Do We Believe in Providence?

I Samuel 8:14 says, "And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants." The people of Israel had been asking for a king and Samuel told them these words and still they chose to have a king, "That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." I Samuel 8:20

Later, Samuel reminded the people of their own history how it was God who brought them out of Egypt and Who fought their battles for them. Even when they served false gods, God delivered them when they cried out to Him.

We need to be reminded of our history as Americans. Our Founding Fathers depended upon God to fight the battles. Most believed in the Providence of God. George Washington wrote to his brother after fighting during the French and Indian War, "But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat; and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!" Later, an Indian Chief who had fought in that battle declared that Washington was indeed shielded by the Great Spirit.

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court declared: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

His grandson later wrote, "'It is high time to wake out of sleep!' This gathering of citizens from distant parts, representing the millions who hold to the Bible, and cherish the institutions founded upon its inspired truths, shows that the nation is awakening to the perils, foreign and domestic, which threatens the purity of its Christian civilization."

It has been discovered that after reviewing thousands of documents from our Founding Fathers that "Direct and indirect quotes combined reveal that 94% of all the quotes of the Founding Fathers are derived from the Bible." (America's God & Country Encyclopedia of Quotations)

Our current administration has declared that "We are no longer a Christian nation." I guess we are like the Israelites who wanted a king (president/government) to protect them and not God Almighty. Because we have allowed God to be removed out of public life we have what Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." He also stated, "The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion."

We have forgotten our history just like the Israelites, and we have become like other nations who were not established as Christian nations. God help us to pray for our country, its leaders, and us to know what we need to do to make sure our nation doesn't fall. As the old saying goes, "For evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

If only we as Christians and Americans would do as John Adams, our 2nd President wrote: "Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God . . . What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

"Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you." I Samuel 12:24 God, help us remember that every good and perfect gift comes from you, not the king (government).

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

KAREN

Check What You're Thinking

With each thought there is an accompanying electro-chemical impulse.

With good peaceful, joyful, loving, faithful thoughts there is a release of good hormones from the brain and hypothalamus.

These thoughts bathe your body's cells resulting in a healthy, active immune system.

        Check what you are thinking

In contrast with each fearful, angry, judgmental, faithless thought there are also hormones released.They bring powerful bio-chemicals which if they remain for lengthy periods of time bathe and even destroy cells. 

                                          Check what you are thinking

Are your thoughts and emotions bringing healing or damage to your body?

The Lord says to, "Line up your thinking with My goodness and care for you. In the long run all things work together for good."

Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;"

Blessings,

Melissa

Who Gets the Glory?

Do you ever feel like you are not doing enough for God? Do you feel like you want to do something more for Him? Do you ever feel like you want God to receive the glory, but YOU also want to receive praise, too? How do we find the balance between God getting glory and us feeling good about what we are doing? In our human finite understanding we have trouble with the feeling good about ourselves and God receiving glory. All of us want to be stroked, to be appreciated for what we do, but when it comes to serving in God's kingdom is that what should happen? I don't know. I guess Mother Teresa is one of the prime examples of servanthood, but she, too, received accolades. Did she want those accolades? No one knows for sure, but by all appearances she didn't seem to want any praise.

How many high-profile preachers have fallen because the attention they received "went to their heads?" It became about them and not about God. There is such a fine line between serving for God's glory and serving for our glory. Self-righteousness stems from the latter. Yet, I believe many in God's family deal with feelings of inferiority.

A few years back God had to "break" me. In that process God showed me that without Him I was nothing. He also showed me that I wasn't important because I was a musician, a teacher, a wife, a mother, but I was important simply because I was HIS CHILD. That seemed to put everything in perspective. We have to acknowledge God gave us our abilities and talents.

In his book Fresh Power, Jim Cymbala states, "He (the Holy Spirit) intends to do through us what only he can do. The issue is not our ability but rather our availability to the person of the Holy Spirit. In fact, this is God's ordained way of equipping us, because it leaves little doubt about who should get all the glory."

He states further, "If our human intellect and abilities and talents produced the results, we could strut around saying, 'My, we're pretty special, don't you think?' (By the way, that is the very attitude of too many churches that are run on the basis of programs and human talent rather than the manifest power of the Holy Spirit.)"

Cymbala talks in his book of the disciples, one of which denied Christ, two who fought about who would be first in the kingdom, one that doubted. He went on to explain that on the Day of Pentecost those ordinary men were empowered from on high and did something for which there was no human explanation. Paul stated in I Corinthians 2:4-5 "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

Bruce Wilkinson in his book You Were Born for This talks about someone wanting to be used by the Holy Spirit. The man asked his coworker if there was anything he could do for him. The man shared that his marriage was on the rocks and they were about to divorce. The Holy Spirit told the man who wanted to help that he needed to tell the coworker to make the bed. When he told his coworker, the man asked him how he knew. He said that making the bed had been a contention between he and his wife because he was always out of bed last and she'd ask him to make the bed and he never would. He went home and made the bed and that was the beginning of reconciliation. Would you ever counsel someone and tell them to "make the bed" out of the blue? I wouldn't either, but that is why the Holy Spirit is so necessary in our serving God and

doing things for God's kingdom. We need to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit and we would be doing and saying things that couldn't be explained in human terms. Then, there would be no room for anyone but God to get the glory for what we are doing for Him.

How many of you have ever heard a song or a sermon or watched something on Christian TV that was "just for you?" Those kind of situations occur when the Holy Spirit is either guiding the singer or preacher or you to turn into the program that God wants to use to speak to you.

I guess I just answered my own question! As long as I'm doing what I'm doing by walking in the Spirit and in the power of the Spirit then God will be the receiver of the glory. I can feel good about making sure that I am doing the Lord's bidding and not doing things "in the flesh." The results will be up to God, not me.

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

KAREN

FEAR NOT ~ In fact, Rest in Him!

There is no greater encourager than the Word of God.......

2 Chronicles 20:1-30 (Amplified Bible)

1 AFTER THIS, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

2 It was told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude has come against you from beyond the [Dead] Sea, from Edom; and behold they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

3 Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself [determinedly, as his vital need] to seek the Lord; he proclaimed a fast in all Judah.

4 And Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire].

5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court

6 And said, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.

7 Did not You, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend?

8 They dwelt in it and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying,

9 If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You--for Your Name [and the symbol of Your presence] is in this house--and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.

10 And now behold, the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they turned from and did not destroy--

11 Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.

12 O our God, will You not exercise judgment upon them? For we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.

13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their children and their wives.

14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

15 He said, Hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

ASK for assistance

SEEK HIS Thoughts and Plan for You

GOD is listening and attentive because He loves His Children

16 Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel.

17 You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.

BE STILL

STAND ON THE GROUND THAT GOD HAS ALREADY GIVEN YOU

The Greatest Gift

My husband and I brought my mother from Nebraska to live with us in 2004. My mother was leaving her life behind and becoming part of our lives. One year, my niece wanted to make my mother a scrapbook with letters, pictures from the great-grandkids, and other mementos to give to her for Christmas. My brothers and I all wrote letters to her to be placed in the scrapbook.

I have a burden for young families who are raising their children in today's culture. The challenge to raise them knowing and serving God will be an immense one. As the scripture says: "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14

I was raised in a Christian home and going to church was a big part of my life. However, my parents gave me much more. Steve and Annie Chapman wrote a song that my husband, my son, and I sang at church the day we celebrated my parents' 50th anniversary. It explains what is truly important and what sometimes gets lost in our "me, me, me" society. I ended my letter to my mom with the following song. I hope all parents of any age will live up to its message.

The Greatest Gift

You can give your children houses, you can give them land,

the riches of your efforts and all your best laid plans.

But of all that they inherit, of all that you could "will"

these include the unseen treasure of the life that God has filled.

Someday the house will crumble, time will turn the land to dust.

And when all accounts are empty where will you invest their trust?

But if the riches that you give them, is the wisdom of His ways,

then the wealth you leave your children will last through all their days.

For the greatest gift a mother can give is a life lived for Jesus.

And the greatest gift a father can give is the knowledge of the Lord.

Pass Him on to your children. He's the gift that keeps on giving.

The Greatest Gift is a life lived for Jesus.

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

KAREN

Why Not You?

Today, many will awaken with a fresh sense of inspiration. Why not you?

Today, many will open their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to leave the ghost of yesterday behind and seize the immeasurable power of today. Why not you?

Today, many will break through the barriers of the past by looking at the blessings of the present. Why not you?

Today, for many the burden of self-doubt and insecurity will be lifted by the security and confidence of empowerment. Why not you?

Today, many will rise above their believed limitations and make contact with their powerful innate strength. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live in such a manner that they will be a positive role model for their children. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to free themselves from the personal imprisonment of their bad habits. Why not you?

Today, many will choose to live free of conditions and rules governing their own happiness. Why not you?

Today, many will find abundance in simplicity. Why not you?

Today, many will be confronted by difficult moral choices and they will choose to do what is right instead of what is beneficial. Why not you?

Today, many will decide to no longer sit back with a victim mentality, but to take charge of their lives and make positive changes. Why not you?

Today, many will take the action necessary to make a difference. Why not you?

Today, many will make the commitment to be a better mother, father, son, daughter, student, teacher, worker, boss, brother, sister, & so much more. Why not you?

 

Today is a new day!

Many will seize this day.

Many will live it to the fullest.

Why not you?

 

About the Author:

Steve Maraboli is a renowned speaker, coach, and the author of numerous highly acclaimed and successful works including, "Dare to Be", "Why Not You?", "Today is a New Day", "A Life of Freedom", and so many more that have been published and posted globally.