints of being human. God used this suffering/experience to bring to perfection His plan of being our high priest. There isn't any problem or issue in our life that He isn't able to help.
Jesus Christ became human for the sake of the spiritual descendants of Abraham -- some biologically related to Abraham, others not, but both God's chosen people who have received an eternal relationship with Him.
God likes us. Not only does He want to be in relationship with believers, He wants us to be rulers. All believers are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are kings and queens. He desires for us to take authority over our area of influence in ways that please Him.
One of the best things to please God is simply to talk to our brother, friend, husband Jesus often. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 New Living Translation Bible says, "Never stop praying."
God didn't save believers from their sins and give them eternal life from a distance. He desires close fellowship. John 17:3 New International Version Bible says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Believers are part of the family of God. God calls us things like friends, brothers, children and His bride.
God wants to talk with us about our lives. Hebrews 2 tells us that He is also a priest, so we can go to Him when we are tempted to do evil, and He is able to strengthen us. Scriptures like Psalm 100 say that God also likes for us to thank Him for His character and His deeds. We can also make requests of Him. When we talk with Jesus we are not talking with someone who does not know what it is to be human. Jesus Christ went through a variety of life experiences in His earthly ministry more than 2,000 years ago. Although He is fully God, Jesus Christ suffered the constraints of being human. God used this suffering/experience to bring to perfection His plan of being our high priest. There isn't any problem or issue in our life that He isn't able to help.
Jesus Christ became human for the sake of the spiritual descendants of Abraham -- some biologically related to Abraham, others not, but both God's chosen people who have received an eternal relationship with Him.
God likes us. Not only does He want to be in relationship with believers, He wants us to be rulers. All believers are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are kings and queens. He desires for us to take authority over our area of influence in ways that please Him.
One of the best things to please God is simply to talk to our brother, friend, husband Jesus often. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 New Living Translation Bible says, "Never stop praying."
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