Good Morning Everybody, HAPPY Monday! 😎 Hope You Have A Wonderful Day. 😊🐱‍🏍⭐

🚨👇 BONUS 👇🚨

I've Got The Power (Official Video) by SNAP!

HAPPY Sunday Night Everybody! Let Your Cares Fall To The Wayside, Loosen Up, And Dance. :D Sharing Melody Of Love ❤ by Donna Summer ❤

I have always LOVED Donna Summer, who is known as the Queen of Disco! I grew up listening to her music since I was child. My mom was a huge fan of her music and always took me with her to all of her concerts. The tables turned when I became an adult. I was the one surprising my mom with concert tickets for both of us to enjoy Donna Summer perform live. Great memories. We'll no longer get to enjoy seeing Donna Summer perform in person because Donna Summer sadly passed away in 2012. I'm just grateful that my mom and I have so many memories together seeing her perform live. Those are memories I will always treasure.

This song starts off slow for the 1st minute, then picks up to a great dance tune with AWESOME lyrics! A message I can relate to. This is how Jesus came into my life. Let this music permeate every fiber of your BEING! ❤

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend doing whatever it is that puts a great big smile on your face! Always remember to not sweat the small stuff. What is the small stuff you ask? EVERYTHING! Life is good. No matter what it looks like right now, remember life is always good.  Just knowing you're above ground should be enough to snap you out of your negative thinking. Change your perspective about your situation. I have found that prayer helps me do that. Prayer keeps my heart and mind on God's promises for me and while I pray, I feel the Holy Spirit giving me a great big spiritual hug inside. It's an amazing feeling. One that makes you keep wanting to come back to the Holy Spirit for more. The kind of feeling you want others to feel. Prayer is a very personal experience. If you have a partner that believes in the same, that's wonderful for you to share this profound experience with another soul. But for the most part, prayer is you drawing close to God, the source of all living things. Which causes you to heal and grow and expand as a result on a personal level.

I've shared some prayers with you on the top right side of my blog. Sending you lots and lots of love. You will get through this. Whatever it is you're going through. The key word is "through". God is saying "Be still and know that I am with you. I will give you strength, courage and wisdom to see you through." Put your trust in God that everything is going to be okay in the end. Trust and Believe that victory is already yours because of the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross. Have FAITH in God's Supernatural Divine intervention in your situation you need help with. It is very real. :)

"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is LOVE." [1 John 4:7-8 NLT] ❤

Melody of LOVE ~ by Donna Summer

I always

Stayed away from love

Afraid of what might

Might happen

Till I thought

I heard a sound above

Singing through my very

Own heart

Was a melody

I never heard

Like birds singing loud

To the sky

Never dreamed that

True love would help me

Find my way

Didn't know how deep I'd fallen

Until you rescued, rescued me

Suddenly

Strings began

I heard the melody again and again

The sound of music

Flowing through my head

So rare

I'm walking on air

Melody of LOVE

Sing that song for me yeah

I want to hear somebody sing

Melody of LOVE

Oh take me away

One lonely night

You up and danced into my dreams

Baby you set my heart on fire

So I've been burning

Burning ever since yeah

Suddenly

Strings began

I heard the melody again and again

The sounds of trumpets

Flowing through my head

So rare I'm walking on air

Melody of LOVE

Sing that song for me yeah

I want to hear somebody sing

Melody of LOVE

Oh take me away

Melody of LOVE

Oh set me free yeah

I want to hear somebody sing

Melody of LOVE

Oh take me away

Oh melody

Oh melody

I can really feel it

You can feel it too

Oh melody

Oh melody

Melody of LOVE

Sing that song for me yeah

I want to hear somebody sing

Melody of LOVE

Oh take me away

Melody of LOVE

Oh set me free yeah

I want to hear somebody sing

Melody of LOVE

Oh take me away

Jesus Explains God's Kingdom In The Parables. Birds Among The Branches; The Parable Of The Leaven.

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God's Kingdom in the Parables (excerpt)

written by David C. Grabbe

Those with this faith are “bought at a price” (I Corinthians 6:20; 7:23); they are of “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Peter writes that God redeemed us “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:19). Truly, Christ sold all He had to purchase this pearl He found so valuable.

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Parable of the Mustard Seed

written by David C. Grabbe

Matthew 13:31-32

The Mustard Seed parable describes a plant with the humblest of beginnings, representing the Kingdom's beginning with Abraham by faith. Its growth relative to its initial size sets it apart from other plants.

Hebrews 11:12 describes the same effect but with a different metaphor: “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.” A mighty increase occurred from what God began with Abraham. However, the parable concludes with birds—used as a symbol of Satan and the demons (see Matthew 13:4, 19)—nesting in the branches, which shows the spiritually unclean state of the Kingdom at the time of Jesus' teaching.

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Parable of the Mustard Seed

written by Martin G. Collins

Matthew 13:32

Birds are naturally attracted to the taste of the mustard seed. Matthew identifies the birds of the air as "the wicked one" (Matthew 13:4, 19). Mark connects them with "Satan" (Mark 4:4, 15), and Luke links them to "the devil" (Luke 8:5, 12). In Genesis 15:11, fowls swoop down on Abraham's sacrifices, and he has to drive them away (see Deuteronomy 28:26). The end-time Babylon becomes "a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird" (Revelation 18:2).

In the parable, Jesus predicts the birds of the air would lodge in the branches. These "birds," demons led by "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), have continually tried to infiltrate the church. Upon the unsuspecting early church, Satan moved quickly to implant his agents in it to teach false doctrine while appearing to be true Christians. Just as God permitted Satan to tempt Job intensely (Job 1:12; 2:6) and to sift Peter as wheat (Luke 22:31), He has allowed antichrists to lodge within His church (I Corinthians 11:18-19).

God's Kingdom in the Parables

written by David C. Grabbe

[source: BibleTools.org]

Birds Among the Branches

A third element is that the final state of the mustard tree is as a host to birds. This third point is central because Jesus uses birds as a symbol for Satan and his demons in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:19; Mark 4:15; Luke 8:12). The humble mustard plant, with its faithful beginning and dramatic growth, in time became a place where the demons felt at home.

The Old Testament contains few mentions of demons, though enough to record that the Israelites had sacrificed to demons in Egypt (Leviticus 17:7) and that the practice picked up again as Israel rejected God (II Chronicles 11:15; Psalm 106:37). The law also contains prohibitions against having anything to do with familiar spirits (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27).

In stark contrast, the gospels highlight demon possession as a major problem in Judea and Galilee during Christ’s short ministry, and casting out demons was a significant part of His and the disciples’ work (Matthew 4:24; 8:16, 28-34; 9:32-33; 10:1, 8; 12:22-28; 15:22; 17:18; Mark 1:23-27, 32-34, 39; 3:11, 15; 5:1-17; 6:7, 13; 7:25-30; 9:17-29, 38; 16:9, 17; Luke 4:33-36, 41; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2, 27-38; 9:1, 37-42; 10:17, 20; 11:14-23; 13:32; Acts 10:38). Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God had removed His protection, and demons were “nesting” everywhere in the kingdom.

As we saw in Part One, this parable formed part of Christ’s preaching to the multitudes after He performed an exorcism, for which the Pharisees criticized Him (Matthew 12:22-30). Rather than give God glory for the man’s deliverance from the power of Satan, they mistook the power of God for the work of the wicked one! The parable thus immediately describes the nation’s then-current satanic state rather than, as many commentators hold, the growth of the then-future church.

Moses foretold what would happen when Israel -often referred to as "Jeshurun" became large and prosperous:

But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. (Deuteronomy 32:15-17)

God inspired Moses to write that when Israel grew large through His increase, she would also fall into idolatry, which involves demonism, an exact parallel to what Jesus describes in the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Moses knew that Israel would “become utterly corrupt,” warning them that “evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 31:29). Israel’s corruption is a consistent Old Testament theme (Psalm 14:3; 53:3; Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 7:11; 10:21; Ezekiel 16:47; 23:11). Without the new heart and Spirit available under the New Covenant, she followed the world’s course into spiritual uncleanness and demonic activity.

The Parable of the Leaven

The Parable of the Leaven follows a similar theme: “Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:33).

The “three measures of meal” first show up in Genesis 18:6: “So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, ‘Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.’” The occasion was God’s meeting with Abraham and Sarah to promise them a son, the next step—a miraculous one—in the growth of the family/kingdom. The meal symbolizes the fellowship between God and the family of Abraham.

The Jews in Jesus’ audience were quick to claim Abraham as their father (John 8:39), and the “three measures of meal” refers to something easily recognizable in their history. But then Jesus introduces a subversive element into the story. Over time, something happened to the fellowship between God and the expanding house of Abraham—the kingdom became “all leavened.” Many commenters hold that this parable teaches that the gospel will spread over all the earth in the same way that leaven spreads, but this interpretation overlooks both the context and the fact that God’s Word never uses leaven positively. Instead, leaven is universally a symbol of corruption, especially of apostate doctrine and practice (Matthew 16:11-12; Luke 12:1; I Corinthians 5:8; Galatians 5:7-9).

The parable indicates, then, that the covenantal relationship between God and Abraham’s family had completely degenerated. Israel “took” of pagan belief systems from the nations around her and introduced those corrupting ways into her relationship with God. The Judaism that Jesus encountered was a noxious blend of some Scripture with beliefs and practices picked up during the Babylonian captivity and flavored with Hellenism and the hardened traditions of previous generations. When Jesus delivered the parables, the major problem within the kingdom was not the idolatry of graven images as before the captivity, but one of false beliefs. He did not have to contend with pagan temples and high places, but with hearts hardened by anti-God doctrines and practices.

The beliefs and practices that Jesus encountered suggested a thoroughly leavened covenantal relationship, such that “He came to His own”—the descendants of Abraham, in particular—“and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). Therefore, as He later informed the religious leaders, God would take the kingdom from its current caretakers and give it to a spiritual nation—the spiritual seed of Abraham, those who are Israelites because of their faith in Him rather than their physical lineage.

The Context of Luke’s Versions

Luke also records the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven (Luke 13:18-21), and the setting in his gospel underscores Christ’s object in giving them: as a testimony against the kingdom’s condition and particularly its leadership. The context begins in Luke 13:10, with Jesus healing a woman with “a spirit of infirmity” on the Sabbath. Later, He describes the woman as being bound by Satan (verse 16), which again stresses the nation’s problem with “birds” (demons). The healed woman glorified God, but the ruler of the synagogue was incensed:

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day” (Luke 13:14).

The Jews’ beliefs and practices had become so perverse that, even though they believed they were keeping the fourth commandment (the breaking of which was a major cause of their captivity; see Ezekiel 20:10-24), they completely misunderstood the liberating intent of God’s law. Their worldview was so warped that they could feel only indignation at divine deliverance from spiritual bondage, showing how far their hearts had turned from their Creator and how aligned they were with their spiritual captor.

As in Matthew 13, Jesus spoke the two parables to “the multitude” (Luke 13:17) in response to their skewed practices rather than to foretell the future growth and influence of the yet-to-be-established church. In reading through the whole passage, the concept of future church growth is wholly incongruous. In Luke 12:32, our Good Shepherd refers to His followers as a “little flock,” and He says God calls many but chooses only a few (Matthew 20:16). Likewise, James 1:18 calls us “a kind of firstfruits,” implying that the church is limited in number, a remnant (Romans 9:27; 11:5), while the more abundant main harvest will come later.

Using a different metaphor, Paul writes in I Corinthians 12:18, “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” God alone adds individuals to the spiritual Body, so numeric growth is entirely in His hands—it will never expand beyond the limits He places on it. Paul also writes to Christians at Corinth that, because of Christ’s sacrifice, “You truly are unleavened.” His statement does not mean they were without sin but that God imputed righteousness to them based on Christ’s work. These scriptures contradict the interpretations that the true church will become either exceptionally large or “all leavened.”

Christ delivers the last four parables of Matthew 13 to the disciples—those to whom God would give an understanding of the mysteries of His Kingdom—and thus, the “kingdom” in those parables has a different emphasis. They do not primarily concern the physical nation, but the spiritual one. Jesus has a different audience, and thus, a different purpose and perspective. Interestingly, though, the two parables in the first group that Jesus explains to the disciples are ones in which we can glimpse the church: in the good soil (Parable of the Sower) and in the “sons of the kingdom” (Parable of the Wheat and Tares), who have faith.

Jesus Christ The True Shepherd; The LORD Is My Shepherd. Who Are You Following? How Has That Turned Out For You? Talk To Him, Find Out Who He Is For Yourself.

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John 10 NKJV

[source: Biblegateway]

Jesus the True Shepherd

1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (have it abundantly).

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

The Shepherd Knows His Sheep

22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus

31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

The Believers Beyond Jordan

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

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Pslam 23 (KJV)

[source: Biblegateway]

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever and ever. In Jesus mighty name. AMEN!

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Luke 15 (New Living Translation)
[source: BibleGateway]

Parable of the Lost Sheep

1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents (asks God for forgiveness) and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Did You Know That For Christians And Messianic Jews, Jesus Christ Is Our Sabbath Rest? Find Out Why. Christians Have NO REASON To Be Going To A Synagogue To Observe The Sabbath To Please Jews.

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Jesus Christ is the living breathing Word of God who was made flesh to walk among us.

John 1:1-5 KJV: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Matthew 1:23 AMP: “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation), for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet [Isaiah]: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel”—which, when translated, means, “God with us.”.

Google AI summary: QUESTION: I asked, was Mary a Levite? ANSWER: It is not explicitly stated in the Bible that Mary was a Levite, but it is a strong possibility based on her close relationship to Elizabeth, who was from the tribe of Levi. The biblical texts do not provide Mary's full lineage, but the connection to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who is described as a daughter of Aaron the Levite, suggests Mary may have had a Levite mother or was a close relative through her mother's side. This theory would make Jesus both a king through his paternal (Joseph's) lineage from the House of David and a priest through his maternal (Mary's) lineage from the tribe of Levi, fulfilling prophecy. (emphasis mine)

What does it mean that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath?

[source: GotQuestions.org]

QUESTION: What does it mean that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath?

ANSWER: The phrase “the Lord of the Sabbath” is found in Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, and Luke 6:5. In all three instances Jesus is referring to Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath or, as Mark records it, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). In these verses, Jesus is proclaiming that He is the One who exercises authority even over the rules and regulations that govern the Sabbath day.

As such, Jesus was proclaiming to the world, especially to the legalistic Pharisees, that He was greater than the Law and above the laws of the Mosaic Covenant because, as God in flesh, He is the Author of those laws. Unable to keep the Law, however, the Pharisees had instituted a complex and confusing system of Sabbath laws of their own that was oppressive and legalistic. They had set up strict laws regarding how to observe the Sabbath, which included 39 categories of forbidden activities. In essence, these religious leaders had made themselves lords of the Sabbath, thus making themselves lords over the people.

As Creator, Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:10). He had the authority to overrule the Pharisees’ traditions and regulations because He had created the Sabbath—and the Creator is always greater than the creation. Furthermore, Jesus claimed the authority to correctly interpret the meaning of the Sabbath and all the laws pertaining to it. Because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He is free to do on it and with it whatever He pleases.

As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus had the right, power, and authority to dispense it in any way He pleased. The Lord of the Sabbath had come, and with His death and resurrection He became the fulfillment of our “Sabbath rest.” The salvation we have in Christ has made the old law of the Sabbath no longer needed or binding. When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), Jesus was attesting to the fact that, just as the Sabbath day was originally instituted to give man rest from his labors, so did He come to provide us rest from laboring to achieve our own salvation by our works. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, we can now forever cease laboring to attain God’s favor and rest in His mercy and grace in Christ Jesus.

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How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest?

[source: GotQuestions.org]

QUESTION: How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest?

ANSWER: The key to understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is the Hebrew word sabat, which means "to rest or stop or cease from work." The origin of the Sabbath goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made" (Genesis 2:2). This doesn’t mean that God was tired and needed a rest. We know that God is omnipotent, literally "all-powerful." He has all the power in the universe, He never tires, and His most arduous expenditure of energy does not diminish His power one bit. So, what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day? Simply that He stopped what He was doing. He ceased from His labors. This is important in understanding the establishment of the Sabbath day and the role of Christ as our Sabbath rest.

God used the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God gave the Israelites the fourth of His Ten Commandments. They were to "remember" the Sabbath day and "keep it holy." One day out of every seven, they were to rest from their labors and give the same day of rest to their servants and animals. This was not just a physical rest, but a cessation of laboring. Whatever work they were engaged in was to stop for a full day each week. (Please read our other articles on the Sabbath day, Saturday vs. Sunday and Sabbath keeping to explore this issue further.) The Sabbath day was established so the people would rest from their labors, only to begin again after a one-day rest.

The various elements of the Sabbath symbolized the coming of the Messiah, who would provide a permanent rest for His people. Once again the example of resting from our labors comes into play. With the establishment of the Old Testament Law, the Israelites were constantly "laboring" to make themselves acceptable to God. Their labors included trying to obey a myriad of do’s and don’ts of the ceremonial law, the Temple law, the civil law, etc. Of course they couldn’t possibly keep all those laws, so God provided an array of sin offerings and sacrifices so they could come to Him for forgiveness and restore fellowship with Him, but only temporarily. Just as they began their physical labors after a one-day rest, so, too, did they have to continue to offer sacrifices. Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the law "can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." But these sacrifices were offered in anticipation of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Just as He rested after performing the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and rested—ceased from His labor of atonement because there was nothing more to be done, ever. Because of what He did, we no longer have to "labor" in law-keeping in order to be justified in the sight of God. Jesus was sent so that we might rest in God and in what He has provided.

Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.

Jesus can be our Sabbath rest in part because He is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they, sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3,27) and enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins, He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.

Hebrews 4 is the definitive passage regarding Jesus as our Sabbath rest. The writer to the Hebrews exhorts his readers to “enter in” to the Sabbath rest provided by Christ. After three chapters of telling them that Jesus is superior to the angels and that He is our Apostle and High Priest, he pleads with them to not harden their hearts against Him, as their fathers hardened their hearts against the Lord in the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, God denied that generation access to the holy land, saying, “They shall not enter into My rest” (Hebrews 3:11). In the same way, the writer to the Hebrews begs his readers not to make the same mistake by rejecting God’s Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9–11).

There is no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan for us to cease from the labor of our own works.

Happy Sunday Everybody! Listen To Pastor Joseph Prince Explain How To Rest In Jesus' Faith For Miracles. Rest And Receive At Jesus' Feet. Imperfect Faith Not A Barrier To God's Grace.

Do you blame yourself for not having enough faith for miracles? Are you frustrated with your wavering faith? Well, you don't have to anymore because you can rest in Jesus' faith that never wavers or fails! In this revelatory and encouraging message by Joseph Prince, see how it is not you, but Jesus, who always believes. Learn how you can simply latch your limited faith onto His perfect faith and see the miracle you need happen. Rest easy—Jesus has all the compassion and faith for any miracle. That's all you need to believe!

Come boldly to Jesus, rest at His feet and receive all that you need today! Joseph Prince shows you how you can receive effortlessly when you seek Jesus Himself instead of just His blessings. Learn from the Old Testament love story of Ruth and Boaz the power of resting at Jesus' feet and allowing Him to deal with your problem. When you rest, He works—and He will not stop until He has resolved your matter! Be encouraged as you see His love and care for you, and His willingness to protect you, provide for you and redeem you out of all your troubles!

You don't need perfect faith to receive from Jesus! Even if you have doubts, if you reach out to Him, He will forgive your doubts and reward whatever faith you come to Him with! Be uplifted by this powerful message from Joseph Prince, as he shows you biblical examples of how our imperfect faith is never a barrier to God's grace. Learn also how seeing the Lord's grace in the Word imparts life and health to every part of your body. Whatever you need from Jesus today, don't let your imperfect faith stop you from running to Him to receive!

For more information, please visit:

Pastor Joseph Prince YouTube channel

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twitter.com/​JosephPrince

The Man, His Son And The Donkey

The Man, His Son And The Donkey

An Aesop Folktale

Once an old man and his son were walking with their donkey to the fair to sell it. They passed a group of people on the road. A countryman noticed that the donkey was walking alongside them and laughed, “You fools, why don't you let the ass carry you? You're silly!"

The man heard what they said, and put his boy on the donkey while he walked. They had not gone far before another group saw them. One of them said, "How can the young man ride the ass, while the old man walks? That's too much."

Hearing this, the old man ordered the boy to get off, and rode the donkey himself. Soon, they heard voices behind them. There were two women. One of them said to the other, "Why is it that only the father gets to ride the ass? He's torturing the boy."

The man didn't know what to do at first. He thought and thought and finally decided to put his son up in front of him on the donkey.

Soon they reached the town. There too the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked them what they were scoffing at. The people said, "How can two heavy people ride on an ass? Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey? You're torturing the animal!"

The man and the boy got off. They had to think of what to do all over again. At last they had an idea. They took a long pole and tied the donkey's feet to it. Then they raised the pole to their shoulders and carried the donkey upside down.

The passersby could not stop laughing at the silly pair. Frustrated, the old man threw the donkey into the river, and walked home empty-handed.

The MORAL of this story:

When you try to please everybody, you won't please anybody. Those with no opinion of their own can only follow others, incapable of deciding between right and wrong and achieving nothing in the end.

In other words, just do your thing. Others opinion of you is none of your business. Keep walking on your path and don't let others steal your joy. Remember, they don't pay your bills.

They All Laughed ♥ I LOVE This Tune! ♥ But ho, ho, ho! Who's got the last laugh now?

They All Laughed

by The Charlie Biddle Trio with Stephanie Biddle

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

When he said the world was round

They all laughed when Edison recorded sound

They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother

When they said that man could fly

They told Marconi wireless was a phony,

It's the same old cry

They laughed at me wanting you,

Said I was reaching for the moon

But oh, you came through,

Now they'll have to change their tune

They all said we never could be happy,

They laughed at us and how!

But ho, ho, ho!

Who's got the last laugh now?

They all laughed at Rockefeller Center,

Now they're fighting to get in

They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin

They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat,

Hershey and his chocolate bar

Ford and his Lizzie, kept the laughers busy,

That's how people are

They laughed at me wanting you,

Said it would be, "Hello, Goodbye."

But oh, you came through,

Now they're eating humble pie

They all said we'd never get together,

Darling, let's take a bow

For ho, ho, ho! Who's got the last laugh?

Hee, hee, hee! Let's at the past laugh,

Ha, ha, ha! Who's got the last laugh now?

George Carlin Strikes Again! OMG These Had Me Laughing So Hard I Was Crying Tears Of Laughter! Thank You George Carlin I Really Needed That 😄

Disclaimer: I'm the LAUGHING MONKEY in this gif! I'm NOT responsible for anybody taking offense... I ❤ monkeys! 😍

George Carlin Strikes Again
Compliments of Basic Jokes

1. If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?

2. If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

3. Why do we say something is out of whack? What's a whack?

4. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

5. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

6. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

7. When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts" and you put your two cents in . . . what happens to the other penny?

8. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

9. Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

10. When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

11. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

12. Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

13. Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

14. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

15. "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?

16. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

17. If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

18. Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

19. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

20. I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me . . they're cramming for their final exam.

21. I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?

22. Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?

23. If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

24. No one ever says, "It's only a game" when their team is winning.

25. Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?

26. Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.

27. If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?

28. Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

Life Is Not Serious...💖🌻🌟🐱‍🏍 Don't Let The Enemy Steal Your Joy. That Is How The Enemy Destabilizes You.

I added the picture above to the message below.

Life Is Not Serious

Osho, Beyond Enlightenment, Talk #27

[source: Osho International]

Every event that is happening has its own humorous side, you just need a sense of humor. No religion has accepted the sense of humor as a quality. I want a sense of humor to be a fundamental quality of a good man, of a moral man, of a religious man. And it does not need much looking; you just try to see it, and everywhere....

Once I was traveling in a bus when I was a student. The bus conductor was in trouble because there were thirty-one passengers and he had money only for thirty tickets. So he was asking, 'Who is the fellow who has not given his money?' Nobody would speak. He said, 'This is strange; now how am I going to find out?'

I said to him, 'Do one thing: tell the driver to stop the bus, and tell the people that unless the person who has not given the money confesses, the bus will not move.'

He said, 'That's right.' The bus was stopped. Everybody looked at each other, now what to do? Nobody knew who the person was...

Finally one man stood up and said, 'Forgive me, I am the person who has not given the money. Here it is.'

The bus conductor asked, 'What is your name?'

He said, 'My name is Achchelal.' Achchelal means 'a good man.'

And I was surprised that out of thirty people, nobody laughed! When he said 'Achchelal' I could not believe it-a 'good man' doing such a thing... and nobody seemed to see the humor in it.

Seriousness has become almost part of our bones and blood. You will have to make some effort to get rid of seriousness, and you will have to be on the lookout-wherever you can find something humorous happening, don't miss the opportunity. Everywhere there are people who are slipping on banana peels-just nobody is looking at them. In fact, it is thought to be ungentlemanly. It is not, because only bananas slip on banana peels.

Laughter needs a great learning, and laughter is a great medicine. It can cure many of your tensions, anxieties, worries; the whole energy can flow into laughter. And there is no need that there should be some occasion, some cause.

In my meditation camps I used to have a laughing meditation: for no reason, people would sit and just start laughing. At first they would feel a little awkward that there was no reason-but when everybody is doing it... they would also start. Soon, everybody was in such a great laughter, people were rolling on the ground. They were laughing at the very fact that so many people were laughing for no reason at all; there was nothing, not even a joke had been told. And it went on like waves.

So there is no harm... even just sitting in your room, close the doors and have one hour of simple laughter. Laugh at yourself. But learn to laugh. Seriousness is a sin, and it is a disease. Laughter has tremendous beauty, a lightness. It will bring lightness to you, and it will give you wings to fly. And life is so full of opportunities. You just need the sensitivity. And create chances for other people to laugh. Laughter should be one of the most valued, cherished qualities of human beings-because only man can laugh, no animals are capable of it. Because it is human, it must be of the highest order. To repress it is to destroy a human quality.

Understanding How to Hold Space

My idea of what holding a safe space for fragile life looks like.
I added this picture above to the message I shared with you below.

Understanding How to Hold Space

written by Jim Tolles

[source: Spiritual Awakening Process]

Holding space is one of those terms that mystifies a lot of people. It's like, "How do I hold space exactly? Is that like taking up space?" No. Not really. Holding space is about how we learn to be with others without judgment. I'll do my best to explain this term and why it's a powerful addition to your spiritual practice.

As a quick side note, you can hear all my latest tips and thoughts in my monthly newsletter called, "The Wake Up Call."

Letting Go of You

At the heart of the matter, you have to let go of yourself when you hold space for another. Mainly when I use this term, it's in reference to how we interact with others and situations. I suppose it could be used in reference to holding space for yourself, but that's a little bit silly. It kinda reinforces an inner duality that doesn't need to be there. Building inner space involves becoming the watcher or the witness to your thoughts. That's a step one for beginning to notice that a lot of the stuff running through your brain actually has nothing to do with you. This can be a way to develop a deeper sense of stillness, and as you come to understand this deeper space inside you, it becomes easier to let go of "you" and your ego desires and whatnot. Being able to move into this internal space is how we can hold space for another.

Holding Space: Some Key Attributes

Let me try to break this down a little bit. Here are a couple key characteristics to holding space, and I'll give an example to help solidify what I'm talking about. Some components are:

1. Letting go of judgment
2. Opening your heart
3. Allowing another to have whatever experience they're having
4. Giving your complete undivided attention to the situation/other person

Those are really the key elements of holding space. You're not trying to influence the situation. You're not trying to fix it, win at it, or affect any kind of outcome. You are simply being with it fully so that it can work itself out. This doesn't mean becoming a victim to it. Quite the contrary actually, you're very powerful in this space, and it certainly doesn't mean being hurt physically by another. By when you're deep into a space like this, you are far more immune to any "emotional" hurt than you might realize. So much of emotional hurt is just ego wounding. It's taking what someone else is saying personally. But oddly enough, what most people say about us is just a reflection of themselves. It's not personal. And while we don't turn a blind eye to everything other people are saying, we really begin to understand just how much illusion everyone else is trapped in too.

Allowing a Situation to Unfold

My example of holding space usually comes from my work with students, but I definitely do this with friends and other people in my life. The best example is when someone is expressing some pain or some difficulty. They're really upset. In these moments, I'm holding them with a lot of love and letting go of my judgments about them and the situations that they're describing. I'm not interested in fixing them, and in truth, I trust that as they allow themselves to fully express what's happening, deeper healing is already at work. Depending on how aware someone is, I speak less and less. The more of a practice they have, the more I trust in their own deeper intelligence to find solutions when and as they are needed. Holding space is truly about allowing experiences and emotions to arise and pass away. It's about making a safe space so people can actually feel their emotions and see their thoughts in potentially profound ways. All the while, I'm removing my ego as much as possible from the situation. The magic of this is that most of the time people figure out what they need to figure out, and by not repressing or avoiding their emotions, they carry much less pain in their lives.

The Magic of Holding Space and Building It as a Practice in Your Relationships

Holding space can be a lot of heart-work (I'm making a pun on hard work, here. Get it? ;). The first time that you do this and you are non-reactive to a lover's outburst or a codependent friend's tears, they may think you don't care. Far from it. You actually are caring more about them than ever before because you're not feeding their emotional issues. If anything, they now have to look at their emotional debris and own it because you're holding space as opposed to rolling around in this emotional mud with them. This can be intensely uncomfortable for the other person. It can be transformative as well, and as always, it's up to the other person in the equation to make the choice as to what results from it.

You can ever only own your pieces of the puzzle. You may want to explain what you're doing with the other person if this is the first time that you've done it. It may be a relief for the other person to not have you butt in and run their life. It cuts in many different directions, but it is always an enlightening experience in many ways--just not necessarily very comfortable ways initially. It may end relationships that don't want to evolve. Keep in mind that most people are happy living in the filth of their misery. They still want to come home and complain about how the world is dumping on them, on their ideas, and on their spiritual practices. If you don't join in with that negativity, they can get upset. They may leave. And you may need to be just as comfortable with that outcome as with the positive outcome that brings closer friendships and intimacies.

Failing at Holding Space

But stepping back from that, you probably won't be very good at holding space initially. You'll notice just how much ego shit you've still got, but this is still a worthwhile practice. I'd encourage you to find someone with whom you can practice this. You can take turns talking while the other listens. This is very similar to my blog post about the Art of Listening only with a slightly different twist. That post is about finding your voice and helping another find his or her voice. This is about how you learn to be with any story told to you. This is about how you can be open-hearted and without judgment when the worst is said about you as well as the best is said about you. But you don't need to jump that far into the fire yet.

For the most part, you'll just be hearing people talk about their own pain. See how you can be with it. See what comes up inside of you, and then you should talk about what comes up with your listening partner. Or you can journal it out if you don't feel comfortable talking about it with your listening partner. Watch what stories you project on someone and all the ways where you want to control the experience or get activated by their emotions. Any time you get upset by something, you're finding a nerve ending--a bit of unhealed pain--in yourself. It's a powerful practice to develop this awareness so that you can be with more and more people and all the stories and wisdom and lies they share. You can begin to find out what's true for you and help them find their own inner peace if you can stop, hold space, and trust the situation to unfold as it should.

If you're interested in working with me as a student, feel free to reach out through the contact form.

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10 Simple Ways to Lighten Up and Let Life Flow

I added picture message to this post.

10 Simple Ways to Lighten Up and Let Life Flow

written by Shannon Kaiser

[source: Mind Body Green]

There have been countless documentations of people having near death experiences and as they almost die they see “the light.” When they are jolted back to reality and wake up from their near death episode, the number one take away from the near-death experience is not, “Holy crap, I almost died.” It’s, “Holy Moses, I need to lighten up and not take life so seriously. I better start living!”

We don’t all get second chances but we can switch our path starting right now. If you feel unhappy, you have the power to choose happiness based on your actions. It starts with your perception and how you treat the world. The way we see the world is a reflection of how we see ourselves. Remembering to treat ourselves kindly and laugh often is one way to appreciate life. In order to love our lives to the fullest we can start by lightening up. When we learn to not take life so seriously, this is when we can truly be free.

I’ve been exercising this lately and I have seen a transformation in my world. New opportunities have come to me that otherwise wouldn’t have because of my outlook on life. When I choose happy, kind, and loving thoughts, more happy, kind, and loving people and opportunities can come to me.

Where are you grasping in your life? Are there any areas that you are taking too seriously, such as your job, your relationship, your family, or yourself? Look at that and see how you can release resentment and control over the seriousness. On our mission to finding happiness, we can let go of seriousness and let life flow more. Think about children and their outlook on the world. How often do you see a child super serious? They only learn to be poker-faced through us inspiring adults. So let’s learn a thing or two from the Mini Me's running around and adapt a happy-tude rather than an attitude.

Here are some simple ways to lighten up and let life flow:

1. Be in the moment fully.
2. Play more games.
3. Look at the situation that is bothering you from a new perspective.
4. Laugh more.
5. Go outside and enjoy nature.
6. Turn your head up to the sun and let the light fall on to your face (this gives people an instant mental makeover).
7. Call a family member or good friend and tell them how much they mean to you.
8. Pet a furry friend (refrain from wild furry friends unless you are comfortable with unpredictability).
9. Look at your dream list and put action towards your top one.
10. Smile at strangers.

How To Lighten Up And Not Be So Hard On Yourself

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How to Lighten Up and Not be So Hard on Yourself

written by Michael Angier, founder and CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of SuccessNet

[source: Talent Development Resources]

A long-time friend called me the other day seeking some support. "Jack" was feeling stuck. He's going through a tough time in his life--financially, professionally and emotionally -- and he was reaching out to a few trusted friends to gain more clarity.

I thought his approach was very smart, and I was honored to be one of the few he called.

Jack didn't want to repeat some familiar and unhelpful patterns and was asking what I thought might be holding him back.

The fact Jack recognized that he was feeling stuck and reached out to ensure he didn't STAY stuck told me he was way ahead of where he had been in the past.

After asking him a few questiõns, I told Jack I believed his biggest challenge was, and has always been, that he was too hard on himself.

He accepted my observation, but he wanted more. Jack wanted to know what it would look like for him to lighten up. He wanted the specific recipe for going easier on himself.

You see, I can easily relate to Jack's issue. I used to put myself down a lot for my mistakes. I often felt stupid, inadequate, guilty and remorseful. I can still fall back into that occasionally. But I catch myself pretty quickly, and I don't stay stuck in it.

Nonetheless, I didn't feel particularly articulate or confident in the answer I gave him. Just how DO we lighten up? How do we forgive ourselves?

I think acceptance is the first step. All too often, we justify and defend instead of acknowledge what we did that didn't work.

Jack wasn't doing this. He was anxious to learn and grow from past mistakes. He's also very grateful for the many good things he DOES have in his life -- a very important thing.

It's also important to recognize that it's a big life. Your current situation is only a chapter in your life -- maybe even a page.

I'm not saying we shouldn't learn from where we are. I'm only suggesting that we keep it in its proper perspective.

If you're being hard on yourself, would you be as hard on others if THEY had made the same mistake? I doubt it. Where is it written that you should be above making mistakes?

And you don't have to understand all the reasons why things are the way they are. It would be nice to understand it all, but you can't always do that.

You can expend all your energy studying the root instead of picking the fruit. Learn what you can and move on. You may only be able to fully understand it later.

Remember that it's our resistance to what is that causes our pain. When we think we shouldn't be in this predicament, that it's not fair or wonder, "How could I have been so stupid," we create pain for ourselves. And in doing so, we perpetuate the stuck icky feeling.

Another thing that will move us onward and upward is to take action each day on improving our situation. We may not be able to change what's happened, but we CAN change how we react to it. When we consistently take positive action to improve upon our difficulties, we feel better about ourselves, and we begin to see progress.

We all need to forgive ourselves for our shortcomings. Jack is one of the kindest, gentlest men I know. He has a big heart. But I'm guessing, like I had done, he bought into other people's criticism and began to question his goodness. In doing so, it made it easy for him to beat up on himself.

For me, I had to learn to develop a thicker skin to protect my soft heart. As a writer and Internet publisher, it's been essential. I tell others, "Develop a thick skin and a soft heart -- and never mix them up."

It also helps to surround ourselves with people who believe in us. Not necessarily people who AGREE with us, but rather people who will tell us the truth without judging us -- people who see the best in us.

By being more aware, by trusting ourselves, by forgiving ourselves and by not taking ourselves too seriously, we can move out of self deprecation and into self confidence. We can lighten up, be gentle with ourselves, break free and achieve the best that's within us.