Sunday, October 30, 2005

"Two for One"

I love those two for one sales! What a bargain! Sometimes I may buy them even if I really don't need them, just because it's such a good deal! God knows that two is better than one, too! That's why He made us with two of most things: ears, eyes, hands, and feet! The singles are things we need to be careful of: the mouth, the heart, the brain.

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." (Psalm 141:3). It is much better to listen and observe before allowing our mouths free reign to talk. Two ears and two eyes can take in a lot of information. Giving out information by our mouths should always be done in moderation. Just as the scriptures say, we should keep watch over what walks through the doors of our lips! In James 3:5, it even warns us "Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

"Words are powerful influencers. Words can build up and encourage, but they can also destroy and demean. We often let things spill out of our mouths without taking into account the impact they make on others. When we have our mouths guarded by the Lord, we will not utter worthless things. When we have the Lord watching the door to our lips, the hurtful words that tend to flow out of us will be shut in. What God wants us to do is connect our hearts and brains with Him. Then the things that flow from us will not be hurtful, boastful, or worthless: they will be words that will be as valuable as our two for one sales! What a bargain!

Until next time, make it a blessed day,

Pastor Ellen

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Did You Inherit Your Religion?

by John Penberthy

The vast majority of people in the world automatically and unquestioningly inherit their religion from their parents. For something as important as religion, why are we so reluctant to shop around?

One Saturday morning I was sipping my coffee and reading the newspaper when the doorbell rang.
This was an unusual occurrence as we lived in a somewhat isolated log cabin in the mountains outside Denver.
At the door stood two attractive college-age girls who wanted to talk to me about becoming a Jehovah’s Witness. Normally I would politely say, “No thanks” and return to my paper, but that morning I decided to engage with them.
After hearing their initial pitch, I asked one of them, “Are your parents Jehovah’s Witnesses?” “Our whole family is,” she replied.
“Do you think religion is an important thing for people to have in their lives?”
“Very,” she replied, and I agreed.
“How many other religions have you studied and investigated?” “None.”
“Is a car an important thing in your life?” I asked.
“Well, yes, but not as important as religion.” Again I agreed.
“What kind of car do you drive?”
“A Toyota.”
“Is that what your parents drive?”
“No.”
“Why not?” I inquired.
“Because I like Toyotas better.”
She was starting to get impatient but politely continued to humor me.
“How do you know?”
“Because I like the way my Toyota looks and drives, plus it was inexpensive and gets good gas mileage.”
I nodded toward my Toyota sitting in the driveway and agreed.
“How did you know that about your car when you bought it?”
“I test drove different cars and talked to my friends about their cars.” she said, increasingly exasperated.
“So you checked out lots of different cars before deciding on your Toyota,” I gently summarized, “but your religion, which is much more important, you inherited from your parents without knowing anything about the alternatives?”
“Yeah,” she replied rather sheepishly, catching my drift.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Spend the next five years investigating and studying the other great religions of the world and then if you still want to talk to me about becoming a Jehovah’s Witness, we’ll talk.”
The girls, realizing they had a hopeless case on their hands, thanked me for my time and left.

The vast majority of people worldwide inherit their religion—one of the most important things in their lives—unquestioningly from their parents, without ever investigating the alternatives. Many are convinced it is the only way to God, believe that other religions are heresy, and some will fight and die for it.

Did you inherit your religion?


John Penberthy is the author of To Bee or Not to Bee, which has received endorsements from Dan Millman, Stephen Levine and Ram Dass. It’s an illustrated, inspirational allegory—clever and spiritually sophisticated—about a worker bee who transcends the mindless tedium of life in a honeybee colony. FREE EBOOK to first 10,000 visitors. http://www.tobeebook.com/preview.html Make sure your speakers are on.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

"Graveyard Shift"


There are some of us who have jobs that cover the graveyard shift, from about midnight to eight in the morning. Those hours are mostly when others are sleeping, which is probably why the shift got its name. And those hours, like graveyards, are pretty quiet, dark, with not much action going on. If we listened, we could probably hear the seconds tick away.

Time seems to stop, and waiting for dawn seems like waiting for eternity."I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." (Psalm 130:5-6). Is there some prayer we have prayed that seems unanswered? Is there some desperate need we have that continues to be unmet? Waiting is when the Lord shapes us and molds us. Waiting is when our souls, more than anything else, know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the answer is coming. Just as sure as watchmen know the dawn is coming and their shift will be over, we can also be sure in our waiting. Jesus is our hope. Jesus never disappoints.

Perhaps in our waiting we have gotten discouraged or impatient. Perhaps in our waiting we have relied too much on our own strength to answer our needs. The Lord is telling us that only He can bring true peace and real hope. Only the Lord can give us the perfect timing for our requests that seem to hang in the air. When we wait, it is an opportunity for our souls to connect with God. When we wait, all the noise and distraction can be shed from our souls, so that all we have to focus on is the Lord Himself. And from our graveyard shifts will arise a new dawn that will brighten our waiting souls today and forever!

Until next time, make it a blessed day,

Pastor Ellen

Monday, October 24, 2005

Focusing on Your Purpose

By: Daniel Brown,

So many people are tormented by fear and don't realize how negative thinking affects them. They build a prison for themselves with suggestions of limitation, incapacity, and unworthiness. They don't think of succeeding, but of how they will fail.

It's been said that a person does not get what they want, but what they picture. It's those dominate thoughts that are being attracted to you, not your greatest dreams. So, the way to attract the things you desire is to hold a mental picture of what you want as long as possible, and as often as possible. Feel that you already have what you desire with certainty and you will see it become manifested in your life.It's a simple concept, and it's true.

It's just not easy.It's not easy because we are bombarded daily with all kinds of negative thoughts, and then we are forced to decide what to do with them after they've entered our minds.There is just no way a person can enjoy life to its full with a head full of negative thoughts.

The will of God is abundance, prosperity, blessings, peace, joy, and righteousness. Thoughts of fear, worry, dread, and poverty are in direct opposite to God's plan. In fact, they are the devil's plan.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says, Satan has become the god of this world, and it's his will to completely destroy us. But, God has put limits on the devil. He cannot cross the blood line. Therefore, the main way he disrupts people's lives is by planting suggestive thoughts in their heads, causing them all kinds of grief.

A person cannot change what they do not acknowledge. So, if you can acknowledge that if you live life passively, the devil will destroy you.He is not just going to sit by and watch as you become outrageously blessed. The reason is because he hates God.And, since he can not hinder God in any way, the best he can do is hinder God's most beloved possession - you!

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Daniel N. Brown is an entrepreneur and teacher of biblical success principles . Get your FREE report entitled, "How to Receive from God" when you sign up for your FREE weekly newsletter. www.SecretPlaceOnline.com

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Twenty Bucks

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200 he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?"And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who do love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by who we are. You are special, don't ever forget it."
Remember to count your blessings, not your problems. If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow, what a ride!"

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Silence

We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.
Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds
....in the silence of the heart
God will speak.

Mother Teresa, from No Greater Love

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Free to Soar

by: Wayne B. Lynn,

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing in the heady atmosphere above the earth. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.

Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!" They soared beautifully even as they fought the imposed restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. "Free at last" it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind."

Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. "Free at last" free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.

How much like kites we sometimes are. The Lord gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and (pardon the pun) never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.

Let us each rise to the great heights our Heavenly Father has in store for us, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

"Blood Pressure Check"

Our hearts are amazing organs. They pump blood to all areas of our bodies, allowing oxygen to flow into our cells and taking carbon dioxide away from those same cells. Heartbeats keep life going in our bodies, and our blood vessels need to be clear and open for the blood to flow through. When we check our blood pressure, it gives us a glimpse into how healthy our hearts are.

"Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, thought they had seen what I did." (Psalm 95:8-9). The people of God in Moses' time did not have healthy hearts. They had clogged blood vessels and hardened hearts towards the Lord. Although they heard God's voice, they quarreled (the meaning of "Meribah") and they tested God (the meaning of "Massah"). They even saw God's blessings and wonders in the desert, yet they continued to stray away from God.

When we face our desert situations, we, too, have a tendency to doubt and quarrel with each other. We often see only the negatives and the down side of life, and God is not first in our hearts. The Lord is speaking to us today. He is telling us to check our blood pressure! We need to focus on the blessings and wonders that God provides us, even in the desert! If we don't see the joy of our salvation in the desert, it is because we are hardening our hearts towards God! We should always keep our hearts open to God's leading. His voice will soften any hardened arteries we might have. Our blood pressure will return to normal, and our lives will be restored today and always!

Until next time, make it a blessed day,

Pastor Ellen

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

My Prayer For The World

By: Craig Lock,

As a "quite spiritual", but not "religious type of person"*, I wrote this quickly ("divine inspiration"???), so sharing a few thoughts, which may be of interest and freely published, electronically or in print. Enjoy...

* "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin *

SHARING MY PRAYER FOR THE WORLD

Dear God, Creator of the Universe,

As YOU know, so many people are going through extreme hardship and suffering after natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina and Rita in the USA. Also in our hearts, many of us are very troubled by the world today being in such a mess, because of natural disasters, man's inhumanity to man, lack of understanding and intolerance of others, desire for power, "pure evil" and so on.

At this time of Celebration in so many privileged countries (like mine, the paradise that is tranquil New Zealand), I feel so helpless, so am asking for divine intervention through the power of concentrated prayer world-wide...Please bring a miracle especially to the people of Iraq, Chechnya, DRC (Congo), Nigeria and Zimbabwe and all the victims of the recent tsunami in South-East Asia, but to all the world. Bring forth some goodness out of the ravages of the many wars (some decades-old) and natural disasters throughout this world.

As we are all connected (no matter where in the world we may live), please touch all hearts, especially in the 'trouble-spots' of the globe...through changing people's inner spirits amidst the strife, violence and war. We send forth positive thoughts for good: of comfort, forgiveness, thoughts of peace and especially love to every 'child of God' in this drama of pain.

Still through YOU, we can see in our hearts one day the seemingly impossible - a world one day surrounded by peace and love. One lit within by YOUR indistinguishable and ever-present light, that shines through the goodness of so many people in countless diverse countries on "mother earth"..........
Read more of this prayer

For more great writing by Craig visit http://www.craiglock.com

Article Source: Articles Beyond Better

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

"Big Dreams, Big Miracles"

When we don't believe in miracles, it shrinks our expectations of God. When we don't give hope to big dreams, it makes our world and our God very small. Don't we believe in an awesome, miracle-making God today? Don't we hope that God can transform our dreams into reality? Yes! Of course we should! And God does do miracles all the time! We need to open our eyes and hearts to that!

"He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord." (Psalm 113:7-9). The God who can transform water into wine also works miracles in our lives today. We cannot rely on our own puny powers to rescue the poor and the needy. God has big miracles to do in their lives. Our own powers are just limiting and constraining His work! Let God, rather than our own efforts empower His people!

And the barren women who long for children in their homes? God is a miracle maker! Of course He can bless them with an abundance of children! He is God! Let's not limit ourselves or others today or ever. Our God has conquered all on our behalf, even death! Let's rise above our petty and small limits and give our dreams and hopes to the One who can make them happen!

Until next time, make it a blessed day,

Pastor Ellen