Archive for March, 2010

Making the vision plain

By admin, 24 March, 2010, No Comment

By Lynn Green

Scriptural reference: Habakkuk 2:3: Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry (NKY version of bible)

What is your personal vision? What do you desire for yourself, your marriage, your children, your family, your church, your ministry? In Habakkuk the Lord said, “Write the vision”. The bible is more alive than you and I both are. With that in mind, who do you think that God was addressing when He said to write down the vision and to make it plain…meaning, clear? He was talking to the reader. In this case, God was talking to you.

Do the following: Purchase a journal from your local bookstore or get a notebook. Many women have been praying to have their desires met, but in addition to praying, write down your desires and visions in your journal. Write down your goals. Because married and single women have such diverse needs, I will break this article up into two parts. Part I – Married women and Part II – Single women

—————–

Part I – Married women

Samples of things that married women often desire:

To have a happy, healthy marriage for the duration of the marriage

Conceive a baby

Pregnancy is carried to full term, born healthy

All children accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and be filled with the Holy Ghost

All children do well in school and complete college

All children marry Christian mates and have fulfilling marriages

…and so on and so forth

Part II – Unmarried women

Samples of things that unmarried women often desire:

Great education and job

Patience to wait on the right spouse

Protection for all negative forces

Meet a decent many who will not try to take advantage

Spiritual growth

…and so on and so forth

Next, PRAY on the vision. Sample Prayer:

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I present to you my prayer petition with the full belief and faith that each and every request on my list that is in accordance with your will for my life will manifest. Your Word says for me to write the vision and make it plain. I have done that.

I stand by your Word because your Word is truth and life. I submit this prayer petition to you and trust that the vision that I have will come into being. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

—–

Next, be certain to watch over the list. As each item is fulfilled, remember to thank God! Feel free to update the list and edit it.

Remember the scripture, In your patience possess ye your soul (Luke 21:19). It could take years for your vision to come to life. You may not even see certain aspects of it in your life time.

Also, don’t forget Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which discusses the fact that there is a TIME for everything.

Rest assured that we serve a loving God who wants us happy and who wants the best for us. We are His children. Verse 3 of Habakkuk says about the vision that…..it will surely come. Trust that God cannot lie. In fact, in verse 3 it states that the vision “will speak and not lie”. How does a vision speak? Easy. It speaks via its manifestation.

For example, if you pray for your son’s knee to get healed— and after 6 months it’s totally healed, you have seen that vision speak. In other words, it is now alive and manifested. The prayer has been answered.

We serve a great God. His love for us cannot even be understood with the human mind. Take his counseling. Go ahead and write your vision, make it plain and wait for the vision to “speak”. Know that the vision will not lie. Be patient. God promises that the vision will surely come!

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Parable of the Ten Virgins

By admin, 22 March, 2010, No Comment

Before reading this article, please read the Parable of the Ten Virgins, located in Matthew 25:1-13.

Assuming that you have read the parable, let us proceed. I am going to give you two interpretations of that parable (as the Holy Spirit directs). First, I will give you a regular Christian interpretation; then an interpretation as it relates to unmarried women.

Regular Scriptural Interpretation:

Jesus enjoys parables. He likes to speak through stories that parallel life. God told several parables that dealt with the topic of Him returning when we as a Body of Christ least expects it. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, there is a situation in which a bridegroom has come into town to take the bridesmaids (ten virgins) with him.

Background on this ancient ritual…

Back when Jesus lived on earth, there was a very beautiful wedding custom. For a marriage to take place, first the parents of the bride and groom would make a legal agreement. The advantage that women had back in those days was that they were guaranteed a husband (pretty much). There was no shortage of men back then, as it appears to be now. The parents—who were respected for their wisdom, would choose for them. The bride brought a dowry into the marriage. No free-loading, no vain imaginations that the man would take care of her while she offered nothing!

After the contract, the second wonderful thing that occurred was that the groom would happily lead his friends to the bride’s house to pick up both the bride and her bridesmaids. Then the bridegroom would lead the entire group back to this home. It was an awesome, beautiful, breathtaking experience in which the bride and her virgin maids would await the arrival of the groom (and she did not know the exact time in which he would show up!) Finally, after his arrival, he would lead the procession back to his home and there would be the marriage feast where everyone would dance, sing, and celebrate the happy couple.

In this particular parable, Jesus concentrated on the second part of the marriage custom—the part in which the bridegroom went to the bride’s home to pick up the participants. In this parable the ten virgins had fallen asleep because the groom was taking a while to show up and it was quickly approaching midnight. However, at midnight the virgins heard a SHOUT! That brother was excited about the prospect of picking up his bride! The bridesmaids were happy and suggested that they go out to meet the groom.

As the bridegroom drew closer, five of the virgins (foolish) noticed that the oil in their lamps had pretty much burned out. The other five (wise) had reserved enough oil for their lamps and they had PLENTY of light left for the night time procession to the marriage feast.

Once the five foolish virgins figured out that they did not have sufficient light to walk in the blackness of midnight, they tried to get some oil from the wise virgins who refused to give them any. The wise virgins advised them to go to the nearby store to purchase more oil for their lamps. However, while they were out purchasing oil, the bridegroom arrived.

The bridegroom took those five wise virgins with him, entered into the marriage feast and shut the door. Later on the five foolish virgins showed up to the marriage feast with their lighted lamps but it was too late. The bridegroom refused to allow them entrance. He went as far as to say that as far as he was concerned, he did not know them!

It just so happens that Jesus taught that parable a few days prior to His crucifixion. The purpose of the parable was to make Christians aware of the fact that God will come like a thief in the night. God was letting Christians know that we must be prepared because we do not know when He will be returning. We do not know the day nor the hour of His return but we must be prepared.

Now that you have some background knowledge, I will share with you the specific interpretation that the Holy Spirit gave me for the women who visit this site.

Interpretation of the Parable of the Ten Virgins

I will share ONE interpretation of this parable, but keep in mid that there are others. I will simply share what the Lord gave me.

The bible says that His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105). What is God’s Word? God’s Word is the Bible. God is saying that the Bible, if used, will serve as a lamp to our feet and will actually light our pathway.

Let’s look at the ten virgins. Those lamps that the virgins had were their bibles. The oil that they allowed to burn out was the Holy Spirit. Oil often represents the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20 – 27). Think of the anointing of God. Oil!

Do you know what a virgin is (in God’s eyes?) In God’s eyes, ALL unmarried women are virgins. In our society, women are running around fornicating and giving up the precious gift of virginity. Many women feel guilty and say, “If I had it to do all over again, I would have held on to my virginity.” No place in the bible does God say that an unmarried woman who had had intercourse is no longer a virgin. If it is in there, show it to me.

God throws sin into the sea of forgetfulness. God has some Good News for women who have been upset about the fact that they are no longer virgins (on a human level). Stop fornicating and God will choose to forget your past. In God’s eyes, you are a VIRGIN if you have never been married. Even if you have given birth to children, you are a VIRGIN in God’s eyes if you have never been married. It does not matter what the world things. God’s view is the only view that really counts.

The bible says that five of the virgins (unmarried women) were wise and five were foolish.

Why were five of the virgins foolish?

(1) They were foolish because they were backslidden and waited too late to come up out of that condition. How do I know that they were backslidden? Because at some point they HAD the Holy Spirit (oil) in their lives. Remember, the Bible said that their oil had burned out. That means that at some point their oil was active and alive. They Holy Spirit at some point was active in those women!

(2) They had lamps (bibles) but the bibles that they had were of no use to them because no one can comprehend or interpret the bible without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Once their oil (Holy Spirit) burned out, their ability to rightly divide God’s Word and to comprehend the scriptures died. Therefore, the bible was not able to act as a light to their feet or a lamp to their pathway.

(3) They tried to go to other women (the wise virgins) to get oil. Excuse me! Hello! Too many women are depending on their family members’ salvation. Too many women are saying, “Yes, my daddy is a preacher”….”My grandfather was a minister”….My mother is an Elder of the church”…Sorry but we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God with someone else’s anointing. We must have our own anointing. We must have the Holy Spirit for ourselves. Our sister’s testimony won’t get us into the Kingdom!

(4) The foolish virgins waited too late to try to get the oil. Too many women in our society are putting off getting right with God because they are not finished sinning yet. They want to continue to fornicate, pay men’s bills, beg men to be kind to them, date criminals, etc. They know that they are backslidden. However, they do not truly believe that tomorrow is promised to no man or woman. God could come tomorrow. They could die tomorrow or even today. They refuse to accept the fact that salvation is for TODAY. God said, “Choose you THIS DAY whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). God never advised us to wait until we “get it together”. He wants us saved today. If we are backslidden, He wants us to get healed today—at this moment.

Why were five of the virgins wise?

The five wise virgins were wise in God’s view because they had the Holy Spirit actively functioning in their lives. Their lamps (bibles) were serving as light to their pathway and as a lamp to their feet. They had their own salvation. They were not depending on someone else’s testimony. They loved God for themselves. God’s reward was to allow them into the marriage feast. The foolish virgins were shut out of the feast.

What is YOUR status with God?

At this very moment you as a virgin (unmarried woman) is either a wise virgin or a foolish virgin in God’s eyes. At this moment, you know what type of virgin you are.

Some of the women reading this article have drug problems. Some have alcohol problems. Why would God have such a person at His marriage feast?

Are you allowing a man who is not your husband to fornicate with you? Are you lying, backbiting, gossiping, betraying friends, abusing and misusing people? Check your status. God wants people at His table who are living right.

The good news is that we serve an awesome God who is all loving. He desires to be your Groom and he wants you as a special guest at His table!

This was a lengthy article and there is much food here for you to digest. I’ll stop here and end with prayer.

REPEAT THIS PRAYER (or pray your own prayer)

Precious Father, I come to you asking your forgiveness of every sin that I have committed this day by thought, word or deed. I ask you to cleanse and make me whole.

Father, I repent from the bottom of my heart. I desire to be a wise virgin. No longer will I be a foolish virgin who allows her oil to burn out. No longer will I trust that I can ride into the kingdom on someone else’s testimony for I understand that it is YOU and I alone, God. I repent and I promise to leave behind the sins. I lay down my past sinful lifestyle in the name of Jesus. I pray that I be worthy to sit down at the marriage feast of Jesus and that the Lord bless me with a husband who is worthy of me. In Jesus’ name I pray and do give thanks. ~AMEN~

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Protecting our children against obesity

By admin, 20 March, 2010, No Comment

In Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV), we are advised by Paul to take control over our lives:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

That word, temperance, means self control and that’s where I’d like to park for this article. One of the areas in which most of us have little control is the flesh and “food” falls under the flesh category. Not enough of us are taking control over the fork, over the plate, over our health.

We live in a society now where we are too concerned about being politically correct, as opposed to dealing with truth. The truth still sets us free.

Here is a truth regarding American children:

Not only are kids obese, they’re even heavier than previously thought, says the research from healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente.

The study examined the weights and heights of 710,000 children aged 2 to 19 in southern California, and found 7% of boys and 5% of girls were “extremely” obese, defined as 120% of the 95th percentile for weight for the child’s age and sex.

What are the implications of this obesity? Well, sugar diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and so on and so forth.

Recently there was a young actress in the news. Her name is Gabourey Sidibe. When I commented on her morbid obesity and the fact that she honestly needs to get a great deal of that weight off, I was met with resistance from some people who thought that it was mean to mention the obvious. The truth of the matter is, however, that weight is dangerous. Weight can kill. Sure, we can remain silent and ignore it. But the person who is carrying all that weight is going to suffer the consequences of our silence.

Children need to be outside playing. They need to be running and jumping. Parents need to tell them “no” to the junk food. It’s time to re-introduce vegetables and fruit. An apple a day still keeps the doctor away. Apples are loaded with fiber and they are delicious. Less pizza and more home-made meals. Skip the fast food restaurants. That stuff tastes good but it’s destroying youth. It’s also taking its toll on adults:

Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control in January reported that obesity rates for adult men and women have remained constant for at least five years. However, the same data found that nearly 34% of adults are considered obese, and the number of obese children tripled over the past 30 years to 17%.

SOURCE

Obesity is not a good thing in adults. It’s not a good thing in children. We cannot control every aspect of our lives. However, one thing we can control is what we eat. And we can control what we drink. And we can control how much we exercise.

Let us all watch out for the children in our lives. If they can take control over their health now, they will reap benefits later.

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Warnings about spring break and general travel to Mexico

By admin, 20 March, 2010, No Comment

Several years ago (before I was married), I was trying to learn Spanish. I remember finding a program that allowed people to go to Mexico for a really fair price and live with a Mexican family for a week (or more) to be fully immersed in the language, thus learning it quicker.

My brother got wind of my plans and told my mother to talk me out of it. He was aware of something that I was not. Americans were being kidnapped. Drug gangs were running rampant. Crime there was out of control.

Sadly, things have gotten worse. Are you the parent of a college student who wants to go to Mexico for spring break? Are you, yourself thinking about going to Mexico any time soon?

I don’t believe in living in fear, but I do believe in facing reality. The sad reality regarding Mexico is that for too long its government has turned a blind eye to the drug thugs who have been roaming freely, moving from Mexico to the United States as they sell their drugs, strong arm, and murder innocent people.

Now that Mexico’s economy is being shaken by the fact that Americans and others are afraid to go there due to the increasing crime rates, perhaps that government will do something.

In the wake of recent violence in Mexico and ensuing U.S. government warnings about traveling there, universities, colleges and local governments are warning students to be cautious when traveling to the country over spring break—or not to go at all.

Local officials and at least one university near the U.S.-Mexico border are telling spring breakers to avoid towns in the areas that have seen the most drug-related violence in Mexico. Students visiting South Padre Island, Texas, a popular spring-break destination, are being warned not to cross the border. “Parents should not allow their children to visit these Mexican (border) cities because their safety cannot be guaranteed,” Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said in a warning issued March 4.

There is some good news. Security is being increased in some of the more popular Mexican destinations such as Acapulco. However, I still personally will not go to Mexico and until something is done to curtail the roving criminals who own the streets there, I would not advise anyone else to go.

SOURCE

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Declining marriages, declining families

By admin, 20 March, 2010, No Comment

I received an interesting statistical report recently. The link to it is below and I’d advise you to check it out when you can. The long and short of it is that marriage is down in the U.S. Presently, 45.1% of Americans who are of marriageable age are unmarried. And it cuts across all racial and ethnic groups. Everyone is affected.

As one who believes firmly in marriage, I’ll just step out on a limb and say that marriage is still the backbone of the nation. Families are still important. It is within the confounds of a family—husband, wife (and children if the couple make that decision) that civilization exists.

What happens when people are unmarried? Well for one, fornication increases. When fornication increases, diseases also increase. More deaths occur. Outside of marriage, there is an increase of boys in particular going to jail because children do better as a rule in two parent homes.

Look at what God has to say about families:

In Genesis 1:27 – 31:

²⁷So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

²⁸And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.

²⁹And God said, See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the land and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

³⁰And to all the animals on the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the ground–to everything in which there is the breath of life–I have given every green plant for food. And it was so.

³¹And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Cross references:

Genesis 1:27 : Col 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9

BIBLEGATEWAY

Look at the gifts that are contained within a marriage bond:

Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.

It is through marriage that God gives us permission to be fruitful, not just with children. I believe that there is nothing that a married couple working together cannot achieve. Remember, one can chase a thousand but two can chase 10,000!
It is through marriage that a Christian is able to “fill the earth and subdue it”. Fill the earth with what? I believe that Christian families can change the world for the better and by example. And God is promising us that we can actually subdue the earth. God’s talking to Christian families, not to single folks. Of course, unmarried people can do a lot of good. But again, one can chase a thousand. Two can chase 10,000.

I have been unmarried and now I am married. From my standpoint, I can tell you that nothing beats a happy marriage. The key word is “happy”. Take your time. Don’t jump up and get married just for the sake of saying you have a spouse. Marry a man who can also be your best friend. My husband is definitely my best friend. I cannot even imagine being with anyone else.

If you are reading this and you are unmarried, don’t become desperate. However, you have the right to have a husband. You deserve to be someone’s wife, as opposed to someone’s sexual partner or baby maker.

Make up your mind that you are not going to be part of the statistic that says that most in the country are unmarried. Break through and create a family. Remember most of all that a family, according to scriptures is a man + a woman.

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Nuns support health care bill

By admin, 20 March, 2010, No Comment

When I was a child, my back yard was only a few feet away from a Catholic school. The nuns in those days were in full habit.

My memories of them is that they often would come out to where the neighborhood children played and they would ask us to perform a variety of community service events. In turn, they would give us sweet treats—-some of the best home made sweets I have ever tasted.

Back then, the thought would never have occurred to a nun to speak against any aspect of the church, at least publicly. Things have changed:

Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate healthcare bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don’t go far enough.

However, Sister Simone Campbell says she and other nuns who signed the letter support the legislation because their analysis “indicates that there are adequate protections that maintain the status quo so that there is no federal funding of abortion.”

I say “two thumbs up” to nuns. Change is a good thing.

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The beauty of spring

By admin, 20 March, 2010, No Comment

I love spring. It is my favorite season and its timing shows forth the perfection of God. If you live in an area that has four seasons, you—like me, truly appreciate spring. It follows the bitterness, the coldness, the toughness of winter.

Living in Maryland, I particularly enjoy spring because while many of our winters are brutal, our spring season is absolutely gorgeous. The beauty and promise of spring, following winter, makes it all worthwhile.

In the past, I never really appreciated spring as I should. However, I’m making a conscious decision to appreciate nature. My puppy, Satchel has actually helped me in that effort. Everything is fresh and new to him. When I walk him, he stops and smells all that nature has to offer. He is never in a rush. He just takes it all in.

My goal this spring is to slow down. Stop and take in the smells of nature. Enjoy the beauty of the flowers and plants. Sit back and take in all that Mother Nature has blessed us with.

Hmmm…..spring!

Photo credit HERE