I had to share this

THE SILENT SERMON

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the preacher decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his preacher's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace...and waited.

The preacher made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the preacher took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The preacher glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the preacher reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, 'Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.'

 We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

The Lord is my Shepherd ----- that's a Relationship!
 I shall not want ----- that's Supply!
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ----that's Rest!
He leadeth me beside the still waters -----that's Refreshment!
He restoreth my soul -- that's Healing!
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness -- that's Guidance!
For His name's sake ----- that's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death --that's Testing!
I will fear no evil ----- that's Protection!
For Thou art with me ----- that's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me -----that's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies ---that's Hope!
Thou annointest my head with oil -----that's Consecration!
My cup runneth over ----- that's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ---that's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord ----- that's Security!
Forever ----- that's Eternity!

Face it, God is crazy about you! 

Time for Prayer

Please pray for the families of the victims killed yesterday by pirates. Their cargo...Bibles!
Please pray for the victims, survivors, families and the country of New Zealand.
John 16:22-"Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you".
It may look like snow outside, but it is confetti from heaven. The angles and the saints are celebrating the home coming of God's children.
God Be with you

Stormy Weather

It only takes watching one of those quiz shows to remind me that I still have allot to learn. And I have no idea what they are teaching these 5th graders these days, but I wonder if I ever went to school or to University for that matter. But there is one thing that I do know, that stormy rainy wet weather outside, plus stormy weather inside your heart does not add up to a picnic in the park. That is how I started my day, rain outside and clouds inside of me. It took me half the day to hear God say "Yes but the Son always shines"!
So I would like for you to join me today and stop to see the "Son" and the shining He is doing in our lives.
Maybe if we do this together the sun will actually come out too!
God Bless you

You know you are saved when...

Yesterday I was helping my daughter clean a house, she does house keeping. We were at the last house and I was cleaning the last room, all I had to do was clean under a couch..as I reached down with the hose from the vacuum it happened...I felt it before I realized what had happened. This horrible pain ran up my arm and as I looked down at my hand I saw it..blood and no finger nail. All I could say was "Oh man, oh man, oh man". When I finally got cleaned up (ha, that is funny I am there to clean a house and I turn out to be the one that needs cleaning up), and calmed down my daughter, bandaged my finger and breathed through the throbbing, I realized that not only did I not swear, but there was not one swear word in my thoughts. I had to say thank you to God for living in me, for cleaning my mouth and my thoughts, isn't it wonderful when you realize just how much God has been working in you and you did not even notice.
Today praise God for the changes that He has made in you, take some time to check out the works of the refining fire.
God Bless you

Fretting

Today I woke up fretting. Not a pleasant place to be, as often as I try to avoid the experience it still happens. So God lead me to Psalm 52 and I wanted to share it with you.
Verses: 1-The goodness of God endures continually 7-I will make God my strength 8-I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever 9= I will wait on Your name for it is good.
And then in a devotional I read: God's life is in my life. And last but not least..Fretting is an indication of the absence of the anointing of the grace of God.
I love how God will answer me if I just take the time to listen, when I sit still at the feet of Jesus and let Him minister to me HE will give me the peace that passes all understanding.
I am learning that it is OK to fret, worry, stress, and be scared, because we are wired to feel these emotions from God. But how we deal with these feelings is another matter all together. These emotions are warning signs to bring us back under His wings, to let us know that we are trying to do it on our own without Him.
I hope that you will try with me to recognize these signs and turn back to Him, The Prince of Peace.
God Bless you this day

Tithe

I was listening to a minister the other day on the radio, and he was discussing the aspect of tithing. For many years I have felt guilty about the fact that I did not always think that I could give my 10% every week.Have you ever felt that? $100.00?????????? that's gas, or food. Jesus tells us to give of our time, talents and our treasure I think for a great reason. Think about it, there is no way that you could give enough to God since He has everything and more, what could we possibly give Him in monetary terms that He could use? So I started to look at it in a different way, if I am desperately clenching a dollar bill in my hand and someone comes along and wants to give me $1,000.00, the only way I can take the $1,000.00 is if I let go of the dollar bill. If we hold on to our time, talents and treasure how can we receive the blessings that God has for us? If God's love is in us we need to take the time to open ourselves to share some of our time for someone in need, share our talents to encourage others, and share our money to feed someone or keep their lights on. God will replenish when we pour out what He has given us. I think that 10% is not only money, because some people have no problem giving money, but giving of themselves is quite another story, or they have issues of giving up some of their time. Tithe to me is giving of what ever you have at the moment, no matter what it is God calls you to use to help one of His children. What He gives you He gives to you in abundance so that 10% is really nothing, you sill have 90% left.
I pray that He will grace you with the heart to seek out where you can tithe today, could be your neighbor, friend or a complete stranger, but remember when you bless someone you will be blessed 10 fold. How great is that! How great is our God.
God Bless you this day

Respect

Lately I have been contemplating the whole idea of God's timing. Because I am in no way a patient person (it seems that when God was making me He left a few of the P's out of my make up), I have been struggling with the whole concept of waiting. The last thing that I have wanted is to be like the Israelites who never seemed to have the ability to wait without groaning about it, I get annoyed just reading it, so I can not imagine how annoying it must have been for our Father to listen to it day in and day out.
And then I realized that it is not so much that I have to be patient as it is that I have to respect God's timing. He is to be exalted and admired, and He is to be respected for the amazing Father that He is. If I choose to respect His timing and obey Him, then it is no longer waiting or being patient it is looking on in anticipation of what He is going to do. I no longer have the anxious powty face, I have the anticipation face. The one that says "hey God that is really cool". Since He is the one that is in control, and the one that all of our experiences goes through first, then what else should I really be doing besides looking on in amazement.
So the next time that you feel like you are waiting, turn the tables and give God the respect and the glory that He so much deserves.
God Bless you

Fellowship

For years I have heard about the importance of "fellowship" Although I had been to many gatherings I really did not get the concept..that is until yesterday. I have been blessed to be a member of a women's Bible Study and the support, the love and the compassion that fills the room is amazing. The Holy Spirit is just there, you can feel it and see it. Fellowship gives you a charge like recharging a battery. You vent you share you cry and you laugh, and you walk out the door with the ability to take on whatever the world throws out at you. But you also get the so important love to spread around to others. And that is what God is..LOVE!
We can not get through this life thing on our own, we need help, we need others that are like minded, those who are grounded in the Word and grounded in God. Even if it is just one person I pray that you will take advantage of the wonderful blessing that God has given us, the beauty of sharing with other believers.
God Bless you and keep you this day.

JOY

I woke up yesterday anxious, depressed, frustrated and angry. After four nights of no sleep (my husband and snoring need I say more?) I had had enough. I was fit to be tied literally. Then I remembered JOY: Jesus, Others, You. So I asked Jesus to grant me His peace, and He gave it to me. He is faithful, then I set out to do something for someone else, so I wrote some valentines cards for my family. Then I cleaned my house and something amazing happened, yes I was still mad at my husband for cutting down logs, but it was just him. The frustration was gone, the anxiety the depression was no longer there. Just the facts remained and that I could deal with. So the next time you feel overwhelmed try looking out side of you, look up then out and then do something that you do have control over, something that will give you a positive out come and see what happens. Try to count it all JOY today and be blessed.
God Bless you

Keeping the Faith

How do we keep the faith when all we want to do is cry? Over the years I have wondered if this is really where God wants me to be. So far it has been one trial after another. Then I look in Psalms and David is constantly looking to God for his answers. He takes his eyes off the problem and looks up to the true solution. He looks to the one in control. I wonder if we can try this today, look to the one who can change things in a blink of an eye, may we hear His voice say "peace be still" in the midst of our storm. I pray this for all of us today no matter what we are going through.
God Bless you

Is this a sign?

With everything that is going on with Egypt and the surrounding area, is this a sign of what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 19:1-4? As of yesterday there has been violence among the Egyptian people. What started off peaceful has now become blood thirsty. What does this mean to the rest of the world that is watching?