Apply the principles
Seek evidence
Look for movement
Listen for sound
Smell for familiarity
Realize the difference
Share the truth
Hold back feelings
Let trouble go
Tell a neighbor
Question a neighbor
Hold a baby close
Watch the eyes
Position yourself
Defend the gospel
It's true, I had a conversation with God.
Wednesday
A Poem for the Lost
We would die with smiles on our faces from the mere sound of your voice,
touch of your hand, and glow from your eyes.
We would die with smiles on our faces for love like yours
is extraordinary in our world.
We would tumble over in pain from the overflow of butterflies in our stomachs.
Our blood vessels would swell and then burst from the vibration of your footsteps.
We would die for you are the Almighty teacher, friend, parent, sister, brother, and lover
in our lives.
And there is none greater than you!
We would just die if we had the chance to see your spirit, feel your power, and capture your love!
touch of your hand, and glow from your eyes.
We would die with smiles on our faces for love like yours
is extraordinary in our world.
We would tumble over in pain from the overflow of butterflies in our stomachs.
Our blood vessels would swell and then burst from the vibration of your footsteps.
We would die for you are the Almighty teacher, friend, parent, sister, brother, and lover
in our lives.
And there is none greater than you!
We would just die if we had the chance to see your spirit, feel your power, and capture your love!
Tuesday
Part Two: Is it god or God?
I really thought my spiritual teachers had it altogether so I hung on their every word back during those naive days I mentioned in another blog entry. However, what I didn't know back in the mid-nineties is that there is the god of the world that people praise and then there is the God of the Bible. What makes things a tad bit complicated is which Bible God do you serve?
There are so many bibles! How do you know which one is right? You don't unless you have the gift of the Holy Spirit or receive guidance from a believer who you know reads the word and you can see the wonderful things that are happening in and around his or her life. So how do you get the spirit? Well you can't get the spirit, he has to come upon you. That doesn't happen unless you open yourself up to the word of God, pray and fast, ask God for the gifts of the spirit, and allow the one who is appointed by God to lay hands on you. This usually happens when you walk down an aisle at a church or are in the presence of sincere, anointed believers who will pray with and over you.
Now while these things are going on around you, inside your mind you have to fight the thoughts like, "I have to get back to my seat, I bet people think I look stupid standing here, When will this all be over?" You have to think about things like how grateful you are to be alive, talk to God about the things you have done and ask him for his mercy, thank Him for the favor he has shown you even when you didn't deserve it, and ask him to draw near to you. This is what some of the people are thinking about when they are standing in front of the congregation crying and looking as if they are ready to pass out from grief.
God has a hold on the true believers who really want something miraculous to happen in their lives! All the ugly that those who walked in darkness said about God, what wrong they did to other people, and many other things is what causes them to grieve on the inside. It is through their convictions that they finally say, "Enough, I can't do this by myself Lord -- I need your help!" At that time some will fall out on the floor, shout, cry, even foam at the mouth because some very ugly things they are dealing with are being exposed. Afterward, they feel a sense of relief, a hope that things will get better.
For me, I studied a few chapters that were assigned to me after attending a class before I walked down the aisle and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.(The study was in the Book of Acts, Galatians Chapter 5, and I John.) I wanted to know what I was getting myself into and even after reading the Bible and the teachers providing me with education and instruction I still didn't necessarily grasp what I was doing. All I knew is that where I was in my life between the physical abuse, drinking, clubbing, and acting a fool 95-96, I needed some guidance.
When I got up to the front of the church back then, I cried and the man of God touched my head. I didn't feel anything at that time, but as the days passed things began to change and I realized that there was something different about me. In time, I stopped having the desire to go out to places I didn't feel comfortable, end a relationship that wasn't good for me, and cut off some so-called friends that did nothing more than take from me. I still had problems back then that I struggled with and even now, but I am nothing like I used to be.
I don't recommend everyone go down any aisle especially if you haven't learned anything about the church, read the Bible, or don't feel right about the people, because the scripture does say, "many are called but chosen are few. " But what I do suggest is that if you attend a church and fill this tugging to walk down the aisle in your mind and body -- like Nike says, "Just do it!" You don't know what God has in store for you and you definitely don't want to miss a new and improved you!
For some of you it could happen this Sunday while you are visiting someone else's church. Better study up! That might be the first and last time you will get a special calling. Then once you get to the front of the aisle, listen to what the leadership says and go to a class so that you understand what this all means. If you don't get any understanding you will be walking between two worlds wondering why things seem to be getting worse.
You see things got worse before they got better for me because I didn't surround myself with prayer warriors back in the 90s. Sure, I got the minister's blessing and studied for a little bit with the mothers of the church, but in time I purposely lost contact, because I wasn't completely sold on God, so to speak. I made excuses because I wanted "to do my own thing." And doing my own thing almost got me killed! You see, in my mind I thought I was a "little god"--the god of self! I thought I didn't need anyone to tell me anything and if I wanted to know something I always had the Internet or a book to read. That is until God got a hold of me!
I leave you with this, if you think that you are a "little god" or you serve little gods then why aren't they saving you from your troubles? Could it be that the god you have been waiting on to answer your prayers isn't really God but just a figment of your imagination? The only way to know the truth is to read it.
Nicholl McGuire
There are so many bibles! How do you know which one is right? You don't unless you have the gift of the Holy Spirit or receive guidance from a believer who you know reads the word and you can see the wonderful things that are happening in and around his or her life. So how do you get the spirit? Well you can't get the spirit, he has to come upon you. That doesn't happen unless you open yourself up to the word of God, pray and fast, ask God for the gifts of the spirit, and allow the one who is appointed by God to lay hands on you. This usually happens when you walk down an aisle at a church or are in the presence of sincere, anointed believers who will pray with and over you.
Now while these things are going on around you, inside your mind you have to fight the thoughts like, "I have to get back to my seat, I bet people think I look stupid standing here, When will this all be over?" You have to think about things like how grateful you are to be alive, talk to God about the things you have done and ask him for his mercy, thank Him for the favor he has shown you even when you didn't deserve it, and ask him to draw near to you. This is what some of the people are thinking about when they are standing in front of the congregation crying and looking as if they are ready to pass out from grief.
God has a hold on the true believers who really want something miraculous to happen in their lives! All the ugly that those who walked in darkness said about God, what wrong they did to other people, and many other things is what causes them to grieve on the inside. It is through their convictions that they finally say, "Enough, I can't do this by myself Lord -- I need your help!" At that time some will fall out on the floor, shout, cry, even foam at the mouth because some very ugly things they are dealing with are being exposed. Afterward, they feel a sense of relief, a hope that things will get better.
For me, I studied a few chapters that were assigned to me after attending a class before I walked down the aisle and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.(The study was in the Book of Acts, Galatians Chapter 5, and I John.) I wanted to know what I was getting myself into and even after reading the Bible and the teachers providing me with education and instruction I still didn't necessarily grasp what I was doing. All I knew is that where I was in my life between the physical abuse, drinking, clubbing, and acting a fool 95-96, I needed some guidance.
When I got up to the front of the church back then, I cried and the man of God touched my head. I didn't feel anything at that time, but as the days passed things began to change and I realized that there was something different about me. In time, I stopped having the desire to go out to places I didn't feel comfortable, end a relationship that wasn't good for me, and cut off some so-called friends that did nothing more than take from me. I still had problems back then that I struggled with and even now, but I am nothing like I used to be.
I don't recommend everyone go down any aisle especially if you haven't learned anything about the church, read the Bible, or don't feel right about the people, because the scripture does say, "many are called but chosen are few. " But what I do suggest is that if you attend a church and fill this tugging to walk down the aisle in your mind and body -- like Nike says, "Just do it!" You don't know what God has in store for you and you definitely don't want to miss a new and improved you!
For some of you it could happen this Sunday while you are visiting someone else's church. Better study up! That might be the first and last time you will get a special calling. Then once you get to the front of the aisle, listen to what the leadership says and go to a class so that you understand what this all means. If you don't get any understanding you will be walking between two worlds wondering why things seem to be getting worse.
You see things got worse before they got better for me because I didn't surround myself with prayer warriors back in the 90s. Sure, I got the minister's blessing and studied for a little bit with the mothers of the church, but in time I purposely lost contact, because I wasn't completely sold on God, so to speak. I made excuses because I wanted "to do my own thing." And doing my own thing almost got me killed! You see, in my mind I thought I was a "little god"--the god of self! I thought I didn't need anyone to tell me anything and if I wanted to know something I always had the Internet or a book to read. That is until God got a hold of me!
I leave you with this, if you think that you are a "little god" or you serve little gods then why aren't they saving you from your troubles? Could it be that the god you have been waiting on to answer your prayers isn't really God but just a figment of your imagination? The only way to know the truth is to read it.
Nicholl McGuire
Part One: Is it god or God? A Little Something for the Believers
At one time back in 95-96, during my naive days of accepting church invites without thinking, I thought all believers served the same God, I was wrong. I thought all believers were suppose to act a certain way, dress a certain way, and rightly divide the word the same way, I was really wrong. The truth is not everyone who says, "Oh god, Thank god, Oh my god," believes in God.
Some of the celebrities will say, "Thank god..." after doing a sexually explicit movie, singing a song full of cuss words, or acting crazy in some video, do you really think the one true God had something to do with that? After gambling away money for years and then finally winning something people will say, "Thank god!" Then put all the money back into the casino or lottery again or use it to pay for something that will only need more money to keep it going. Oh there was definitely a god in the midst, but it wasn't the one that put his Son on a cross for our sins!
I use to think this way until I started reading the word for myself and I had to ask God for forgiveness. I was thanking the wrong gods! You see we always think about fat statues and weird symbols being idols but we don't think about things like: material wealth, food, sex, and music being gods and/or idols in our lives. For example, there are people who serve food literally. Praising it often, talking about it too much, and spending just about the majority of their paychecks on it and as they do they are getting bigger and bigger starting to look and smell old just like it! No one seems to say too much about serving the god of gluttony until health problems occur. Too much food, money, sex, entertainment and anything related to these areas without balance and the discernment to separate what's wrong from what is right can be a god in your life!
The only way we can combat temptation is to take God at His word!
Some of the celebrities will say, "Thank god..." after doing a sexually explicit movie, singing a song full of cuss words, or acting crazy in some video, do you really think the one true God had something to do with that? After gambling away money for years and then finally winning something people will say, "Thank god!" Then put all the money back into the casino or lottery again or use it to pay for something that will only need more money to keep it going. Oh there was definitely a god in the midst, but it wasn't the one that put his Son on a cross for our sins!
I use to think this way until I started reading the word for myself and I had to ask God for forgiveness. I was thanking the wrong gods! You see we always think about fat statues and weird symbols being idols but we don't think about things like: material wealth, food, sex, and music being gods and/or idols in our lives. For example, there are people who serve food literally. Praising it often, talking about it too much, and spending just about the majority of their paychecks on it and as they do they are getting bigger and bigger starting to look and smell old just like it! No one seems to say too much about serving the god of gluttony until health problems occur. Too much food, money, sex, entertainment and anything related to these areas without balance and the discernment to separate what's wrong from what is right can be a god in your life!
The only way we can combat temptation is to take God at His word!
Saturday
Interesting Biblical Scripture Sounds a Little Bit like G-20 Summit
Weeks before the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh that was held on September 24 and 25th of 2009, I noticed an interesting passage in the Living Bible (1971 edition) which is paraphrased for those of us who don't like the "thy", "thou" and other old English language used in the King James version. Here's what I read:
Psalm 2
"What fools the nations are to rage against the Lord! How strange that men should try to outwit God! For a summit conference of the nations has been called to plot against the Lord and his Messiah Christ King. "Come, let us break his chains," they say, "and free ourselves from all this slavery to God."
But God in heaven merely laughs! He is amused by all their puny plans. And then in fierce fury he rebukes them and fills them with fear. For the Lord declares, This is the King of my choice, and I have enthroned him in Jerusalem, my holy city."
His chosen one replies, "I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, 'You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory." Only ask, and I will give you all the nations of the world. Rule them with an iron rod; smash them like clay pots!"
O kings and rulers of the earth, listen while there is time. Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling. Fall down before his Son and kiss his feet before his anger is roused and you perish. I am warning you -- his wrath will soon begin. But oh, the joys of those who put their trust in him!"
What makes the relation interesting to me is United States making claims that as a nation we trust God. However, other countries don't hold the same beliefs. I can almost bet that someone or people in that room made reference to the United State's God and what we believe etc. I wonder what President Barack Obama said when his God was criticized? As we all know the Muslim religion is comprised of many believers that have an agenda that goes beyond our economic crisis and if you think they don't, watch international news. I thought this was interesting maybe in the flesh these leaders were meeting about money, but in the spirit they were meeting about God's presence and how they could rid Christianity and all its believers off the face of this earth and make all countries Muslim nations! In order to do that, you have to put doubt in a believer's mind to make them stop believing. So-called "smart" people will do just that, "If I question you enough to frustrate you so that you look like a fool, put holes in your belief system and call it ignorant, show you where you are a hypocrite, talk to you about how your God or god has failed you, at some point I will have you where I want you in unbelief." I thought of this when I reflected on this meeting of the minds. I wonder what it really accomplished?
)
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