FOCUS ON JESUS

Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. Psalm 5:8

Have you ever tried to walk a perfectly straight line along a muddy path? It's not as easy as you might think.

When walking on a muddy path, most people tend to walk slowly with their heads focusing intensely at their feet. When someone attempts this task with their eyes cast downward, their footsteps become unsteady and crooked.

When you walk with your eyes constantly looking down at your feet, you have no idea where you're going. There's no perspective because you cannot see how you fit into the larger landscape.

There's no genuine focus, since every step treads over the last step's focal point. You haven't imagined yourself as part of a bigger picture. The only way to make a purposeful line of progress is to forget about your feet.

The key is to look straight ahead, set your focus on a fixed target ahead of you - a fence post, street sign, or tree off in the distance.

Then, with your eyes fixed on that target, just start walking.
When you lock your focus on a target ahead, the immediate problems become stepping stones towards your goal.

The same is true in our lives. If we walk through life concentrating only on what lies ahead of us, we will fail to see the bigger picture and allow little distractions to become major obstacles.

But when we look beyond ourselves and fix our thoughts and spiritual eyes on Jesus, we can trust that our paths will be straight and trustworthy, every step of the way. He is our big picture.

The ultimate goal of our lives. The final prize of all our endeavours.

Prayer: Lord, help me to keep my eyes on You at all times.

Scriptural Reading: Psalm 5:1-12

DECLARATIONS & PRAYER for new week:

You are walking through your open doors. You are taking possession of your inheritance. God will preserve, promote and perfect all that concerns you in Jesus name.

Whatever has held you back in the past will suddenly give way. Like David, you too will pursue, overtake and recover all in Jesus name.

No matter who you are or what the physicians have concluded at, your permanent healing will come as a shocker to all in Jesus name
You will not beg to feed, to train your children or run your home in Jesus name

 Life will favour you no matter how hopeless all seem
After all is done here [on earth], the wealth and all, you will not forfeit heaven!J

Happy New Week from us ASB-World. 

DON’T GIVE UP! THERE HOPE FOR YOUR LIFE

This is a true story of a young woman who went through the most gruesome fire. When you read her story, you’ll realize that your trials are absolutely nothing compared to what this young girl went through.

It was September 25, 2000; Maricel Apatan was an 11-year old girl in Zamboanga. On that day, this little girl went with her uncle to draw water.

Along the way, four men met them. They were carrying long knives. They told her uncle to face down on the ground, and they hacked him on the neck and killed him.

Maricel was in total shock especially that the men were their neighbours. She tried to escape, but the men ran after her.

She cried, “Kuya, ‘wag po, ‘wag n’yo akong tagain! Maawa po kayo sa akin!” (“Don’t kill me! Have mercy on me!”)

But they weren’t listening. With a long knife, a man slashed her on the neck too.

Maricel fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she saw a lot of blood. She also saw the feet of the men around her, but she pretended to be dead.

When they walked away, Maricel ran back home. But along the way, she saw that both her hands were falling off because the men hacked them too. She cried but she kept running.

Sometimes, she would faint and fall to the ground. But she will regain consciousness and run again.

When she was near her home, Maricel called her mother.

Upon seeing her daughter, her mother screamed in terror. She wrapped her bloodied child in a blanket and carried her to the hospital.

Here was the problem: From her house to the highway, it was a 12-kilometre walk. It took them 4 hours just to reach the highway.

When they arrived in the hospital, the doctors thought Maricel was going to die. For 5 hours they operated on her. It took 25 stitches to stitch together the long knife wound in her neck and back.

Maricel barely survived. And she lost both of her hands.

Ironically, the next day was Maricel’s birthday. She was 12 years old.

But tragedy didn’t end there. When they went home, they saw their home was gone. It was ransacked and burned down to ashes.

Being very poor, Maricel’s family also didn’t have P50,000 for their hospital bills.

But God sent many angels along the way to help them.

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, a distant relative, paid for hospital bills and helped them bring the criminals to court. They were sentenced to prison.

Today, she’s staying with the nuns at Regina Rosarii with Sr. Eppie Brasil, O.P.

But this is the incredible miracle. Instead of staying down, Maricel kept running.

Instead of cursing God why she had no hands, she now uses her wrists in incredible ways that will boggle your mind.

Maricel was cited as the most industrious, best in computer and most courteous in the School for Crippled Children.

In 2008, she graduated from a course in Hotel and Restaurant Management. She even received a Gold medal for Arts and Crafts.

In 2011, she finished her education to be a Chef. Yes, a Chef without hands.

Nothing can stop this young lady from reaching her dreams.

Real Winners Don’t Give Up!

Power In The Word

TEXT: JEREMIAH 23:23-32

KEY VERSE: “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).

An Indian found a tract that dwelt on salvation through Jesus Christ. It spoke of the endless eternity of woe that awaited those who neglect the message. The Indian took the paper to the toilet; but as he read it, he could no longer use it to clean himself. He took the tract home and at the end of the day, God used the message in it to save him and his household. Eventually they established a couple of Bible-believing churches in India.

The bane of the success and achievement of the disloyal prophets in our text is their refusal to acknowledge the potency of the word of God. They ignored the word of God and instead fed the people with lies and dreams that originate from their rebellious minds: they effectively used their lies and false dreams to divert the hearts of their hearers away from God (verses 26,27).

We should avoid the danger of falling into the same trap today. There are many preachers today who have relegated the word of God to the background. They, instead, elevated dreams, prophecies and other unscriptural practices in their preaching. No wonder then that there are many churches but righteousness and holy living is fading out in an alarming rate. No assembly can be favoured by God when the word of God is not given the right place. The hardened heart of sinners can only be broken by the power of the word.

God wants us to embrace the “wheat” of the word of God and reject the “chaff” (dreams and visions) of modern day pleasure-seeking preachers. The power to deliver from sin and to keep us rapturable can only be found where the word of God is faithfully preached and lived out.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There is sovereign power in God’s word.

This Woman Had Her Face Photoshopped In Over 25 Countries To Examine Global Beauty Standards

Esther Honig, a freelance journalist based out of Kansas City, sent an unaltered photograph of herself to more than 40 Photoshop aficionados around the world. “Make me beautiful,” she said, hoping to bring to light how standards of beauty differ across various cultures.

The project, titled Before & After, originally came to Honig while she was working as a social media manager for a small startup. Her boss introduced her to Fiverr, an international freelancing website where anyone can hire freelancers from around the globe to complete almost any task imaginable. While browsing the site, Honig realized the prevalence of those offering Photoshop skills. “It immediately occurred to me that in this pool of workers, each individual likely had an aesthetic preference particular to their own culture,” Honig told BuzzFeed. Thus, the idea for Before & After was born.

Working with freelancers in over 25 countries, Honig expected that the images would differ from country to country, but was herself caught off guard by just how drastically some of the images were altered. “Seeing some jobs for the first time made me shriek… Other times images, like the one from Morocco, took my breath away because they were far more insightful than I could have expected,” Honig said.

To be sure, the images Honig has collected so far are interesting as individual images, a unique portrait of the standards of beauty in each country. However, when taken in totality, the project becomes much more striking, an interesting launching point into a global conversation about unattainable beauty standards around the world. “What I’ve learned from the project is this: Photoshop [may] allow us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive.”

Below are the photographs that Honig has collected thus far. Note: Some countries have multiple images from different artists. Honig continues her project on her website.

Source; www.buzzfeed.com

YOU ARE SO SPECIAL

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1

What you believe about yourself your self-esteem, your sense f value, your sense of worth sets the limits for your life. 
We can see ourselves from different points of view.

• We can see ourselves as the world sees us: this makes us slaves of other people.

• We can see ourselves as we see ourselves: this can make us either arrogant or timid.

• We can see ourselves the way God sees us: this frees us to be the best we can be. When we see ourselves the way God sees us, it enables us to live our lives the way God created us to be.

The problem that many people have today is they don't really even like themselves. They constantly focus on their faults and shortcomings and then wonder why they don't enjoy life or have any enthusiasm or why their relationships aren't working.

Understand that you cannot be negative toward yourself and expect to live a positive, faith-filled life.

In order to love yourself so that you can love others, you first of all accept that God loves you unconditionally. That thought will liberate you from any sense of inferiority or arrogance.

It focuses your identity on God and not on what you have or do not have. If you'll get your thinking corrected and start thinking like a beloved child of the Most High God, who is crowned with favour, you'll be amazed at what will happen.

You will rise from the life of a loser to the life of a winner in Christ. When you allow thoughts of acceptance and love fill your heart and mind, it will spill over onto the people around you.

As you live and love the way God intends, you will find peace, joy, and victory.

Prayer: Thank You Heavenly Father, for loving me without reservation.

Scriptural Reading: 1 John 3:1-3

Haters are not outside, Enemies are not strangers!

Haters are not outside, enemies are not strangers. This is a post I read somewhere on facebook. We naturally have two sets of people, those that believe everybody is the enemy and those who believe otherwise. Each believes the other set is too extreme. Today's passage is about an enemy who was not a stranger, who was In-fact a blood relative, a son, a most loved son!
2 Sam 15 : 1-6.
Absalom didn't just create an uprising against his dad, he planned it for years. He strategized and worked towards his goal. All through what was to bring the a-shame, disgrace, defeat, death of his dad, David remained ignorant of the plan that was sure to end him I'm sure many can identify with this.
 I know when your trusted confidants are the ones plotting against you and you remain in their midst unaware. There is nothing we can do to eliminate such people from around us totally, as the bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked, and there is a saying in literature that says there is no art that knows the heart of man. How then do we keep safe in the light of this? David had an informant, even among the plenty people that decamped to Absalom's side. Who is your informant? 

Who tells you of secret things to come? Who do you depend on in the camp of the enemy to let you in on plans against you?vs 13. David developed a strategy immediately, the strategy was to remove himself to a safe place together with his household which included his servants, i.e protection of life was urgent. What happens to you in time of trouble? Do you fall apart? Weep endlessly? Complain to people who've got no solution? Or take immediate action to protect yourself and your household. He personally monitored those who crossed over to safety with him
 vs 19-22. He placed people in strategic places to ensure he was kept up to date with the activities of his enemy. He prayed, he placed a mole in the camp of the enemy. Who is your mole? All those who remained faithful to David Sid not start being faithful that day of trouble, he had earned their loyalty over time before then. What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit? Would you just call on him out of the blues on the day of trouble? Would you even understand how he speaks when you've not accustomed yourself to hearing? David refused to be distracted by opposition on his way to safety, he still hoped in God, he never lost hope, even though he was removing himself from danger. His prayer became answered, Ahitophel's counsel was turned into foolishness and God gave David victory. What happens to you when it seems the gates have been opened to your oppositions? Stop weeping, take action, prayerfully bring yourself to safety, don't loose hope in God, you will win this battle.
By Dunni