Your Perspective | Keepin' it Positive

How you see things determine how you'll act on a day-to-day basis.

If you have "Stinkin' Thinkin'", then you'll look at the negative in most situations. Oh we all know that if we look for negative we will find it. And we have those who say, "Well what if the negative is "Just Obvious"? Then train your brain to search for the Positive in all situations! It takes work and a LOT of effort cause our flesh (The Old Man, that old nature inside of us) is naturally bent to the negative. 

Ephesians 4:22-24 
King James Version (KJV) - "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
{23} And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
{24} And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

You see how I bolded that phrase in verse 23 "be renewed in the spirit of your mind"? I think that it is important to have a positive mind-set cause it affects how you are! 

In my devotion book, I was reading this story and I think it'll go Perfectly with this blog-post. Here it is.

Two girls moved to a new city from two different towns. When they arrived at their new school, they were both curious about what the other kids were like in that school. The first girl asked the teacher about the other students, and the teacher asked her, "What kind of kids went to your old school?" The first girl said, "They were all rude, jealous, & mean." The teacher then told her that she would probably find the kids at this new school to be like the kids at her old school.
   Later, the second girl approached the teacher and asked the same question: "What are the kids like here at this school?" The teacher replied, "What were the kids like at your old school?" The girl said, "They were really, nice, fun, & friendly". The teacher said, "Well I'm sure that's what kind of kids you'll see here."


Do you see this? Beautiful eyes look for the best. Change your perspective on how you view people, situations, things, etc. This is something I think we could ALL work on (Myself included, yes!)

Pray and ask God to give you HIS point of view and expect to see some great people in the world around you.

May God bless you! I hope this was helpful to you.

Photo Credit : Holly Doss | Photographer and Graphic Designer

Feel free to Re-blog this or share this onto your Social networks or in a email to a friend!

To the People of the Church.

You are important! You are very important. 

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To the Usher, You have a big job! You are basically the face of the church. You are the first person the visitors see. 

To the Church-Cleaners, You are needed! Without you, God's house wouldn't be tidy!

To the Secretary, Without you, Pastor would be a lot busier than what he already is!

To the Nursery-workers, Without you, The services might have disruptions by those adorable, little ones! 

To the Sunday School teachers, Without you, The smaller children wouldn't have a foundation built on their level sort-of-speak, 

To the Members, Without you there would be no one for the preacher to preach to!

We ALL have our part in being members of the church. Never degrade yourself in thinking that you are not as significant as the other! We all need each other. We all have gifts in different areas that the Lord can use, if we let Him. 

1, Corinthians. 12:6
King James Version (KJV) - "And they're diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all"

The church needs every member to do his part!

1, Corinthians. 12:14-27
King James Version (KJV) - "For the body is not one member, but many.

{15} If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

{16} And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

{17} If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

{18} But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

God loves us all. We are very significant to Him and to His work.

{19} And if they were all one member, where were the body?

{20} But now are they many members, yet but one body.

{21} And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

{22}  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

All of us are needed.

{23} And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

{24} For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.

{25} That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

There shouldn't be gossiping, anger, or hatred in the church! We all need each other. The Lord hates discord. ESPECIALLY by the brethren...

{26} And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Always be there for eachother especially during times of trial or test. But never try to decipher why one is having a hard time. Cause You do NOT know. Never assume anything. Do not assume that there could be sin in their life... Look at Job. Was there sin in his life? No. And yet look at all the trials / tests he went through!

{27} Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Through reading these verses we see that we are all needed in God's work in the church. Never think otherwise.

Never get discouraged brethren. We're all needed for the Master's use! 

2, Timothy. 2:21

King James Version (KJV) - "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

May God Bless you Siblings in Christ! Continue Serving Him! If that is your calling to be in the ministry, you won't be happier doing anything else!

Feel free to re-blog or share this onto your social networks or in a email to a friend! 

Have you been "Christian Cursing?"

Have you been "Christian Cursing"? We all have and sometimes,

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Not even knowing it! We need to try to speak in a "Christ-Like" manner. We are Christians. Read on for the much-needed info. 

Matthew. 12:36 & 37 

King James Version (KJV) - "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. {37} For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." 

Titus. 2:7 & 8 

King James Version (KJV) - " In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity," {8} Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you."

According, to the scriptures typed out above, as Christians, (Which  means Christ-Like) We need to be very careful with our mouths because we will one day give an account to God. Most Christians are aware of the fact that God expects them to live holy lives. Likewise, most God-fearing Christians have learned to abstain from swearing and from the use of common profanity. I haven't met many faithful Christians who have a problem with worldly cursing. However, I have met MANY Christians who have stumbled into the Devil's trap and taken up a whole different kind of cursing. Keep reading, friend, because you just might need to "tune up" your vocabulary! Are You Taking God's Name in Vain? You say, "Oh my word. I wouldn't take God's name in vain!" You just did, though. John 1:1 says that "the Word" was GOD! John 1:1  King James Version (KJV) - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So It's like you were saying Oh My God. Which is using GOD's name in a slang way.  Satan tricked you, didn't he? We've all done it and we need to stay accountable and try not to do it anymore! "Oh my goodness!" you say. If you are saved then your "goodness" is none other than God Himself.  Psalm. 144:2  King James Version (KJV) - "My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me." The Bible says that All of Our goodness is as Filthy rags.  Isaiah 64:6 King James Version (KJV) - "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;..." You just took His name in vain again. We have no goodness of our own. Our lives are given by Christ. He is Good. We are not.  Romans. 3:23 King James Version (KJV) - "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Psalm. 39:5 King James Version (KJV) - "Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah." So "my goodness" is a reference to God! "Good grief. I had no idea!" That's actually "Christian Cursing" too... Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with GRIEF. Isaiah. 53:3 King James Version (KJV) - "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." His grief was "good" grief because He bore your sins and mine! We together need to show more reverence and respect for our Saviour, brethren and quit throwing God's word around too loosely. Once again, I'm still learning this and I have done some of my own "Christian Cursing" but now that I've learned these things, I want to share them with you too. Together we can learn and try to show more reverence towards God the Almighty.  You could say "For crying out loud! Can't I say anything?"  How about reading your Bible because that's slang as well... Matthew 27:46 King James Version (KJV) - "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? May I ask, What's your logic in using such speech? Could it be that Satan is just having a good laugh at our ignorance and disrespect of God's word? We have to be careful with our words! "Well, geeeeeeee!"  Hmmmm, Did you say "G", as in "GOD"? You may not have known it, but that is using God's name in a slang manner too. You've probably also said "Gosh" or "Good Golly", You might also have said "Jeepers Creepers" when you really wanted to say "Jesus Christ" (JC!).  When I first realized that I was taking my Lord's name in vain often I was very sad and I have since then tried to work on it so I wouldn't continue saying "Idle Words" as the Bible calls it.... You might have played around with the letters "G" and "D" together. You said "dad gum", "dang gum", "dog gone" or "Dang gummit", when your flesh really wanted to say "God" and then follow with the word "damn". I was unaware of all these "New ways" of taking God's name in vain.. I mean Think about it, Christian... Is God pleased with this kind of speech? Those Four-Letter Words... You probably wouldn't think of using the word "damn" too loosely, but what about "darn" and "dang"? Do they not serve the same purpose? Is Satan not pleased to fill your mouth with such speech? "Why, heck!" -Look out, friend! God knows your heart, and he knows your flesh is using heck in a slang way instead of just saying "hell". Down south folks could say, "Ah, shoot!" This is nothing more than a cheap way of saying the four letter 'S' word... Again I ask, is God pleased with this sort of speech? Is this "sound speech, that cannot be condemned"? I think not. Be careful what you say. Think about what you say before you say it... You might find out that you were about to take God's name in vain. We ALL need to work on it.. No one is perfect. But we can try for perfection like how the Bible talks about. (Matthew. 5:48 KJV) Swear Not. Matthew. 5:34 King James Version (KJV) - "But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Jesus said "swear not," yet God's people swear very often, and sadly, Sometimes we don't even realize we're doing it. Such expressions as "for Heaven's sake", or "for Pete's sake", and "Heavens to Betsy" are attempts to swear by Bible subjects, which shows disrespect toward God. God's word is PURE and HOLY. We should honor His words, not throw them around. We all need to work on this, friend.  Truth Is All the Authority You Need Why do people curse and swear? There's only one reason: Authority. People want to sound more forceful and authoritative when they speak, so they spice their speech up with all sorts of catchy little "powerful words". Sadly, such words often dishonor God, the Bible, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, Truth is all the authority you need. Just speak the truth as it is revealed in God's word and you'll have no use for "Christian cursing". Remember this verse as you go about your day seeking to please the Savior.  Matthew. 12:36 King James Version (KJV) - "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

God's Glory through our Suffering and Why

Sometimes God has to break our Pride and our "Tough Stuff

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Christian" attitude in able to do what God really wants to do through us - for His Glory! That process of God trying to "Get to us" can be hard and often thought of as a trial or that WE Are suffering when really all along God's heart was suffering because he could not work through us because of our rotten pride. Many times God gets the greatest glory from our greatest sufferings, because it is THEN in those dreary hours that we wave that "White flag of Surrender" realizing that we can not do it by ourselves! Surrendering is a sign of humility that ushers in HIS GRACE. When we are humble to God, and have a "It's Not me, It's God" attitude, we are willing to let God work through us and in our lives where that character trait, Being Humble, through God's Amazing and awesome power, can fully impact others spiritually, helping others come to know HIM and the Glory will go to God. God likes a humble child who fully depends on Him, who is willing to let the Lord work in their life and who trusts in Him at all times.

Proverbs. 3:5 & 6
King James Version (KJV) - "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thy own understanding. {6} In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. "

What a lesson us Mortals go thru. Crash at God's feet and don't be embarrassed of asking God, Our Creator, For help. We truly CAN'T "do it all on our own." 

Picture Credit : Holly Doss | Photographer and Graphic Designer