clean

Thank you FresnoJoe for posting the video when my post did not work.

Glorious Day (living He loved me)Casting Crowns version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOpgyqGCYM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5KOevkUjRTU

Hi everybody, even as the world's gets colder through lack of the love of God in people's hearts, our love doesn't have to disappear or get colder along with the world's. God is still bringing more souls out of worldliness to Himself, like He did with us. So let's be loving Christians through our daily lives with the people we encounter. Speaking of that I love each of you and hope you are all well, and I am glad that God led those who created this forum to create it, and then led us all to it. John 15:9-17 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

The way I view it is that the west as a whole is not responsible for everything that every single western company does. We can certainly choose to boycott those specific companies. If those companies are indeed oppressing the poor, I think that boycotting those companies by not shopping there would be a good idea. It generally helps local economies to buy as local as possible rather than buying everything from larger chain companies that manufacture the majority of their products overseas anyway. Recently the Hershey's chocolate company announced that it is switching to fair trade cocoa in the year 2020. That company has been boycotted and written to and emailed by such a large group of people in recent years who have been trying to get Hershey's to stop using human trafficking labor slavery in Africa. The Hershey's company finally caved to the pressure because so many people kept contacting the company about it. So that proves that change can happen in large businesses even if it is just from lots of ongoing pressure by the business' own consumers. No government money or effort needed, just a lot of pressure from the consumers. The thing that really bothers me about the sweat shops in Bangladesh and China is that some of them lock people inside so they can't leave even in the event of a fire, earthquake, or gas leak. They companies involved should at least make sure that the people have the free will to leave if they want to or need to. change.org is one website that make it easy to contact companies directly yourself to try to get them to stop oppressing the poor. We certainly should love our neighbors and not just only look out for ourselves.

Some people think that Micah 5 is a reference to the Assyrian empire's attack on Israel that happened in 722 A.D. and some people think that the Assyrian is a reference to the anti Christ of the end times. Here is a link to one Bible study on the book of Micah http://www.biblicaltraining.org/library/micah/52-major-stories-of-the-bible/william-mounce. This next link is also a study on the book of Micah and it is written by a post-tribber who believes that a lot of the book of Micah is about current or future events including the tribulation and onward http://www.crossfaithministry.or/studybookmicah.html . That is what the writers of those Bible studies believe the book of Micah is referring to. Make sure everything matches up to what the Holy Bible states when participating in or reading Bible studies.

A lot of the sicknesses we get are not God's will. Some sicknesses could be a demonic attack on a person. We should not assume that all sicknesses are a result of God's will. Praying for someone to be healed is worth our time. If we are sick we can just pray "Thank you Father God if it is your will I be healed, please heal me now in Jesus name, amen." I had a really bad sore throat last week and I looked in the mirror and there were large white-ish looking bumps and it was really red near them. I also felt sick. I prayed it away. I kept praying prayers of thanks to God, and then praying "Be healed in Jesus name, amen." I prayed it several times in a row while holding my hands to my neck, then it worked. I'm not special. God is the one who is almighty and heals, and the glory for all good things goes to God. Praise God, Amen! Of course we should pray for people to be healed, because who are we to know who it is God's will to heal or not heal. Praying for them could draw extra spiritual attention on them. Even if a person is non-believer at this time, they could be a believer some day. It is worth praying for people to be saved. What if you weren't saved? Would you want people to pray for you? The only person we should never pray for is the anti-Christ, unless God specifically tells us not to pray for someone else as well. Jeremiah 30:17 "For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, saith the Lord." Matthew 18:19 "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on Earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven." 1 Corinthians 12:4 "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."

Fire-hart I think it is fantastic that you are committed to being a great parent someday. I'm not sure why your parents said "I said so" so many times, maybe it was because they lacked the communication skills to get their point across.Though I don't know if that is the case. My parents were sometimes abusive, my dad was violent, and my mom was at times very reactive and verbally abusive. My dad was never a Christian as far as I know (he died when I was little), and my mom was not a Christian during my childhood. I forgave my parents a long time ago for the abuse. The Holy Bible lets us know that we are supposed to forgive. Maybe you already did forgive your parents, but if you haven't yet, it is a good idea to do so.

I prayed for you as well Dawn1974. I would suggest getting the kids to cooperate in group activities, like the old games simon says or red light-green light, it teaches them listening skills and gives them a positive direction for their energy. Or teaching them simple songs like "This Little Light of Mine","Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Little Bunny Fufu", etc. and having them sing along with you in a group. Also you can have them all sit down and read them a short book or just make up short stories for them to listen to. Those are just some ideas.

I have read through some scripture that hasn't clicked in my mind as far as immediate understanding goes, then I re-read it until I have a more clear understanding. Asking questions and having discussion with Christians I know sometimes works faster though. Either discussing it with Christians you know or asking on this forum is smart of you because it gets you another Christian's perspective on something you feel stuck on. God bless you brother.

I found two websites for you that have categorized scripture by topic here are the links http://godswordsofcomfort.com/BibleVerses.html and http://www.readtheword.info/bible-verses-by-topic.htm

The first passage you mentioned seems to be a reference to trusting God. Maybe he had a lot of faith in God and trusted him for everything. The second passage seems to be a reference to turning fully to the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind according to all the Law of Moses. It seems like he loved God with all of himself and tried to live his life following the Law of Moses.

I'm happy for you, and I hope you have great and safe experience there. I'm glad you are going in June because the one who Catholics call 'pope' is going the Holy Land in May, so traveling there in May would probably be a different situation with lots and lots of security, maybe some things will even be blocked off during that time.

http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/why_cast_out_demons.php The link is to a website that gives references to scripture that let you know that as a Christian you can cast out demons. We as Christians can command demonic spirits to leave in Jesus name.

I like Rick Santorum as a candidate. Rick Santorum did have a young daughter who was not expected to live very long though, and that caused him to leave the political race early last time. I think Rand Paul seems alright, the amendment seems like a good idea.

There is a website www.persecution.com that has information on what areas of the world restrict or persecute Christianity. Some places that do not have restriction of Christianity happening still have persecution. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo does not restrict Christianity, but Muslim terrorist groups live there. Even though Islam is a minority religion, a genocide that included the deaths of about 5 million people happened in D.R.C. The Hutu muslims that did the genocide against Christians in Rwanda in 1993 fled through Uganda to D.R.C. around '94 and started the longterm genocide in D.R.C. In North Korea Kim Jong Un gives people the death penalty or jail time in work/death camps just because they are Christians. There has been severe persecution by Muslims against Christians in Nigeria, Central African Republic, some areas of Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, Somalia and now Iraq and Syria. Christians in India and Nepal have been attacked and in some cases killed by terrorist groups there, like the India terrorist group MQM. persecution.com is the website for the charity Voice of the Martyrs, and it has information on who needs prayers and ways to give help to persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. The following charities have options on helping fellow Christians: Warm Blankets Orphan Care International (www.warmblankets.org), Operation Blessing International (www.ob.org), Bibles Unbound (www.biblesunbound.com), Charity: water(www.charitywater.org), Compassion International(www.compassion.com), Talking Bibles (www.talkingbibles.org), and World Vision (www.worldvision.org) Those charities all help poor Christians and some of those charities including Voice of the Martyrs and Bibles Unbound, help Christians who live in areas where Christians are persecuted. It is worth our time to look at each of those websites and read up on who is in need, and help if we can.

James 5:13-18 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and heavens gave rain,and the earth produced it's crops. my own response: Obviously we should not speak ill of others, or put them down, or judge, or condemn them at all. We shouldn't make light of what some people are suffering with, but the people who make light of such things are usually not aware that what they are saying could be held as hurtful to some people. So just gently remind them not to make light of such things. That being said, many Christians don't realize that there is healing available in Christ. Real healing. Healing from past trauma, former bad relationships (family or otherwise), even healing from being put down or made fun of and the resulting feelings left afterwards. Healing from Christ is real, but sometimes people have to let go of feelings holding them back, which can sometimes be hard. A mental condition is a real sickness, and most people do care. Sometimes the past can get stuck in some people's mind. Don't forget to forgive people who have hurt your feelings by what they have said. When we hear someone say something we wish they hadn't said, it sort of reminds us to be careful with what we say. If anyone reading this is suffering with a mental or emotional condition, know that you are loved by God and even by Christians. I hope you find things that give you joy that are in line with God's will for your life. Lean on God, He is all powerful. If you need medication, then do what helps you. Most people who have depression are deprived of vitamin B-12 (just in case that information helps anyone). Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins your heavenly Father will not forgive you.