Last year, 49 million people in the United States, including more than
16
million children, were at risk of going hungry. As Christmas -- the time
of
giving -- draws ever closer, remember those families, children, and
individuals
around you who may worry about where the next meal will come
from, or have to
skip a few meals. This holiday season especially, let's
endeavor to make sure
that not one of our neighbors goes hungry. Join the
United We Serve: Feed a
Neighbor initiative today.
Download the
Anti-Hunger Volunteer Toolkit to get started.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Concerning Hanukkah
Concerning Hanukkah Part 2
by David Perry on December 8, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Hannuka and the festival of lights…the other Christmas trap and abomination.
Original article by Alan Geisdorf on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 4:37am with comments by David Perry
History
"The [Hanukkieah] , or candelabrum, is used during the Jewish holiday of Hanukah. The eight days of Hanukah are celebrated every year on the 25th of the Hebrew month Kislev. The holiday commemorates the military victory of the Jews of Palestine over the Syrian – Greeks in the 2nd century BCE. The Maccabees, the Jewish revolutionaries, restored order to Jerusalem and found the Temple contaminated. To restore the Temple, ritual oil was needed, but only enough pure oil to last one day was found. The miracle of Hanukah occurred when the modest amount of oil in the Temple lamps burned for eight days, allowing it to be rededicated. FACT : Nowhere in the book of Maccabees is it recorded that the OIL lasted for days. This is a made up story by the Rabbinical pharisees.
Following the destruction of the Temple, the menorah became a very important symbol in Jewish history. It became a reminder, of the sovereignty of the Temple. In order to preserve the holiness of the original menorah, the Rabbis forbade the use of an exact replica of the seven branched menorah. Why ? because we have a commandment not to make an image of anything found in the earth or in heaven.
Today, candles are lit in an nine branched menorah called a "Hanukiyah" in Israel to differentiate it from the seven-branched Menorah of the Temple. On the first night of Hanukah one candle is lit. On the second night, two candles are lit and so on. The candles are added from right to left and are lit left to right with the newest candle lit first. There is a separate place for the shamash, the candle used light the other candles. The candles are kindled after dark. The Rabbis teach that the menorah should be placed in the window, in order to "publicize the miracle."
The blessings for the candles:
by David Perry on December 8, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Hannuka and the festival of lights…the other Christmas trap and abomination.
Original article by Alan Geisdorf on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 4:37am with comments by David Perry
History
"The [Hanukkieah] , or candelabrum, is used during the Jewish holiday of Hanukah. The eight days of Hanukah are celebrated every year on the 25th of the Hebrew month Kislev. The holiday commemorates the military victory of the Jews of Palestine over the Syrian – Greeks in the 2nd century BCE. The Maccabees, the Jewish revolutionaries, restored order to Jerusalem and found the Temple contaminated. To restore the Temple, ritual oil was needed, but only enough pure oil to last one day was found. The miracle of Hanukah occurred when the modest amount of oil in the Temple lamps burned for eight days, allowing it to be rededicated. FACT : Nowhere in the book of Maccabees is it recorded that the OIL lasted for days. This is a made up story by the Rabbinical pharisees.
Following the destruction of the Temple, the menorah became a very important symbol in Jewish history. It became a reminder, of the sovereignty of the Temple. In order to preserve the holiness of the original menorah, the Rabbis forbade the use of an exact replica of the seven branched menorah. Why ? because we have a commandment not to make an image of anything found in the earth or in heaven.
Today, candles are lit in an nine branched menorah called a "Hanukiyah" in Israel to differentiate it from the seven-branched Menorah of the Temple. On the first night of Hanukah one candle is lit. On the second night, two candles are lit and so on. The candles are added from right to left and are lit left to right with the newest candle lit first. There is a separate place for the shamash, the candle used light the other candles. The candles are kindled after dark. The Rabbis teach that the menorah should be placed in the window, in order to "publicize the miracle."
The blessings for the candles:
Sunday, December 9, 2012
We Are Blessed
So how can we avoid this virus of selfish immaturity? Thankfulness is the antidote. It melts our pride and crushes our sense of entitlement. It reminds us that everything we have comes from God, and that His mercy is the only reason we are blessed.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Christmas is Coming
Brace yourselves, Christmas is coming.
Jokes aside, I’m sure you noticed back in October that your local retailer had lights, trees, ornaments, and the other sure signs that another Christmas season is upon us. While Santa Claus and presents are great, let’s not forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
We here at Pass the Ball would like to take the time this month to celebrate the season of Advent, an Anglicization of the Latin word adventus which means coming. This is the season where churches that observe the liturgical calendar (and others that only incorporate liturgy occasionally) celebrate the four Sundays prior to Christmas with special readings and lighting candles. Each Candle has a special meaning and a reading commonly associated with it.
Jokes aside, I’m sure you noticed back in October that your local retailer had lights, trees, ornaments, and the other sure signs that another Christmas season is upon us. While Santa Claus and presents are great, let’s not forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
We here at Pass the Ball would like to take the time this month to celebrate the season of Advent, an Anglicization of the Latin word adventus which means coming. This is the season where churches that observe the liturgical calendar (and others that only incorporate liturgy occasionally) celebrate the four Sundays prior to Christmas with special readings and lighting candles. Each Candle has a special meaning and a reading commonly associated with it.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Innovating With Social Media in College Admissions: Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Bridge
Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) leads the college admissions industry with its innovative social media platform. The university has just launched Bridge, a “dynamic social media community through a partnership with 7Summits. The new online community brings together admissions counselors, prospective students and parents, allowing them to interact and learn.
Lots of colleges have incorporated interactive components into their websites and have steadily increased their social media presence. But this Bridge platform is unique in that students can create accounts and friend each other and admissions counselors, allowing interaction and access to admissions personnel in a much broader ways.
Is this the future of college admissions? We already know that colleges are interested in meeting students where they are, and this is overwhelmingly on social media. MSOE’s Bridge drew 1500 new prospective students in the first month. They’ve stepped up the college admissions game and it’s likely more colleges will follow. Check-out the Bridge platform HERE.
Lots of colleges have incorporated interactive components into their websites and have steadily increased their social media presence. But this Bridge platform is unique in that students can create accounts and friend each other and admissions counselors, allowing interaction and access to admissions personnel in a much broader ways.
Is this the future of college admissions? We already know that colleges are interested in meeting students where they are, and this is overwhelmingly on social media. MSOE’s Bridge drew 1500 new prospective students in the first month. They’ve stepped up the college admissions game and it’s likely more colleges will follow. Check-out the Bridge platform HERE.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
Samson
The Birth of Samson
Judges 13
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
ch.14 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines
ch.15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
He did not love God’s people
Samson insists that he will marry a woman from the enemy nation. This clearly shows his failure to love God’s own people. Their friendship was not important to him. He did not really care about them. If he did, he would not want to hurt them by his marriage. His father appealed to him. He wanted Samson to marry one of his own people. But Samson would not listen (14:3).
There is an important lesson for *believers here. Perhaps you feel comfortable with the people of this world. Perhaps you are more comfortable with them than with other *believers. Then you are in danger of being worldly.
3.3 He did not give honour to God
God had a purpose for Samson. He wanted Samson to rescue his people (13:5). But Samson became a complete failure. He should have brought honour to a holy God. Instead, his evil life brought dishonour for his nation’s God. (Note: Dishonour is the opposite of honour.) The enemy declared: ‘Our god helped us to defeat Samson our enemy’ (16:23).
Hundreds of years later, Paul wrote about this same subject. Paul was very sad about the dishonour to God. This was because of the behaviour of first century *Jews. Their morals were bad. Their religion was just words. It had no meaning in their lives. Paul was writing to *Jews in Romans 2:24. He wrote: ‘The Gentiles say bad things about God because of you.’ (Note: A Gentile is anyone who is not a *Jew.)
The word *Jew’ had become a bad word. People thought of words like ‘wicked’, ‘selfish’, ‘greedy’ to describe a *Jew.
We should have one great ambition in life. It should be to please God. He loves us. He saved us. So, we should want our lives to show everybody how great he is. Then they will want to know him too.
There is one more thing here:
ch.16
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
4 Samson realised his awful mistake in the end
This only happened when he was a prisoner. He now had no eyes, so all was dark. All day, and every day, he had to work for his enemies. He made flour from grain (16:21). Samson spoiled his life. He brought dishonour (the opposite of honour) to God. He did this by being worldly in thought and in life. Something was true about Samson. The same thing is true about everyone like Samson. It is this. God’s desire is that each one should begin again.
Let us think about how Samson defeated his enemies in the end.
(This is goodness and kindness to one who does not deserve it.) Hear again those wonderful words of hope. Nobody has to feel despair. ‘But Samson’s hair began to grow again’ (16:22). God gives yet another opportunity. God’s grace is so great. He will not refuse to accept us either. Our part is to repent. (This means to turn away from evil and towards God. This choice will mean a complete change of life.)
4.2 He overcame by prayer (16:28
‘Most powerful *Lord, remember me. God please give me strength one more time.’ When we realise our mistake, we should pray immediately. God has promised that he will help us.
4.3 He overcame by his death
Samson’s prayer ended with ‘Let me die’ (16:30). By his own death, he overcame his enemies. There is something similar for the Christian. It is probably the only way to escape from being worldly. Jesus spoke to anyone who wanted to go with him. He said: ‘That person must accept his cross, and he must follow me. Whoever gives his life for me and for the Gospel will save it.’ (Gospel means Good News. Read Mark 8:34-37.)
God heard Samson’s prayer. Samson gave his life. He helped to achieve God’s purposes. He brought honour to God.
Judges 13
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
ch.14 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines
ch.15 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
He did not love God’s people
Samson insists that he will marry a woman from the enemy nation. This clearly shows his failure to love God’s own people. Their friendship was not important to him. He did not really care about them. If he did, he would not want to hurt them by his marriage. His father appealed to him. He wanted Samson to marry one of his own people. But Samson would not listen (14:3).
There is an important lesson for *believers here. Perhaps you feel comfortable with the people of this world. Perhaps you are more comfortable with them than with other *believers. Then you are in danger of being worldly.
3.3 He did not give honour to God
God had a purpose for Samson. He wanted Samson to rescue his people (13:5). But Samson became a complete failure. He should have brought honour to a holy God. Instead, his evil life brought dishonour for his nation’s God. (Note: Dishonour is the opposite of honour.) The enemy declared: ‘Our god helped us to defeat Samson our enemy’ (16:23).
Hundreds of years later, Paul wrote about this same subject. Paul was very sad about the dishonour to God. This was because of the behaviour of first century *Jews. Their morals were bad. Their religion was just words. It had no meaning in their lives. Paul was writing to *Jews in Romans 2:24. He wrote: ‘The Gentiles say bad things about God because of you.’ (Note: A Gentile is anyone who is not a *Jew.)
The word *Jew’ had become a bad word. People thought of words like ‘wicked’, ‘selfish’, ‘greedy’ to describe a *Jew.
We should have one great ambition in life. It should be to please God. He loves us. He saved us. So, we should want our lives to show everybody how great he is. Then they will want to know him too.
There is one more thing here:
ch.16
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
4 Samson realised his awful mistake in the end
This only happened when he was a prisoner. He now had no eyes, so all was dark. All day, and every day, he had to work for his enemies. He made flour from grain (16:21). Samson spoiled his life. He brought dishonour (the opposite of honour) to God. He did this by being worldly in thought and in life. Something was true about Samson. The same thing is true about everyone like Samson. It is this. God’s desire is that each one should begin again.
Let us think about how Samson defeated his enemies in the end.
(This is goodness and kindness to one who does not deserve it.) Hear again those wonderful words of hope. Nobody has to feel despair. ‘But Samson’s hair began to grow again’ (16:22). God gives yet another opportunity. God’s grace is so great. He will not refuse to accept us either. Our part is to repent. (This means to turn away from evil and towards God. This choice will mean a complete change of life.)
4.2 He overcame by prayer (16:28
‘Most powerful *Lord, remember me. God please give me strength one more time.’ When we realise our mistake, we should pray immediately. God has promised that he will help us.
Samson’s prayer ended with ‘Let me die’ (16:30). By his own death, he overcame his enemies. There is something similar for the Christian. It is probably the only way to escape from being worldly. Jesus spoke to anyone who wanted to go with him. He said: ‘That person must accept his cross, and he must follow me. Whoever gives his life for me and for the Gospel will save it.’ (Gospel means Good News. Read Mark 8:34-37.)
God heard Samson’s prayer. Samson gave his life. He helped to achieve God’s purposes. He brought honour to God.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
PRAY- Rev. M.D. Rgers
Jesus’ life was filled with prayer. Another word for communication with His Heavenly Father!
He prayed often, sometimes all night. Other times He seemed to be in a constant state of communication with the Father. Interrupting his conversations with others to address God directly in the moment!
II Thessalonians 3:1-5
Prayer can and should be like that. Not only specific times when we stop what we are doing and take time to pray, but also a more general sense of God’s presence with us all the time!
A kind of running dialogue in our minds with the ever-present Teacher, Father and Holy Spirit!
Students of Jesus learn to be like their Teacher. They constantly talk to God for He is with them always.
It is natural to converse with those we love. One true measure of the strength of any relationship is the desire to communicate.
As with any relationship, specific circumstances are the subject of conversation. It is the same in our relationship to God. We can talk about anything all the time, but when situations arise we naturally pray specifically about them.
Here Paul reminds the believers to pray for certain things. For Paul and his fellow-workers! For the message of Jesus to be received by others! For personal safety from those who might persecute them!
Sometimes we share our problems with our friends. We do so knowing they do not have the ability to change the situation. We simply find comfort in someone who is willing to listen because they are interested in our welfare
Our Heavenly Father not only cares for us and hears our prayers; He has the power to help us, to change things!
May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
http://pass-theball.blogspot.com/
He prayed often, sometimes all night. Other times He seemed to be in a constant state of communication with the Father. Interrupting his conversations with others to address God directly in the moment!
II Thessalonians 3:1-5
Prayer can and should be like that. Not only specific times when we stop what we are doing and take time to pray, but also a more general sense of God’s presence with us all the time!
A kind of running dialogue in our minds with the ever-present Teacher, Father and Holy Spirit!
Students of Jesus learn to be like their Teacher. They constantly talk to God for He is with them always.
It is natural to converse with those we love. One true measure of the strength of any relationship is the desire to communicate.
As with any relationship, specific circumstances are the subject of conversation. It is the same in our relationship to God. We can talk about anything all the time, but when situations arise we naturally pray specifically about them.
Here Paul reminds the believers to pray for certain things. For Paul and his fellow-workers! For the message of Jesus to be received by others! For personal safety from those who might persecute them!
Sometimes we share our problems with our friends. We do so knowing they do not have the ability to change the situation. We simply find comfort in someone who is willing to listen because they are interested in our welfare
Our Heavenly Father not only cares for us and hears our prayers; He has the power to help us, to change things!
May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
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