Ministry Is Not About You

Not just a side line job over the weekend.

Not just an ordinary responsibility.

Shouldn't be taken lightly.

Not just an excess of your time

Takes commitment. 100% of it!

Let's you deny yourself. Your "whole" life along with it.

Pushes you to let go of what's holding you back.

Draws you closer to the Lord even more.

Needs your time, effort and attention.

If you choose to follow Him, you'd need to pick up your cross daily.

Not about you but about God working through you.

Definitely not easy but God can!

Ministry.

Matthew 16:24-25 (Amplified Bible)

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

²⁵For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

God Is Amazing!

Psalm 19:1

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Here's a pic from the newly updated Hubble Telescope. Wouldn't you be amazed?

Thanks to @louiegiglio for the pic.

ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

This celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene.

What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour—fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 24 minutes!

A dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun is at the center of this fury. It has ejected its envelope of gases and is now unleashing a stream of ultraviolet radiation that is making the cast-off material glow. This object is an example of a planetary nebula, so-named because many of them have a round appearance resembling that of a planet when viewed through a small telescope.

Continue reading from the Hubble site here.

Change: Difficult But Not Impossible

Change. As they say is one of the constant thing in this world. It's either we're changing for the better or for worse.

Here's what I learned recently about CHANGE.

I didn't know about this until it was preached by my Pastor last Friday. In the Bible we are always compared to an eagle. Encouraging us to soar high above problems and in any situations we may face. We need to have an eye like that of an eagle to be so focused on our targets and prey.

But the things we can learn from an eagle's life doesn't stop there.

Usually the eagle's lifespan is 70 years. But they only last up to 70 if they undergo a major change during their 40's.

What is this change? You might ask. Let me tell you...

During their 40's (during their old age) their talons and beak start to bend. The talons and beak can bent to as much as taking out the capability of the eagle to catch their prey.

Their wings as well grow heavier and will start to stick to their bodies giving them a hard time to fly swifter the usual.

At this point, the eagle faces a major decision: either to DIE or undergo that major change I've been talking about.

What is this change? Yeah..yeah..You've asked me that question the second time now.

The eagle must fly to a mountaintop and go through 150-day series of changes (that's approximately 5 months).

First, the eagle must knock its beak to a rock until it breaks allowing a new beak to grow. (Now that's painful...)

Second, after the new beaks are fully developed the eagle then starts to pluck its talons to take them out to allow new ones to grow.

Third, it then plucks its own feather to take them out allowing new feathers to grow.

After all these painful, hurting one self process, the eagle can then fly it's "come back" flight and will then live for 30 more years.

What can we learn from this?

1. Change is a decision one should make.
- If we hear ourselves sometimes complaining why blessings are not coming and promises are not happening, I think we better ask ourselves first this question "Have we decided to go through the change that's necessary?". I'm not just talking about "not drink soda" or "not watching TV". I'm talking about major overhaul of our lives, lifestyle, choices and decisions. "Have we decided to take on the narrow path?"

2. The Change is Difficult
- I mean, really difficult. If you can look at the life of the eagle, it ended up really hurting itself to be changed. In the same way, we will soon come to a point when we object with ourselves, when we enslave our own will and choices, when we let go of ours to allow HIS. It can reach to a point that you would need to let go of your friends. It can reach to a point that you would need to resign from your secured job because your Christian principles are now being compromised. You will come to a point to say NO even though you've used to saying YES to a lot of things. Are you ready for this?

3. Change takes some time
- It took 5 months for the eagle to go through the change. As they always say, change doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. Sometimes it takes a lifetime. That's why there's a decision. One need to choose and with that choice comes the responsibility to continue and persevere.

If we want to see fruitfulness and God's plan happening in our lives, change must be done.
Rest assured though that yes it may be DIFFICULT but IT'S NEVER Impossible with CHRIST who strengthens us. [Philippians 4:12]

We are now faced with a challenge to Change. Are you willing to take it?

We Are All one In Christ Jesus

This is a guest post by Daniel Smith of Different Frequencies...Same Radio.

As a United States Sailor, I have had the blessed opportunity to meet
missionaries and visit churches all over Asia and the Middle East. As
a blogger, I have had the privileged of reading blogs from all over
the world, and I have had people from all over the world read my blog.

Ten years ago I preached a short message of encouragement to some
missionaries and staff at a Baptist church in Pattaya, Thailand. In
that message, I spoke of how we may be of any number of ethnicities,
but we were all one in Christ. In our modern world of blogging and
easy travel, that is no less true.

As Paul states in Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for
ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

The world is a much smaller place than when Paul went on his many
missionary journeys, and yet he realized the same thing back then that
we can realize today. It's no less true now than it was when Paul
first wrote the church in Galatia. It doesn't matter where I am from.
Once I joined the church through the blood of Christ, I became part of
a body of believers from many tongues and tribes. That is no more
easily discovered than by simply looking through the blogs we read
every day.

What a blessed thought!

Note: This is the first guest post I have approved for this site and I hope that this would be a FIRST of Many. I encourage you to send me an email to yourdailyword@gmail.com with Subject line: ARTICLE and I'll check if I can publish it. Blessings to you!

Thanks Daniel for this Article. May God bless you and your blog as you work in God's vineyard!

Thank You!

For the past month the site has been awarded with several awards and I'd like to thank my friends here in the blogosphere for the honor. May God bless you all!

First off is the Super Scribbler Award from Sharon Faith of Simply4God

There are some rules for this award in which I am willing to comply. Here are the rules:

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit This Post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

Here are my chosen 5 blogs:

1. AsTheCrackerHeadCrumbles

2. - sound of a softbreath -

3. My Reflections and Impressions

4. Dedicated Christian

5. My Christian Diary


I would like to also thank Yami of Mom Writes For A Cause

Yami,

I am so blessed for considering the site Inspirational!


I'd like to thank Julie of Julie's Daily Inspirationals as well for the One Lovely Blog Award!

Julie,

This was so unexpected but really much thanks to you!



The site was featured as well as the First Glorious Wednesday Post from Rom of Roaming Around with Romela

Rom,

Thanks a lot. I hope that our friendship here in the blogosphere grows deeper.

Lastly but not the least (of course), I'd like to thank The Fledgling Blogger for the Loyal Friend and Visitor and J'Adore Tien Blog Awards.

JuneZach,

Thanks. I am happy that I have met you here in the blogosphere.




To all of you who read, who receives and forwards every post, who loves the Lord, who is blessed with the site: THANK YOU!

In return, I'll be giving all these awards to the deserving bloggers as well! Watch out for that!