"In James 4:3, the Bible says we pray for blessings and don't get them because we've asked with evil, selfish motives. We want the blessing to be for ourselves exclusively. Instead, let's ask God to bless us so we can be a greater blessing. We might say, "God, bless me. Do something amazing in my finances. Get me to the point where I can buy somebody a car. Get me to the point, God, where if need be, I could rent an apartment for someone who doesn't have one and pay the rent for a year until she gets on her feet." Wouldn't that be wonderful? Or you might pray, "Help me, God, to be able to buy furniture for a family who doesn't have any. Help me be able to take them to a furniture store and just say, 'Here's your budget; pick out a house full of furniture.'" writes international, practical Bible teacher Joyce Meyer in her book Joy Redefined Loving Others.
God is not against people having pleasure. God desires that creyentes (believers) give and receive pleasure. George Washington Carver worked for Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute. They were both committed to helping people, especially African Americans. Washington died before Carver. Carver gave one year's salary to Booker T. Washington's memorial fund. Carver says about this generous gift, "It was a sacrifice in one way but a blessed privilege in another."
Unbelievers recognize the pleasure of giving. Meng was the prime minister of King Qin in ancient China. Meng sent his advisor Feng out to collect debts. Feng forgave all the loans of villagers saying he was doing it on orders from Meng. At first Meng was mad, but one year later Meng was merry for Meng had trouble on the job and had to return to his home village. People were glad to see him and welcomed him. Meng praised Feng.
Use money to make friends. Jesus Christ says in Luke 16:9 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960, "Y yo os digo: Ganad amigos por medio de las riquezas injustas, para que cuando estas falten, os reciban en las moradas eternas." "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What are some compassionate, creative and committed ways you have used money to make friends?
Showing posts with label George Washington Carver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Washington Carver. Show all posts
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
El Fuego (The Fire)
A long time before we receive God in relationship, He has been talking to us, but we have given God the cold shoulder.
Saul was an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin and a Pharisee. Yet Saul was cold to Dios (God). Saul did not have a relationship with God and wasn't doing anything according to the will of God. So God put some friction into Saul's life. Romans 9:4-6 Amplified Bible says, "And he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]? And Saul said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. It is dangerous and it will turn out badly for you to keep kicking against the goad [to offer vain and perilous resistance]. Trembling and astonished he asked, Lord, what do You desire me to do? The Lord said to him, But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
The Chinese invented matches. God is both the match and the flame who creates friction in our lives, so that we catch on Fire. John 6:44 Amplified Bible says, "No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me, and [then] I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day."
George Washington Carver was an African-American slave who became a leading American educator and agricultural scientist. How did he do it? God put Carver on Fire.
Truly good thoughts and deeds are fueled by God. Is your fuego (fire) from God or someone else?
Saul was an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin and a Pharisee. Yet Saul was cold to Dios (God). Saul did not have a relationship with God and wasn't doing anything according to the will of God. So God put some friction into Saul's life. Romans 9:4-6 Amplified Bible says, "And he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]? And Saul said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. It is dangerous and it will turn out badly for you to keep kicking against the goad [to offer vain and perilous resistance]. Trembling and astonished he asked, Lord, what do You desire me to do? The Lord said to him, But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
The Chinese invented matches. God is both the match and the flame who creates friction in our lives, so that we catch on Fire. John 6:44 Amplified Bible says, "No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me, and [then] I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day."
George Washington Carver was an African-American slave who became a leading American educator and agricultural scientist. How did he do it? God put Carver on Fire.
Truly good thoughts and deeds are fueled by God. Is your fuego (fire) from God or someone else?
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Estas loco! (Are You Crazy!)
A Chinese proverb says, "Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes." One great soul, George Washington Carver said, ". . . It has always been the one great ideal of my life . . . to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of my people."
Carver was born of slave parents in the 1860's on a plantation in Missouri. Carver taught himself to read. Although he won a scholarship to attend Highland University, when he showed up for school, Highland refused Carver admission because he was black. This set-back did not stop Carver from furthering his educating.
Another black man, Booker Taliaferro Washington, saw the bounteous ability in Carver who had been doing research at Iowa Agricultural College after 1891.
Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, sent Carver a letter in 1896 asking Carver to work at the Tuskegee Institute as the head of its Agriculture Department. Susan Altman writes in her book, Extraordinary Black Americans From Colonial To Contemporary Times, "At Tuskegee, Carver developed a system of crop rotation. He planted a legume crop (such as peanuts, which replenish minerals in the soil) one year, followed by a crop of cotton the next year. Its purpose was to keep the soil rich and improve the harvest. This system became so successful that an oversupply of peanuts resulted. Carver responded by coming up with more than two dozen uses for them. Soon, farmers were making more money raising peanuts than harvesting cotton."
"Whatever you are, be a good one," said former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery, helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865, led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union and battled periods of depression. In addition to his crop-rotation system Carver invented more than 300 products from the peanut and more than 100 products from the sweet potato.
Carver received job offers from famous and accomplished people like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford says Altman. Carver rejected these offers. Some may have told Carver something like, "Estas loco!" (You are crazy!)."
Money was not the primary motivator of Carver's life. Carver is a Christian who was committed to God and the advancement of people, especially African Americans.
Carver worked 47 years for Washington, who was freed from African-American slavery as a boy and rose to becoming an educator, speaker, author and to the top of African-American leadership during Jim Crow segregation.
"Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible," said Carver.
"The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge," says Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible.
Carver prized and practiced seeking and sharing education all his life. God makes each person unique. Everyone has something to share. Romans 12:13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Share what you have with God’s people, and practice hospitality."
Carver was born of slave parents in the 1860's on a plantation in Missouri. Carver taught himself to read. Although he won a scholarship to attend Highland University, when he showed up for school, Highland refused Carver admission because he was black. This set-back did not stop Carver from furthering his educating.
Another black man, Booker Taliaferro Washington, saw the bounteous ability in Carver who had been doing research at Iowa Agricultural College after 1891.
Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, sent Carver a letter in 1896 asking Carver to work at the Tuskegee Institute as the head of its Agriculture Department. Susan Altman writes in her book, Extraordinary Black Americans From Colonial To Contemporary Times, "At Tuskegee, Carver developed a system of crop rotation. He planted a legume crop (such as peanuts, which replenish minerals in the soil) one year, followed by a crop of cotton the next year. Its purpose was to keep the soil rich and improve the harvest. This system became so successful that an oversupply of peanuts resulted. Carver responded by coming up with more than two dozen uses for them. Soon, farmers were making more money raising peanuts than harvesting cotton."
"Whatever you are, be a good one," said former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery, helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865, led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union and battled periods of depression. In addition to his crop-rotation system Carver invented more than 300 products from the peanut and more than 100 products from the sweet potato.
Carver received job offers from famous and accomplished people like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford says Altman. Carver rejected these offers. Some may have told Carver something like, "Estas loco!" (You are crazy!)."
Money was not the primary motivator of Carver's life. Carver is a Christian who was committed to God and the advancement of people, especially African Americans.
Carver worked 47 years for Washington, who was freed from African-American slavery as a boy and rose to becoming an educator, speaker, author and to the top of African-American leadership during Jim Crow segregation.
"Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible," said Carver.
"The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge," says Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible.
Carver prized and practiced seeking and sharing education all his life. God makes each person unique. Everyone has something to share. Romans 12:13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Share what you have with God’s people, and practice hospitality."
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