Proverbs 14:21 Amplified Bible says, "He who despises his neighbor sins [against God, his fellowman, and himself], but happy (blessed and fortunate) is he who is kind and merciful to the poor." Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said, "When you treat any human being as if they were less than a child of God, you are not just doing wrong--you are being sacrilegious. You are desecrating someting that is holy. You are like someone who spits in the face of God."
Low expectations of people are a way of spitting in the face of God. China spits in the face of God with its one-child policy that includes forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
In 2005 Chen Guangcheng filed a class-action lawsuit against local government officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations. For his efforts Guangcheng, who is blind, ended up in jail for five years and in house arrest for two years.
He escaped on foot. Then he connected with He Peirong who drove him to the United States embassy in Beijing, China. A deal was negotiated between China and the United States, and Guangcheng came to live with his wife, Yuan Weijung, and two children in New York. Guangcheng has been a visiting scholar at New York University's U.S.-Asia Law Institute since May 2012.
Sophia Hollander writes in The Wall Street Journal June 13, 2013, article, "Chinese Dissident to Leave NYU," that New York University Spokesman John Beckman said that the university had provided Chen Guangcheng with housing, health insurance, food, clothing and electronic equipment, along with an office and language translation support.
Now New York University is requiring Chen Guangcheng to leave the university by the end of June 2013 while New York University denies that Chen Guangcheng's departure is connected to their opening of a university campus in Shanghai, China.
Creyentes (believers) are called to treat all people non-disabled and disabled well.
Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs not because of a botched abortion but because of tetra-amelia syndrome. Vujicic, who is an evangelist, motivational speaker, head of the nonprofit organization Life Without Limbs and author of multiple books, writes in his book Limitless Devotions for a Ridiculously Good Life, "I may be disabled, but God is abled." Vujicic is also married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara. On February 13, 2013, this married couple celebrated the birth of Kiyoshi James Vujicic, their son and first child, and they hope to have at least four children.
Some think that the disabled are destined to live a ridiculously bad life and recommend that those who are disabled or may be disabled be killed before birth via abortion. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act seeks to place a national prohibition on abortions of non-disabled and disabled unborn girls and boys 20 weeks and older. Twenty weeks is the age when the unborn begin to feel pain. Instead of spitting in the face of God, serve Him and humanity by praying for Chen Guangcheng, the Chen family, New York University officials and the unborn and by sending an email to your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and to support the bill as is without changes: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=62650516&type=CO.
Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
Friday, June 14, 2013
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Isn't It A Blessing To Have American Citizenship?
In the United States the second Sunday in June is National Puerto Rican Day. A few years ago Rafael and I paid tribute to Puerto Rican heritage, culture and traditions when we vacationed in the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
For many Christians Sundays are a vacation to love God.
The Chinese invented matches. The Bible can be used as a match to strike a fire burning up the idea that one can love God without loving people. Mark 12:29-31 Amplified Bible says, "Jesus answered, The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
An African proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers."
The United States is a country mostly founded by strangers who voluntarily and involuntarily immigrated from other countries. Immigrants have come to the United States throughout our history. It is wrong that they have not always been treated well.
Let's welcome strangers/immigrants and treat them well like we want to be treated well. Isn't it a blessing to have American citizenship?
Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virgina 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
For many Christians Sundays are a vacation to love God.
The Chinese invented matches. The Bible can be used as a match to strike a fire burning up the idea that one can love God without loving people. Mark 12:29-31 Amplified Bible says, "Jesus answered, The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
An African proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers."
The United States is a country mostly founded by strangers who voluntarily and involuntarily immigrated from other countries. Immigrants have come to the United States throughout our history. It is wrong that they have not always been treated well.
Let's welcome strangers/immigrants and treat them well like we want to be treated well. Isn't it a blessing to have American citizenship?
Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virgina 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Are Stereotypes Godly?
Sometimes people try to put people in boxes that the Bible does not place them inside. The Bible records that Deborah led the Israelites as a judge and prophetess, and that Sarah was a domestic engineer. God approves of women working in a variety of ways.
The universe that God made is full of variety. God likes variety, but He does not like vice. It is harmful behavior to reject the way God made us. God made us male, female, African, European, Asian, Latino and with many other qualities. Our biology is not an accident. Long before God created the earth, He planned everything about us the way He did because it pleased Him and because He loves us passionately. So when we reject our biology we hurt God; we also hurt ourselves.
The bodies God gave us are awesome and built for good treatment. Galatians 5:14 Amplified Bible says, "For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." Love ensures that our relationships with God, self and others work well.
God is the source of the kind of love expressed in Galatians 5:14 giving us the power to celebrate who we are and to develop in a way that is also better for people around us.
Godly enhancements don't erase our Designer's creation. When Deborah became a judge and prophetess she never stopped being a woman. Some people are not satisfied with being a male or female and want to change their gender. Some feel that being another gender will free them to live a more fulfilling life.
Every society makes rules about what people are suppose to be and do, and these rules usually place some type of bondage on people that God doesn't. A Chinese proverb says, "Pointing to a deer and calling it a horse;" it means "right and wrong are deliberately mixed up." Some are deliberately trying to mix up God and the devil by falsely portraying God as an advocate of bondage. The truth is God desires us to live in maximum freedom, so that we can be of maximum service to God and people. Galatians 5:13 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."
God called creyentes (believers) who are reinas y reyes (queens and kings) to a dynamic life. Sarah left the country of her birth, traveled and ended up being the matriarch of a new nation of people. Sarah had an adventurous life. If a life of adventure does not appeal to you, then it may be that God has a different, equally valuable plan for you.
If you are uncomfortable in your gender or any other aspect of your humanity, talk to God about your discomfort. He is able to take our inner life and turn it into something good inside and outside. Today, the National Day of Prayer, is a good day to talk to God as is any day at any time. Sometimes family, friends and others are not available to talk to us, but God is. God is everywhere at all times, and He is always doing good.
While we cannot be everywhere at all times, God wants us to cooperate with Him to be doing good like He does. Imagine if most people loved God, loved themselves and loved other people and write to me about it at:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Also share a tweet @Michelelove30 via the social media Twitter.
The universe that God made is full of variety. God likes variety, but He does not like vice. It is harmful behavior to reject the way God made us. God made us male, female, African, European, Asian, Latino and with many other qualities. Our biology is not an accident. Long before God created the earth, He planned everything about us the way He did because it pleased Him and because He loves us passionately. So when we reject our biology we hurt God; we also hurt ourselves.
The bodies God gave us are awesome and built for good treatment. Galatians 5:14 Amplified Bible says, "For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." Love ensures that our relationships with God, self and others work well.
God is the source of the kind of love expressed in Galatians 5:14 giving us the power to celebrate who we are and to develop in a way that is also better for people around us.
Godly enhancements don't erase our Designer's creation. When Deborah became a judge and prophetess she never stopped being a woman. Some people are not satisfied with being a male or female and want to change their gender. Some feel that being another gender will free them to live a more fulfilling life.
Every society makes rules about what people are suppose to be and do, and these rules usually place some type of bondage on people that God doesn't. A Chinese proverb says, "Pointing to a deer and calling it a horse;" it means "right and wrong are deliberately mixed up." Some are deliberately trying to mix up God and the devil by falsely portraying God as an advocate of bondage. The truth is God desires us to live in maximum freedom, so that we can be of maximum service to God and people. Galatians 5:13 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."
God called creyentes (believers) who are reinas y reyes (queens and kings) to a dynamic life. Sarah left the country of her birth, traveled and ended up being the matriarch of a new nation of people. Sarah had an adventurous life. If a life of adventure does not appeal to you, then it may be that God has a different, equally valuable plan for you.
If you are uncomfortable in your gender or any other aspect of your humanity, talk to God about your discomfort. He is able to take our inner life and turn it into something good inside and outside. Today, the National Day of Prayer, is a good day to talk to God as is any day at any time. Sometimes family, friends and others are not available to talk to us, but God is. God is everywhere at all times, and He is always doing good.
While we cannot be everywhere at all times, God wants us to cooperate with Him to be doing good like He does. Imagine if most people loved God, loved themselves and loved other people and write to me about it at:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Also share a tweet @Michelelove30 via the social media Twitter.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Honor, Service and Relationships
"Then she came to the end of that concert, singing "Ave Maria" as nobody else can sing it. And they called her back and back and back and back again, and she finally ended by singing "Nobody Knows de Trouble I Seen." And her mother was sitting out in the audience, and she started crying; tears were flowing down her cheeks. And the person next to her said, "Mrs. Anderson, why are you crying? Your daughter is scoring tonight. The critics tomorrow will be lavishing their praise on her. Why are you crying?"
And Mrs. Anderson looked over with tears still flowing and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying for joy." She went on to say, "You may not remember; you wouldn't know. But I remember when Marian was growing up, and I was working in a kitchen till my hands were all but parched, my eyebrows all but scalded. I was working there to make it possible for my daughter to get an education. And I remember one day Marian came to me and said, 'Mother, I don't want to see you having to work like this.' And I looked down and said, 'Honey, I don't mind it. I'm doing it for you and I expect great things of you.'"
And finally one day somebody asked Marian Anderson in later years, "Miss Anderson, what has been the happiest moment of your life? Was it the moment that you had your debut in Carnegie Hall in New York? She said, "No, that wasn't it." Was it the moment you stood before the kings and queens of Europe?" "No, that wasn't it." "Well, Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Sibelius of Finland declared that his roof was too low for such a voice?" "No, that wasn't it." "Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Toscanini said that a voice like yours comes only once in a century?" "No, that wasn't it." "What was it then, Miss Anderson?" And she looked up and said quietly, "The happiest moment in my life was the moment that I could say, 'Mother, you can stop working now.'" Marian Anderson realized that she was where she was because somebody helped her to get there," said Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., about international Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson in his speech Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool.
Anderson's life showed that it is not foolish to honor your parents. "Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que tus dias se alarguen en la tierra que Jehova tu Dios te da," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you," says Bilingual Bible New King James Version.
On April 4th many honored Martin Luther King Jr., a father of four children, who was assassinated on this day 45 years ago. On April 4th deceased parents and other ancestors were honored for the Chinese holiday Qingming Festival.
Treating our parents well and other people well is also treating ourselves well. John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur writes in his May 2013 article for Success magazine entitled "Taking the Leap Is it time for your big, bold venture?," "People go along with people they get along with.
"Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service," author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn't force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don't know what will."
Few smiles, few warm handshakes, a lack of parental respect and other poor service issues impact Christian disciplining. The ways in which we live in or out of love have a direct impact on the number and quality of our relationships.
As a part of Qingming Festival people sweep tombs. Ask God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is anything that needs to be swept out of your mindset that is blocking a more influential love lifestyle. Then allow the power of God to change you and cause you to do more of those things that please Him.
And Mrs. Anderson looked over with tears still flowing and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying for joy." She went on to say, "You may not remember; you wouldn't know. But I remember when Marian was growing up, and I was working in a kitchen till my hands were all but parched, my eyebrows all but scalded. I was working there to make it possible for my daughter to get an education. And I remember one day Marian came to me and said, 'Mother, I don't want to see you having to work like this.' And I looked down and said, 'Honey, I don't mind it. I'm doing it for you and I expect great things of you.'"
And finally one day somebody asked Marian Anderson in later years, "Miss Anderson, what has been the happiest moment of your life? Was it the moment that you had your debut in Carnegie Hall in New York? She said, "No, that wasn't it." Was it the moment you stood before the kings and queens of Europe?" "No, that wasn't it." "Well, Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Sibelius of Finland declared that his roof was too low for such a voice?" "No, that wasn't it." "Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Toscanini said that a voice like yours comes only once in a century?" "No, that wasn't it." "What was it then, Miss Anderson?" And she looked up and said quietly, "The happiest moment in my life was the moment that I could say, 'Mother, you can stop working now.'" Marian Anderson realized that she was where she was because somebody helped her to get there," said Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., about international Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson in his speech Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool.
Anderson's life showed that it is not foolish to honor your parents. "Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que tus dias se alarguen en la tierra que Jehova tu Dios te da," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you," says Bilingual Bible New King James Version.
On April 4th many honored Martin Luther King Jr., a father of four children, who was assassinated on this day 45 years ago. On April 4th deceased parents and other ancestors were honored for the Chinese holiday Qingming Festival.
Treating our parents well and other people well is also treating ourselves well. John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur writes in his May 2013 article for Success magazine entitled "Taking the Leap Is it time for your big, bold venture?," "People go along with people they get along with.
"Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service," author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn't force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don't know what will."
Few smiles, few warm handshakes, a lack of parental respect and other poor service issues impact Christian disciplining. The ways in which we live in or out of love have a direct impact on the number and quality of our relationships.
As a part of Qingming Festival people sweep tombs. Ask God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is anything that needs to be swept out of your mindset that is blocking a more influential love lifestyle. Then allow the power of God to change you and cause you to do more of those things that please Him.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Only One is All Good
"And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone," (Mark 10:18 English Standard Version Bible.)
Yet we often except near perfection in people we marry, in leaders and in others. Believers are saints, and saints sometimes sin. Jesus Christ taught us to ask Him for forgiveness daily. Luke 11:2-4 the Message Bible says, "So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”"
Harriet Tubman was called Moses after the Biblical Moses because she led hundreds of African Americans out of slavery through trips on the Underground Railroad, not a train but a network of people who hid and helped slaves escape slavery and live in freedom. Large rewards were offered for Harriet Tubman's capture, but with God on her side she was never caught, and she never lost a passenger.
Harriet also married, John Tubman. John was a black man who was born free, but he treated Harriet as if she were his slave and said that if Harriet tried to escape slavery he would tell her slave master!
Harriet hid her plans to escape slavery from her husband. In 1849 traveling through the Underground Railroad, following the North Star, Harriet escaped from slavery on the Brodas plantation in Eastern Shore Maryland. Harriet said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free." She later said, "There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Harriet could have stayed in "heaven," but she decided to go back to slave-states repeatedly to rescue slaves including her children, her brothers (she had 11 siblings) and their families, her elderly parents (Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross) and many others.
Her husband, John Tubman was a hard-hearted man. On one trip when Harriet came back to the Brodas plantation, her husband refused to come to a non-slave state. Harriet didn't waste the trip, she rescued some slaves. John Tubman married another woman.
Some of us are married to people we should have never married, or in relationships that we should have never entered or in other difficult relationships. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Complete Jewish Bible says, "To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"
When her marriage failed, Harriet kept on living and doing good. Harriet served in the Civil War on the side of the Union as a scout, spy and nurse. She was the first woman in U.S. military history to lead an armed expedition. In the Combahee River Raid Harriet led a group of mostly black soldiers in an audacious escape that liberated more than 750 enslaved persons. Movie material? Proverbs-style women are warriors. Read my article "Warrior Women,"
Being a warrior does not mean that a woman lacks nurturing capacity. After the Civil War Harriet went to live on a small farm in Auburn, New York. She eventually turned her home into a home for poor and elderly African Americans.
Harriet was also active in the women's movement. She worked with women like Susan B. Anthony to fight for women's right to vote.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person." Read my article "Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?"
Just because John Tubman had no sense to appreciate the woman he had, didn't mean others didn't recognize Harriet's value. Abolitionist John Brown called her, "General Tubman." Solider Nelson Davis and Harriet Tubman married in 1869.
What other warrior women are like Harriet Tubman?
Douglas Brinkley writes in The Washington Post March 1, 2013, article "What would Parks do? Honor Tubman," "What would have truly perturbed her was that Obama has yet to issue an executive order to create a national monument for Harriet Tubman. The paperwork is ready; it just needs the president's signature. . . . Call or write the White House and urge the president to pick up his pen on behalf of history."
Yet we often except near perfection in people we marry, in leaders and in others. Believers are saints, and saints sometimes sin. Jesus Christ taught us to ask Him for forgiveness daily. Luke 11:2-4 the Message Bible says, "So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”"
Harriet Tubman was called Moses after the Biblical Moses because she led hundreds of African Americans out of slavery through trips on the Underground Railroad, not a train but a network of people who hid and helped slaves escape slavery and live in freedom. Large rewards were offered for Harriet Tubman's capture, but with God on her side she was never caught, and she never lost a passenger.
Harriet also married, John Tubman. John was a black man who was born free, but he treated Harriet as if she were his slave and said that if Harriet tried to escape slavery he would tell her slave master!
Harriet hid her plans to escape slavery from her husband. In 1849 traveling through the Underground Railroad, following the North Star, Harriet escaped from slavery on the Brodas plantation in Eastern Shore Maryland. Harriet said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free." She later said, "There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Harriet could have stayed in "heaven," but she decided to go back to slave-states repeatedly to rescue slaves including her children, her brothers (she had 11 siblings) and their families, her elderly parents (Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross) and many others.
Her husband, John Tubman was a hard-hearted man. On one trip when Harriet came back to the Brodas plantation, her husband refused to come to a non-slave state. Harriet didn't waste the trip, she rescued some slaves. John Tubman married another woman.
Some of us are married to people we should have never married, or in relationships that we should have never entered or in other difficult relationships. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Complete Jewish Bible says, "To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"
When her marriage failed, Harriet kept on living and doing good. Harriet served in the Civil War on the side of the Union as a scout, spy and nurse. She was the first woman in U.S. military history to lead an armed expedition. In the Combahee River Raid Harriet led a group of mostly black soldiers in an audacious escape that liberated more than 750 enslaved persons. Movie material? Proverbs-style women are warriors. Read my article "Warrior Women,"
Being a warrior does not mean that a woman lacks nurturing capacity. After the Civil War Harriet went to live on a small farm in Auburn, New York. She eventually turned her home into a home for poor and elderly African Americans.
Harriet was also active in the women's movement. She worked with women like Susan B. Anthony to fight for women's right to vote.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person." Read my article "Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?"
Just because John Tubman had no sense to appreciate the woman he had, didn't mean others didn't recognize Harriet's value. Abolitionist John Brown called her, "General Tubman." Solider Nelson Davis and Harriet Tubman married in 1869.
What other warrior women are like Harriet Tubman?
Douglas Brinkley writes in The Washington Post March 1, 2013, article "What would Parks do? Honor Tubman," "What would have truly perturbed her was that Obama has yet to issue an executive order to create a national monument for Harriet Tubman. The paperwork is ready; it just needs the president's signature. . . . Call or write the White House and urge the president to pick up his pen on behalf of history."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
10 Ways to Be Irresistible
God is irresistible. Are you? Check yourself against the following 10 irresistible qualities plucked from the Bible book of Colossians where the Apostle Paul pours out praise for God the Son Jesus Christ and encourages us to lean our entire personality on Him.
1) Be a people magnet. It doesn't matter if we are an introvert or an extrovert. Irresistible people connect with other people cultivating the God in believers and introducing Him to others.
We usually first learn to be people magnets by being parented by people magnets. Mother Teresa said, "Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for home. Make them long to be with their families. So much sin could be avoided if our people really loved their homes."
Love is not natural. Christ in us gives us the strength to make the choices to love hour by hour and day by day. He teaches us to cultivate an inner life focused on finding detailed and varied ways to please God and people.
God designed for children to come out of the love of God and spouse. A marriage to God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost and to each other produced the Palmer siblings, one of whom is named Keke. African American Keke Palmer, who starred in the movie Akeelah and the Bee, says that her parents introduced her to God and helped her to form a good relationship with God that extended to loving herself and other people.
Pampering ourselves, our marriage, family and friendships with time and attention need not be about spoiling people but rather serving everyone to be their best and to live their best possible life.
Spending little time and attention on our relationships guarantees disconnection and if not corrected often leads to dissolution.
2) Cultivate confidence in Christ in all areas of life. Emotional and other types of instability and insecurity are areas where our understanding and belief in God are weak. Sometimes we may feel, "I'm not loveable;" "I'm unworthy;" and other soul destroying ways. Our feelings are often a product of our self-talk or in response to the way someone is treating us.
God loves us and forgives us of all our sins and all the sins of others. No Biblical reason exists not to love ourselves and other people. When we feel unlovable, unworthy or some other unappreciative way, it's because of sin. Talk to God about it. Get it straightened out. Problems don't go away on their own. They have to be dealt with.
If we are not receiving the love of God, then where love hasn't reached, it cannot be given out. We are designed by God to give out love in overflowing abundance. Jesus Christ says in John 13:34-35 the Message Bible, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."
God wants us to be clear about loving Him, ourselves and others. Ephesians 5:17 Amplified Bible says, "Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is." Vague people do not live in victory. They are not using time effectively. "El vago trabaja doble." ("The vague works double.")
The vague are susceptible to soaking in the beliefs and attitudes of others instead of being wielded by God to sway others with the love and goodness of God. The vague are nothing like Viktor Frankl. Adolph Hitler's Gestapo arrested this 26-year-old Jewish psychiatrist in Vienna, Austria, and forced him into a concentration camp. Month in and month out without the end in sight, Frankly worked under the huge smokestacks that belched out black carbon monoxide from the incinerators where his father, mother, sister and wife had been cremated. Each day Frankl hoped for a few slivers of carrots or peas in the daily bowl of soup. Nevertheless, the extreme Eastern European cold couldn't stop Frankl from getting up an hour earlier than usual to wrap his feet and legs in scrap burlap and wire to protect them from frostbite. When Frankl was called for inquisition, he stood naked in the center of a white light while men in shiny boots hour after hour assailed him with questions and accusations trying to break him down with every accusing lie they could think of. Already they had taken his wife, his family, his writing, his clothes, his wedding ring and everything else of material value. But in the midst of this barrage of questions, God flashed an idea across Frankl's mind: "They have taken from me everything I have--except the power to choose my own attitude."
As believers not even the Gestapo should be able to persuade us to adopt evil attitudes because we have a powerful resource living on the inside. 1 John 4:4 Amplified Bible says, "Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world."
3) Refuse to be a slave to impulses. Conduct a careful, orderly, thoughtful way of life that examines impulses against the teachings in the Bible and chooses that which is in line with the Word.
Leaning on God is not passivity. God conquered the chaos and created the Garden of Eden. Believers are conquerors like God. We make small choices all throughout the day, day after day, that will eventually produce positive, purposeful plants of truth and other things that are good or weeds of wickedness. Few infidelities start one day out of the blue. Most infidelities are the creeping vines of complacency that overgrew a previously cultivated garden of love.
Some experience infidelity as anticipation and exhilaration from the secrecy, the forbidden sex, the idea that someone really gets us and is willing and eager to fulfill our fantasies. Meanwhile all the potency of sexuality and other sensuality was available in the marriage if we had aggressively and consistently cultivated the time and attention necessary to have a strong, sublime marriage. To know someone and to be known by someone deeply is a spiritual, mental and physical endeavor that does not happen by accident and without a great deal of prayer and practice. When we say, "I do," it doesn't mean, "I'm done working on making sure our relationship stays well watered and wonderful."
Some of the simplest things start great relationships and help them to keep going well. George Foreman, a Christian minister, husband, father of 10 children, African American, entrepreneur and championship boxer, says, in his sermon "The Power of a Smile," "All of us can get up out of that bed every day and make this world a better place by just smiling . . . . We all can be nice."
Mary Landis and Judson Landis write in their book Building a Successful Marriage, "The most important characteristic of a marriageable person is the habit of happiness." Researchers from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project recently released the latest “State of Our Unions” report. The December 11, 2012, issue of The New York Times Magazine says the National Marriage Project examined the role of generosity in the marriages of 2,870 men and women, and "Generosity was defined as “the virtue of giving good things to one’s spouse freely and abundantly” — like simply making them coffee in the morning — and researchers quizzed men and women on how often they behaved generously toward their partners. How often did they express affection? How willing were they to forgive? The responses went right to the core of their unions. Men and women with the highest scores on the generosity scale were far more likely to report that they were “very happy” in their marriages. The benefits of generosity were particularly pronounced among couples with children. Among the parents who posted above-average scores for marital generosity, about 50 percent reported being “very happy” together. Among those with lower generosity scores, only about 14 percent claimed to be “very happy."
Marriage can be happy and absorbing if we cultivate our garden of love. Absorbing love, unswerving loyalty need not be complex. Sharing and connecting can be simple. Meet after work and walk and talk a couple of miles in the shopping areas followed by more conversation over a meal. Some couples run or exercise together. Some couples study the Bible together. Talk and find some ways that are enjoyable for both spouses to fellowship frequently that is fun and fosters faithfulness.
Mastering the impulse to do nothing in a relationship makes us irresistible; trying shows caring.
4) Increasingly become immovable in Christ. Stubborn can be bad or good. Being immovable in Christ is not bad stubbornness but a committed, continual surrendering of sins like selfishness and ungodly fear to change what needs to be changed. Our consistent change into Christ-likeness is irresistible. If we are cooperating with God, the person we were when we first met God, will evolve into someone more like Christ.
While we will not be perfect in this earthly life, we can be thankful for where we have come from, were we are at and where we are going. Thanksgiving is irresistible. It's wonderful to be wanted and willing to improve. Contentment is not static.
5) Think, talk and act in compassionate truth. Living in the truth requires courage. A survey found that 80 percent of Americans believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Yet another study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that about 85 percent of women and 91 percent of men have engaged in premarital sex.
Often when we contradict our value system, the body reacts with actual physical and/or emotional pain. Some get headaches, others nausea, some a bad stomach. Some succumb to various addictions. Some experience the slipping away of self-esteem. Some experience some other type of harm.
Our bodies are interconnected. When we do good and when we sin, it affects spirit, intellect, emotions and physical body.
We are also interconnected with other people. "Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres." (Tell me with whom you associate, and I'll tell you who you are.")
Unified belief and behavior is irresistible. Many hate hypocrisy. Also not many admire marriages that last fewer than 12 months, but many do admire long-term unions like the nearly 30 year marriage of Hollywood celebrities and Christians Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
6) Stop allowing negative stuff to stick to you. All our sins have been forgiven. God wiped the slate clean, so we can wipe it clean too. Colossians 2:13-15 New Living Translation Bible says, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross."
To meditate on what's wrong with you or bad circumstances is foolish nonsense that will fail to endear us to others. Constant complaining is irritating and enables the decline and even destruction of relationships. Proverbs 17:9 Amplified Bible says, " He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends."
When bad things happen cooperate with God to get over them quickly and to learn how not to go there again!
Unflappable is irresistible. Living in self-pity and/or getting stuck in situations God had empowered you to get out off sucks the life out of relationships.
7) Celebrate special events symbolizing love while recognizing they are not the substance of love. Weddings are wonderful, but the real wonder is a long-term, loving marriage. When scanning magazines available at mainstream news stands, magazines dedicated to weddings far outweigh those dedicated to marriage. Our culture often does not conform to Christ.
Also God made each person unique. Why do we tend to try to make everyone the same? Red and black are among my favorite colors. I remember sharing that I would consider a wedding dress in these colors. That really set off some peoples alarms!
Maybe I should have been born Chinese? Red (hong) is the color of fire. Red symbolizes success, happiness and good luck. Red is the color of celebration at birthdays and weddings. Black (hei) is the color of water. It symbolized heaven.
Celebrate the symbols while concentrating on the substance. Many of us want to be married, but studies show many are not willing to carefully select marriage partners, do the work to be an ideal partner and continuously nurture and grow our marriages. Approximately 75 percent of us marry once. Twenty percent marry twice, and five percent will marry three or more times. Also many people do not wait at least three years after their divorce to heal from the dissolution of their marriage before entering another relationship in a state of brokenness.
Keep hope alive. Just because we have never been married or divorced once, twice or more times does not mean that God doesn't have a good marriage in mind for us. Nelson Mandela married his sweetheart and third wife, Graca Machel, on his 80th birthday.
A lot goes into a marriage. One thing that seems to vanish over time is compliments. Sincere, specific compliments shared throughout the day are irresistible. Tell your wife that you delight in the moles sprinkled on her cheeks, neck and breasts; the peaks and valleys of her curves; the marvelous way she fends off sibling rivalry; the superior way she keeps money from seeping out of the household budget; or whatever things are special and specific to your spouse. The more you appreciate her uniqueness, the more aroused she gets; the more she shares sublime sex with you. Husbands love compliments too that appreciate their qualities of character and accomplishment. Many men are plagued by insecurities. The biggest erogenous zone is the mind.
When we aren't saying things that build up our spouse, we are tearing down our marriage. Few people want to have sex with a spouse who does not woo them with wonderful words and ways. A sexless marriage is often a loveless marriage outside the bedroom.
8) Be open-minded to novel ways of living the truth. God desires us to be easily pliable to His touch changing whatever needs to be changed or even eliminated. This means that we may be trying a lot of things before we find the right fit. Continual self-improvement is irresistible.
Christian and Chinese American Cookie Lee was disappointed that her mom's 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. employment caused her to miss a lot of events in Lee's childhood. Lee wanted to be in the workforce and still have plentiful time together as a family. So for seven years before she had children she turned a hobby into a one-woman, part-time jewelry-making business while working a full-time job. After seven years she was making enough in her business to quit her daytime job. To have a family that she could spend plenty of time with while growing her business, she hired sales consultants to start their own businesses under her's.
Some good, Bible-study questions to ask are: "How does this relate to my reality?" "Are my beliefs really in agreement with the Bible?"
Lee did a lot of prayer, research and asking questions to make her dream of being there for her family a lot work out while prospering in her jewelry-making business.
Some are against women in jobs, businesses and/or ministries and try to put guilt trips on women so engaged. However, in the Bible Priscilla was a tent maker and had a church in her home with her husband, Aquila. Lydia was a business woman selling fabrics dyed in purple. Rachel was a shepherdess. Deborah was a prophetess and judge. Esther was a queen.
God placed some novel things in you that He designed to be developed for the good and enjoyment of yourself and others. God is for pleasure. David says about God is Psalm 16:11 Amplified Bible, "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
The novel inspires people to pursue us. John, the husband of Cookie Lee, pursued her by joining her business creating more time together and more money.
9) Excel in helping and pleasing people within Biblical boundaries. Those who do the minimum hurt people. Believers are extravagant lovers.
An African chief invited the men of his tribe to a feast. The chief provided all the food and asked that the men of the tribe bring a jug of wine. One man of the tribe named Ali wanted to go, but he didn't have wine. His wife suggested that he buy the wine noting that it wasn't expensive. Ali responded, "How foolish to spend money when there is a way to go free! It won't hurt to add one jug of water to the pot of wine." When the day of the feast arrived Ali and the other men of the tribe poured his jug into a large pot. After all the guests arrived the chief commanded the servants to fill everyone's glass. Suddenly a cry arose from the crowd lamenting the taste of water instead of wine. Not only Ali but others too had decided to do the minimum by bringing water instead of wine.
Becoming absorbed in a clean, creatively decorated house and abandoning cuddling and creative entertainment with our spouse is a way some wives do the minimum. Some husbands do the minimum by thinking, talking and acting out the attitude, "My job is number one in my life."
10) Live more for we than me. We want others to make sacrifices that show they want us.
In the Bollywood film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Imran is a character who found out a year ago the father who raised him is not his biological father. As a part of a bachelor, road trip with two friends through Spain, Imran decides to visit his biological father. While smoking a cigarette his biological father, Salman, explains that he abandoned Imran and his mother before Imran's birth because at age 25 he did not want the responsibility of fatherhood; his soul was and still is only fed by his art and world traveling. Salman thinks that me is better than we, but even he has to cover up his pain through a nicotine addiction. God didn't create us for selfishness. He created us to serve.
Irresistible people find ways to weave together responsibilities and dreams.
Greek Australian Christine Caine was active in Christian singles ministry. Many told her that marriage and kids would slow her down. However, she and her husband, Nick and daughters, Sophia and Catherine, travel the globe sharing Jesus Christ with others and have ministries, like Equip and Empower, that help others plant churches and fight human trafficking among other things. The devil is a liar: marriage and family are fun and fulfilling, not boring and/or oppresive.
Sometimes people embrace the lies of the devil due to ignorance and inconsideration. John Tillotson, a Christian leader of the 1600s, said, “Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind.” Avoid ignorance and inconsideration by cooperating with God to learn how to solve problems by incorporating people with passion, and then doing it.
Sonya Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, told Jane E. Brody for the artice "That Loving Feeling Takes a Lot of Work" in the New York Times newspaper on January 14, 2013, that she encourages each marriage partner to ask himself or herself each morning, “What can I do for five minutes today to make my partner’s life better?”
Making we more important than me nurtures marital love and sex. Enjoy marital sex; it's holy and righteous! We is designed to be wonderfully irresistible. It's spiritual and logical that a popular sexual position is called the "missionary." If you are married, try a twist on the missionary where the husband kneels and straddles his wife's leg while she’s lying on her left side. From here, she should bend her right leg around the right side of his waist—allowing full access to her vagina, her clitoris, her other body parts and the possibility of one or more orgasms.
In what ways are you irresistible? Please leave an irresistible on-line comment at the bottom of this article.
1) Be a people magnet. It doesn't matter if we are an introvert or an extrovert. Irresistible people connect with other people cultivating the God in believers and introducing Him to others.
We usually first learn to be people magnets by being parented by people magnets. Mother Teresa said, "Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for home. Make them long to be with their families. So much sin could be avoided if our people really loved their homes."
Love is not natural. Christ in us gives us the strength to make the choices to love hour by hour and day by day. He teaches us to cultivate an inner life focused on finding detailed and varied ways to please God and people.
God designed for children to come out of the love of God and spouse. A marriage to God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost and to each other produced the Palmer siblings, one of whom is named Keke. African American Keke Palmer, who starred in the movie Akeelah and the Bee, says that her parents introduced her to God and helped her to form a good relationship with God that extended to loving herself and other people.
Pampering ourselves, our marriage, family and friendships with time and attention need not be about spoiling people but rather serving everyone to be their best and to live their best possible life.
Spending little time and attention on our relationships guarantees disconnection and if not corrected often leads to dissolution.
2) Cultivate confidence in Christ in all areas of life. Emotional and other types of instability and insecurity are areas where our understanding and belief in God are weak. Sometimes we may feel, "I'm not loveable;" "I'm unworthy;" and other soul destroying ways. Our feelings are often a product of our self-talk or in response to the way someone is treating us.
God loves us and forgives us of all our sins and all the sins of others. No Biblical reason exists not to love ourselves and other people. When we feel unlovable, unworthy or some other unappreciative way, it's because of sin. Talk to God about it. Get it straightened out. Problems don't go away on their own. They have to be dealt with.
If we are not receiving the love of God, then where love hasn't reached, it cannot be given out. We are designed by God to give out love in overflowing abundance. Jesus Christ says in John 13:34-35 the Message Bible, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."
God wants us to be clear about loving Him, ourselves and others. Ephesians 5:17 Amplified Bible says, "Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is." Vague people do not live in victory. They are not using time effectively. "El vago trabaja doble." ("The vague works double.")
The vague are susceptible to soaking in the beliefs and attitudes of others instead of being wielded by God to sway others with the love and goodness of God. The vague are nothing like Viktor Frankl. Adolph Hitler's Gestapo arrested this 26-year-old Jewish psychiatrist in Vienna, Austria, and forced him into a concentration camp. Month in and month out without the end in sight, Frankly worked under the huge smokestacks that belched out black carbon monoxide from the incinerators where his father, mother, sister and wife had been cremated. Each day Frankl hoped for a few slivers of carrots or peas in the daily bowl of soup. Nevertheless, the extreme Eastern European cold couldn't stop Frankl from getting up an hour earlier than usual to wrap his feet and legs in scrap burlap and wire to protect them from frostbite. When Frankl was called for inquisition, he stood naked in the center of a white light while men in shiny boots hour after hour assailed him with questions and accusations trying to break him down with every accusing lie they could think of. Already they had taken his wife, his family, his writing, his clothes, his wedding ring and everything else of material value. But in the midst of this barrage of questions, God flashed an idea across Frankl's mind: "They have taken from me everything I have--except the power to choose my own attitude."
As believers not even the Gestapo should be able to persuade us to adopt evil attitudes because we have a powerful resource living on the inside. 1 John 4:4 Amplified Bible says, "Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world."
3) Refuse to be a slave to impulses. Conduct a careful, orderly, thoughtful way of life that examines impulses against the teachings in the Bible and chooses that which is in line with the Word.
Leaning on God is not passivity. God conquered the chaos and created the Garden of Eden. Believers are conquerors like God. We make small choices all throughout the day, day after day, that will eventually produce positive, purposeful plants of truth and other things that are good or weeds of wickedness. Few infidelities start one day out of the blue. Most infidelities are the creeping vines of complacency that overgrew a previously cultivated garden of love.
Some experience infidelity as anticipation and exhilaration from the secrecy, the forbidden sex, the idea that someone really gets us and is willing and eager to fulfill our fantasies. Meanwhile all the potency of sexuality and other sensuality was available in the marriage if we had aggressively and consistently cultivated the time and attention necessary to have a strong, sublime marriage. To know someone and to be known by someone deeply is a spiritual, mental and physical endeavor that does not happen by accident and without a great deal of prayer and practice. When we say, "I do," it doesn't mean, "I'm done working on making sure our relationship stays well watered and wonderful."
Some of the simplest things start great relationships and help them to keep going well. George Foreman, a Christian minister, husband, father of 10 children, African American, entrepreneur and championship boxer, says, in his sermon "The Power of a Smile," "All of us can get up out of that bed every day and make this world a better place by just smiling . . . . We all can be nice."
Mary Landis and Judson Landis write in their book Building a Successful Marriage, "The most important characteristic of a marriageable person is the habit of happiness." Researchers from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project recently released the latest “State of Our Unions” report. The December 11, 2012, issue of The New York Times Magazine says the National Marriage Project examined the role of generosity in the marriages of 2,870 men and women, and "Generosity was defined as “the virtue of giving good things to one’s spouse freely and abundantly” — like simply making them coffee in the morning — and researchers quizzed men and women on how often they behaved generously toward their partners. How often did they express affection? How willing were they to forgive? The responses went right to the core of their unions. Men and women with the highest scores on the generosity scale were far more likely to report that they were “very happy” in their marriages. The benefits of generosity were particularly pronounced among couples with children. Among the parents who posted above-average scores for marital generosity, about 50 percent reported being “very happy” together. Among those with lower generosity scores, only about 14 percent claimed to be “very happy."
Marriage can be happy and absorbing if we cultivate our garden of love. Absorbing love, unswerving loyalty need not be complex. Sharing and connecting can be simple. Meet after work and walk and talk a couple of miles in the shopping areas followed by more conversation over a meal. Some couples run or exercise together. Some couples study the Bible together. Talk and find some ways that are enjoyable for both spouses to fellowship frequently that is fun and fosters faithfulness.
Mastering the impulse to do nothing in a relationship makes us irresistible; trying shows caring.
4) Increasingly become immovable in Christ. Stubborn can be bad or good. Being immovable in Christ is not bad stubbornness but a committed, continual surrendering of sins like selfishness and ungodly fear to change what needs to be changed. Our consistent change into Christ-likeness is irresistible. If we are cooperating with God, the person we were when we first met God, will evolve into someone more like Christ.
While we will not be perfect in this earthly life, we can be thankful for where we have come from, were we are at and where we are going. Thanksgiving is irresistible. It's wonderful to be wanted and willing to improve. Contentment is not static.
5) Think, talk and act in compassionate truth. Living in the truth requires courage. A survey found that 80 percent of Americans believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Yet another study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that about 85 percent of women and 91 percent of men have engaged in premarital sex.
Often when we contradict our value system, the body reacts with actual physical and/or emotional pain. Some get headaches, others nausea, some a bad stomach. Some succumb to various addictions. Some experience the slipping away of self-esteem. Some experience some other type of harm.
Our bodies are interconnected. When we do good and when we sin, it affects spirit, intellect, emotions and physical body.
We are also interconnected with other people. "Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres." (Tell me with whom you associate, and I'll tell you who you are.")
Unified belief and behavior is irresistible. Many hate hypocrisy. Also not many admire marriages that last fewer than 12 months, but many do admire long-term unions like the nearly 30 year marriage of Hollywood celebrities and Christians Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
6) Stop allowing negative stuff to stick to you. All our sins have been forgiven. God wiped the slate clean, so we can wipe it clean too. Colossians 2:13-15 New Living Translation Bible says, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross."
To meditate on what's wrong with you or bad circumstances is foolish nonsense that will fail to endear us to others. Constant complaining is irritating and enables the decline and even destruction of relationships. Proverbs 17:9 Amplified Bible says, " He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends."
When bad things happen cooperate with God to get over them quickly and to learn how not to go there again!
Unflappable is irresistible. Living in self-pity and/or getting stuck in situations God had empowered you to get out off sucks the life out of relationships.
7) Celebrate special events symbolizing love while recognizing they are not the substance of love. Weddings are wonderful, but the real wonder is a long-term, loving marriage. When scanning magazines available at mainstream news stands, magazines dedicated to weddings far outweigh those dedicated to marriage. Our culture often does not conform to Christ.
Also God made each person unique. Why do we tend to try to make everyone the same? Red and black are among my favorite colors. I remember sharing that I would consider a wedding dress in these colors. That really set off some peoples alarms!
Maybe I should have been born Chinese? Red (hong) is the color of fire. Red symbolizes success, happiness and good luck. Red is the color of celebration at birthdays and weddings. Black (hei) is the color of water. It symbolized heaven.
Celebrate the symbols while concentrating on the substance. Many of us want to be married, but studies show many are not willing to carefully select marriage partners, do the work to be an ideal partner and continuously nurture and grow our marriages. Approximately 75 percent of us marry once. Twenty percent marry twice, and five percent will marry three or more times. Also many people do not wait at least three years after their divorce to heal from the dissolution of their marriage before entering another relationship in a state of brokenness.
Keep hope alive. Just because we have never been married or divorced once, twice or more times does not mean that God doesn't have a good marriage in mind for us. Nelson Mandela married his sweetheart and third wife, Graca Machel, on his 80th birthday.
A lot goes into a marriage. One thing that seems to vanish over time is compliments. Sincere, specific compliments shared throughout the day are irresistible. Tell your wife that you delight in the moles sprinkled on her cheeks, neck and breasts; the peaks and valleys of her curves; the marvelous way she fends off sibling rivalry; the superior way she keeps money from seeping out of the household budget; or whatever things are special and specific to your spouse. The more you appreciate her uniqueness, the more aroused she gets; the more she shares sublime sex with you. Husbands love compliments too that appreciate their qualities of character and accomplishment. Many men are plagued by insecurities. The biggest erogenous zone is the mind.
When we aren't saying things that build up our spouse, we are tearing down our marriage. Few people want to have sex with a spouse who does not woo them with wonderful words and ways. A sexless marriage is often a loveless marriage outside the bedroom.
8) Be open-minded to novel ways of living the truth. God desires us to be easily pliable to His touch changing whatever needs to be changed or even eliminated. This means that we may be trying a lot of things before we find the right fit. Continual self-improvement is irresistible.
Christian and Chinese American Cookie Lee was disappointed that her mom's 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. employment caused her to miss a lot of events in Lee's childhood. Lee wanted to be in the workforce and still have plentiful time together as a family. So for seven years before she had children she turned a hobby into a one-woman, part-time jewelry-making business while working a full-time job. After seven years she was making enough in her business to quit her daytime job. To have a family that she could spend plenty of time with while growing her business, she hired sales consultants to start their own businesses under her's.
Some good, Bible-study questions to ask are: "How does this relate to my reality?" "Are my beliefs really in agreement with the Bible?"
Lee did a lot of prayer, research and asking questions to make her dream of being there for her family a lot work out while prospering in her jewelry-making business.
Some are against women in jobs, businesses and/or ministries and try to put guilt trips on women so engaged. However, in the Bible Priscilla was a tent maker and had a church in her home with her husband, Aquila. Lydia was a business woman selling fabrics dyed in purple. Rachel was a shepherdess. Deborah was a prophetess and judge. Esther was a queen.
God placed some novel things in you that He designed to be developed for the good and enjoyment of yourself and others. God is for pleasure. David says about God is Psalm 16:11 Amplified Bible, "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
The novel inspires people to pursue us. John, the husband of Cookie Lee, pursued her by joining her business creating more time together and more money.
9) Excel in helping and pleasing people within Biblical boundaries. Those who do the minimum hurt people. Believers are extravagant lovers.
An African chief invited the men of his tribe to a feast. The chief provided all the food and asked that the men of the tribe bring a jug of wine. One man of the tribe named Ali wanted to go, but he didn't have wine. His wife suggested that he buy the wine noting that it wasn't expensive. Ali responded, "How foolish to spend money when there is a way to go free! It won't hurt to add one jug of water to the pot of wine." When the day of the feast arrived Ali and the other men of the tribe poured his jug into a large pot. After all the guests arrived the chief commanded the servants to fill everyone's glass. Suddenly a cry arose from the crowd lamenting the taste of water instead of wine. Not only Ali but others too had decided to do the minimum by bringing water instead of wine.
Becoming absorbed in a clean, creatively decorated house and abandoning cuddling and creative entertainment with our spouse is a way some wives do the minimum. Some husbands do the minimum by thinking, talking and acting out the attitude, "My job is number one in my life."
10) Live more for we than me. We want others to make sacrifices that show they want us.
In the Bollywood film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Imran is a character who found out a year ago the father who raised him is not his biological father. As a part of a bachelor, road trip with two friends through Spain, Imran decides to visit his biological father. While smoking a cigarette his biological father, Salman, explains that he abandoned Imran and his mother before Imran's birth because at age 25 he did not want the responsibility of fatherhood; his soul was and still is only fed by his art and world traveling. Salman thinks that me is better than we, but even he has to cover up his pain through a nicotine addiction. God didn't create us for selfishness. He created us to serve.
Irresistible people find ways to weave together responsibilities and dreams.
Greek Australian Christine Caine was active in Christian singles ministry. Many told her that marriage and kids would slow her down. However, she and her husband, Nick and daughters, Sophia and Catherine, travel the globe sharing Jesus Christ with others and have ministries, like Equip and Empower, that help others plant churches and fight human trafficking among other things. The devil is a liar: marriage and family are fun and fulfilling, not boring and/or oppresive.
Sometimes people embrace the lies of the devil due to ignorance and inconsideration. John Tillotson, a Christian leader of the 1600s, said, “Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind.” Avoid ignorance and inconsideration by cooperating with God to learn how to solve problems by incorporating people with passion, and then doing it.
Sonya Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, told Jane E. Brody for the artice "That Loving Feeling Takes a Lot of Work" in the New York Times newspaper on January 14, 2013, that she encourages each marriage partner to ask himself or herself each morning, “What can I do for five minutes today to make my partner’s life better?”
Making we more important than me nurtures marital love and sex. Enjoy marital sex; it's holy and righteous! We is designed to be wonderfully irresistible. It's spiritual and logical that a popular sexual position is called the "missionary." If you are married, try a twist on the missionary where the husband kneels and straddles his wife's leg while she’s lying on her left side. From here, she should bend her right leg around the right side of his waist—allowing full access to her vagina, her clitoris, her other body parts and the possibility of one or more orgasms.
In what ways are you irresistible? Please leave an irresistible on-line comment at the bottom of this article.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Hello, In What Way Can I Serve You?
I was thinking back to the concert An Evening of Elegance with Gospel singers Ernest Pugh, DeWayne Woods, Anita Wilson and Carolyn Traylor that Rafael and I enjoyed earlier this month. I was impressed that the more well known singers went out of their way to help promote the other singers by not selling their CDs at the concert while the others sold their CDs during an intermission in the concert.
How many relationships would be improved if we regularly went out of our way to help the other person? Whether we are in conflict or not, Philippians 4:4-5 New Living Translation Bible provides excellent advice in saying, "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon."
Ways of serving each other don't have to always be large. In addition to music Rafael and I love to laugh. Good humor can relive tension and make us feel closer to each other.
Let's share some laughter and discover other things that improve our relationships. Join Rafael's and Michele's relationship group Thursdays from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at 14336 Winewood Lane #11, Woodbridge, Virginia.
How many relationships would be improved if we regularly went out of our way to help the other person? Whether we are in conflict or not, Philippians 4:4-5 New Living Translation Bible provides excellent advice in saying, "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon."
Ways of serving each other don't have to always be large. In addition to music Rafael and I love to laugh. Good humor can relive tension and make us feel closer to each other.
Let's share some laughter and discover other things that improve our relationships. Join Rafael's and Michele's relationship group Thursdays from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at 14336 Winewood Lane #11, Woodbridge, Virginia.
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