She reached In her bosom and pulled out the phone
In a recent meeting of the Monroe City Council a woman rose to address the council. She complained that she was being patronized by city officials who seemed to doubt her intelligence. Suddenly her cell phone rang loudly and a little blue light flashed in her chest. She interrupted her speech and said, "Oh my God, mama gon' kill me." She then reached into her bosom, pulled out her phone and started talking to her mother, finished a brief conversation and returned the phone to her bosom.
Obviously, the council members were amused but tried to drop their heads to hide their expressions. The council chamber was filled with chuckles, the cameras were rolling and reporters jotted it all down.
When mama calls, everyone jumps.
Do we do the same when God speaks to us? Would we interrupt our busy schedules to answer His call, no matter how embarrassing it may be? It's something to think about.
A bible passage asks the same question in Job 9:14, "How much less shall I answer him,[ and] choose out my words[ to reason] with him?"
I think it's best to answer when God calls. Like the lady at the council meeting, we all have telephones in our bosoms. He may call at any time.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Everybody is praying for everything; does God get spam?
Too much Spam in my inbox; does God get Spam?
I get plenty of email everyday either from business, church or personal connections. I also get nearly 500 spam emails everyday; those are the ones that get through my primary spam filter and end up in my delete box. They are time consuming, nonsensical and frivolous. Some are even insulting. It gets to the point that certain names or addresses are automatically blocked because they are always spam.
Since God hears and answers all prayers, is it possible that we flood our heavenly inbox with spam prayers?
A spam prayer is one in which we ask God to do what we can do ourselves. When we ask God to visit the sick but we don't; help the poor but we won't or to create more love in the world but our hate list hasn't diminished; those are spams prayers.
Then sometimes we can be a nuisance; with frivolous prayers. We pray that the water for our coffee will be hot or that the train won't stay on the track too long. We pray for grades when we have not studied; or that that we are not pregnant when we have not abstained.
Some pray that that their favorite singer wins American Idol.
There are people who sell trick prayers guaranteed to get instant results. There are groups that offer mass prayers for jobs, money, luck, sex, and victory. It all goes up to heaven.
Mixed in there somewhere are our real prayers and concerns.
Wouldn't it be a shame to pray so many frivolous nuisance prayers that heavenly spam checkers tag our prayers as those coming from that person in Louisiana or California or New York that sends up prayers for money, cat food and winning lottery tickets. -Spam box!
I'm sure God gets spam, but He has no spam box. He hears them all and answers.
Spam prayers, though, seem to be a waste of His time.
Here's an interesting thought from Jesus himself in Matthew 6:7-8.(Msg) It says, "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need."
I think it best for me to be selective with my prayer requests. I'll prayer about the big things, I won't bother God with the little things, He knows them all anyway.
When a prayer appears before the throne with my name on it, I would hope it is moved to the top of the pile and not shuffled to bottom with all of the spam of the day.
That's my prayer anyway! (Lol)
I get plenty of email everyday either from business, church or personal connections. I also get nearly 500 spam emails everyday; those are the ones that get through my primary spam filter and end up in my delete box. They are time consuming, nonsensical and frivolous. Some are even insulting. It gets to the point that certain names or addresses are automatically blocked because they are always spam.
Since God hears and answers all prayers, is it possible that we flood our heavenly inbox with spam prayers?
A spam prayer is one in which we ask God to do what we can do ourselves. When we ask God to visit the sick but we don't; help the poor but we won't or to create more love in the world but our hate list hasn't diminished; those are spams prayers.
Then sometimes we can be a nuisance; with frivolous prayers. We pray that the water for our coffee will be hot or that the train won't stay on the track too long. We pray for grades when we have not studied; or that that we are not pregnant when we have not abstained.
Some pray that that their favorite singer wins American Idol.
There are people who sell trick prayers guaranteed to get instant results. There are groups that offer mass prayers for jobs, money, luck, sex, and victory. It all goes up to heaven.
Mixed in there somewhere are our real prayers and concerns.
Wouldn't it be a shame to pray so many frivolous nuisance prayers that heavenly spam checkers tag our prayers as those coming from that person in Louisiana or California or New York that sends up prayers for money, cat food and winning lottery tickets. -Spam box!
I'm sure God gets spam, but He has no spam box. He hears them all and answers.
Spam prayers, though, seem to be a waste of His time.
Here's an interesting thought from Jesus himself in Matthew 6:7-8.(Msg) It says, "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need."
I think it best for me to be selective with my prayer requests. I'll prayer about the big things, I won't bother God with the little things, He knows them all anyway.
When a prayer appears before the throne with my name on it, I would hope it is moved to the top of the pile and not shuffled to bottom with all of the spam of the day.
That's my prayer anyway! (Lol)
Thursday, July 01, 2010
She believes in God but not in a personal way.
She believes in God but not in a personal way.
I recently shared with a brilliant young lady who is going places in life. She obeys the law, is climbing in her career and has great prospects. She was exposed to faith training as a girl but has since adopted a different views. She told me that she believes in God but not feel that God is personal.
I told her that she will change that view when life sends her scrambling for the God of her youth for nurture, strength, protection and guidance.
In my 41 years of ministry I have encountered many who share this belief. They believe in an all powerful creator of the universe, but their belief stops there. They feel no need for worship, fellowship with other believers or study of His word. They especially reject any formalities or limitations that may be associated with anything beyond a simple belief in a divine creator.
They believe in God. That's enough for them.
That works fine until we need God to respond to our life situation but our lack of faith keeps Him at a distance.
I believe that God is a person and is personal. As such, God loves: creates, destroys, angers, cares, rewards and punishes, saves, forgives and blesses. Since God is personal, we each have our own unique ID through which he identifies with us, hears us, guides us, correct us and opens doors for us.
Only those who believe in a personal God pray, otherwise prayer is a useless exercise because God does not take calls from mere mortals unless He's personal.
The trick in life is to allow God to be personal with us. In our thoughts we commune with Him and share our aspirations. In return He shares with us through inspiration, spiritual epiphanies, and teachable moments. When we pray we invite God into our business. Once invited God encourages, strengthens, inspires and renews. He also troubles us when we break or bend His rules; He works on our conscience.
It is the personal God who answers our prayers, lifts us when we we down, and gives us that second or third chance to get it right when we have failed.
Believing in God is the first step of faith. The second is to open the door of your heart and invite Him in. He knocks and waits for the invitation.
Revelation 3:20 "I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you."
When call on Him, we open the door and let Him in. That's when our lives change for the better.
Those who know Him personally begin to live fully functional, happy, blessed lives that meet life's challenge with the confidence that the God they believe in knows them personally and will hear their prayers and direct their paths.
I recently shared with a brilliant young lady who is going places in life. She obeys the law, is climbing in her career and has great prospects. She was exposed to faith training as a girl but has since adopted a different views. She told me that she believes in God but not feel that God is personal.
I told her that she will change that view when life sends her scrambling for the God of her youth for nurture, strength, protection and guidance.
In my 41 years of ministry I have encountered many who share this belief. They believe in an all powerful creator of the universe, but their belief stops there. They feel no need for worship, fellowship with other believers or study of His word. They especially reject any formalities or limitations that may be associated with anything beyond a simple belief in a divine creator.
They believe in God. That's enough for them.
That works fine until we need God to respond to our life situation but our lack of faith keeps Him at a distance.
I believe that God is a person and is personal. As such, God loves: creates, destroys, angers, cares, rewards and punishes, saves, forgives and blesses. Since God is personal, we each have our own unique ID through which he identifies with us, hears us, guides us, correct us and opens doors for us.
Only those who believe in a personal God pray, otherwise prayer is a useless exercise because God does not take calls from mere mortals unless He's personal.
The trick in life is to allow God to be personal with us. In our thoughts we commune with Him and share our aspirations. In return He shares with us through inspiration, spiritual epiphanies, and teachable moments. When we pray we invite God into our business. Once invited God encourages, strengthens, inspires and renews. He also troubles us when we break or bend His rules; He works on our conscience.
It is the personal God who answers our prayers, lifts us when we we down, and gives us that second or third chance to get it right when we have failed.
Believing in God is the first step of faith. The second is to open the door of your heart and invite Him in. He knocks and waits for the invitation.
Revelation 3:20 "I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you."
When call on Him, we open the door and let Him in. That's when our lives change for the better.
Those who know Him personally begin to live fully functional, happy, blessed lives that meet life's challenge with the confidence that the God they believe in knows them personally and will hear their prayers and direct their paths.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
I know what you did last night
I know what you did last night. Hmmmm
Remember the movie "I know what you did last summer?" A note from an anonymous person alerting us that our actions, thought to be secret a year ago, were really known by someone could be unsettling. Suppose such a note detailed knowledge of what we did last month, last week, or even last night were received, would we be a little unsettled.
We'd like to believe that there are some places we go and things we do that are out of the sight of those we don't care to know. Because we are human we often say or think the unthinkable, and do the unreasonable and unbelievable.
Sometimes we are ashamed of ourselves!
Then there is a mental note that seems to come out of nowhere, creeping into our dreams or popping up behind in an idle moment..."I know what you did last night. I saw it all. I heard it all... I know!"
It is a heavenly note!
There are no secrets from God, he has our lives bugged, videoed and angelically archived, dated and annotated. He knows!
He also knows what troubles us and what hurts. He knows what we pray about and why we cry. He knows everything!
There is a bible passage that tells us that he knows: "Psalms 139:4-7 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can't take it all in! Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? "
God knows what we did, what we are doing, what we are thinking and what we are planning. That's good to know because as I pray about something I know he hears me and will answer me in due time.
The best part is that despite what he knows about me...He loves me anyway!
Remember the movie "I know what you did last summer?" A note from an anonymous person alerting us that our actions, thought to be secret a year ago, were really known by someone could be unsettling. Suppose such a note detailed knowledge of what we did last month, last week, or even last night were received, would we be a little unsettled.
We'd like to believe that there are some places we go and things we do that are out of the sight of those we don't care to know. Because we are human we often say or think the unthinkable, and do the unreasonable and unbelievable.
Sometimes we are ashamed of ourselves!
Then there is a mental note that seems to come out of nowhere, creeping into our dreams or popping up behind in an idle moment..."I know what you did last night. I saw it all. I heard it all... I know!"
It is a heavenly note!
There are no secrets from God, he has our lives bugged, videoed and angelically archived, dated and annotated. He knows!
He also knows what troubles us and what hurts. He knows what we pray about and why we cry. He knows everything!
There is a bible passage that tells us that he knows: "Psalms 139:4-7 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can't take it all in! Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? "
God knows what we did, what we are doing, what we are thinking and what we are planning. That's good to know because as I pray about something I know he hears me and will answer me in due time.
The best part is that despite what he knows about me...He loves me anyway!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
I lost my signal in the middle of my call.
Right in the middle of our conversation, I lost my signal.
The phone call was rather important I thought, especially since the two of us had been trying to connect for quite some time but had been playing phone tag. When we finally caught up with each other our exchange of information began; then suddenly the phone went dead.
"Hello, Hello, Can you hear me?" -There was no answer. Either I lost my signal or he lost his.
With all of the pressing technology that exists today no one should expect to finish a conversation because the prospect of an interrupted signal always exists.
When I thought about that I wondered about our conversations with God. Is it possible that some of us have been playing phone tag with God; He's been leaving us messages and we've been promising to get back to Him at our earliest convenience. That's when we promise to pray, read a devotional, or to attend a worship but never get around to it.
Even worse, there are times when we really need to talk to God but we lose our signal. You see, God hangs up on us if we try to talk to him while we are in the midst of our sins. Sometimes He looks at the ID, sees it's from someone who wants something but doesn't want to repent to get it. I'm sure when I'm in that state, my call gets ignored. It's like trying to talk to your grandmother while smoking a joint; she won't hear a word you have to say.
Better than Verizon or AT ant T, God can connect with us anywhere. There are no dead zones; but he has rules. We can't ask for blessings, healings,and guidance while we are willfully living sinful lives without repentance. If we want to get a call through without an interruption, we should make our first call an earnest plea for forgiveness; God will know it and pick up the phone.
There is a bible passage in Psalms 66:18 that says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
When we are straight with God the followings verses say in Psalms 66:19-20, "But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me."
It's best that I try to straighten myself out before I try to hookup with God, or he may just hang up; or worse, not answer.
When he calls the next time, I'll change my location; find a signal and stay there, so I won't be interrupted again.
I'll do the same for my business caller, too.
The phone call was rather important I thought, especially since the two of us had been trying to connect for quite some time but had been playing phone tag. When we finally caught up with each other our exchange of information began; then suddenly the phone went dead.
"Hello, Hello, Can you hear me?" -There was no answer. Either I lost my signal or he lost his.
With all of the pressing technology that exists today no one should expect to finish a conversation because the prospect of an interrupted signal always exists.
When I thought about that I wondered about our conversations with God. Is it possible that some of us have been playing phone tag with God; He's been leaving us messages and we've been promising to get back to Him at our earliest convenience. That's when we promise to pray, read a devotional, or to attend a worship but never get around to it.
Even worse, there are times when we really need to talk to God but we lose our signal. You see, God hangs up on us if we try to talk to him while we are in the midst of our sins. Sometimes He looks at the ID, sees it's from someone who wants something but doesn't want to repent to get it. I'm sure when I'm in that state, my call gets ignored. It's like trying to talk to your grandmother while smoking a joint; she won't hear a word you have to say.
Better than Verizon or AT ant T, God can connect with us anywhere. There are no dead zones; but he has rules. We can't ask for blessings, healings,and guidance while we are willfully living sinful lives without repentance. If we want to get a call through without an interruption, we should make our first call an earnest plea for forgiveness; God will know it and pick up the phone.
There is a bible passage in Psalms 66:18 that says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
When we are straight with God the followings verses say in Psalms 66:19-20, "But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me."
It's best that I try to straighten myself out before I try to hookup with God, or he may just hang up; or worse, not answer.
When he calls the next time, I'll change my location; find a signal and stay there, so I won't be interrupted again.
I'll do the same for my business caller, too.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Somebody's listening on your phone
Somebody's listening on your phone!
I watched a movie called Eagle Eye yesterday. It depicted a government security network that spied on the conversations of citizens. The system listened to cell phone conversations, tracked the movements and recorded the activities of millions of people. It targeted those considered threats for elimination by causing auto accidents and other seemingly unsuspecting maladies. From a satellite, the Eagle Eye monitored everyone, everywhere.
A similar idea is projected in Will Smith's Enemy of the State-somebody up there is watching you.
While it is science fiction; it is scientifically possible for everything in both movies to happen. It could be happening right now. Someone, somewhere is monitoring your web posts, purchases, and the very pages you read online.
There's somebody up there watching! Hmmmmm
The bible says there is somebody up there watching, but it's no machine. God watches us and he also watches over us every day. That is reassuring and it is also a warning if we consider straying.
There is a bible passage that refers to this. It's Psalms 139:2-5 "I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going."
Just like the movie Eagle Eye, God hears our cell phone conversations; and more.
He can hear us even when our cell phones are turned off!
Need help? He heard your thought; it's on the way!
I watched a movie called Eagle Eye yesterday. It depicted a government security network that spied on the conversations of citizens. The system listened to cell phone conversations, tracked the movements and recorded the activities of millions of people. It targeted those considered threats for elimination by causing auto accidents and other seemingly unsuspecting maladies. From a satellite, the Eagle Eye monitored everyone, everywhere.
A similar idea is projected in Will Smith's Enemy of the State-somebody up there is watching you.
While it is science fiction; it is scientifically possible for everything in both movies to happen. It could be happening right now. Someone, somewhere is monitoring your web posts, purchases, and the very pages you read online.
There's somebody up there watching! Hmmmmm
The bible says there is somebody up there watching, but it's no machine. God watches us and he also watches over us every day. That is reassuring and it is also a warning if we consider straying.
There is a bible passage that refers to this. It's Psalms 139:2-5 "I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going."
Just like the movie Eagle Eye, God hears our cell phone conversations; and more.
He can hear us even when our cell phones are turned off!
Need help? He heard your thought; it's on the way!
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