"As I have already said, our number one goal should be to develop a close, intimate, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Being in continual fellowship with God and learning to obey Him in all things will make you happier than you might ever imagine. Since God is Life, how can we hope to enjoy life apart from Him?" (Joyce Meyer, Making Good Habits Breaking Bad Habits 14 New Behaviors That Will Energize Your Life) Good, enjoyable relationships start with God who is love and expand to self and other people. "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6 New Living Translation Bible.) 1 John 4:10-11 Amplified Bible says, "In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another."
Desmond Tutu and Nomalizo Leah Shenxane married on July 2, 1955. Almost 6o years later they are still married and still loving and enjoying God, each other and other people. Desmond Tutu is also involved in helping to free from a Chinese prison Chen Kegui, husband of Liu Fang, father of the little boy Chen Fubin and nephew to Chen Guangcheng, who is the blind, human rights activist who exposed forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China's one-child policy and is continuing to work to end China's one-child policy and other human rights violations. Tutu writes about Chen Guangcheng in a June 21, 2013, Huffington Post article "Chen Guangcheng: Has NYU Bowed to Pressure From China?", "Chen Guangcheng has been one of the most outspoken of the Chinese dissidents abroad, taking a public stand against Chinese human rights violations, including the abominable practices of forced abortion, imprisonment and enslavement of religious minorities, and the unthinkable execution of prisoners for the harvesting and sale of their organs. He is also charismatic, intelligent, with a wonderful story -- a self taught lawyer who defended villagers against corrupt officials, who before gaining fame for his escape from house arrest was known ... in the villages as the "barefoot lawyer.""
When Jesus Christ lived on earth, He had a variety of relationships. Wherever He went, He sought to make people's lives better now and forever. What are some of the ways people are better off for being around you? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Sex And Reparations For The Disabled
The United States is a nation with a motto "In God We Trust." God counsels us in Proverbs 3:29 Amplified Bible, "Do not contrive or dig up or cultivate evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly and confidently beside you."
Sometimes instead of trusting God, our government becomes an evil neighbor. Thirty-two US states practiced eugenics programs that included forced sterilization of the disabled.
Kim Severson reports in the July 25, 2013, The New York Times article "North Carolina: Budget Pays Eugenics Victims" that the North Carolina state board ran a eugenics program from 1933 through 1977 that sterilized about 7,600; on July 25, 2013, North Carolina became the first state legislature to approve payment to victims of government-run forced sterilization programs. Ten million is to be shared by each victim through an one-time payment on June 30, 2015 (Lynn, Charlotte Observer, "N.C. budget would end teacher tenure, pay some private school tuition," July 22, 2013.)
Fear of the sexuality of people who are different is part of our past and present. The 1927 Buck v. Bell Supreme Court decision ruled that forced sterilization of people with disabilities was not a violation of their constitutional rights. By the 1970s, more than 60,000 disabled people were sterilized without their consent. Forced sterilization is illegal today, but the sexuality of the disabled is not widely celebrated.
Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs. Today he is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara. The couple have a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic. As an adolescent Nick Vujicic says he experienced bullying about his sexuality. Vujicic writes in his book Unstoppable The Incredible Power of Faith in Action, "Day after day, he'd walk by me and shout out, "Nick has no --!""
God made our bodies, and we are to use them according to His design. 1 Corinthians 7:3 New Living Translation Bible says, "The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs."
A Nigerian proverb says, "Our children are living messages sent to a future we may never see." Kiyoshi James Vujicic is a child witness celebrating the sexuality of those with disabilities. Perhaps when he is an adult American society and other societies will think it common and not a point of criticism for people with all kinds of disabilities to marry and to have children.
Americans of Japanese and other Asian heritage were interned in camps during World War II. Starting in 1990 the US government sent survivors reparations of $20,000.00 each. Do you think other states should pay reparations to victims of forced sterilization? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Sometimes instead of trusting God, our government becomes an evil neighbor. Thirty-two US states practiced eugenics programs that included forced sterilization of the disabled.
Kim Severson reports in the July 25, 2013, The New York Times article "North Carolina: Budget Pays Eugenics Victims" that the North Carolina state board ran a eugenics program from 1933 through 1977 that sterilized about 7,600; on July 25, 2013, North Carolina became the first state legislature to approve payment to victims of government-run forced sterilization programs. Ten million is to be shared by each victim through an one-time payment on June 30, 2015 (Lynn, Charlotte Observer, "N.C. budget would end teacher tenure, pay some private school tuition," July 22, 2013.)
Fear of the sexuality of people who are different is part of our past and present. The 1927 Buck v. Bell Supreme Court decision ruled that forced sterilization of people with disabilities was not a violation of their constitutional rights. By the 1970s, more than 60,000 disabled people were sterilized without their consent. Forced sterilization is illegal today, but the sexuality of the disabled is not widely celebrated.
Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs. Today he is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara. The couple have a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic. As an adolescent Nick Vujicic says he experienced bullying about his sexuality. Vujicic writes in his book Unstoppable The Incredible Power of Faith in Action, "Day after day, he'd walk by me and shout out, "Nick has no --!""
God made our bodies, and we are to use them according to His design. 1 Corinthians 7:3 New Living Translation Bible says, "The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs."
A Nigerian proverb says, "Our children are living messages sent to a future we may never see." Kiyoshi James Vujicic is a child witness celebrating the sexuality of those with disabilities. Perhaps when he is an adult American society and other societies will think it common and not a point of criticism for people with all kinds of disabilities to marry and to have children.
Americans of Japanese and other Asian heritage were interned in camps during World War II. Starting in 1990 the US government sent survivors reparations of $20,000.00 each. Do you think other states should pay reparations to victims of forced sterilization? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Lasting Love
True love comes with faithfulness. Matthew 19:9 Amplified Bible says, "I say to you: whoever dismisses (repudiates, divorces) his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
Christian Actors Denzel and Pauletta Washington wed in 1983, and this year are celebrating 30 years of marriage. Denzel Washington says, "We live in a time--and it's not for me to judge anyone--when people give up too easily. It's a disposable society; get another [spouse]. I was talking to this guy when [we had been] married 23 years who said, 'Man, I've been married three times, and it still don't add up to 23 years!' Well, you got to work at it;" Pauletta Washington says, "For me, the 'love' in the love story is how you come through the trials. The passion, the lust--that's easy. The love story is how you come out in love after hardship" ("Staying Power," Ebony, August 2013, Shirley Henderson.)
A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Marriage is for a lifetime, so why not take considerable time to get to know your future spouse before marrying? Pauletta and Denzel Washington dated for six years before they wed.
No matter how long or short you are together before marriage live a life of complete trust in God. God has a unique plan for each person.
Luke 11:4 New Living Translation Bible says we can ask God, "and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation." If you are divorced, had sex outside of marriage or committed some other sin, receive God's forgiveness, forgive yourself, forgive others and stop sinning.
The Chinese invented the kite. God wants His creyentes (believers) to live higher lives, not lives weighed down with sin or anything that hinders us from living the best life God set up for us before He created the earth. International Bible Minister Joyce Meyer had a divorce, but today she is enjoying a marriage with Dave Meyer that has lasted more than 40 years.
What are some other lasting love stories? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Christian Actors Denzel and Pauletta Washington wed in 1983, and this year are celebrating 30 years of marriage. Denzel Washington says, "We live in a time--and it's not for me to judge anyone--when people give up too easily. It's a disposable society; get another [spouse]. I was talking to this guy when [we had been] married 23 years who said, 'Man, I've been married three times, and it still don't add up to 23 years!' Well, you got to work at it;" Pauletta Washington says, "For me, the 'love' in the love story is how you come through the trials. The passion, the lust--that's easy. The love story is how you come out in love after hardship" ("Staying Power," Ebony, August 2013, Shirley Henderson.)
A proverb from Ethiopia and Kenya says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces." Marriage is for a lifetime, so why not take considerable time to get to know your future spouse before marrying? Pauletta and Denzel Washington dated for six years before they wed.
No matter how long or short you are together before marriage live a life of complete trust in God. God has a unique plan for each person.
Luke 11:4 New Living Translation Bible says we can ask God, "and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation." If you are divorced, had sex outside of marriage or committed some other sin, receive God's forgiveness, forgive yourself, forgive others and stop sinning.
The Chinese invented the kite. God wants His creyentes (believers) to live higher lives, not lives weighed down with sin or anything that hinders us from living the best life God set up for us before He created the earth. International Bible Minister Joyce Meyer had a divorce, but today she is enjoying a marriage with Dave Meyer that has lasted more than 40 years.
What are some other lasting love stories? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Beauty Management
Joseph had an awesome appearance courtesy of the artwork of God. Watching art can be enjoyable. God wants us to enjoy a wide variety of things knowing that everything has to be managed. No one and no thing is to be more important to us than God. 1 John 5:21 Amplified Bible says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)—[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life]. Amen (so let it be)."
Potiphar and his wife were at one time Joseph's employers (Genesis 39.) Potiphar's wife liked God's artwork expressed in Joseph but not God's authority. Instead of following God's plan for pursuing partner sexual fulfillment in marriage, she pestered Joseph for sex outside of marriage.
A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "May my outer head not spoil my inner head." Joseph didn't idolize his beauty. He repeatedly loved and respected God and God's rules. God the Son Jesus Christ says in John 14:15 New Living Translation Bible, "If you love me, obey my commandments."
The Chinese invented the rudder. God does not give us rules without the power to steer our lives according to them. When we have a relationship with God, God comes to live inside creyentes (believers) giving us the power to do what He says.
Having God's power doesn't mean we will not struggle to use it. The struggle is easiest when we stay close to the Greatest Lover, God.
Potiphar and his wife were at one time Joseph's employers (Genesis 39.) Potiphar's wife liked God's artwork expressed in Joseph but not God's authority. Instead of following God's plan for pursuing partner sexual fulfillment in marriage, she pestered Joseph for sex outside of marriage.
A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "May my outer head not spoil my inner head." Joseph didn't idolize his beauty. He repeatedly loved and respected God and God's rules. God the Son Jesus Christ says in John 14:15 New Living Translation Bible, "If you love me, obey my commandments."
The Chinese invented the rudder. God does not give us rules without the power to steer our lives according to them. When we have a relationship with God, God comes to live inside creyentes (believers) giving us the power to do what He says.
Having God's power doesn't mean we will not struggle to use it. The struggle is easiest when we stay close to the Greatest Lover, God.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Kill That Beast
God makes it simple for us to enter into a relationship with Him. God did all the work. We just receive Him. John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]"
Is it simple to have a relationship with you? A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." 1 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible says about love, "It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."
God loves people of all sexes, ages, races, ethnicity and abilities. He wants us to do likewise.
The human body is a work of divine art. God starts human life from sperm and egg uniting ideally through merry, marital sexual relations.
Don't kill unborn girls and unborn boys through abortion. "Kill that beast. Let your new creature appear" ("Kill That" song on CD Kingdom Business 4 by Christian Rapper Canton Jones.) Colossians 3:5-10 Amplified Bible says, "So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will), Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices]. But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips! Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices, And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it."
A Japanese proverb says, "Do quickly what is good." Now is the time to kill that beast and let your new creature appear. Waiting for any other time is a deception.
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell" and means "to deceive oneself." What are some ways people deceive themselves in trying to pursue loving relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Is it simple to have a relationship with you? A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." 1 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible says about love, "It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."
God loves people of all sexes, ages, races, ethnicity and abilities. He wants us to do likewise.
The human body is a work of divine art. God starts human life from sperm and egg uniting ideally through merry, marital sexual relations.
Don't kill unborn girls and unborn boys through abortion. "Kill that beast. Let your new creature appear" ("Kill That" song on CD Kingdom Business 4 by Christian Rapper Canton Jones.) Colossians 3:5-10 Amplified Bible says, "So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will), Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices]. But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips! Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices, And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it."
A Japanese proverb says, "Do quickly what is good." Now is the time to kill that beast and let your new creature appear. Waiting for any other time is a deception.
A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell" and means "to deceive oneself." What are some ways people deceive themselves in trying to pursue loving relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Think Big And Beautiful
God wants us to have a relationship with Him. God does not want us to be ashamed. He wants us to be assured that He loves us and in our thoughts, speech and behavior we can show people God.
A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled." No human being can be perfect. We can be pursuing God passionately.
John 10:10 Amplified Bible says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." God wants us to have a big, beautiful life filled with love and all of His goodness. Satan hates all people and has opposite desires for people.
Sometimes we have not sinned. Satan wants us to think we have sinned and get stuck on these harmful thoughts. Satan is also a liar with multiple ways to try to destroy people.
God commands His creyentes (believers) to love Him and people. God didn't give us excuses to do wrong. God gave us Himself to live inside creyentes, and God is everywhere. So creyentes have what it takes to love.
Ending abortion and implementing immigration reform are some big, beautiful ideas. Truly big and beautiful ideas come from the Bible. What are some big, beautiful Biblical ideas currently expressed in your relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled." No human being can be perfect. We can be pursuing God passionately.
John 10:10 Amplified Bible says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." God wants us to have a big, beautiful life filled with love and all of His goodness. Satan hates all people and has opposite desires for people.
Sometimes we have not sinned. Satan wants us to think we have sinned and get stuck on these harmful thoughts. Satan is also a liar with multiple ways to try to destroy people.
God commands His creyentes (believers) to love Him and people. God didn't give us excuses to do wrong. God gave us Himself to live inside creyentes, and God is everywhere. So creyentes have what it takes to love.
Ending abortion and implementing immigration reform are some big, beautiful ideas. Truly big and beautiful ideas come from the Bible. What are some big, beautiful Biblical ideas currently expressed in your relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
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