Your Happiness Is Determined by Two Daily Choices

Everyone in this life is searching for happiness. The word happy in Hebrew is the same word for blessed. We all want blessings in our lives, and yet so many fail to live a happy, blessed life.

Proverbs 3:13 gives the secret to a continual life of happiness or blessedness: "Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding" (NKJV).

All the treasures of wisdom are hidden in Jesus Christ. Unless a man comes into this knowledge of Jesus Christ, he will always lack the wisdom that brings happiness. Chances are also he will seek happiness in the wrong places.

There are two kinds of wisdom—the wisdom of this world, which comes from below, and the wisdom of God, which comes from above. James tells us about these two kinds of wisdom: "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3:13, KJV).

Which wisdom will you choose to walk in today? If you choose the wisdom from above, you will have a happy, blessed day no matter what circumstances you encounter.

Lord, You are all wisdom, and I will grow in heavenly wisdom only as I stay close to You, talk with You and listen to Your Word. You are the way that leads me to all the hidden treasures of wisdom. Your Word is the road map that instructs me as I follow this way. Help me as I go searching for hidden treasures today in Your Word, and help me to operate in heavenly wisdom today in all of my relationships with others. Thank You. Amen.

READ: Genesis 30:1-31:16; Matthew 10:1-26; Psalm 12:1-8; Proverbs 3:13-15

By Linda Sommer

 

SOME MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES ON EXCELLENCE

1. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

2. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.”- Socrates.

3. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” - Martin Luther King Jr.

4. “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.”  - Hunter S. Thompson.

5. “Do your best, and be a little better than you are.”-  Gordon B. Hinckley.

6. “If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”- John Wooden.

7. Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” - Booker T. Washington.

8.  “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle

9. “I am a man of simple tastes easily satisfied with the best” - Winston Churchill.

10. “Do ordinary things extraordinarily well.” - Gregg Harris.

11. Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.”-Habeeb Akande.

SOME REMEDY FOR AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE

An unhappy marriage hardly needs defining. We are talking about when you are stuck with spending the rest of your life with someone with whom you are not happy. It is a thorn in the flesh; it is painful. Paul said he prayed three times for his particular situation to be resolved. Perhaps you have prayed 33 times, or even 3,033 times, for your situation to improve. In your dreams, you saw only marital bliss. But, no, it has been anything but bliss. You have watched others separate, and you have envied them. Others get divorced and you think, I wish that could happen to me, but you have stuck it out. You are not happy.

 

Can this actually describe a Christian? Yes. Does God truly want this in a Christian marriage? No. Have you said to yourself, Is this all there is? It is like going to that place on vacation when you say, "Is this it? I have looked forward to this?" So it is with marriage. Yet, if you put Jesus Christ first, this nightmare of a marriage can be the greatest source of blessing.

A wife must submit to a husband who is not very nice, and a husband must love his wife even if she, at the moment, may not seem lovable. This is the pattern. Husbands, love your wives. That means you must respect her, build her up, and care for her. This is the challenge to see whether you are a real man. Do you think you are a man merely because you can attract women? Or because of how strong or how good-looking you are? Do you want to be a real man? Then love your wife! That is what builds character.

No marriage is perfect. Most marriages can be saved, and you can fall in love all over again. Love Jesus Christ more than you love each other. Don't wait for the other person to get it right, and you may one day realize that that thorn is part of a rose, beautiful and fragrant.

By  R. T. Kendall

Why Your Job Might Be Causing Weight Gain and Some Solutions To It

Part of the problem of weight gain at the office is the inactivity of sitting behind a desk all day. But there are some great exercises you can do right at your desk. Set a timer to remind you to do these simple exercises:

1. For your tummy: Sit tall and straighten the spine. Then clench the abdominal muscles as tightly as possible, pulling your belly button back toward the spine. Hold for one to five seconds and repeat 20 times. Do at least three times daily.

2. For your thighs: While seated with knees together, imagine someone's pulling them apart and it's your job to keep them together by squeezing your inner thigh muscles in one-second pulses. Do this at least three times daily.

3. For your backside: Start to stand up, with heels digging into the ground to contract the backside muscles, but pause a beat about three-quarters of the way through the standing motion. Sit back down, and then stand up as you normally would. It's a great way to get exercise without even breaking a sweat.

Some call the above "deskercises." These days, many exercise programs offer chair options.

* Buy an aerobic or other kind of exercise CD and begin working out with it. You don't have to spend a lot of money. You can find many such tapes and CDs in thrift shops and places that resell CDs. 
 

By Steve Reynolds

PASTOR DISGUISE AS HOMELESS, CHURCH MEMBERS MISTREAT HIM BADLY

Church Members Mistreat Homeless Man In Church Unaware It Is Their Pastor in Disguise!  

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service, only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him.

 

He asked people for change to buy food – no one in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit in the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

    As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation.

    “We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek.” The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation.

    The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with all eyes on him. He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited,

    “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

    “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    ‘The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

   
After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame.

    He then said, “Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?”

    He then dismissed service until next week.  Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ should be more than just talk. It ought to be a lifestyle that others around you can love about you and share in.

Culled from:The-wopr.newvine

PRAYER FOR THE NEW MONTH (DECEMBER TO REMEMBER)

The Almighty God will bring testimonies out of whatever you are going through now. Where you have been rejected, you will go back there to reign as a king and queen. God will suddenly terminate the appointment of everyone frustrating you in your place of work. Though you have not achieved anything so far this year, but God will give you a sudden miracle that will make you to remember this year for ever in Jesus Name.

The Almighty God will look beyond your sins and mistakes with mercy through the blood of His son, Jesus Christ. Whatever is troubling your mind will suddenly vanish and you will have joy unspeakable. Before this week comes to an end, you will encounter favour that will completely and permanently change the story of your life for better in Jesus name.

God is breaking asunder every gates of wickedness, sickness, hardship, oppressions and afflictions holding your life back. The Lord shall transform and restore your destiny, and move you forward to the original plan of God in Jesus mighty name. This month of December will be the month to Remember for good things. (AMEN)

Happy new montn from Adenike Salako Blog's World.

Are Your Dishes Making You ill/Sick?

A chemical called melamine that's found in some dishware might raise your risk for kidney stones, a small new study suggests.

"Melamine is a chemical used widely in industry and found in many household products," notes one expert not connected to the study, Dr. Kenneth Spaeth.

"For consumers, one of the most common sources of exposure to melamine is from kitchenware, including plates, bowls, mugs, et cetera, as melamine has long been known to migrate from these into food," says Spaeth, who is director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.

Spaeth notes that both higher temperatures (from hot soups, for example) or more acidic foods can encourage melamine to contaminate food, especially in older or low-quality kitchenware.

The new Taiwanese study included 12 healthy men and women who ate hot noodle soup from either a melamine or ceramic bowl. Urine samples were collected from the participants for 12 hours after they ate the soup.

Three weeks later, the participants consumed the same kind of soup, but the type of bowl they used was reversed. Urine samples were collected again.

Total melamine levels in urine for 12 hours after eating the soup was 8.35 micrograms when the participants ate out of the melamine bowls versus about 1.3 micrograms when they ate out of ceramic bowls.

"Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods. The amount of melamine released into food and beverages from melamine tableware varies by brand, so the results of this study of one brand may not be generalized to other brands," a team led by Chia-Fang Wu, of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, wrote in the study.

They added that it's not yet clear what effect all of this might have on human health. However, prior studies have linked chronic, low-dose melamine exposures to an increased risk for kidney stones in both children and adults, the researchers said.

The study was published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Would melamine absorbed into the body via food cause harm? According to Spaeth, "There is little human health data to adequately characterize the risk such exposure poses.

However, he says, "Studies of melamine toxicity in animals indicate that ingestion can cause kidney stones, kidney damage, and may induce cancer."

Spaeth says that since scientists really have no clear idea as to the level of the danger, if any, it is "not unreasonable to try and reduce one's exposure [to melamine]" by avoiding using melamine-containing kitchenware.

He adds that the same advice would apply to other plastics chemicals suspected of causing harm to humans, such as phthalates and bisphenol-A.

"Avoid storing food in these products, and avoid putting these in the microwave to heat food," Spaeth advises. The most notorious episode involving melamine occurred in 2008, when the chemical was found to be widespread and at high levels in milk and baby formula fed to babies in China.

Culled from:NewsMaxHealth.com