Hobby Lobby Case

     Since there has been much interest in the David Green/Hobby Lobby letter which I posted on Tuesday you might be interested in reading this update (if you haven't seen it already) copied from the website that was established to provide information and updates on the case.  The website has much more info including videos from the Hobby Lobby family explaining their position.
Sebelius v. 

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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Landmark Hobby Lobby Case

11/26/2013 11:00:00 AM

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., a landmark case addressing the constitutionally guaranteed rights of business owners to operate their family companies without violating their deeply held religious convictions.

 “MY FAMILY AND I ARE ENCOURAGED THAT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT HAS AGREED TO DECIDE OUR CASE. THIS LEGAL CHALLENGE HAS ALWAYS REMAINED ABOUT ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY:  THE RIGHT OF OUR FAMILY BUSINESSES TO LIVE OUT OUR SINCERE AND DEEPLY HELD RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS AS GUARANTEED BY THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION.   BUSINESS OWNERS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN VIOLATING THEIR FAITH AND VIOLATING THE LAW.”— DAVID GREEN, HOBBY LOBBY’S FOUNDER AND CEO 

The nation’s highest court accepted the federal government’s appeal of a June decision by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate to provide potentially life-terminating drugs and devices in employee insurance plans places a substantial burden on the religious freedoms of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., which is solely owned by founder David Green and his family.

The Greens and their family businesses – who have no moral objection to providing 16 of the 20 FDA-approved contraceptives required under the HHS mandate and do so at no additional cost to employees under their self-insured health plan – took the unusual step in October of joining the government in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, despite the family’s victory in the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. will be argued and decided before the end of the Supreme Court’s term in June 2014.

GAMES OBAMA PLAYS by David Kupelian

       I appreciate World Net Daily for their determination to get to the truth and not report only what--as Rush Limbaugh calls "The Regime" wants you to hear.  David Kupelian has written many thought-provoking articles, of which this is one.

WND EXCLUSIVE

GAMES OBAMA PLAYS

Exclusive: David Kupelian outs the president's secret tricks, techniques, tactics

 DAVID KUPELIAN About | Email | Archive

“This isn’t some damn game!”

That was House Speaker John Boehner’s angry reaction to a senior Obama administration official who had boasted, “We are winning. … It doesn’t really matter to us [how long the government shutdown lasts] because what matters is the end result.”

But despite Boehner’s understandable frustration, a “damn game” is precisely what it was.

Just as with the president’s serial “if-you-like-your-policy-you-can-keep-it-period” Obamacare lies, his actions during last month’s government “shutdown” – you know, barring 80- to-90-year-old World War II veterans in wheelchairs from their own memorial, blocking highway turnouts so sightseers couldn’t gaze up at Mt. Rushmore, threatening to arrest Catholic priests if they conducted Mass on military bases – are all part of a carefully calculated, high-stakes game.

In fact, a close and honest examination reveals that Americans have been living through an extended era of games being played on them – not just in fraudulently imposing Obamacare and staging a government “shutdown,” but nonstop, throughout the course of the entire Obama presidency.

‘Divide and Conquer’

During the 1960s, one of the hottest nonfiction books was Eric Berne’s “Games People Play,” which sold more than 5 million copies in 20 languages and spent 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Berne, a psychiatrist, analyzed manipulative social interactions as “games,” which he defined as a series of “ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined, predictable outcome.” By “ulterior,” Berne was referring to the game-player’s “concealed motivation.”

According to the official Eric Berne website, set up by the late author’s family:

One can think of a game as a series of interactions (words, body language, facial expressions, etc.) between two or more people that follow a predictable pattern. The interactions ultimately progress to an outcome in which one individual obtains a “payoff” or “goal.”

Berne assigned humorous names to the many hidden games people play with each other, such as “If It Weren’t for You,” “See What You Made Me Do” and “Now I’ve Got You, You Son of a Bitch.”

But consider now the macrocosm of power politics in today’s America, where we were recently treated to a big game of chicken called “Shut Down the Government,” enabled by two other standard leftist games – “Make It Hurt” and “Blame the Republicans.”

Indeed, “Blame the Republicans” is a game designed to serve a major long-term strategy called “Fracture the Republican Party,” a leftist version of the ancient war strategy of “Divide and Conquer.”

If left-wing political games sound a little like war, that’s because they are a form of war.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Games, especially team sports, have always been mock battles. There are playing fields instead of battlefields, but the object is always to win – to use superior numbers, force and speed, and to employ brilliant strategies and tactics, especially deception (fake handoffs in football, head fakes in basketball) – to defeat the adversary. As Sun Tzu said, “War is deception.”

In the most fundamental sense, someone who is deceiving, lying and pretending all the time is playing games – always tricking, always misdirecting, always seeking unfair advantage. Thus it is that for Barack Obama, whose modus operandi is always to conceal his true motives and designs, everything is by definition a game. And a war.

The Obama games

Let’s survey a quick sampling of the games Obama plays:

Game: ‘Health-care Reform’

Stated purpose: “Comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices.”

Actual purpose: Massive takeover of one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy and ultimately the establishment (through Obamacare’s intentional and inevitable destruction of private health insurance) of a true “single-payer” system – that is, socialized medicine.

Continue reading here.

Happy Thanksgiving

      I pray you have a wonderful time with your family today filled with gratitude for the many gifts God has bestowed on you & yours.
     Country Guy & I are especially grateful to be having Thanksgiving with my mother and my sister & her family.  Mom was in the hospital most of last week with a serious blood infection, urinary tract infection, and fluid on her lungs.  We are very grateful to the doctors for recognizing the problem and treating it aggressively so that she was able to come home on Friday and has been getting progressively stronger all week.
      In this country where we are so focused on material things we sometimes forget that the real blessings in life are relationships.  Thank you for your love and friendship. 

Einstein Quote

There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as if everything is.  Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Hobby Lobby Founder-May Have to Close ALL Stores

       It is wonderful to see there are people who will stand for their convictions in the face of great loss.  What is our country coming to when upstanding successful business people are forced to close their businesses because of unrighteous laws?  I pray we will all be willing to do this when the need arises and not compromise our values.

"The wisdom that comes from above is first, pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit, without uncertainty or insincerity."
James 3:17

By David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames.  Our first retail store wasn't much bigger than most people's living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God's word.

From there, Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation's largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.

We're Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I've always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God's laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that's what we've tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week's biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest.

We believe that it is by God's grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We've not only added jobs in a weak economy, we've raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.

But now, our government threatens to change all of that.

A new government healthcare mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance.

Being Christians, we don't pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don't cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs.

It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one.

If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.

Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy.

Our government threatens to fine a company that's raised wages four years running.

Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs.  It's not right.
I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it's the same for everybody. But that's not true.

The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won't exempt them for reasons of religious belief.

So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don't like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.

Sun. Dec. 1: I have just learned that the following (in brackets) was added to Mr. Green's original letter in the email I received.  I had checked with several sources (truthorfiction.com, Snopes.com) to verify that the letter had indeed been written by David Green before I posted it, but didn't realize that someone had made this addition to the original letter.  My apologies to Mr. Green for posting the addition thinking it was part of the original. 
          
[My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that's a choice no American and no American business should have to make.

The government cannot force you to follow laws that go against your fundamental religious belief. They have exempted thousands of companies but will not exempt Christian organizations including the Catholic church.

Since you will not see this in the liberal media, please pass this on to all your contacts.]

Sincerely,
David Green
CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

Did You Hear The News Report That Vitamin Supplements Are Useless? If So You Might Want To Read The Article Below

     When I heard the report that vitamin supplements do no good I immediately thought of the addition of folic acid to flour which has significantly reduced the incidence of anencephaly.  Then I thought of all the fortified cereals, etc.  Why are supplements being added if they are not useful?  Of course, they are useful!  It only takes common sense to know that the American diet is lacking in many important nutrients, and it only takes a little research to discover that supplementing those nutrients increases the health of those lacking in the nutrients!  Sometimes I think the news media thinks we are totally ignorant and unable to draw our own conclusions.

The Media’s Profound Ignorance About Nutrition Misses the Mark Yet Again

November 25, 2013 | 50,677 views

Visit the Mercola Video Library

By Dr. Mercola

According to researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research,¹ vitamin supplements are probably useless when it comes to preventing heart disease and/or cancer.

Their analysis is being used by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to update its recommendations on supplement use, and the findings were recently reported by NBC News² under the headline: “Vitamins don’t prevent heart disease or cancer, experts find.”

But is this really an accurate evaluation of the available evidence? A strong rebuttal³ to NBC’s reporting was immediately issued by Dr. Andrew Saul,⁴ editor of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service.

Dr. Saul has over 35 years of experience in natural health education;Psychology Today named him as one of the seven natural health pioneers in 2006.

“I would like to apologize for NBC News. It seems that the organization that brought us Lowell Thomas, John Cameron Swayze, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley has lowered its standard of reporting,” he writes.

“NBC's supplement-bashing headline article... displays an ignorance of clinical nutrition that is difficult to ignore, and, thanks to its media prominence, can't be.

Of vitamin supplementation, NBC specifically said that a ‘very extensive look at the studies that have been done show it may be a waste of time when it comes to preventing the diseases most likely to kill you.’ The ‘very extensive look’ encompassed 24 preselected studies. It looks like they just possibly may have missed a few...”

Dr. Saul ‘Apologizes’ for NBC ‘Hatchet Job’ Reporting on Vitamins

Dr. Saul then goes on to list 19 studies⁵ showing strong correlations between vitamin use and reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. If you’re in doubt, I suggest you to take a look at some of those studies before you swallow NBC’s “hatchet job on vitamins,” as Dr. Saul puts it. Below is a handful. For the full list, please see Dr. Saul’s article.⁶

• JAMA 2012:⁷ Multivitamin supplements were found to reduce cancer risk by eight percent.
• International Journal of Cancer 2011:⁸ A mere 10 ng/ml increase in serum vitamin D levels was associated with a 15 percent reduction in colorectal cancer incidence and 11 percent reduction in breast cancer incidence.
• American Heart Journal 2011:⁹ Each 20 micromole/liter (µmol/L) increase in plasma vitamin C was associated with a nine percent reduction in heart failure mortality. According to Dr. Saul, if everyone were to take 500 mg of vitamin C per day—the dose required to reach a healthy level of 80 µmol/L—an estimated 216,000 lives could be spared each year.
• International Journal of Cancer 2011:¹⁰ While the NBC declared that “Vitamin E does no good at all in preventing cancer or heart disease,” this study found that gamma-tocotrienol, a cofactor found in natural vitamin E preparations, decreases prostate tumor formation by a respectable 75 percent.
• International Journal of Cancer 2008: Here, 300 IUs of vitamin E per day reduced lung cancer risk by 61 percent.

Continue reading... here

In Case You Have Only Followed the Mainstream Media

JOHN PODHORETZ

OPINION

Why Obama can’t wave away this scandal

By John Podhoretz

November 23, 2013 | 9:30am

Modal Trigger

Photo: Reuters

The media shielded the president from every criticism — until he betrayed a liberal cause

People are puzzled: Why would Barack Obama have lied about how wonderfully everything was going to go with ObamaCare when officials in his administration knew perfectly well that disaster was going to strike?

In one sense, the answer is simple: At the time, just before Oct. 1, Republicans were insisting ObamaCare be delayed or defunded. The president and his team weren’t going to give the enemy the satisfaction of agreeing — or the potent ammunition that would have come from a rueful admission the system wasn’t ready.

Today, a bipartisan agreement to delay ObamaCare seems like it would have been a pretty good deal. It didn’t look that way at all in the last two weeks of September.

But there’s a deeper reason he and his people lied: They did it because they could. They did it because nearly five years in the White House had given Obama and his team confidence they would not face the music and they could finesse the problems until they got fixed.

Consider the events that would have been unprecedented scandals in a Republican administration — with teams of reporters digging and scratching daily at every nook and cranny in every bureaucratic corridor — that have instead been covered dutifully but with relatively little passion and almost no follow-up. Why? Because it would have hurt Obama, that’s why.

First, the Obama Justice Department.  Continue reading here.

Richie Parker: Drive -- SC Featured

This man is amazing--and such an inspiration!!

A Word Through Chuck Pierce

********
Invite the Lord to Change Your Atmosphere! He is Ready to Shake all that Can be Shaken!

During worship on Sunday, there was a strong prophetic anointing. Barbara Wentroble joined me in prophesying:
"If you will invite Me down this week then I will enter your atmosphere and change that which you've been trying to change. I have power and strength to overcome, and if you will invite Me in, you will overcome this week and deliverance will come to you!
"For I AM a God who is shaking everything that can be shaken.

This is a season you shall shake; you shall see Me shake everything that would hold back My coming Glory. I shall shake the gainsayers; I shall shake the mockers, and I shall shake those that would oppose and stand against this that I have prepared for this season. Watch Me begin to shake that which seemed unshakable, in days past.

"For this is a turn-around season. I'm getting ready to turn around some things that would not turn. I'm getting ready to turn the vault on the door that would not open. Watch Me turn the bolt and open the door, and watch Me shake the unshakable. Watch Me release that which I have said in days past – that the Glory of this latter house would be greater than the Glory of the former. As I shake and as I open, I Am releasing a new dimension of My Glory!"
Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce with Barbara Wentroble
Glory of Zion International Ministries
Email: chuckp@glory-of-zion.org
Website: http://glory-of-zion.org

Cavuto: Mr. President, we at Fox News are not the problem

     Please share this with your friends.  I am tired of the lies that are being told and retold.   Who knows better than the liberals with an agenda that when lies are told long enough they become truth--look at what is being done with man-made global warming--and villifying those who disagree with the present administration.  Let's help counteract the lies with the truth.

Good Point!

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything."

Remember to put the glass down.

Countless Uses for Coconut Oil--Who would have known?

       I use coconut oil (or butter) whenever I need oil for cooking, but I haven't tried using it as a household staple.  Have you?  

Countless Uses for Coconut Oil – 

The Simple, the Strange, 

and the Downright Odd   

By Dr. Mercola

Coconut oil has been a dietary- and beauty staple for millennia. It’s a powerful destroyer of all kinds of microbes, from viruses to bacteria to protozoa, many of which can be harmful, and provides your body with high quality fat that is critical for optimal health.

Around 50 percent of the fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, which is rarely found in nature. In fact, coconut oil contains the most lauric acid of any substance on Earth.

Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, a monoglyceride that can actually destroy lipid-coated viruses such as HIV and herpes, influenza, measles, gram-negative bacteria, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia.

This is undoubtedly part of what makes it so medicinally useful—both when taken internally and applied externally.

Coconut oil is comprised of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that are easily digested and readily cross cell membranes. MCFA’s are immediately converted by your liver into energy rather than being stored as fat. This is in part why I recommend coconut oil as an ideal replacement for non-vegetable carbohydrates.

Coconut oil is easy on your digestive system and does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream, so for a quick energy boost, you could simply eat a spoonful of coconut oil, or add it to your food. In the video above, I also share my recipe for a scrumptious yet healthful chocolate treat, courtesy of the healthy fat from coconut oil.

To get more coconut oil into your diet, you can add it to your tea or coffee, in lieu of a sweetener. It will also help improve absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, so taking a spoonful of coconut oil along with your daily vitamins may help boost their effectiveness.

Coconut oil is ideal for all sorts of cooking and baking, as it can withstand higher temperatures without being damaged like many other oils (olive oil, for example, should not be used for cooking for this reason).

Furthermore, coconut oil does not go rancid, which is a huge boon when you’re making homemade concoctions. Coconut oil that has been kept at room temperature for a year has been tested for rancidity, and showed no evidence of it. Since you would expect the small percentage of unsaturated oils naturally contained in coconut oil to become rancid, it seems that the other (saturated) oils have a powerful antioxidant effect.

General Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

In all, coconut oil offers a truly impressive array of health benefits when included in your daily diet. In addition to its antimicrobial properties, coconut oil is beneficial for:

Promoting heart health	Supporting proper thyroid function
Promoting healthy brain function	Strengthening your immune system
Providing an excellent “fuel” for your body and supporting a strong metabolism that can aid in weight loss	Maintaining healthy and youthful looking skin

While coconut oil is an ideal food for fostering health and beauty from the inside out, it also has a staggering number of other uses, from topical beauty applications to first aid treatments, to general household cleaning.¹,² Once you’re done reading through this article, you’ll probably be inspired to stock up for all eventualities!

Coconut Oil Can Replace Dozens of Beauty and Personal Care Products

Total Video Length: 0:11:33

One of the best personal care products you'll ever find may be sitting in your kitchen cupboard right now. The video above, featuring HolisticHabits³ blogger and coconut oil aficionado Sarah, recounts many of its beauty uses. The second video includes a recipe making your own coconut oil-based deodorant. A previous article by Delicious Obsessions⁴ also lists no less than 122 creative uses for this household staple, including 21 DIY coconut oil skin care recipes.⁵ For example, coconut oil can be used to replace the following personal care and beauty products.       Continue reading here.

You're Beautiful-Phil Wickham

This beautiful song was sung during a worship service we attended this evening.  It was sung by a young lady with a heavenly voice.  I tried to find a YouTube video with a woman singing but couldn't find one that I liked as well as this one sung by Phil Wickham who wrote the song.

John 14-17

      I love reading the Bible in chronological order which I've mentioned in earlier posts.  It seems to make so much more sense!  I'm reading the New Testament now and seem to be stuck on Day 42, John 14-17.  I have read it for several days now.  Jesus has so much to say in these four chapters that I could read them every day for a year and still not grasp it all.  There is one idea I've been meditating on in particular though.
     In John 14:12-14 Jesus says, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

      Have you ever compared these verses to John 3:16 which is used by so many to lead people to Chirst? ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

      It seems that if you believe John 3:16 you have to also believe John 14:12, but why is this not preached?  Why do we not know this or act on it?  Have we not been taught the full gospel?  It doesn't seem to be preached in many churches or wouldn't we be seeing many more signs, wonders and miracles?  I think it's time to repent.  One of the definitions of repent is "to change one's mind".  We must change our mind about who we are and what it means to live the gospel.  

     I'm sure I'm going to be meditating on this for quite some time.

What season are you in right now?

This was written by Curt Landry and was sent by the Elijah List today.  Since it was the very reading I was pondering this morning in my Quiet Time it seemed the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to me when I opened the email.   We are not to get bogged down when the seasons of our lives change.  We are to embrace them, realizing they are just that--seasons.  New growth is right around the corner. Help! I am being Pruned!

Sometimes we go through seasons where God prunes us back. In the natural world, the trees are changing colors—and many times they are at their most vivid right before the leaves begin to fade and fall from the tree. Is the tree dead? No! It is sleeping—resting in preparation for a new season of growth in the coming spring! John 15:1-2, 4 says: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." Are you feeling fruitless—as if you are in a winter season of life? Friend, we all go through seasons like that, but we are called to rejoice in the MIDST of adversity! The upcoming Thanksgiving season is a time to rejoice in all the good things He has provided, even while nature slumbers. It is a time to ABIDE in Him and bear fruit!

Tell My People They Have Purpose by Bobby Conner

Bobby Conner:

You Are Anointed For Action!
"Tell My People They Have Purpose – They Have Been Chosen By ME"

God has empowered you! You are anointed for action!

Your mission and mandate? Establishing the Kingdom!

You are chosen by Him and for Him!

Say it out loud right now! "I have a God-given purpose!" You were chosen by Almighty God in eternity past to live in the present, to forge the future (see Ephesians 2:10). You have divine destiny. No one on earth can accomplish what you have been commissioned to do!

It's time to get God's opinion of you; you're essential to His eternal plans and purposes, so become the bold, brave, radiant warrior you are called to be. Arise, lift your head, square your shoulders, walk with confidence and assurance that God is with you. Therefore be radiant and shine bright in this sin-darkened world.

"Tell My People They Have Purpose – They Have Been Chosen By ME, for ME"

Let me convey a strong prophetic encounter. Sound asleep, I was awakened by an exceptionally pleasant voice speaking in my room. The message was articulated with extreme clarity. Upon hearing the words, immense comfort and courage immediately flooded my heart. This word was audible; it was not something I heard in my head or heart – I heard it with my ears.

However, let me be straightforward: I did not see who spoke to me, because when I looked in the direction of the voice, I was suddenly blinded by a bright flash of LIGHT. It was almost as if a strong flash from a camera blinded my eyes. Yet He continued to speak, saying, "Tell My people they have purpose – they have been chosen by ME, for ME." Upon hearing this declaration I was immediately overwhelmed with joy and excitement. Never allow the devil to discourage you again; you have divine purpose! (Photo courtesy: Doug Hanna)

You are divinely prepared to accomplish the task God has assigned you. You can do something no other human being can do. Meditate and ponder this message; believe that you have been chosen by Christ, for Christ, and your life will take on even greater zeal and purpose. Jesus said:

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you"(John 15:16).

Your confidence and courage will soar as you understand in greater capacity the depth of these words, "YOU ARE CHOSEN BY CHRIST!"Let these words wash over your soul – they are like refreshing water to the thirsty. 

You have been chosen by Christ, for Christ; the choice was made before the foundation of the world (see Ephesians 1:4). Knowing this promise will release you from rejection and depression. 

You Can Impact the Nations, the Hurting and the Lost

The goal is to finish the course and to be able to say with all confidence, "I've kept the faith and stayed on course, accomplishing the task set before me" (see 2 Timothy 4:7). It is to that individual Christ will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21).

God gives us His power for a purpose: the gifts are tools, not toys, and anointing is for action (see Acts 1:8). God releases His anointing on His children for one main purpose: to impact the nations, to bring the hurting and lost to Himself.

During these days of division and confusion, the message of Christ's redemptive love and overwhelming mercy must be heard and heeded.

Bobby Conner
Eagles View Ministries
Email: manager@bobbyconner.org
Website: bobbyconner.org

Where is Common Sense

   The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps ever, to over 46 million people.
    Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us "Please Do Not Feed the Animals."  Their stated reason for the policy is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."
    

Ronald Reagan Quote

Ronald Reagan was a President who believed in the power and necessity of prayer.

"Peace fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails when we forget that our Republic is based on firm principles, principles that have real meaning, that with them, we are the last, best hope of man on Earth; without them, we're little more than the crust of a continent. Peace also fails when we forget to bring to the bargaining table God's first intellectual gift to man: common sense. ... We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is; when we refuse to see the obvious and seek safety in the Almighty. Peace is only maintained and won by those who have clear eyes and brave minds. ... [P]eace fails when we forget to pray to the source of all peace and life and happiness. ... Today, as never before, we must pledge to remember the things that will continue the peace. Today, as never before, we must pray for God's help in broadening and deepening the peace we enjoy. Let us pray for freedom and justice and a more stable world."

Dutch Sheets: Seeds For Becoming Who You Are

Dutch Sheets:

Seeds For Becoming Who You Are

      As a father to this generation, I thrive on helping others realize and fulfill God's dreams for them. When imparting life lessons to emerging world changers, I always emphasize that we can fully embrace our identity in Christ only when we willingly participate in the process God has designed for our success.

It is good to desire growth, change, maturity, and results, but we frequently want results without embracing "the process" that will yield them. In the same way that we long for the "finished product,"we also need to undertake and embrace a passion for the path – the journey – to our completion.

      We cannot expect to be overnight legends in the faith. A life of obedience necessitates conforming to God's means (His process) just as much as to His ends (the finished product). If we continue abiding and abiding and abiding, it will happen. The truth will make you free.

     So shall My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

Seeking Permanent Change

      Several years ago the Lord spoke something to me that was one of the greatest revelations I've ever received. I was talking to Him about why the Word wasn't working in me. Truth be told, I was complaining about seeing a lack of fruit in my life. I'd sat under countless great teachers, listened to all the right tapes, read all the classic books, and all I heard was how I was supposed to be victorious in every area of my life.

      With pure heart motives for being greatly used by God, I aimed to be the best Christian I could possibly be. Oftentimes, along this quest, I would leave powerful church services and prayer meetings high on hope that I now had what I needed to finally see permanent change. But a few days later and – you guessed it – I was the same.

       "God, why isn't this working for me?" I cried out. I was pretty upset, feeling like a complete failure. And then He spoke to me what without a doubt has been one of the most important things I've ever learned.

"Because all truth comes to you in seed form."

Huh?

      He continued: "For those people who are teaching you – the ones who are giving you all these testimonies of what worked for them – that truth is fruit in them now. But it isn't transferred to you as fruit. It comes to you as seed. Whether it bears the same fruit in you depends on what you do with it, because all truth comes in seed form. If you do what they did and abide in My Word, that seed will grow in you also, and the truth will make you free, just as it has for them."

      I chewed on this for a while. I began to think of all those I knew who were clearly bearing fruit in certain areas of their lives. A former drug addict whose mind was "fried" immediately began to immerse himself in God's Word after giving his life to Christ. For hours each day he would read, meditate upon, memorize, and speak Scripture. After only a few months, not only was this young man completely free of any temptation toward drugs, his mind was completely healed.

       I recalled another young man who was set free from a poverty mentality, having only known extreme poverty up until that point in his life. Seeds of revelation were planted while hearing a man speak on true prosperity, being blessed by God to be a blessing. The transformation of his mind came about as he spent months identifying and meditating upon Scriptures on God's provision, sowing and reaping, etc. Before long that stronghold was broken and in its place was an incredible faith for finances. He became one of the most prosperous men I know...and one of the best givers.

                         The Seed Principle

     I could see the thread. It became what I call "the seed principle": a process of growth until fruition. Suddenly, I knew I couldn't expect freedom in problem areas of my life if I had not spent time in God's Word regarding those areas. You have to work the process.Information seeds must become fruit-producing revelation. And for that to happen, you have to tend the seed.

     Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8 all recount the parable of the sower in which Jesus talks in detail about this seed principle. He indicates that the maturity of the seed – His Word in us – is a growing process. And if that seed is nurtured, just like a natural seed, it will grow to fruition. Jesus summarized the process of tending the seeds of His Word as follows:

1. Hear: Receive the written or spoken Word of God (Matthew 13:23).
2. Understand: Put these new pieces of God's Word together with the knowledge of God we already have for greater revelation (Matthew 13:23).
3. Accept: Receive and embrace with assent and obedience (Mark 4:20).
4. Hold Fast: In our tending to the seed (Luke 8:15).

Aborting The Process

      Jesus also mentions a valuable truth of which we all need to be acutely aware as we tend to our seed: whether through fear, financial stress, lust...satan's primary goal is to get us to abort the process so he can steal the seed. His attacks will no doubt be well-timed, sneaking in at our most vulnerable moments in life.

       Despite the storms that will come to disrupt and challenge our maturation, we must strengthen ourselves in the Lord and "hold fast [to] the confession of our hope" (1 Samuel 30:6; Hebrews 10:23). If you continuously yield to the work of the Master Potter, He will give grace to help us in our time of need and bring to completion the good work that He's begun in you(see Hebrews 4:16; Philippians 1:6).

Nurturing the Word

      In summary, when we persist in nurturing the Word of God, revelation will come to enlighten and bring truth to us(see Ephesians 1:17-18).If attended to (see Proverbs 4:20), guarded(see Proverbs 4:23),continued in (see John 15; James 1:25), and meditated upon (see Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3),the Word of God will bear the fruit He has promised.

Galatians 6:9 offers the perfect encouragement: "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

        Anchor yourself in God's Word. Surround yourself with life-givers who will pray with you, for you, and hold you accountable to the standard God's called you to. Continue to abide in Him, abide in His Word, and you will be set free to become whom God has made you to be, and experience the power of your identity in Christ.

Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries
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Website: dutchsheets.org