Blessings come from obeying God!

But Samuel replied [to Saul], "What is more pleasing to the Lord, your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. Rebelling is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 NLT

How do we demonstrate our friendship with Jesus? Quite simply, we do what he says. If we refuse, we have no right to call ourselves his friends.
In 1 Samuel 15 the Bible tells how King Saul disobeyed the Lord's command to completely destroy the enemies and their livestock. When Samuel asked the king why he heard the bleating of sheep and the lowing of cattle, Saul basically replied, "Oh, right, thanks for reminding me. We're saving those to offer to the Lord later!"
Samuel recognized a lie when he heard one and replied, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22 NIV). God wants the same from us, not some great annual recommitment that we soon break. He wants consistency. Regularity. Faithfulness. He wants our obedience.
Adapted from Breakfast with Jesus by Greg Laurie, (Tyndale House) p 162

A letter from my Dad

When my Dad was sick and knew he may not make it he wrote me this letter.
To My Son,
Ricky you were the finest son a man could ever want or hope for. You were honest, thoughtful, trusting, generous, never a problem and more things that showed me you loved your fellow man as God would want. Rick always believe and trust in God. Never let anyone tell you any different or try to come between you and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Study your Bible and draw even closer to God through prayer and service to Him. Remember your teaching's of the Bible and always try to live up to them. The Lord will be with you always. Remember and take care of your Mother. She loves you deeply. I love you son. See you in Heaven. Dad

I love you and will see you in Heaven one day too Dad.

Mary and the Lamb of God

Mary! had a little Lamb,
His fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The Lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school each day,
T'wasn't even in the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
To have a Lamb at school.

And then the rules all changed one day,
Illegal it became;
To bring the Lamb of God to school,
Or even speak His Name!

Every day got worse and worse,
And days turned into years.
Instead of hearing children laugh,
We heard gun shots and tears.

What must we do to stop the crime,
That's in our schools today?
Let's let the Lamb come back to school,
And teach our kids to pray!

This Pastor Has Guts and A Lot of Faith

This is a Prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their
Senate. It seems Prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was
asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate. Everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.
In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help! , may this prayer sweep over our nation and whole heartedly become our desire so that we again can be
called one nation Under God."

Christ Will Return

11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in rightousness He doeth judge and make war.
12. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on Hiw head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 19: 11-13 KJV

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne; Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but is own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as they matchless King through all eternity.
Crown Him with Many Crowns,Matthew Bridges (1800-1894)
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Matthew Bridges became a convert to Roman Catholicism at the age of forty-eight and published this hymn three years later under the title "The Song of the Seraphs." Godfrey Thring, an Anglican clergyman, added several stanzas to the hymn about thirty years later, with Bridges's approval. So a Roman Catholic layman and an Anglican cleric, who probably never met, were coauthors of a hymn about heaven, where Christians of every tribe and tongue, as well as of every denomination, will crown Him Lord of all.
One of the aspects that Godfrey Thring felt was missing in the original was a stanza on the Resurrection, and so it was added. "His glories now we sing who died and rose on high, who died, eternal life to bring, and lives, that death may die."
Adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995)

Face in the water

A few days ago my sister-in-law was down by the river with her family. For a moment she prayed about a problem that was on her mind. When she was done her daugther pointed out three fish in the water. The small white fish formed a triangle so she took a picture of it and was surprised at what she saw. When the photo was developed in the center of the triangle she saw a face in the water. If you look close at the photo the waves seem to form eyes a nose and a mouth.

Wow! What a wakeup!

Dear God:
Why didn't you save the school children at ?. ..
Moses Lake, Washington 2/2/96
Bethel, Alaska 2/19/97
Pearl, Mississippi 10/1/97
West Paducah, Kentucky 12/1/97
Stamp, Arkansas 12/15/97
Jonesboro, Arkansas 3/24/98
Edinboro, Pennsylvania 4/24/98
Fayetteville, Tennessee 5/19/98
Springfield, Oregon 5/21/98
Richmond, Virginia 6/15/98
Littleton, Colorado 4/20/99
Taber, Alberta, Canada 5/28/99
Conyers, Georgia 5/20/99
Deming, New Mexico 11/19/99
Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 12/6/99
Santee, California 3/ 5/01
El Cajon, California 3/22/01
and Virginia Tech?
Sincerely,
Concerned Student
-----------------------------------------------------
Reply:
Dear Concerned Student:
Sorry,
I am not allowed in schools!
Sincerely,
God
----------------------------------------------------------
How did this get started?...
Let's see,
I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained
She didn't want any prayer in our schools.
And we said, OK.
Then, someone said you better not:
Read the Bible in school the Bible that says "thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, And love your neighbors as yourself," And we said, OK...
Dr. Benjamin Spock said We shouldn't spank our children When they misbehaved Because their little personalities Would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, An expert should know what he's talking about So we won't spank them anymore.. Then someone said Teachers and principals better not Discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said No faculty member in this school Better touch a student when they misbehave Because we don't want any bad publicity, And we surely don't want to be sued. And we accepted their reasoning... Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, And they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said, that's a grand idea. Then some wise school board member said, Since boys will be boys And they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want, So they can have all the fun they desire, And we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said, that's another great idea... Then some of our top elected officials said It doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And we said, It doesn't matter what anybody, including the President, Does in private as long as we have jobs and the economy is good.... And someone else took that appreciation a step further And published pictures of nude children And then stepped further still by Making them available on the Internet. And we said, everyone's entitled to free speech.... And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote Profanity, violence and illicit sex... And let's record music that encourages Rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes... And we said, it's just entertainment And it has no adverse effect And nobody takes it seriously anyway, So go right ahead. Now we're asking ourselves Why our children have no conscience, Why they don't know right from wrong, And why it doesn't bother them to Kill strangers, classmates or even themselves. Undoubtedly, If we thought about it long and hard enough, We could figure it out. I'm sure it has a great deal to do with... "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW"

Why is it our children can not read a Bible in school, but can in Prison.