Always Say A Prayer (A.S.A.P.)

There's work to do, deadlines to meet,
you've got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry,
always say a prayer.

In the midst of family chaos,
"quality time" is rare.
Do your best; let God do the rest:
Always say a prayer.

It may seem like your worries are
more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
always say a prayer.

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
and He'll respond ASAP-
Always say a prayer!

Source (http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/christianpoetry)

POWER OF THE THE TONGUE

Your words, your dreams, and your thoughts have the
power to create conditions in your life.
What you speak about, you can bring about.

If you keep saying you can't stand your job,
you might lose your job.

If you keep saying you can't stand your body,
your body can become sick.

If you keep saying you can't stand your car,
your car could be stolen or just stop operating.

If you keep saying you're always broke, guess what?
You'll always be broke.

If you keep saying you can't trust a man or trust a woman,
you will always find someone in your life to hurt and betray you.

If you keep saying you can't find a job,
you will remain unemployed.

If you keep saying you can't find someone
to love you or believe in you,
our very thoughts will attract more
experiences to confirm your beliefs.

Turn your thoughts and conversations around to be more positive
and power packed with faith, hope, love and action.

Don't be afraid to believe that you can
have what you want and deserve.

Watch your "Thoughts,"
they become words;

Watch your "Words,"
they become actions;

Watch your "Actions,"
they become habits;

Watch your "Habits,"
they become character;

Watch your "Character",
for it becomes your "Destiny"

So.......To prevent any obstacles.......

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!

Enjoy every minute you live!!

BEFORE YOU SPEAK... LISTEN
BEFORE YOU WRITE... THINK
BEFORE YOU SPEND... EARN
BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE...WAIT
BEFORE YOU PRAY...FORGIVE
BEFORE YOU QUIT...TRY

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE FLOWER [sent to me as email attachment, its worth looking. Josh]

DO YOU LOVE ME?

DO YOU LOVE ME? [This one nearly made me shade tears]...it's worth reading! Josh]

One day I woke early in the morning to watch the sunrise. Ah, the beauty of God's creation is beyond description. As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work. As I sat there the Lord brought His presence on me.

He asked me, "Do you love Me?"

I answered, "Of course God! You are my Lord and my Savior!"

Then He asked, "If you were physically handicapped, would you still love me?"

I was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs, and the rest of my body and wondered how many things I wouldn't be able to do. The things that I took for granted. And I answered, "It would be tough, Lord, but I would still love You."

Then the Lord said, "If you were blind, would you still love my creation?"

How could I love something without being able to see it? Then I thought of all the blind people in the world and how many of them still loved God and His creation. So I answered, "It's hard to think of it, but I would still love you."

The Lord then asked me, "If you were deaf, would you still listen to my word?"

How could I listen to anything being deaf? Then I understood. Listening to God's Word is not merely using our ears, but our hearts. I answered, "It would be tough, but I would still listen to Your Word."

The Lord then asked, "If you were mute, would you still praise My Name?"

How could I praise without a voice? Then it occurred to me, God wants us to sing from our very heart and soul. It never matters what we sound like. And praising God is not always with a song, but when we are persecuted. We give God praise with our words of thanks. So I answered, "Though I could not physically sing, I would still praise Your Name."

And the Lord asked, "Do you really Love Me?"

With courage and a strong conviction, I answered boldly, "Yes Lord! I love you because You are the one and true God!" I thought that I had answered well, but God asked, "Then why do you sin?"

I answered, "Because I am only human. I am not perfect." "Then why in times of peace do you stray the furthest? Why only in times of trouble do you pray the earnest?"

No answer. Only tears.

The Lord continued. "Why only sing at fellowships and retreats? Why seek Me only in times of worship? Why ask things so selfishly? Why ask things so unfaithfully?"

The tears continued to roll down my cheek.

"Why are you ashamed of Me? Why are you not spreading the good news? Why in times of persecution, you cry to others when I offer My shoulder to cry on? Why make excuses when I give you opportunities to serve in My name?"

I tried to answer, but there was no answer to give.

"You are blessed with life. I made you not to throw this gift away. I have blessed you with talents to serve Me, but you continue to turn away. I have stretched My word to you, but you do not gain in knowledge. I have spoken to you, but your ears were closed. I have shown my blessings to you, but your eyes were turned away. I have sent you servants, but you sat idly by as they were pushed away. I have heard your prayers, and I have answered them all." "Do you truly love Me?"

I could not answer. How could I? I was embarrassed beyond belief. I had no excuse. What could I say to this? When my heart had cried out, and the tears had flowed, I said, "Please forgive me Lord. I am unworthy to be Your child."

The Lord answered, "That is My grace My child."

I asked, "Then why do you continue to forgive me? Why do you Love me so?"

The Lord answered, "Because you are My creation. You are My child. I will never abandon you. When you cry, I will have compassion and cry with you. When you scream in joy, I will laugh with you. When you are down, I will encourage you. When you fall, I will raise you up. When you are tired I will carry you. I will be with you ''til the end of the days, and I will love you forever."

Never had I cried so hard before. How could I have been so cold? How could I have hurt God as I had done? I asked God, "How much do You Love me?"

And the Lord stretched out His arms, As they were nailed to the cross. I bowed down at the feet of Christ, my Savior. And for the first time, I truly prayed.

HUT ON FIRE

[This fascinating story was sent to me by a friend of mine via email..read please]

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger.

"GOD, how could you do this to me?" he cried. Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied. It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering. Remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground, It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of GOD.

A TOUCHING STORY

MAINLY FOR PROFESSIONALS.....[This fascinating story was sent to me by a friend of mine via email.. please read at your own risk]

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his
5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"

DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.

SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"

DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"
the man said angrily.

SON: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an
hour?"

DAD: "If you must know, I make Rs.100 an hour."

SON: "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: "Daddy, may I please borrow Rs.50?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you

can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then
you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about

why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this
childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.


The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little

boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some
money?


After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to

think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that
Rs.50 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to

the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep, son?" He asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier" said the

man.

"It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you.. Here's the

Rs.50 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He

yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry

again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up
at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father
grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy, I have Rs.100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?

Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with
you."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he
begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We
should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some
time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.


Do remember to share that Rs.100 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily
replace us in a matter of days.

But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the
rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than to our family.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SABBATH

The Sabbath, as we know it from the New Testament, is NOT the keeping of a certain day. We have no command whatsoever to keep Saturday for a Sabbath, nor do we have any commandment to keep the first day of the week, which is Sunday, as a Sabbath.

Many people keeps days. Others make Sunday an idol, a worship day. Others make Saturday as the worship day. Both the Sunday worshipper and the Sabbath keeper are absolutely wrong, according to the Word of God. Sabbath to a Christian is no longer the keeping of holy days, new moons or seasons. It means "eternal rest" to one's soul by the New Birth. We have to go by the Word of God, not by what the Adventists say, nor by what the Protestant says, nor by what the Catholic says.

Here is the truth of the Sabbath, which means "REST."

Hebrews 4:8, "For if Jesus had given them REST (or rest day), then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest (Sabbath keeping) to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His."

Reading the key phrase in the last part of the verse, it says that "God ceased from His own works." God gave Israel the seventh day for their Sabbath, in commemoration of His own work wherein He created the world and all that was therein, and then stopped creating. He ceased from His labors. He rested. Now it was fine to give a Sabbath rest to a people who were all in one place at one time, so they could all keep a certain day. Today half the world is in light while the other half is in darkness, so it wouldn't work at all. But that is just an argument from the natural.

Let's see what the Bible teaches us about this Sabbath rest. "For he that is entered into his rest." This entering in is not only entering in, but remaining in, the rest. It is an `eternal rest' of which the seventh day is but a type, to the Christian.

`Seven' is completion. `Eight' is the `first' day again.

Jesus' resurrection was in the first day of the week, giving us eternal life and eternal Sabbath rest. Thus we see why God could not give us any one certain day of the week as a Sabbath (rest). We've `entered into' and do `remain in' our rest, which Israel could not do, having only a shadow of the true substance which we enjoy. Why go back to a shadow when we have reality now?

How we receive this rest, or continuing Sabbath, is at the invitation of Jesus. He said in Matthew 11:28,29, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;... and ye shall find rest (or keeping of the Sabbath, not a day, but eternal life, Sabbath) unto your souls."

No matter how long you have been laboring under your load of sin, whether it is ten years, thirty years or fifty years, or longer, come with your tired weary life and you will find His rest (the true Sabbath). Jesus will give you rest.

Now exactly what is that rest that Jesus will give?

Isaiah 28:8-12, "For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest (Sabbath) wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest (or keeping of His Sabbath); and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."

Here it is prophesied right here in Isaiah. And it came to pass about 700 years later at Pentecost when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost exactly as it was said they would be. This is the true Sabbath that was promised. Thus when they were filled with the Holy Ghost they ceased from their worldly works, their worldly doings, their evil ways. The Holy Ghost took charge of their lives. They entered into rest. There is your rest. That is your Sabbath. It is not a day, nor a year, but the eternity of being filled and blessed in the Holy Spirit. It is you ceasing, and God doing. It is God in you willing and doing of His good pleasure.

Oh, that people might come unto Him and find that rest. There is a cry in all hearts for that rest but the majority don't know the answer. So they try to still the cry by a religious process of keeping certain days or accepting denominational creeds and dogmas. But failing in that, many try drinking, carousing, and every physical excess, thinking that by worldly pleasures there can be some satisfaction. But in such there is no rest. They smoke and take pills to quiet their nerves. But there is no rest in earthly potions. They need Jesus. They need the heavenly remedy, the rest of the Spirit.

Then the most of them go to church on Sunday. That is good but even there they have no idea of how to approach God and how to worship Him. Jesus said that true worship was in Spirit and in truth, John 4:24. But what kind of worship can you get in a church that knows so little of God it puts up a Santa Claus at Christmas and bunnies at Easter? Where did they get that? They got it from the pagans and made it a part of the church doctrine.

But when one turns to the Lord and is filled with the Holy Ghost he ceases from all such things. He has a rest in his soul. He really begins to live, and love God and worship Him.

The Law of the Old testament was only a shadow of things that was to come in the New Testament. The Old says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery". The New saith "Whosoever looketh upon a woman with lust has already committed "adultery" with her in his heart". The Old Testament states, "Thou shalt not kill". The New Testament states, "He that hateth his brother without a cause is already guilty of killing or murdering his brother." Notice that the New Testament even magnified the meaning of the Law. And so is the same concerning the Sabbath. The Old saith, "Keep holy the Sabbath Day". The New saith, "Come unto Me all of you who labour and are heavily-laden, and I will give you Sabbath (rest). For I am the Lord of the Sabbath." If Jesus Himself never hesitated to heal the sick on the Sabbath Day and was condemned by the Pharisees for doing such, it just follows that Jesus was not anymore concerned about making holy that certain literal observance of a Sabbath day. Jesus was pointing us to the "New Birth" as the real true Sabbath or "rest". Didn't Jesus say to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." This "New Birth" or in the state of "being born again" is now the real Sabbath to the Christian believers of today.

Here in the succeeding verses, we find God solemnly warning us to fear, lest we fail to enter into that Sabbath (rest) of God just like the children of Israel who provoked God and perished in the wilderness HEBREWS 3:7-19, 4:1-11:

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest).

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

No, sir, there's not, not a Scripture in the Bible, nor in the New Testament, for us to keep either Saturday or Sunday. But the reason we keep Sunday, is a memorial of the resurrection.

(SOURCE: WWW.ENDTIMEMESSAGE.INFO)