Month: September 2013

Special Prayer Request: Leona Liget

In life we have many things which happen that are unexplained and or are surprising.  But the joy of a person who has filled the hearts of their family… well these special people are a gift which is full of God’s love. Today I ask that we all pray for such a person who has been an inspiration to her family, a women who is very devoted and strong in her beliefs, and yes… full of God’s love.  Let us all pray for Leona Liget who is currently battling acute renal failure, or better known as Kidney Failure.  She is a women who loves to laugh, loves being around family and friends, a women who is inviting and is a natural mother.  She has dedicated her life to the ideals and principals of family, needless to say she is also one of those special people who I personally have had the pleasure to meet and spend a little time with and can testify to you all of how much joy she brought to my heart in the little time we shared not long ago.  To listen to her stories and the joy that is in her voice when she tells them is a sign of a life lived with God’s joy, happiness, and love.  It will be through her perseverance and the love of all those around her that our prayers here today will ego and heal her so she can continue enjoying life and also continue to give joy to all she meets.

LET US PRAY

Dear Lord, God in heaven, hear our prayers and lamination’s of your power and might.  Hear our plea and our songs which worship you, praise you, and that show you of our faith in you.  Lord God there is no other which is more powerful, more just, more righteous, and there is no one more able to receive our collective prayers that are being sent to you today.

(Pray using “I”)

I,  Lord God in Heaven,  humbly come before you and ask that you heal your daughter Leona Liget from her failing kidney and that you give her the strength to fight and the courage to continue in your holy name.  Lord,  I ask of you to be with her in this hour of need and to be the one who raises her up in your loving arms and give her a renewed leash on life.  I ask with all humility, realizing I am imperfect, knowing I am a sinner, knowing I have no authority to ask this of you, but yet I plea this cause on behalf of a women who has served you and who has raised the children you blessed her with, and who was a faithful wife, and is a grand mother who loves all her children as much as you love us.  Lord God in heaven it would be righteous to extend mercy unto Leona, and give her family time to hear her beautiful stories of her life, so that they may have time to rejoice with her as she recounts a life you have so graciously given, a life she has thus far so richly enjoyed.

Lord God in Heaven, I rejoice that you have heard me, that you have heard all who has prayed this prayer, and I rejoice in the time you gave unto me when first meeting Leona.  I rejoice in your holy name, and surrender unto you, acknowledging your divine right to work whatever miracle you wish, I simply and humbly ask that just one of those miracles will be for Leona.  I pray that you give her peace of mind, a fearless heart, and comfort her in all she is going through.  I also ask that you be there for her family and friends who love her with all their hearts as well.  With this prayer I do commit my love, joy, and devotion to your Holy Name.

Amen,

Let Us Pray

Our Father, Who is in heaven,
Holy is Your Name;
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Please contact us with your prayers for Leona Liget by click here.  Send her your support by leaving a comment on our Listening Faithfully Community Wall, look for “Prayers for Leona Liget”

Amen

Reflection 3: Family of God – Kingdom of God

3 “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ 3 Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” ~ John 3:1-3

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Metaphorically speaking;  every time I look down into one of my students eyes I see the Kingdom of God.  I see in their happiness the love of God, the promise and mercy of God. I can hear their hearts rejoicing and I can feel this joy they share every time they say hello, or reach out to slap may hand in the traditional “high five” as they walk by.  In some of them there is the Kingdom of God, as there was once this kingdom within all of us before we grew up.  So, this message is more for us adults than for our children, but all are welcome for let this stand as a message you keep long into your life even when you are old for it will serve you well to remember it.  Jesus Christ brought with Him a peace of the Kingdom when he came, he reveled it to some and purposefully hide it from others. He stood in the face of evil and commanded the demons and Satan himself all with the power and majesty  of the Kingdom of God backing him up.  Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God as if it was a real place you could touch and see with mortal eyes, and some who heard this message became confused as some of us today are confused.  I often wondered what this Kingdom would be like as a child, I imagined great golden gates, with angels standing as guards and God sitting upon a mighty thrown proclaiming the laws of His Kingdom.  But the older I got the more I started to understand that this Kingdom is not one mortals can see, hear, smell, or touch but rather is that place known only to God that our immortal souls dwelled before we became mortals, and is the same place we will return after our death providing that we have prepared ourselves for it as Jesus had instructed us too.  Found in John,  Jesus is speaking to one of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a man who knew Jesus was the Son of God and a man who knew the hearts of men and of the denial Jesus would undergo.

 It is not by accident that this Pharisee came to Jesus asking this question; “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”  and it was by design that Jesus responded in the manner that He did,  “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” For Jesus was telling Nicodemus that his faith in what he had admitted about the sovereignty of Jesus, that he has thus seen the Kingdom within Jesus himself.  I say this because there was at this time a burning question that few dared to acknowledge let alone answer.  That question was, “Who is Jesus? Where did he come from?” The majority of the Pharisees wanted to put the flesh and blood man on trial, but others saw more than flesh and blood in Jesus, and indeed how do you put a spirit on trial here on planet Earth, let alone the very spirit of God?  This created a controversy within the hearts and minds of everyone who wanted to use logic and their earthly senses to come to some sort of a conclusion before they could allow themselves to believe.  Yet it was foretold of the Jesus’s coming and still most did not believe even though he presented to them the path to believe, reassurance, and the over all picture of their final destination so that everyone would believe; sadly few did.  

3 “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)” ~ Ephesians 5: 3-9

It was this light of God Nicodemus was responding too and it was this light that he saw in Jesus.  Therefore, his words reflected his belief and his willingness to follow Jesus.  It sounds simple, but when putting this into practice it is one of the hardest things any human-being will ever do because it goes against the very laws of our earthly nature, our very sense of being, and no one wants to deny themselves for something they can not see nor touch.  Thus, when Nicodemus confronted Jesus our Lord saw the qualities of a believer and it was those qualities the real Kingdom of God would be built upon.   So the real Kingdom of Heaven is in each one of us, but we are blind to it unless we have allowed ourselves to believe in God, to believe in Jesus, and to be willing to be born again. 

4 “Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 “Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” ~John 3:4-7

The doorway to the Kingdom of God is clearly through the spiritual cleansing, the making ready of you heart, mind, and soul.  It is found within the denying of the body, the wants of the impure heart, and sins of the flesh.  Our hearts must be focused on God, our minds must be focused on Heaven, and our spirit must be ready to accept Jesus Christ as our our Lord and savior. Again the Jews conducted ritual bathing, but what Jesus proposed was that of Baptism just as John the Baptist had conducted in the Jordan many years before.  Therefore, it was no accident or something which happened by happen-stance, but rather by design.   Nicodemus’s conversion was no different than anyone of our own conversions today as the Kingdom of God is a real place, it was built for you and me, and it had a creator who intelligently designed it’s exits and entrances just as a builder builds a house with a front door and a back door, complete with windows, a kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms.  God has left nothing to chance and he alone has provided for our every need all the time forever.  The only difference between our house and God’s Kingdom is that he wants us to live up to a higher ideal, to be pure, and we in our own houses fail to act as we should thinking no one else will be the wiser.  But the old adage is true; what we do in private is what our actions and words reflect in public.  In all reality Nicodemus wanted his house to be supported by Jesus, and so should everyone of us aspire to the same ideal, but first we bust ask and answer those hard questions the Jewish leadership ran away from,  “Who is Jesus? Where did he come from?”

13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” ~ Colossians 1:13-14

In reflection I think every person must ask the question,  “Who is Jesus?”, so that we will begin to search, so we will begin to read the Bible.  No one reads the Bible for entertainment, though it is very entertaining.  The people which lived in those times which are found in the Bible are just as dysfunctional as we are today, nothing has changed in that regard.  They needed salvation then as much as we do today.  Their sins are no worse than our sins today, for all sin was invented by Satan and no human could ever re-invent what the Lord of Darkness has made perfectly evil.  Therefore, it is up to each person to look for, to knock on the door, to step through the doorway, to open up one’s own heart and to try and imagine a world filled with love, because it’s real, it does exist, and it’s worth the effort.  I have always thought that if Satan could expend such energy in finding ways to condemn us, and Jesus over through that with His love then wouldn’t it be logical we reciprocate by some effort of our own.

I also think it proper that after we have begun searching that we question what we read and seek more answers never forgetting what we have found, but rather accumulating a wealth of knowledge so that we can use all the evidence found to formulate the basis of our answer and belief in God.  For I do not believe God would be insulted if we, his creations, asked and search for the truth.  In my many years of reading, listening, and following the lessons in the scripture I have always felt God  in the background urging me to continue even though at times I had become frustrated, angry, and tired.  God has always been their in my life working miracles that are not written in scripture but where just for me.  So I believe He does the same thing for everyone who searches for evidence of God in their own life.   I also believe it is through this journey of Baptism do we find God, will we then be able to answer the first and the second question and do we really become convinced of where Jesus came from, who He is, and why He saved mankind from damnation.  To me there is no other definition of family I could ever possibly hope to find that fills the void as completely as to confess that I am a believer, and a member of the family of God.  I can think of no other assurance that will allow my soul to rest within peace as to admit that God will uphold His promises and take those who identify themselves as His beloved children, (family), with Him and share with them all that the Kingdom of God has to offer forever and ever.

Amen,

* For more research on this topic, “Kingdom of God”, please click: Got Questions ?.org   And from the Berean Bible Society on this topic click here.

If you liked this Special Reflection on The Kingdom of God please leave a comment. Also please “LIKE” and “SHARE” this post with others.

Brian Keith

Your invited to stay in contact with me!

EMAIL: listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com

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God Bless,

Brian Keith

P.S. NEVER GIVE UP!

Special Reflection – Prayer for Syria

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”~ Matthew 5:21-22

This weeks post is not at all the one I wanted to write and it also was nowhere near the topic I had in mind. Originally I wanted to write a special posting on the American Holiday, “Labor Day”, which was more of a response and shrewd political deal that lead to it’s being enacted, largely due to the late 1800’s “Pullman Strike”, which had such wide-ranging implications that less than a week after it ended, then-President Grover Cleveland signed Labor Day into law. As Americans we sometimes forget the political events that created many of our holidays, Labor Day being just one of them. Many of our rights also came from years of struggle and political unrest and what better way to bring the most resent struggle facing our country and many other nations around the world than to preface the peaceful ways man has ended strife without the unlawful use of violence. I also have never and will never us this blog platform which is religious in nature and in all its materials to preach politics or push a given political agenda, so with the ground rules set  I ask that first as a faith community we all pray for all the families and the victims of the Siren Gassing which took place in Syria which took more than 1,400 men, women and children on August 21, 2013.

War in Syria as well in other places in the Middle East and the world has been going on for thousands of years none stop and is likely not to stop anytime soon. Many of the reasons for man’s strife date back to the dawn of time and is firmly rooted in the Bible.  What we see today is no different than the senseless killing of tens of thousands of innocent people who died in what can only be described as mind boggling events which lead to their suffering and dying as the select few make all the decisions, make all the wealth, and allow their people to be left with virtually nothing.  These cruel dictators operate more like the common (Mafia) within a autocratic system;  rather than a democracy  of real Presidents, Prime Ministers, or Heads of State and in the annals of history they will only be remembered by the horror they unleashed on mankind rather than the ideals they may have tried to bring into our collective reality.  This drama has not changed because those in power refuse to allow it to change, they grasp onto power as if it where a drug; they will and have done anything to keep it. Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad is after all just a man and is subject to all the same grotesque temptations as every other man and women and he is no different than other brutal dictators who disguise their brutality with a deceiving title of the people and demeanor which is anything but one of a mass murder.  The very same tactics have been used before, more recently by such men as Adolf Hitler – (Died April 30, 1945 in Berlin, Germany),  Benito Mussolini – (Died April 28, 1945 in Giulino, Mezzegra, Italy),   Joseph Stolen – (Died March 5, 1953 in Kuntsevo Dach, Soviet Union), Saddam Hussein – (Hanged to Death on December 30, 2006 in Kadhimiya, Iraq),  Kim Jong-il – (Died December 17, 2011 in Pyongyang, North Korea), Hugo Chavez (Died March 5, 2013 in Caracas, Venezuela), and the late Prime Minister of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi; (Died October 20, 2011 in Sirte, Libya after being beaten and stabbed in the anus, causing serious injuries; the events were filmed on a cell phone. Pulled onto the front of a pick-up truck, he fell off as it drove away. His semi-naked, lifeless body was then placed into an ambulance and taken to Misrata; upon arrival, he was found to be dead.)  All these men lived by the sword, all of these men have murdered, all of these men also had intense anger in their hearts in order for them to have been able to say and do some of the horrible things they did. Some of these men brought peace to their counties for a while, but most came to power out of brutality and force on the backs of many of their citizens.  Such a man was Adolf Hitler who authorized the systematic extermination of millions of Jews, he authorized the use of horrific experiments which lead to countless Jews, civilians – men, women, and children to die in the most inhuman of ways possible. It was this that moved the allies after World War II to create the United Nations to keep such acts of violence from ever happening again.  Yet, some 68 years later here we are, chimerical weapons being used on civilians as they slept unaware of the impending dangers which would end their lives in the most inhuman of ways.  Another leader on this list named Saddam Hussein also used brute force through his arsenal of chemical weapons killing thousands of his own people on March 16, 1988, whereby he authorized the use of chemical weapons on the Kurds.  From morning til night  the Iraqis rained down volley after volley of bombs filled with a deadly mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on Halabja.  Approximately 5,000 women, men, and children died within days of the attacks. Long-term effects included permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects. An estimated 10,000 lived, but live daily with the disfigurement and sicknesses from the chemical weapons. Like Hitler, Hussein thumbed his nose at the world as he rained down illegal weapons on all who apposed him, war crimes in the view of the world court and yet from all we have seen and experienced there are many more dictators who are able and willing to continue where these great dinosaurs of terror have left off;  that to me is mind boggling. However, the justice for such atrocities we as mortals will never see as the true punishment is as described in Matthew 5:21-22.

A Warning for a Dictator / President

7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” ~ Ezekiel 33:7-9

It is not that I judge you and your mind and heart, but rather appeal to your humanity and the love you feel for those you hold in your personal lives. Hold fast to the love which God Himself has granted unto you and turn from the the wicked path which you now sew. Know that your sins have been made public and the eyes of the world now gaze in your direction, do not be tempted by this attention instead read fast the words of God’s servants who have come to warn you of impending sin just as God gave to King David a prophet of the Lord, Nathan.  I as a brother in Christ beg of you to do the moral and righteous things God would have you do, ignoring the evil impulses of Satan.  Do the right things God would have you do, ignoring the depravity of Satan. Make peace with your enemies and know your time as ruler may end, ignoring the temptations of power placed before you by Satan. Trust in God alone and your many sins shall be forgiven by our Father in heaven. There is nothing to be gained by war, by senseless killing, by destroying the children under your watch. Walk away and give them peace for you shall not be able to give them back which you have taken from them.  Know your heart and mind and know your soul longs for God, even though your mind is blind to this fact, give into the good within you and allow God to mold you into the person he has wanted you to become from birth, discarding the shell of Satan forever.  Heed the warning from God and seek peace or God alone shall exact His perfect judgement.

So I urge everyone to both remember and pray for all these people who have gone before those in Syria, pray for all the millions of our brothers and sisters who suffered and died from such senseless blood shed as their place is now in the Kingdom of God. I ask that you pray for the children who have suffered and who died this past August needlessly. I know the following set of pictures though may be graphic but we need to know why we pray and why we should never take such innocents from this world.  Every human-being needs to know why the death of these innocent children is such a sin in the eyes of God, and thus we also need to pray for those in power who both allowed it and who are now brave enough to stand up and take action to prevent it from ever happening again.

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Survivors of suspected gas attack in Syria describe horrors they say will haunt them forever!

By Associated Press, August 28, 2013

BEIRUT — The early-morning barrage against rebel-held areas around the Syrian capital immediately seemed different this time: The rockets made a strange, whistling noise.

Seconds after one hit near his home west of Damascus, Qusai Zakarya says, he couldn’t breathe, and he desperately punched himself in the chest to get air.

Meanwhile, in rebel-held areas east of Damascus, hundreds of suffocating, twitching victims were flooding into makeshift hospitals following a similar rocket barrage. Others were later found dead in their homes, towels still on their faces from their last moments trying to protect themselves. (Read More)

End the Syrian Civil War Now! End the Killing! The world has had enough!

Amen,

If you liked this Special Reflection on SYRIA please leave a comment. Also please “LIKE” and “SHARE” this post with others.

Brian Keith

Your invited to stay in contact with me!

EMAIL: listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com

Facebook 

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HELP SUPPORT LISTENING FAITHFULLY BLOG BY MAKING ALL YOUR ONLINE PURCHASES THROUGH OUR WEB STORE!  CLICK HERE.  As a special token of appreciation please accept a free downloadable gift from me to you: FREE BIBLE

God Bless,

Brian Keith

P.S. NEVER GIVE UP!