TRUE BELIEVERS - Religious beliefs, verses, poems and prayers...

[Jesse]

and this boy has a set of lungs on him for sure!

[Katniss]

A friend of mine (Joe Z.) who I met while working in Haiti often sends me weekly poems and quotes. I found this particular one worth sharing.

****************************************
Be the Blessing
Sitting in the cupola at Pelican House this morning as the sun was rising,
watching and listening to the waves rise, crest, crash and disappear--
I had a question: "What's the point?"

Waves are all ocean all the time, but what's the point
of this human wave called "Joe Z?"
This wave that arose over six decades ago, and could
crash and slide back into Oceanic Being at any moment?

What's the point of this human life?

The first line in the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus
is a cosmic finger pointing to a full moon that says:
Know who you are--you are an infinite wave of blessing.

And that's you and me and everyone.
Everyone, without a single exception, is a wave of blessing.
And once you know that, then just be that. Be the blessing you are.

And bless. You may have a knack for blessing in a special way.
I have a knack for blessing people into deeper consciousness.
You may have a knack for blessing people's bodies.
Or blessing their automobiles with a tune-up.
It doesn't matter what your gift is, so long as you bless people with it.

In a talk about a month before he died, Thomas Merton told a group
of fellow contemplatives in Delhi--Brothers, it's so simple:
"What we have to be is what we are."

And what we are, what each of us is, is an infinite wave of blessing.


Joe Z.


Katniss~~

[Blade]

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

[justanolecowboy]

The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
Proverbs 18:4

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. ---George Washington Carver

I have admired those words for years. They reflect a perspective easily forgotten in a dizzy schedule of demands and deadlines.

It is easy in such a scene to become shortsighted, to think that now is forever. But those who sustain a close companionship with wisdom tend to be more tender, compassionate, sympathetic, and tolerant than those whose world revolves around themselves.

With wisdom comes depth and stability.

When we navigate through life under full sail with wisdom at the helm, we may not miss all of the storms, but we will have the strength to persevere. We can face the unforeseen without the fear of sinking.

[justanolecowboy]

By this all men will know
that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another. -John 13:35

If our message is a mirror image of the message of the world, the world yawns and goes on its way, saying, "What else is new? I've heard all that since I was born." But if the Christian lifestyle and motivation and answers are different, the world cannot help but sit up and take notice, thinking:

How is it that I cannot conquer this habit but he has?

Why is their love so deep and lasting and ours so shallow and fickle?

How is it that she can forgive and never hold a grudge, but I can't get over a wrong? Talk about kindness and courtesy! These people exude those things. I wonder why.

I've never seen such integrity. The guy wouldn't think of taking a harming anyone he loved.

Do you get the message? It is the difference that makes the difference.

[deb0670]

Make my Life a Prayer to You by Keith Green:

Make my life a prayer to You
i wanna do what You want me to
No empty words
and no white lies
no token prayers
no compromise
i wanna shine
the light You gave
Through Your Son
You sent to save us
from ourselves
and our despair
It comforts me to know
You're really there

Well i wanna thank You now
for being patient with me
oh it's so hard to see
when my eyes are on me
i guess i'll have to trust
and just believe what You say
oh You're coming again
Coming to take me away
i wanna die and let You give
Your life to me so i might live
and share the hope You gave to me
The love that set me free.
I wanna tell the world out there
You're not some fable
or fairy tale
That i've made up inside my head
Your God, The Son
You've risen from the dead

Oh, i wanna thank You now
for being patient with me
it's so hard to see
when my eyes are on me
i guess i'll have to trust
and just believe what You say
oh, You're coming again
Coming to take me away
i wanna die and let You give
Your life to me
so i might live
and share the hope
You gave to me
i wanna share the love
that set me free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7EDGmeP1aA4

[justanolecowboy]

Originally Posted by deb0670

Make my Life a Prayer to You by Keith Green:

Make my life a prayer to You
i wanna do what You want me to
No empty words
and no white lies
no token prayers
no compromise
i wanna shine
the light You gave
Through Your Son
You sent to save us
from ourselves
and our despair
It comforts me to know
You're really there

Well i wanna thank You now
for being patient with me
oh it's so hard to see
when my eyes are on me
i guess i'll have to trust
and just believe what You say
oh You're coming again
Coming to take me away
i wanna die and let You give
Your life to me so i might live
and share the hope You gave to me
The love that set me free.
I wanna tell the world out there
You're not some fable
or fairy tale
That i've made up inside my head
Your God, The Son
You've risen from the dead

Oh, i wanna thank You now
for being patient with me
it's so hard to see
when my eyes are on me
i guess i'll have to trust
and just believe what You say
oh, You're coming again
Coming to take me away
i wanna die and let You give
Your life to me
so i might live
and share the hope
You gave to me
i wanna share the love
that set me free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7EDGmeP1aA4

Thanks for this reminder of Keith Green's music - It has prompted me to listen and download a few of his songs...thanks again.

[deb0670]

You're most welcome. His testimony and music helped me so much as a teenager.. and even now.. His legacy lives on.

Originally Posted by justanolecowboy

Thanks for this reminder of Keith Green's music - It has prompted me to listen and download a few of his songs...thanks again.

[Blade]

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him

John 3:16-17

And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.

Mark 16:6

[justanolecowboy]

[justanolecowboy]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Rarely will one of God’s heroes show up in the Scriptures having lived a life free of failure. Take Peter, for example. As soon as you read the name, you remember his story. Peter experienced the extreme highs and lows of life—from days spent in blessed fellowship with Christ . . . to the heart-wrenching erosion of loyalty when he denied the Lord. Not once. Not twice. Three times. Once he realized his failure, the Bible says, “he went out and wept bitterly” Luke 22:62

Can you remember a failure that was so dramatic and so tearful for you that you hardly need to be reminded of the feelings? I remember Betsie ten Boom’s words, “There is no pit so deep but that He is not deeper still.” As dark and as deep and as tragic as your failure may be, He is willing to go to the depths of it with you.

This was true of Peter too. Look back at Luke 22. After the surprising warning of Satan’s attack, Jesus gave Peter a statement of fact: “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” Then there was a veiled reassurance: “And you, when once you have turned again . . .” Then a final command: “Strengthen your brothers” (22:32).

What does that suggest? It suggests that Peter was going to fall. “Once you have turned again.” “Retraced your steps” is another way someone else has put it. “Once you have turned again,” Jesus said, “then use it to strengthen your brothers.” Jesus knew Peter to the core. He knew Peter would fall, but He prayed for him that he would not remain fallen. Jesus loved Peter—even at his point of deepest weakness
.

How did He prove that love? Mark 16: 6-7 answers that question. After the Resurrection, while the women were standing at the tomb, an angel told them:

“Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter.” (emphasis added)

Isn’t that great? “Don’t forget Peter. He’s the last one who thinks that I’ll ever want to talk to him again. Tell Peter!” What grace!

Somewhere between the time Peter fell and this angelic announcement there was a process during which Peter wallowed in remorse, wishing he could, if possible, correct his error . . . but he couldn’t. And somewhere in the midst of it he heard the Lord say to him, “Peter, I forgive you. I understand. Use it to strengthen your brothers.”

That’s why Peter later was able to write the following words to early Christians:

May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection. 1 Peter 1: 2-3

Why did this mean so much to Peter? Because it was at the Resurrection Peter’s name was called, and the Lord in tender mercy said, “Tell him I’ve come back.”

First Peter is a letter of great hope written by a man who experienced it! By the time he wrote this letter, Peter had come to the place where he was not only back on the scene, he was aggressively engaged in the formation of the early church.

It can happen to you too. Just like fallen and forgiven Peter, you can find new hope despite your failures. If you are a believer, you are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
1 Peter 1:3.

What tender mercy! What triumphant grace! Failure is not forever. God specializes in forgiveness and hope. He can use even your worst failures in a mighty way.

[justanolecowboy]

“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
Brother Lawrence - The practice of the Presence of God

[justanolecowboy]

[Glenn]

Overcome with deep fear and hopelessness in this world, I cried for God to comfort me, for I was exceedingly afraid. "Do you fear me?" S/He asked me, in a barely audible, Angelic, whisper. And my Soul knew instinctively who S/He was, and I answered, prostrating myself, with my head in the ground, "Oh yes, I fear you, but I also fear the devil too, because of all the suffering and evil in this world." And right after I had said that, the peacefulness that had enveloped me, had left me, and gone. And then I pleaded, "O please come back, don't leave me!" And S/He did, and answered me kindly, "Where have you been? Don't you know nothing is impossible with me? I can do anything!" And S/He kept lovingly repeating this over and over to me, enveloping me in such peace, that I started to fall into a very deep sleep. I tried hard to stay awake, but I could'nt, and so, I fell into a very deep, peaceful, sleep, but never, ever, forgetting, what S/He said to me, for the rest of my life.

[deb0670]

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