Seven national crimes:How much more important are you than God...?

I came across this and I thought it was very useful for many of us, specially for Christians and basically all of us because we do live in a world in which many things do happen and we tend to turn our back  or simply pretend to look the other way... 


Seven national crimes: 


1. I don’t think. 
2. I don’t know. 
3. I don’t care. 
4. I am too busy. 
5. I leave well enough alone. 
6. I have no time to read and find out. 
7. I am not interested.


                by: Rev. William J.H. Boetcker


But the question is, is that being a Christian? At least for a full time Christian.


     1.To not Think? are you a robot? I wouldn't even call you a robot... at least the robot processes some things.

     2. I don't know? To say I don't know is to tell me that you choose not to know, did God not give you the ability to question everything.... I tell you, when you talk to a teenager in these days and you ask them about something, doesn't matter what it is, all they'll reply will be "I dunno" not even a real reply...and then it gets me to question  how far are these teenagers planning to get in life, again...?


    3. I don't care? if i really get into this one we won't finish today but really, how dare you say, I don't care.... so much I don't care will get me thinking, "no wonder no one cares about you"...  can I ask, what's the name of your heart, rock, solid rock?


To care is to love and if you don't care you don't love, you have no sensitivity towards the things or people that surround you, that do care... you either have had enough pain that you no longer feel pain, nothing hurts, nada. But wasn't Jesus in full pain constantly, did he not sacrifice himself just because he cared. 


 BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU THEREFORE HE CARED FOR YOU!!!!




 And if God is love, why don't I care to think, to know, to care, to take time aside for others. Doesn't Jesus  tell us that he is in every "little" person among us, in the ill, in the poor, in the hopeless, lost, and in the broken.  And didn't Jesus teach us to love one another, that we have to care for others and things that happen around and not just around but for entire humanity itself. He says that Everyone is your brother and sister, that no matter which ethnic you belong to, your language, how poor or rich, your color skin, no matter what, you are still my brother and my sister because Jesus said so. Period. 


The rest are self explained. But in this busy world and busy system, we tend to let ourselves get involved too much in it ... we  often end up wrapped inside our own egos, inside of where we perhaps didn't want to end for starters but we still end up saying "the world made me who I am today" ...Ha ha, really? you allow yourself to be who you are because you wanted to not because the world made you! Stop fooling yourself. The world gave you nothing neither does it owe you anything.  All you are and all you have is by grace of my God, Period!


Once we understand that these thoughts or ways to respond unto life is unacceptable and begin to think that we are all put in this world for a purpose and not just for your own selfish purpose but for humanity, to make a difference, to be the difference you wish to see in the world, you will experience life a little different and might even begin to love every single ray of light that shines..... Because you are Gods creation, God dwells in you, loves you and why not begin to love him back by appreciating the things you have right next to you, start by admiring nature, the sun, the moon, the sea and the skies, the clouds, the way the wind blows and the smell of it... little sounds around you, its a plain beauty once you begin to notice and you will begin to care much about the rest of things and those around you.


Once you love every detail of nature and life itself, you can begin to say you do know the least yet the most important things of life, the small details are the things that counts; you can also begin to care as your hearts begins to soften up in gratitude, that you do think, you are interested and not too busy. 


Because God is never busy, always cares, always knows, always thinks, always has time and is always interest because you are as important to him you... as the nature that surrounds you right now and perhaps more.


  So the question is, How much more important are you than God to live within these national crimes which by the way are the keys to being a real leader just as his son Jesus Christ was.

Blessings to all!
LMRz

A Prayer for WhenTimes Advice Won't Fix

 I found this piece of work, this well written masterpiece of poem. I am a great fan of poems, as I have my own writting of poems... but this one was well recieved in my heart and I thought I would share it... make sure you read it to the very last line of it.


It's a wonderful message.

O God, where are you?      I'm so lonely!
My heart is like a hollow tomb.
  My life echoes with emptiness.
    My arms ache to hold and to be held.
      My ears strain for Your voice.
I need a friend!
Are you there?
Do you care?


O God, where are you?      I'm so broken!
I know that I deserve it, but that doesn't help.
  I knew it was wrong.
    I knew it was dangerous.
      I knew there'd be hell to pay.
Can I never be whole?
Are you there?
Do you care?


O God, where are you?      I'm so weary!
If I can't lean on you I'll fall and pray that I never get up.
  It's not enough for you to support me - you must carry me.
    I've scrapped my dreams, all that's left is survival.
      My strength is spent I need someone else's.
I can't go on!
Are you there?
Do you care?


O God, where are you?      I hurt so bad!
I need a shoulder to cry on.
  I need a hand to cling to.
    I'm sick of hearing of the stages of grief.
      I'll scream the next time I hear, "Think positive."
I need help!
Are you there?
Do you care?


Yes Lord, you are there!      You do care!
I felt your love in John's hug.
  I heard your voice as bill read your word.
    I soaked up your compassion in Lou’s counsel.
      I received your strength through Mark’s prayer.
I tasted your goodness in Linda's casserole.
  I saw your help as Ivan worked on my house.
    I experienced your faithfulness through Janet’s note.
      I heard your laughter at the church picnic.
No wonder you call them your body!
Yes Lord, you are there! You do care!

A Prayer for Perspective

My Lord: 

You have the wisdom to advance the gospel and your very own ways and through people and events.

Give me your perspective on my circumstances. 

Grant me eyes to focus on the eternal good rather than the temporary affliction.  

Give me a heart that feels more intensely the joy in the advance of the gospel than the pain of personal offense or loss.

Protect me from becoming envious, defensive, bitter, hard or cynical.  

Let the life of Jesus Christ course my veins so that when I bleed in death, 

I bleed the love of Jesus. 

Amen.

The Reality about Ciggarette Smokers

After reading a personal experience it drove me to think on a mere truth of a cruel reality which most addictions drive us into while we think we driving it.  If we really drive it.

Are we really the drivers? Do we control our addictions? Have you stopped and monitored your own addiction, for a whole week?  You will come to the conclusion : We addicts don't drive the addiction, it's the addiction that drives us, wraps us up and poisons our thinking to a point that we decieve ouselves with saying that we do control what we do, to saying  "I can control it, it doesn't really affect me".

Oh boy, this is when we really need to analyze ourselves the most, no offense consumers, but really, you do.

Let's face it, if when we wake up and make a quick recap of what you need to do on that day, and if in those thoughts there is a big giant picture of  you enjoying a cigarrette, you need to stop the tape. 

Should that really go there?

  Now, many smokers today, specially those who have been smoking for a long time now, when being reborn in christ, we don't usually think it's a must to stop smoking...since there were major things or sins in our lives or since there was something else that we think that at that point was actually consuming our lives and pulling us down into a deeper tunnel. 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Honestly I think that to stay with the need, the thought, the "smoking habit"  it really being the secondary addiction or sin is just a pure excuse of leaving it all behind, it's as if we want to stay with something, something that we can enjoy or that resembles something about us. So to think, it resembles to the others, or that we really enjoy. 

I think that we our just afraid of leaving it all behind, leaving the old person or some things that we enjoyed behind but we thought did no harm; yet just that it was one of the simple most complex detail to what  summed up to our sinking, of what drove us to sink more. The fact that we smoke. It was as if through our smoking we let the doors open for more sins to be welcomed  into our lives and take possession of it.

‎"Stand fast therefore in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

  Sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, why do we still want to carry with the old. 

I just read the excuse that because the bible doesn't state "cigarrettes" or anything as such, it is not really considered as a sin, and so my brothers and sisters, if it doesn't state anything about the smoking sticks then I'll have to ask you what does it states about addiction? Do you recall? 

Allow me to remind you, that the addiction scriptures defines addiction as a sin of self-will and determination. Whoever chooses to live their life without accepting and submitting to God’s will for the humanity, pays back of his acts. Sometimes self-sufficiency can take us away from God and eventually, the reality of life. 

Recovery is eventually a process. God is working within our souls to renovate us and to bring us back to health and sanity. The challenge for the human being is to replace the pleasurable thoughts that come from drinking, drugs or foods with something that is really worth giving attention to. 

At times, growth within spirituality can be painful and scary yet there cannot be growth without change, there is no change without fear or loss and there is no loss without pain.

Every change brings along some sort of loss, it is necessary for you to untangle yourself of your old customs in order to experience the new ones.


Many of us,  manage to construct our identities around our flaws or defects to such extent that we eventually say "it is who I am"  carrying an unconscience worry of "who will I be if I let myself go".

 Sadly but true, this fear would definitely stop your growth.

 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:6-7

 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.  Romans 6:12-14

  Understanding how strong this addiction can be, how it can manipulate us completely to the point as it states in Romans 6:16, that we become its servants in obedience; ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

By doing this, we are not sickening our bodies but also sickening our souls. And this, I can asure you, as a personal experience, every time Christ would cleanse me from this addiction and I would still smoke and I would feel this same way, as if I were sickening the spirit inside of me. It felt as something strong inside of me and a strong voice, no longer small voice, saying "you are poisoning me."

I began  to dislike the sin, the smell, the pleasure but I still felt as if  something pushed me to it, I didn't want to smoke but my carnal desire made me smoke.

 ¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 

 ²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Romans 7:14-21




It wasn't until I finally admitted that I was being driven by this force, this evil force which I detested so much and finally requesting my LORD to not allow anything to control my life other than him, was the day he cut my addiction like a sword.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36 

To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

In full gratitude.

LmR