Christian power lies in Christ. Therefore the power we have is in prayer. I’ve noticed that when I want to pray there are usually distractions going on around me. Some religions tell us we have to assume a posture when we come in prayer. Others tell us that we need to say certain words. The best way to pray is in the way the Bible tells us to. In this article, I will enumerate some keys to successful prayer according to God’s Word.

As we know, there is power in God’s Word. It is immutable and permanent. His promises are tried and true. They will never fail us and God would never deceive us. His nature is faithful and His Word is always the standard by which we should measure ourselves. Since God’s Word is like a promise to His people and to non-believers alike, we (believers) can draw on the power of His Word by using it in our prayers. Isaiah 40:38 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." This can be seen as like a reminder to God of His omnipotence (all-powerful nature), His promises, and our respect and belief (faith) in what He says.

Did you know that words can have power? The things that come out of our mouths sometimes can determine which direction our lives or circumstances will lead — either to a favorable or unfavorable outcome. Sometimes when something negative comes out of our mouth it seems to solidify or make manifest our fears or thoughts about our situation. What was previously a worried thought can become an actual event or fixed mindset once it has been released from our lips.

There are many books out that also proclaim a new ideology of the power of thoughts and the spoken word. Words originate as thoughts therefore thoughts have an impact on our attitudes or relationships and mindsets or belief systems. Some authors say that thoughts transmit a frequency into the atmosphere that is perceivable on a meta level by the entire universe. While humans don’t have the cognition that they perceive the thoughts of others they still will often pick up on peoples thoughts based on their body posture, facial movements and speech.

I’ve been convicted lately that I need to start buying only products made in the USA. This Christmas it was tough to find gifts at all but I managed to get a general idea of what types of products are still made here. For gifts, food is a fine way to express your endearment toward someone. I got some sausage packages and candy assortments, some from the dollar store, and put them in with presents. Here is a website I found that links to other sites that make products in the United States: www.stillmadeinusa.com.  Please read further and if you agree with me on the matter, sign this petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/madeinusa/ .  Hopefully, with enough signatures we can start taking back jobs on American soil and stop devaluing the dollar.

I am reading a book called In All Things that was sent to me by James J. Jackson, a syndicated columnist with publications in Chinese, Swahili and Malayalam. He has traveled internationally as a missionary and has four adult daughters and nine grandchildren. James was adopted along with his nine siblings after the death of his mother and father at the age of four by his uncle and aunt, David and Bessie.

I found the book to be extremely thoughtful and emotion-provoking. He writes using chapters consisting of short essays that give his insight on national and global social topics. His conclusions can be refreshing at times in a world that sometimes refuses to hold its moral ground. However, there are some points in the book where the reading is heavy due to Jackson’s tight grasp on his moral reasoning.

Do you know that there are 114 instances of the word money in the bible? Why is it so important that Jesus alone talked about money recorded in the book of Luke ten times?

Money can become an idol. In 1 John 21, it says, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols," (NIV). Online, the dictionary defines an idol as:

1.

a. An image used for worship
b. A false god

2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively
3. Something visible but without substance

The Shack, by WM. Paul Young, was one of the most comforting books I’ve read in a long time. Our church committed at bible study to this book. The entire congregation was encouraged to purchase a copy and we discussed in weekly meetings during lent season. There is a lot to talk about in the book. I gave out some copies to see what my friends and family thought of it. I received mixed reactions from them.

I’ve been noticing a lot of signs advertising events and even more merchandise devoted to Halloween this year. I’m going to be frank: I hate Halloween. I think it’s the worst holiday ever that trivializes and even glorifies things that are evil and sadistic. As I drove down the expressway the other day I saw a billboard advertising a "Spirit" Halloween superstore. On the poster there was a scary-looking skeleton/demon hooded in a black cape. I didn’t read the sign thoroughly because I was driving but the gist was that there was a huge store for all people’s Halloween needs — costumes, make-up, decorations, etc. When I drove to work the other day I saw someone’s yard littered with skeletons, and other Halloween paraphernalia. This person had even bothered to put up orange lights on his/her trees.

"’In your anger do not sin’:Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold," Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV). A friend and I had a disagreement this past month about music. We work in a home care setting where there are two residents: my sister and an older woman with Down’s Syndrome. My sister and I like to listen to music because my sister is unable to focus on the TV and for me the TV is destructive. The woman with Down’s Syndrome likes to watch cartoons, all day, and my friend likes to have the TV on while she’s at work for background noise. My friend dislikes music; I dislike the television. One day we had a disagreement about what should be on while we were there and if it was fair for one of us to have the TV on all the time and one of us not to. When I left from work that day after the disagreement I was angry. Apparently my friend was also.

Oh He died died died so you’d live live live in the truth truth truth of His love love love.

With nails and thorns in His lovely flesh, we are born again, by His wounds we are healed, His truth revealed in His love love love shining from above...we are bought by His blood, given to the Son.

As the days chip away we are refined by grace, like silver in the fire, our trials draw us higher.

His love makes us whole so that we may go on to do His will strengthening ever still.

His beauty emanates, His light radiates from our once cold hearts now reborn to start beating for him, shining through Him, glowing for Him, all for Him — callous trimmed, filled to the brim, thorns and thistles replaced with love sown with His own tears which replace our fears.

Knowing His grace, reveals His face — shining like the sun, a friendship won.

Recently, I was gripped with fear. My emotional paralysis came about when I started to entertain the idea that the end of the world was fast coming. Lately, I’ve been feeling the imminence of the end times. I would turn to the left and realize that there was no exit there then turning to the right, I would find the same blockade. My mind was basically frozen in a state of worry. Most people have undergone something similar but theirs might have stemmed from financial troubles or familial difficulties that seemed insurmountable. For some it escalates into a panic attack and lasts moments, while for others, living in a perpetual state of fear is commonplace. When the terrorist attacks of 2001 hit many people accepted fear into their way of life.

 It is easy to become distracted by day to day inconveniences. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is pushing against us. There is definitely a battle going on. We are surrounded by media and information. There is a lot to do and a lot of new things to learn and experience. At the same time, the pace of the current American culture is becoming increasingly hard to keep up with. As the Baby Boomer generation ages, they are coping with the grieving processes associated with losing parents and children moving out of the home. The youth culture is rapidly expanding and people are focusing more on images of physical beauty and wealth. With the population growing, many are turning inward to escape the outward pressure of conformity. Many are trying to increase their visibility, desiring a lifestyle glorified in the media of fame and instant gratification.

People that know me know that when I go places, a lot of times, I have my younger sister with me. My younger sister is nineteen and is physically and mentally disabled. She has what is known as Rett Syndrome. She cannot talk or walk and she can’t make purposeful hand movements.  She can, however, enjoy life.

Are you right with God? Have you opened up your life to Him? I know some parts of my life God is slowly working His way through. I’ve heard a lot of people say that you need to give your life over to Christ and hand over all of your problems as if it were easy. It’s not! Something happens as we grow up from our youth to adulthood that makes us want to be in charge all of the time. It is impossible to hand every choice you will ever make over to God unless you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our daily advisor. He goes with us from place to place telling us what is acceptable in God’s sight. Many people don’t want God to get that close. They don’t want Him in the bathroom with them.

When Christ is waiting in the Garden of Gethsemane at night (Matthew 26:36-46), praying to the Father about the crucifixion, His disciples are sleeping. In Jesus’ presence they were relaxed. They thought that He being the Son of God would protect them. Jesus, knowing the suffering He was about to endure prayed fervently all night asking that the cup be taken from Him if it was the Father’s will. Jesus probably wanted the only friends He had on earth to pray for Him. He had warned them before about His imminent death but apparently the disciples either didn’t believe Him or weren’t worried about it. They were able to sleep during the time when He warned them to pray and keep watch for Him. A couple of days later when Christ was tried they were no where to be found. It seems that they were then realizing that they were in danger, too. If Christ wasn’t going to save Himself from death, perhaps they thought that He wasn’t going to save them either. They couldn’t understand what was about to happen. Peter denied Jesus three times and for the last time, he called a curse on himself.

I was watching the news the other day and they were interviewing a man from Miami that claims that there is no such thing as hell, evil or the devil. He also claims that he is the Christ. Apparently, there is some following to his movement but I don’t buy it.

There are a few tricks that work pretty well in deterring people from salvation. One is denying the existence of evil, hence denying the existence of sin and negating the good news of the gospel. Another way to deter people from seeking the Lord is by dramatizing evil and making it so blatantly extreme it is foreign and incomprehensible to most people, as in horror flicks and Hollywood dramas wherein people are taught to fear it if they don’t have a silver bullet or wooden stake. Another way to avert salvation is to familiarize people with sin and evil so that it appears to be commonplace and not so evil — just naughty, as in daytime soap opera naughty. All of these are pretty sneaky tricks and all examples of ways in which spiritual warfare is being waged daily in all of our lives.

Few people realize that their spending affects their relationship with God. What we do with our money indicates what is most valuable to us. It indicates what or who we worship.

Half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day.* It would cost 6 billion to solve education problems and to create literacy for the entire world, yet in America 8 billion is spent annually on cosmetic sales. This is why what we do with our money matters.

There is a difference between being religious and being faithful. Sometimes when I bring up my faith to another person they back away assuming that I am about to preach to them or judge them. There are many reasons why people do this and each person has their own. I’ve heard many people say that they don’t like religion to be forced down their throat. This makes me wonder if they were brought up in a church that pressed the need for religion rather than faith.

It can be very difficult to forgive someone that hurts us. Oftentimes they continue to hurt us long after the incident because we allow them to. Their offenses will ruminate in our heads as we think of the clever responses we could have administered during the argument or what we could have done instead of what we did. It’s easy to fall down the slippery slope of revenge. Our minds seem to have an innate ability to focus narrowly when anger is involved. We think of their offense and all the multiple ways in which they wronged us. We try to justify their actions by labeling them or making judgments about their character. All these thoughts we have are destructive. They make us bitter, unhappy, and hot-headed. They keep our fires of anger burning.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well," (Psalm 139:14 NIV).

Creation has been carefully sewn and intertwined by our Creator. Nature as we know it has taken thousands of years to develop and evolve. The last time the world faced a climate change as drastic as what we are currently experiencing was during the period that immediately preceded the Ice Age. What are we going to do about it? As we are now seeing, global warming doesn’t just cause heightening of the atmospheric temperature in the southern hemisphere, it causes cooling in the northern hemisphere due to the change in planetary climate equilibrium (Gore 151). Global warming is a huge threat looming over the face of humanity and all of the life forms that occupy our planet.