and with this praise, I realize what matters the most in my life. what is really on my heart to praise God for is not as much the material blessings as the spiritual ones.
It is not an e-mail encouraging me to apply for a grant for the arts activism work I am doing and encouraging a meeting with me. This is a tremendous blessing. But more than this, more than the fellowship I won, more than being able to do the work I love, Lord, it is your comfort. It is your embrace. It is the fact that when I go far from you, when I stumble, when I turn away, when I even deny You, you never turn your back on me, but always call me home.
Lord, I thank you for prayers answered. I recently prayed that of the many associates I have, you will provide me with complete friendships in which You are at the center. I prayed for more Christian friends so that praise and prayer can be a part of my gatherings. Hangin out is cool, but I desperately need more fellowship. And one day - maybe even the next day -- after praying this, I ended up reading some Psalms from my Bible with a guy on the bus who said he needed the same thing. How many times do you not end up just chatting with a stranger, but sharing the word of God? He showed me his favorite Psalm then read it aloud. I showed him one I liked and read it aloud. He joined it at the end.
(This reminds me of Saturday when I was walking down the street across from Anacostia S.H.S. , a man greeted me and said 'how are you?" I stopped and said I'm fine, how are you? He asked me what was going on across the street. I told him about the back to school block party. I ended up telling him about the Visions to Peace Project. He gave me a gospel CD he had made (hmmm... where is that CD now?) and thanked me for not assuming that just because he said hello, he was flirting with me. He appreciated the fact that I was down to just say hello. Hmmm.. this relates to the vision I put on my myspace page the other day... of how I want to live in this world. This is what I mean by not being so closed. It also relates to what we discussed with the children in Sunday school on Sunday...not being proud or arrogant.)
And then yesterday at church, I met a former church member who lives right just about 10 minutes from me. Another potential new friend. We exchanged numbers and she encouraged me to call her so we can hang out some time.
This also relates to another of the things I have been praying about -- balance in my life. Time to work, time to spend time with friends, and time with my family. It takes time to cultivate and sustain friendships. I also crave more time with my family.
Lord, after praising you even for just a few moments, it feels as though my soul has been scrubbed. I feel so fresh inside. Praise is an exfoliant or an exfoliator. It brings all that "stuff" to the surface but doesn't dwell on it. It is just WOW! the best thing to do ever. Lord, It is soooo goood to praise you and reflect on how much you love me!!! Thank you sooooo much God!!!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Monday Praise
for new beginnings
renewal
revival
your resurrection
your joy i know
your forgiveness
repentance
ability
to turn back
and leave behind
what is not
my destiny
for this reminder
to live a life
of your light
for this moment
your presence
so near
for your amazing love
no matter how far i go
you always bring me back
so close to thee
for the tears in my eyes
and the love that i feel
for this embrace
your daughter i am
always
you bring me back
not far
that i can go
knowing
i hear your call
daughter come home
home to my father
home to your grace
home to your mercy
your infinite love
wraps all around me
cocoon of agape
nothing in this world
compares to you Lord
renewal
revival
your resurrection
your joy i know
your forgiveness
repentance
ability
to turn back
and leave behind
what is not
my destiny
for this reminder
to live a life
of your light
for this moment
your presence
so near
for your amazing love
no matter how far i go
you always bring me back
so close to thee
for the tears in my eyes
and the love that i feel
for this embrace
your daughter i am
always
you bring me back
not far
that i can go
knowing
i hear your call
daughter come home
home to my father
home to your grace
home to your mercy
your infinite love
wraps all around me
cocoon of agape
nothing in this world
compares to you Lord
Taking Time to Praise
I did an internet search looking for verses in the Bible on time to praise God and came upon this wonderful Bible study on the topic. It was such a blessing to me. I will put it here so I can come back to it and maybe it will also be a blessing to someone else who comes here.
Take Time to Praise God (a devotional/Bible study.)
God is really calling me to take time to praise Him. First, God sent me information about the Psalms Bible study. Part of the intro to that Bible study encourages people who participate to write their own psalms to God and do other exercises (like rewriting a Psalm in our own words) that help us to praise God in our own way, writing them down.
This 'Take Time to Praise God' Bible study also asks people to take time to write a poem to God, about the ways He has blessed me.
Truly, the time I have spent sitting at my computer, singing and writing praises to God is some of my most treasured time with the Lord. It really revives my spirit, makes me feel closer to God, and gives me joy. I feel so connected to God when I am praising Him. More than the time that I am asking God for help or assistance for me or others, it is really the time I spend praising God that I am closest to Him. So, now as I begin to study the book of Psalms (primarily composed of songs and poetry that David wrote to God) I challenge myself to take time each day to compose my own poem or song to my Heavenly Father. I might also post some of the poems I have written to God in the past. The Bible study encouraged me to be specific. The author referred to a praise that Moses and Miriam wrote and all of the Israelites sang together. In this song, they praise God for delivering them and look forward into the future with great hope. This is truly my time for renewal and revival in the Lord and praise is the avenue for such a Great Awakening!
Take Time to Praise God (a devotional/Bible study.)
God is really calling me to take time to praise Him. First, God sent me information about the Psalms Bible study. Part of the intro to that Bible study encourages people who participate to write their own psalms to God and do other exercises (like rewriting a Psalm in our own words) that help us to praise God in our own way, writing them down.
This 'Take Time to Praise God' Bible study also asks people to take time to write a poem to God, about the ways He has blessed me.
Truly, the time I have spent sitting at my computer, singing and writing praises to God is some of my most treasured time with the Lord. It really revives my spirit, makes me feel closer to God, and gives me joy. I feel so connected to God when I am praising Him. More than the time that I am asking God for help or assistance for me or others, it is really the time I spend praising God that I am closest to Him. So, now as I begin to study the book of Psalms (primarily composed of songs and poetry that David wrote to God) I challenge myself to take time each day to compose my own poem or song to my Heavenly Father. I might also post some of the poems I have written to God in the past. The Bible study encouraged me to be specific. The author referred to a praise that Moses and Miriam wrote and all of the Israelites sang together. In this song, they praise God for delivering them and look forward into the future with great hope. This is truly my time for renewal and revival in the Lord and praise is the avenue for such a Great Awakening!
My Time is God's Time
Today, I am taking a few moments to study what God says about TIME in His Holy Word.
Why? I have been a really bad steward of the time that God has given me and need to receive some instruction from God, encouragement and straight up lecturing on how better to effectively use my time for God. After all, time is more precious than money. You can NEVER get it back.
My prayer today: Lord, help me to put you first and be a WISE steward of YOUR time. The time that I have is not my own. It is yours, O Lord. And all of a sudden, an episode of Circle Square, a children's Christian show comes to mind. an episode on time. And, I remember a line in that episode that said, The time that you waste is not your own. Lord, I need forgiveness for wasting your time. How can I waste God's time? What is wrong with me? Lack of discipline and focus. Lack of setting my eyes of what matters, Lack of keeping my priorities in mind. I have also placed earthly goals above heavenly ones. This too is my problem. God, I thank you for showing them to me.
1) “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”- Isaiah 26:3
This is the verse of the day from Bible Gateway.com. It has absolute relevance to my meditation on time today BECAUSE one thing that causes the lost of time is distraction, worry, fluttering about within my mind. When my mind is focused on God, steadfast and immovable on my PRIORITIES, which first and foremost is praising God and building up HIS kingdom, then and only then, will I be in PERFECT PEACE. Not partial peace, but PERFECT peace!!
Here is the equation Isaiah 26:3 presents:
Trust in God, + persistent, continual, and focused mind = Perfect peace.
Do I trust God with my life? with my schedule? to order my steps? Am I focused enough to hear God's voice, His instructions to me today? Am I aligned with His purpose for my life? Lord, align me with YOUR purpose for My life. For truly, this life is not my own. (why do I behave as if it is.)
2) A Time for Everything (one of the most important teachings on time.)
and a season for every activity under heaven:
One thing that Ecclesiastes 3 (the writer Solomon at the end of his life) emphasizes that there is a time for everything. In order to know what time it is and what the time is for, I must be in tune with God and his instruction and His purpose for my life -- at every moment. There is a time for everything t hat needs to be done, but I must be careful not to do things in the wrong time. This has been a lot of my problem lately. Doing things at the wrong time. Not setting and keeping PRIORITIES. and taking too long to do things I should only spend a few moments on. I like the recommendation Anu gave me the other day. She said she sets specific time limits to spend time on an allotted task (esp. tasks that can take a long time and suck her time) and after that time she moves on to something else, whether it is done or not. Then, she will come back to it another time and spend more time. An example is cleaning her room. Rather than spend hours cleaning or straightening up, she says, I will spend 30 minutes on this task right now -- whatever I can get done in 30 minutes. Doing things for smaller amounts of time is also a helpful strategy to stay focused. Racing against the clock, I am less likely to get distracted by picking up a book and glancing through it. I am also less likely to get overwhelmed or stop in the middle. This is what I should have done yesterday. I would have gotten much more done in my cleaning and straightening up if I had given myself a time limit.
In the future, I will not start some tasks (like cleaning, playing around on the computer, or e-mailing) without giving myself a time limit AND abiding by that limit. When the time is up, I will stop and move on to the next task at hand.
One other thing that Ecclesiastes mentions: 1) God wants us to be happy and satisfied in the work we do and what we accomplish. That we are able to do so is a gift from Him. By not taking joy and excitement in my work, I am missing out on God's gift to me. By not being accomplished in what I set out to do, I am also missing out on God's promise. God wants me to end the day with a feeling of accomplishment, not one of failure and defeat. Strive to end the day with accomplishment so God can also say, "Johonna, well done." I must work to the glory of my Heavenly Father. My work is not unto myself. But really, I work for God. When I waste time, I should remember that God, not me or anyone else, is my supervisor. He can see me goofing off, for hours upon hours. the sleep and the slothfulness. I really gotta do better. Lord, please forgive me. Thank you for these revelations.
The third thing that Ecclesiastes says that I should take note of is that God made everything beautiful in ITS TIME. This also comes back to the fact that there is a time for everything and that God did not set out to get everything done at once. He is God and He could have created the whole world in a day. But he didn't decide to do that. Why in my own small being do I try to take on so many things to do in one day? This is setting myself up for failure and a feeling of defeat. I must remember to be like God and pace myself. Set up a plan. Am I creating a world? What will I make each day? Make time to rest after the task is completed.. like God did.
Another thing that I saw when I was searching the Scriptures for verses on time is that many verses say "in the time of..." so and so. That God had an appointed time and season for just about everything. What season is this for me? What time is it? It is definitely time for me to wake up and spend more time with God.
which leads me to another important verse on time..
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (referring to food, clothing and shelter mentioned earlier in the chapter) will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This is that we should seek God's kingdom FIRST. The lesson here is that I must not only do things in the right time periods, spending the right amounts of time on them, but also the ORDER matters. This verse tells me that the first thing that is my priority is focusing on my relationship with God and building up his kingdom (which includes building up myself and others.) This tells me that I can not be too busy for people, esp. so as to be an effective minister for God and blessing to others. I know from experience that when I do not start my day with God, I am not at peace and my mind is hectic crazy all over the place, thinking that I need to stop what I am doing to praise and pray.
Lord, I thank you for your teachings on time for me this day and I pray that you will continually equip me with the wisdom, ability, discipline and focus to be a better steward of the time you have given me on earth. Truly, truly, my time is not my own.
Why? I have been a really bad steward of the time that God has given me and need to receive some instruction from God, encouragement and straight up lecturing on how better to effectively use my time for God. After all, time is more precious than money. You can NEVER get it back.
My prayer today: Lord, help me to put you first and be a WISE steward of YOUR time. The time that I have is not my own. It is yours, O Lord. And all of a sudden, an episode of Circle Square, a children's Christian show comes to mind. an episode on time. And, I remember a line in that episode that said, The time that you waste is not your own. Lord, I need forgiveness for wasting your time. How can I waste God's time? What is wrong with me? Lack of discipline and focus. Lack of setting my eyes of what matters, Lack of keeping my priorities in mind. I have also placed earthly goals above heavenly ones. This too is my problem. God, I thank you for showing them to me.
1) “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”- Isaiah 26:3
This is the verse of the day from Bible Gateway.com. It has absolute relevance to my meditation on time today BECAUSE one thing that causes the lost of time is distraction, worry, fluttering about within my mind. When my mind is focused on God, steadfast and immovable on my PRIORITIES, which first and foremost is praising God and building up HIS kingdom, then and only then, will I be in PERFECT PEACE. Not partial peace, but PERFECT peace!!
Here is the equation Isaiah 26:3 presents:
Trust in God, + persistent, continual, and focused mind = Perfect peace.
Do I trust God with my life? with my schedule? to order my steps? Am I focused enough to hear God's voice, His instructions to me today? Am I aligned with His purpose for my life? Lord, align me with YOUR purpose for My life. For truly, this life is not my own. (why do I behave as if it is.)
2) A Time for Everything (one of the most important teachings on time.)
Ecclesiastes 3 - A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account. [a]
One thing that Ecclesiastes 3 (the writer Solomon at the end of his life) emphasizes that there is a time for everything. In order to know what time it is and what the time is for, I must be in tune with God and his instruction and His purpose for my life -- at every moment. There is a time for everything t hat needs to be done, but I must be careful not to do things in the wrong time. This has been a lot of my problem lately. Doing things at the wrong time. Not setting and keeping PRIORITIES. and taking too long to do things I should only spend a few moments on. I like the recommendation Anu gave me the other day. She said she sets specific time limits to spend time on an allotted task (esp. tasks that can take a long time and suck her time) and after that time she moves on to something else, whether it is done or not. Then, she will come back to it another time and spend more time. An example is cleaning her room. Rather than spend hours cleaning or straightening up, she says, I will spend 30 minutes on this task right now -- whatever I can get done in 30 minutes. Doing things for smaller amounts of time is also a helpful strategy to stay focused. Racing against the clock, I am less likely to get distracted by picking up a book and glancing through it. I am also less likely to get overwhelmed or stop in the middle. This is what I should have done yesterday. I would have gotten much more done in my cleaning and straightening up if I had given myself a time limit.
In the future, I will not start some tasks (like cleaning, playing around on the computer, or e-mailing) without giving myself a time limit AND abiding by that limit. When the time is up, I will stop and move on to the next task at hand.
One other thing that Ecclesiastes mentions: 1) God wants us to be happy and satisfied in the work we do and what we accomplish. That we are able to do so is a gift from Him. By not taking joy and excitement in my work, I am missing out on God's gift to me. By not being accomplished in what I set out to do, I am also missing out on God's promise. God wants me to end the day with a feeling of accomplishment, not one of failure and defeat. Strive to end the day with accomplishment so God can also say, "Johonna, well done." I must work to the glory of my Heavenly Father. My work is not unto myself. But really, I work for God. When I waste time, I should remember that God, not me or anyone else, is my supervisor. He can see me goofing off, for hours upon hours. the sleep and the slothfulness. I really gotta do better. Lord, please forgive me. Thank you for these revelations.
The third thing that Ecclesiastes says that I should take note of is that God made everything beautiful in ITS TIME. This also comes back to the fact that there is a time for everything and that God did not set out to get everything done at once. He is God and He could have created the whole world in a day. But he didn't decide to do that. Why in my own small being do I try to take on so many things to do in one day? This is setting myself up for failure and a feeling of defeat. I must remember to be like God and pace myself. Set up a plan. Am I creating a world? What will I make each day? Make time to rest after the task is completed.. like God did.
Another thing that I saw when I was searching the Scriptures for verses on time is that many verses say "in the time of..." so and so. That God had an appointed time and season for just about everything. What season is this for me? What time is it? It is definitely time for me to wake up and spend more time with God.
which leads me to another important verse on time..
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (referring to food, clothing and shelter mentioned earlier in the chapter) will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This is that we should seek God's kingdom FIRST. The lesson here is that I must not only do things in the right time periods, spending the right amounts of time on them, but also the ORDER matters. This verse tells me that the first thing that is my priority is focusing on my relationship with God and building up his kingdom (which includes building up myself and others.) This tells me that I can not be too busy for people, esp. so as to be an effective minister for God and blessing to others. I know from experience that when I do not start my day with God, I am not at peace and my mind is hectic crazy all over the place, thinking that I need to stop what I am doing to praise and pray.
Lord, I thank you for your teachings on time for me this day and I pray that you will continually equip me with the wisdom, ability, discipline and focus to be a better steward of the time you have given me on earth. Truly, truly, my time is not my own.
Psalm Study
For the next 12 weeks, I will be studying the Psalms with Joyful Heart Ministries, an online Bible study joined by people around the world. Please join me.
http://www.jesuswalk.com/psalms/
http://www.jesuswalk.com/psalms/
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Faith versus Hope
I had an interesting discussion with a brilliant brother the other day, who explained to me the definition of hope and the difference between hope and faith.
Hebrews 11:1
"Now, we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. "
Faith is knowledge based on your utmost belief in and personal knowledge of God, rather than direct physical evidence collected from your five senses (seen, touched, smelled, tasted, heard).
(Rather than believing in what you have seen, you choose to believe in what God has said.)
But, what is hope, this friend asked? He explored this question through the Scriptures and found that hope is the halfway point between belief and unbelief. You don't know for sure that something will work out, but you also don't not believe either. Thus, you hope.
This brotha gave an example of the difference between faith and hope by pointing to the Biblical account of Peter, a disciple of Christ, who saw Jesus walking on water one day.
Matthew 14: 22-36
Peter said, "if that is really you, Jesus, let me walk on water with you." At that point, he had faith -- knowledge that Jesus could also him to do what is not humanly possible, to achieve a miracle! With faith, Peter stepped out on the water and began to walk. But, soon after he was out there, the wind began to blow pretty hard, Peter looked away from Jesus to look toward the rising waves and doubt began to creep in. Immediately, his thoughts shifted from certainty to that halfway point between belief and unbelief and Peter began to sink. Here, we see a clear example of hope. Peter hoped that he could continue walking on the water, but he didn't know for sure.
What did Peter do after he began to sink? Peter looked back at Jesus and cried out, Lord save me! He again looked to Jesus and with that request, he KNEW that Jesus would keep him from sinking. Peter's hope shifted back to faith.
My friend said that after he studied the difference between faith and hope, he made a decision that he would no longer hope. He would just stop hoping and walk in faith alone. I myself often hope. I wonder what it would mean for me to choose to only walk in faith.
My prayer: Lord, you can reveal to me what difference this would make in my own life and help me to make the transition, if necessary.
Hebrews 11:1
"Now, we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. "
Faith is knowledge based on your utmost belief in and personal knowledge of God, rather than direct physical evidence collected from your five senses (seen, touched, smelled, tasted, heard).
(Rather than believing in what you have seen, you choose to believe in what God has said.)
But, what is hope, this friend asked? He explored this question through the Scriptures and found that hope is the halfway point between belief and unbelief. You don't know for sure that something will work out, but you also don't not believe either. Thus, you hope.
This brotha gave an example of the difference between faith and hope by pointing to the Biblical account of Peter, a disciple of Christ, who saw Jesus walking on water one day.
Matthew 14: 22-36
Peter said, "if that is really you, Jesus, let me walk on water with you." At that point, he had faith -- knowledge that Jesus could also him to do what is not humanly possible, to achieve a miracle! With faith, Peter stepped out on the water and began to walk. But, soon after he was out there, the wind began to blow pretty hard, Peter looked away from Jesus to look toward the rising waves and doubt began to creep in. Immediately, his thoughts shifted from certainty to that halfway point between belief and unbelief and Peter began to sink. Here, we see a clear example of hope. Peter hoped that he could continue walking on the water, but he didn't know for sure.
What did Peter do after he began to sink? Peter looked back at Jesus and cried out, Lord save me! He again looked to Jesus and with that request, he KNEW that Jesus would keep him from sinking. Peter's hope shifted back to faith.
My friend said that after he studied the difference between faith and hope, he made a decision that he would no longer hope. He would just stop hoping and walk in faith alone. I myself often hope. I wonder what it would mean for me to choose to only walk in faith.
My prayer: Lord, you can reveal to me what difference this would make in my own life and help me to make the transition, if necessary.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Things only white people can do...proof 1
Man sails home-made submarine near cruise ship in New York
An artist builds a submarine out of wood and sails it within spitting distance of the Queen Mary 2, a passenger cruise ship in the Red Hook bay in New York city.
The submarine is a replica of a submarine that tried to blow up an oceanliner during the Revolutionary War.
The police catch the guy and his two friends who are helping to tout this large, rusty looking mechanism out to the cruise ship using a rubber raft. They are very close to the ship when intercepted by the police.
The main guy, Duke Riley, was charged with minor citations -- for violating the ship's security zone. The other two weren't charged at all. The police commissioner described the men as "three adventuresome individuals" involved in"marine mischief."
Best believe if they were any other race or even if their tans had been too dark, they would not have been described as mere mischief makers. They would not have gotten off with one minor citation amongst the three. And the press would have emphasized that the man purposefully built a replica of a ship that was used in an attempted bombing of a British cruise ship in 1776.
If these men were brown, they would probably still be under interrogation as to their motives. They would definitely have received prison sentences. They would surely be labeled terrorists -- despite the fact that their craft was built of wood and the most dangerous item inside the vessel was a can of beer.
They may have even been shot first -- questions asked later.
Brown people -- don't try this in the U.S.A. There are things only white people can do.
An artist builds a submarine out of wood and sails it within spitting distance of the Queen Mary 2, a passenger cruise ship in the Red Hook bay in New York city.
The submarine is a replica of a submarine that tried to blow up an oceanliner during the Revolutionary War.
The police catch the guy and his two friends who are helping to tout this large, rusty looking mechanism out to the cruise ship using a rubber raft. They are very close to the ship when intercepted by the police.
The main guy, Duke Riley, was charged with minor citations -- for violating the ship's security zone. The other two weren't charged at all. The police commissioner described the men as "three adventuresome individuals" involved in"marine mischief."
Best believe if they were any other race or even if their tans had been too dark, they would not have been described as mere mischief makers. They would not have gotten off with one minor citation amongst the three. And the press would have emphasized that the man purposefully built a replica of a ship that was used in an attempted bombing of a British cruise ship in 1776.
If these men were brown, they would probably still be under interrogation as to their motives. They would definitely have received prison sentences. They would surely be labeled terrorists -- despite the fact that their craft was built of wood and the most dangerous item inside the vessel was a can of beer.
They may have even been shot first -- questions asked later.
Brown people -- don't try this in the U.S.A. There are things only white people can do.
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