More Than Enough
There is a song by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir titled "More Than Enough". I love that song a lot and I was glad I was in my church choir when we sang the song a couple of Sundays ago. Here are the words of the song
Jehovah Jireh, my provider,
You are more than enough for me
Jehovah Raphah, You're my healer,
by Your stripes I've been set free
Jehovah Shamah, You are with me,
You supply all my needs
You're more than enough,
more than enough,
more than enough for me
The Bible tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and every thing else shall be added unto us. We are taught through scriptures to place all our hope in God, to trust Him at all times, to rely on Him and Him alone. I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in May of 1990, so I have been saved for some time and by the grace of Almighty God, have been walking in His ways and so naturally, I thought I had this "trusting God" thing all settled until recently.
I got a book from the Library titled "The Attributes of God - Volume One – A Journey into the Father's Heart" by A.W. Tozer, this is a must read for every Christian, I tell you. Here is quote from the book
"What is it that makes you happy? What cheers you up and gives your morale a lift? Is it your job? Is it the fact that you have good clothes? Is it that you've married well or have a fine position? Just what is it that brings you joy?" He goes on to explain in the book that God is the only one that brings us joy. If we put our trust in things, they will never satisfy us because all of the things we trust are beneath God. Which is why we should always put God before all things because no matter what a person has, if they do not have Christ in their life, there will still be a longing in their soul, that is because God wants to be first and all to us. God must be our all in all. According to Tozer
"Money won't do it. If you take the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, God will add money to you - as much as you need. If you take the kingdom of God and His righteousness, God may send your way learning and art and music and other legitimate earthly loves. God may send it all to you and let you have it. But it is always with the understanding that He can take it away again and you won't grumble. You still have God, and God is all" **emphasis mine.
Wow! We Christians have been taught to trust God for this and trust God for that, which is okay, there is nothing wrong with that, But if God is more than enough for us as we claim, if he is our everything as we profess, then we should also understand that if He chooses to take from us that which we had given us, it is okay, because He is more than enough for us.
Hand Selected by God
I was listening to Moody radio this afternoon as I was serving the kids lunch and Dennis Rainey of Family Life Today was on and he said something very interesting. He said "Do you know you have been hand selected by God to introduce each one of your children to him?"
Now, this is very interesting because not only are we chosen by God to raise our kids, we were "hand selected" to introduce them to God Almighty! It sure gives parenting a whole new meaning when you look at it that way. I will go a step further and say, not only where you hand selected by God to introduce each one of your children to Him, you were also hand selected to disciple them. This is one of the reasons I decided to educate my kids at home. So I can disciple them more effectively.
As we carry out this God given job of introducing our kids to God and discipling(making disciples of) them, let us remember that more is caught than taught. They will learn more from what they see us do and how we react to situations than what we tell them. In the daily devotional
"Our Daily Bread" for Tuesday, September 12, 2005 here is how the writer talks about discipleship:
In the first century, a Jewish man who wanted to become a disciple of a rabbi (teacher) was expected to leave family and job to join his rabbi. They would live together 24 hours a day—walking from place to place, teaching and learning, studying and working. They discussed and memorized the Scriptures and applied them to life.
The disciple's calling, as described in early Jewish writings about basic ethics, was to "cover himself in the dust of [the rabbi's] feet," drinking in his every word. He followed his rabbi so closely that he would "walk in his dust." In doing so, he became like the rabbi, his master.Our calling is to disciple our kids by example. We are to do this by living together 24 hours a day—walking from place to place, teaching, learning, studying, working together as well as discussing and memorizing the Scriptures and applying them to life.
You go girl!
Star Parker is one of my favorite African American writer and columnist. She has written another beautiful piece that took the words out of my mouth after I heard the President's speech from New Orleans, the other day. You can read the rest of it
hereHere is an excerpt:
....It makes me wonder what Condoleezza Rice must be thinking when she hears the president relate black poverty in the South to discrimination. Our secretary of state, of course, emerged from a neighborhood in the Deep South not distant from where the president spoke Thursday night. Is she the black exception to the rule? Is she, as many black liberals would assert, a turncoat, making it on affirmative action and then turning her back on it?
Politicians who truly care about the black condition in America today need to start reaching for their intestinal fortitude and being honest.
How can racial discrimination be the operative holding blacks down in a city in which at least seven out of 10 residents are black?
New Orleans' convention center, where black residents sat for days in squalor waiting for help (after being directed there by Mayor Ray Nagin) is called the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Ernest Morial was the first black mayor of New Orleans. His son, Marc Morial, also a black former mayor of New Orleans, is now president of the National Urban League.
The chief of police in New Orleans is black, as is the head of the city council. The mayor is black, as is the man who has represented New Orleans in the U.S. House for the last 16 years.
Black presence and power in New Orleans are wide and deep.
The truth about black poverty today, as Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute has aptly put it, is that it is "intricately intertwined with the collapse of the nuclear family in the inner city."
Consider that black households that are headed by married couples have median incomes almost 90 percent that of white households headed by married couples.
The problem in the black community is that far too few black households are headed by married couples.
Don't you get the message?
I have said this before a few days ago, If you cannot put your child in a private Christian school, them you are better off homeschooling. Our public schools have become a place where kids are taught and sometimes forced to denounce morality, Godliness and absolutes while embracing relativism and outright immorality.
This from
wnd"Principal Summa abruptly interrupted certain fourth-grade students while they were in the midst of a Bible discussion during recess, demanded that they stop their activity at once, put their Bibles away and from that point forward, cease from bringing their Bibles to school." Unbelievable! In my opinion, the book that makes the most compelling case for homeschooling is a book by R.C Sproul jr, namely "When you rise up...A covenanted approach to Homeschooling". In this book, R.C sproul JR says
"When you send them off for seven hours a day to a place where Jesus cannot be acknowledged, they will learn more from that than they will from their Sunday School lesson. They will learn that Jesus is for Sundays."How true! In my opinion, the public school system is sending a message to parents:
You better educate your kids with your values, or we will educate them with ours. We hear you loud and clear
Choose You This Day Whom You Will Serve..
This from
World Net Daily
Homosexual protesters picketed in front of a Boston church yesterday just as the morning service was ending, saying they were targeting the congregation because it is hosting a conference about leaving the "gay" lifestyle. This might be coming to your church or who knows, maybe your home?
A lot of modern day Christians do not expect to be persecuted for their faith infact when we hear the word persecution mentioned, most of us Christians today think of countries like Saudi Arabia, China and other places where it is very difficult to openly preach the gospel. However, Christians are being persecuted even here in the US everyday.
We are called names by those in the main stream media because we refuse to accept any thing that is contrary to the word of God. We are told that we should be tolerant and loving since God is love. They forget that the loving God hates sin and has also prepared a place of eternal damnation to those who reject His son.
One of the areas where this persecution is most evident is the acceptance of the gay lifestyle. It is evident in the word of God when He created Adam and Eve (not Adam and Steve) that as one of my favorite preachers - Ravi Zacharias puts it
"....He(God) chose to craft a relationship designed so specifically that only a woman could complete the imcompleteness of man".I don't mean to scare anyone, but the days of open persecution against Christians are here. If you are one those who depsperately craves attention and approval from people, then you might be in trouble unless you are determined to please God and not man.
One of the reasons for the spread of the gospel in the early church was because of their persecution.
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word" Acts8:4
No matter what the world says, we should stand firm on the Word of God. We should always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us with gentleness and respect. Tolerance does not mean acceptance. We should love sinners, the Bible tells us to love sinners, but we are not sanction sin. We are to tell the people the truth in love.
"Yea, and all that will live godly in christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" 2nd. Tim3:12
While Men Slept
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Matt.13:24-25Recently, a bill that was geared to protect kids by tightening the laws against sexual offenders passed the house. However, pro-family groups are crying fowl over the language in the bill. Why? Because the language would
—in an attempt to codify specify rights for homosexuals—punish a criminal for perceived motivation.
The amendment, brought by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., was tacked onto the important and needed Children's Safety Act.
The language stipulates that crimes "motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of the victim" shall be punished by up to life in prison. It also authorizes $10 million to prosecute such crimes.
Thirty Republicans joined 192 Democrats in passing the amendment.
Bob Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, said gay activists and their supporters in Congress took advantage of the national distraction of Hurricane Katrina and the Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
"This was a total surprise—a sneak attack," he said. "We got 40 minutes notice that the vote was going to take place, which is hardly time to do anything that matters. And minutes after they passed that amendment, they passed the whole Children's Safety Act.Although I was sad and troubled when I found this out, I am glad it was caught before it got to the senate. Those of you who are concerned over this issue should call your state Senator and ask them to oppose so-called hate crime legislation. You can do some from
Focus on the Family's website. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the "Take Action" center.
I have never really been a big fan of hate crime laws because I believe every crime is a hate crime and there are enough laws in the books already to punish all crimes.
For example murder is a capital offense and is punishable to the full extent of the law in the state in which it happens. If a murder occurs in a state with the death penalty and the murderer is convicted of the crime of first degree murder, he will be sentenced to death. In a case like, I do not understand what purpose a hate crime law would serve here. Can the murderer be put to death twice? One for the law that governs first degree murder and the other for the law that governs hate crimes? Well the answer is obvious.
The Bible warns us to be always on the look out. .....be sober, be vigilant.....
"Expert" Education
People who think that "the experts" should be responsible for educating their children, ought to read
this here is a short quote form the article:
Many of you are aware that atheist Michael Newdow has secured what is, at least a temporary victory, when a federal judge again ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. My third-grade picture, Mr. Doofus, sat down to have a talk with Mr. Newdow, still glowing from…well whatever an atheist attributes glowing to.In my opinion, it is pointless trying to wage a war to recite a pledge in any government school, when the schools themselves teach that sexual perversion is normal and that heather's two mommies is the same as a mommy and daddy? This is one more reason why we are glad we are home educating our children.
A Slap In The Face
One of the beauties of the democratic system is that we are able to elect representatives to different offices so they can speak for us and represent our interests. This is one of the main reasons why people overwhelmingly prefer the democtratic system to any other system of government.
Since man is a fallen being and prone to mistakes and sometimes out right evil, the democratic system in my view is the best system to help curb and curtail the inherent evil that resides in every human being. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?Recently, I
read in the news that the Carlifornia legislature had voted to legalize same sex marriage, I thought to myself, "they can't do this, this will be overriding the will of the people who put them in power, this is un-democratic and certainly a slap in the face of the people who put these people in office." But they did. It was not a suprise to me to find out that all the democrats in the Carlifornia Senate voted for the bill, while all the repuiblicans in the Senate voted against the bill. I have stopped trying to uderstand why the democratic party has decided to take such a hard stand against traditional families.
I do believe what the Bible says that God is the one who sets up leaders and puts down leaders. Wether we agree with our leaders or not, I believe everyone that is in any position of authority was put there by God. (Rom.13:1-3). Based on this, I belive that God has placed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in this position for such a time as this. He has said he would veto the bill so it does not become law.
Here is how
foxnews.com puts it:
Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved an initiative five years ago. Proposition 22 (search) was placed on the ballot to prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries.
"We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill)."
Proposition 22 stated that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The bill to be vetoed by Schwarzenegger would have defined marriage as a civil contract between "two persons."Unbelievable! The next thing you know, "two persons" may now become a man and an animal. Someime ago, I heard a lady call her pet her "animal companion". You think this is over the top? I don't think so. A legistalture that can attempt to over ride the vote of its constituents, is capable of anything.
Please continue to pray as this I know that this fight is not over yet. The enemy will still continue to fight the righteous on this issue. That is because the devil knows that the destruction of the family will eventuially lead to the destruction of the community. The devil has been fighting the family unit in the country for a long time and sadly a lot of Christian did not think there was any threat. When the devil was given a foothold by the rise of sex outside marriage which then led to a lot of fatherless homes, he now wants to completely destroy the family by changing the definition of the family.
