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God is your Valentine every day!
I got to thinking about Valentine’s Day this morning. Have you ever been really excited about Valentine’s Day? You know, the level of excitement that really makes your heart pound!
There you are, searching for the perfect card and the perfect gift, doing your best to make sure that what you get will really convey the message about how you feel about this person.
I know I have been in that situation and I am certain most of the people reading this also have at one time or another, if not today. What about the other side of the coin? When, as the day approaches, you were hoping beyond hope that the subject of your desire is going to remember you on Valentine’s. You imagine the card and the feeling you are going to enjoy when this demonstrative expression of how much someone loves you and thinks about you actually happens. The big day finally arrives and then…. nothing! A big fat nothing! No card, no flowers, no kiss! Nothing, nada, zippo!
Oh, the pain and agony - the feelings of total disappointment, of abandonment of unworthiness. Ever been through that? Well most people have and it is not something they enjoy and not something that anyone wants to think about too often.
Am I trying to spoil your day? No, but I do want to show you an important message that the Lord revealed to me this morning through this story.
You see, going back to the first part, where you are all excited and filled with feelings of expectation and anticipation, where the excitement is palpable and you feel alive and excited about what is going to happen. Well, God wants you to know that this is exactly how He feels about the possibility of spending some quality one on one time with you.
Yes! He is so in love with you, and so keen on spending time alone with you that He has that same anticipation of joy and excitement. He wants to be together with you and only you. AND the way the Lord feels about you and the depth of His affection for you is not just for February 14th, no, not just for one day! But, for every minute of everyday forever!
Is this not just the most exciting thing you have ever realized? That the great Creator of the entire universe, The Lord God himself feels like that about you. Doesn’t that just absolutely blow you away? Doesn’t it just overwhelm you with delight? I know it does for me. You may need to ponder on that for a while and when you get a sense of the enormity of that, of how amazingly wonderful that is , your life will probably never be the same.
Now, let me take this a stage further. Go back to the second part of the story. The bit that is not so nice because your Valentine’s Day expectations did not come to pass. Just for a moment, get in touch with that feeling again; dejected, rejected, unworthy. I know, you hate it, don’t want to go there, and don’t want to be reminded of how bad that made you feel. Some poor souls get so overwhelmed by those situations they can even make themselves sick over it or endanger themselves! Wow, heavy stuff right! Sure, but for good reason.
Do you realize that when you don’t show up, that is how disappointed the Lord feels? He has to carry that burden of unrequited love because He wanted to spend some time with you (He always does) and yet you did not arrive. You didn’t even think of Him and you did not spend any time with Him. Now don’t get me wrong here. I am actually not “casting the first stone” today. I know how guilty I have been over this. The thought of someone loving me that much and then I don’t show! Wow! It never really hits most people like that. The religious crowd seem to think that it’s o.k. for them because they can show up on Sunday and that will be enough. Well of course, the Lord will be there but He is also longing to be with you every other day of the week, month and year.
We have an expression that in our house “Every day is Valentine’s Day”. You see, the last name of my precious wife Yuani is Valentine. So, every day is her day (God said you must love your wife as much as Jesus loved the church. Well, He died for the church, get the point?) That means it is Valentine’s Day everyday.
And the point is?
Be determined that every day between you and your loving God will be special. That you will look for Him everyday in your thoughts and actions. That you will make him feel special by including him in everything you do. If you are doing something that you don’t think He would want to see, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Don’t be a once a year, or a month or even a week person. Delight in your relationship with your Lord every day. He delights in you. He loves to see you smile, to hear your prayers. He loves that you think about Him through the course of the day and He loves the way he knows that you get to feel when you realize how close he really is to you.
Don’t disappoint the biggest love of your life. Every moment is precious. Get the most out of them.
It will take some effort for most people to take some time to stop thinking about all of the stuff going on in their lives and just get close to the one that truly loves them. But, once you do it - Oh, boy! There is nothing like the embrace of the Loving Father.
Try this prayer every day for the next week and let us know how it goes.
Precious Loving Heavenly Father. Lord, I am so humbled to have this special relationship with you. I love to just sit with you and tell you my news and talk about how things are going. Father, I thank you that you are so faithful. That I can know, that whenever I reach out for you, whatever time it may be , day or night that you are right here, waiting to share some precious moments together.
Father, I thank you that your Holy Spirit draws us closer and closer together and will cause me to be as excited about spending time with you as you are about spending time with me. Thank you Lord that you make me feel so special through the attention you so freely give to me and place in my heart the desire to make every day between us a special day. Thank you Father in the name of Jesus.
By the way, if as you were reading this prayer you started getting thoughts like “You can’t talk to God like that”. etc - just realize that for what it is. Either, religious conditioning, the lies of the enemy or both. God’s desire is that he gets to spend time with us and gets to know us so that we can get to know Him.
He likes to hear from you in the way that you talk, in the language style that you use. Just be yourself. After all, he made you that way and believe me God has never made a mistake, never will. He only deals in perfection. You are perfect to Him just as you are now, right now today. There is nothing you have to do, nothing you have to improve on or change in order to get him to love you. That is a done deal. He already loves you more than you can fathom, just as you are!
Now that makes Valentine’s Day look kind of blah!
Have a blessed day!
B.F.
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I would have you act in total integrity in all things, not just the things that are easy. Put your love for others above yourself in every decision that you make. Apply yourself diligently to everything you do and reach for a standard of excellence. Make a decision that you will be a person of excellence and do not accept anything less than your best.
Is there someone else you can bless today?
Do it , maybe it is just a kind word, a small gift or a note of appreciation. There is always someone whose life can be made to feel better just by your small act of encouragement. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that it doesn’t matter, that your small act of kindness or generosity or thoughtfulness couldn’t possibly make a difference. This is a lie from the enemy designed to prevent people from spreading goodness.
Every such act carries with it a vibration and frequency of such perfect harmony that it resonates powerfully throughout the physical body. Ever wondered why doing something nice for someone else actually seems to ‘feel’ good to you? That is the harmonious vibration being set up by your action. Is it possible to feel like that every day? Of course, you just have to set it up that way by the way that you think about what you are going to be doing for the day.
Imagine the powerful vibration that would be caused by 10 people all at the same time, looking to perform an act that will bless someone else! How about a hundred? or a thousand or a million? You may see your contribution as insignificant, however, just as a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can contribute to the winds in a hurricane off the coast of Florida, your small act can make a huge difference in the balance of this day.
So, who are you going to be today? Are you part of the problem, or the solution? Just come up with one unselfish act that you can perform today. An action that will positively impact the frequency in your body.
When you start to feel that sense of joy and calmness that always follows such behavior, enjoy the moment, revel in it and know that in that moment that you are one with the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Cherish this precious moment and learn the important lesson. That you can make an important impact in the world today. It is nothing to do with money or position or anything like that. It is all about your heart. It is all about your willingness to be obedient and put others ahead of your own interests.
Acts
In the Bible, there is a book called Acts. It records the important actions of the disciple of Jesus and frequently demonstrates the miraculous things that they were used by God to carry out for the benefit of others. Just as their acts were recorded, so should yours be. Make a habit of keeping a notebook or a journal of the things that you feel inspired or led to do for others.
Consider how you made a difference that day, how it made you feel and what benefits it brought to the other person and make a written record. You can read these things over and over again to remind yourself of the joy associated with God’s goodness. If you are ever feeling down, or unhappy, just spend some time reminding yourself how God, the Creator of the universe in so interested in you that He uses you to carry out some of His important work by bringing some form of encouragement to another of His children.
You see, this has nothing to do with what ‘religion’ you may classify yourself under. It makes no difference if you do not even consider yourself religious in any way. All that matters is that you are willing. If you are willing, God is willing and he wants you on the team. Be proactive and get involved in the Acts of today.
*If you feel led to share your Acts experiences with others, please, please, send them in so that we can publish them here on the site. I want to create a vibratory frequency of Godly goodness and excellence all over the Internet by just showing others how much goodness there is in the world and how anyone can make a difference in the life of someone else everyday.
BF
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“Man cannot serve God & Mammon”[Luke 16:13]
We all know how religious types are in the habit of pulling one scripture out of the Bible, usually completely out of context, and then using it to support a position or a claim that they want to uphold, right? Well today’s topic may seem like me doing the same thing - but I would argue that in this case it is both applicable and effective. I truly believe that the majority of the people in the so called civilized world could completely change their lives by understanding the meaning of this and choosing to follow God instead of Mammon.
So who or what is Mammon?
That’s a great question and one that could be debated or analyzed to a degree far outside the scope of this article. Let’s just agree on something that is universally accepted. First of all, it is in someway connected to the pursuit of money and material things. Secondly - the scripture itself suggests that choosing Mammon over God would be a choice that takes you away from the place God wants you to be in. If you want to really get into the meat of what mammon is really all about, I highly recommend that you do some studying and let the Lord enlighten you. I suggest the book “Living on the Third River” by Craig Hill, this should be a huge eye opener for you. It can be found at http://www.faithandworkresources.com/store_items_view.asp?itemid=18431
(I am not connected to this site by the way)
Today, I have asked the Lord to give me some wisdom to share with you on the subject.
How often do you think about money? When you make decisions about what to do or have, are they governed by how much things cost? Are your future plans and goals based on how much money you will be able to acquire in the future?
For most people, the answer to these questions is a big Yes! Most people live their lives worrying and stressing about money and planning ways to get more of it so that their lives can be better. Sadly, most never get what they are striving for and those that do, find that life is not necessarily better - it is just different.
You can read traditional old “religious” literature that will tell you that God wants you to be poor. The writers suggest that having nothing somehow makes it easier for you to get closer to the Lord and that He prefers you that way. On the other side of the coin, you have all of the self-help gurus and the so called “prosperity movement” who will all tell you in their books, TV shows, and seminars that God wants you to be rich! So, who is correct? Well, in a way they are both right and they also are wrong.
What the Lord has clearly shown me is that he doesn’t care about how much money you have or don’t have. He is not interested in what things you have or wish that you had. He is only interested in your heart. He is only interested in having a personal, intimate relationship with you.
He wants to spend time with you, to hear your questions, to listen to your fears, to hear your prayers. He takes delight in any time that he gets to spend with you and only you. He would love to sit for hours and hear what’s on your heart, to learn about your desires and dreams and to help you to see that the easy way to live a life that is fulfilling and without stress is to become as much like Him as you possibly can.
He cannot teach you his ways if you are spending all of your time watching TV, playing golf, playing video games, going to the mall, etc etc, or working extra hours to get more money to buy more things.
Now, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the old religious crowd could be right and this means that you are not supposed to have anything nice. This is completely untrue. God wants you to have the desires of your heart and he is delighted to see you achieve them. The thing that you will notice though, is that the more time you spend talking to him one on one, the more you get to understand how highly he regards you and you will find that the desires of your heart will start to change.
You will start thinking of different things that you can do with your money, you will look to do more things that you know that He would want you to do. This is where you start to make the transition away from serving Mammon towards serving God. You see, if you are not serving one, then by default, you are serving the other.
Most people are serving Mammon without even knowing they are doing it, and in doing so they are blocking themselves from joy and peace and bringing untold levels of stress into their lives. The three biggest ‘killers’ in the world as we know it today are; heart attack, stroke and cancer. It is a documented fact that these conditions are exacerbated or in some cases, caused by stress.
Escaping the service of Mammon is better than any drug. It is a preventative treatment rather than an attempt at a cure. “So it’s that easy then” I hear you ask. Well it is that simple but by no means is it easy. In fact, for most of us it is the single most difficult thing we could ever attempt. We live in a world surrounded by manipulation and temptation.
On a daily basis you are systematically bombarded with ads on the radio, TV, Internet, magazines, newspapers, and on and on. Everything is designed to get you to want to buy something, to acquire something bigger, better newer or tastier than what you already have. It is incredibly powerful and works mightily.
Often, we get so determined to have something that we get it even when we don’t actually don’t have the money for it, using consumer credit cards and then worrying how to pay for it later. That decision immediately enslaves you as a servant of Mammon. You are locked in because now you can’t think about having time to spend with God because you have to pay back the credit cards or the bank loan.
Have you found yourself in that position? Are you in that position today? Do you want to get out? Send me an email if you want help with a particular situation and would like us to pray for you. (fka@mac.com) If you would like all the readers of the blog to support you in prayer, post your prayer as a response right here. Otherwise, just read this prayer and have faith that the Lord is just eagerly waiting to hear from you and is just waiting for the chance to be a part of your life and to help you feel better about everything.
Father God in Heaven, thank you that you care about me so much and that you are interested in hearing about my situation. Lord I have messed up with my finances. I have got myself into debt and made myself a servant of Mammon because I now have to strive to pay back all of this money I owe. Please show me how to think differently about money, teach me how to use money as a tool and not let it manipulate me and cause me to make bad choices.
Father, I will do my very best to talk to you about all the future financial decisions and I thank you in advance that your wisdom will guide me. Help me to find the ways and means to get myself out of this situation and teach me to follow you and not Mammon in the future. Thank you that you hear this prayer today, in the name of Jesus.
Now don’t think that everything is going to change tomorrow. But, do understand that it has already started to change. You are now fully aware of the situation you are in and the difficulty of the challenge ahead, but guess what? You have the Creator of the entire universe on you side! There is no way you can lose. You just have to choose to follow God and no one else. You see, you don’t ever have to worry about what not to do and who not to follow. All that stuff makes things unnecessarily complex and stressful. All you need to know is that if you follow what God wants for you, if you chat to Him, ask His advice, you won’t go far wrong. Simple? Yes! Easy? No but it fills each day with purpose and makes you feel a whole lot better. Give it a try!
Blessings to you.
B.F.
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The only way to hear My voice is to listen intently - which requires the noise of the world to be quiet. The level of the noise of the world that goes on inside of you will be determined by what you allow to “resonate” in your conscious mind. This will permeate into your unconscious mind and there it will linger waiting for the familiar vibration to once again stir it into action. This factor is what causes people, even My children, to repeat the same pointless or sinful actions over and over again. They do not deal with the issues at the subconscious level and therefore; the treatment of the problem is ineffective.
Purging the mind at both the conscious and the sub conscious level is much like purging the physical body. It requires diligent effort and consistent focused application. If an over weight person ate properly for 2 days out of every month - what effect would that have on their weight or appearance? Probably little if any. By the same token - if a person makes an effort to improve their thinking for 2 days out of a month - the effect will not be noticeable.
The ’state of mind’ of an individual will be determined by the things that they “feed” their mind. If you want your heart and soul to be full of good things and joyous things - ponder upon those things only - watch, think about and read only things that are focused on what uplifts you and brings you joy. Do not give attention to anything that brings negatives into your thinking. If a person does not want to attract emotional troubles into their life, they should not give attention to those things. Do not read books or magazines that highlight the problems in the lives of others or you will attract the same problems into your own life. Pray about everything, seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit in every decision that you make and you will not go astray.
Make the home a spiritual sanctuary . As with your body, you can control the standard of hygiene, the color scheme and the decorations - you control the kind of music that plays - the TV shows that play, the kind of food that is brought into the home - you control the people that are allowed to cross your threshold - you would not knowingly take some poisonous food and eat it would you ? Of course not! In the same manner - do not take the poisonous food of the TV, of certain types of music - of gossiping neighbors and family members - of magazines, books and newspapers - do not take any of that poisonous food and feed it to your conscious mind. You are in control so take action and control these things or they will control you. If you want life to have meaning, you have to cause it to have meaning by involving yourself in things that are meaningful - avoiding the frivolous and unnecessary pursuits that it seems almost everyone else is following - If you feel like the “odd one out” you are probably on the right track.
A Prayer for Today
(If you are not used to praying, just read this out loud)
Father God,
Today I ask for a greater sense of your presence. Lord, I ask you to clear my mind of the clutter and noise of this world so that I may hear from you more clearly. Father help me to suppress the worldliness of the flesh and let the spirit within me well up and shine like a bright beacon. I thank you that you will bless the work of my hands today that you will prosper me and help me to be a blessing to others. Lord, anoint me with joy and expectation today and cause me to be in the right place at the right time in everything I do.
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