The Spirit of Music

Sunday Morning while I was riding in the car an old gospel song that I liked came on. After hearing the familiar melody a wind of peace engulfed me. I sang along which intensified the feeling the song was giving off. After hearing the song I was reminded of a conference I had gone to. In the conference the speaker spoke on the effects of music. I will always remember that conference; there was a hail storm the day after (very unusual). The speaker talked about Lucifer being in charge of the music in heaven and how he continued to use his gift after being cast out. The speaker spoke about how heavy metal exalted the devil and how the devil used rap for African Americans (rap now crosses the color barriers). The speaker showed us slides of some of the lyrics of songs etc. it was mind blowing to see some of the things I had been dancing and listening to. People are so caught up in the beat and rhythm of the song that sometimes we don't pay close enough attention to the words. In the end he challenged us to do a 3 day fast with no tv or radio. During the 3 days I sang songs I did not even know that I liked and I couldn't stop singing them. I have since gone back to listening to secular music. Cutting out secular music has been a battle for me. Music is one of my strongest giftings and I have found it difficult to not listen to it all. I do believe it is necessary for me to cut out secular music because music is so powerful...it changes your very mood. When you listen to a happy song it brings back happy memories. When you listen to sad songs you think on sad times. When you listen to love songs...well you get the gist of what I am saying. As a Christian I feel we should listen to music that feeds our spirit and helps us in our walk with Christ. I await the day when my desire is only to hear music that edifies.

The Color of Love,The Family of God

While walking the other day at a near by park I saw a little boy who happened to be Caucasian playing; I thought nothing of it then I heard him call out "ma" the only lady that was near him was African American. I was focused on exercising so I didn't think anything of it so I just continued to walk by and as I did he saw me and kindly said "hello"...I spoke back and continued on my walk. After I finished walking I let my little girl who had come with me play on the playground. The little boy who I had seen earlier had began to approach a group of African American children apprehensively, they waved for him to come join them and they began to play on the merry go round. While playing one of the little kids asked him "where's your momma at?" He replied "she's right there" pointing to the African American lady who had been there with him all along; "oh...really?" she asked "yeah" replied the boy and they continued to play. I sat there enjoying the moment for the longest watching the children play with no regard to their differences; it was beautiful and innocent. Years ago while watching a game show I found myself rooting for an African American lady (I am African American) and God began to convict me. "Why do you want her to win?" was the question he spoke to my spirit. I did not respond and I didn't need to; God had searched my heart and exposed something within it that even I did not know was there. He then spoke to my spirit "that lady could be a murderer, a child molester...you don't know; just because the two of you have the same color skin doesn't mean you're anything alike; you could have way more in common with the white male or female." I really began to rethink things after that day. I had always considered myself open minded; I was educated and had traveled overseas and that exposure really caused me to befriend all races. Still God had found hidden, silent traces of the residue of racism in my heart. During the Presidential Election I knew that racism would rare its head but I saw it in some people I never would have expected to see it in and it hurted. As we as a Nation and the Body of Christ are exposed to more diversity and as color barriers are being broken. I pray that we will begin to judge people as one man of insight so eloquently put it "by our character" and as one far greater than us all tried to teach us...by the spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [him] no more. Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 1John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Mark 3:35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother

Names of God

El Shaddai- God All Suffient
Jehovah Jireh- The Lord Will Provide Jehovah Nissi- The Lord My Victory Banner
Jehovah Rapha- The Lord My Healer
Jehovah Tisdkenu- The Lord My Righteousness
Jehovah Shalom-The Lord My Peace
Immanuel- God With Us

Biblical Baby Names

Aaron = exalted, enlightened
Abarrane = Hebrew, feminine form of Abraham, father of many
Abelia = Hebrew, breath, sigh
Abigail = father’s joy
Adam = mankind
Alon = oak tree
Amy = my nation, my people
Andrew = manly, warrior
Anna = gracious
Benjamin = Son of the right hand
Chloe = young green shoot, blooming
Dalia = branch
Daniel = God is my judge
David = beloved
Deborah = bee
Dina = judged
Elana = tree
Eli = ascend
Elijah = the Lord is my God
Elizabeth = God is my oath
Ester = star
Ethan = strong
Eve = life
Ezekiel = God will strengthen
Felix = happy, fortunate prosperous
Gabrielle = God is my strength
Hannah = grace of God
Helsa = devoted to God
Ilana = tree
Isaac = He will laugh
Isaiah = God is my salvation
Israel = struggles with God
Jacob = held by the heel
Jael = to ascend, mountain goat
James = held by the heel
Jeremiah = God will raise up
Jessica = God sees
Joel = God is willing
John = God gave
Jonah = dove
Jordan = to flow down
Joseph = God adds, he will increase
Joshua = God is my salvation
Judah = praise
Judith = praise
Karen = pure
Kirsten = Christ’s follower
Leah = weary
Levi = joined
Malachi = messenger
Manasseh = causing to forget
Matthew = gift of God
Marcus = warlike
Michael = who is like God
Michelle = who is like God
Miriam = bitter
Mordecai = warrior
Moses = drawn out of the water
Nathan = God has given
Nehemiah = comforted by the Lord
Noah = rest
Rachel = lamb
Raphael = God has healed
Rebecca = to tie
Rubin = behold a son
Samson = sun
Samuel = God has heard
Sharon = a fertile plain
Simon = to hear
Solomon = his peace
Stephen = crown
Tamara = palm tree

The Joy of The Lord Is Our Strength/Christian Jokes

The Athiest in the Woods
An atheist was walking through the woods, thinking to himself,
"How beautiful the animals are!" "How majestic the trees are!" "How powerful the rivers are!"
As he walked along the river, he heard rustling in the bushes behind him.
He turned and saw an 8-foot grizzly bear charging towards him.
He ran along the path as fast as he could, but when he looked over his shoulder, he saw that the bear was closing in on him.
He kept running, but when he looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer.
Then he tripped and fell on the ground.
The bear was right on top of him with his right paw raised to strike him.
At that instant, the atheist cried, "God help me!"
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
A bright light shone upon the man and a voice from the sky said, "You've denied my existence for all these years and have taught others that I don't exist.
You've even credited creation to a cosmic accident.
Why would you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Are you now a believer?"
The atheist looked into the light and said, "Well, I would be hypocrite to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but could you, maybe, make the BEAR a Christian?"
"Very Well," said the voice.
The light went out.
The sounds of the forest resumed.
The bear lowered his right paw and brought both paws together.
He bowed his head, and said: "Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive from Your bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."
Shall we gather at the river?
A preacher, completing a temperance sermon, spoke with great fervor! "If I had all the beer in the world, I’d throw it all into the river."
With greater emphasis, he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d throw it all into the river."
And finally he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I’d throw it all into the river, too!"
As he took his chair, the song leader stood and announced with a smile, "For our closing hymn, let us sing number 365:
"Shall We Gather at the River."
Holy Water
One Sunday morning a minister and a choirboy were getting the church ready for mass.
The minister prepared his sermon while the choirboy filled the holy water fountain.
Suddenly, the choirboy burst into the minister's room and yelled,
"father father, I just saw the most amazing thing! I filled the holy water fountain. Then a man came in on crutches.
He moved to the fountain, dipped his left hand in the holy water, blessed himself and threw away his left crutch.
Then he dipped his right hand in the holy water, blessed himself and threw away his right crutch.
Then he turned to me ... and he took a step forward"!
The minister was awe struck by what he just heard.
"My boy, he said, you just witnessed a miracle from God!Where's this man now?"
The Choirboy replies..."flat on his face in front of the holy water fountain"!
A Miracle?
Father O'Malley was driving down to Boston when got stopped for speeding in Medford.
The highway patrol officer smelled alcohol on the priest's breath and then saw an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car.
He said, 'Father, have you been drinking?'
'Only water', replied Father O'Malley.
The policeman asked, 'Then how come I can smell wine?'
The priest looked at the bottle and said, 'Good Lord! He's done it again.'
Brewing Coffee
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee".
The husband said, " You are in charge of the cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."
Wife replies, "No you should do it, and besides it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."
Husband replies, " I can't believe that, show me."
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and shows him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says: “HEBREWS”
SUNDAY SCHOOL
One day in Sunday school, the teacher was talking about Jesus is to the kids, "Bobby, where is Jesus?" asked the teacher.
"Jesus is in heaven." replied Bobby.
"Very good!", said the teacher.
The teacher then asked a little girl," Where is Jesus, Emily?".
Emily said innocently, "Jesus is in my heart!".
The teacher beamed at little Emily and said, "How very sweet!!!".
The teacher now asked Timmy, "Timmy, where is Jesus?".
"Jesus is in my bathroom." he said assuredly.
"Please elaborate, Timmy.", the teacher said.
Timmy then replied, "Well, every morning my dad gets up, bangs on the bathroom door and yells. Jesus Christ, are you still in there!!!"
WHOOPS!
A middle-aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital.
While on the operating table she has a near death experience.
During that experience she sees God and asks if this is it.
God says no and explains that she has another 30 years to live.
Upon her recovery she decides to just stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, etc. She even has someone come in and change her hair color.
She figures since she's got another 30 years she might as well make the most of it.
She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and is killed by an ambulance speeding by.
She arrives in front of God and complains, "I thought you said I had another 30 years."
God replies, "I didn't recognize you."
TIME & ETERNITY
A man was taking it easy, lying on the grass and looking up at the clouds. He was identifying shapes when he decided to talk to God.
"God", he said, "how long is a million years?"
God answered, "In my frame of reference, it's about a minute."
The man asked, "God, how much is a million dollars?"
God answered, "To Me, it's a penny." The man then asked, "God, can I have a penny?"
God said, "In a minute."
THE MISER
There was a man who worked and worked and saved all his money.
Neverspending any of it, just saving it.
He loved money. He was a miser and heworshipped his cash.
For years he kept telling his wife, "when I die, I want you to put mymoney in the casket with me; I want to have it for the afterlife."
The years passed and he kept idolizing his money and telling his wifeto put the money in the casket with him.
He even got a bible out and made his wife swear on the bible that she would put the money in his casket with him.
"Do you promise to put my money in the casket with me when I die?... do you PROMISE?"
"Yes", the wife replied, "I promise to put all your money in your casket with you."
One day the man died and at the funeral the wife sat holding a giftwrapped box. She was sitting with her closest friend and quietly crying.
Just as the funeral director got ready to close the casket the wife jumped up and said, "WAIT, I have something to put in the casket with him."Then she gently placed the box in the casket.
When she returned to her seat her friend asked, "what did you put in the casket?"
The wife answered, "he made me promise that I would put all his money in the casket with him when he died, so that he could have it in the afterlife."
The friend was astonished and said, "I KNOW you didn't do that!!"
The wife looked at her friend and said, "Well, you know I'm a Christian woman and I could not lie to him... so I did as I promised."
Her friend said, "girl, you are crazy!!" "I can't believe you put all the money in the casket with him!!"
The wife quietly dabbed the tears from her eyes and said....I'm a Christian but not a fool...... I wrote him a check if he can cash it he can have it.
THE LITTLE OLD LADY
There was a little old lady, who every morning. stepped ontoher front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted:"PRAISE THE LORD!"
One day an atheist moved into the house next door. Hebecame irritated at the little old lady.
Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell:"THERE IS NO LORD!"
Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day.
One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted:"PRAISE THE LORD! Please Lord, I have no food and Iam starving, provide for me, oh Lord!
The next morning she stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.
"PRAISE THE LORD!" she cried out. "HE HAS PROVIDED GROCERIES FOR ME!"
The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted:"THERE IS NO LORD. I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!!"
The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted:"PRAISE THE LORD! HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITHGROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!
PARKING
A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large citybecause he was short of time and couldn't find a space witha meter.
So he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled the block 10 times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES."
When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note.
"I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION."

The Joy of The Lord is Our Strength/Church signs

The Joy of The Lord Is Our Strength

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Laughter truly is good for the soul; so many people thinks being a Christian means being serious and boring; I think that there is a time and season for everything and even though we have a purpose as followers of Christ life is meant to be enjoyed. The next posts will be a collection of things that I find funny.

Somebody Prayed For Me

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Today out of the blue while taking a nap my cousin came over and said that God had told her to come pray with me. The prayer really quickened my spirit. While she prayed she confirmed things God had already spoken to me. I Thank God for sending me that gift. We must remember how important it is for us to pray for one another.

Distractions

Have you ever noticed that when you set your mind to do something that is positive and is aligned with the will of God all hell breaks loose? In my life when I try to start something crazy stuff begins to happen...the people in my life begin to act a fool;things start to go wrong; even strangers join in and say or do something that makes me upset or takes my attention away from the task at hand. Now when things start to try to hold me back from doing something I just press forward anyway the bible In Phillipians Paul talks about how he handles trouble when it comes Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I heard that Paul, if God told me to do it and I know it is his will I'm going to keep moving foward and complete whatever it is as unto Christ.

Faith Without Works

The Bible says in James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Many believers, myself included often expect God to drop what we want in our lap. As I have matured in Christ I have come to realize that if we want God to bless something we must put it into action ourselves. If we want a business we need to do some research and then write a business plan after that we can ask God okay Lord how can I get startup money. Being spiritual minded is good but being so spiritual that we are no natural good is not. Often times we have this fantasy in our head that God will just drop what we want in our lap...sometimes he will but if God hasn't told us to be still and we know what we want is in his will we need to begin the work.

Fellowship

Psalm 133 verse 1 says: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! I do not have a church home at the present. I have visited different churches but I have not been compelled to join any of them. Recently a close friend and I were talking and I told her "you know for a long time I have been saying I can't find a church home but I haven't prayed for God to Lead me to the church I am suppose to join". Even after this revelation I must confess that I still have not been praying as I should to find a church home. I think I became comfortable with saying I can't find a good church and began to use that as an excuse for not going. The last church I went to had prophecy etc. alot of the things I have been looking for but I still have not gone back so I have to face the fact that the problem may be within me.

God Told Me to Tell You...

Has God ever told you to tell someone something that you were hesitant to tell them? The Bible says in: Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. 2 Corinthians 7:4 Great [is] my boldness of speech toward you, great [is] my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. Ephesians 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and [my] hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but [that] with all boldness, as always, [so] now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether [it be] by life, or by death. 1 Timothy 3:13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Still at times I have been apprehensive when it came to sharing a word. Last night I had a dream about my cousin and instead of sharing the dream with her I kept it to myself, but all day I have been convicted about not telling her. In the past I have shared words that God has given me and I have watched people be moved by the truth that the spirit of God revealed to me to share with them and at times I have also not told someone something God told me to tell them, for example while in church one Sunday I saw a vision of a spine and I knew that I was supposed to say something but I didn't; later a lady in the church said please pray for my grandmother she is having surgery on her back;what kind of impact would knowing that God was concerned with how she was feeling and her not even having to ask have had. There have been other instances where I held back and kept what God had given me to myself. You can never get those times back.

Speak Lord

For the first time in a long time I have been hearing the voice of God again. While going through my wilderness some suggested that maybe I was not listening or maybe sin had separated me from God...the theories that people came up with to explain why I had stopped hearing the voice of God were good ones but I don't believe that they were the reason I was not hearing from God. I haven't changed anything but God had began to reveal himself to me again and his welcomed presence is changing me. I have began to dream and see visions etc. and it feels wonderful. My spirit has awakened from a slumber. I have noticed this change in others as well. I perceive that God is calling his people for a work in these days. Speak Lord, Speak!