This is a post from Nancy from the Above Rubies face book page. I loved it so much that I just had to copy and paste and share it here!! If you are not already a friend of Above Rubies on face book, I highly encourage you to become one. I promise you will be blessed greatly!!!
STANDING GUARD
In Obadiah verse 11, it talks about foreigners entering into the gates of Jerusalem. My, how we have to watch for the “foreign” sneaking through the gates of our home, don’t we?
The “foreign” is all around us. We live in the midst of it. God doesn’t want to take us out of it, but to be shining lights in the midst of it. Jesus prayed, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out o...f the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 13:15).
But, although it is all around us, we must be on guard that none of the “foreign” enters our home. Our home is to be a sanctuary from evil--all that is opposite to God’s standard, His Word, and His heart.
The adversary looks for any opening he can find to intrude into your sanctuary. Guard your gates. Guard your home on all four sides. Guard with prayer. By intercession and prayer, put a hedge of protection around your home (Job 1:10). Give no foothold for the enemy.
Allow no estrangement in your marriage. Don’t allow any worldly spirit to come in through the media. Be ruthless against the enemy.May we have the testimony of Nehemiah when he confessed, “I purged out everything foreign” (Nehemiah 13:30 NLT).
Love from Nancy
P.S. Read these Scriptures also: Deuteronomy 7:25-26; Palm 144: 7-8, 11-15; Lamentations 4:12; Ephesians 5:11; 6:10-13.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
the food pyramid for the mind and soul ( revised )
We all know the famous food pyramid.
The good-for-you foods on the bottom in the wide part, and the bad-for-you foods in the narrow part on top ( junk-food).
A healthy diet should mainly consist of the good foods on the bottom and middle, with very small portions of the junk-food from the top.
Eating a diet like that keeps our bodies relatively healthy, strong and full of energy. It builds our immune system up. Which in turn helps our bodies fight off germs, sicknesses, and illnesses, and such.
But what about our mind and soul? They need to be fed daily too. And they need a good healthy diet as well.
If there was a food pyramid for the mind and soul, I think it would look like this.
The Bible, devotions and prayer time, (which should fill the biggest area on the bottom)---
Then comes,
missionary stories, Christian true stories that build our faith and build Godly characters, praise and worship music, Godly magazines and literature that encourage us and strengthen our walk in God,
Good Christian fictional books, Christian movies( the kind that up-lift, strengthen, and encourage us), and Christian radio programs , would be in the middle. ( we have to be careful with this stuff though ,got to always make sure it lines up with the Bible)
In the very small area on the top would consist the junk-food -- things neither good for the nourishment of the soul and mind yet not bad either of course. ( our diet should not contain any bad things at all. You wouldn't eat rotten or spoiled food would you? Well we need to treat our minds and spiritual bodies the same.)
I am wondering though, does our pyramid even need a top part!? :)
I think our main diet should consist of huge daily portions of the bottom things, moderate intake of middle of the pyramid, and very, very tiny portions if any, of the "junk-foods" that is on the very top.
Taking in a diet like that would keep our minds, our souls, and spiritual bodies strong and healthy.
We would grow strong spiritually, have a close knit walk with God, and be filled with lots of good things to share and encourage others with.
We would be blessed, and be a blessing. We would have a strong immune systems to help fight off bad thoughts, worries, and such that Satan throws our way.
The "junk foods" in both pyramids contain nothing nourishing at all for either the physical body or spiritual body. They look good on the out-side, tantalize and excite the taste buds, and make us feel good at the moment, but that is it. They fill us up -- taking room away from the good and nourishing "foods"; yet leave us empty and sceptical to bad and wrong things that want to creep in and pull us down.
If we start allowing into our diet even a tiny bit of "bad", ( in the pyramid for mind and soul) we allow our immune system to be weakened, and soon we will hear our selves saying, "This is pretty good", " That's not too bad," or "That won't hurt us". Then slowly we start allowing more and more bad in to the "junk-food" realm. In my opinion we need to leave the bad "foods" in the trash where they belong!
May we all feed our mind and bodies only was is good and nourishing , that which is pleasing to God, that builds our faith and our character, and keeps us strong in God!!!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. So take a moment please and leave me a comment!
In Him,
Mae
The good-for-you foods on the bottom in the wide part, and the bad-for-you foods in the narrow part on top ( junk-food).
A healthy diet should mainly consist of the good foods on the bottom and middle, with very small portions of the junk-food from the top.
Eating a diet like that keeps our bodies relatively healthy, strong and full of energy. It builds our immune system up. Which in turn helps our bodies fight off germs, sicknesses, and illnesses, and such.
But what about our mind and soul? They need to be fed daily too. And they need a good healthy diet as well.
If there was a food pyramid for the mind and soul, I think it would look like this.
The Bible, devotions and prayer time, (which should fill the biggest area on the bottom)---
Then comes,
missionary stories, Christian true stories that build our faith and build Godly characters, praise and worship music, Godly magazines and literature that encourage us and strengthen our walk in God,
Good Christian fictional books, Christian movies( the kind that up-lift, strengthen, and encourage us), and Christian radio programs , would be in the middle. ( we have to be careful with this stuff though ,got to always make sure it lines up with the Bible)
In the very small area on the top would consist the junk-food -- things neither good for the nourishment of the soul and mind yet not bad either of course. ( our diet should not contain any bad things at all. You wouldn't eat rotten or spoiled food would you? Well we need to treat our minds and spiritual bodies the same.)
I am wondering though, does our pyramid even need a top part!? :)
I think our main diet should consist of huge daily portions of the bottom things, moderate intake of middle of the pyramid, and very, very tiny portions if any, of the "junk-foods" that is on the very top.
Taking in a diet like that would keep our minds, our souls, and spiritual bodies strong and healthy.
We would grow strong spiritually, have a close knit walk with God, and be filled with lots of good things to share and encourage others with.
We would be blessed, and be a blessing. We would have a strong immune systems to help fight off bad thoughts, worries, and such that Satan throws our way.
The "junk foods" in both pyramids contain nothing nourishing at all for either the physical body or spiritual body. They look good on the out-side, tantalize and excite the taste buds, and make us feel good at the moment, but that is it. They fill us up -- taking room away from the good and nourishing "foods"; yet leave us empty and sceptical to bad and wrong things that want to creep in and pull us down.
If we start allowing into our diet even a tiny bit of "bad", ( in the pyramid for mind and soul) we allow our immune system to be weakened, and soon we will hear our selves saying, "This is pretty good", " That's not too bad," or "That won't hurt us". Then slowly we start allowing more and more bad in to the "junk-food" realm. In my opinion we need to leave the bad "foods" in the trash where they belong!
May we all feed our mind and bodies only was is good and nourishing , that which is pleasing to God, that builds our faith and our character, and keeps us strong in God!!!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. So take a moment please and leave me a comment!
In Him,
Mae
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Hating that which is evil ( continued )
Since I made my first post about hating evil I have had some more thoughts to share on this subject.
I felt I needed to make it very clear that though we are to hate those things which are evil, we are not to hate anybody. So we hate the evil deeds, but not the person who does the evil. We are to love everyone as God does.
But I can hate a T.V. because it is a thing, not a person! I do not hate the people who make all those crazy and evil shows, movies, and programs that is on T.V. though, ---although I do wonder what goes through their head to create such things, and I can't say I would care to keep company with that sort. But I do not hate them.
We are instructed to hate evil, depart from evil, and askew evil. And we not only need to heed this in our lives, but instruct our children to do the same, and set an example for them.
I believe the problem in our world today is that more people are not hating evil and bad things. Not only not hating the evil, but condoning it and even participating in the evil. This should not be so among God's people. So sadly we accept bad stuff cause we say it is the world we live in, (and that is partly true ), but I believe that if we put up enough stink and hated evil enough there would be less of it surrounding us.
Here is an example of evil surrounding us, and I though I did hate it much, I did not do anything about it. But boy if I had it to do again I would handle it differently.
I had our van in a repair shop the other day to fix a chip on the window shield. The nice man kindly told me, and 3 of the children I had with me that day, that we could wait in the little waiting room since it would take about a 30 min. There was bathroom right there, and he said there was coffee and pop-corn, and we could help our selves. Well he failed to mentioned what was hanging on the wall in there.
Upon our arrival in the waiting room I spotted it right off, this very scantly clad provocative picture on an a big calender. I had to do a double take to verify, yes it truly was. What a schock to see that there. This was a waiting room.
Now I should have walked out right then, and I am sure your wondering why I did not. But I just hoped Sam ( my 7 year old son and oldest child I had with me ) would not look up that high and see it. And he did not for some time. Then I went to the bath room, and came back. And that is when I seen that he now had seen the offending picture. I told him to not look that way anymore. So he did not. And so we were able to endure the rest our waiting time in there.
Driving home afterward I kept mauling over what I should have done. I know I should have walked out before my son seen the picture. But I also think what would have been better yet, would have been for me to have removed the picture from the wall ( it was only hanging by a tack). I kept thinking about that the whole time I sit there rather it would be my place to take it from the wall or not. On the way home when I thought on it, I felt like it certainly would have been my place and my right. After all it was being used as public waiting room( though it was an employee break room too), and it was my son, and a it was sinful and evil picture, and I HATED it!
If I would have removed that calender I would assume it would have made some kind of effect on the employees. When they went to put their picture back up they would realize that not just everyone enjoyed it. And if everyone that came in there would remove it, they eventually would keep it down I would think. I wonder how many other people like me hated it, yet did nothing about it.
I felt so lame and horrible after that.
That to me is a good example that if we hated evil as we ought to and acted on it, we could possible change our surroundings. We are not suppose to simply accept evil and say, "oh well, that is the world for you". We are suppose to HATE evil, and depart from evil. Keep our percious children from evil.
And concerning movies and such we need hate the evil in them and put it away from us, and watch only what is good and edifying to our family. Can't find anything good to watch? Then don't watch anything at all. Who said movies and T.V. was for God's people in the first place anyway? We can find much better things to do!!
So let us all hate evil , cleave to that which is good, and love all people as God wants us to.
In Him,
Mae
" Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forever more." Psalm 37:27
" Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:14
I felt I needed to make it very clear that though we are to hate those things which are evil, we are not to hate anybody. So we hate the evil deeds, but not the person who does the evil. We are to love everyone as God does.
But I can hate a T.V. because it is a thing, not a person! I do not hate the people who make all those crazy and evil shows, movies, and programs that is on T.V. though, ---although I do wonder what goes through their head to create such things, and I can't say I would care to keep company with that sort. But I do not hate them.
We are instructed to hate evil, depart from evil, and askew evil. And we not only need to heed this in our lives, but instruct our children to do the same, and set an example for them.
I believe the problem in our world today is that more people are not hating evil and bad things. Not only not hating the evil, but condoning it and even participating in the evil. This should not be so among God's people. So sadly we accept bad stuff cause we say it is the world we live in, (and that is partly true ), but I believe that if we put up enough stink and hated evil enough there would be less of it surrounding us.
Here is an example of evil surrounding us, and I though I did hate it much, I did not do anything about it. But boy if I had it to do again I would handle it differently.
I had our van in a repair shop the other day to fix a chip on the window shield. The nice man kindly told me, and 3 of the children I had with me that day, that we could wait in the little waiting room since it would take about a 30 min. There was bathroom right there, and he said there was coffee and pop-corn, and we could help our selves. Well he failed to mentioned what was hanging on the wall in there.
Upon our arrival in the waiting room I spotted it right off, this very scantly clad provocative picture on an a big calender. I had to do a double take to verify, yes it truly was. What a schock to see that there. This was a waiting room.
Now I should have walked out right then, and I am sure your wondering why I did not. But I just hoped Sam ( my 7 year old son and oldest child I had with me ) would not look up that high and see it. And he did not for some time. Then I went to the bath room, and came back. And that is when I seen that he now had seen the offending picture. I told him to not look that way anymore. So he did not. And so we were able to endure the rest our waiting time in there.
Driving home afterward I kept mauling over what I should have done. I know I should have walked out before my son seen the picture. But I also think what would have been better yet, would have been for me to have removed the picture from the wall ( it was only hanging by a tack). I kept thinking about that the whole time I sit there rather it would be my place to take it from the wall or not. On the way home when I thought on it, I felt like it certainly would have been my place and my right. After all it was being used as public waiting room( though it was an employee break room too), and it was my son, and a it was sinful and evil picture, and I HATED it!
If I would have removed that calender I would assume it would have made some kind of effect on the employees. When they went to put their picture back up they would realize that not just everyone enjoyed it. And if everyone that came in there would remove it, they eventually would keep it down I would think. I wonder how many other people like me hated it, yet did nothing about it.
I felt so lame and horrible after that.
That to me is a good example that if we hated evil as we ought to and acted on it, we could possible change our surroundings. We are not suppose to simply accept evil and say, "oh well, that is the world for you". We are suppose to HATE evil, and depart from evil. Keep our percious children from evil.
And concerning movies and such we need hate the evil in them and put it away from us, and watch only what is good and edifying to our family. Can't find anything good to watch? Then don't watch anything at all. Who said movies and T.V. was for God's people in the first place anyway? We can find much better things to do!!
So let us all hate evil , cleave to that which is good, and love all people as God wants us to.
In Him,
Mae
" Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forever more." Psalm 37:27
" Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:14
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)