"HUMILITY - AS A LITTLE CHILD"

Good Evening to All!

And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. (16) But Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. (17) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in nowise enter therein.
(Luke 18:15-17 KJV)

We should keep this passage in mind at all times. In this passage, Jesus used the thoughtlessness of his disciples to make two points. One, that we are all important to God from the youngest to the oldest, and two, that we need to trust Him just like a child would trust their parent.

I also feel that another point He was wanting to make was that a child believes with no reservations. We are to come to God just like that. Our belief in Him, our faith in Him should be non-wavering. Our trust in Him should be pure. We should come to Him with no reservations in our heart, knowing that what He says, He will do, and He always knows what is best for us.

Without this frame of mind, or attitude we will not be able to enter into His kingdom.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" (2) The Jesus called a little child to Him , set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (4) Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 18:1-4 NKJV)

In several of the versions which I read, the reference said of "little children, "simple and elemental. While that may be true to some extent, I think He was going beyond that. A child's love is unconditional. A child believes what he is told. What's more, a child does not have to "see to believe".

As we get older, we tend to lose that quality somewhat. We love one another, but not unconditionally. Believe me. After a while, if the wife or husband doesn't show the other one love or affection, they will not stay together. That is conditional. We as adults tend to believe what we see for the most part. I do believe in my God, but for the most part, "I'll believe it when I see it". That cynical attitude comes from lots of disappointments from humans. My God has NEVER disappointed me. I tell my husband that quite a bit, because he is always telling me he'll do something, then it doesn't come to pass. Therefore rather than be disappointed time and again, I have adopted the attitude "Seeing is believing" when it comes to the human race.

I am so glad my Lord isn't that way. I can ALWAYS count on Him to be there for me no matter what.

I feel that God wants us to be like children in the way of our love, trust, faith and wonder of Him. He wants us to have that fresh love for His Spirit and wonder for Him all of the time.

If we cannot do this for the short time we are on this earth, how do we expect to do it for an eternity? We won't. Therefore we won't be able to enter.

I want to make a challenge to you. When you go to church tomorrow, or even if you don't go to church, I challenge you to refresh your love for His Spirit within you . I am afraid after going to church for a while, going through the motions of the "program" the music and so on, we tend to get in a "rut". We all need to stand up and look to the heavens with ALL of our hearts and praise Him. Renew the love we felt when we first received Him into our spirits. Become like little children again in His eyes.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

Knowledge and Chuckles-What a Recipe

Good Evening to All!

This and That

First on the agenda of my blog tonight is the answers to last night's Bible Challenge. I don't know how many of you participated, but I hope those of you who did, did well on it. By the way, I learned something during this Challenge. A behemoth is an animal, according to Webster's dictionary like a hippopotamus, but according to my reference guide in my Bible, it is like a dinosaur. Another definition from Webster says it is any grotesque or monstrous creature. I keep getting the behemoth and the mammoth (from IceAge the movie) mixed up in my mind.
Now for the ANSWERS:

1. a) behemoth (Job 40:15-17)
2. b) Dan (Gen. 49:16-17)
3. b) quail (Ex. 16:11-13)
4. d) ostrich (Job 39:13-18)
5. c) horse (Job 39:19)
6. b) swine (Matt. 8:28-34)
7. c) a hen gathers her chicks ( Matt. 23:37)
8. True ( Mark 16:16-18)
9. b) scorpions (Luke 10:19)
10. c) goats (Matt. 25:32)

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Inspirational Story from "especially for Moms"
"Things Learned from Children"

My question is "were these things learned from first-hand experience when the adults were children, or from their own children?"

1. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
2. A three-year-old is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
3. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a large room.
5. When using the ceiling fan as a baseball bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double or triple pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words, "Uh-0oh," at the same time, it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke and lots of it.
9. A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a thirty-six year old man says they can only do it in the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire, even on an overcast day.
10. Certain sized "Legos" will eventually pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old.
11. Play-doh and microwave should Never be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue really is forever. And, yes, it does stick to fingers, tongues, ears, hair and toes as well as eyelids and eyebrows.
13, No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool, yo still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCRs do not eject Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches even though TV commercials show that they do.
16. A king-sized waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2,000 square fott house to a depth of 4 inches.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise in a moving car, van, or SUV.
18. You probably do not want to know what that particular strange odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on ...as plastic toys do not like ovens very much. The same goes for microwaves or dishwashers or washing machines. Neither do vacuum cleaners like toys or coins or anyother kind of trinket.
20. The spin cycle on the washing machine does make worms dizzy.
21. Cats will always spit up twice their body weight when dizzy or upset or when hung by their tails.
22. Anything whispered between parents can be heard loudly spoken to the town gossip in church the next Sunday.
23. Dogs and cats don't like each other when thrown together in the same kennel.
24. Mommies and Daddies are not happy when stepping on "Legos" at night in the dark.

I just saw something disturbing I was looking for pictures to put on this post when lo and behold guess what I came across. A website called "Prank Space .com" On that site were listed quite a few of the anecdotes I mentioned above. I don't know which was written first my book or the website, but I hope you got some chuckles out of them just the same. Haha! I guess that's kind of like which came first the chicken or the egg?

Good Night to All and May God Bless! Somehow I must have accidentally deleted the my closing and signature. That's what I get for trying to correct and edit after it's been posted. Sorry everyone.

PJ

Simply Titled "Faith"

This picture of "Footprints" reminds me of the following
poem which is always a gentle reminder of who is stronger than me:

"My precious child, I love you and would never leave you.
when you see only one set of footprints in the sand,
it was then that I carried you."

Good Evening to All!

Well, I was planning on giving this post a little "somethin' somethin' by way of a text box and some fancy illustrations, but then I realized I don't have a way to put in a text box, let alone some fancy illustrations, I don't even have a way to put regular Zemanta photos in. I originally had Zemanta, and some how or another, it got to where it wouldn't load, I guess my computer's too slow. Anyway, Lynette http://www/theysayimnuts.blogspot.com redownloaded it and I was so excited because it looked like I had gotten it back. Then my computer started freezing up, so I disabled it after trying to get everything to work together about 20 times. and now I can type my blog. I have come to the conclusion that its the Stupid Satellite Internet Server that we have. I have to learn to deal with it though because out where we live we can't get DSL, so if we want anything faster than dial-up, it has to be satellite. Oh well, enough whining. I just ask that you please bear with me, as I am having to go through the regular internet, and find pictures that pertain to my post at least some. Thank you for your patience.

Now, on with my Post...Simply Titled "Faith"

Boy! What a subject to talk about after how I was just whining! Well, here goes! Maybe, I'll learn something, or something will plant itself in my heart.

Today's Seed: "Now faith is being sure of what's hoped for and and certain of what we do not see." NIV-Hebrews 11:1

My Preference: KJV - "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

It is always easier to teach on faith than it is to practice it, especially if you are a "new Christian", or one who is just coming into the church. Anyone can say "I have faith" and they would be telling an element of the truth, because God's Word does say that we have been given a "measure" of faith. A measure is not very much. For this reason is why we should delve into the Word of God and study, soaking His wishes and commands in like a sponge. The more we learn about God, the more faith we will acquire in Him. Not only that, if we practice believing, I mean REALLY believing, trusting God to tell us what to do and how to do it, then seeing the wonderful results of it, the more faith we will have. I have seen wondrous things in the way of healings and blessings happen to people, so I know prayers work. For prayers to work it takes Faith in God to do what He does best, take care of His people.

If you've ever been in charge of an event at church, your children's school, a volunteer group, or at work, you've had to rely on others to help get things done. (Unless you're the do it yourself type who can't delegate! But that's another Bible seed.)

To pull off an event successfully we need to let go and share the work. We try to trust that people are doing what they've said they will do, but most likely we check to make sure. We don't have "faith" that things are being done unless we have a loyal friend who has helped before. if we have such a tested friend, then we can be certain.

Something else I would like to remind myself as well as others, His Word also says we are to come to Him as little children, which means in like faith and belief as little children. I continually have to remind myself of that or I fall back into what I call "adult-itis. (Skeptical of everything, and I know better because of what I have seen.

The "heroes" in the Old Testament were filled with faith. When Abraham was called to go to the Promised Land, he obeyed. He had faith. He packed his belongings and started hiking, even though he didn't know where God was leading him. Amazingly, Sarah, his wife, followed. She had great faith in her husband, and she had faith in her husband's God.

Dig Deeper: the Greek word for "faith" is pistis, which means the conviction of the truthfulness of God, and especially in reliance on Christ for salvation. We need to have the faith of Abraham.

Faith is a living thing, an active way of life based on the certainty that the object of our hope is trustworthy. Abraham must have proven himself to be reliable, so reliable that Sarah moved with him away from their relatives. God must have shown Himself reliable to Abraham, so reliable that Abraham knew the LORD'S' voice and was willing to obey when God said, "Leave your country...I will make you into a great nation" (Genesis 12:1-2).

Background Bulb: The first chapter of Hebrews gathers together the stories of many of the Old Testament heroes of faith from Abel and Enoch to David and Samuel. Not all the heroes, however, were triumphant over the events in their lives, but God blessed them all. God remained faithful even when they were faithless.

Weed & Water: It's easy to talk about having faith. It's not as easy to carry through. Our faith may falter occasionally. Stuff happens, and we can get caught up in a spiral that shakes us, making us wonder--for an instant--if there truly is a God. By examining stories of God's faithfulness to past generations and by thinking about how God has given us small joy in the past, we can be assured God is in His heaven and all is right with His world...our world will catch up.

Think about it:

How would you define faith?

If your faith varies from day to day, why does it?

Prayer Pot:

Lord, help me to let go and have faith that you....(insert your own need).

Take Away Idea:

Faith for the future is founded on the faltering steps of obedience today.


Good Night to All, and May God Bless!

PJ

Welcome To My World

Good Evening All!

Tonight I want to dedicate this post to all the "wannabe" moms out there, be they natural birth, or adoptive parents. This may also pertain to those young women who are with child, but entertaining the idea of a "subject that I don't like to broach, but is a must and that is "abortion". Let me be perfectly clear, this post is not meant as a political statement of any kind. I just thought those women who are with child might enjoy seeing how their baby is progressing, and for those women who are "on the fence" whether to abort or give up for adoption, there are plenty of, as Yaya affectionately calls them,"wannabe moms" out there. After seeing this there should be no question in your mind whether the little one inside you is a baby or not. This is just for informational purposes only.

I don't know why the authors or researchers of this information called this precious human being preborn, instead of unborn or fetus, but you know, I like it better. It sound so much more personal. I think this information should be plastered in as many places as possible. Not to sway political beliefs, but to make people aware of what is truly going on inside of a mother's womb.

As soon as I saw this, I was in awe. Child birth has always been a miracle to me, but now that I have seen this, I am even more in awe of God's creation of children then ever. Coming to you as a 12 Week Preborn Baby... This is "my" story. The picture you see over to your right, is me at 12 weeks (preborn). Now, if I might digress a little bit, let me tell you the story of my "evolution".
Image via
Wikipedia

Precious One - 12 Week old Preborn Baby

Week 1: Conception; the baby is smaller than a grain of sugar, but the instructions are present for all that this person will ever become.

Week 2:The baby attaches and burrows securely into the wall of its mothers’ womb .

Week 3: The baby’s blood vessels and sex cells form. Foundations of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system are laid.

Week 4: The baby’s heart has begun to beat. Eyes, ears and lungs begin to form.

Week 5: Tiny arms and legs appear, as well as the baby's face. The baby’s blood is now separate from the mother's.

Week 6: Tiny fingers and toes develop. The baby’s brain is divided into 3 parts for emotions and language, hearing and seeing.

Week 7: Buds of the baby milk teeth appear. 99% of the muscles are present, and brain activity is detectable.

Week 8: The baby begins spontaneous movement and is now well proportioned about the size of a thumb. Every organ is present but immature. The skull, elbows, and knees are forming.

Week 9: If prodded, hands and eyelids close. Genitalia becomes visible, indicating whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Muscular movement begins.

Week 10: The baby’s fingerprints begin to form. Nerve and muscle connections have tripled. eyelids fuse together temporarily to protect the baby’s delicate developing eyes.

Week 11: The baby “practices" breathing and facial expressions, even smiling. The baby can also urinate and stomach muscles can contract.

Week 12: The baby is now 3 inches in length and weighs 2 oz. with fine hair on the face. The baby is able to swallow and feels and responds to skin stimulation.

Thank you for allowing me to tell my story. I hope that you have enjoyed my growing experience and will take good care of me as I mature. Dear Father in Heaven, I ask that you keep all of the precious "preborn" babies nestled safely in the palm of your hand. Touch the hearts of those who were blessed with "unexpected pregnancies" and give them the courage to follow through and give this precious baby up for adoption instead of the alternative. God, these are your most beautiful creations. Let everyone see these babies through "Your eyes. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.

For more information visit www.hh76.com or Call 1-800-858-3040

Medical facts sources: Carlson, B., Embryology and Development Biology, Toronto; Mosby Publication:3rd Edition 2004.Moore K., and Pursaud T., The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th Edition Philadelphia: w.B. Sanders, 1998O’Rahilly,R and Muller F. Human Embryology and Tteratology, 3rd Edition, New York John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2001. No image on the back of copy.

Good Night All and May God Bless!

PJ