THANKSGIVING

Praise God from whom all blessings come!

Have a great THANKSGIVING, Don't forget the reason for the season!

Living With God

If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him John 14:23 KJV

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day, a day set aside to commemorate the the first pilgrims celebration of the blessings they had. In our day tomorrow we need to take time to contemplate and give thanks for the many blessings that have been given to us.

In the verse for today we are told that God will come live with us if we love and keep Gods words, or commandments to us.

Does God want to live with us?

Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20 LB

He really wants to live with us. In so doing He will bring countless blessings into our lives. Peace, Love, Joy, Contentment, Thanksgiving.

Let us give thanks to God for all of our blessings this thanksgiving day

At least that is what I think

Living with Jesus

Almost everyone has seen or heard this verse: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NASB

If we believe in him we will not perish! This talks about Jesus and His sacrifice for you and I on the cross. It holds a fantastic promise for all of us. Eternal life!
Everyone who has ever had the spark of life will exist for all eternity!
Where they exist is the question, in life or in death.
Life is the communion of God and mankind, living and walking in the very presence of God.
Death is living in a void without the presence of God, in complete and relentless pain and suffering.

Safety:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27,28 KJV

Once you start walking with and following Jesus, NO man can make you leave that path!! Only you can make the decision to leave. You are not forced to stay or go. You keep your free will and can leave your fellowship with God at any time.
Both God and you (I hope), will regret this decision, but it is a decision that is made all too often. God holds no grudges and will welcome you back with open arms when you wake up and look around and discover you are with out God.

God rules in your life totally different than any man or the Devil. Both man and the devil want to rule your life but they use force and captivation to keep you under their power. They hold you captive in a closed hand keeping you safe in their control! Living for man and the devil brings discontentment, discord, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, hatred...

God on the other hand holds you in an open hand giving you the freedom to come and go. The only restriction is His blessings do not go with you. He provides you with shelter and protection from the attacks and distractions of this world. Communion with God brings peace, love, contentment, satisfaction that comes from knowing it will continue forever. My big question is who would want to leave this after truly partaking of His blessings?

At least that is what I think

New Subject

Today I am starting a new subject on my blog. GOD'S PROMISES. A look at the promises of GOD in the Bible and how they affect our lives.

Sin is the separator between God and us. God can not abide where sin is.
Man by his very nature is sinful. He doesn't have to be taught how to sin, it comes naturally.
God loves all of mankind.
He made the entire universe just for us. He wants all of us to be with Him.

So how do we get to know and communicate with God?

God has a redemptive plan. It is a way to remove the taint of sin from us. With that gone we can be with God and learn from Him!

The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. I john 1:7 NASB

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22 LB

God sent His Son to be a living sacrifice to atone for our sins each and every one all mankind has ever committed and will commit!
All we have to do is have faith in this promise to be able to be with god and learn from Him

That is what the BIBLE says!

HELP

If you like what you read here, please give me feedback in the form of comments, and invite your friends to join in. Also you can become a follower.
Writing this is a learning experience and a walk with the Lord every time I do it. I hope that it is the same for you.

At least that is what I think (and hope)

NEEDS VS WANTS

Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

In todays verse God tells us that we are valuable to Him. He cares about us and loves us. He will look out for us and protect us. If we follow Him, and put Him first in our lives.

You must obey these laws that I will tell you today, so that all will be well with you and your children. Deuteronomy 4:40

If we walk with the Lord, and follow His commandments it will feel like we are leaving our old friends and life style, in fact, if your life was anything like mine, your are. But you are getting a new friend and Savior that is yours for life! Your new friend, Jesus, also wants to be friends with your old friends.


What does this have to do with needs and wants?
If you follow Christ your needs are taken care of!!! He will do it for you! If you don't follow Christ you are responsible for your needs! Its that simple.

What is a need?
Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter.
Food to sustain life, not in abundance.
Water to sustain life not to swim in.
Clothing to protect you from the elements, not the latest style or fashion.
Shelter to protect you from wind, rain, sun, and snow, not the fanciest house on the block.
These needs will come with a price, you will have to work for them in some manner. Because of sin that entered the world Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground... No free ride no government handout, toil.

As a follower of Christ he has said that our needs will be supplied.
This is totally different than our wants!
As humans we have all the wants in the world, if not all we have to do is turn on the TV and we can start a list! Trying to keep up with our wants really makes work, work!
Instead of that we could just focus on following Jesus and let Him take care of us!

At least that is what I think

Solutions

Zechariah 1:2-3 The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 There fore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

Yesterday I started a posting talking about Problems in our world. As I thought about it today I think we need more discussion about solutions for the problems than discussion about the problems!

Who do you follow?

The biggest solution for the problem you face right now is the answer to this question.

If you look to me or any other person or group for the solution you are looking in the wrong place. Like the verse for today states, turn to GOD for the solution. Only He has the answer you are searching for, the peace you need to be able to deal with whatever the world has to send at you. God is all knowing, all seeing, all loving! He sees the problem we are facing, knows the answer we are searching for, and loves us with an unending love, all we have to do is turn to him and ask for help. Keep in mind that his answer is the answer we need in our life at this time. He isn't going to ask you what you want He will give you what you need! Some times that doesn't quite align with what we were expecting, but in the long run it surely is what we need.

Keep your eyes upon Jesus follow Him. He will lead you and me through this troubled time and take us to greener pastures.

At least that is what I think.

FOREST OR TREES?

Mathew 28:20 ...I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen

In these trying times some times we loose sight of what our goals are. We get caught up in what is going on and loose our way. It is times like this that we need to step back and reanalyze our values and thoughts. A good way of doing this is to look at the pro's and con's in our lives.

We need to count our blessings and put them up against our trials and tribulations. If you are honest with your self your blessings will far outweigh the troubles in our lives. The problem is, we focus on our troubles and not on our blessings. The troubles in our lives have the tendency to be "in our face". If you see things closing in around you, look beyond the troubles and find the blessings. You might find yourself in the same situation as Cory Tenboom did : Fleas, lots of them, were a blessing because it kept the Nazi guards away so they could have bible study!

One blessing that the world will never be able to take away is the ability to choose! We can always choose to follow Christ and do good, no one, or power, not even the devil, can take that from us! THE DEVIL CAN'T MAKE YOU DO IT! You choose to!

At least that is what I think

Privilege or Responsibility?

VOTING - is it a privilege?
Yes it is , one that few people in the world enjoy.
Counting all of the masses of people in the world, there are a small present of people that have the privilege of voting for their country's leaders. Most have to be satisfied with what fate deals them. They go through life not having the privilege of having a part in choosing their leaders. Most of the time it is the town bully or the relative or friend of the other leaders in power who get the nod of leadership. To the few (in numbers) people that have this privilege it should be something that they hold dear and want to protect it. In fact thousands of men and women have given their all doing just that! The concept of people choosing their leadership was almost unheard of before 1776. It definitely wasn't talked about in public in front of other leaders. But a group of men got together and hammered out a method of country leadership that has stood the test of time and has become the model for several other country's.

Freedom, to worship, to live, to choose your profession, to choose your town leadership, your state leadership, your country's leadership! This is what people have died for. Because of this sacrifice this freedom to vote should take on more than just a privilege it should be a Responsibility. The responsibility to exercise our God given right to choose who will lead our country and make the laws.

By not fulfilling this responsibility we indirectly support all of the other forms of government!!! But the worst part is we undermine the very foundation of government for the people and by the people. That means EVERYONE HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SUPPORT OUR METHOD OF GOVERNMENT. It may not be perfect but it is a lot better than the alternative.

Pray for our country, and for its elected officials.

At least that is what I think

Huntley Brown On Obama

I wanted to send this article from Huntley Brown (http://www.huntleybrown.com/), a fabulous concert pianist, a man of God and a black man. I appreciate so much his reasoning for not voting for Obama. I would like to see his article published or spread out via Email to as many as possible. It's good stuff!

Why I Can't Vote For Obama

By Huntley Brown

Dear Friends, A few months ago I was asked for my perspective on Obama, I
sent out an email with a few points. With the election just around the
corner I decided to complete my perspective. Those of you on my e-list have seen
some of this before but it's worth repeating...

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support.
Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain
why I will not be voting for him.

Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can't dictate the terms He does because He is the leader.

I can't vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because
that's who I am. Christian first, black second. Neither should anyone
from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won't
be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and
accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets; abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning to name a few, wrong economic concerns will soon not matter.

We need to follow Martin Luther King's words, don't judge someone by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character. I don't know Obama so
all I can go off is his voting record. His voting record earned him the
title of the most liberal senator in the US Senate in 2007.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007 (01/31/2008)

To beat Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton as the most liberal senator, takes some doing. Obama accomplished this feat in 2 short years. I wonder what would happen to America if he had four years to work with.

There is a reason Planned Parenthood gives him a 100 % rating. There is a reason the homosexual community supports him. There is a reason Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas etc. love him. There is a reason he said he would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court. There is a reason he voted against the infanticide bill. There is a reason he voted No on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. There is a reason he voted No on banning partial birth abortion. There is a reason he voted No on confirming Justices Roberts and Alito. These two judges are conservatives and they have since overturned partial birth abortion. The same practice Obama wanted to continue.

Let's take a look at the practice he wanted to continue

The 5 Step Partial Birth Abortion procedures:

A. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's leg with
forceps.
(Remember this is a live baby)
B. The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.
C. The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head.
D. The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are
then opened to enlarge the hole.
E. The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

God help him. There is a reason Obama opposed the parental notification
law.

Think about this: You can't give a kid an aspirin without parental notification but that same kid can have an abortion without parental notification. This is insane.

There is a reason he went to Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years.

Obama tells us he has good judgment but he sat under Jeremiah Wright
teaching for 20 years. Now he is condemning Wright's sermons. I wonder
why now?

Obama said Jeremiah Wright led him to the Lord and discipled him. A disciple
is one in training. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19 - 20 'Go and make
disciples of all nations.' This means reproduce yourself. Teach people to
think like you, walk like you; talk like you believe what you believe etc. The question I have is what did Jeremiah Wright teach him?

Would you support a White President who went to a church which has tenets
that said they have a ...

1. Commitment to the White Community
2. Commitment to the White Family
3. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
4. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community.
5. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
6. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
7. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.

Would you support a President who went to a church like that?

Just change the word from white to black and you have the tenets of Obama's former church. If President Bush was a member of a church like this, he would be called a racist. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been marching outside.

This kind of church is a racist church. Obama did not wake up after 20years and just discovered he went to a racist church. The church can't be about race. Jesus did not come for any particular race. He came for the whole world.

A church can't have a value system based on race. The churches value system has to be based on biblical mandate. It does not matter if it's a white church or a black church it's still wrong. Anyone from either race that attends a church like this would never get my vote.

Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: 'Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him.

Cone is the man Obama's mentor looks up to. Does Obama believe this?

So what does all this mean for the nation?

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing - judgment.

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel1:9 'Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.'
Then God says

1 Samuel 1:18 ' When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.' 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. 'No!' they said. 'We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.' 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, 'Listen to them and give them a king.'

Here is what we know for sure.

God is not schizophrenic

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain.
As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God.

Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama
contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it.

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the
face and say; Father based on your word, I am voting for Obama even
though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you. I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this. I know I can look the other way because of the economy.

I could not see Jesus agreeing with many of Obama's positions. Finally I have two questions for all my liberal friends.

Since we know someone's value system has to be placed on the nation,

1. Whose value system should be placed on the nation.

2. Who should determine that this is the right value system for the
nation?

Blessings, Huntley Brown

Food for thought!!!!

Shopping survey

I just came home from doing some shopping. While I was shopping I conducted a unofficial survey of items in the store. Looking for the country of manufacture. Can you guess which country had the most? Which country had the least?

It baffles me that a country that is so politically misaligned with ours, who's ideology is totally against ours, is allowed to import so many things into this country. The new war will not be with missiles or guns it will be with paper (IOU'S) and money.

If we don't wake up soon our next president may be "Made In China" just like most things for sale in our stores! All they will have to do is call in all of the marker's and debt we have with China and they will own the United States of America dba USC (United States of China) Our name will change over night and so will our freedoms!

How many things that are manufactured in the USA are imported into China? They don't want our manufactured goods, they want our raw materials so they can manufacture goods and ship them back to us for a handsome profit! We need to support American manufacturing, encourage Bob the plummer, and Cory the Well Driller, and all of the other small businesses in America.

At least that is what I think

Economics 101

This was sent to me but it makes sense.

Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." The bill for the ten men now cost them just $80.

The men still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. What about the other six men, though, the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share"

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33, but if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink their beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount. So, he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six men was better off than before, and the first four continued to drink for free. Once outside the bar, though, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man and said, "He got $10."

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I did!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I only got two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. When it came time to pay the bill, though, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between them for even half the bill.

And that, boys and girls, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, or attack them for being wealthy, and they may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking their beer overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is necessary.
For those who don't understand, no explanation is possible.


- By David Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

What is wrong with America? Can we fix it? We have a chance, get out and VOTE!!

At least that is what I think