Value vital relationships

Hi...

Relationships are so...important. We need to walk an extra mile to build strong, lasting relationships with people in our life and people who we interact with on daily basis. Today we'll take time to appreciate our parents. ~Parents aren't around forever~ The Bible warns children will be disobedient to parents in the last days.
2 Timothy 3:2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
But still God's word teaches us to 'obey our parents in the Lord.'
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Matthew 19:19 Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" Ephesians 6:2 "Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Some of you may have bad memories but still it's time to forgive, forget and move on.
If our parents are there, let's take time today to love, appreciate, forgive them if they have hurt us and ask for forgiveness if we have hurt them
We need to treasure them while they are!
Let's not return their love with cold indifference.
Let's wipe their tears, see their sigh, meet their needs, show them we love and care for them, when they are with us.
What use will it be if after they take their last breath, we shed tears, speak volumes appreciating them ...they can't see or hear what we do & say...
Today when they are with us, let's treasure them & give them our best.
It's time to reach out to them & tell them we love them & show them we care.
Maybe some of you have painful memories of childhood. But it's time to reach out in love & let go of all negative feelings. You need to forgive and forget the past and love your parents for that's what God expects you to do.
My dad passed away in 2002. My mom lives in Coonoor (near Ooty) the least I can do now is call her once daily and talk to her. She feels so...happy to talk.
The 1st question I ask her is, "Amma how are you..?"
I do miss seeing her, but blessed to talk to her daily...!!
Thank God for mobiles, telephone and Internet too!!
Parents are God's gift to us...

Be blessed..

YSIC

Julia

Dare to be a Daniel....

  Hi...
Greetings from India.
I really look up to Daniel for his courage and his bold stand for righteousness.
The BIBLE says he choose not to defile himself!
That too as a young boy he makes that choice!
Daniel 1:8 "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way."
1 Thessalonians 5: 21-23, "Test everything. Hold on to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil, May your whole Spirit, Soul and Body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"Do not compromise, dare to be like Daniel, who chose not to defile himself and though he lived among people who did not honor God, he still chose to obey God.
Let's flee temptation like Joseph did.
Joseph found favor in Potipar's eyes and made him in charge of his house and all that he owned. 
Genesis 39:2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
      Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"
 8 But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

Let's be careful who we walk and fellowship with.
Let's not let unbelieving friends lead us away from the Lord and cause our faith to waver.
1 COR 15:33 " Bad company corrupts good character"
After we come to he Lord, we still  face temptations but with God's help we can overcome it!! And when we fall we need to cry out to God and ask Him to lift us up!! We will be surrounded by sin and will face temptations as long as we walk on this earth and cannot avoid every kind of evil because we live in a sinful world.  But we can make sure that we don't give evil a foothold by avoiding and resisting sinful situations and choosing to obey God.  
2 Tim 2: 22,23 " Flee youthful desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace....Do not have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels....."
Sometimes like Daniel God strategically places us in a hostile camp. This is because we learn valuable lessons and truths we do not learn anywhere else.
We sometimes need to go to the enemy's camp to get back what he stole from us..
And we sometimes may find ourselves in a situation like Daniel was ..'in  a Lion's den' surrounded by hungry lions (trials)out to devour us.

What do we do??
Just sing praises to God, worship Him, pray, hold on.
How long can the enemy scare us by his lies and tricks??
He's a sore looser!!
Resist the enemy and he will flee.
The one who lives in us IS MUCH GREATER THAN THE ENEMY!
Dare to BE A DANIEL!!
Let's choose not to defile ourselves,
Let's be BOLD and COURAGEOUS and PATIENT when we face trials.
Through trials we are perfected.
James 1: 10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.Malachi 3: 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiners fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,Let's pray like Daniel, he diligently prayed 3 times a day. Though there was a threat to his life he did not fear and quit praying.
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
We too are not quitters because quitters never win and winners never quit.
PRAISE GOD!
Good Night.
YSIC,
Julia

Appreciating, Encouraging and Uplifting Others

Hi... Greetings from India. Words of appreciation, love, compliments, encouragement cost us nothing to give but sure is priceless to receive. Romans 12:8 If it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. "Family, Friends and loved ones... They fight about the smallest things when together But miss the smallest things when apart...." We need to appreciate and treasure the people in our life. We got to learn to see the good in people around us and compliment them! Every individual has some 'good' in them. Let's speak words of love to people we love. We need to tell our spouse, kids, parents and loved ones how much they mean to us. If we can't speak words of love, let our actions show. Let's hug them more often and through our small deeds show them how much we care. We can send them notes to say how special they are to us. Let's take time for people we love and care. We need to treasure valuable friendships. True friends can be such a blessing. Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ are added bonus to us. They will pray for us and with us, encourage us and help us in our spiritual walk as we tread this narrow path together. Today can we take time to appreciate our loved ones? There are some people in our lives who bless us so much, I'm sure we can take a moment to thank them today. Employers need to compliment their employees even for a small achievement. This will motivate them to work better!! God Bless each of you.... JESUS LOVES YOU SO.....MUCH!!! YSIC, Julia Encouraging & Uplifting Others Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who rekindled this light. --Albert Schweitzer Why are other people here? Why are we not alone in this world? Even though we sometimes may feel lonely and isolated, the fact is that there are many, many other people with us on this planet who have the ability--and desire--to see us do well, to succeed, to be the best people we can be. These are the people who try to encourage us when we're down, who try to build us up when things aren't going well, who try to help us to keep our flames burning bright even in the darkest hours. Albert says that we owe our "deepest thanks" to these people, and I agree with him. I know that in my life, there have been plenty of times when an encouraging and uplifting word from someone who cared has made a huge difference in how I saw life at a given time. Instead of going deeper into despair or hopelessness or even depression, these people have given me a spark that has allowed me to rekindle the flame of hope, to relight my own light that had been growing steadily dimmer. If we acknowledge our debt to these people--no matter who they are and no matter how small their contribution to our life might seem--we start to see the importance of their actions in our lives. And then we have to ask ourselves if we can pass on their kindnesses, if we can provide that kind of spark to someone else who's in need. I know that doing this will be the greatest way possible to repay these people and their kindnesses, and I know that they would feel tremendously gratified to know that their positive contribution to my life led to my positive contributions to the lives of others. I often think of how others have encouraged me when I try to encourage others. I try to remember how I felt when I needed encouragement when I try to recognize just who could use some encouragement. My deepest thanks go out to the people who have taught me such an important lesson, and my hope is that I can repay them by passing on their teachings. ~ Living Life Fully ~ Posted by: LINELLA BRECKENRIDGE