Tag: Applied Christianity

Joy in fasting?

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn #friendships, #Handicaps, family, good works, Inspirational, Life of Christ, love, power, prayer, problems, teaching, weaknessLeave a comment

00-cover-kindle-medium-newThe scripture for today, June 17 (6/17), is Matthew 6:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face.”

This is interesting because Jesus did not say “If, you fast,” but rather “When you fast.” It was as though he was teaching us to take for granted that we would fast ~ it would be second-nature to us. In a sense, it is, for when most people go through a sudden tragedy such as loss of a loved one, they often cannot eat.

But what about voluntary fasting? The early church sometimes fasted. Acts 13:2 says a congregation in Antioch, Syria, fasted and worshipped, then chose men to go out as missionaries. Queen Esther fasted before going to the king uninvited with a request he might not like (Esther 4:16). Isaiah 58:3 says people fasted in order to humble themselves.

Some people respond, “I’d die if I had to fast.” Perhaps that’s kind of the idea. We know we would die if we went without food long enough. So perhaps one day of fasting is a way of saying, “God, I would die for you if I had to.” Yes, fasting is a humbling experience and frightening to some people. But perhaps that is the point.

Is something important coming up that you know you will be urgently praying about? Once you skip one meal, you will have conquered your desire to eat. Then, with your brain not having to concentrate on digesting food, it will be able to focus more on that important thing happening in your life. Your prayers will be more focused. You will be more focused with your eyes more clearly on God.

So, take a shower, comb your hair, put on some nice clothes, and look like you have something important to do. Then fast.

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY:  A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Handicapped? Wanting to do good works for others anyway? Too busy to add good works to your already cluttered life? What do you say when a friend’s relative dies? Wonder how to handle gossip, baby showers, mean bosses, etc. in the workplace? Do the poor in other countries bother you? Want to teach your children to do good deeds? To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY  https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

 

Feeling Rich When You’re Not

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn #Handicaps, blessings, ethics, good works, Inspirational, Loss, patience, power, problems, sacrifice, weaknessLeave a comment

00-cover-kindle-medium-newThe scripture for today, June 10 (6/10), is Proverbs 6:10f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest ~ and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”

Oh! This scripture really comes to the point, doesn’t it? Perhaps during difficult economic times for some people, this can be a gentle reminder. If you can’t work for money, you can work for free. There is always work to do as a volunteer either in an organization or just by yourself. All it takes is for you to look around.

Well, if you’re already in the clutches of poverty, what will volunteering do to help the situation? People will notice you. They will notice your work ethic and your cheerfulness and your thoughtfulness.  They will know you are out of work and just might tell people looking for someone to hire. And in the process, you are helping others. That in itself can make you feel rich ~ even if you’re not.

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Every possible type of good work is included in this book, along with step-by-step methods. Something for everyone, whether you have 10 minutes a day or 1 hour a day available.  There is something everyone can do. I Corinthians 9:23 ~ “I am made all things to all men that I might, by all means, save some.”  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY         https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

 

What are you doing for your country?

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn Daily, ego, ethics, good works, governments, judging, power, sin, thingsLeave a comment

00-cover-kindle-medium-newThe scripture for today, May 24 (5/24), is Amos 5:24 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

When individuals of a nation begin taking advantage of each other, the nation loses its standard of justice. Eventually, nations fall because of it ~ maybe not right away, but eventually.

Although acting justly may decrease someone’s income or status or power, that just act will spur your nation to roll on and on like a river.

Injustice is not impersonal. Injustice begins with you. One person at a time until eventually, an entire nation falls. On the other hand, justice also begins with you. One person at a time.  That’s what will make your nation roll on and on like a never-failing stream.

What are you doing for your country?

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY:  A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Letter writing, benevolence, works for and by the handicapped, newcomers, military personnel, university students, works for Bible school class children to do, crafts, keeping your home, workplace by employee and employer, church office, worldwide missionary work, works for seniors, assisted-living homes, nursing homes, loss of loved ones, telephoning, prayer warriors, prayer partners, home Bible studies.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY                https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

And God smiles

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn #friendships, blessings, Daily, faith, forgiveness, good works, Inspirational, love, patience, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

00-cover-kindle-medium-newI adore you, my God. I praise you. I lift up my heart to you and my heart feels as though it will burst with joy. You are the water I drink for life and which turns my life into a glorious adventure.  You are the words I read to discover your love and my mind leaps from one marvelous revelation of you to another.  You are the light I follow to keep me on the path that rises before me and leads to the heights of your world. I will follow your path forever. I will keep on walking and keep on walking and keep on walking until at last I walk right through the gates of glory into your home.

As good as my intentions are, sometimes I feel as though I am going backward. Sometimes Satan attacks me with doubt. But you carry me for a while until I am stronger. You are so patient with me. Forgive my weaknesses.

Ah,  my Lord, I thank you  for the good life you have given me — not perfect, but good.  I haven’t been perfect either, of course, because Satan is always right around the corner trying to distract me from you. How he hates love. Sometimes I give in to him, ashamed even as I do it. When things get too rough, you step in, shoo him away from me and let me rest until I regain my strength. Then I rise like a bird soaring to its nest on a high mountain. And you smile.

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY:  A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Every possible type of good work is included in this book, along with step-by-step methods. Something for everyone, whether you have 10 minutes a day or 1 hour a day available. Letter writing, benevolence, works for and by the handicapped, newcomers, military personnel, university students, works for Bible school class children to do, crafts, keeping your home, workplace by employee and employer, church office, worldwide missionary work, works for seniors, assisted-living homes, nursing homes, loss of loved ones, telephoning, prayer warriors, prayer partners, home Bible studies, heavenly reward. For individual use, small and large congregations, small towns, big cities, old people, young people, active or paralyzed. There is something everyone can do.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY  https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

As old as whose hills?

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn attitude, Daily, eternity, good works, Inspirational, judging, thingsLeave a comment

The Scripture for today, April 24 (4/24), is Jeremiah 4:24 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.”

I was living in a village near the bottom of Mt. St. Helens when it blew.  We had lived there for eight years. We had taken our children up to it and gone sledding, building snow forts, making snow angels, the works. 

It was our mountain. Our beautiful mountain. It reminded me of an upside-down ice-cream cone.  It was perfect in every way.  Everyone knew it was a volcano, but it had formed thousands of years before and would continue like it was for thousands of years in the future. It was our mountain, and it belonged to us to do with as we pleased.

But it wasn’t our mountain.  One morning I looked outside. It seemed as though we had been plunged into the inside of a furnace with all its ashes. I stared. It was snowing gray ash.  I stared more, wondering what the birds had done.  Relieved, I saw them huddled together under bushes.

Of course, the radio and TV had switched to Emergency. We were told to stay indoors because ash is deadly to the lungs. If we did go out, we had to wear surgical masks. If we drove, we were told to put nylons over the air filter and to not go over 10 mph.  Even then, the ash flew everywhere. Our freeway entrance and exit were blocked. The most disturbing thing I heard on the radio (yes, everyone kept their radio on) was that we were at the top of the San Andreas Fault.  And so, we like the birds, huddled and waited for more unknown.

Not only was our mountain turned inside out, but our world was too.

People have expressions that something is “as eternal as the mountains” or “as old as the hills.”  Not true. Nothing on earth is eternal. That also includes things, people, power, position, belongings, even dreams.  Eventually, they quake and sway and are gone. Only that which is spiritual is forever.

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Every possible type of good work is included in this book, along with step-by-step methods. Something for everyone, whether you have 10 minutes a day or 1 hour a day available. Letter writing, benevolence, works for and by the handicapped, newcomers, military personnel, university students, works for Bible school class children to do, crafts, keeping your home, workplace by employee and employer, church office, worldwide missionary work, works for seniors, assisted-living homes, nursing homes, loss of loved ones, telephoning, prayer warriors, prayer partners, home Bible studies, heavenly reward. For individual use, small and large congregations, small towns, big cities, old people, young people, active or paralyzed. There is something everyone can do. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY 

https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

Lead our young to relight the torch

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn attitude, good works, healing, Inspirational, love, patience, prayer, teaching, truth, victoryLeave a comment

00-cover-kindle-medium-newThe children, Lord. Make today’s children rebellious. Make them tell their “hippie” parents and grandparents, “No more. You do not want rules, but I do.” Lead this young generation to light the torch and carry it high so the world will see that Satan will not and cannot win. Help the teenagers of today do what they so naturally want to do. Help them rise up in rebellion against the immorality and lack of ethics that have raised their ugly heads in society. Help them find out who the only true God really is ~ not some high-minded imagination of people who make themselves gods by promising a religion full of emptiness.  Help these teenagers light the torch that reveals you to the world of their grandparents, their parents, their peers, and the next generation. May you be magnified and glorified through this next generation.

Lord, forgive me when I become suspicious of people’s motives. Why do I do that? You are the only one who can read hearts. I try to give a dollar here and there to beggars on the street and never question how they will use it; I just tell them they need to go home. But other people I do question. It is not up to me. That is up to you. No matter who does what, make me assume their motives are good, encourage them, and put my mind at rest.

Thank you, Lord God, for loving everyone, even my enemies. You give me courage when I have no courage. You give me strength when I am weak. You give me love when I do not feel it.  I am weak and sinful. Yet you love me and stay with me in your patience. I do not deserve you. I can only whisper over and over, thank you.

.

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-NewAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Handicapped?  Wanting to do good works for others anyway? Too busy to add good works to your already cluttered life?  What do you say when a friend’s relative dies?  Wonder how to handle gossip, baby showers, mean bosses, etc. in the workplace?  Do the poor in other countries bother you?  Want to teach your children to do good deeds?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/2TQBGDF

https://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

Enduring Honor

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn #friendships, attitude, church, ego, good works, Heaven, Inspirational, prayer, worshipLeave a comment

Applied ChristianityThe scripture for today, December 26 (12/26), is John 12:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

Ah, Lord Jesus. We claim we understand how humble you were, then build great cathedrals which we claim are to your glory but which are really to our glory. We organize great musical performances which we claim are to your glory, but which are really to our glory.

Just where was Jesus when he was on earth saying this?  In a posh hotel in Jerusalem? Did he have great musicians performing in the background? Did he stand on a podium and declare this to multitudes? Who are you fooling when you declare you are his servant.

Who or what are you really a servant to? Power in a workplace, club, congregation, neighborhood? Prestige in a community, an occupation, an organization? Self-indulgence of money, music, entertainment?

While you are pursuing things in life, is Jesus there with you? Are you doing what he would be busy doing?  Are you where he was when he said this?

Dare to be a servant to the power of Jesus’ love, prestige in the eyes of God, self-indulgence in the joy of worshiping Him. In this only is there true and enduring honor.

.

Applied ChristianityAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY:  A Handbook of 500 Good Works.  Many good works included in this book than can be done during a pandemic.  In fact, they are most special in such times.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY

APPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A Handbook of 500 Good Works

And was that a wink, Lord?

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn #Handicaps, good works, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, joy, prayer, Thanksgiving, things, worshipLeave a comment

Applied Christianityhttps://northernlightspublishinghouse.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/Ah, my Lord God, when I give anything to you, it is not really a gift.  I am only returning what is already yours.   The world and all that is in it is yours because you created everything. Then you loaned it all to humans to take care of for you. You give each of us talents so we can make your loans beautiful. May we, give them back to you better than they were.  How? By giving what you loaned to us to someone who cannot pay us back. Perhaps a retired person with low income, perhaps a child, perhaps a beggar on the street.  May what we give away praise you in this way.

And all those talents you gave us.  I cannot count them all.  Oh, my!  One person is an artist with pencils or paints or sand or glass or stone. Someone else is a musician making music that is loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low. Someone else is a cook, a writer, a welder, a speaker, a carpenter, a pilot, a climber. Then there are the builders of things short and tall, square and triangle, brick or wood or glass. The molders and sculptors of marble, silly putty, wood, and even food.  Mountain makers of stone, sand, mashed potatoes, and bubbles. The sewers, the writers, the cookers.  The explorers seeking more of your wonders and beauty and marvels.  Oh, so many talents you have given us to make your world just a little more exciting, intense, entertaining, lovely, introspective, and joyous.  I think you are grinning at me now.  And was that a wink? Thank you, Lord.

.

Applied ChristianityAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Yes, I counted them.  Don’t know how it turned out that way.  The book is the result of attending 30 congregations through the years and learning from each one. Something for villages and big cities, robust and handicapped, young and old, even the paralyzed.  They can be done in minutes, hours, or days. They can be done in groups or solo. No excuses now.  Something for everyone.  A good gift or even class book.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY

APPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A Handbook of 500 Good Works

Scripture for Friday, January 27 (1/27)

On By Northern Lights Publishing HouseIn blessings, Daily, good works, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 27, is James 1:27 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Although there are plenty of people who claim they do enough good works that they don’t have to go to church, the opposite occurs also. Do you go to church every time the doors are open, and attend all the potluck dinners, and participate in the singing, and teach a class? So far, so good.

But what about the rest? James says we must do our part to look after people in distress. If we say we don’t have time, we must look at our priorities. We take the time to do what we choose to do. James also says we can’t pray on Sunday and swear on Monday. We can’t sing on Sunday and cheat on Monday. We can’t praise God on Sunday and lie on Monday.

Christianity does include “going to church” because it was commanded in Hebrews 10:25; and Sunday is the day to keep the weekly Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7). But this must be balanced with a moral life and good works. Are you balanced?

#GoodWorks, #Good, #Works, #Christianity, #Kindness, #DailyLife, #Worship, #Practice, #Practical, #AppliedChristianity, #Sunday, #WeekDays, #LordsSupper, #HolyCommunion, #TeachBible, #Sing, #Choir, #Potlucks