Dylann Roof committed a heinous act on Wednesday night, killing nine at a church in Charleston. His ominous Facebook profile photo is being widely circulated.
There is one comment on that photo. It is from this man:
His name is Marcus Stanley. He is a 30-year-old, award winning gospel musician from Virginia. Marcus has also been shot, eight times. According to his website:
Marcus was shot 8 times at point blank range with a .45 caliber automatic weapon while touring as an initiation act by gang members. Due to the shooting, Marcus became temporarily paralyzed on his right side, lost the ability to walk, and leaving one bullet permanent lodged near his spine. With God’s grace and mercy, Marcus was successfully able to regain the strength to walk and recover most of the feeling in his right arm.
He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD... 1 Chronicles 28:12
It is said of George Washington Carver that he got up early in the morning each day to walk alone and pray. He asked God how he was to spend his day and what He wanted to teach him that day.
Carver grew up at the close of the American Civil War in a one-room shanty on the home of Moses Carver- the man who owned his mother.
Carver grew up at the height of racial discrimination, yet he overcame all those obstacles to become one of the most influential men in the history of the United States.
He made many discoveries with the use of groundnuts and sweet potatoes. However, after he recommended farmers to plant groundnuts and sweet potatoes instead of cotton, he was led into his greatest trial.
The farmers lost even more money due to the lack of market demand for groundnuts and sweet potatoes.
Carver cried out to the Lord in prayer. Many years later, he shared that God led him back to his lab and worked with him to discover some 300 marketable products from groundnuts.
Likewise, he made over 100 discoveries from the sweet potatoes. These new products created a demand for groundnuts and sweet potatoes, and they were major contributors to rejuvenating the economy of Southern USA.
As he made new discoveries, he never became successful monetarily. But during his lifetime, he overcame great rejection for being black.
He was offered high income opportunities from Henry Ford, and he became friends with presidents of his day, yet he knew what God had called him to do.
His epitaph read: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."
Prayer: Pray for the spirit of wisdom and creativity to fully fulfil your purpose.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. - John 15:4
Imagine if you planted a tree in your front yard, but after a while, you decide it would look better in your backyard.
Then after a few months, you realize it would be better in the front yard. So you dig it up and plant it again in the front yard. Not only will that tree fail to flourish, but it also will struggle to just survive. Eventually, it will die.
Yet some people are like that with God. They decide to go to church, read their Bible, and pray regularly. They do this for a month, and then they uproot themselves and disappear for a few months. Then they come back again. Then they uproot themselves and go back to the old life again.
Eventually they come back and are at it again. But they will never grow spiritually that way.
Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me". That is the secret of spiritual growth: to abide.
To abide means to stay in a given place. For believers, it means to maintain unbroken fellowship with God. It is regularity. It is consistency. And it results in producing lasting fruit.
Another way of abiding is walking with God. As 1 John 2:6 says, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."
Walking speaks of consistent motion. That means making time for the Word of God and for prayer every day.
If you are too busy, then get up earlier. Go to bed earlier. You will find time for what is important. The true mark of conversion is the test of time and results in your life. Are you producing spiritual fruit?
Prayer: Declare by faith that you will always abide in the Lord and dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life.
You’ve decided to give up diet soda good idea! Maybe you weren’t hitting your weight-loss goals or couldn’t stomach that long list of ingredients anymore. Or perhaps you heard one too many times that it’s just not good for you.
Whatever the reason, eliminating diet soda from your diet will improve your health from head to toe. Research on diet soda is still in its infancy, but there’s enough out there to identify what you can look forward to when you put down the can and cool down with an unsweetened iced tea instead.
Migraines disappear and focus sharpens.
It turns out the headaches you expected from a diet soda withdrawal didn’t materialize. And now that you’ve quit the stuff, you probably find yourself thinking clearly for the first time in a while. That’s because the chemicals that make up the artificial sweetener aspartame may have altered brain chemicals, nerve signals, and the brain’s reward system, which leads to headaches, anxiety, and insomnia, according to a review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And a 2013 animal study found that rats that drank diet soda had damaged cells and nerve endings in the cerebellum the part of the brain responsible for motor skills.
Taste buds are more sensitive.
It’s not your imagination: Without your usual diet soda chaser, you may find that food has more flavor. It has subtlety. It’s more enjoyable. That’s because the artificial sweeteners in your diet soda overwhelmed your taste buds with an onslaught of sweetness. Aspartame ranks 200 hundreds times sweeter than table sugar. Splenda? 600 times. In fact, brain scans show that diet soda alters sweet receptors in the brain and prolongs sugar cravings rather than satisfies them. “We often see patients change snack choices when they give up diet soda,” says Heather Bainbridge, RD, from Columbia University Medical Center Weight Control Center. “Rather than needing sugary treats or something really salty like pretzels and chips, they reach for an apple and a piece of cheese. And, when they try diet soda again, they find it intolerably sweet.”
The scale finally goes the right way.
While you may have started drinking diet soda to facilitate weight loss, quitting it may actually do the trick. A recent 9-year study found older adults who drank diet soda continued to pack on belly fat. The study piggybacks on research that found each daily diet soda increases your chance of becoming obese in the next decade by 65%, and a study published in Diabetes Care that found drinking diet soft drinks daily was associated with an increase in metabolic syndrome—obesity, high blood-pressure, high triglycerides—which leads to heart disease and diabetes.
Bones strengthen.
Putting down the soda may be the best way to improve your bone strength and reduce your risk of fractures. One 2014 study found that each daily soda increased the chance of hip fracture by 14% for postmenopausal women. And another found that older women who drank cola had lower bone mineral density in their hips. The jury is still out on why soda has this effect, but the science pretty clearly suggests that a soda habit weakens your bones.
Your attitude towards food changes.
Since diet sodas have no calories, people drinking them often feel it’s okay to indulge elsewhere, finds Bainbridge. Often she sees her diet soda-drinking patients make poor food choices, like a burger and fries, a piece of cake, or potato chips, because they think they can afford those extra calories. Plus, soda often accompanies unhealthy foods. “Sometimes those poor choices are built up habits,” she says. “You’re conditioned to have soda with chips, fries, or something sweet. When you eliminate the soft drink, you also break the junk food habit.”
You handle booze better
It’s a fact: Diet soda gets you drunk faster. When you mix it with alcohol, your stomach empties out faster than if you used regular soda, causing a drastic increase in blood alcohol concentrations, according to an Australian study in theAmerican Journal of Medicine. And when you add caffeine, look out. Another study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that bar patrons who mixed drinks with diet colas were intoxicated much more easily and frequently. Your best bet for a mixer? Club soda, which is naturally sugar- and calorie-free.
Fat storage and diabetes risk decreases.
Our hormones may explain the great paradox of why people gain weight when they switch to diet soda. A study in Diabetes Care found that drinking two-thirds of a diet soda before eating primed the pancreas to release a lot of the fat-storing hormone insulin. When the pancreas is overworked from creating insulin to control blood-sugar levels, diabetes rears its ugly head. And a recent study in Japan found that middle-aged men who drank 1 or more diet sodas daily were much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes over a 7-year period. source: yahoo.com
Kidney function improves.
Now that your body no longer has to make sense of the unpronounceable ingredients in diet soda, your kidneys can get back to clearing toxins, stabilizing blood pressure, and absorbing minerals. One study looked at 11 years of data and found that women who drank 2 or more servings of diet soda doubled their chances of declining kidney function.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. - 1 Timothy 6:17
When Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth" (Matthew 6:19), the term "lay up" did not simply speak of having possessions, but of your possessions having you.
"Lay up" could be better translated "hoard" or "stockpile." Jesus was not saying that it is wrong to have things. He was warning against becoming materialistic-letting things become more important than God.
God created us to love people and use things, but a materialist loves things and uses people. There is nothing wrong with having possessions and a successful career.
The apostle Paul wrote, "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy".
God can bless a person. In fact, we read in the Bible of those who had wealth, such as Abraham, Job, David, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary, and Barnabas.
Jesus did not extol poverty as some great virtue. In fact, only one time did He tell someone-the rich young ruler-to sell his possessions and give to the poor.
I think it was because that man was possessed by his possessions. Because when Jesus said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (Matthew 19:21), the Bible says that he went away sorrowful. It was a test to see whether God was more important to him than his things.
Money is not the root of all evil; the love of it is. The problem with wealth is not in having it. It is how we get it. It is how we guard it.
And it is how we use it. So love God with all your heart, seek His Kingdom, and love people. These are true riches.
Prayer: Ask the Lord to give you the grace of giving.
Understanding each other's needs is vital to the long term health and happiness of your marriage.
This list isn't meant to be comprehensive or universally applicable to every single marriage (because we're all unique), but I do believe these "needs" represent the vast majority of men.
1. The need to feel respected
A man's need for respect is every bit as strong as his need for sex. Even in those moments when he doesn't "deserve" your respect, still give it and you'll be affirming him and bringing out the best in him. Ironically, your husband usually needs your respect the most in those moments when he "deserves" it the least. In marriage, disagreements are inevitable but disrespect is optional.
2. The need for reflection
Most men have a hard-wired need for daily silent reflection. They need to unplug and decompress. This isn't an excuse to lounge on a recliner all night drinking beer and watching Sportscenter, but do your best to give your husband some time daily to have a few moments of uninterrupted time to reflect and decompress.
3. The need for sex
The husband doesn't always have a stronger drive than the wife, but most men list "sexual fulfillment and frequency" as their number one or number two need in marriage. "Daily" intercourse may not be possible or practical, but make frequency a priority.
4. The need to feel productive
Men can gain deep levels of satisfaction, energy and self-respect from what they "produce" daily through their career and/or service. Men want to know their work is making a positive difference. Affirm your husband's work inside and outside the home and look for ways to encourage and support his endeavors.
5. The need to feel strong
Every little boy wants to grow up and be a "superhero" and grown men still hold those same desires to be strong and heroic. Regardless of how much (or little) we can bench press or the size of our love handles, we want to feel like powerful protectors of our families. A wife's words and actions have the power to make a husband feel like a hero, so build him up and help him become the best version of himself. Read here.
The Mighty Hand of God shall be against every sickness in your life, oppression and poverty, suicide
bombers around you, hurricane, and adverse weather conditions where you are. God shall direct your steps to be at the right place, at the right time, and to connect with the right people: He will establish you in every good work and you shall be far from oppression and from terror. The Lord will empower you for promotion, increase, and to prosper in Jesus Name. Happy New Week From Us ASB'WORLD !
