15 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Quotes
I was 9 years old during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. I was living in Atlanta, Georgia. The deep south was clearly a racist world at that time. It wouldn’t stay that way. Change was on the way.
We celebrate Dr. King’s vision and the speech he gave that galvanized our country. It is stunning and still rings home today. Continue reading
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in God is Good, God Thoughts
Tags
Crook, Freedom, Jesus, Jesus Sayings, Luke 19, Tax Collector, Zacchaeus
Jesus and God the Father are in a good mood. They want to be a guest in my house. They want to be with me. They want to show me the way to love. They have given me power, by the Holy Spirit, to be delivered from my prison.
Zacchaeus became free that day. Jesus freed him. Zacchaeus became free from the opinion of others who are indignant and grumpy about what Jesus chooses to do. Zacchaeus became free from the shame of his past. Zacchaeus became free to tell the story of what Jesus had done in his life.
Zacchaeus was a well known crook. On the scale of things in Israel, he was the lowest. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. But … he desperately wanted to see Jesus. Jesus could see in his heart and knew of his desperation.
Jesus sees my heart. That is some good news. I am the lowest of the low but I desperately want to see and know Jesus. I am stunned at what Jesus does for me. I stumble but Jesus picks me up. Jesus does not care about any of that. Jesus came to restore me and he has done that.
Stunningly good news. Jesus is happy to be a guest in my house. Jesus really wants to be here. My job is to let Jesus in.
Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.
When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
Source: Luke 19:1-10 (The Message)
12 Friday May 2017
Posted in God is Good, God Thoughts
We are made of flesh and blood. Jesus, the Messiah, came in flesh and blood, just like us, to rescue us from the curse we have on us.
Jesus came to rescue us from death. He actually embrace death for us. He took it on Himself. He made it His own.
Because Jesus defeated death, He destroyed our enemy Satan’s hold on death. He freed us all who have been scared to death of death.
Jesus went to all of this trouble for us humans. He had to enter into every detail of human life for us. He experienced it all. Birth, life, death and resurrection. No detail missed at all.
Jesus lived by not missing God’s plan so that we can be freed from missing the mark and live a life with God. He went through all the pain and test for us.
Jesus is qualified to help when help is needed.
06 Monday Mar 2017
Posted in Quotes
Jesus comes and challenges me. There are those who will want to stop me from being faithful to him.
Will I let them stop me?
No! I must follow Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah and he is in charge of God’s world.
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. – Ayn Rand
12 Saturday Nov 2016
Posted in God is Good, God Thoughts
Good news of God
Telling everyone about the good news of God was the mission of Jesus. It was why He came to our world.
I am living in His favor. He loves me. Even though He corrects me, it because He cares like no other can. He only has my best interest in His heart and soul.
He has given me a crown, oil and new clothes.
Will I put them on? Will I wear the crown of beauty? Will I pour on the oil of gladness on my body? Will I wear the new cloths of praise?
May I experience the freedom and the release He has given me. What a gift!!!
The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me
because God anointed me.
He sent me to preach good news to the poor,
heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives,
pardon all prisoners.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies—
and to comfort all who mourn,
To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,
give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. (Isaiah 61:1-7)
09 Wednesday Nov 2016
Posted in Quotes
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Jesus promised us freedom. Jesus is the way to God and all truth.
May we all experience the liberty that comes from God.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ~~Nelson Mandela
07 Monday Nov 2016
Posted in God Thoughts, God's Goal
Tags
Love of Jesus
Jesus is our Messiah and he poured out his blood for us. Jesus sacrificed his perfect and mature life for me. Jesus literally poured out his blood for me.
Jesus did it so that I can be free. Before Jesus, I was bound to missing God’s goal for my life and on a course headed to punishment. It was all my doing.
Now I am free for that life I had before. And I am not just a little free but extravagantly and abundantly free.
Jesus thought of everything. Jesus has provided me everything. Jesus has let me in on God’s plan that God has invested so much in providing to me. God has so much pleasure in making it happen for us.
God has a long-range plan for how he is going to bring everything together. God’s plan starts with his son Jesus, the Messiah. God is the big picture and knows how it will all come together. God is in a very good mood.
05 Wednesday Oct 2016
Posted in Quotes
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There is no freedom, like the freedom that Jesus gives us.
When Jesus sets us free, we are truly free!
“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.” ~~Dwight Eisenhower
11 Thursday Aug 2016
Posted in Quotes
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Freedom
Israel wandered around in the desert, not entering the promised land, for 40 years.
Is it they didn’t know where they were going?
Israel had spent 400 years as slaves. They didn’t know what it was like to be free.
If freedom is where we are headed, do we know that Jesus is the way to get there?
You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
02 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in God is Good, God Thoughts
Jesus is the Truth
Do I see that I have finished the most difficult part? In the salvation that Jesus offers me, I’m not quite there yet but I am home free.
The hard part is behind me. I have the Holy Spirit now and I am on my way to maturity in God.
What brings this about? We have heard the truth. That is the starting point.
And, having heard it, we believe the good news. We no longer listen to our enemy. We know that Jesus, the Messiah, has saved us from missing God’s goal for us.
We are home free.
It’s in the Messiah that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of good news of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.
~Apostle Paul (Ephesians 1:13 The Message)
07 Wednesday Oct 2015
Posted in God Thoughts, God's Goal
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The old plan is finished. The rules, the regulations, the spirit of religion. It is done with. I was called to be free. There is a new plan. I only need to know one thing. God’s goal for me is that I must love.
That is it. That is the plan. That is the agreement my Father has with me. That is the agreement I have with those I know. That is the real deal.
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-15 NIV
12 Friday Jun 2015
Posted in Quotes
Ronald Reagan
President Ronald Reagan made a speech at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1990. President Reagan had a vision for liberty in a world that was consumed by communism at the time. President Reagan knew how to articulate the vision simply and convincingly. President Reagan gave the people of the world hope and courage.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
And the wall came down!! Liberty and freedom won.
23 Thursday Apr 2015
Posted in Quotes
The work of Michelangelo is stunning. Clearly a man of creative vision and huge artistic talent.
Of course I love the reference to the angel. God give us great talent. We can see but will we carve?
Jesus challenges us to see and carve.
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” ~Michelangelo Buonarroti
19 Sunday Apr 2015
Posted in God Thoughts, God's Goal
Tags
Obey God
Not only has He healed my heart, He has set it free. That freedom leads me to run in the path of His desire for my life. His freedom leads to my commitment to do what He wants for me.
Freedom leading to willing obedience is His way. And I run in it!! Willingly. Gladly.
Here are the key ideas:
I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32
08 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Quotes
Freedom
It is all about character. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much stuff we have.
Yes, we did produce a near perfect Republic. But will they keep it? Or will they in the enjoyment of plenty lose the memory of Freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction. ~Thomas Jefferson
29 Sunday Mar 2015
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Freedom
Why are we here? What is our purpose in life? We are to love GOD and love everyone we come in contact with every day.
And, we have a responsibility to pass on the freedom we have in Jesus to our children.
“The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children.” ~William Havard
25 Wednesday Mar 2015
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On May 24, 1995, five days after its official premiere in Los Angeles, Braveheart was released to theaters nationwide in the USA. The movie starred Mel Gibson as the 13th century Scottish rebel leader William Wallace. He also directed it. And, as you probably know, it was a huge success.
Today, almost everyone is aware of the famous (and oft-parodied) line Gibson shouts to his men, just before they fight the much larger English army at what is known historically as the Battle of Stirling Bridge:
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
This line is part of the response Gibson gives after one nervous Scottish soldier suggests it might be better to retreat and live to fight another day. Gibson says:
“Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you’ll live — at least a while. And, dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!?! Alba gu bra!” *
If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t seen Braveheart, you can view a clip of this scene online.
The inspiring speech Mel gives in it is fictional, but Braveheart is based on true historic events. We have men and women in the United States who echo these words daily. They fight for our freedom. They fight for others freedom and liberation from tyranny. They do it freely knowing they may die. So do. They do it for us and they do it for others.
William Wallace was a key leader of the Scottish rebellion against the English in the 13th century. And, at the bloody Battle of Stirling Bridge, fought on September 11, 1297, his outnumbered followers did indeed defeat a larger English army.
That battle and the legends that developed about Wallace inspired Scots to continue and ultimately achieve the goal of Scottish independence. Unfortunately, Wallace was caught, tortured, disemboweled and beheaded before that came to pass, as is graphically depicted in Braveheart.
History buffs have noted that some things in Braveheart stray more than a wee bit from the facts.
For example, the Lowland Scots that Wallace led didn’t wear kilts, like they do in the movie.
And, the bridge that played a major role in the Battle of Stirling Bridge — by creating a bottleneck that prevented English troops from overwhelming the Scots — was nowhere to be seen in the movie.
But somehow, as I rewatch Mel’s rousing speech on this anniversary of the release of Braveheart, those seem like nitpicks. Alba gu bra!
* In Scottish Gaelic, “Alba gu bra” means “Scotland forever!”
24 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in Quotes
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Aberration, Dennis Prager, Freedom, God's Goal, Good News, Jesus
Freedom
Not every culture is ready to love freedom. Removing a dictator doesn’t guarantee freedom. What is in our best interest may be inconsistent with freedom and God’s principles.
To love God is to love freedom. God allows us freedom to chose Jesus or evil. Evil is real. Many chose it by default. The good news is that Jesus came to set us free. In Jesus, we are free to achieve God’s goal for our life.
“The love of freedom is actually an aberration.” ~Dennis Prager
24 Tuesday Feb 2015
Posted in Quotes
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan really got it. Think of applying this as a guiding principle to many political issues that face us today. Think of the difference this attitude can make.
The difference in approach of containment and transcendence is huge.
“The years ahead are great ones for this country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West won’t contain Communism; it will transcend Communism. It won’t bother to denounce it; it will dismiss it as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.” ~~Ronald Reagan 1981, speech at the University of Notre Dame
22 Sunday Feb 2015
Posted in Quotes
Freedom
There is probably not much more important that freedom. We sometimes confuse the constraints that finding social justice place on our liberty.
I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice. Friedrich Hayek
08 Sunday Feb 2015
Posted in God Thoughts, God's Goal
Tags
Apostle Paul Sayings, Ephesians 1, Freedom, Jesus, Plans, Pleasure
Sacrifice
God made plans for us that gave Him pleasure in putting together. It was not an inconvenience to Him in any way at all. Just as we as parents love to make plans for our children, our heavenly Father delights in an even greater way.
God sent His son Jesus to make us completely free. Not just a little. Abundantely and completely free. He was willing to risk and sacrifice everything for us. Freedom comes from God. God, through the sacrifice of His Son, the Messiah Jesus, made us a free people. This freedom is a gift from God. We didn’t earn it but Jesus, on our behalf, willingly sacrificed so we could be made right with God.
He has made provision for everything. No detail left out at all. It is all spelled out in His new plan and goals for us. His mission of love makes everything right. Now that is good news.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. Ephesians 1:7-10
04 Wednesday Feb 2015
Posted in Quotes
Tags
Freedom
There is a price to pay for freedom, liberty and even life itself. To think it comes without a price is foolish.
The question then becomes, are we willing to pay the price or not. It is not “is there a price to be paid”?
It is our choice. We must make it or it will be made for us.
To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. ~ Burnadette Devlin
30 Friday Jan 2015
Posted in Quotes
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Abraham Lincoln
Freedom is sacred. Spiritual freedom comes from God. None of us necessarily deserve it. It is a gift.
Our physical freedom is fought for. Sacrifices have been made and will continue to be made. Let us ensure that we help as many as want it to achieve it.
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” ~Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works – Volume XII
27 Tuesday Jan 2015
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Freedom of Speech
Liberty is not easy. In fact, most days it is pretty tough work. Freedom requires that we say the difficult thing. We must challenge the conventional believes.
Liberty in America came at a price. We had to revolt against the mother country. Not easy for our leaders at the time. The British Empire didn’t want to hear what we had to say. We had to say it and we had to act on it. That is our right under liberty. We now call this “free speech”.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell
26 Monday Jan 2015
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LIberty
Freedom, liberty and America are all tied together.
We protect ourselves and we liberate others.
May we continue to fight for liberty.
I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. ~Lee Greenwood
19 Monday Jan 2015
Posted in Quotes
Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” Speech
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
11 Sunday Jan 2015
Posted in Quotes
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Freedom
Our speech should be well informed by some underlying,well thought out values. While we are free to say idiotic things, it is not instructive.
Jesus is clear that what comes out of our mouth is a reflection of who we are in our heart. May our freedom to speak reflect the Kingdom of God and His love.
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” – Søren Kierkegaard
10 Saturday Jan 2015
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Ben Franklin
What is more important, liberty or safety? It is an essential question.
Our republic is built on the essence of liberty. We fight and die for liberty. We must remember that is the price we pay for our freedom.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ― Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin
08 Thursday Jan 2015
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John Adams
Freedom is essential to our existence. All government should be based on that premise.
Liberty can be lost.
May we cherish and protect everyone’s liberty.
“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” ― John Adams
07 Sunday Dec 2014
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Jesus has set us free. There is no doubt about it. There is a road to walk though. And there will be a cost to be paid.
I have walked that long road to freedom. ~Nelson Mandela
17 Monday Nov 2014
Posted in God is God, God Thoughts, God's Goal
Obey God
It is all about God. God is God. He will have His way, in us and in the world.
It is all about what God wants to do through us. It is not about what we will do for him.
God’s goal is for us to be obedient to what He wants to do. It is all about obedience.
Period. End of story.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. ~~Oswald Chambers
01 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in God Thoughts, God's Goal
Am I focused on God?
That is an essential question. It may be the only question worth considering most of the time.
God’s goal is for us to focus on Him and what He wants. That is it.
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. Romans 8:5-8
24 Wednesday Sep 2014
Posted in Quotes
15 Friday Aug 2014
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Freedom
Freedom is core to who we are. We all long for freedom.
It takes courage. It is not for the timid. It has a price that must be paid.
“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” ~~Elmer Davis
08 Friday Aug 2014
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16 Friday May 2014
Posted in God is God, God Thoughts
Tags
1 Peter 4, Freedom, God is God, God's Goal, Habit, Jesus, Suffering, Tyranny
God is God
I can learn to think like Jesus. He didn’t expect to get His own way. Now that is radical. Who doesn’t want to get their own way? Seriously. But that misses God’s goal for our lives. God has a goal for us. He wants us to love Him completely. That is all.
I can be free. Free to pursue what God wants. Jesus only did what he saw his Father doing. No more, no less. No more being tyrannized by what I want. No more being a selfish child.
I can be free from being tyrannized by what I want. I can be obedient to what God wants. He is in charge of His World. I need to obey.
Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old habit of always expecting to get your own way which misses God’s goal. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want. 1 Peter 4
06 Tuesday May 2014
Posted in Quotes
Franklin Roosevelt
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~~Franklin D. Roosevelt
