Jaus' Notebook

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. — Romans 12:10 TODAY’S DARE Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It’s hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says, “I was thinking of you today.” Adapted from BhPublishingGroup .

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. —Ephesians 4:32 TODAY’S DARE In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness. Adapted from BhPublishingGroup .

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. —Ephesians 4:2 NIV TODAY’S DARE The first part of this dare is fairly simple. Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the condition of our heart. For the next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It’s better to hold your tongue than to say something you’ll regret. Adapted from BhPublishingGroup .

If you are as old as I am, you must have played, or at least heard of the game ‘Truth or Dare’. According to an article in Wikipedia , the following are the rules of the game: One player starts the game by asking another to choose "Truth or Dare?" If the player chooses "truth", then the first player poses a question, usually an embarrassing one, which the second player must answer truthfully. If the player instead chooses "dare", then the first player sets them a task, often an embarrassing or dangerous one, which player two must perform. After answering the question or performing the dare, that player asks "Truth or Dare?" of another player, and the game continues. A player cannot choose truth more than twice in a row, and dares cannot be repeated . Also, a player's dare cannot be to take back a previous dare. In some games players use a random method such as in Spin the Bottle to select a player to question, or cue cards marked "t

Dear Father in heaven, I thank Thee from all my heart, that Thou hast put me into this world and made me a rational being. I am born of Christian parents and made a member of Thy holy Church. Today the anniversary of my birth hath come, and since I have been permitted to reach this day and thus complete another year of my pilgrimage, I thank Thee from all my heart and joyfully reiterate the thanksgiving of Thy servant David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.” Since every day of my life, however, is one step nearer to death, which can strike me this hour, yes, this very minute, I beseech Thee so to shape and rule every day of my life, that I may walk according to Thy pleasure as in the day, that is circumspectly in Thy s

by The Melashenko Family Step into the water Wade out a little bit deeper Wet your feet in the water of His love Step into the water Wade out a little bit deeper Come join angels singing praise to the Lamb of God 1. It's time we, the people, stand up for what is right It's time we squared our shoulders back and raised our swords to fight For the Bible is my weapon and the Spirit is my shield The Church needs more of its members to be workers in the field Step into the water Wade out a little bit deeper Wet your feet in the water of His love Step into the water Wade out a little bit deeper Come join angels singing praise to the Lamb of God 2. There is victory for the Christian who walks the narrow way There has been a prize appointed for the soul who does not stray Though I want to live for Jesus, and be all that I can be So that I can rest with Him forever, live eternally Step into the water Wade out a little bit deeper Wet your feet in the water of His love Ste

“Then he took  him by the  hand, and led  him into  a very large  parlor that  was full  of dust, because never swept; the which after he had reviewed it a little while, the Interpreter called for  a  man  to sweep. Now,  when  he  began  to  sweep,  the  dust  began  so  abundantly  to  fly about, that  Christian  had  almost  therewith  been  choked.  Then  said  the  Interpreter  to  a damsel that stood by, “Bring hither water, and sprinkle the room;” the which when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure. Christian: Then said Christian, What means this? Interpreter: The Interpreter answered, This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin, and inward corruptions,  that  have defiled the  whole man. He that  began to  sweep at first,  is  the  law;  but she that  brought  water,  and  did  sprinkle  it,  is  the  Gospel.  Now  whereas  thou  sawest,  that  so soon as the first began to swe

An eminent Christian worker tells of his mother who was a very anxious and troubled Christian. He would talk with her by the hour trying to convince her of the sinfulness of fretting, but to no avail. She was like the old lady who once said she had suffered so much, especially from the troubles that never came. But one morning the mother came down to breakfast wreathed in smiles. He asked her what had happened, and she told him that in the night she had a dream.  She was walking along a highway with a great crowd of people who seemed so tired and burdened. They were nearly all carrying little black bundles, and she noticed that there were numerous repulsive looking beings which she thought were demons dropping these black bundles for the people to pick up and carry. Like the rest, she too had her needless load, and was weighed down with the devil's bundles. Looking up, after a while, she saw a Man with a bright and loving face, passing hither and thither through the crowd, and

There's a vast encyclopedia of loving knowledge in the silence of God--in what He does NOT say. For example, when He warned our first parents in Eden not to join the fallen Lucifer's rebellion against God's principle of love, He told them not to eat of the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Note what God did NOT say: He did not say, "In the day thou eatest thereof I will surely kill you." No; He said, "thou shalt surely die." "Well," says someone, "that means He will kill them, for didn't He destroy almost the entire human race in the Flood of Noah?" Yes, He did. "And didn't He destroy almost the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah?" Yes, He did. But ... look again: Note what John 3:16 does NOT say. It does not say, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who will torture anyone who does not believe in Him." Again there is a holy silence. The text say

by Max Lucado God loves humility!  Could that be the reason He offers so many tips on cultivating it? May I (ahem) humbly articulate a few? Do you want to be humble?  Assess yourself honestly.  Don’t take success too seriously. Celebrate the significance of others. Don’t demand your own parking place. Never announce your success before it occurs. Speak humbly. One last thought to foster humility. Live at the foot of the cross. Paul said in Galatians 6:14:  “The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging.” Do you feel a need for affirmation? Does your self-esteem need attention? You don’t need to drop names or show off. You need only to pause at the base of the cross and be reminded of this:  The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that’s a fact.  So if you need to brag, brag about that! Technorati Tags: humility

An old beautiful song by Beverly Shea, reminds us of God's unwavering care for us. Humanly speaking, the thought of His constant guardianship and upkeep is inconsistent with us the yet-sinners. But He loves us still. I have decided to ignore any seeming discrepancy, but to trust His word. For the scripture assures me, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God... casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7 Moreover, he promises to continue His past graces towards His people. "The Lord has been mindful of us." Psalm 115:12 . Our preservation proves this, our mercies, our trials, our guidance and our consolations. Everything, even the minutest blessing, represents a thought in the mind of God respecting us. "How precious are thy thoughts concerning me, O God, how great," ( Psalm 139:17 ), and those thoughts go back to an eternity before we came into being. "The Lord hath been mindful of us"; then should

THE GREATEST DEBT I OWE IS LOVE. Know this, just in case you do not read any further. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7). It just occurred to me the other day that my precious God has credited my account with love; and He did so in huge amounts. And just as in any other transaction, it falls upon me to pay what I owe. Unfortunately though, I have realized that I have accrued some bad debts. A bad debt is debt that you owe and you cannot afford to pay. I would suggest that you do your best to pay back the debt and avoid taking on anymore debt. Soon, it shall be written off by the creditor as a loss because the debt cannot be collected and all reasonable efforts to collect it have been exhausted. Dear friend, how much love do you owe? Don’t you think our almighty Father has exhausted all reasonable efforts to collect it? He gave His son for us. Our friend Paul, in one of His love letters says, “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and

All of us have done things in life that we are ashamed of. Then comes the moment when all that junk catches up with you, and you can’t find a place to hide. Friend, have you ever wished that life came with an ‘Esc’ or a backspace button? Have you ever thought, “I wish my past could be buried”? Have you ever felt, “Lord, I wish I could not feel the guilt of some sins I committed four years ago”? Well, there is good news for you and me. Our loving Father new we would find ourselves in such a predicament one day, and He made a way. God loves us. He always has and always will. And there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that. What reassuring thought! Our maker, the Lord of our lives, tells us that He alone has the power to blot out our past. He set up a very important ordinance in which we affirm publicly that He has erased our past and given us a new life- baptism by immersion. When you walk into the baptismal pool that “you” that you hate dies and you walk out to begin li

The word "Hallelujah" is a joyful word of “praise” to the almighty God. Amazingly, it is one word whose pronunciation remains the same even in my vernacular; and am certain in yours too. No one can dare change that sound! Psalm 147:1 tells us of the privilege of praising God. That it is good, pleasant and proper. Rudolf Stier, in "The Epistle of James Expounded" , 1859 rightly wrote that: “The same God who furnished the birds of heaven with the notes wherein they unconsciously praise their Creator, gave to man the power to sing... Let him to whom it is granted rejoice therein; let him who lacks it seek, if possible, to excite it; for it is a good gift of the Creator. Let our children learn to sing in the schools, even as they learn to read. Our fathers sang more in all the affairs of life than we do; our tunes are in this respect less fresh, and artless, and joyous. There are many among us who never sing, except when adding their voices to the voice of the church

Bread of Sorrows: When God sends it, it is good to eat it.  When we bake it ourselves, it is vain to eat it.   When the devil brings it, it is deadly meat “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Psalms 127:2. Frankly speaking,  Rev. Spurgeon expounded on this verse in a very captivating way in his sermon, The Peculiar Sleep of the Beloved- delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 4, 1855. I loved this!  ‘ The Psalmist says there are some men who deny themselves sleep. For purposes of gain, or ambition, they rise up early and sit up late. Some of us who are here present may have been guilty of the same thing. We have risen early in the morning that we might turn over the ponderous volume, in order to acquire knowledge; we have sat at night until our burned-out lamp has chidden us, and told us that the sun was rising; while our eyes have ached, our brain has throbbed, our heart has pal