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Friday, January 20, 2012

A Movie Worth Your Time: Sleepless in Seattle


This is a wonderful movie! One of my family's favs ;)
Two different people, in two different worlds.
It was like magic ;)


 Meg Ryan plays a woman that listened to a radio station on Christmas Eve
and after that night, she starts questioning everything she was certain about before.


She goes for days asking her friends, "Am I crazy?", "Am I being ridiculous?"


Tom Hanks is playing a man suffering from a huge loss.
And at the same time is try to raise his son, Jonah.


Through the whole movie you are in complete suspense.
You've just got to know will it all work out or will it just be a passing thought
"who was he?" "who was she?"
You gasp, you scream, you jump, you cry....
and all you want to know is DO THEY GET TOGETHER!!!


Well...you're just going to have to watch the movie for yourself.
lol
It's funny, interesting and it's truly GOOD!!!
Hope you like this classic.
ttyl

Thursday, January 19, 2012

READ THIS!


I am starting to read a book called "Your Miracle Is In Your Mouth".
By the first chapter I was in complete amazement. It's by Joseph Prince, he's a pastor in Singapore.
He preaches radical grace and my family and I have been listening to him for about a year.
I will not attempt to do this book justice. So, I'm going to show you the first chapter.
You won't be able to get it fast enough.
lol

Chapter 1
How You See God Affects How You Receive From God.

Why Do You See Me Like That?
Many years ago, I heard God's voice distinctly while I was praying. What He said changed my theology.
On this day, I had begun to pray, "Heavenly Father..." and as usual, I pictured God as an old
man with white hair, white eyebrows and a long white beard. I don't know about you , but until then, that's how I pictured God. Then, suddenly, I heard His voice speak to me. It was an inner voice that said, "Son, stop! Why do you see Me like that?" I obeyed and stopped, and then I replied,
"Oh, because you are my Father and fathers are usually very old."
God said to me, "Son, growing old is part of the curse on earth. Because of Adam's sin, people grow
old, they become weak and they die. In heaven, there is no curse. I am forever young."
Now, that really changed the way I saw God. It changed my perspective. And it changed the way I prayed from that day onwards. Now, when ever I pray, I see a heavenly Father who is youthful and dynamic.
How do you see God? How do your Christian and non-Christian friends see God? If you go
into the streets and ask people what God is like, many of then will probably tell you
that God is old, that He is serious because He is
holy and that He is a strict disciplinarian who is always catching them doing wrong. Some of them will even tell you that God disciplines them with sicknesses and other hardships.

God Is Not Judgmental, God Is Loving
Listen to me, my friend, God is not like that. He is like a father who is always thinking of ways
 to put a smile on his boy's face.
He goes to the toy shop to look for a gift. He finds one and there is a smile on his face as he looks at the toy. He is imagining his son opening up the gift for the first time and looking at the toy with joy.
And he is smiling. God is like that. He is a good Father.

Matthew 7:11 tells us:
If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children,
 how much more will your Father who
is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!


Right now, He is thinking of you and He has a smile on His face because
 He has something wonderful prepared for you!
That is the kind of God you and I have. He is not out to catch you doing wrong so that
He can knock you on the head! No, He always affirms His love for you.
He is the warm, friendly voice on the inside that lifts you up and strengthens you.
Some people may not agree with this picture of God. Perhaps they didn't grow up with fathers who
were good to them. They may have had absentee fathers, fathers who were never there for them. Or worse, they may have had abusive fathers who beat them harshly. So their image of a father is already tainted, They automatically assume that God is like their own father. They find it hard to see
God as a gracious, giving Father. If you are like that, I want you to know that God is a Father of the fatherless, (Psalm 68:5) He is a loving Father who will never leave you nor forsake you!
Now, at times, you may "hear" a voice in your head that points out your shortcomings and sins, that condemns you and makes you feel dirty. That is not the voice of God,
but the voice of the devil! In Revelation 12:10, Satan is called
"the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night".
This tells us that Satan comes to accuse us of having broken God is not like that. He
does not go about reminding us of our sin and what we have done wrong.

John 16:8-11 says:
And when He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment: of sin, because they do not
believe in My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment,
because the ruler of this world is judged.

Notice that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. The word is singular-not sins, but sin.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit only convicts us of one sin- not believing in Jesus.
But once you believe in Jesus, what does the Holy Spirit convict you of? Of righteousness.
Have you ever heard that? Most people hear that the Holy Spirit is a nag,
that he tells them what is wrong with them.
but here, we are told that He convicts us of righteousness because Jesus has died to remove our
sins and make us eternally righteous.
And contrary to what we always been hearing, He convicts us that it is not us He judges, but the devil!
Yet, there are people who see a God of the Old Testament, a God who judges His people, and who corrects and disciplines them.  They think that God always wants to correct and discipline them.  Let me tell you, the God of the Old Testament may have executed justice from time to time, but His heart is not in judgment. 

Psalms 103:8-9 declares..
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
  He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.

You see, God loves mercy.  His heart is full of mercy, not judgment. 
The Bible doesn't say that God is judgment. 
The Bible says that God is Love. (1 John 4:8)
It says that His mercy endures forever! (Psalms 136:1)
Some of you may stop me at this point and say, "Pastor Prince, does it really matter how I see God?"  Well yes, it does!  It is very important how you see God, because when it comes to the fight of life
how you see God will affect your faith and how you receive from Him.
Your perception of God will determine the quality of your relationship with Him and this affects everything else-the way you share God's love with those around you, your relationship with your husband or wife, the way you respond to hardships at work...

How You See Determines How You'll Receive
There was a young man in our church who was having a tough time with his business partner. 
He finally gave up his share of the business to his partner.  As a result, he was without a job for awhile.
During that time, I had been preaching a series of messages on how your heavenly Father takes care of everything, and how all we need to do is to trust Him.
The young man applied this message to his work life and prayed for a better job.  He saw God as a powerful and loving Father, and simply left the matter in God's hands.  It wasn't long before he was offered a great job.  He was given the role of Business Manager for an engineering company in the oil and gas industry, even though he didn't have any engineering background and was only 25 years old!
This new role basically is to run the company's local subsidiary with another manager. 
He worked from home and his hours are flexible.  He also gets along well with the sales development manager and he says the salary is "pretty good."  Not bad for someone who needed a new job!
When you see God as a giving and gracious Father, it becomes easy to receive what you need from Him, whether it is a new job, healing or financial breakthrough.
Now, some of you may say, "Pastor Prince, we can't always expect God to deliver us from our troubles because He may use difficult circumstances to teach us important lessons."
Listen to me , if you are drowning and you call out to God to save you, God is not going to take the opportunity to give you a 10-lesson swimming course. He is not going to say, "Okay,
step one: Kick. Now, progress to step two: Move your hands. Step three: Breathe..."
Anyone who does that is cruel! No, God would not do that! He will save you straightaway! He will grab you and bring you to shore. Remember when Peter decided he wanted to walk out on the water to meet Jesus?
When he began to doubt and sink, he cried, "Lord, save me!" Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him. (Matthew 14:30-31) He didn't use the opportunity to give Peter a 10-point faith course! He saved Peter immediately.
Faith Works Best When You Know God's Love For You
Beloved, in your time of need, receiving from God because easy if you will see Him as a gracious
Father who responds immediately to your cries.
You will then expect a miracle from a God of mercy, not some painful, lengthy lesson from a 
God of judgment. Don't get me wrong, God does teach us, but He doesn't teach us
with accidents, tragedies or sicknesses. So how does God teach us?
He uses His Word to discipline or train us. If there is an area of your life that needs to be corrected, God do speak to your heart about it, perhaps through a sermon or even though your spouse! You may
not like what you hear, but you need to know that He is doing it for your benefit because you are His son or daughter and He loves you. (Hebrews 12:5-11)
I want to challenge you: What kind of God do you really see? Do you still see an angry God
who likes to point out your mistakes and knock you on your head? Or do you see a gracious, giving Father?
............................................
And chapter 2 gets even better ;)
I hope you try to find a copy and read the book with me
...well...
ttyl

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Miranda Lambert, Can't Get Better Than That ;)

Miranda Lambert!
Now that is a chick that knows what she wants.
Miranda Lambert knew that even though she was a girl, she knew that if someone
would stop and listen, they might like what she had to say.
I just watched a show about how she got to where she is today.
It was the most interesting and inspiring show I have ever watched. 
She was just 17 when she decided to start the long journey to Tennessee.
There are two sides of Miranda Lambert..there's the sweet and caring girl..and there's the strong fireball girl.
You know the song called "Gunpowder & Lead" I thought it was about her but it's not...
Miranda's family took in women and their children that were struggling with abusive husbands.
She is singing about them.


I love the way she can relate to so many people on so many levels!
They talked about how Blake and Miranda met.
 I love this duet. You have got to see it
.

She said it wasn't always a fairytale but they made it through the hard times and came out stronger.
But look at them now, Miranda and Blake are married and they are the cutest couple in country music.
What more can I say..she's awesome!!!

Oh and check out Miranda's website...
http://www.muttnationfoundation.com/

Well , she inspired me... did she inspire you?
ttyl