Gracie

MyFOXDFW Correspondent Detained during RNC Protest Last Edited: Friday, 05 Sep 2008, 12:55 AM CDT Created: Thursday, 04 Sep 2008, 9:28 PM CDT Alice Kalthoff SideBar
Related Items Links MyFox Journalists Detained in Protester Sweep or just enabling jstl so that we can just write ${bean.property} and jsp takes care of the new lines. -->
A MyFOXDFW/FOX 4 News correspondent covering the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday said she was detained by police and that a colleague was apparently arrested.

Alice Kalthoff said at 8:30 p.m. police rounded up her and about a dozen other journalists, including myFOX correspondent John Wise, along with a group of about 200 protesters.

Kalthoff, who said she was cuffed, questioned and released just after 11 p.m., said officers had corralled the group onto a bridge and then announced that they were under arrest.

"You just sat down and kept your mouth shut, and kept your hands on your head," Kalthoff said.

Kalthoff, who had been recording video of the protest, also said officers at one point separated journalists from protesters but that not all journalists were released. In fact, she said, she saw her MyFOX colleague have his mug shot taken before he was driven away in a police bus.

Kalthoff did not know why Wise was taken into custody.

She said it was a confusing situation but that law enforcement treated her well.

Kalthoff and Wise have been in St. Paul to provide exclusive Internet coverage of the convention.

By: PATRICK J. BUCHANAN 08/13/2008 In the Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama rolled up more than 90 percent of the African-American vote. Among Catholics, he lost by 40 points. The cool liberal Harvard Law grad was not a good fit for the socially conservative ethnics of Altoona, Aliquippa and Johnstown.


But if Obama had a problem with Catholics then, he has a far higher hurdle to surmount in the fall, with those millions of Catholics who still take their faith and moral code seriously.

For not only is Obama the most pro-abortion member of the Senate, with his straight A-plus report card from the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. He supports the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion, where the baby's skull is stabbed with scissors in the birth canal and the brains are sucked out to end its life swiftly and ease passage of the corpse into the pan. Partial-birth abortion, said the late Sen. Pat Moynihan, a New York Democrat, "comes as close to infanticide as anything I have seen in our judiciary."

Yet, when Congress was voting to ban this terrible form of death for a mature fetus, Michelle Obama was signing fundraising letters pledging that, if elected, her husband would be "tireless" in keeping legal this "legitimate medical procedure."

And her husband did not let the militants down. When the Supreme Court upheld the congressional ban on this barbaric procedure, he denounced the court for denying "equal rights for women."

As David Freddoso reports in his new best-seller, "The Case Against Barack Obama," the Illinois senator goes further than any U.S. senator has dared go in defending what John Paul II called the "culture of death."

Three times in the Illinois legislature, Obama helped block a bill that was designed solely to protect the life of infants already born, and outside the womb, who had miraculously survived the attempt to kill them during an abortion. Three times, Obama voted to let doctors and nurses allow these tiny human beings die of neglect and be tossed out with the medical waste.

How can a man who purports to be a Christian justify this?
If, as its advocates contend, abortion has to remain legal to protect the life and health, mental and physical, of the mother, how is a mother's life or health in the least threatened by a baby no longer inside her - but lying on a table or in a pan fighting for life and breath?

How is it essential for the life or health of a woman that her baby, who somehow survived the horrible ordeal of abortion, be left to die or put to death?

Yet, that is what Obama voted for - three times - in the Illinois Senate.

When a bill almost identical to the one Obama fought in Illinois - the Born Alive Infants Protection Act - came to the floor of the U.S. Senate in 2001, the vote was 98 to 0 in favor.

Even Barbara Boxer, the most pro-abortion member of the Senate before Obama arrived there, spoke out on its behalf. "Who could be more vulnerable than a newborn baby?" she asked. "We join with an 'aye' vote on this. I hope it will, in fact, be unanimous."

Obama says he opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act because he feared it might imperil Roe v. Wade.

But if Roe v. Wade did allow infanticide or murder, why would he not want that court decision reviewed and amended?
Is the right to an abortion so sacrosanct to Obama that killing by neglect or snuffing out of the life of tiny babies outside the womb must be protected if necessary to preserve that right?

- Creators Syndicate Inc.

©The Trentonian 2008

Husband's response to the USA mens swim team beating the arrogant smack-talking french team . . ."The irony of it all, it takes a trash talking frenchman to get an american excited about seeing guys swimming in speedos."

ha!  I love this guy.

This is ridiculous!!!  And an "eco friendly" blanket too.  How nauseating.

 

By SAMANTHA BOMKAMP, AP Business Writer

 

NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. said Monday it is now charging customers for pillows and blankets.

 

The carrier has done away with the recycled blankets and pillows used on its flights, and has started offering an "eco-friendly" travel blanket and pillow that can be purchased for $7 on flights longer than two hours. The pair come in a kit with a $5 coupon to home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

 

The carrier claims the pillow and blanket feature a fabric technology, developed by CleanBrands LLC, that blocks pesky critters like dust mites, mold spores, pollen and pet dander.

 

JetBlue already offers free "Snooze Kits" on overnight flights from the West that include an eyeshade and ear plugs.

 

But the blanket and pillow kit is the latest in a string of a la carte items the company says are providing a revenue boost to help offset the soaring price of jet fuel.

 

A JetBlue spokeswoman declined to predict how much the sale of these kits will bring in, saying that the company only provides revenue details for specific items in its quarterly earnings conference calls.

 

The carrier said last month it expects to collect about $40 million from customers buying seats with extra leg room this year. Its $15 fee for a second checked bag is expected to translate into about $20 million in additional revenue. A ticket change fee, which doubled to $100 in the second quarter, is part of a "basket of fee changes" expected to produce about $50 million in extra revenue in 2008.

 

 

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba --  --  A man aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a fellow passenger, witnesses said Thursday.

The man was arrested for the killing, which occurred Wednesday night aboard a bus traveling from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

Authorities declined to name the attacker and victim, and provided no other details about the attack.

But passenger Garnet Caton said the victim was stabbed dozens of times by the man sitting next to him. The passenger then severed the man's head with a large knife.

"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other passengers had been taken to rest.

"There was no rage or anything. He was like a robot, stabbing the guy."

Caton said passengers raced from the bus but then he, the bus driver and a trucker at the scene re-boarded to see what was happening.

Caton said he saw the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off and pretty much gutting him."

He said the attacker calmly came to the front of the bus to show off the head.

"He dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up," said Cody Olmstead, a passenger from Kentville, Nova Scotia.

The victim, who Caton said appeared to be about 19, had been on the bus since Edmonton. He said the attacker boarded the bus in Brandon, Manitoba, about 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie.

The suspect had been on the bus about an hour and initially did not sit near the victim.

"He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Caton said.

"We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting.

"He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He seemed totally normal," Caton said. "About a half an hour later, we heard this bloodcurdling scream."

Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said 37 passengers and one driver were on the bus.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called the attack bizarre, but did not discuss details, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation. Copyright 2008 Associated Press.

Our neighbors across the street, Heather and Brandon became foster parents with the intent to adopt after being told they couldn't have children three years ago.  Two years ago, they became foster parents to 2 little boys ages 4 and 6 who were taken from their mother and her boyfriend for neglect and exposure to drugs.  The mother signed over her rights and is now in jail.  Shortly after coming into Heather and Brandon’s home, the older boy began acting out sexually.  He was kicked out of school and sent to an inpatient behavior center.  He is still there and no longer a foster child.   A year and a half ago Heather and Brandon got a beautiful one year-old baby girl.  Her birth mother was a young teen and gave up all rights.  Claire is a thriving, happy and healthy toddler.  The other little boy, Michael, however, began showing signs similar to his brother this past year.  Last spring he assaulted Claire (Heather walked in to Claire’s screams and he was touching her private area through her diaper).  Similar episodes have happened at school in his kindergarten class, Brandon installed an alarm on the boy’s door, and Claire is supervised constantly.  Heather immediately reported this to the agencies facilitating the foster care of the children and has been working to get Michael removed from her house.  He is a registered sex offender and CPS and the other agencies have been  so slow to get him out of their home and into a foster home where there are no other siblings he could hurt.  Finally,  they got a call yesterday from their agency saying that CPS will be coming to get Michael next Wednesday but they also said they would be taking Claire too.  They gave no reason for this and CPS didn’t even bother talking to them personally.  They are absolutely devastated.  The wheels were already in motion for Heather and Brandon to adopt Claire.   My neighbors’ attorney is working to put a hold on this and attempting to get this before a judge, but evidently this is not easy to do. 

 

 

 

Time and time again CPS has devastated lives of children and parents.  They are a prime example of government trying to run and ruin the lives of people and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

 

 

It's true!

I have the radio on and this Hillary ad comes on and she suddenly has a Texas accent!!!!!! I couldn't believe it, she was talking about a "Texas sized rally in Fort Worth" and she did so with a real Texas accent!!!!!!!

Yeeeeee Haaaaaaaaw!!!!

WASHINGTON —  When 17-year-old Andrew Larochelle of Dayton, Ohio, crafted a plan to send his grandfather the gift of a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol, he never thought his sentiments about "God, country and family" would be questioned.

The Eagle Scout was surprised, however, when the personal inscription he requested attached to a flag he purchased from the U.S. Capitol was censored. The teen said he wrote, "In honor of my grandfather Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country and family."

The flag flew on Sept. 11, Marcel Larochelle's birthday. But when Andrew finally received the flag in the mail on Sept. 30, "God" was taken out of his note.

"I was shocked that the word 'God' would be taken off a personal message from my son to his grandfather," Andrew's father, Paul Larochelle, told FOX News.

The family contacted Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who had sought to fulfill the flag request. Turner requested an explanation for the omission from the Architect of the Capitol, the office responsible for flying American flags momentarily over the Capitol and then sending them to constituents who request them, all for a fee of $9.

/**/

Turner said he was told that AoC rules do not allow religious expressions on flag certificates.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended the omission made by acting Architect Stephen T. Ayers, and said she has no plans to change the existing rules.

House Republicans, however, have a different take. They say the Capitol has many religious expressions and Congress begins each day with a prayer. They want new rules allowing religious expressions on flag certificates. They also note that the message wasn't written by Congress but by a private citizen to another private citizen.

"This practice, which overturns a longstanding and long cherished congressional tradition, has rightly drawn outrage from the American people, who have grown weary of endless attempts by politicians and bureaucrats to bar the word God and even the most tacit references to faith from our public institutions," House Minority Leader John Boehner wrote in a letter to Pelosi.

Boehner said as speaker, Pelosi can instruct the acting Architect of the Capitol to set aside the written policy of his predecessor and restore the practice of including God's name.

To compromise, Rep. Robert A. Brady, chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Architect of the Capitol, has suggested allowing a uniform certificate of authenticity and then giving each congressional office latitude to handle personal inscriptions. Turner has said he is considering legislation to repeal the AoC rule.

FOX News' Major Garrett contributed to this report.

 Sooooo, let me get this straight.  We should just leave and get out??

 

Hmmmmmmmmm

 

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military accused Iran on Sunday of smuggling surface-to-air missiles and other advanced weapons into Iraq for use against American troops. Military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said U.S. troops were continuing to find Iranian-supplied weaponry including the Misagh 1, a portable surface-to-air missile that uses an infrared guidance system. Other advanced Iranian weaponry found in Iraq includes the RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade, 240 mm rockets and armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, Fox said. The charge comes as Iran's leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to begin his first full day in New York City where he plans to speak at Columbia University ahead of his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday Iran has denied U.S. allegations that it is smuggling weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, a denial that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" aired Sunday. "We don't need to do that. We are very much opposed to war and insecurity," said Ahmadinejad, who arrived in New York Sunday to attend the U.N. General Assembly. "The insecurity in Iraq is detrimental to our interests."

The Quest

Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

--Proverbs 27:20

I read about a convention where Star Trek memorabilia was auctioned off, including a half-filled glass of water that had been sipped by a cast member who had a virus. The item sold for $40. The person who bought it immediately drank it, because he or she wanted to get the same virus the cast member from Star Trek had.

"Bizarre" is one word that comes to mind after a story like that one. But is it really any more bizarre when you start thinking about the things that supposedly normal people dedicate their entire lives to? They will dedicate their lives to acquiring possessions. They will dedicate their lives to sexual conquest. They will dedicate their lives to getting the finest education the world can offer. But what they will find out eventually is that if in their pursuit of these things, they forget about God, it will result in emptiness.

Take it from the expert, Solomon, who penned the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was the one person who could say, "Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt." He knew about these things firsthand. He went on a quest, deciding he was going to try everything this world had to offer. But he wisely concluded that just as death and destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.

When God created us, He wired us this way. The Bible says that He has placed eternity in our hearts (see Ecclesiastes 3:11), which simply means that in the heart of every man and woman, there is a sense that there is something more out there. It is almost as though we were born with a God-shaped blank inside. And so the search begins.

 

*From Pastor Greg Laurie* 

I know this is long, but this article fascinated me.  I hope you enjoy it too.

~GG

Why Are Christians Losing America?
Sep 14th, 2007 A Discussion Outline with John Noe, Ph.D.

(This topical question was discussed in numerous small groups of Christians in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the summer of 2007.)

Two suppositions are contained in this discussion question:
1) America is being lost.
2) Christians are responsible.

Or are we since . . .
· “Four out of five Americans describe themselves as Christians?
· 45% of us attend worship services on any given weekend?
· The popularity of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life?
· America appears to be bursting its seams with vibrant Christianity.”

And yet . . .
“America’s popular culture, its laws, public education system, news media, entertainment industry, and other major institutions have become progressively un-Christian – even anti-Christian.”

The reason Christians are losing America is . . .
“Christians have been seduced . . . hoodwinked . . . sold a bill of goods . . . are operating under a misguided and simplistic interpretation of scripture . . . . Christianity – the deepest, most meaningful and awe-inspiring religion ever – has been dumbed down . . .”

Consequently . . .
· “only 9% of Christians have a biblical worldview.”
· “‘born-again’ Christian adults in the U.S. think and act virtually the same as non-believers . . . almost no difference.” (recent George Barna study cited)

Whistleblower’s answer to how we’ve been “dumbed down” and how “to turn America around – to take it back – ” is . . .
“Take back your churches . . . [as] the springboard to taking back the culture.” They call for laymen to lead a “new pulpit revolution . . . . Think about it. When was the last time you heard a sermon on:
· A great social issue of our time?
· The last time your church engaged in the political debate?
· How many churches are active in the cultural war?
· How many pastors are leading prayers for . . . our nation’s soul?”

Perhaps, Tony Evans best captured this dilemma thusly:

“Let me put the problem to you in the form of a question. How can we have all these churches on all these street corners, filled with all these members, led by all these preachers, elders, and deacons . . . and yet still have all this mess in America? Something is wrong somewhere!”
– Tony Evans, What a Way to Live! (Nashville, TN.: Word Publishing, 1997), 294.

June 2, 2004 – Fox News commentator, Bill O’Reilly, had this to say:

“The harsh truth is that many American Christians don’t care about what is happening . . . . Talking Points wants you to know that we are rapidly losing freedom in America. Judges are overruling the will of the people and fascist organizations like the ACLU are imposing their secular will. And, when was the last time you heard a priest, minister, or rabbi talk about this? For me, the answer is simple. . . . Never! And that’s a memo.”

What do you think?

3 Major ‘Dumbed-Down’ Areas

In this section we will discuss three major areas greatly dumbed-down (i.e., diluted, devalued, diminished) by many church leaders and which have dramatically and negatively conditioned Christians into inaction and against cultural involvement.


#1 – Gospel Reductionism –

Question: “What is the gospel?” For the majority of evangelicals the answer is, “the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

But this is not the gospel Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming, nor that of his central teaching.

Jesus did not come preaching Jesus, or his death so that when we die we could go to Heaven.

Jesus preached and taught the gospel of the kingdom (Mark 1:15).

· Dallas Willard terms this kingdom deficiency, "the great omission" in his recent book by this title and the primary reason "why . . . today's church [is] so weak" in his book, The Divine Conspiracy (San Francisco, CA.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), 40f.
· Darrell Guder calls it "reductionism of the gospel" in his book, The Continuing Conversion of the Church (Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans, 2000), xiiif.
· Robert Lynn laments that “the gospel we proclaim has been shrunk” in his article “Far as the curse is found” in Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint Worldview magazine, Oct. ’06, 14.

My working definition of the greater and whole biblical gospel is:

The establishment of the everlasting and final form of God’s kingdom on earth and his salvation . . .
(And in this order, because that is how Jesus both proclaimed and accomplished these two distinct but interrelated realities. Also see: Acts 28:31; 19:8; 20:25)
. . . As well as, how we enter into each, receive its blessings, and become obedient to our responsibilities therein.

Problem is, most modern-day Christians are ignorant of or confused as to the timing, nature, and scope of the kingdom.

· We’re basically kingdom illiterate.
· Haven’t been raised in a kingdom-oriented tradition.
· Most Christian colleges and seminaries don’t teach it.
· They also lack an effective and sound theology of the kingdom.
· It is foreign territory and, therefore, frightening.

What do you think?

#2 – Fatalistic, False Views of the Future –

The current and dominant worldview in American evangelical-ism is that the world will, and is supposed to, get “worse and worse.”

Produces a “why fight, we’re on the next flight” mentality.

But how does this fatalistic view match up with Isaiah 9:6-7’s description of the future of the messianic kingdom? (It doesn’t.)

“This faulty religious teaching, says John Chalfant, is the only way to explain why so many well-meaning Christians are paralyzed into inaction.” (WB, 17):

“It comprises what is left today of the militant, power-filled, full-dimensional Christian faith of America’s Founders after decades of erosion, watering down and trivializing of God’s action mandates by America’s Abandonment Clergy.”

“Much of the clergy, along with their millions of victimized American Christians following their pastors’ lead, have retreated from the battlefront to the social, non-confrontational, non-controversial reservation [i.e., their church]. They say that Christians should confine their religious activities to politically non-controversial roles and keep their Bibles out of the political process. They also say that based on prophecy these are the ‘last days,’ and any efforts we make to restore righteousness to this nation will be in vain and need not even be undertaken.”
– John W. Chalfant, Abandonment Theology (Winter Park, FL.: America – A Call to Greatness, Inc., 1996, 1999), 5 and 117-118.

“For this type of ‘Christian,’ there’s no need to stand up to evil, because they’re ‘saved by grace, not works’ (despite repeated biblical admonitions that ‘faith without works is dead’). . . . No need to try to help make it a better world, because they’re going to be ‘raptured’ soon and those who remain behind can sort out the mess. Is it any wonder the church–and America–are in such trouble?” (WB, 27)

Why the Moral Majority failed after only twenty years.

Founder, Jerry Falwell, summarized the demise of this activist organization in this manner:

“I see things getting worse and worse and worse. All we’re doing—all we’ve ever been able to do—is to have the church put its thumb in the dike, but it’s inevitable that it’s going to come out. We are supposed to keep it plugged up as long as we can, be a restraining influence. We prevent spoilage . . . . But we’re kidding ourselves if we think there’s any program, any third party . . . or anything we can do to straighten things out right now . . . . these things that we have in the country are beyond repair.”
– From Cal Thomas, Ed Dobson, Blinded by Might (Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 1999), 276.

Perhaps, the Moral Majority did not have a sound or strong enough theological foundation that would support the level of activism to which it aspired (see 1 Cor. 14:8)?

What do you think?

#3 – Life in Heaven

Rarely, if ever, is the doctrine of eternal rewards, loss, and punishments for believers taught or preached. Therefore, “there are countless ‘Christians’ who believe they have a ticket to Heaven, and nothing else really matters.” (WB, 22)

Brian McLaren speaks frankly and directly to this area of dumbed-downedness:

“What could be more serious than standing in front of your Creator—the Creator of the universe—and finding out that you had wasted your life, squandered your inheritance, caused others pain and sorrow, worked against the good plans and desires of God? What could be more serious than that? To have to face the real, eternal, unavoidable, absolute, naked truth about yourself, what you’ve done, what you’ve become? . . . . Nothing could be more serious than that . . . . We cannot select out comfortable passages and ignore those that make us uneasy.”
– Brian D. McLaren, The Last Word and the Word after That (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.: 2005), 79, 80, 96.

What do you think?

So Here We Are . . .

“The compartmentalization and trivialization of Christianity . . . has ushered in a generation of shallow, ineffectual, and invisible Christians . . . . America’s churches have been subverted” (WB, 29)

Consequently, thousands of American evangelical churches are:

· presenting a kingdom-deficient gospel
· comfortable and content in marketing mediocrity
· laboring in lukewarmness
· culturally neutralized and impotent

In short, Christianity has been “tamed” and “culture has triumphed.” (Alan Wolfe, The Transformation of American Religion (New York: Free Press, 2003), inside flap, 3.)

As a result, Christians are not only losing America but we are also losing our kids in droves. And many Christians and churches don’t even want to talk about it.

Once again, the traditions of men have nullified the Word of God (Mark 7:13; Matt. 15:6).

What Can We Do?

1) Nothing . . . business as usual?

2) Brow beat – moral exhortation?

3) Call for more prayer – al a 2 Chron. 7:14? – But it takes more than prayer to meet God’s requirements for national blessing here!

Big problems call for big solutions.

Only one practical and effective way out of this cultural, moral, and spiritual morass.

4) Transformational Imagination – an educational and missional process of enticing, following the model of Jesus’ central teaching and the heart of his earthly ministry.


FIVE STEPS FOR RESTORING . . .
the preaching, teaching, and practice of the kingdom-of-God worldview (in its fullness) to the Church and to the world.

Step #1 – Unlearning popular misconceptions.

Step #2 – Grounding the kingdom theologically—the timing, nature, and scope of its everlasting form.

Step #3 – Applying the kingdom to today’s world—i.e., the transformation of both self and society.

Step #4 – Confirming why it is so important for every believer to be active and fully involved in advancing God’s kingdom, here and now, on this earth.

Step #5 – Prioritizing this calling as the Church’s TOP, No. #1 agenda, because . . .
· It was for Jesus (Mark 1:15; Matt. 6:33)
· It’s why the Church and Christians are here on this earth

But what do you think?

Editor’s Note: John Noe, Ph.D., is president of the Prophecy Reformation Institute. For more on his restoration and unification ministry and his speaking, teaching, and writing topics, please visit: www.prophecyrefi.org. For the amplified discussion outline of this topic, contract him at jnoe@prophecyrefi.org.

The Right Way to Pray "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." --John 15:7 When it comes to prayer, people sometimes mistakenly think they can first come up with a plan and then get God to do what they want Him to do. They think that if they really pester God through prayer, He will finally cave in.

Others would teach that if we have enough faith, we can speak something into existence. We can just say it, and it will be ours.

Of course, both concepts are false. The fact of the matter is that prayer is not for the purpose of moving God your way. It is for moving you God's way.

Do you want to know the key to answered prayer? Then line yourself up with the will of God and start praying for what God wants you to have.

Jesus said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). A literal translation of this verse would read, "If you maintain a living communion with Me, and My Word is at home in you, you can ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires and it will be yours."

When we hear this verse, we immediately gravitate toward the part about asking whatever our heart desires. But here is what it comes down to. If you are maintaining a living communion with God, and His words are at home with you, then your prayers will change. You won't be praying for self-indulgent things. Instead, you will be praying for the things God wants you to have.

This is what prayer is really all about. It is about getting our will into alignment with the will of God.

from Pastor Greg Laurie

I cannot believe what a mean side some of you people have.  And, with the exception of 2 or 3 bloggers on this site, every single one of you have a delightful, caring and loving side to you.

 

 

I wish  I had warning when the  ugly ones were out so I could miss that stuff.

 

 

And  thank goodness Chard is not some weakling that would be crushed by the yucky things you guys say to her.  I remember in the old days on here when people were so cruel to TB aka Dallas 47, it sent  him for a loop and really upset him. To the point he had health problems.

 

 

The really cool thing about that is that the blogger being so ugly to TB has confessed repented and was forgiven by Dallas.  Now the two of them are friends.  If you had told me 6 months ago that Lee Grimsley and Dallas would be friends today I wold have thought you were nuts!

 

 

I wish more of you would follow suit.  This place sure would be a lot more pleasant and enjoyable if we could get rid of the blame (he/she said it first), and forgive one another.  At least two arch enemies did it!  That’s pretty good!

 

 

Programming Our Minds

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.  Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.  Colossians 3:15-17
 

            The mind is the control tower of life. Decisions determine actions, which in turn affect the immediate and distant future. The person each of us will be 20 years from now is impacted by how we think today. If we want our future self to be pleasing to the Lord, then we must begin at once to program our mind with godly thinking.

            In Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23, the apostle Paul says that believers need to reject worldly thinking and renew the mind. We've been given the capacity to think as Jesus thinks if we submit to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Our first act of submission is to seek the things of God. This means being intentional about opening our minds only to scripturally sound attitudes and philosophies. It's important that we protect ourselves from the world's self-serving mindset, because we are to be God's servants.

            The second way to submit is by sifting our thoughts through the Word and will of God. This is a practical step that will allow us to identify wrong thinking. We must consider whether an attitude or line of thinking is pleasing to the Lord and useful for making us into the person He has called us to be. Then, when a thought is unscriptural, we can choose to reject it (2 Corinthians 10:5).

            Of course, the only way to know if a thought pleases the Lord is to read and meditate upon the Bible. In His Word, God provides examples of righteous living and thinking, and He offers guidance for choosing such patterns. Scripture is the instruction manual for our control tower.

~Charles Stanley Devotional 

A Good and Faithful Servant

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much." --Luke 16:10

The person God uses must be faithful. Stephen was a man full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit, and full of faith (Acts 6:1--7). But the apostles didn't ask him to go out and do miracles and then preach the gospel to the Sanhedrin. What was his job? He was chosen to serve the church by waiting on tables. It was hard work, but that is what Stephen did.

Diligently, Stephen waited on the Lord. And as the Lord found him faithful in the little things, He gave him more responsibilities. We can never be too small for God to use--only too big. God posed this question to Zechariah: "For who has despised the day of small things?" (Zechariah 4:10). We need to be faithful in doing what God has set before us, because if we are not faithful in the little things, then we won't be in the big things.

Jesus told the story of a wealthy man who went on a journey ( Matthew 25:14--30). As he left, he called his servants and gave to each of them a small amount of money. He told them to invest it while he was away. Two of the three servants did invest the money, and it multiplied. To those two faithful servants the master said, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:21).

Notice that those who were faithful were rewarded accordingly. But notice one more thing: their rewards were more opportunities to serve. If you are faithful in the little things, God will give you other opportunities to do greater things.

This is another Greg Laurie devotional.  I just love this!!  When I'm not so consumed with self, I am able to serve others. Having lived the first 22 years of my life really not believing that there was much outside of Grace, I know the freedom, joy and peace that comes when I can be in God's will and focus on being a servant. This goes against what my flesh screams out, it wants it all to be about me me me! LOL