How-To Encourage Daily

In my last post I talked about encouraging daily. This means to encourage someone else each day, but how do you do that? You do it by answering four simple, one word questions; Who, What, When, Where. Here we go.

Who: Anyone. Don’t be shy and when you look at encouraging as an opportunity you will see opportunities abounding. Maybe it’s the check out clerk and you tell them they bagged your items appropriately. Your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter by telling them they did SOMETHING (anything) good. Thank the trash man for being there to pick up your trash. There are many ways to encourage others.

What: Big or small, anything that is encouraging. Maybe something they are wearing, or a look in their eye. Say something positive about THEM! This is not about you, it’s about them. When you encourage others you will receive blessings and rewards you never imagined.

When: When the opportunity presents itself. After you get the encouragement fever, you will be encouraging people all the time. So start with something small, no matter the time or place, just do it.

Where: Anywhere. You can encourage at a local store, at church, on vacation, anywhere there are people, you’ll find someone needing encouragement. Don’t hold back. You have something they want and it does not cost either of you anything other than time.

Enjoy life and encourage others. Work with them rather than against them.

2024 is The Year to Restore

There is a season for everything and this year, this season is the time to restore.


                                   “2024 is The Year to Restore”


This is a big Christ Theme, but then again, we have a big God. So where do we start when we start to restore and what should we restore?

This year’s theme is not about anyone but you. It’s time to restore some elements of YOUR life. The Christ Theme for this year is about restoring things for you as a person. The first element we need restore is our relationship with God.

If you have a good relationship with God, kick it up a notch and get in a better relationship with Him. This is the year to do it.  There is so much to be had in life when your relationship with your Heavenly Father is good. He made this very promise in 1 Kings when He said:

1 Kings 9:3-5

The Lord said:

“I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

God’s word is for all of us.  It is His guide so we do the right thing.  Study His Word so you know what is expected of you.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the blessings He’ll bestow upon you and your family. God’s Word is timeless and cannot be changed.

I can see things happen in those who’ve met the challenge of having a good relationship with God.  And I can see things happen in those people’s lives who haven’t met the challenge, or don’t want to meet the challenge of having a good, or better relationship with God.

The relationship is not so much about you and God, but about doing what God asks you to do.  Most of what He’s asked is in the Bible.  The other times He asks you its because He needs “boots on the ground” to do His work.  You are that person He may ask.  The real question is are you willing to do what God has, and will ask you to do? 

The hard part is letting go of reality to do the work God asks of you.  It is hard stepping out of this world, letting go to see, hear and do what God asks.  This world entices us to stay a part of it.  The world does not want to let go of you long enough for you to have a good solid relationship with God. It’s not hard to be a Christian. 

There is a step by step guide about what you should be doing as a Christian.  It also tells us how to live our lives to align ourselves with Christ.  The guide is the Bible.  The blueprint is there. 

The hard part is letting go of the world we live in long enough to be the Christian Jesus asks us to be.  It does not happen overnight and is something a person has to work at a little bit at a time. 

What I’ve been writing about is why we need to restore our relationship with God, first, then look at restoring, or upgrading; our love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).  GB

The 2024 Christ Theme

As I sit here getting ready to write I am overcome with emotion about the number of people who want to keep the Martinwood Christian Church Facebook page open.  We have decided to keep the page open and will support it as best as we can.

That’s the first announcement.  The second is the 2024 Christ Theme.  Christ’s theme did not come to us as soon as usual this year.  For the last seven years we’ve announced it at the Christmas Eve Service, but this year was somehow different.  Christ waited until I could understand His Christ theme, not mine.

The Christ Theme for 2024 is

2024; The Season to Restore

2024 is the season to restore hopes.

2024 is the season to restore dreams.

2024 is the season to restore love.

2024 is the season to restore peace.

2024 is the season to restore your health.

2024 is the season to restore your attitude.

It’s the season to restore your relationship with God!

*****

This year’s theme is based upon Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: there is time for everything, and 2024 is The Season to Restore. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

1There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Look closely at this year’s Christ Theme and you’ll see a pattern.  The pattern involves you, not others.   This is not meant to offend anyone or sound mean, but I did not mention, nor does Ecclesiastes, restoring relationships.  It is intentionally left out because there are some relationships YOU cannot restore.  They will only bring you down.  Christ is the only one who can restore THOSE types of relationships, but we must restore ourselves first!  We cannot restore something we don’t have control over, but we do have control over ourselves and what we can do for us.

*****

It’s the season to restore hopes and dreams. 

Remember those hopes and dreams you had as a kid.  Remember how much love you had in your teen years and how much you love you had when you got married or had an equally special event happen in your life?

That is what we will restore in 2024.  You will restore you to the person who will reap the benefits of the Lord’s fruits called the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

8 Spiritual Attacks You Need to Know About

The 8 Spiritual Attacks you need to know about have been known since at least 400 A.D. I found out about them while reading a book about the desert monks. I believe these attacks happen on a daily basis today, just like they did in 400 A.D.

There are many spiritual attacks to watch out for. You will know when these spiritual attacks are coming against you. You will feel icky feelings inside, unless you’ve gotten used to them. Amongst those feelings are…

Jealousy

Contempt

Pride

And lot more feelings you notice that are more intense than you have ever felt.

There was a fourth century monk called Evagrius of Pontus. His influence was seen throughout early Christian churches. Evagrius was a high ranking bishop who’d spent most of his life in ministry. He was the overseer of many churches. Evagrius was also instrumental in the original Nicene Creed which as you know is very similar to the Apostles Creed.

Evagrius of Pontus was a dessert monk. He researched evil attacks made against the monks he worked with. For instance he talks about a monk coming from wealthy families who had a spiritual attack of the love of money. The kind of attack trying to get him to believe he should have had lots of money, but instead he chose to be a monk.

Evil spirits know what to attack. They sometimes seem like they know as much about you as your best friend knows, but they’re not a friend, much less a best friend. Evagrius wanted to understand and define the spiritual attacks the monks were having because each of the 8 attacks seem to have certain characteristics about them.

As a result of his studies, Evagrius of Pontus identified 8 spiritual attacks (demons we face, some on a daily basis). These are attacks you need to be aware of so in full armor, you can fight against them and win! Any one or all of these attacks could happen against you, especially if you have a strong relationship with God. These spirits do not like us having a strong relationship with God so they try to kill steal or destroy that relationship. .

Evil believes it has forever to taunt you and to get between you and God. What he doesn’t expect is your knowing and fighting his every move and that’s why we first need to know these demons exist, then I’ll show you how to fight them.

Evagrius book, Talking Back is about taking charge, standing up against them for the fight by talking back to evil spirits using the same tools Jesus used when Satan taunted him in the desert.

The premise of the book is that there is scripture to combat each one of the 8 demons. These scripture verses give you the ability to stand your ground and talk back to each of the 8 demons and repel them.

  1. Thoughts of Gluttony
    • Excess in eating or drinking
    • Greedy or excessive indulgence
  2. Thoughts of Fornication
    • Consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other
  3. Concerning Love of Money
    • Making the love of money a priority in life, even above God.
  4. Concerning the Thoughts of the Demon of Sadness
    • Affected with or expressive of grief or unhappiness
  5. Against the Demon of Anger
    • A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism
    • A threatening or violent appearance or state
  6. Against the Thoughts of the Demon of Listlessness
    • Characterized by lack of interest, energy, or spirit
  7. Against the Thoughts from the Demon of Vainglory
    • Excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one’s achievements
    • Vain display or show
  8. Against the Cursed thoughts of Pride
    • Exaggerated self-esteem CONCEIT
    • (Self-esteem = confidence and satisfaction in oneself SELF-RESPECT)

GB. M

God Knows

It sometimes feels crazy going through life without what the secular world calls “direction.” They may think or say “he doesn’t have any direction in their life,” or “he doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life.”

There are times in people’s lives where I can see that is a problem, but not so with Christians. They may seem not to have direction, but when they are truly listening to God’s voice (yes, He still talks to us today), and do not appear to have direction nor can they explain their guidance from a secular point of view, they are moving in a direction, toward God.

This may sound crazy to some, but not for those who Believe. Those who believe in the Word as coming from God and scribed by men. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

He leads us through His plans. His plans cannot compare to anything we could possibly think or conceive. It is up to us to follow His guidance. But doesn’t it seem strange to follow guidance you can’t see, or touch; to follow what most see as a whim? That is what is called Faith. To believe and follow something even though you have not seen it.

John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

God knows. He is a sovereign God and knows everything. He knows where you need to be, where you need to go and what you need to do. When you accept that what you are doing is for Him, your blessings will be as you have never before seen.

Take a chance; spend one hour doing nothing but what He tells you to do. If He tells you to read, read. If He tells you to read the Bible, read the Bible. If He tells you to meditate, meditate. If He tells you to clean your kitchen, clean your kitchen. Do this for Him and you will find his blessings are greater than anything we could imagine.

GB. M

Remember the Grass

Remember the Grass

Overview: God asks us to cultivate the ground, plant seeds of righteousness, then nurture them to maturity.  We all have seeds we can plant, but it’s easier to leave them in the container they came in and not do anything with the seeds we’ve been given.  God can’t work His Glory if seeds don’t get planted.

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