Shake off the darkness

When things don’t work out the way we plan or plans don’t work out at all, a sense of discouragement comes over us. The feelings of loneliness, depression, worthlessness start to surround and engulf. Often times we hide, trying to cover-up the fact that we have been disappointed and let down.
Ever experience an emotional drop in your countenance? One minute you’re sa...iling through the sky with the feeling of accomplishment or acceptance, then WHAM! You find yourself plummeting toward the ground in a fire ball of defeat. The lift under your wings was a gradual and steady climb, just to turn into a dead drop from above the clouds. You feel your lungs crushing from the pressure of the drop, gasping for air, you can’t breathe. Darkness has now surrounded you, you’re all alone.
Has this ever happened to you? Can’t shake off the darkness.
There is no cure for this, no five step recover and discover program to help. Unfortunately, our emotional roller coasters ebb and flow all through our lives. How we view peaks and valleys, how we handle highs and lows all depends on where our focus is.
What’s waiting for you in your dark tunnel of discouragement? A double cheeseburger? New sweater? A movie with extra-large popcorn and a diet soda? Maybe a couple of sleeping pills in hopes that when you wake all will look differently. 

 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. In the abyss of emotions and discouragement, Jesus offers light and comfort. No person or thing can give encouragement and hope like Jesus. Only Jesus can conquer the darkest most ominous days we encounter. After all, He did take upon Himself our most dark and evil deeds, our shameful lies and crippling ways.
Look full on his wonderful face. The things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Look upon the Lord through the thick and thin. He is our light, hope and salvation in a world that seeks to devour and swallow us whole. Jesus is the light. Shine the light of Christ into your tunnel of darkness and live in His grace and glory. You will not be crushed or bogged down.
Discover a life of abundance and freedom.
John 8:12
Then Jesus said again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
 

How are your words?

Words, they float out of our mouths and hover in the air. Not much too it, right? With a single word, a teary eyed little girl can feel like a princess. With a single word a grown man can feel like a child.
Remember.....If you can't say anything positive, than don't say anything at all.
Words are sharp, piercing, uplifting and condemning. Words can either nourish or starve, not only the recipient..., but the giver. Be a joyful giver with your words. Choose them wisely.

 Matthew 12:37 "Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation."

trunk/trick/treat?

Trick or Trunk or Treat

Is acceptance so much easier when you’re the funny guy, the fun to be around girl or the easy going couple? Does being like everyone else help others understand who you are? What you stand for? Where you’re coming from?
These questions are asked for Christians and non-Christians, for church -goers and non-church people.
Trick or Treat VS Trunk or Treat
Trick or Treat, people dress up like scary and non-scary characters, decorate their houses with cobwebs, skeletons and ghouls, and go door to door receiving candy. This day and age, very few people know the origin of trick or treat. So it is an act of fun and enjoyment.
Trunk or Treat, people dress up like non-scary and Biblical characters. They decorate their vehicles from a Biblical story or in a non-scary way. They distribute candy and a word from the Bible in hopes to reach the non-churched people.
All this is on church grounds, like the latter is from people’s homes.
Question…
Does the trick or treat group see that there is a difference in what they are involved in and what the church people are doing?
Does the trunk or treat group believe that dressing up, distributing candy and giving a Godly word, seem all that different? ………Did Jesus set up a table in the temple and distribute tracts for free, or give sermons alongside the money changers who sold oxen and sheep and doves?
In a child’s eyes, is there a difference?
Please, thoughts and opinions are welcome here> I ask that there be no profanity.
?
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Is the key phrase here.......renewing your mind?

Inspiration can put the wind in our sails. When we feel inspired, things start to happen. Projects get done, books get written and babies are conceived. At times we might be the ones who inspire someone else. A kind word at the right time can change a person’s perspective. An honest smile will bring a warm sense of being accepted.

Have you wanted to be inspired? Have you been bogged down with the ‘hum drums’ and can’t see the forest through the trees? Need some inspiration?  Love?  Acceptance?

Regardless of your position in life, your financial circumstances, relationships and state of mental awareness, inspiration and acceptance are not beyond your reach. If you yearn so desperately to be accepted by others, or to finish something you’ve started, remember, you’re never alone.

God will never leave you nor forsake you.

God, who started a great work in you, will finish it.

God also smiles upon those who love him, and he gives gifts and blessings.

God is a loving God.

He will lavish upon you all that is good and just.

Romans 5:6
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

 

honor others above yourselves

Kota Cares

 

Romans 12:1-2 Here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. Y...ou'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 Romans 12:9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

 Romans 12:20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Where are you looking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jpHtsSEQo&noredirect=1

When things don’t work out the way we plan or plans don’t work out at all, a sense of discouragement comes over us. The feelings of loneliness, depression, worthlessness start to surround and engulf. Often times we hide, trying to cover-up the fact that we have been disappointed and let down.
Ever experience an emotional drop in your countenance? One minute you’re sa...iling through the sky with the feeling of accomplishment or acceptance, then WHAM! You find yourself plummeting toward the ground in a fire ball of defeat. The lift under your wings was a gradual and steady climb, just to turn into a dead drop from above the clouds. You feel your lungs crushing from the pressure of the drop, gasping for air, you can’t breathe. Darkness has now surrounded you, you’re all alone.
Has this ever happened to you? Can’t shake off the darkness.
There is no cure for this, no five step recover and discover program to help. Unfortunately, our emotional roller coasters ebb and flow all through our lives. How we view peaks and valleys, how we handle highs and lows all depends on where our focus is.
What’s waiting for you in your dark tunnel of discouragement? A double cheeseburger? New sweater? A movie with extra-large popcorn and a diet soda? Maybe a couple of sleeping pills in hopes that when you wake all will look differently.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. In the abyss of emotions and discouragement, Jesus offers light and comfort. No person or thing can give encouragement and hope like Jesus. Only Jesus can conquer the darkest most ominous days we encounter. After all, He did take upon Himself our most dark and evil deeds, our shameful lies and crippling ways.
Look full on his wonderful face. The things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Look upon the Lord through the thick and thin. He is our light, hope and salvation in a world that seeks to devour and swallow us whole. Jesus is the light. Shine the light of Christ into your tunnel of darkness and live in His grace and glory. You will not be crushed or bogged down.
Discover a life of abundance and freedom.
John 8:12
Then Jesus said again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
 

Once it was a blessing

Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
Now, the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
Now Himself alone.

• All in all forever,
  Only Christ I'll sing;
  Everything is in Christ,
  And Christ is everything.

Once 'twas painful trying,
Now 'tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation,
Now the uttermost;
Once 'twas ceaseless holding,
Now He holds me fast;
Once 'twas constant drifting,
Now my anchor's cast.

Once 'twas busy planning,
Now 'tis trustful prayer;
Once 'twas anxious caring,
Now He has the care;
Once 'twas what I wanted,
Now what Jesus says;
Once 'twas constant asking,
Now 'tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me;
Once the pow'r I wanted,
Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored,
Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus,
Now I know He's mine;
Once my lamps were dying,
Now they brightly shine;
Once for death I waited,
Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored
Safe within the veil.

Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
Now, the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
Now Himself alone.

• All in all forever,
  Only Christ I'll sing;
  Everything is in Christ,
  And Christ is everything.

Once 'twas painful trying,
Now 'tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation,
Now the uttermost;
Once 'twas ceaseless holding,
Now He holds me fast;
Once 'twas constant drifting,
Now my anchor's cast.

Once 'twas busy planning,
Now 'tis trustful prayer;
Once 'twas anxious caring,
Now He has the care;
Once 'twas what I wanted,
Now what Jesus says;
Once 'twas constant asking,
Now 'tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me;
Once the pow'r I wanted,
Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored,
Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus,
Now I know He's mine;
Once my lamps were dying,
Now they brightly shine;
Once for death I waited,
Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored
Safe within the veil.

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/nt/513#ixzz1a0JfaBGg