Wednesday, March 18, 2015

How I want to live

A devotional and personal prayer journaling:

I want to allow the Bible, verse by verse, to sink as deeply into my heart and mind as possible. I want to listen fully to You, Lord, and learn everything You want me to from each verse. I do not want to read a word and then move on. I do not want to rush the process. I want to pray the Word and meditate on it literally day and night.

Lord, teach me to do all these things.

Lord, what do You want me to learn from the following verse?

Philippians 4:6 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Pray about everything. Every-thing. Meaning without exception. There is nothing I should fail to bring to You, Lord.

And, always thank You for what You have done.

Philippians 4:6 Expanded Bible (EXB)

6 Do not ·worry [be anxious] about anything, but pray and ·ask God for everything you need [or make your requests known to God], always giving thanks.

Expanded Bible (EXB)

Lord, teach me how to live this verse. Fully. Truly. Deeply. All the time. Without stopping. Help me make this verse the way I live... the way I choose to live my life. And, help me to actually do it and live it.

Oh, how this is my heart's desire. Guide me, teach me, show me how, God.

Pray about everything... always giving thanks, Father, for what You have done. Everything. Always. Never stopping.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The Christian Holocaust? Part 1

Life stopped. I stopped.

No. I am, present tense, stopped.

I just read this article and headline from this link:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/03/16/has-christian-holocaust-begun-when-will-west-wake-up-to-isis-threat/

Has the Christian holocaust begun? That is the question the previous link asks.

Read that link now, please, if you haven't already.

HAS the Christian holocaust begun?

Ponder the question. Seriously. Do.

Has the Christian holocaust begun?

I know how easy it would be for me to ignore the question, because it is a deep and painful one to address.

I also know easy it would be for me to say how this has to be wrong and how people must be making a bigger deal out of it than what is real.

Pause.

I also know of beheadings...

I also know of other news articles of what ISIS has done to Christians.

So... What if the ugly answer to the ugly question is yes?

Only hindsight will offer the final answer.

Regardless, ISIS has vowed to destroy the people of the Cross, the nation of the Cross... Christians... Meaning annihilation. Destruction. Bring to ruin.

And, ISIS has murdered several Christians already, including children.

So, total annihilation of Christians. What else would you call it but a Christian holocaust?

{Sorry about the formatting issue. I tried to fix it and haven't figured out how to do so.}

Monday, March 16, 2015

Has a Christian Holocaust begun? When will West wake up to ISIS threat | Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/03/16/has-christian-holocaust-begun-when-will-west-wake-up-to-isis-threat/

This is another article which weighs heavily on my heart and makes me pray all the more.

A question that keeps burning a hole in my heart is:

What can I do to make a difference and help Christians to take a stand?

And, how can I take a stand?

ISIS' dark agenda: Terror group's tweets show more destruction of sacred Christian sites | Fox News

ORIGINAL SOURCE OF ARTICLE: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/16/isis-tweets-more-photos-showing-destruction-sacred-christian-sites/

A link and article that is weighing heavily on my heart:

ISIS' dark agenda: Terror group's tweets show more destruction of sacred Christian sites

Chilling new images released Monday show ISIS thugs advancing the Islamist army's dark agenda of eradicating Christianity from Iraq by smashing crosses, toppling statues and destroying sacred relics that have been in place for thousands of years.

The latest batch of photos, culled from the Internet by watchdog Middle East Media Research Institute, show ISIS members in the heart of Iraq's once-thriving Assyrian Christian community of Nineveh, destroying symbols the Islamist terror group considers polytheistic and idolatrous. The images show the men removing crosses from atop churches and replacing them with the black ISIS banner, destroying crosses at other locations such as atop doorways and gravestones, and destroying icons and statues inside and outside churches. The sickening images are just the latest evidence of ISIS' ongoing effort to cleanse its so-called caliphate of its Christian heritage.

"They don't care what it's called; they are just following their ideology and that means getting rid of churches and minorities," said MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky. "It is the Islamic State, and there's no room for anyone else.

"This has been going on for some time, a systematic campaign to rid the region" of any vestiges of Christianity.

Although the United Nations has condemned the acts, Islamic State, as ISIS is also known, has enthusiastically circulated photos of its fighters destroying the sacred symbols and relics.
"We cannot remain silent," Irina Bokova, head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said Friday. "The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime. I call on all political and religious leaders in the region to stand up and remind everyone that there is absolutely no political or religious justification for the destruction of humanity's cultural heritage."

The latest photos posted by ISIS show the destruction of Christian sites in Nineveh. (MEMRI)

Bokova spoke after ISIS reportedly used heavy equipment to demolish the site of the ancient Assyrian capital of Nimrud, 18 miles south of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. Statues, tablets and other relics have been taken from churches and destroyed or possibly sold on the black market. While the humanitarian crisis facing Iraq's Christian community is of paramount concern, religious leaders also lament the loss of the religion's most ancient artifacts.

In Iraq, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako last week called on the central government and the international community "to act as soon as possible for the protection of innocent civilians and to offer them the necessary assistance in lodging, food and medication."

The photos show ISIS fighters knocking down crosses that have adorned churches for centuries. (MEMRI)

ISIS "is burning everything: human beings, stones and civilization," he said in a March 9 statement.

Sako said thousands of families have been displaced by the fighting, and he called for an emergency meeting of Iraq's Council of Ministers and the National Assembly deputies "to discuss this situation that threatens to deteriorate from bad to worse."

"This is obviously a human catastrophe that cannot suffer any silence," he said.

ISIS has killed Christians who have refused to convert to Islam, say refugees who have made it out of the nihilistic extremist group's so-called caliphate. (MEMRI)

Nimrud, built more than 3,000 years ago, was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after 883 B.C. The Neo-Assyrian Empire, whose rulers spoke a language distantly related to Arabic and Hebrew, ruled Mesopotamia, the ancient name for Iraq and parts of Syria, until approximately 600 B.C. For centuries, the region along the Tigris River retained monuments, frescos, temples and a ziggurat, the stepped pyramid characteristic of Mesopotamian civilizations.

An ISIS fighter takes a claw hammer to a priceless relief at a Nineveh church. (MEMRI)

But earlier this month, ISIS released video showing men smashing statues with sledgehammers in the Nineveh Museum, in Nineveh, the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after 705 B.C.
In recent weeks, ISIS has also set off bombs around Mosul Central Library, destroying as many as 10,000 priceless and irreplaceable books and manuscripts.

Many relics have been taken to museums in Baghdad or around the world for safekeeping, but artifacts in churches, including murals and statues, have been left where they stood for millennia, until the rise one year ago of the black-clad terrorist army. Last summer, ISIS fighters used explosives to blow up the tomb of a key figure in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The holy site in Mosul was believed to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale in the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions.

END OF ARTICLE

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Multiple Versions or Translations

Meditating, pondering, applying, and prayer journaling the Word of God:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Expanded Bible (EXB)

16 Always ·be joyful [rejoice]. 17 Pray ·continually [without ceasing], 18 and give thanks ·whatever happens [in all circumstances; in everything]. That is ·what God wants [God's will] for you in Christ Jesus.
Expanded Bible (EXB)
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

16 Rejoice always!
17 Pray constantly.
18 Give thanks in everything,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God's will in Christ Jesus that you do this.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Living Bible (TLB)

16 Always be joyful. 17 Always keep on praying. 18 No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Living Bible (TLB)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New Century Version (NCV)

16 Always be joyful. 17 Pray continually, 18 and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.
New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

~*~*~*~

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 The Message (MSG)

16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease
Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://alifeofthanks.blogspot.com
http://rypstories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

Slowly, purposefully meditating, contemplating, and pondering the Word

Friday, March 13, 2015, Personal blessings and prayer journaling

I think one of the greatest errors we make with Your Word today, Lord, is rushing through it so we can check off the box and feel good about ourselves. There. We did it. Now, we can move on and do other (more) important things, or at least that is what our actions say.

Lord, that could be said about me far more often than I care to admit. However, I need to acknowledge this and try to change this.

Through the rushing through Your Word, through a Bible study or a yearly Bible reading, we do a grave disservice to Your Word. In rushing to make the checkmark of "done" in the real or imagined To Do box, we fail to fully think through Your Word. In doing so, we then misunderstand the Word and then fail to apply the Word correctly. We do not allow it to sink in and enjoy it. And, far more importantly, we fail to listen to You (fully) regarding Your Word, the Bible. Through these rushing failures or errors, we miss so much. We miss You and the fullness and abundant life You have planned for us.

Hence, Abba, I hope to glean as much out of the following verse as possible:

Philippians 4:6 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

New Living Translation (NLT)

I want to get as much as possible out of this verse, and all others, as possible. I want to make sure I listen to You, fully, about it and not rush off to the next few person, place, thing, or event that steals my attention.

Philippians 4:6 New Century Version (NCV)

6 Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.

New Century Version (NCV)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Bible verse of the day

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+thess+5%3A16-18&version=NLT

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease
Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://alifeofthanks.blogspot.com
http://rypstories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

My life of prayer and blessing

My prayer journaling about Philippians 4:6:

Lord, thank You for so patiently, and thoroughly, teaching me about this verse:

Philippians 4:6 GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
6 Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

What I find interesting about Your Word, Lord, is how it takes on far more depth and meaning each time I read it. Philippians 4:6 is a prime example of this. I have read it repeatedly over the last two plus decades, for it is one of my favorites and is one I try to keep in mind and apply (live by). And I can honestly say that the verse means more to me, as far as my understanding, today than it ever has. The beauty is I know how with Your living Word, I will be able to say the same with this verse for the rest of my life. (This also shows why it is so important to be in the Bible and stay in the Bible through reading it repeatedly).

Thank You for this lesson and reminder, Lord. Thank You for the beauty of Your Word.

How is it best to live each day, in every moment? The answer is found here:

Philippians 4:6 New Living Translation (NLT)
6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

I wish I lived this verse a great deal more than I do. I wished it became a true way of life and living. If I did, I would truly practice His presence and live in never-ending, unceasing prayer. My life would be a prayer of thanks and blessing.

Wow. Wonder of wonders.

Pause.

I am going to sit here for a moment and allow this to sink in more fully and thoroughly. I do not want to rush this moment.

Hah! I just realized the blog name You gave me: A Life of Thanks. A life of prayer and thanks. Philippians 4:6 comes around full circle and the meaning grows deeper.