Never leave you

The thought that moves me these days
more than any other
 is the thought expressed in so many ways
 and in various contexts that,

I will never leave you. 

I will be with you always. 

What can separate us? Who can be against us. Who is this that makes these promises? The invisible, omniscient, the omnipresent, loving, all-powerful God. 

Yahweh.

The God who has chosen to have a relationship with us. The God who has bound himself to a contract and many great and precious promises. This is a God who cannot lie.

If my words abide in you

youtube of Piper on memorizing scripture

LST Luke Seed Thoughts

Luke Seed thoughts

lesson one Luke believed that he was writing about true events

 

lesson two God can do anything

 

lesson three Luke believes he is writing history

 

lesson 4 Jesus was a man lesson five Jesus is the Christ the son of God

 

6 Jesus was as human as we are

 

7 Jesus was concerned about the physical and spiritual

8 Jesus is the friend of people with problems and weaknesses.
9 The wise person builds on a solid rock, Jesus

10 Jesus is the friend of those who need help

11 what kind of soil are you? 12 Jesus is from God or following Jesus is not easy.
13 Jesus is God's son. Don't listen to other prophets

14 A follower of Jesus is socially involved

15 If we keep looking we will find it

16 God cares about inside things not outside things

17 Jesus taught values that are different from today's l

 

18 God provides for us if we trust him

19 not everyone chooses to follow Jesus

20 regardless of how far we go away God welcomes us back 21 we cannot have two masters.
22 we make our decision about Jesus in the way we live

 23 we recognize our weakness in order to come to God

STAY!

STAY

If you can stay when all are leaving,

and give due honor to their leaving, too;

If you can preach with few believing

and keep respect in the culture too;

If you can fall in bed exhausted and defeated,

and rise in the morning new,

and, forgiven, choose to be forgiving,

and stand and fight 

and pray,

and stay;

If you can stay when grandkids are increasing

and rejoice in God's provision now

of brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers,

and in the world to come, a "Well done good and faithful servant!";

If you can face down burnout and exhaustion,

and treat those two impostors both the same,

and choose to seek the refreshing

of God's eternal Spirit,

and stay;

If you can weigh the options and struggle, and debate,

and use your thumb to press for STAY,

and never say "Look at what I did!"

and stay:

If you can say that sometimes staying may not be the best,

but sometimes it is the only,

thing.

and stay,

faithful and humble

planting and watering

and weeping and waiting,

and staying;

One day,

You will die on the field,

or,

you'll be an old missionary, my son,

or daughter, brother or sister!

THANK YOU, FATHER!

ALMIGHTY loving Heavenly Father,

THANK YOU

for peace in this country, 

this town,

and in my heart.

for ALL the abundant blessings you so

generously and graciously give

us every day. For food, shelter, and clothing.

For clean drinking water,

Air we can breathe,

and jobs 

and health.

You made our amazing bodies, with all the right

chemical reactions, and the right foods,

and wether, and soil, and sun.

You know how everything works because you designed it,

In your great love and mighty power, you gave us

us a piece of your image to wear and

all we need for Life and Happiness.

You rule above all kingdoms,

you work your will and bring about your glory.

You are never surprised,

never in a hurry.

Never worried.

You see the end from the beginning.

We will never understand your nature,

your power,

you plan,

or your love completely.  

Thanking for giving us a glimpse.

Thank you for nature.

Thank you for your word,

Thank you for Jesus, 

And for the Holy Spirit.

Let us learn from each more carefully.

Let us be more attentive.

Let us be more clear-minded.

Let us be more obedient.

Thank you Father!!!!

Thank you!!!

In Jesus' precious name

AMEN!

Choosing Your Best LIfge Now draft May 2013

Questions for me:

How many convictions, how many habits can a reader remember?

Choices come out of convictions.

Choices result in habits, which build our character.

CHOICES:
Your BEST LIFE NOW 
Your future love and happiness! 
Choose your habits carefully! 
Foundations for a brilliant future

Foreword:

 Jesus answers the big questions Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning and purpose of life? How can I determine what has value? How can I determine what is right and wrong? What is success? What is happiness?

Some definitions:

Success:
I believe success should be defined as the progress toward a good goal.

Happiness, though universally pursued, is little understood.  It is usually seen as a temporary feeling that things are going my way now. It is usually pursued as though our efforts can bring it, but experienced as a result of luck and random chance.

I believe, in most cases, happiness has several aspects.

When I am happy,…

I feel that I am important, loved, and valued. 

I'm free enough to make important choices

I have hope for better days ahead, 

I have some fulfilling work 

I have time for some fun now.
My health is good enough to give me freedom to enjoy life....

THE PESkY PARADOX

Success and happiness are wonderful, of course.  Success can lead to happiness.  However the road to success is paved with failures, small and large.  And happiness is rarely, perhaps never, achieved by seeking happiness.

Why is this?

Short-term success is often achieved by pursuing short-term goals.  A test score, a weight loss program. A successful performance. But, in the long term, happiness is actually achieved by pursuing other goals.

Have you ever tried really hard to remember an actor’s name? As long as you try to remember, it will never come to you, but if you can get your mind off the question, the name often pops into your head.  It is a silly example but happiness may be seen this way, too.  Only when we take our mind off seeking our happiness do we actually achieve it.

Intro:

What is success?
Steps to success

Set a goal, set priorities, be enthusiastic, work, work, work, never give up.
Convictions are ideas you hold to be true at a deep level in your heart.  You may never have put your convictions into words.  You may be surprised what your true convictions really are. Your actions reveal to all what your TRUE convictions are.  Your convictions determine your decisions and choices, which develop into habits, the sum of your habits is your character.
Habits

Chapter  1 

Why bother?

Life’s Basic Questions

Your convictions, choices, and habits are your way of answering these basic questions of life.  Even if you have never thought deeply about these questions in an explicit way, you are answering them each day.  I invite you now to begin to choose your best life now by thinking deeply about these questions.

What is my purpose? Every religion and philosophy attempts to answer this question.  Why are you alive? Are you an accident?  Eat, drink, and have fun? Get married and have more children who will not know their purpose? Do some work?

Where did I come from?
By now you know that you came from your parents. But thinking beyond that and outside of that, where did you come from?

Where am I going? I know where my grandparents went.  I can see their tombs. Is that it? Is that all?

Values: How can I know:

     What is right and wrong? Is there a right and wrong? Who says?  Does ti matter?  

     What is valuable and 

     What is worthless?
My time money and energy will be spent in one way or another.  My life will not last forever.  How should use, spend or save my time, energy, money? In the next chapter we will begin to answer this question.  It is all about love!
Chapter 2
It is all about love.
Love, the greatest thing in the world

You were born to love and be loved. This is the best thing a human can do.

There are of course, many kinds of love:
A mother’s love.
Love for country
The love of a lover

LOVE IS A WAY OF LIFE!

THERE IS NO BETTER WAY to spend our lives than in loving the people around us.  Love is a way of doing, more than a way of feeling.  We make choices about how to treat people and those choices become habits which become our character.  How brilliant it would be if our character were built from years of making choices and developing strong habits of LOVE!!!

But choosing to love is choosing the well-being or happiness of another as more important than our own happiness or well-being.

Another leg of the pesky paradox is that our greatest success and happiness come when begin to seek the success and happiness of another.

One conviction: It is not about me.

How great is love?

It is better than being instantly able to speak in a foreign language. It is better than being able to tell people all about the future, and all about God’s message.  Love is better than the power to tell a mountain to move over to the other side of the ocean.  And amazingly, love is even better than the pure unselfishness of a monk or saint who gives away everything and even sets himself on fire!


We already said that love it a way of acting and choosing.  What kind of choices? What kind of doing?

Love chooses patience and kindness, chooses NOT TO BE JEALOUS!,  Love chooses not to brag or be proud.  Love is not rude.  Not selfish, Does not get  angry easily.  Love does not keep track of things people do against it.  Love does not have fun doing things that are wrong!  Love is happy with speaking and seeking the truth.  Love bears up under suffering, keeps on trusting, stays strong in hope!

Love treats others like it would like to be treated!


STOP AND THINK!

What traits of love are easier for you?  Which are harder? Are there some you have not even thought of?
Can you choose two or three to think of this week and look for opportunities to show a specific aspect of love?
Do you think you want to be a person who exhibits the traits of love until they become habits and the foundation for your character? Why or why not?

Take Action:

Decide to live a life of love.

This choice will be the foundation for your life and for the discussion in the rest of this book.

Spiritual Health
 For a healthy heart and spirit, we must think deeply about unseen realities...your source and your destination. Where did you come from? Where are you going?  Does it really matter?

Japanese people often say that they do not have any religion, but this is actually a religious statement.  It means, My religion is ME.  At a deep level, I believe I AM GOD.  I work and play so hard that I have no time to think about God or about the after life.  I work hard at keeping harmony in my home, neighborhood, company or school.  However, even these relationships are often based on bullying and manipulation, and give little true satisfaction as a human relationship.  At important life events, I do the ceremonies at the temple or shrine, and even on Unlucky Years, I      

participate in the rituals and get the charms or the red presents or clothing.  Even though I am busy, exhausted, and  unfulfilled, I can still say I have no religion.  My heart stays empty or broken and when I suffer a shipwreck in my life, I do not know where to turn.  There is little understanding of  of forgiveness and soon I build up a long list of broken relationships and my life becomes more and more narrow.

3. Your mind-your treasure Build good habits now to last a lifetime.

Just like your body, your mind needs a balanced diet and regular exercise.

Unlike your body, which can throw off, out or up, stuff that will damage it, your mind tends to hold on to that stuff, especially images that are sexually perverted or too intense, violent images, etc.  You can decide now to choose wisely what kind of input you will allow into your precious mind.  Remember that it will not easily be gotten rid of.

How to take care of your the amazing gift: your mind.

Your mental diet:

A variety of good literature.

Classics.

News

History

Fiction

Nonfiction

Essays

  

A minimum of gossip, or light, or silly literature.

No pornography.

4. Purity: visioning your best marriage now.

Though marriage is losing popularity in pop culture, and losing its meaning in secular culture in general, it is still the optimum relationship for humans. To preserve a culture and a civilization, it is a basic unit of life structure and forms the foundation for the rearing of children and even the care of older adults in later life.

 your vow
your hopes and dreams 

5. Your physical health.
Food and exercise-you only get one body. foundations for a brilliant future
6. Time
Youth does not last forever no rewinds!
7. Good humor You can choose your attitude every day and create peace and kindness in your home, your school, your community, and your world!

How to pray for your missionaries

http://www.mrnet.org/system/files/library/how_to_pray_for_your_missionaries_daily_through_the_month.pdf

God's Plan for your day

I DID NOT WRITE THIS!

This was going around FB and internet

The Divine Mercy

Me: God, can I ask You a question?

God: Sure

Me: Promise You won't get mad

God: I promise

Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do u mean?

Me: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong ; I had to wait

God: Huummm

Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my
feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing
went right today! Why did You do that?

God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning; I had
to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep
through that

Me (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on
your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Me: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick; I didn't
want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss
work.

Me (embarrassed):Okay

God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was
going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't
even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Me (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to
throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you
wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I'm Sorry God

God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me.... in All things , the
Good AND the bad.

Me: I will trust You.

God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.

Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.

God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and
I Love looking after My Children...

teen survey

http://www.christianchronicle.org/

The power to grasp

...power to grasp how wide...

is the love of Christ.
Ephesians 3:18 NIV

How wide is the love of Christ?

It goes from East to West,

with no partiality,

no prejudice.

It stretches from North to South

with no regard for lines, 

or borders.

It reaches from this side of the room,

to that side.

The love of Christ embraces everyone

in my family,

in every family,

From first base to third,

from backstop to the wall.

and ALL the seats.

You are covered.

How wide?

without regard to latitude or longitude,

over planetary borders,

beyond galaxies,

God loves all life that He created.

Power to grasp how

long

is the love of Christ!

How long is the love of Christ?

As long as it needs to be.

As long as it is needed,

The love of Christ is there,

and active.

How long?

Before you were born,

you were the apple of his eye

Before you were born,

He had a plan to save you.

Before your dad ever flirted with your mom,

Christ was already loving you with a love unfailing.

Before He spoke the world into existence,

Before Let there Be Light,

There was the Love of Christ

Howl long will it last,

This love of Christ?

His love will never end.

O thought beyond  us humans!

Never end?

Everything ends!

It all runs out, wears out, gives up.

Not this love.

The love of Christ will always be there.

After the last star has grown cold

and the last ocean has frozen and melted

and vaporized,

and dissipated.

When matter wears out,

The love of Christ will still be young.

Just getting warmed up

For eternity

The power

to grasp

How high

is the love of Christ

How high, indeed?

Everest,

a mere hill,

compared to the heights of this love.

Clouds, moon, stars,

and sun

sink low in comparison.

The love of Christ reaches up beyond

the highest mountain,

beyond the heights or our imagination

But at its highest,

It reached to the height of a cross

on a small hill 

outside Jerusalem.

The power to grasp,

with all the saints,

How Deep is the Love of Christ

How Deep?

Down to the lowest level of society,

Down to the Valley of Death,

Deeper than Death Valley,

Deeper than the Grand Canyon,

Deeper than the deepest sea,

Deeper than Davy Jones' Locker

The love of Christ reaches 

to the bottom of my dirty heart.

Bringing light