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?
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
God Confidence
Numbers 13:3-15 New Living Translation Bible says, "So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. These were the tribes and the names of their leaders:
Tribe Leader
Reuben Shammua son of Zaccur
Simeon Shaphat son of Hori
Judah Caleb son of Jephunneh
Issachar Igal son of Joseph
Ephraim Hoshea son of Nun
Benjamin Palti son of Raphu
Zebulun Gaddiel son of Sodi
Manasseh son of Joseph Gaddi son of Susi
Dan Ammiel son of Gemalli
Asher Sethur son of Michael
Naphtali Nahbi son of Vophsi
Gad Geuel son of Maki
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell;" it means "to deceive oneself." It is a deception to believe that God favors people based on race, ethnicity or some physical characteristic. God is no respecter of persons. Benjamin Banneker, an African-American inventor, surveyor, mathematician and astronomer during a time when African-American slavery was legal in the United States, said, "The color of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers." Romans 2:28-29 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical. On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly; and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual not literal; so that his praise comes not from other people but from God."
Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel were deceived. They believed in the inferiority of the Jews to the Canaanites. Numbers 13:31-33 Amplified Bible says, "But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are. So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
The people of God are reyes y reinas (kings and queens.) Jesus Christ is El Rey de Reyes (The King of Kings.) While Jesus died for us when we were sinners, God doesn't view us as sinners anymore. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus Christ, the Sinless One, the Perfect One. Low self-esteem is a sin. Not doing what God tells us to do is a sin even if it seems impossible.
Jesus died a horrible death on a Friday more than 2,000, years ago and got up from the dead on a Sunday, not so we would live in fear, low self-esteem, hatred or without unity among believers.
The people of God are called to do greater things than Jesus Christ did in His earthly ministry. Jesus Christ says in John 14:11-12 Complete Jewish Bible, "Trust me, that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me. But if you can’t, then trust because of the works themselves. Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father."
What are some trust issues you have seen in the Church?
Tribe Leader
Reuben Shammua son of Zaccur
Simeon Shaphat son of Hori
Judah Caleb son of Jephunneh
Issachar Igal son of Joseph
Ephraim Hoshea son of Nun
Benjamin Palti son of Raphu
Zebulun Gaddiel son of Sodi
Manasseh son of Joseph Gaddi son of Susi
Dan Ammiel son of Gemalli
Asher Sethur son of Michael
Naphtali Nahbi son of Vophsi
Gad Geuel son of Maki
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell;" it means "to deceive oneself." It is a deception to believe that God favors people based on race, ethnicity or some physical characteristic. God is no respecter of persons. Benjamin Banneker, an African-American inventor, surveyor, mathematician and astronomer during a time when African-American slavery was legal in the United States, said, "The color of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers." Romans 2:28-29 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical. On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly; and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual not literal; so that his praise comes not from other people but from God."
Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel were deceived. They believed in the inferiority of the Jews to the Canaanites. Numbers 13:31-33 Amplified Bible says, "But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are. So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
The people of God are reyes y reinas (kings and queens.) Jesus Christ is El Rey de Reyes (The King of Kings.) While Jesus died for us when we were sinners, God doesn't view us as sinners anymore. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus Christ, the Sinless One, the Perfect One. Low self-esteem is a sin. Not doing what God tells us to do is a sin even if it seems impossible.
Jesus died a horrible death on a Friday more than 2,000, years ago and got up from the dead on a Sunday, not so we would live in fear, low self-esteem, hatred or without unity among believers.
The people of God are called to do greater things than Jesus Christ did in His earthly ministry. Jesus Christ says in John 14:11-12 Complete Jewish Bible, "Trust me, that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me. But if you can’t, then trust because of the works themselves. Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father."
What are some trust issues you have seen in the Church?
Friday, March 29, 2013
La Familia
What would you do for love? Would you go to prison? Calvin Fairbank and Delia Webster were teachers and abolitionists who helped Lewis Hayden, Hayden's wife, Harriet, and the Hayden's son escape from slavery.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. In Frederick, Maryland, a young man, Robert Ethan Saylor, was killed in a movie theater in January 2013 because people didn't understand someone with Down Syndrome.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. In Frederick, Maryland, a young man, Robert Ethan Saylor, was killed in a movie theater in January 2013 because people didn't understand someone with Down Syndrome.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sinners and Still Valuable
Out on an errand for her mother Elsie, a young teenager, was gang raped in the lobby of her grandmother's apartment building in the Czech Republic. The damage from the rape caused a doctor to diagnose that Elsie would never bear children, but she did.
Parenthood didn't bring the pleasure it should have. Elsie lost one child to social services, and she married a man not for love but to help her financially support her daughter, Sylvia. Her husband was unholy and helped to trap Elsie in a life of legal prostitution in the Netherlands.
A bad beginning in life does not guarantee a bad ending.
In the midst of prostitution love found Elsie. A taxi driver, who was a former criminal, called a favor and some friends to secure Elsie's freedom from her pimp. Then he married her for love.
More love found Elsie in Sylvia's school yard. A woman introduced Elsie to Scarlet Cord, who eventually helped Elsie to apply to school and introduced Elsie to the true, living and loving God.
Elsie's story is from Naomi Zacharias' book The Scent of Water Grace For Every Kind of Broken. Naomi Zacharias is the director of Wellspring International. Scarlet Cord is one of the projects Wellspring International supports.
Today is a day to receive and to give love. Today is Maundy Thursday. Joe Carter, editor for The Gospel Coalition, in his March 25, 2013, article "9 Things You Should Know About Holy Week," writes, "Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. The term "Maundy" is derived from the Latin word mandatum (commandment). The term refers to the commandment given by Jesus at the Last Supper: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." (John 13:34)."
Did Elsie get to have a wedding with her taxi driver? Red (hong) is the color of celebration at weddings and birthdays in China. I hope she had una boda maravillosa (a wonderful wedding).
Some people may think that Elsie doesn't deserve love because she was a prostitute. Sojourner Truth was a slave who became a servant of Jesus Christ. Truth said, "You say women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches. Nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or over a mud puddle. And ain't I a woman?"
Female and male we are all sinners and still valuable to God. Romans 5:7-8 Amplified Bible says, "Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us."
The Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:11 Complete Jewish Bible, "Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another."
Please share stories of disciples loving others the way Jesus loves us.
Parenthood didn't bring the pleasure it should have. Elsie lost one child to social services, and she married a man not for love but to help her financially support her daughter, Sylvia. Her husband was unholy and helped to trap Elsie in a life of legal prostitution in the Netherlands.
A bad beginning in life does not guarantee a bad ending.
In the midst of prostitution love found Elsie. A taxi driver, who was a former criminal, called a favor and some friends to secure Elsie's freedom from her pimp. Then he married her for love.
More love found Elsie in Sylvia's school yard. A woman introduced Elsie to Scarlet Cord, who eventually helped Elsie to apply to school and introduced Elsie to the true, living and loving God.
Elsie's story is from Naomi Zacharias' book The Scent of Water Grace For Every Kind of Broken. Naomi Zacharias is the director of Wellspring International. Scarlet Cord is one of the projects Wellspring International supports.
Today is a day to receive and to give love. Today is Maundy Thursday. Joe Carter, editor for The Gospel Coalition, in his March 25, 2013, article "9 Things You Should Know About Holy Week," writes, "Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. The term "Maundy" is derived from the Latin word mandatum (commandment). The term refers to the commandment given by Jesus at the Last Supper: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." (John 13:34)."
Did Elsie get to have a wedding with her taxi driver? Red (hong) is the color of celebration at weddings and birthdays in China. I hope she had una boda maravillosa (a wonderful wedding).
Some people may think that Elsie doesn't deserve love because she was a prostitute. Sojourner Truth was a slave who became a servant of Jesus Christ. Truth said, "You say women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches. Nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or over a mud puddle. And ain't I a woman?"
Female and male we are all sinners and still valuable to God. Romans 5:7-8 Amplified Bible says, "Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us."
The Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:11 Complete Jewish Bible, "Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another."
Please share stories of disciples loving others the way Jesus loves us.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Money and Marriage
"When Joe, 64, a computer professional in Massachusetts, married for the first time, he was 31 and very in love.
"She was attracted to me because I had structure; I was attracted to her because she was a lot of fun," said Joe.
He had noticed some financial red flags while they were dating: She always carried a credit card balance and liked buying expensive gifts for people. Still, he said, he wasn't fazed: "I never thought about it, because it wasn't my problem."
After they married, though, his new wife's spending habits became Joe's problem.
"She could drain a checking account in no time," he recalled. Joe describes himself as an avid saver, and his and his wife's financial differences became the cause of bad fights. "I couldn't stand being broke all the time and really struggling to pay the bills, and she didn't like the restriction of me saying we can't afford this," he said. 'We kind of drove each other into corners. She became more irresponsible and I became more rigid." Joe and his wife divorced after three years, largely because of financial differences," writes Stacey Vanek Smith in the March 26, 2013 The New York Times article "Money Talk Before Marriage A Tip You Can't Disparage."
Judas Iscariot divorced Jesus Christ in about three years also, and money seems to have played a major role. Judas, one of Jesus' original 12 apostles, didn't approve of Jesus' money management methods. In the Bible book of Matthew chapter 26 after a woman pours an alabaster flask of very expensive perfume on Jesus' head, Judas divorces Jesus.
"An archaic and infrequently used name for the Wednesday before Easter is "Spy Wednesday", named for Judas' becoming a spy for the Sanhedrin," writes Joe Carter, editor for The Gospel Coalition, in his March 25, 2013, article "9 Things You Should Know About Holy Week." For 30 pieces of silver Judas tells the Sanhedrin where to capture Jesus. Once Jesus is captured, later in the week on Friday Jesus is crucified. On Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, having paid the sin debt for each person who will receive Him into their life for eternity.
The Chinese invented paper money which they originally called "flying money" because it was so light and easily flew out of people's hand. The generosity of Jesus frustrated and disappointed Judas. Money seemed to fly out of Jesus' hand. Judas wanted enough on hand for his desires, including theft.
An African proverb says, "Work is good, provided you do not forget to live." Jesus sees money as a tool to live well and to do good. Jesus says in Luke 16:9 Amplified Bible, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings)."
The more money possessed, the more responsibility to do good. The Complete Jewish Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, "As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life."
Conflict over differences in the management of money and sex are among the top reasons husbands and wives do not have un matrimonio de pasión y sorpresa and some end up seeking un divorcio. Instead of allowing differences to divide, why not ask God to help you find a way to diversity in unity? God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Father are different and unified. Jesus Christ prayed for believers in John 17:21 English Standard Version Bible, "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
What are some ways Jesus Christ has brought diversity in unity to your marriage or your singleness?
"She was attracted to me because I had structure; I was attracted to her because she was a lot of fun," said Joe.
He had noticed some financial red flags while they were dating: She always carried a credit card balance and liked buying expensive gifts for people. Still, he said, he wasn't fazed: "I never thought about it, because it wasn't my problem."
After they married, though, his new wife's spending habits became Joe's problem.
"She could drain a checking account in no time," he recalled. Joe describes himself as an avid saver, and his and his wife's financial differences became the cause of bad fights. "I couldn't stand being broke all the time and really struggling to pay the bills, and she didn't like the restriction of me saying we can't afford this," he said. 'We kind of drove each other into corners. She became more irresponsible and I became more rigid." Joe and his wife divorced after three years, largely because of financial differences," writes Stacey Vanek Smith in the March 26, 2013 The New York Times article "Money Talk Before Marriage A Tip You Can't Disparage."
Judas Iscariot divorced Jesus Christ in about three years also, and money seems to have played a major role. Judas, one of Jesus' original 12 apostles, didn't approve of Jesus' money management methods. In the Bible book of Matthew chapter 26 after a woman pours an alabaster flask of very expensive perfume on Jesus' head, Judas divorces Jesus.
"An archaic and infrequently used name for the Wednesday before Easter is "Spy Wednesday", named for Judas' becoming a spy for the Sanhedrin," writes Joe Carter, editor for The Gospel Coalition, in his March 25, 2013, article "9 Things You Should Know About Holy Week." For 30 pieces of silver Judas tells the Sanhedrin where to capture Jesus. Once Jesus is captured, later in the week on Friday Jesus is crucified. On Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, having paid the sin debt for each person who will receive Him into their life for eternity.
The Chinese invented paper money which they originally called "flying money" because it was so light and easily flew out of people's hand. The generosity of Jesus frustrated and disappointed Judas. Money seemed to fly out of Jesus' hand. Judas wanted enough on hand for his desires, including theft.
An African proverb says, "Work is good, provided you do not forget to live." Jesus sees money as a tool to live well and to do good. Jesus says in Luke 16:9 Amplified Bible, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings)."
The more money possessed, the more responsibility to do good. The Complete Jewish Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, "As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life."
Conflict over differences in the management of money and sex are among the top reasons husbands and wives do not have un matrimonio de pasión y sorpresa and some end up seeking un divorcio. Instead of allowing differences to divide, why not ask God to help you find a way to diversity in unity? God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Father are different and unified. Jesus Christ prayed for believers in John 17:21 English Standard Version Bible, "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
What are some ways Jesus Christ has brought diversity in unity to your marriage or your singleness?
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Beautiful Butts
More than 1.3 billion people live in China, the world's most populous nation. Most belong to the Han ethnic group. The rest belong to more than 50 ethnic groups. Likewise a variety of sexual practices exists.
A firm, full butt may inspire a spouse to squeeze and to kiss it. Some husbands and wives may also enjoy licking between the butt cheeks, inserting their tongue or finger into their spouses butt hole, using anal toys and/or anal intercourse.
Not all spouses enjoy the sexuality of the butt. Just because a husband or wife does not want to participate in a certain sexual activity does not mean he or she is sexually repressed or rejecting his or her spouse. Don't try to force a spouse to participate in sexual activity that is contrary to his or her faith. Romans 14:23 Amplified Bible says, "But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]."
Exalta a la roca de nuestra salvación. Charla con Jesús. (Exalt the rock of our salvation. Chat with Jesus.) Ask God to change your spouse's mind about certain sexual practices.
Even when having spousal sex arguments, "You can have peace in the middle of a storm when you know joy is coming in the morning time" (song "God's Up To Something Good" from the album Next Now by Hart Ramsey & The NCC Family Choir featuring John P. Kee and Ms. Ty Scott.)
Conflict can be creative. Patricia Bath, MD, pioneered the worldwide discipline of community ophthalmology, a volunteer-based program to bring necessary eye care to under served populations, co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness and secured four patents in the United States. Many of Bath's accomplishments came out of conflict.
What joy and accomplishment has come from sexual conflict?
May your marriage have jiu (long life.)
A firm, full butt may inspire a spouse to squeeze and to kiss it. Some husbands and wives may also enjoy licking between the butt cheeks, inserting their tongue or finger into their spouses butt hole, using anal toys and/or anal intercourse.
Not all spouses enjoy the sexuality of the butt. Just because a husband or wife does not want to participate in a certain sexual activity does not mean he or she is sexually repressed or rejecting his or her spouse. Don't try to force a spouse to participate in sexual activity that is contrary to his or her faith. Romans 14:23 Amplified Bible says, "But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]."
Exalta a la roca de nuestra salvación. Charla con Jesús. (Exalt the rock of our salvation. Chat with Jesus.) Ask God to change your spouse's mind about certain sexual practices.
Even when having spousal sex arguments, "You can have peace in the middle of a storm when you know joy is coming in the morning time" (song "God's Up To Something Good" from the album Next Now by Hart Ramsey & The NCC Family Choir featuring John P. Kee and Ms. Ty Scott.)
Conflict can be creative. Patricia Bath, MD, pioneered the worldwide discipline of community ophthalmology, a volunteer-based program to bring necessary eye care to under served populations, co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness and secured four patents in the United States. Many of Bath's accomplishments came out of conflict.
What joy and accomplishment has come from sexual conflict?
May your marriage have jiu (long life.)
Monday, March 25, 2013
An Appetizer, the Main Dish or Among A Smorgasbord of Love Play
"Greet one another with a holy kiss," says 2 Corinthians 13:12 Complete Jewish Bible. Be kind to singles and married people; brush your teeth and tongue at least once a day. The Chinese invented the toothbrush, which is a good tool to use daily to help remove bad breath.
With fresh breath, a spouse may be inspired to say, "Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine" (Song of Solomon 1:2 New Living Translation;) "Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon" (Song of Solomon 4:11 New Living Translation;) "His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend" (Song of Solomon 5:16 New Living Translation.)
If you make the soft grass and field of flowers your lovemaking bed like Solomon and his Shulammite wife, be sure to bathe or shower frequently. Cleanliness helps cunnilingus and fellatio to be delicioso. Here's a fellatio idea:
1) The husband lies on his back. The wife crawls between his legs.
2) The wife holds her husband's penis and gazes at it adoringly. Perhaps his penis has a name?
3) Slowly with broad licks the wife ministers to her husband's penis while massaging his balls.
4) The wife swirls, licks, sucks his penis as much as possible.
5) The wife picks up the pace of ministering according to the husband's excitement level.
Fellatio can be an appetizer, the main dish or among of smorgasbord of love play as is cunnilingus. Solomon admired and tasted his wife's vagina. Song of Solomon 4:12-16 New Living Translation Bible says:
"You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride,
a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.
Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates
with rare spices—
henna with nard,
nard and saffron,
fragrant calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes,
and every other lovely spice.
You are a garden fountain,
a well of fresh water
streaming down from Lebanon’s mountains.
Young Woman
Awake, north wind!
Rise up, south wind!
Blow on my garden
and spread its fragrance all around.
Come into your garden, my love;
taste its finest fruits."
Here's two cunnilingus ideas:
1) The wife can lie on her back while her husband crawls between her legs to suck her clitoris.
2) Or her husband can kneel at his wife's hip and provide oral delights from a right angle.
Cunnilingus and fellatio can be performed in a variety of ways. A good question for husbands and wives to ask is, "How can I please you?" The best lovers are good friends. Good friends are inquisitive. Friends want to ask questions to learn as much as possible about each other to increase all the good qualities of their relationship, qualities like their unity. King David writes in Psalm 133 English Standard Version Bible:
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore."
An East African proverb says, "When minds are the same, that which is far off will come." All obstacles to orgasms, spiritual fulfillment, emotional intimacy can be overcome by talking to God and allowing Him to empower you with the ability to be unified as a married couple full of friendliness and loving mutual ecstasy.
With fresh breath, a spouse may be inspired to say, "Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine" (Song of Solomon 1:2 New Living Translation;) "Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon" (Song of Solomon 4:11 New Living Translation;) "His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way. Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend" (Song of Solomon 5:16 New Living Translation.)
If you make the soft grass and field of flowers your lovemaking bed like Solomon and his Shulammite wife, be sure to bathe or shower frequently. Cleanliness helps cunnilingus and fellatio to be delicioso. Here's a fellatio idea:
1) The husband lies on his back. The wife crawls between his legs.
2) The wife holds her husband's penis and gazes at it adoringly. Perhaps his penis has a name?
3) Slowly with broad licks the wife ministers to her husband's penis while massaging his balls.
4) The wife swirls, licks, sucks his penis as much as possible.
5) The wife picks up the pace of ministering according to the husband's excitement level.
Fellatio can be an appetizer, the main dish or among of smorgasbord of love play as is cunnilingus. Solomon admired and tasted his wife's vagina. Song of Solomon 4:12-16 New Living Translation Bible says:
"You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride,
a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.
Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates
with rare spices—
henna with nard,
nard and saffron,
fragrant calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes,
and every other lovely spice.
You are a garden fountain,
a well of fresh water
streaming down from Lebanon’s mountains.
Young Woman
Awake, north wind!
Rise up, south wind!
Blow on my garden
and spread its fragrance all around.
Come into your garden, my love;
taste its finest fruits."
Here's two cunnilingus ideas:
1) The wife can lie on her back while her husband crawls between her legs to suck her clitoris.
2) Or her husband can kneel at his wife's hip and provide oral delights from a right angle.
Cunnilingus and fellatio can be performed in a variety of ways. A good question for husbands and wives to ask is, "How can I please you?" The best lovers are good friends. Good friends are inquisitive. Friends want to ask questions to learn as much as possible about each other to increase all the good qualities of their relationship, qualities like their unity. King David writes in Psalm 133 English Standard Version Bible:
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore."
An East African proverb says, "When minds are the same, that which is far off will come." All obstacles to orgasms, spiritual fulfillment, emotional intimacy can be overcome by talking to God and allowing Him to empower you with the ability to be unified as a married couple full of friendliness and loving mutual ecstasy.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Church and Sex
Sometimes Sunday Sabbaths can be exciting and exhausting especially on those days when going to more than one service. Satan wants married people to lose their sexual relationship. God wants married people to enjoy sex even in the midst of an energetic lifestyle. Jesus Christ says in John 10:10 Amplified Bible, "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)."
Here's two simple, sensational sexual intercourse ideas for spouses:
1) The wife lies on her back at a right angle to her husband draping her legs over his waist while her husband lies on his side thrusting or grinding.
2) The wife lies face down on her stomach with her legs straight and closed. Her husband balances his weight on his arms lying on top of her, keeping his legs straight and enclosing her legs. The wife can take her husband's penis both her in her thighs and vagina.
Sexual love can be found in easy and hard times. The beginning of the modern history of Africans in America includes a black love story. Antoney and Isabella were among 20 trafficked Africans aboard a Dutch man of warr ship that stopped in Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. Anthoney and Isabella fell in love, got married and in 1623 or 1624 Isabella gave birth to William, the first black child born in English America.
Sometimes spouses do not want to have sex on Sunday because of a false idea that there should be no connection between church and sex. The suspension bridge was invented in China. Allow God to build a bridge connecting your heart to your spouse's heart and to burn bridges connecting you to false ideas.
¿Desea un matrimonio de pasión y sorpresa? Crown Jesus Christ king of your life this Palm Sunday and every day.
Here's two simple, sensational sexual intercourse ideas for spouses:
1) The wife lies on her back at a right angle to her husband draping her legs over his waist while her husband lies on his side thrusting or grinding.
2) The wife lies face down on her stomach with her legs straight and closed. Her husband balances his weight on his arms lying on top of her, keeping his legs straight and enclosing her legs. The wife can take her husband's penis both her in her thighs and vagina.
Sexual love can be found in easy and hard times. The beginning of the modern history of Africans in America includes a black love story. Antoney and Isabella were among 20 trafficked Africans aboard a Dutch man of warr ship that stopped in Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. Anthoney and Isabella fell in love, got married and in 1623 or 1624 Isabella gave birth to William, the first black child born in English America.
Sometimes spouses do not want to have sex on Sunday because of a false idea that there should be no connection between church and sex. The suspension bridge was invented in China. Allow God to build a bridge connecting your heart to your spouse's heart and to burn bridges connecting you to false ideas.
¿Desea un matrimonio de pasión y sorpresa? Crown Jesus Christ king of your life this Palm Sunday and every day.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Have You Tried Chinese Pillow Books?
A Mali proverbs says, "If you want sex while traveling, travel with your wife." Spicy sex is for spouses. Proverbs 5:18-19 Amplified Bible says, "Let your fountain [of human life] be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], and rejoice in the wife of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe [tender, gentle, attractive]—let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love."
When a spouse has to travel solo, send him or her off with lots of love and some of your custom-made, Chinese pillow books. Some spouses like to create scrapbooks. Why not expand into creating your own Chinese pillow book? Chinese pillow books are small, sex-instruction manuals, each on a specific topic with illustrations. You can include erotic poems written by you or someone else, pressed flowers, cards, mementos, clippings from magazines and/or books with your notes, prose of your own on special paper and whatever you and your spouse enjoy. Books can be titled Touch Me Like This, Play Time, Hot Dates, Beautiful Butts, Fellatio, Cunnilingus, Intercourse Positions or something in a code known only to each other.
Sex is good. Sex is created by God. Sometimes people abuse or fail to appreciate God's creative work. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Amplified Bible says, "But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast."
Hermes Alberto Carvajal writes in his blog Palabras Que Fortalecen Words That Give Strength in his article "5 cosas que crean conflictos entre hombres y mujeres," "Los hombres odian que invadan su espacio." Women generally like to talk more than men. However, husbands hopefully will not feel that their space is invaded by wives who prepare a lot of Chinese pillow books for their husbands and practice the advice frequently.
When a spouse has to travel solo, send him or her off with lots of love and some of your custom-made, Chinese pillow books. Some spouses like to create scrapbooks. Why not expand into creating your own Chinese pillow book? Chinese pillow books are small, sex-instruction manuals, each on a specific topic with illustrations. You can include erotic poems written by you or someone else, pressed flowers, cards, mementos, clippings from magazines and/or books with your notes, prose of your own on special paper and whatever you and your spouse enjoy. Books can be titled Touch Me Like This, Play Time, Hot Dates, Beautiful Butts, Fellatio, Cunnilingus, Intercourse Positions or something in a code known only to each other.
Sex is good. Sex is created by God. Sometimes people abuse or fail to appreciate God's creative work. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Amplified Bible says, "But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast."
Hermes Alberto Carvajal writes in his blog Palabras Que Fortalecen Words That Give Strength in his article "5 cosas que crean conflictos entre hombres y mujeres," "Los hombres odian que invadan su espacio." Women generally like to talk more than men. However, husbands hopefully will not feel that their space is invaded by wives who prepare a lot of Chinese pillow books for their husbands and practice the advice frequently.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Getting In The Mood
"Leaders have to keep learning. It's the learning that keeps us fresh," says Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur John Maxwell in his A Minute With Maxwell daily email entitled "Fresh." The same can be said for spouses who want to keep their marriages fresh. Learning excites the brain. Excitement can spark sexual desire.
Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge."
We are all born with certain physical characteristics that can be changed a little. The amount of knowledge we acquire can be changed dramatically. Acquiring and applying useful sexual knowledge can have an adhesive quality. King Edward gave up the English throne for an American divorcee who was not attractive but who was said to be skillful sexually.
Sex matters. Sex doesn't have to be sinful. God celebrates sex. Génesis 2:24-25 Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy dice, "Por tanto el hombre dejará a su padre y a su madre y se unirá a su mujer, y serán una sola carne. Ambos estaban desnudos, el hombre y su mujer, pero no se avergonzaban." Genesis 2:24-25 English Standard Version Bible says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."
Good sex inspires poetry. An ancient Egyptian man wrote to his loved one:
"When I embrace her,
And her arms open wide,
I feel like a man in Spiceland,
Who is overwhelmed with perfume.
Then I kiss her;
And she opens her lips.
Without a taste of beer,
I am intoxicated."
Some spouses have trouble opening their mouths much less other parts of their bodies to sexual relations. Sexless marriage is a sin. To stop sinning, we need to ask God to cause us to overcome ourselves. Watchman Nee writes in his book Sit Walk Stand The Process of Christian Maturity, "God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we each one pray from our hearts, "O Lord, deal with me!"
When God empowers us, instead of being irritated, disappointed, hurt, etc., by our spouses, we can find a way to like and to love them, and even to enjoy pleasuring their G-Spot and other places sensitive to touch.
What are some places sensitive to sexual touch?
Even if you have been married 40 years or more, you don't know everything about your spouse. What sexual questions haven't you asked? Ask them!
Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge."
We are all born with certain physical characteristics that can be changed a little. The amount of knowledge we acquire can be changed dramatically. Acquiring and applying useful sexual knowledge can have an adhesive quality. King Edward gave up the English throne for an American divorcee who was not attractive but who was said to be skillful sexually.
Sex matters. Sex doesn't have to be sinful. God celebrates sex. Génesis 2:24-25 Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy dice, "Por tanto el hombre dejará a su padre y a su madre y se unirá a su mujer, y serán una sola carne. Ambos estaban desnudos, el hombre y su mujer, pero no se avergonzaban." Genesis 2:24-25 English Standard Version Bible says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."
Good sex inspires poetry. An ancient Egyptian man wrote to his loved one:
"When I embrace her,
And her arms open wide,
I feel like a man in Spiceland,
Who is overwhelmed with perfume.
Then I kiss her;
And she opens her lips.
Without a taste of beer,
I am intoxicated."
Some spouses have trouble opening their mouths much less other parts of their bodies to sexual relations. Sexless marriage is a sin. To stop sinning, we need to ask God to cause us to overcome ourselves. Watchman Nee writes in his book Sit Walk Stand The Process of Christian Maturity, "God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we each one pray from our hearts, "O Lord, deal with me!"
When God empowers us, instead of being irritated, disappointed, hurt, etc., by our spouses, we can find a way to like and to love them, and even to enjoy pleasuring their G-Spot and other places sensitive to touch.
What are some places sensitive to sexual touch?
Even if you have been married 40 years or more, you don't know everything about your spouse. What sexual questions haven't you asked? Ask them!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
No Ordinary Love
Christopher ("Christ-bearer") Yuan writes in his book, Out Of A Far Country, co-authored with his mother, Angela Yuan, "As I continued to read the Bible, I came across Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (NASB)--passages normally used to condemn gays and lesbians to a fiery fate. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." But I realized that God didn't call lesbians and gay men abominations He called it an abomination. What God condemned was the act, not the person. For so long, I had gotten the message from the Christian protestors at gay-pride parades that the God of the Bible hated people like me, because we were abominations. But after reading these passages, I saw that God didn't hate me; nor was he condemning me to an inescapable destiny of torment. But rather, it was the sex he condemned, and yet he still wanted an intimate relationship with me."
Not only does God want an intimate relationship with lesbians and gay men, He wants an intimate relationship with everyone who will receive God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). God wants Colossians 1:4 Amplified Bible to be true of all believers (saints): "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones)."
Avoid segregating the sexes. The more each us knows the truth about sexuality, the more we know about God, who is the Truth. God on purpose made people male and female to show qualities God possesses. Genesis 1:27 Nueva Traducción Viviente dice, "Así que Dios creó a los seres humanos a su propia imagen. A imagen de Dios los creó; hombre y mujer los creó." Genesis 1:27 English Standard Version says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Instead of hiding sexuality, celebrate it in holiness. Colossians 1:10-11 Amplified Bible is a prayer to God for both singles and married people: "That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy."
Some singles do not persevere in singleness. A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Enjoy lots of relationships with both men and women. Spending lots of time together is a good way to learn to love people in the way they really liked to be loved. Single or married God uses relationships to remove selfishness from us.
Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, "Love Story," "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in "Love Story," "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'"
Wives too have to give it up in order to love their husbands the way their husbands want to be loved. More men than women enjoy strippers. Instead of sexual immorality, why not put together a strip tease for your husband only with props particular to his tastes and perhaps ben wa, or Oriental love balls, into your vagina to stimulate you for what's coming?
What are some out-of-the-ordinary things you have done for love?
Not only does God want an intimate relationship with lesbians and gay men, He wants an intimate relationship with everyone who will receive God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). God wants Colossians 1:4 Amplified Bible to be true of all believers (saints): "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones)."
Avoid segregating the sexes. The more each us knows the truth about sexuality, the more we know about God, who is the Truth. God on purpose made people male and female to show qualities God possesses. Genesis 1:27 Nueva Traducción Viviente dice, "Así que Dios creó a los seres humanos a su propia imagen. A imagen de Dios los creó; hombre y mujer los creó." Genesis 1:27 English Standard Version says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Instead of hiding sexuality, celebrate it in holiness. Colossians 1:10-11 Amplified Bible is a prayer to God for both singles and married people: "That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy."
Some singles do not persevere in singleness. A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Enjoy lots of relationships with both men and women. Spending lots of time together is a good way to learn to love people in the way they really liked to be loved. Single or married God uses relationships to remove selfishness from us.
Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, "Love Story," "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in "Love Story," "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'"
Wives too have to give it up in order to love their husbands the way their husbands want to be loved. More men than women enjoy strippers. Instead of sexual immorality, why not put together a strip tease for your husband only with props particular to his tastes and perhaps ben wa, or Oriental love balls, into your vagina to stimulate you for what's coming?
What are some out-of-the-ordinary things you have done for love?
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sexual Curiosity and Forgiveness
Sometimes we can enjoy forbidden sex, unforgiveness or something else instead of enjoying an intimate relationship with God and the overflow of this relationship with God, things like sexuality within Biblical boundaries, peace of mind and other ways of God.
God fashioned the color of our skin. What God designed is good. Savor dark chocolate; gaze on the lightest brightness; or be memorized by a shade somewhere in the middle. God gave us eyes to enjoy much varied beauty.
As a girl in the early years of elementary school I wondered if the penises of black, Latino and white boys differed. So I conducted an experiment with naked boys.
A challenge exists to look but not to leap into partner-sex outside of marriage. Sadly, sometimes we leap. Gladly believers have God living on the inside giving us the power to find our way back to safe and enjoyable sexuality and spiritual wholeness. Watchman Nee writes in his book Sit Walk Stand The Process of Christian Maturity, "An engineer living in a large city in the West left his homeland for the Far East. He was away for two or three years, and during his absence his wife was unfaithful to him and went off with one of his best friends. On his return home he found he had lost his wife, his two children and his best friend. At the close of a meeting which I was addressing, this grief-stricken man unburdened himself to me. "Day and night for two solid years my heart has been full of hatred," he said. "I am a Christian, and I know I ought to forgive my wife and my friend, but though I try and try to forgive them, I simply cannot. Every day I resolve to love them, and every day I fail. What can I do about it?"
"Do nothing at all," I replied.
"What do you mean?" he asked, startled. "Am I to continue to hate them?"
So I explained, "The solution of your problem lies here, that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He not only bore your sins away, but He bore you away too. When He was crucified, your old man was crucified in Him, so that that unforgiving 'you,' who simply cannot love those who have wronged you, has been taken right out of the way in His death. God has dealt with the whole situation in the cross, and there is nothing left for you to deal with. Just say to Him, 'Lord, I cannot love, and I give up trying, but I count on Thy perfect love. I cannot forgive, but I trust Thee to forgive instead of me, and to do so henceforth in me."
What sins are you enjoying and/or suffering that need to turned over to God?
No temere. Don't be afraid to turn your sins over to God. Some sins are fun for a season, but all sin brings pain and destruction that becomes obvious sooner or later. Contrary to any deception you may believe, God ways are the most enjoyable way of living, and God has the power to live out His ways through you.
God fashioned the color of our skin. What God designed is good. Savor dark chocolate; gaze on the lightest brightness; or be memorized by a shade somewhere in the middle. God gave us eyes to enjoy much varied beauty.
As a girl in the early years of elementary school I wondered if the penises of black, Latino and white boys differed. So I conducted an experiment with naked boys.
A challenge exists to look but not to leap into partner-sex outside of marriage. Sadly, sometimes we leap. Gladly believers have God living on the inside giving us the power to find our way back to safe and enjoyable sexuality and spiritual wholeness. Watchman Nee writes in his book Sit Walk Stand The Process of Christian Maturity, "An engineer living in a large city in the West left his homeland for the Far East. He was away for two or three years, and during his absence his wife was unfaithful to him and went off with one of his best friends. On his return home he found he had lost his wife, his two children and his best friend. At the close of a meeting which I was addressing, this grief-stricken man unburdened himself to me. "Day and night for two solid years my heart has been full of hatred," he said. "I am a Christian, and I know I ought to forgive my wife and my friend, but though I try and try to forgive them, I simply cannot. Every day I resolve to love them, and every day I fail. What can I do about it?"
"Do nothing at all," I replied.
"What do you mean?" he asked, startled. "Am I to continue to hate them?"
So I explained, "The solution of your problem lies here, that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He not only bore your sins away, but He bore you away too. When He was crucified, your old man was crucified in Him, so that that unforgiving 'you,' who simply cannot love those who have wronged you, has been taken right out of the way in His death. God has dealt with the whole situation in the cross, and there is nothing left for you to deal with. Just say to Him, 'Lord, I cannot love, and I give up trying, but I count on Thy perfect love. I cannot forgive, but I trust Thee to forgive instead of me, and to do so henceforth in me."
What sins are you enjoying and/or suffering that need to turned over to God?
No temere. Don't be afraid to turn your sins over to God. Some sins are fun for a season, but all sin brings pain and destruction that becomes obvious sooner or later. Contrary to any deception you may believe, God ways are the most enjoyable way of living, and God has the power to live out His ways through you.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Want More Confidants?
A good investment of time, talent and energy is to cultivate confidants. Paul and Timothy were confidants. Paul writes in Philippians 2:20-22 Amplified Bible, "For I have no one like him [no one of so kindred a spirit] who will be so genuinely interested in your welfare and devoted to your interests. For the others all seek [to advance] their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). But Timothy’s tested worth you know, how as a son with his father he has toiled with me zealously in [serving and helping to advance] the good news (the Gospel)."
When selecting confidants, a good question to ask yourself is, "Who are they trying to pattern their life after?" Everybody is imitating others. According to an African saying, "A person is a person through other persons." Timothy and Paul were patterning their lives after God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Paul advised others to pattern their lives after him in the ways Paul was following God. The best you is the one who most reflects the God inside you on the outside.
Confidants who are imitating the same kind of people have a better chance of growing together instead of apart.
God says in Isaiah 49:16 Amplified Bible, "Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me." God loves believers and has their best interest at heart. Likewise Paul and Timothy love believers have have their best interest at heart.
When the love of God is present and being shared, confidants like Paul and Timothy enthusiastically do on-going, good deeds for each other and other people. Confidants with Christ living on the inside shouldn't have a reason to ask, "What have you done for me lately?"
The Chinese invented the fishing reel. As believers we want to be used by God to catch as many people as possible to bring them into a relationship with God. Not everyone caught can be our confidant. Confidentes son nuestros fieles amigos. (Confidants are our faithful friends.)
If you want more confidants or do not have confidants, ask God why and be willing to accept His answers and act on them according to His will and pleasure. A Kenya Bread for Tomorrow prayer says:
"Deliver Me
From the cowardice that dare not face new truths,
From the laziness that is contented with half truths,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord deliver me."
When selecting confidants, a good question to ask yourself is, "Who are they trying to pattern their life after?" Everybody is imitating others. According to an African saying, "A person is a person through other persons." Timothy and Paul were patterning their lives after God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Paul advised others to pattern their lives after him in the ways Paul was following God. The best you is the one who most reflects the God inside you on the outside.
Confidants who are imitating the same kind of people have a better chance of growing together instead of apart.
God says in Isaiah 49:16 Amplified Bible, "Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me." God loves believers and has their best interest at heart. Likewise Paul and Timothy love believers have have their best interest at heart.
When the love of God is present and being shared, confidants like Paul and Timothy enthusiastically do on-going, good deeds for each other and other people. Confidants with Christ living on the inside shouldn't have a reason to ask, "What have you done for me lately?"
The Chinese invented the fishing reel. As believers we want to be used by God to catch as many people as possible to bring them into a relationship with God. Not everyone caught can be our confidant. Confidentes son nuestros fieles amigos. (Confidants are our faithful friends.)
If you want more confidants or do not have confidants, ask God why and be willing to accept His answers and act on them according to His will and pleasure. A Kenya Bread for Tomorrow prayer says:
"Deliver Me
From the cowardice that dare not face new truths,
From the laziness that is contented with half truths,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord deliver me."
Monday, March 18, 2013
El Es Indispensable
As believers we are kings and queens. The hearts of kings and queens are being constantly attacked. Gospel singer Debra Ashley sings on her album New Birth in the song "Do It Afraid:"
"Have you ever had a desire in your heart?
A desire so very strong you know it's from God.
Then the enemy has come your way.
Now your confidence is gone.
Well don't give up
Just trust in God.
And do it afraid."
No matter what our life looks like in the past and present, no matter if we feel fear, what God has put in our hearts will be accomplished. King David had enemies all around him. Yet he committed himself to trusting in God and to keeping on doing what God called him to do day in and day out. King David writes in Psalm 21:7 Amplified Bible, "For the king trusts, relies on, and is confident in the Lord, and through the mercy and steadfast love of the Most High he will never be moved." He says in Psalm 21:2, "You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah [pause, and think of that]!"
Sometimes we feel fear because the desires of our hearts do not always appear immediately, and/or they may not come in the way we imagined. Mary J. Blige sings in her song "Not Gon' Cry," about a woman who was a lover, mother and business partner dumped by her lover and business partner. She regrets ever getting into the relationship and laments, "11 years of sacrifice and you can leave me at the drop of a dime."
Every relationship is not for life. We have some things to give, receive and learn, and then move on. The end of a relationship does not mean the end of our heart's desires.
David didn't focus on his enemies trying to derail his heart's desires or on negative internal messages saying various versions of, "I can't do this." Just like Joshua had the Spirit of God living inside him (Numbers 27:18,) so did David; David had a relationship with God and focused on God. Like David we need to trust in God's abilities instead of our abilities to fix our problems and to fulfill our heart's desires. Is any problem to hard for God to solve?
Watchman Nee writes in his book The Normal Christian Life, "We are sinners, not because of ourselves but because of Adam. It is not because I individually have sinned that I am a sinner, but because I was in Adam when he sinned. Because by birth I come of Adam, therefore I am a part of him. What is more, I can do nothing to alter this. I cannot, by improving my behavior, make myself other than a part of Adam, and so a sinner....Unless we can change our parentage there is no deliverance for us."
Changing our parentage is to receive a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. With God as our Parent we can work the principles of the Bible and expect success because God is the one guaranteeing the success. Relying on our abilities inspires fear because we are aware of some of our inabilities. But with God as our Parent we can do it afraid and expect God to increase our courage and to give us the victory of having our heart's desires fulfilled. God never fails; El es indispensable y incomparable. Is God on your side?
"Have you ever had a desire in your heart?
A desire so very strong you know it's from God.
Then the enemy has come your way.
Now your confidence is gone.
Well don't give up
Just trust in God.
And do it afraid."
No matter what our life looks like in the past and present, no matter if we feel fear, what God has put in our hearts will be accomplished. King David had enemies all around him. Yet he committed himself to trusting in God and to keeping on doing what God called him to do day in and day out. King David writes in Psalm 21:7 Amplified Bible, "For the king trusts, relies on, and is confident in the Lord, and through the mercy and steadfast love of the Most High he will never be moved." He says in Psalm 21:2, "You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah [pause, and think of that]!"
Sometimes we feel fear because the desires of our hearts do not always appear immediately, and/or they may not come in the way we imagined. Mary J. Blige sings in her song "Not Gon' Cry," about a woman who was a lover, mother and business partner dumped by her lover and business partner. She regrets ever getting into the relationship and laments, "11 years of sacrifice and you can leave me at the drop of a dime."
Every relationship is not for life. We have some things to give, receive and learn, and then move on. The end of a relationship does not mean the end of our heart's desires.
David didn't focus on his enemies trying to derail his heart's desires or on negative internal messages saying various versions of, "I can't do this." Just like Joshua had the Spirit of God living inside him (Numbers 27:18,) so did David; David had a relationship with God and focused on God. Like David we need to trust in God's abilities instead of our abilities to fix our problems and to fulfill our heart's desires. Is any problem to hard for God to solve?
Watchman Nee writes in his book The Normal Christian Life, "We are sinners, not because of ourselves but because of Adam. It is not because I individually have sinned that I am a sinner, but because I was in Adam when he sinned. Because by birth I come of Adam, therefore I am a part of him. What is more, I can do nothing to alter this. I cannot, by improving my behavior, make myself other than a part of Adam, and so a sinner....Unless we can change our parentage there is no deliverance for us."
Changing our parentage is to receive a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. With God as our Parent we can work the principles of the Bible and expect success because God is the one guaranteeing the success. Relying on our abilities inspires fear because we are aware of some of our inabilities. But with God as our Parent we can do it afraid and expect God to increase our courage and to give us the victory of having our heart's desires fulfilled. God never fails; El es indispensable y incomparable. Is God on your side?
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Welcome, Disabled or Not, We All Are a Wonder
God has designed relationships whereby when we mistreat people, we are also mistreating ourselves. Deuteronomy 27:18 English Standard Version Bible says,“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’" God wants people with and without disabilities to be treated well.
In America abortion law is not treating people with disabilities well. Legal abortions are performed to take the life of babies who appear to have a genetic disability, such as Down syndrome.
However, North Dakota has become the first state to pass in both their state legislatures a law prohibiting abortions based on genetic abnormality and sex-selection (usually the killing of girl babies because they are girls). The law is awaiting approval by the governor. The primary sponsor of the bill is Fargo, North Dakota Representative Bette Grande, who has two family members with genetic disabilities.
We all have bits and pieces of us that don't work properly. So what if someone is not perfect? Life is a wonderful opportunity.
We can develop disabilities before birth or acquire them later in life. The Apostle Paul may have acquired a disability that he called a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for God to remove it. God didn't remove it. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Amplified Bible says,"Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me; But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Having weaknesses to work through can be beneficial by making us and other people better if we cooperate with God's power and ability working through us. Abolitionist, Author and Speaker Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
We are right to ask God for healing. We also need to recognize that God may use a person's disability to bring about other types of healing in the individual and others. Nick Vujicic is of Serbian heritage and born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Vujicic now lives in America and has for years prayed for arms and legs. God hasn't provided them yet. God has provided Vujicic with the tenacity and courage to use his body in adaptable ways to create as much independence and enjoyment for himself as possible. He is also an evangelist and motivational speaker. Many people hearing Vujicic communicate are moved by an awareness that if Vujicic can conquer life without arms and legs, then so can we facing whatever it is in the way.
One of the fears that some people have about disability is that the disabled will not be able to live independent lives, get married and raise children. Yet the God we serve is infinite. Since He lives inside of believers, infinite things are possible if we enthusiastically seek God and His ways. Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge." Vujicic lives independently, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and has a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic.
God does not will for some disabled people to be independent and married. Instead of viewing this as a death sentence, why not talk with God and find out His purpose for it? Many people today are lonely and feeling empty. Perhaps some of them are called to find purpose and fulfillment in a relationships with people who have disabilities.
None of us came to planet earth randomly. God sent us here, and He wants us to connect to Him and other people today and forever. God doesn't make an exemption to His good plan based on being disabled or non-disabled. 1 John 4:9-11 New Living Translation Bible says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
The North Dakota bill prohibiting abortions for genetic abnormality and sex-selection welcomes lives. No life is worthless. Each one of us is a wonder. Nancy Tillman writes in her book On the Night You Were Born:
"For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again..."
In America abortion law is not treating people with disabilities well. Legal abortions are performed to take the life of babies who appear to have a genetic disability, such as Down syndrome.
However, North Dakota has become the first state to pass in both their state legislatures a law prohibiting abortions based on genetic abnormality and sex-selection (usually the killing of girl babies because they are girls). The law is awaiting approval by the governor. The primary sponsor of the bill is Fargo, North Dakota Representative Bette Grande, who has two family members with genetic disabilities.
We all have bits and pieces of us that don't work properly. So what if someone is not perfect? Life is a wonderful opportunity.
We can develop disabilities before birth or acquire them later in life. The Apostle Paul may have acquired a disability that he called a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for God to remove it. God didn't remove it. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Amplified Bible says,"Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me; But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"
Having weaknesses to work through can be beneficial by making us and other people better if we cooperate with God's power and ability working through us. Abolitionist, Author and Speaker Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
We are right to ask God for healing. We also need to recognize that God may use a person's disability to bring about other types of healing in the individual and others. Nick Vujicic is of Serbian heritage and born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Vujicic now lives in America and has for years prayed for arms and legs. God hasn't provided them yet. God has provided Vujicic with the tenacity and courage to use his body in adaptable ways to create as much independence and enjoyment for himself as possible. He is also an evangelist and motivational speaker. Many people hearing Vujicic communicate are moved by an awareness that if Vujicic can conquer life without arms and legs, then so can we facing whatever it is in the way.
One of the fears that some people have about disability is that the disabled will not be able to live independent lives, get married and raise children. Yet the God we serve is infinite. Since He lives inside of believers, infinite things are possible if we enthusiastically seek God and His ways. Proverbs 18:15 Amplified Bible says, "The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge." Vujicic lives independently, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and has a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic.
God does not will for some disabled people to be independent and married. Instead of viewing this as a death sentence, why not talk with God and find out His purpose for it? Many people today are lonely and feeling empty. Perhaps some of them are called to find purpose and fulfillment in a relationships with people who have disabilities.
None of us came to planet earth randomly. God sent us here, and He wants us to connect to Him and other people today and forever. God doesn't make an exemption to His good plan based on being disabled or non-disabled. 1 John 4:9-11 New Living Translation Bible says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
The North Dakota bill prohibiting abortions for genetic abnormality and sex-selection welcomes lives. No life is worthless. Each one of us is a wonder. Nancy Tillman writes in her book On the Night You Were Born:
"For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again..."
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Loving By Example
Je vois la lumière. (I see the light.) Our eye needs to be first on the love of God, then on the love of people. When our eye is on, "Whose in charge?," often what comes is rule by the spirit of fear.
If we are afraid of someone, we cannot love them properly. We will spend a lot of energy figuring out how to protect ourselves instead of how to be the best we can in relationships. 1 John 4:18 Amplified Bible says, "There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection]."
Fear reduces creativity, productivity, rational thinking and concern for people. 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."
God does not want to keep tight control of us and force us to love Him and other people. He wants us to voluntarily love Him and people.
We love God because He first loved us. God knows the number of hairs on our heads and the minutest detail about us, not to keep us under His thumb, but because He cares about us, because He is good and because He seeks to bring about good. The more we come to know the love of God, the more we want to be like Him, be in relationship with Him and do what He says to do.
People cannot love perfectly like God. Even believers hurt each other a lot and become paralyzed in renewing relationships. Proverbs 18:19 New Living Translation Bible says, "An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars."
Instead of being paralyzed, living in fear or trying to control by fear, ask God to cause you to forgive, learn and grow in Him and His ways. When someone has changed, don't get stuck in the past and close yourself off to the relationship. Mark Twain says in his poem "Don't Copy Cat:"
"Don't, like the cat, try to get more out
of an experience than there is in it.
The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid,
Will not sit upon a hot stove lid again.
Nor upon a cold stove lid."
If we are afraid of someone, we cannot love them properly. We will spend a lot of energy figuring out how to protect ourselves instead of how to be the best we can in relationships. 1 John 4:18 Amplified Bible says, "There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection]."
Fear reduces creativity, productivity, rational thinking and concern for people. 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."
God does not want to keep tight control of us and force us to love Him and other people. He wants us to voluntarily love Him and people.
We love God because He first loved us. God knows the number of hairs on our heads and the minutest detail about us, not to keep us under His thumb, but because He cares about us, because He is good and because He seeks to bring about good. The more we come to know the love of God, the more we want to be like Him, be in relationship with Him and do what He says to do.
People cannot love perfectly like God. Even believers hurt each other a lot and become paralyzed in renewing relationships. Proverbs 18:19 New Living Translation Bible says, "An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars."
Instead of being paralyzed, living in fear or trying to control by fear, ask God to cause you to forgive, learn and grow in Him and His ways. When someone has changed, don't get stuck in the past and close yourself off to the relationship. Mark Twain says in his poem "Don't Copy Cat:"
"Don't, like the cat, try to get more out
of an experience than there is in it.
The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid,
Will not sit upon a hot stove lid again.
Nor upon a cold stove lid."
Friday, March 15, 2013
Are You Playing Your Part Right?
Sometimes we are quick to put limits on ourselves and others because we focus on what someone cannot do. When God writes to husbands and wives, He doesn't say if you have autism or some other different mind, marriage is off limits for you.
Little by little marriage and romantic relationships for people with autism are being embraced in the media. Yesterday I saw an advertisement for a new book on romantic relationships for people with autism. One of my favorite movies is My Name Is Khan, which features the romance of Rizvan who has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, and Mandira, who does not have autism.
God wants us to have good relationships. God made us the way we are on purpose. He designed our qualities to be developed instead of destroyed. Rizvan doesn't like touch. Rizvan and his mom find a way to negotiate hugs in a way that is mutually helpful. While Rizvan is not a Christian, finding a way to get along with people is. Romans 12:16 Amplified Bible says, "Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits."
Neither Rizvan's mom nor his wife try to takeover Rizvan and turn him into a duplicate of themselves. Sometimes in relationships the root source of conflict is trying to make people like us and doing what we want while failing to appreciate who they are and what they want. God made us different and with different desires.
Are our differences in line with the will of God? If not, we need to cooperate with God to correct our problems. If so, we are in position to be in harmony with and even help someone else.
Then we can ask are we willing to operate in the role God gave us to help others be what God called them to be? If we are and we do it, then playing our God-given role in romantic and other relationships removes a lot of conflict because we are building together instead of working against each other.
Little by little marriage and romantic relationships for people with autism are being embraced in the media. Yesterday I saw an advertisement for a new book on romantic relationships for people with autism. One of my favorite movies is My Name Is Khan, which features the romance of Rizvan who has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, and Mandira, who does not have autism.
God wants us to have good relationships. God made us the way we are on purpose. He designed our qualities to be developed instead of destroyed. Rizvan doesn't like touch. Rizvan and his mom find a way to negotiate hugs in a way that is mutually helpful. While Rizvan is not a Christian, finding a way to get along with people is. Romans 12:16 Amplified Bible says, "Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits."
Neither Rizvan's mom nor his wife try to takeover Rizvan and turn him into a duplicate of themselves. Sometimes in relationships the root source of conflict is trying to make people like us and doing what we want while failing to appreciate who they are and what they want. God made us different and with different desires.
Are our differences in line with the will of God? If not, we need to cooperate with God to correct our problems. If so, we are in position to be in harmony with and even help someone else.
Then we can ask are we willing to operate in the role God gave us to help others be what God called them to be? If we are and we do it, then playing our God-given role in romantic and other relationships removes a lot of conflict because we are building together instead of working against each other.
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, March 13, 2013
Keep the Conversation Going
As believers have you asked yourself, "Am I talking with God about the things I should?" God doesn't want us to become so guarded in our conversation with Him that we are uncomfortable and unable to discuss everything respectfully. We can relax because God has already compensated for our conversations that go astray. Romans 8:26-27 Amplified Bible says, "So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will."
Even if we are on the wrong subjects God is always on the right subject. And not only that if we are pursuing Him, He will make sure we become increasingly like Him. God is for us. He wants goodness for us.
Satan, our enemy, however, likes to accuse us of doing things wrong. God does correct us. He doesn't condemn us.
A Nigerian proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled." For believers our destination is to grow in relationship with God.
Reject condemnation. Keep on talking and cooperating with God.
Even if we are on the wrong subjects God is always on the right subject. And not only that if we are pursuing Him, He will make sure we become increasingly like Him. God is for us. He wants goodness for us.
Satan, our enemy, however, likes to accuse us of doing things wrong. God does correct us. He doesn't condemn us.
A Nigerian proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled." For believers our destination is to grow in relationship with God.
Reject condemnation. Keep on talking and cooperating with God.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Single Sexuality
Sharon Jayson in her March 22, 2012, usatoday.com article, "Nearly 40% of women today have never been married" reports, "The data, out today from the National Center for Health Statistics, are based on 22,682 in-person interviews from 2006 to 2010 with men and women (not couples) ages 15 to 44. Among the 12,279 women studied, the percentage of never-marrieds rose to 38% from 33% in 1995.
The highest percentage of women who have never married was among blacks (55%), followed by U.S.-born Hispanics (49%), Asians (39%) and whites (34%)."
Most adults in America have had sex outside of marriage. Sex outside of marriage can feel pretty good, but after a while some wonder maybe marriage is better?
Most Americans have also probably heard, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14 King James Version Bible).
Living beyond or beneath the Bible has negative consequences. We are harmed and even die physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually whenever we don't live in the ways of the Word. Moses was close to God. He spoke face-to-face with God. Moses lived in his right mind and in full use of his body right up until his death at 120. He would have lived longer, if he had not disobeyed God in striking the Rock.
Disobedience is deadly. Obedience to God opens opportunities for eminent, enjoyable living.
God talks about sex and sexuality in the Bible openly, clearly, directly, truthfully and lovingly. Many people globally are not experiencing God's best in sexuality and sex due to sexual sin.
Leaving the sin of partner-sex outside of marriage is tough and may take a long time. For me it took a number of years and did not happen until I had a child while single. Sadly, like many others both non-Christian and Christian, I was having partner-sex outside of marriage.
Has anyone found the negative side of single parenting to be like being married without the benefits?
A Rosa Heyman Redbook "25 reasons why married sex is better" article says about married people, "By now, you've had a lot of sex together. Part of the fun of having such a long history is that you can talk about your favorite times and do your best to recreate the heat!"
All the arguments against premarital sex based on a desire to avoid HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and to use contraception didn't do much for me and many others. These things seem easily managable. God used relationship training to give me revelation on the destructive nature of sin and the true love of God.
Children have a positive influence on our relationship with God. Genesis 5:22 Amplified Bible says, "Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters."
Por favor me ayude. (Please help me.) What has God taught you about partner sex?
While we do a lot of things that God does not approve of, God still loves all people all the time.
God loves all kinds of singles: singles who have never been married, singles with children, divorced people, singles without children, singles living in various types of non-married-sexual relationships, singles who are victorious over the gay lifestyle, singles who are not victorious over the gay lifestyle. Are there other types of singles?
Many singles enjoy being single. Many singles would also like to be married.
What are your favorite love stories?
Marriage is for multiple types of people. In the movie, My Name Is Khan, Rizvan has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. He is rejected at school because his autism behavior is not understood or accepted, so his mom finds another way to educate him. When his mom dies, Rizvan moves from India to San Francisco, California, to live with his brother, Zakir. Zakir gets him a job as a salesman for Mehnaz Herbal Beauty Products. Through his job Rizvan meets Mandira. Eventually Rizvan and Mandira marry.
A lot of the tension in My Name Is Khan revolves around people's fear and ignorance of autism and differences in people. The tension in My Name Is Khan is like the mommy wars in American culture.
Sometimes in American culture we forget about loving people extravagantly and go to war over our misfortunes, challenges and differences. Whether we are mothers whose full-time work is to raise children like Pauletta Washington (wife of actor Denzel Washington) or mothers who are also employees, business owners, non-profit employees and non-profit owners like Naomi Zacharias of Wellspring International, Joyce Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries or Cookie Lee of Cookie Lee Jewelry, we all have God-given purpose and roles in life. And this is also true for women who are complete and successful as singles without children like the first African-American female U.S. secretary of state, Condolezza Rice, who is currently a CBS News contributor.
We don't need a big name for God to care about us and call us into ministry. Ministry is for all people including divorced people. Being widowed or divorced does not have to mean we are done living.
Who are some non-famous people doing good singles and/or married ministry?
No state of being can separate us from the love of God. God chooses all kinds of people to love, and His love is eternal. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39 Amplified Bible, "For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The highest percentage of women who have never married was among blacks (55%), followed by U.S.-born Hispanics (49%), Asians (39%) and whites (34%)."
Most adults in America have had sex outside of marriage. Sex outside of marriage can feel pretty good, but after a while some wonder maybe marriage is better?
Most Americans have also probably heard, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14 King James Version Bible).
Living beyond or beneath the Bible has negative consequences. We are harmed and even die physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually whenever we don't live in the ways of the Word. Moses was close to God. He spoke face-to-face with God. Moses lived in his right mind and in full use of his body right up until his death at 120. He would have lived longer, if he had not disobeyed God in striking the Rock.
Disobedience is deadly. Obedience to God opens opportunities for eminent, enjoyable living.
God talks about sex and sexuality in the Bible openly, clearly, directly, truthfully and lovingly. Many people globally are not experiencing God's best in sexuality and sex due to sexual sin.
Leaving the sin of partner-sex outside of marriage is tough and may take a long time. For me it took a number of years and did not happen until I had a child while single. Sadly, like many others both non-Christian and Christian, I was having partner-sex outside of marriage.
Has anyone found the negative side of single parenting to be like being married without the benefits?
A Rosa Heyman Redbook "25 reasons why married sex is better" article says about married people, "By now, you've had a lot of sex together. Part of the fun of having such a long history is that you can talk about your favorite times and do your best to recreate the heat!"
All the arguments against premarital sex based on a desire to avoid HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and to use contraception didn't do much for me and many others. These things seem easily managable. God used relationship training to give me revelation on the destructive nature of sin and the true love of God.
Children have a positive influence on our relationship with God. Genesis 5:22 Amplified Bible says, "Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters."
Por favor me ayude. (Please help me.) What has God taught you about partner sex?
While we do a lot of things that God does not approve of, God still loves all people all the time.
God loves all kinds of singles: singles who have never been married, singles with children, divorced people, singles without children, singles living in various types of non-married-sexual relationships, singles who are victorious over the gay lifestyle, singles who are not victorious over the gay lifestyle. Are there other types of singles?
Many singles enjoy being single. Many singles would also like to be married.
What are your favorite love stories?
Marriage is for multiple types of people. In the movie, My Name Is Khan, Rizvan has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. He is rejected at school because his autism behavior is not understood or accepted, so his mom finds another way to educate him. When his mom dies, Rizvan moves from India to San Francisco, California, to live with his brother, Zakir. Zakir gets him a job as a salesman for Mehnaz Herbal Beauty Products. Through his job Rizvan meets Mandira. Eventually Rizvan and Mandira marry.
A lot of the tension in My Name Is Khan revolves around people's fear and ignorance of autism and differences in people. The tension in My Name Is Khan is like the mommy wars in American culture.
Sometimes in American culture we forget about loving people extravagantly and go to war over our misfortunes, challenges and differences. Whether we are mothers whose full-time work is to raise children like Pauletta Washington (wife of actor Denzel Washington) or mothers who are also employees, business owners, non-profit employees and non-profit owners like Naomi Zacharias of Wellspring International, Joyce Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries or Cookie Lee of Cookie Lee Jewelry, we all have God-given purpose and roles in life. And this is also true for women who are complete and successful as singles without children like the first African-American female U.S. secretary of state, Condolezza Rice, who is currently a CBS News contributor.
We don't need a big name for God to care about us and call us into ministry. Ministry is for all people including divorced people. Being widowed or divorced does not have to mean we are done living.
Who are some non-famous people doing good singles and/or married ministry?
No state of being can separate us from the love of God. God chooses all kinds of people to love, and His love is eternal. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39 Amplified Bible, "For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Monday, March 11, 2013
Novel Sex
Trying new things can be good. Solomon's Shulammite wife strove to try new types of lovemaking with Solomon. Together they enjoyed the old ways of mating while embracing the new. Novelty can be exciting, edifying and exquisite.
Our God is the Creator. He created sex and sexuality. We are made in God's image. We are also creators.
Some novelty is destructive; more than one million Americans went to a swingers club in 2011. Instead of swapping sex partners creative marital monogamy involves consistently growing in ways to make a spouse's life better. Figuring out new ways to bring sexual pleasure and other pleasure to a spouse is a ministry, a responsibility and a loving, beautiful joy.
Solomon's wife enjoyed getting naked in nature with Solomon. She says to Solomon in Song of Solomon 7:11-12 New Living Translation Bible, "Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers. Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover."
God built our beautiful bodies for love. Spouses, have fun customizing the missionary and downward rear entry. Strip off the No es posible attitude and the bad body image. Rear-entry vaginal sex is not immoral. Do you have a funny sex experiment story to share?
Some in our parents generation were taught and communicated to us that oral sex is depraved, but nothing in the Bible prohibits oral sex. Actually, the Bible encourages it. Sometimes we have taboos that God does not possess. Solomon's Shulammite wife says about Solomon in Song of Solomon 2:3 New Living Translation Bible, "Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit." Of course, oral sex is not just for a wife to give to her husband. A husband and wife can give each other oral sex even at the same time, and have simultaneous orgasms!
Orgasms outside of sexual intercourse can be had in a variety of ways. Some say they can think themselves into orgasms. If you need touch, try creating a love tunnel for your husband's penis with your breasts, hands and/or thighs.
Spouses, learn each other. Some people need more privacy than others for marital lovemaking. Some need less privacy. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room!
Play games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own game.
Men may think more about sex than women generally. Women have the potential to have more orgasms in a lovemaking session than men generally. The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior reports that the more sexual positions a woman engages in with a man during a lovemaking session the greater the potential for orgasms. Many women love to shop and possess a wide variety of clothes, shoes, accessories and other items. Like we like variety in our shopping, we like variety in our sexual relationship. A husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband at various angles creates different sensations. What is your favorite sexual position? How many of the 500-plus positions have you tried?
Sexual fantasies about our spouse can be used to enhance a couple's sexual life. Talk to God to stop fantasies about people other than our spouse.
Tender and talented marital lovemaking includes more than oral sex or a husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband. Solomon and his wife enjoyed each others sex within a good relationship with God, self and each other. Intimacy is:
Intentional,
Nurturing,
Talking,
Integration,
Mating,
Adoration,
Compassion,
Yearning.
'"Women, this might surprise you, but even more than your husband wants to have sex with you for his own sexual relief, the truth is, he wants to please you even more than he wants to be pleasured. It might seem like it's all about him, but what he really wants, emotionally, is to see how much you enjoy the pleasure he can give you. If he fails to do that, for any reason, he'll end up feeling inadequate, lonely, and unloved. Most of us men want to be our wives' heroes," says Dr. Kevin Leman in his book, Sheet Music Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage.
Bible-living, Christian spouses shouldn't have a bad sex life. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." God commands us to figure out how to love people. Galatians 5:14 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”" What are some surprising things you had to learn to love your spouse?
For the most part, believers are suppose to give, receive and feel love like Donna Summer sang in her song, "I Feel Love." If your relationships aren't so good, and you are not feeling love, then sin is present and needs to brought before God to be forgiven and stopped.
While God designed partner sex for married couples only, God designed both spouses and singles to celebrate their sexuality. Inner beauty is holy, and so is outer beauty. Solomon says to his loved one in Song of Solomon 1:10 New Living Translation Bible, "How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels."
In what ways do you celebrate your sexuality?
Our God is the Creator. He created sex and sexuality. We are made in God's image. We are also creators.
Some novelty is destructive; more than one million Americans went to a swingers club in 2011. Instead of swapping sex partners creative marital monogamy involves consistently growing in ways to make a spouse's life better. Figuring out new ways to bring sexual pleasure and other pleasure to a spouse is a ministry, a responsibility and a loving, beautiful joy.
Solomon's wife enjoyed getting naked in nature with Solomon. She says to Solomon in Song of Solomon 7:11-12 New Living Translation Bible, "Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers. Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover."
God built our beautiful bodies for love. Spouses, have fun customizing the missionary and downward rear entry. Strip off the No es posible attitude and the bad body image. Rear-entry vaginal sex is not immoral. Do you have a funny sex experiment story to share?
Some in our parents generation were taught and communicated to us that oral sex is depraved, but nothing in the Bible prohibits oral sex. Actually, the Bible encourages it. Sometimes we have taboos that God does not possess. Solomon's Shulammite wife says about Solomon in Song of Solomon 2:3 New Living Translation Bible, "Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit." Of course, oral sex is not just for a wife to give to her husband. A husband and wife can give each other oral sex even at the same time, and have simultaneous orgasms!
Orgasms outside of sexual intercourse can be had in a variety of ways. Some say they can think themselves into orgasms. If you need touch, try creating a love tunnel for your husband's penis with your breasts, hands and/or thighs.
Spouses, learn each other. Some people need more privacy than others for marital lovemaking. Some need less privacy. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room!
Play games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own game.
Men may think more about sex than women generally. Women have the potential to have more orgasms in a lovemaking session than men generally. The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior reports that the more sexual positions a woman engages in with a man during a lovemaking session the greater the potential for orgasms. Many women love to shop and possess a wide variety of clothes, shoes, accessories and other items. Like we like variety in our shopping, we like variety in our sexual relationship. A husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband at various angles creates different sensations. What is your favorite sexual position? How many of the 500-plus positions have you tried?
Sexual fantasies about our spouse can be used to enhance a couple's sexual life. Talk to God to stop fantasies about people other than our spouse.
Tender and talented marital lovemaking includes more than oral sex or a husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband. Solomon and his wife enjoyed each others sex within a good relationship with God, self and each other. Intimacy is:
Intentional,
Nurturing,
Talking,
Integration,
Mating,
Adoration,
Compassion,
Yearning.
'"Women, this might surprise you, but even more than your husband wants to have sex with you for his own sexual relief, the truth is, he wants to please you even more than he wants to be pleasured. It might seem like it's all about him, but what he really wants, emotionally, is to see how much you enjoy the pleasure he can give you. If he fails to do that, for any reason, he'll end up feeling inadequate, lonely, and unloved. Most of us men want to be our wives' heroes," says Dr. Kevin Leman in his book, Sheet Music Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage.
Bible-living, Christian spouses shouldn't have a bad sex life. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." God commands us to figure out how to love people. Galatians 5:14 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”" What are some surprising things you had to learn to love your spouse?
For the most part, believers are suppose to give, receive and feel love like Donna Summer sang in her song, "I Feel Love." If your relationships aren't so good, and you are not feeling love, then sin is present and needs to brought before God to be forgiven and stopped.
While God designed partner sex for married couples only, God designed both spouses and singles to celebrate their sexuality. Inner beauty is holy, and so is outer beauty. Solomon says to his loved one in Song of Solomon 1:10 New Living Translation Bible, "How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels."
In what ways do you celebrate your sexuality?
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Power to End Unequal Treatment
When the laws of people are in line with the law of God, these laws show us what sin is, how to properly treat people and what good is. Matthew 7:12 English Standard Version Bible says, "“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Galatians 3:28-29 the Message Bible says, "In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises."
Rosa Parks, mother of the Civil Rights Movement, fought for the implementation in American society of the idea that all people are equal. When Parks refused to give up her seat in December 1955 in obedience to segregation law, she was arrested.
Parks had been branch secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP for several years. Along with Edgar Daniel Nixon, head of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, and other Civil Rights leaders, Parks agreed to use her case to pursue an end to segregation. The Civil Rights leaders also decided to boycott the Montgomery buses. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "We're going to work with grim and firm determination to gain justice on the buses in this city. And...we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong...If we are wrong, justice is a lie. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream..."
After a little more than one year of the boycott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, declaring Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional. It was the beginning of the end of segregation.
Parks said, "People always say that I [didn't give] up my seat because I was I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically...The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Segregation eventually became illegal in the United States of America, but not all unequal treatment as evidenced by issues such as abortion, immigration, disability, sexuality and employment. Why do we still struggle with unequal treatment?
Christian Minister Watchman Nee said in his book The Normal Christian Life, "When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am."
We all need a daily dose of God the Holy Ghost to be delivered from who we are and to live in growing evidence of the love of God on the inside showing up on the outside. The more people living in the ways of God empowered by God, the less unequal treatment and the less other sin. God living on the inside is the power to fulfill love. Romans 13:10 Amplified Bible says, "Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law."
Follow me (michelelove30) on Twitter. Recommend this article on Google.
Rosa Parks, mother of the Civil Rights Movement, fought for the implementation in American society of the idea that all people are equal. When Parks refused to give up her seat in December 1955 in obedience to segregation law, she was arrested.
Parks had been branch secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP for several years. Along with Edgar Daniel Nixon, head of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, and other Civil Rights leaders, Parks agreed to use her case to pursue an end to segregation. The Civil Rights leaders also decided to boycott the Montgomery buses. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "We're going to work with grim and firm determination to gain justice on the buses in this city. And...we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong...If we are wrong, justice is a lie. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream..."
After a little more than one year of the boycott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, declaring Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional. It was the beginning of the end of segregation.
Parks said, "People always say that I [didn't give] up my seat because I was I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically...The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Segregation eventually became illegal in the United States of America, but not all unequal treatment as evidenced by issues such as abortion, immigration, disability, sexuality and employment. Why do we still struggle with unequal treatment?
Christian Minister Watchman Nee said in his book The Normal Christian Life, "When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am."
We all need a daily dose of God the Holy Ghost to be delivered from who we are and to live in growing evidence of the love of God on the inside showing up on the outside. The more people living in the ways of God empowered by God, the less unequal treatment and the less other sin. God living on the inside is the power to fulfill love. Romans 13:10 Amplified Bible says, "Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law."
Follow me (michelelove30) on Twitter. Recommend this article on Google.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Two and More Maasai Warriors Needed
Math and science can seen so challenging to pursue for various reasons. One reason is fear. Lose the fear. We need more Bible-believing, Bible living mathematicians and scientists.
God designed the vagina. Many husbands think constantly about this portal to paradise and can hardly wait to enter it.
Many wives welcome their husbands into their portal of paradise frequently, but are far less enthusiastic for medical instruments to be in their vaginas. A vaginal probe can determine a baby's heartbeat beginning with six weeks of pregnancy. Will someone please invent external methods of measuring a young baby's life in the womb?
Let's remove all masks covering truth and love. Both women and babies are human and deserving of respect. Ephesians 4:14-15 Amplified Bible says, "So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
Sometimes students do not pursue math and science because of the fear of failure. Sometimes mathematicians and scientists do not perfect their work because of a fear of failure. Joyce Meyer writes in her article "Overcoming Fear with Faith How to Shed the Layers of Fear That Weigh Us Down" in the March/April 2013 magazine Enjoying Everyday Life, "I remember so many times in my life when I was so afraid of failing, but I would take a step of faith anyway. There were times when things worked out and times when they didn't. When that happens to you, you need to shake it off and move forward. Don't let the fear of making a mistake stop you.
We will experience failures in life, but nobody has to be a failure. Failing at something doesn't make you a failure. Failure comes when you quit trying." Inventor Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Yes, we can remove all obstacles to evil. Abel Zavala sings in his song "Unanimes" on his album Jesus mi fiel amigo:
"Victoria hay en El
Mi Cristo derroto
Las huestes del mal
Victoria cantare
Mi libertad pago
Gritare!
Celebrare ante el rey."
Gunpowder was invented in China. We need some new ammunition to defeat the followers of evil. Some followers of evil want to pit mothers against their babies and use deceptive arguments to do so.
Believers already have victory in God the Son Jesus Christ. We have already defeated the enemy and his followers. We also have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Amplified Bible says, "For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart."
The ammunition to detect a baby's life at the earliest stages of development with respect to their mothers is already in the mind of Christ. Since believers have the mind of Christ, the ammunition is already in our mind. It just needs to be extracted.
Mathematicians, scientists and all believers need to be masters in spiritual warfare. Satan doesn't want us to use our Christ mind; he want us to use reprobate and carnal thinking, so that his evil ways can reign. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 English Standard Version Bible says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Abortion, the taking of the lives of boys and girls, will end when multiple people play their part in ending this evil. A Maasai of East Africa riddle asks:
"Who has more courage than a Maasai warrior?
Answer: "Two Maasai warriors."
God designed the vagina. Many husbands think constantly about this portal to paradise and can hardly wait to enter it.
Many wives welcome their husbands into their portal of paradise frequently, but are far less enthusiastic for medical instruments to be in their vaginas. A vaginal probe can determine a baby's heartbeat beginning with six weeks of pregnancy. Will someone please invent external methods of measuring a young baby's life in the womb?
Let's remove all masks covering truth and love. Both women and babies are human and deserving of respect. Ephesians 4:14-15 Amplified Bible says, "So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
Sometimes students do not pursue math and science because of the fear of failure. Sometimes mathematicians and scientists do not perfect their work because of a fear of failure. Joyce Meyer writes in her article "Overcoming Fear with Faith How to Shed the Layers of Fear That Weigh Us Down" in the March/April 2013 magazine Enjoying Everyday Life, "I remember so many times in my life when I was so afraid of failing, but I would take a step of faith anyway. There were times when things worked out and times when they didn't. When that happens to you, you need to shake it off and move forward. Don't let the fear of making a mistake stop you.
We will experience failures in life, but nobody has to be a failure. Failing at something doesn't make you a failure. Failure comes when you quit trying." Inventor Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Yes, we can remove all obstacles to evil. Abel Zavala sings in his song "Unanimes" on his album Jesus mi fiel amigo:
"Victoria hay en El
Mi Cristo derroto
Las huestes del mal
Victoria cantare
Mi libertad pago
Gritare!
Celebrare ante el rey."
Gunpowder was invented in China. We need some new ammunition to defeat the followers of evil. Some followers of evil want to pit mothers against their babies and use deceptive arguments to do so.
Believers already have victory in God the Son Jesus Christ. We have already defeated the enemy and his followers. We also have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Amplified Bible says, "For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart."
The ammunition to detect a baby's life at the earliest stages of development with respect to their mothers is already in the mind of Christ. Since believers have the mind of Christ, the ammunition is already in our mind. It just needs to be extracted.
Mathematicians, scientists and all believers need to be masters in spiritual warfare. Satan doesn't want us to use our Christ mind; he want us to use reprobate and carnal thinking, so that his evil ways can reign. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 English Standard Version Bible says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Abortion, the taking of the lives of boys and girls, will end when multiple people play their part in ending this evil. A Maasai of East Africa riddle asks:
"Who has more courage than a Maasai warrior?
Answer: "Two Maasai warriors."
Friday, March 8, 2013
Estas Loco! (Are You Crazy!) Part II
"I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask him the real questions," a quotation from the book Night by Elie Wiesel. In 2010 when Francis Chan left his mega-church where he served as pastor for 16 years to move to a poor section of Asia with his wife and four children and to give away profits from his best-selling book Crazy Love which has sold 2.2 million copies, some told him something like Estas Loco! (Are You Crazy!)
Yet God doesn't call everyone into Christian ministry to be a pastor or to even remain a pastor for life. God will compel us to change. Acts 6:1-4 New Living Translation Bible says, "But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”"
Like the apostles gained greater freedom to teach the Word by delegating some of their other duties, Chan has greater freedom to teach the Bible to more people now that he is free from being the pastor of one particular church.
Feeding people and being a pastor are important Christian ministries. Matthew 25:34-40 the Message Bible says, "“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’"
Ministry leaders are of various types. Ephesians 4:11 Amplified Bible says, "And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers."
Instead of calling people crazy who have the audacity to give up pastorates at the height of their success or to reduce job duties, why not encourage them in the proclamation of the Word of God? Romans 10:13-14 English Standard Version Bible says, "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"
Chan is both a Christian speaker and writer. The Apostle Paul was both a speaker and writer. Paul wrote most of the New Testament. Paul spent a lot of time studying the Bible and other reading materials. One of the nice things about the written word is one can stop at any time to pray, think and meditate without being compelled to go onto the next sentence. Use books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, speeches and other media to study the Bible and apply its teaching to everyday living. 2 Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible says, "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth."
Intimate study of the Bible should establish that those like Chan are not insane but in tune with the will of God. Chan is now back in the United States after nine months of ministry in Asia. He is focusing on one-on-one discipleship. Civil Rights Activist Ella Baker who helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and had various jobs with the NAACP including national director of branches said, "You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is: strong people don't need strong leaders." Baker didn't mean that leaders shouldn't be strong but rather all people should be strong, and all people are called to lead. In Genesis God gave all people dominion over the planet. Genesis 1:27-28 Complete Jewish Bible says, "So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. God blessed them: God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.” "
Some families will consist of couples of domestic engineers and their spouses some with children some without children, singles, single parents, dual-income couples with children some without children and other types of families. All people can benefit from one year or more of paid leave from employment to help them fulfill God's command to rule the planet. Read my articles "Push for Paid Leave" and "Something Horrible Happened?"
Many women have spoken in favor of paid maternity leave. Dads and moms what do you think about one year or more of paid leave from employment? Singles what do you think of one year or more of paid leave for mission trips, volunteerism and other activities?
Do we even really need to give employers a reason for taking one year or more of paid leave?
Yet God doesn't call everyone into Christian ministry to be a pastor or to even remain a pastor for life. God will compel us to change. Acts 6:1-4 New Living Translation Bible says, "But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”"
Like the apostles gained greater freedom to teach the Word by delegating some of their other duties, Chan has greater freedom to teach the Bible to more people now that he is free from being the pastor of one particular church.
Feeding people and being a pastor are important Christian ministries. Matthew 25:34-40 the Message Bible says, "“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’"
Ministry leaders are of various types. Ephesians 4:11 Amplified Bible says, "And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers."
Instead of calling people crazy who have the audacity to give up pastorates at the height of their success or to reduce job duties, why not encourage them in the proclamation of the Word of God? Romans 10:13-14 English Standard Version Bible says, "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"
Chan is both a Christian speaker and writer. The Apostle Paul was both a speaker and writer. Paul wrote most of the New Testament. Paul spent a lot of time studying the Bible and other reading materials. One of the nice things about the written word is one can stop at any time to pray, think and meditate without being compelled to go onto the next sentence. Use books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, speeches and other media to study the Bible and apply its teaching to everyday living. 2 Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible says, "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth."
Intimate study of the Bible should establish that those like Chan are not insane but in tune with the will of God. Chan is now back in the United States after nine months of ministry in Asia. He is focusing on one-on-one discipleship. Civil Rights Activist Ella Baker who helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and had various jobs with the NAACP including national director of branches said, "You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is: strong people don't need strong leaders." Baker didn't mean that leaders shouldn't be strong but rather all people should be strong, and all people are called to lead. In Genesis God gave all people dominion over the planet. Genesis 1:27-28 Complete Jewish Bible says, "So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. God blessed them: God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.” "
Some families will consist of couples of domestic engineers and their spouses some with children some without children, singles, single parents, dual-income couples with children some without children and other types of families. All people can benefit from one year or more of paid leave from employment to help them fulfill God's command to rule the planet. Read my articles "Push for Paid Leave" and "Something Horrible Happened?"
Many women have spoken in favor of paid maternity leave. Dads and moms what do you think about one year or more of paid leave from employment? Singles what do you think of one year or more of paid leave for mission trips, volunteerism and other activities?
Do we even really need to give employers a reason for taking one year or more of paid leave?
Thursday, March 7, 2013
End the War Between the Sexes
"Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side," says motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar. Love is better than war between the sexes.
Many African American couples purchased the freedom of one or both. Frederick Douglass was named Frederick Bailey as a slave. He fell in love with Anna Murray who was born free. Murray and paper played important roles in his life. Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Chinese Imperial court is credited with inventing paper. He combined bamboo fibers, the inner bark of a mulberry tree and water to create pulp. Lun then poured the pulp on a cloth and let the water drain through. When the remaining pulp was solid enough, he lifted it off the cloth and hung it up to dry. When dry it made a writing surface.
On September 3, 1838 using the borrowed identification papers of a black sailor and abolitionist named David Ruggles and money that Murray had saved, Frederick Bailey left slavery in Maryland for freedom in Massachusetts. Love shows itself.
1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail." Slavery is wrong; freedom is just and right. Like Murray worked nine years, saved money and gave it to her future husband Frederick Bailey to purchase his freedom, Absalom Jones and Mary King were slaves who married, and Absalom worked several years to pay for the freedom of Mary, their children and himself. Absalom Jones went on to found the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on July 17, 1794, and he became the first black American to become an ordained priest. Read more in my article "Stern-Looking But Big-Hearted." Lucy Terry was a 16-year-old poet and slave who wrote "The Bar's Fight" describing a Native American attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1746 during the French and Indian War. Abijah Prince an ex-slave who gained his freedom after serving in the French and Indian War, married Lucy Terry and purchased her freedom. They moved to Vermont and had six children two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War.
Fred Korematsu who fought for Asian American civil rights said, "If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up." Frederick Bailey changed his name to Frederick Douglass to avoid slave hunters and spoke against many evils and for love. Douglass became a public speaker, wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and established the newspaper called North Star which is the same name of the first newspaper I wrote for in high school and eventually became editor-in-chief of it. The North Star's motto was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Even if something or someone is in the way of love, pasos cortos, vista larga (short steps, long view.) Harriet Tubman was married to John Tubman. Harriet was born a slave. John was born free. John did not help Harriet gain her freedom. Step by step Harriet gained her freedom and went on to help hundreds of African Americans gain their freedom. Read my article "Only One is All Good."
Love is not without struggle, but we can work together for in the end, love always wins.
Many African American couples purchased the freedom of one or both. Frederick Douglass was named Frederick Bailey as a slave. He fell in love with Anna Murray who was born free. Murray and paper played important roles in his life. Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Chinese Imperial court is credited with inventing paper. He combined bamboo fibers, the inner bark of a mulberry tree and water to create pulp. Lun then poured the pulp on a cloth and let the water drain through. When the remaining pulp was solid enough, he lifted it off the cloth and hung it up to dry. When dry it made a writing surface.
On September 3, 1838 using the borrowed identification papers of a black sailor and abolitionist named David Ruggles and money that Murray had saved, Frederick Bailey left slavery in Maryland for freedom in Massachusetts. Love shows itself.
1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail." Slavery is wrong; freedom is just and right. Like Murray worked nine years, saved money and gave it to her future husband Frederick Bailey to purchase his freedom, Absalom Jones and Mary King were slaves who married, and Absalom worked several years to pay for the freedom of Mary, their children and himself. Absalom Jones went on to found the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on July 17, 1794, and he became the first black American to become an ordained priest. Read more in my article "Stern-Looking But Big-Hearted." Lucy Terry was a 16-year-old poet and slave who wrote "The Bar's Fight" describing a Native American attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1746 during the French and Indian War. Abijah Prince an ex-slave who gained his freedom after serving in the French and Indian War, married Lucy Terry and purchased her freedom. They moved to Vermont and had six children two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War.
Fred Korematsu who fought for Asian American civil rights said, "If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up." Frederick Bailey changed his name to Frederick Douglass to avoid slave hunters and spoke against many evils and for love. Douglass became a public speaker, wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and established the newspaper called North Star which is the same name of the first newspaper I wrote for in high school and eventually became editor-in-chief of it. The North Star's motto was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Even if something or someone is in the way of love, pasos cortos, vista larga (short steps, long view.) Harriet Tubman was married to John Tubman. Harriet was born a slave. John was born free. John did not help Harriet gain her freedom. Step by step Harriet gained her freedom and went on to help hundreds of African Americans gain their freedom. Read my article "Only One is All Good."
Love is not without struggle, but we can work together for in the end, love always wins.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Aren't the Unborn Boys or Girls!
The unborn are not a part of their mother's bodies. The unborn are individuals. The life of the unborn can be started outside their mother's bodies. Frozen embryos are sometimes fought over in child custody cases. The unborn can survive both birth and abortion in the second-trimester and third-trimester of gestation. Surgeries and medical treatments can be done on the unborn.
"Doctors can almost always prevent transmission of H.I.V. from infected mothers to their babies by testing the mothers during pregnancy, treating those found infected with antiretroviral drugs, and giving their babies a six-week course of one or two drugs to prevent them from becoming infected. That works in the vast majority of cases, but when it does not, doctors provide stronger drug regiments to treat the infection in the baby," says The New York Times editorial staff in the March 5, 2013, article "The Intriguing Case of a Baby Cured of H.I.V."
Yet babies in their mother's wombs of the same age as those treated with antiretroviral drugs can be killed for virtually any reason by legal abortion except for some late-term abortions in fewer than 11 American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Science has forced some pro-choice people to now admit that abortion ends human life. Frances Kissling, a long-time pro-choice advocate and former president of Catholics for Choice, told Time Magazine in the January 14, 2013, article "What Choice? Abortion-rights activists won an epic victory in Roe v. Wade. They've been losing ever since," "When people hear us say abortion is just another medical procedure, they react with shock . . . Abortion is not like having your tooth pulled or having your appendix out. It involves the termination of an early form of human life. That deserves some gravitas."
The women's movement started out pro-life. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, passionately-in-love wife married 47 years, mother of seven, women's-rights activist and abolitionist, was both pro-woman and pro-life. In a 1873 letter to Julia Ward Howe, the originator of Mother's Day, Stanton writes, "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit." Read my article "Pro-Woman, Pro-life."
Preacher, Abolitionist and Women's Rights Activist Sojourner Truth said, "You say women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches. Nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or over a mud puddle. And ain't I a woman?" Truth said, "I have plowed, and I have planted. I have gathered into barns. No man could head me. And ain't I a woman?" Truth also said, "Jesus came from God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with him."
Science has now demonstrated that human life begins when sperm and egg unite. Aren't the unborn boys or girls!
God loves all people even His enemies. Matthew 5:43-48 the Message Bible says, "“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”"
God even loves rapists, the women and men raped and the babies conceived of rape. None of these people should be killed. Instead God desires that people be changed into the goodness of His likeness. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Amplified Bible says, "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."
Isn't it past time to outlaw all abortions except those that science is not yet sophisticated enough to save the physical life of both the mother and the unborn? Read my article "Thoughts About Abortion."
The loss of a child hurts. "I have borne thirteen children and seen them almost all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief none but Jesus heard," said Sojourner Truth. Japanese American and other Asian American parents couldn't do much to protect their children when former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered that Asian Americans be thrust from their homes into internment camps. Read my article "Faith, Fear and Japanese Americans." Rock star Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith writes in his autobiography, Walk This Way, about his abortion experience, “It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. … You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”
"Doctors can almost always prevent transmission of H.I.V. from infected mothers to their babies by testing the mothers during pregnancy, treating those found infected with antiretroviral drugs, and giving their babies a six-week course of one or two drugs to prevent them from becoming infected. That works in the vast majority of cases, but when it does not, doctors provide stronger drug regiments to treat the infection in the baby," says The New York Times editorial staff in the March 5, 2013, article "The Intriguing Case of a Baby Cured of H.I.V."
Yet babies in their mother's wombs of the same age as those treated with antiretroviral drugs can be killed for virtually any reason by legal abortion except for some late-term abortions in fewer than 11 American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Science has forced some pro-choice people to now admit that abortion ends human life. Frances Kissling, a long-time pro-choice advocate and former president of Catholics for Choice, told Time Magazine in the January 14, 2013, article "What Choice? Abortion-rights activists won an epic victory in Roe v. Wade. They've been losing ever since," "When people hear us say abortion is just another medical procedure, they react with shock . . . Abortion is not like having your tooth pulled or having your appendix out. It involves the termination of an early form of human life. That deserves some gravitas."
The women's movement started out pro-life. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, passionately-in-love wife married 47 years, mother of seven, women's-rights activist and abolitionist, was both pro-woman and pro-life. In a 1873 letter to Julia Ward Howe, the originator of Mother's Day, Stanton writes, "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit." Read my article "Pro-Woman, Pro-life."
Preacher, Abolitionist and Women's Rights Activist Sojourner Truth said, "You say women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches. Nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or over a mud puddle. And ain't I a woman?" Truth said, "I have plowed, and I have planted. I have gathered into barns. No man could head me. And ain't I a woman?" Truth also said, "Jesus came from God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with him."
Science has now demonstrated that human life begins when sperm and egg unite. Aren't the unborn boys or girls!
God loves all people even His enemies. Matthew 5:43-48 the Message Bible says, "“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”"
God even loves rapists, the women and men raped and the babies conceived of rape. None of these people should be killed. Instead God desires that people be changed into the goodness of His likeness. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Amplified Bible says, "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."
Isn't it past time to outlaw all abortions except those that science is not yet sophisticated enough to save the physical life of both the mother and the unborn? Read my article "Thoughts About Abortion."
The loss of a child hurts. "I have borne thirteen children and seen them almost all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief none but Jesus heard," said Sojourner Truth. Japanese American and other Asian American parents couldn't do much to protect their children when former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered that Asian Americans be thrust from their homes into internment camps. Read my article "Faith, Fear and Japanese Americans." Rock star Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith writes in his autobiography, Walk This Way, about his abortion experience, “It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. … You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Interconnect
Raizy Glauber and Nathan Glauber were 21-years-old, Orthodox Jews of the Satmar Hasidic sect who had been paired by a matchmaker before marrying about a year ago reports The New York Times. The Glauber's were also killed in a car accident Monday, but doctors were able to perform an emergency Caesarean section to save the life of their son who was born at 24 weeks gestation, according to The New York Times's March 4, 2013, article "Emergency-Room Crisis: When Pregnant Woman Is Dying."
The Glauber baby boy is the age of babies now protected from some second-trimester and third trimester abortions in some American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Because of the age and place of residence of the unborn they are being discriminated against. The unborn have few legal rights.
Issues are interconnected. Christian minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King also said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The injustice of discrimination is widespread. During segregation African Americans and other people of color were compelled to sit in the back of buses and to go to colored only public places. The Voting Rights Act got rid of things like poll taxes, literacy tests and other administrative barriers erected to block African Americans and other people of color from voting. Are today's citizen tests, English tests, long waiting periods to become citizens like the past discriminatory poll taxes and literacy tests?
All Rafael and I had to do to become American citizens was be born. We thank God that we are not slaves, undocumented or living in countries where much of the population is living in circumstances comparable to segregation and even slavery.
Is anyone advocating for making American citizenship for immigrants almost as easy as it is for those born citizens?
A proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers." Matthew 7:12 New Living Translation Bible says, "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." It does not matter if people want to stay in a country permanently or temporarily, God encourages us to treat them like ourselves. Deuteronomio 10:17-18 Palabra de Dios para Todos dice, "porque el SEÑOR tu Dios es el Dios de todos los dioses y el Señor de todos los señores. Él es grande, poderoso y terrible. Él no tiene favoritismos ni acepta sobornos. Él se encarga de hacer justicia a las viudas y a los huérfanos. Él ama al inmigrante que habita contigo y le da comida y ropa." Deuteronomy 10:17-18 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing."
Of course, we would not want to offer citizenship to drug lords, terrorists and other real criminals, but many foreign people will add great value to our American society by becoming citizens. Ruth, who was from Moab, was also in the human heritage of King David and Jesus Christ. Ruth said to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi, in the book of Ruth 1:16-17 English Standard Version, ". . .“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”"
Ruth was brave enough to escape the paganism of Moab. For other escapes, read my article "Audacious Escapes" and "Only One is All Good."
Ruth married the Jewish Boaz and lived the rest of her life in Israel. The women of Israel said to Naomi about Ruth in the book of Ruth 4:15 New Living Translation, " . . . your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons."
How much value and goodness are we missing through discriminatory practices like abortion and the process for foreigners to become citizens?
The Glauber baby boy is the age of babies now protected from some second-trimester and third trimester abortions in some American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Because of the age and place of residence of the unborn they are being discriminated against. The unborn have few legal rights.
Issues are interconnected. Christian minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King also said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The injustice of discrimination is widespread. During segregation African Americans and other people of color were compelled to sit in the back of buses and to go to colored only public places. The Voting Rights Act got rid of things like poll taxes, literacy tests and other administrative barriers erected to block African Americans and other people of color from voting. Are today's citizen tests, English tests, long waiting periods to become citizens like the past discriminatory poll taxes and literacy tests?
All Rafael and I had to do to become American citizens was be born. We thank God that we are not slaves, undocumented or living in countries where much of the population is living in circumstances comparable to segregation and even slavery.
Is anyone advocating for making American citizenship for immigrants almost as easy as it is for those born citizens?
A proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers." Matthew 7:12 New Living Translation Bible says, "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." It does not matter if people want to stay in a country permanently or temporarily, God encourages us to treat them like ourselves. Deuteronomio 10:17-18 Palabra de Dios para Todos dice, "porque el SEÑOR tu Dios es el Dios de todos los dioses y el Señor de todos los señores. Él es grande, poderoso y terrible. Él no tiene favoritismos ni acepta sobornos. Él se encarga de hacer justicia a las viudas y a los huérfanos. Él ama al inmigrante que habita contigo y le da comida y ropa." Deuteronomy 10:17-18 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing."
Of course, we would not want to offer citizenship to drug lords, terrorists and other real criminals, but many foreign people will add great value to our American society by becoming citizens. Ruth, who was from Moab, was also in the human heritage of King David and Jesus Christ. Ruth said to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi, in the book of Ruth 1:16-17 English Standard Version, ". . .“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”"
Ruth was brave enough to escape the paganism of Moab. For other escapes, read my article "Audacious Escapes" and "Only One is All Good."
Ruth married the Jewish Boaz and lived the rest of her life in Israel. The women of Israel said to Naomi about Ruth in the book of Ruth 4:15 New Living Translation, " . . . your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons."
How much value and goodness are we missing through discriminatory practices like abortion and the process for foreigners to become citizens?
Monday, March 4, 2013
Push for Paid Leave
When Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Mosaic law and the prophets, He didn't come to implement a rigid system that put people in bondage and denied them the best of living. The Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus Christ challenging His Jewish people to practice the Sabbath in a way that provides maximum help for people. Mark 2:27 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Jesus finished by saying, “People were not made for the good of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for the good of people."
How can employers pay for one-year or more of paid employee leave?
** All leave balances accrued should be portable from one place of employment to the next.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave benefits instead of a 401K match.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave instead of a monetary increase for merit performance.
** Some may desire a customized benefit package.
What are some other ways to pay for one-year or more of paid leave?
Yes, we can have one-year or more of paid leave in America. Just because we have not gotten it in the past does not mean that we cannot get it in the near future. A Japanese proverb says, “Fall down seven times, get up eight times.”
Ida B. Wells was kicked out of a train because she refused to sit in the back. She sued the train company for discrimination and won, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned her victory. Ida went on to fight against racism, especially the lynching of African Americans and for women's right to vote. Wells was a married, mother of four children who also helped to found the National Association of Colored Women, National Afro-American Council and Women's Era Club in addition to her crusading journalism.
Let's leave behind the one-size-fits-all thinking. Why mandate that one year or more of paid leave has to be taken all at once? Some may want to split it in various ways. One example is a dad works part of the work day, then uses leave for part of the work day while a mom does likewise in a way that their children are never in day care. I had a former supervisor who told me that quality day care is just too expensive especially when first beginning a career. She and her husband solved the problem by he worked days, and she worked nights before their children went to school. She said while this worked economically, physically and relationally it was exhausting. One year or more of paid leave would have helped this creative couple.
How did you solve your childcare issues?
Dads who have used paternity leave, what was your experience with employment, family, friends and others? Moms who have used maternity leave, what was your experience with employment, family, friends and others?
Does anyone have employment benefits that include one year or more of paid leave?
One year or more of paid leave is not just for married people and/or parents. While one of my single, Christian friends did not have as much as one year of paid leave, she would accrue a large leave balance so that she could take mission trips to Africa and Latin America. During these trips she would participate in distributing food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies and the Word of God. Singles with and without children can use one year or more of paid leave.
Earning money is essential to survival and progress (cash is efectivo,) and so is voluntarism in America and other countries globally. Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
One year or more of paid leave should be granted without any necessity of giving the reason for its use. What are some positive, novel ways to use one year or more of paid leave?
Many countries in Europe and Asia already have one year or more of paid leave, while America does not. Yet in America we have a large population of Jews and Christians who say they believe in the Bible which teaches a one-year Sabbath every seven years. Long-term paid leave is good for singles, married people, everyone! Read my articles, "Paid Leave Please," "Paid Leave is Good for Us" and "Novel Submission."
Proverbs 25:11 Amplified Bible says, "A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Leave an on-line comment. Recommend this article on Google. Tweet with me (michelelove30).
How can employers pay for one-year or more of paid employee leave?
** All leave balances accrued should be portable from one place of employment to the next.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave benefits instead of a 401K match.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave instead of a monetary increase for merit performance.
** Some may desire a customized benefit package.
What are some other ways to pay for one-year or more of paid leave?
Yes, we can have one-year or more of paid leave in America. Just because we have not gotten it in the past does not mean that we cannot get it in the near future. A Japanese proverb says, “Fall down seven times, get up eight times.”
Ida B. Wells was kicked out of a train because she refused to sit in the back. She sued the train company for discrimination and won, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned her victory. Ida went on to fight against racism, especially the lynching of African Americans and for women's right to vote. Wells was a married, mother of four children who also helped to found the National Association of Colored Women, National Afro-American Council and Women's Era Club in addition to her crusading journalism.
Let's leave behind the one-size-fits-all thinking. Why mandate that one year or more of paid leave has to be taken all at once? Some may want to split it in various ways. One example is a dad works part of the work day, then uses leave for part of the work day while a mom does likewise in a way that their children are never in day care. I had a former supervisor who told me that quality day care is just too expensive especially when first beginning a career. She and her husband solved the problem by he worked days, and she worked nights before their children went to school. She said while this worked economically, physically and relationally it was exhausting. One year or more of paid leave would have helped this creative couple.
How did you solve your childcare issues?
Dads who have used paternity leave, what was your experience with employment, family, friends and others? Moms who have used maternity leave, what was your experience with employment, family, friends and others?
Does anyone have employment benefits that include one year or more of paid leave?
One year or more of paid leave is not just for married people and/or parents. While one of my single, Christian friends did not have as much as one year of paid leave, she would accrue a large leave balance so that she could take mission trips to Africa and Latin America. During these trips she would participate in distributing food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies and the Word of God. Singles with and without children can use one year or more of paid leave.
Earning money is essential to survival and progress (cash is efectivo,) and so is voluntarism in America and other countries globally. Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
One year or more of paid leave should be granted without any necessity of giving the reason for its use. What are some positive, novel ways to use one year or more of paid leave?
Many countries in Europe and Asia already have one year or more of paid leave, while America does not. Yet in America we have a large population of Jews and Christians who say they believe in the Bible which teaches a one-year Sabbath every seven years. Long-term paid leave is good for singles, married people, everyone! Read my articles, "Paid Leave Please," "Paid Leave is Good for Us" and "Novel Submission."
Proverbs 25:11 Amplified Bible says, "A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Leave an on-line comment. Recommend this article on Google. Tweet with me (michelelove30).
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