Giving and Receiving Love

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria:

“Give, and it will be given to you.” (Luke 6:38)

God gives you many great promises and blessings in His Word. One of the most exciting is found in the verse for today. Jesus tells you that if you give love away, then you will receive it back in abundance—more than you ever thought possible! But for some reason, most people have a difficult time giving away love, and receiving it as well. But love was designed to be shared. Don’t hold on to your love and devotion; give it away because it is only then that you will be truly blessed with love in return. Try it even today; show true love and friendship to someone and see if you don’t receive an abundance of love and blessings in return!

A Prayer for Today:
God, help me to give my love away to those who need it. Thank You for Your promise of love and blessings if I’m faithful to share Your love with others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Credit: Joel Osteen Ministries, 3700 Southwest Freeway, Houston TX

A Beautiful way to use the Alphabet

Although things are not perfect; Because of trials or pain; Continue in thanksgiving; Do not begin to blame; Even when the times are hard; Fierce winds are bound to blow; God is forever able; Hold on to what you know; Imagine life without His love; Joy would cease to be; Keep thanking Him for all the things; Love imparts to thee; Move out of "Camp Complaining"; No weapon that is known; On earth can yield the power; Praise can do alone; Quit looking at the future; Redeem the time at hand; Start every day with worship; To "thank" is a command; Until we see Him coming; Victorious in the sky; We'll run the race with gratitude; Xalting God most high; Yes, there'll be good times & yes some will be bad, but... Zion waits in glory...where no one is ever sad!

Why Did You Make Me Black Lord?

Why Did You Make Me Black Lord ...
Lord .... Why did you make me black?
Why did you make someone
the world would hold back?

Black is the color of dirty clothes,
of grimy hands and feet...
Black is the color of darkness,
of tired beaten streets...
Why did you give me thick lips,
a broad nose and kinky hair?
Why did you create someone
who receives the hated stare?

Black is the color of the bruised eye
when someone gets hurt...
Black is the color of darkness,
black is the color of dirt.
Why is my bone structure so thick,
my hips and cheeks so high?
Why are my eyes brown,
and not the color of the sky?
Why do people think I'm useless?
How come I feel so used?
Why do people see my skin
and think I should be abused?

Lord, I just don't understand...
What is it about my skin?
Why is it some people want to hate me
and not know the person within?
Black is what people are "Labeled"
when others want to keep them away...
Black is the color of shadows cast...
Black is the end of the day.
Lord you know my own people mistreat me,
and you know this just ain't right...
They don't like my hair, they don't like my
skin, as they say I'm too dark or too light!

Lord, don't you think
it's time to make a change?
Why don't you redo creation
and make everyone the same?


GOD's Reply:

Why did I make you black?
Why did I make you black?
I made you in the color of coal
from which beautiful diamonds are formed...
I made you in the color of oil,
the black gold which keeps people warm.

Your color is the same as the rich dark soil
that grows the food you need...
Your color is the same as the black stallion and
panther, Oh what majestic creatures indeed!
All colors of the heavenly rainbow
can be found throughout every nation...
When all these colors are blended,
you become my greatest creation!


Your hair is the texture of lamb's wool,
such a beautiful creature is he...
I am the shepherd who watches them,
I will ALWAYS watch over thee!
You are the color of the midnight sky,
I put star glitter in your eyes...
There's a beautiful smile hidden behind your pain...
That's why your cheeks are so high!

You are the color of dark clouds
from the hurricanes I create in September...
I made your lips so full and thick,
so when you kiss...they will remember!
Your stature is strong,
your bone structure thick to withstand the
burden of time...
The reflection you see in the mirror,
that image that looks back,..that is MINE!


So get off your knees,
look in the mirror and tell me what you see?
I didn't make you in the image of darkness...
I made you in the image of ME!

Hands!

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33 million. It depends whose hands it's in.

A baseball in my hands is worth $6. A baseball in Johan Santana's hands is worth $4.75 million. It depends on whose hands it's in.

A tennis racket is useless in my hands. A tennis racket in Venus or Sarena Williams' hands is championship winning. It depends whose hands it's in.

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea. It depends whose hands it's in.

A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy. A sling shot in David's hand is a mighty weapon. It depends whose hands it's in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed thousands. It depends whose hands it's in.

Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse. Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world. It depends whose hands it's in.

As you see now it depends whose hands it's in. So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God's hands because... It depends whose hands it's in.

An Answer to Suffering

"Remember the poor."1

In an issue of Our Daily Bread I read about Mark and Alice Westlind who are missionaries in Colombia. In one of their monthly letters they wrote the following:

"Driving through Christmas traffic, fighting the drizzling rain, I chanced on a 4-year-old little girl. She was wet and cold and shaking. Her clothes were ragged, her hair was matted, and her nose was running. She walked between the cars at the stoplight, washing headlights because she was too short to wash windshields. A few gave her coins, others honked at her to get away from their vehicles.

"As I drove away only some 50 cents poorer, I raged at God for the injustice in the world that allowed the situation. 'God, how could you just stand by, helpless?'

"Later that evening, God came to me softly with that still small voice and responded not in like kind to my rage, but with tenderness, 'I have done something. I created you.'"

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a grateful heart for all the blessings and provisions you have so freely given to me. And give me a compassionate heart so that I will always share what I have with the poor and those who are genuinely in need—and are not in a position to be able to help themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Galatians 2:10.

Credit: Daily Encounter

Before it was said

Good afternoon my beautiful brothers and sisters. I don't know about you but I am blessed in so many many ways. It is truly a great honour to come to you today in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!!!

You know sometimes when I feel like all is lost, nothing is going my way and I feel like being difficult (yes I get like that, still maturing) I pull out my Have I Ever Told You CD and listen to some good ministering in song.

The last time I shared with you guys one of my favourite songs - On My Cross (I just love that song it really ministers to my soul). Today I am going to share with you another song from the Have I Ever Told You CD called Before it was said.

Please let these words minister to you as you meditate on them.

God Bless.

Everyday I sit and pray to God above

That You'll watch over me and my family

But Everyday I seem to pray the same old thing

In the same old way, and I start to think

That maybe I should change

And find something better to say

But I've learned to believe

You always hear me when I pray

So I get down on my knees

Cause I'm stronger than these

Voices inside of my head

They try to deceive me

And make me believe

That I would be better instead

To take my requests and put them to rest

But You're already one step ahead

You knew just what I would say

Before it was said

Every night I lie awake wondering

If You're listening to every heartbeat

You've told me that You know the deepest part of me

And You'll watch over me and my family

So I guess I shouldn't change

Cause You hear every word that I say

And I know You are here

When I come to You this way

So I guess I shouldn't change

Cause You hear every word that I say

And I knew You were here

When I knelt down today

So I get down on my knees

Cause I'm stronger than these

Voices inside of my head

They try to deceive me

And make me believe

That I would be better instead

To take my requests and put them to rest

But You're already one step ahead

You knew just what I would say

Before it was said

Thanks be to the Lord our God for giving us his son Jesus Christ which is the object of our Faith. The ONLY Faith that Saves is Faith in Him.

The Voice of God Within

"In the beginning God ...."

"God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'"1

"In his classic novel Crime and Punishment, Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a young man who rejects the existence of God. This young man murders an old woman. Believing there is no righteous God who will judge, and therefore no absolute standard of right and wrong, he knows that he should not feel guilty. However, he is consumed with a sense of guilt until he confesses his crime and hands his life over to the God he once rejected."2

In many cases, if not in most, atheism is more likely to be a moral issue rather than an intellectual issue. If one believes in God, he knows that he is morally responsible and cannot live as he pleases without struggling with a guilty conscience. On the other hand, if one doesn't believe in God, he rationalizes that he is not morally responsible to anyone and can live according to his own rules or as he pleases. In living this way there is always the danger of deadening one's conscience and silencing the voice of God within.

If there weren't a God—a Higher Authority—why would we even have a conscience and instinctively know that we are morally responsible and accountable?

The very first sentence in God's Word the Bible says, "In the beginning God ..."3 and later it says, "for in him we live and move and have our being."1 Either we believe in God or we become a god unto ourselves and live according to our own standards. Imagine the chaos and destruction if everyone in the world lived as a law unto himself.

The critical issue for all of us is that we know God and live according to his standards as found in his Word, the Bible, for "blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD."4 For help to find and know God go to: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will see and know that you are the God of all creation—which includes me—so that I can and will say to you in all confidence, 'My LORD and my God.' Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Acts 17:27-28 (NKJV)
2. Joe Boot, Searching for Truth, © 2002. Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL 60187, http://www.crossway.com/. Cited on "A Slice of Infinity," www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php
3. Genesis 1:1.
4. Psalm 33:12 (NIV).

Credit: Daily Encounter