Whole Hearted Faith

Hey come and join us with Leigh Gray on this journey of Whole Heart Faith. Want to be radically moved and changed? Go check out Leigh's post here.

Leave a comment on her blog or mine if you are in with us. Mr. Linky should be up soon on her blog.

Apathy, Lord Break Me

Lately I have been sensing apathy and indifference in my heart. I absolutely hate it. I don't know how or why this creeps in but from time to time it does. I HATE it. I want to live fully for Christ alone. I want to be broken before Him. So I started to pray for Him to break me again. I think God delights in those prayers because they tend to get answered very fast. So this is one of the things He used to break my heart from my foolish pride and apathy.

Compassion international. There is a group there now and Melissa from LPM is one of them. I read her stories of the journey and my heart broke. I felt compassion and real concern and hurt. For $32 dollars a month a child can be sponsored. Seriously that is only 8 mocha's from Starbucks. Seriously how spoiled am I that I even know that. Just pray about what you can do to help others in need. I am especially moved when I read about how mother Theresa lived. We have so much and really do we need it all? What can you do? What will you do? Let's not stay apahtetic and indifferent with what is going on in the world when we can make a difference.

Go and read the stories at the LPM blog you will not regret it.

Pray for the Persecuted - VOM

Living in America we do not experience these things like in Uzbekistan and other countries around the world-yet. The fact is we all will face persecution because of our faith in Jesus. We are in a free country and it is our job to help our brothers and sisters in need. So would you take a moment and please pray for these members of the family of Christ?


Jail Term For Christian
http://www.persecution.com/

* Date: April 29, 2009
* Country: Uzbekistan


A court in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, has given a 15-day prison term to Pavel Nenno, a deacon of a registered Baptist Church, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Nenno was prosecuted after a raid involving the secret police on his home, where he was "feeding neglected children from poor families", Protestants told Forum 18.

In a separate case, 17 people associated with a registered Bukhara Full Gospel church were each fined 100 times the minimum monthly salary, following a raid on a birthday party for a church member. In both cases, children's religious activity was identified by the authorities as a factor in their harsh sentences. Asked by Forum 18 why she was opposed to children attending church, one Bukhara head teacher replied, "I want our children to develop".
Pavel Peichev, General Secretary of the Uzbek Baptist Union, has published an open letter condemning "increased persecution of believers in all regions" and "a wave of arrests and searches".
Please Pray!

Pray the Lord will pour out His Spirit on Uzbekistan and change the hearts and minds of the people. Pray the Christians, and especially the children involved, will be comforted, protected and encouraged.

VOM assists Christians in Uzbekistan through the Families of Martyrs fund, Pastor Support Program and by supplying Bibles and other Christian literature.

God Glue - No Better Kind

Life in the Kingdom

Once upon a time in a faraway place (yet closer than you may think). There was a kingdom. In this kingdom there existed a large extended family. In this family there was love. Some loved more than others but nevertheless there was love. As any family has them this family also had its share of ups and downs with one another. The family focused on going in the same direction as their Father and then sometimes they split as is the cause of human nature.

Because the family was so big it lost focus on the most important things. First the busy things kept them from seeking the Father. The Father had great plans for them. He wanted them to follow Him. He had a path. He had a plan. But because of all the happenings the Father’s voice became muffled. The Father being a gentle and loving Father would not force His voice so He let his children take the path that they desired. This decision did indeed break His heart for He knew it was not their best.

Over time many members of the family got overlooked. They felt alone and isolated which is ironic since the family was so large. Yet that did not matter. They fell apart from the family and no one was there to retrieve them. They are the missing persons of the family. They are the family members whose pictures you see on the billboards and milk cartons. These break the Fathers heart yet He knows exactly where they are though the family He entrusted them to did not do its job in guarding and keeping them.

Other family members saw some of the problems and became concerned. They took these concerns to the patriarchs. Unfortunately the love of the them had grown too cold. They lost their love for their family. They decided that there are many in the family and the family continues to grow so if you do not like it then just go on and leave. This family does not need you. Yet again the Father sees and the Father weeps. You know my disciples because of their LOVE. Where is the love in the family?

One day a prince in the kingdom was suffering. He had suffered for a very long time. His afflictions were great. Yet though he was so afflicted no one was there to encourage and lift him up. He did not complain. He just quietly served and worked as the Father directed Him. Yet the evil one who seeks to destroy snuck up on him one day at his weakest point. The prince was not guarded partly because the family had failed him. It is not easy to be strong alone. The prince fell. He came back to the patriarchs of the family filled with regret, repentance and shame. Because of his failings he was kicked out of the family. No restoring the prince because the love had grown cold in the kingdom. It was forgotten that the family was to stay united.

Because it was the prince who was kicked out of the kingdom the people were bewildered. Some thought he was on a journey. Others thought perhaps he had found a new family and a new kingdom. Yet questions remained. For now in the darkness remained a family secret. A secret that the patriarchs did not want out. They wanted to protect their kingdom more than they wanted to restore their brother. The Father sees. The Father weeps. Yet it is never too late to step back on the right path. The Father waits.

Heart of the Matter

I am over here today!

Let Us Encourage One Another

Hey y'all you just have to go over to my friend Stephanie's blog today. If you are in need of any encouragement you will find it there. She is suffering from Chronic Lyme disease. This is so near and dear to my heart because I too once was there. She encourages and inspires me. Please go and show her some love and encouragement and be encouraged yourself.

Radical Revolution

I am over here today.

Medication Woes

Medications can do some really weird things to you. I cannot stand being put on a new one for anything. If it has a strange side effect it will probably happen to me. Never the less I am still fearfully and wonderfully made. God still knit me together this way.

I battle these crazy migraines. They are very complicated and for no apparent reason they tend to get far worse from time to time. When they really flare up from time to time we try some different types of medications that work to prevent these migraines in others.

This particular round has caused severe drowsiness. Now I am talking walking around minding your own business all things are fine but the clock hits 4:30pm and my head hit the ground kind of fatigue. No noise in this world can wake me up from it. Now that is some crazy fatigue. So after this kind of behavior for five days I have had to stop yet another attempt to try to manage these beasts of migraines by medication. But it is so nice to be back. Maybe medication is not going to be the thing that will work for me.

All I know is that God knows my body. He is the Great Physician. He can take these away in an instance if it were for my very best interest. If He allows anything that is an irritant to stay I have to believe it is to refine me more and more into His image. Trials do that to us don't they? What the enemy uses to try to destroy us, God uses to make us stronger than ever before.

Happy Easter!

Remember today we celebrate the special day they found the tomb empty because it could not hold our risen King! Despite the seal, despite the guards, even given all the power in the world, nothing can keep God down.

All praise and glory and honor to Him. Because He died, was buried, and rose again, we now can live! For Christ to voluntarily shed His innocent blood and to suffer the greatest agony of all mankind just because of the hope set before Him--the hope of things restored. The restoration of men and God. Salvation once and for all. A way had now and forever more been made to restore men with God in perfect fellowship again through Christ alone. Now if that is not love I do not know what is. Praise You Jesus.

Flickering Pixels - Book Review

The Blog Tour Spot is hosting a book review/discussion on the book Flickering Pixels.I was sent a free book for review. The purpose of this review is to facilitate discussion. So I am going to post a bit of my thoughts and hope that you will share you thoughts with me. This is really interesting stuff.

The basis of this book is how technology shapes our faith. The influence of the things from the invention of the printing press which has its positives and negatives to the Internet. There are so many very interesting insights and it is well worth the read. It is very informative as well and helpful. It is important that we keep our eyes open of the things that we need to be aware of that hurt our faith and our walk.

With that said I want to discuss this issue. I have been pondering it a lot lately and it was in the book so I want to know your thoughts. It seems that I am in contact with many more people than I normally would be without things like Facebook, the Internet, texting, cell phones, and etc. Because of this I have many more relationships. However, I realize that this "convenience" often gives me the excuse or illusion that because I have all these connections I do not really need to be as intentional in my face to face relationships. However this is a lie. Our face to face relationships are vital to us. Have you experienced this at all? How do you handle this? If you have younger children in the text generation have they ever formed good one on one relationships? Please share your thoughts on this.

To see a picture of the book (because I cannot get it to upload) And
to get your own copy you can go here.
To see what others on the tour are discussing go here.
To see the author's website go here.

God is Great

I have another update to report on the Bible study "Abundant Grace" and Malta. If you are not familiar with the study yet you can see a short description or get a free copy here. If you are a regular reader here you already know what a long process this has been and may have even gone through the study with me here online.

My friend in Malta has been passing these studies to many different people around the island and getting them into many different denominational groups around the island. This is wonderful that God would chose to use it in that way but He is not finished with it yet. Yesterday my friend was given an audience with the Arch Bishop of the Catholic church of Malta. (The next person in line above him is the Pope.) They had a very productive meeting talking about God and the Bible and the importance of Bible study. He took my study and if he approves it then it will have permission to go into all of the churches on the island. Isn't that amazing?

I love how God uses the simple things. How He uses obedience. How He uses total dependence. How He uses unceasing prayer. God is so amazing and His plans are much more than we truly think or imagine.

When God had me start writing this study I had no idea what the big picture had in store. Every rejection had a purpose. It was not meant for them. Every hour spent on research was worth it. It was meant for advancing the Kingdom of God. Every detail though I did not understand, God knew. He knew all along. He knows all alone the plans He has for us. We just need to always trust and always follow with that persevering faith.

Sticks and Stones - A Book Review

Ace Collins has written this book filled with interesting real life stories that prove the impact that our words have on others. It conveys a positive message. Unfortunately I could not completely finish this one because of all of the stories. It did not fit my normal reading style but it will be a good book to continually gain inspiration from when it is most needed. After all is that not why we read the material we read?

To purchase your own copy go here.
To view the author's website go here.
To see what other bloggers are saying go here.