Necessity to be cheerful to help yourself and others

Around Thanksgiving Day, in addition to showing gratitude,
it is not bad to take a moment to focus on the need to be cheerful and positive thinking.

At our other website which you also might not forget to visit now and then, we started also looking back at 2023.
Each time, we will highlight some highlights or happenings, or bring up a few things that may have escaped your notice and had not yet been mentioned on that site.

Being cheerful on the outside can help you – and others – feel it on the inside

Our chief preacher, Marcus Ampe, (during the course of this year, before his heart attack) emphasised how we need to ensure that we strengthen ourselves spiritually to keep us healthy and to energetically stimulate others as well.

He stressed that the inner man, the wellbeing of our soul, is the most important thing to help us and others move forward in life.
In these times of a shortage of real conversations, as everything is done fleetingly through social media, our society, according to him, lacks self-confidence and a healthy state of mind.

“The surest sign of wisdom is a constant cheerfulness,”

wrote the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne in the 16th century.

According to Mr Ampe, in the long run, we should ignore people who influence us badly and focus more on positive impulses we can get in life.

He also said there is no point if we are too preoccupied with the things that go wrong in our lives. We need to learn to worry less about all the things we see going wrong around us.

“Be cheerful,”

commands the fictional character and the protagonist (Prospero) of William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest – arguably the wisest of all of Shakepeare’s characters – in The Tempest. Yet the impact of cheerfulness – and the power it gives us to get through difficult moments in our lives – is hard to define and easy to disregard or dismiss, even as we strive to be happy.

Someone who is cheerful is happy and shows this in his behaviour and makes that person have or express a buoyant or self-confident air. With good humour we should try to spread God’s Word which is a message of joy and gladness, bringing the Good News of better times to come.

The ITMA cast at rehearsal during a visit to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, January 1944

Marcus Ampe also warns us, that we need to prepare spiritually for much more difficult times ahead. To get through those terrible times, we must have a sound mind that will not let itself be dragged into the depths by what is happening around us. He reminded us of the BBC’s wartime radio comedy It’s That Man Again – or ITMA – that kept British peckers up during the blitz. It was a morale-boosting cavalcade of wacky characters, cheeky catchphrases and proto-Goon sound effects, in which the recurrent character depressed charlady Mona Lott, played by Joan Harben, in the 1929–1949 BBC Radio series would drone the latest awful thing that had happened to her and then hit you with the devastatingly deadpan punchline:

“It’s being so cheerful that keeps me going.”

Let us not forget

“Saint Paul had pointed to cheerfulness as the mediating affect that defines our relationship to the mystical body of Christ in the community of the new church”.

It is a learned discipline, to be taken perfectly seriously as something that promotes social cohesiveness and personal humility. He finds Friedrich Nietzsche to be a key figure in the history of modern cheerfulness. While not obviously Mr Cheerful, the philosopher was someone who rejected the idea of it as mere placid wellbeing.

Marcus Ampe is totally aware that it is not, or will not always be easy, to be ‘cheerful’ or to be friendly and receptive to everyone. It is something we shall have to learn and work on.

We should also remember that our face speaks volumes and no false facade should appear on it. As followers of Christ, we should always be honest and our faith in the future should radiate through our attitude. Even though we may be handicapped or in great pain, we should make the best of ourselves and always remain open to the pains and complaints of others, whom we should then relieve and give hope.

Cheers is also about a community spirit, or a kind of moral hospitality, a rejection of self-indulgence and a prioritising of the general mood.

“Cheerfulness is a psychological and emotional resource, a way of approaching actions and situations,”

says Timothy Hampton, a professor in the department of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I can say hello to you – but I can also say hello to you cheerfully. It’s not part of the saying ‘hello’, it’s some kind of colouring of what I am saying.”

And what we are saying and what we are doing as Christians is very important. We should be an example to others. An example of good spirit. According to Hampton, for whom getting through the day was very difficult is cheerfulness a resource

– you can make it, manage it and put it into action.
And that seemed to me to be a really precious and interesting thing that we don’t think about as much as we should.”

he says.

> Read more about it:

Being cheerful on the outside can help you – and others – feel it on the inside

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Related

1. Something to Remember
2. Accepting the gift of God’s peace
3. Loving others when you don’t feel like it
4. Laugh Often
5. “Janice’s Attic: Giving Thanks” (Episode 4)
6. Unhappy with Life? Thankfulness Produces Joy!
7. Thought For The Day: Feb. 5, 2018 “Being Cheerful”
8. Reasons to be or not to be cheerful, or not. Or something.

Positiveness in judging the world

For the control of thought and feeling there is a further means of education in the acquirement of the faculty that we may call positiveness.

There is a beautiful legend that tells of how the Christ Jesus, accompanied by some other persons, passed by a dead dog lying on the roadside. While the others turned aside from the hideous spectacle, the Christ Jesus spoke admiringly of the animal’s beautiful teeth.
One can school oneself in order to attain the attitude of soul toward the world shown by this legend. The erroneous, the bad, the ugly should not prevent the soul from finding the true, the good, and the beautiful wherever it is present. This positiveness should not be confused with non-criticism, with the arbitrary closing of the eyes to the bad, the false, and the inferior.

If you admire the “beautiful teeth” of a dead animal, you also see the decaying corpse. But this corpse does not prevent your seeing the beautiful teeth. One cannot consider the bad good and the false true, but it is possible to attain the ability not to be deterred by evil from seeing good, and by error from seeing truth.

Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 13 – An Outline of Occult Science – V: Cognition of the higher worlds. Initiation

Translated by Maud and Henry B. Monges and revised for this edition by Lisa D. Monges

Walk in Kindness

* Walk in Kindness. The greatest power we as humans have is how we treat each other. When we show kindness to our community and friends, or offer …

Walk in Kindness

Make it a habit to tell people thank you…

* “Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly …

Make it a habit to tell people thank you…

In the previous posting I mentioned to focus on the good things in life and leaving those who can not stand you aside. Be stronger then their degrading attitude and show the people around you love and kindness.

Let others know how you appreciate their presence, but also what they do. Be kind to those who you encounter and do not hesitate to show your thankfulness.

Make of every bit of your life a good bit and a treasure to carry you further in life.

Good morning . . . Serenity, beauty and blessings

* There is beauty calling to us every day, every hour, but we are rarely in a position to listen. The basic condition for us to be able to hear the call of beauty and respond to it is silence, ~ Thich Nhat Hanh * * * * Text and image sournce: The Garden of […]

Good morning . . . Serenity, beauty and blessings

After a night rest, we should best first take a moment to meditate and put all things in perspective. Starting the day with a positive thought is essential. By the end of the day we also best do away with all the negative things that came over us.

Mornings are a gift, a fresh start, and a chance to embrace the blessings that surround us. Starting the day with a heart full of gratitude and a desire to seek divine guidance can set the tone for a day filled with positivity, joy, and fulfillment.

Good morning blessings serve as a beautiful way to express our appreciation for the blessings in our lives and invite divine favour into our day.

Karam Ram on Beyond Religion

The famous atheist Richard Dawkins said that many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense, but September 11th changed all of that. The people who attacked the Twin Towers were men of religion. Religion is often a cause of suspicion, distrust and conflict because religious people don’t always ask critical questions about their faith and can confuse religion and politics and culture together. What may just be cultural becomes invested with religious significance. So is organized religion about God, or is it really about maintaining community and identity? Can being Christadelphian become more important than actually being children of God?

Jesus’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican illustrates the “us and them” attitude and how we can simplistically divide the world into the good guys and the bad guys.  Paul says,

“don’t be wise in your own conceits”

but that’s exactly what the Pharisee does in enumerating his good deeds. He’s saying

“I am deserving of God’s favor because I do all these things,”

and in contrast, all the publican can say is

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Groupthink is a very deeply ingrained human tendency. Societies and communities maintain cohesion through groupthink. Religious communities are susceptible to it when they prioritize their own identity, their privilege at all costs:

“We are special. We have the truth, and because we have the truth, we are in God’s favor.”

The Pharisee in the parable is a very powerful example (as is the case of Al Qaeda and ISIS) of how groupthink enables certain views of the world and attitudes to become normalized, but to anyone outside that group those attitudes are just bizarre or immoral. Jesus’s parable is especially subversive because the Pharisees represented the popular ideas of piety within Judaism but in this case it isn’t the religious man who is right with God, it’s the sinner.

In Jesus’s time groupthink was probably much more powerful because of the Roman occupation. The foundational event for Israel was the Exodus from Egypt, so they could probably more justifiably mobilize religion in favor of their aspirations for liberation. They tried to draw in Jesus by asking whether it was appropriate to pay taxes to Caesar.  Jesus doesn’t criticize the Romans or Herod or Pilot, but Jesus was very critical of people who represented popular ideas of religious piety.  Jesus is trying to bring the Jews back into an authentic relationship with God rather than one that was just based on formalism or rituals.

If religion is just about how we appear to other people, then it’s only ever going to be superficial. Jesus makes the point that the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the platter but not the inside. There is obsession with respectability, with fitting in with the group, which results in hypocrisy. Jesus said in John’s gospel,

“I know you don’t have the love of God in you. You receive honor one from another, how can you receive the honor that comes from God?”

They were the children of those who murdered the prophets. They could celebrate the righteous and the prophets in death, but they couldn’t abide them in real life.

These are really penetrating and cutting criticisms of the way religion is co-opted and abused. We could apply it to our own community.  We may not be the worst offenders – I don’t know any Christadelphians who have flown airplanes into the sides of buildings! – but these words of Jesus have a lot to say about the state of religion today and the way that religion is mobilized as part of identity politics.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says

“I haven’t come to destroy the Law and the prophets, but I’ve come to fulfill”

because he was aware that the people who were listening to him wouldn’t actually recognize what he was saying. For them, religion was all that the Pharisees represented, temples, rituals, externals.  Jesus was aware that his message stressing a direct relationship with God without all of this other stuff would appear to be unrecognizable. It was beyond their concept of religion because it was about a personal relationship with the Father.

That idea of being the children of God should be important to us in a very personal and powerful way.  Christ made this very clear through his personal communion with the Father. There’s an incident in Matthew’s gospel where the Jews ask Peter

“does your master pay the tax”

and Jesus said to Peter

“what do you think? of whom do the Kings of the earth take tribute from strangers or from children?”

The implication of the question is,

“why are we having to pay this? Are we strangers from God or are we his children?”

The whole point of Jesus’s ministry is to bring us into a real, authentic relationship with God.

For the Jews of Jesus’s day, the one thing that represented God more than anything else was the temple. The temple was impersonal and vast, but that suited everyone because it kept God at a distance. Our challenge is to be up close and personal with God. That’s what Jesus came to do, to break down that wall of partition between us, to tear the veil of the temple. We need to cultivate hearts and minds that are less concerned with the appearance of respectability or groupthink, and more sensitive to the real presence of God in our lives.

To listen to the full interview with Karam and Steve please check out WCF A Little Faith podcasts

Vivamos Videre, the more we live, the more we are a witness to life

Kone, Krusos, Kronos

“Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn! Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence. The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The Splendor of Beauty; For Yesterday is but a Dream, And To-morrow is only a Vision; But To-day well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!”

Kalidasa

The more we grow old, the more things we experience in life, some of them a great surprise, and a thing that makes us ponder at life itself.

It’s meaning, and our lot in it.

And we talk, and feel according as to what we consider it was good, or bad, but we did gain anything on it?

I mean even…

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Who Am I That I Could Hinder God?

“For as much then as God gave them a like gift,
as he did unto us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I, that I could let God?” (Ac 11:17 GenevaBible)

All of those who call themselves “Christian” need to ask themselves not only who they are, what they want to do, and what they want to reach, but also if they are following God’s path or even if they do not hinder God.

Often we find Christians praying for things which go against the Plan of God. So you could wonder how they look at God and really want His Plan to come into fulfilment.

We have Jews and Gentiles, or goyim having become under Christ, having become children of God.

God may have tried to tell Peter to not keep people out of the church that God has already welcomed. Though gentiles should not forget who are the first chosen People, and which rules or commandments are still to be followed by them if they want to enter that Body of Christ, the Church.

Too many people think they may “bypass all the rules” the church set up to determine who is in and who is out by providing the Spirit to the gentiles.

All important is that those who want to be part of the Body of Christ, should follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and should try to become like him, loving all people around them, whatever they might be.
We hear from John what is important to be truly a follower of Jesus, by how (and who) we love. And too many Christians do forget that we hear from James that belief is not enough, actions are what follows, by the faith belongs the works. One of those works or specific actions is the treatment of the underprivileged people around us with great care and generosity.

Too often Christians take an attitude to others, Christ unworthy. Certainly in the U.S.A. we can find lots of fundamentalist Christians who do damaging things to other human beings. Several Christians act improperly to people who are different than them. In several countries, homos and transgenders have difficulties walking around and being accepted in the community.

Many Christians would do well to look into their hearts to see how they really want, like Jesus, to be open to people who are different from themselves!

Abnormal Anabaptist

The title of this post is a question that I think all of us Christians need to ask ourselves when we gather in our communities for regular worship and practice. And it’s not a question that I just came up with off the top of my head. This is a Biblical question asked rhetorically to prove a point. And what is that point? I’ll tell you.

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Today’s thought “My heart stands in awe …” (March 12)

Today’s thought

“My heart stands in awe …”

(March 12)

“What shall we do?” was the question.  “the crowds asked” in our reading in Luke 3 today. You may recognise it as the same question the crowds asked Peter on the day of Pentecost, when Peter answered “Repent and be baptised”. But we saw today that John the Baptist gave a different answer to those that were coming to him to be baptised! We read in Luke 3:10-11 of that answer!

John had been giving them a stern message, he had even called them

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance …” (verses 7,8).

So what answer did they get to their question? Verse 11 says,

“And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise”.

They lived in a world of inequalities, the “haves” and the “have nots”. Most, if not all of us, find it is the same today. How many have only two sets of clothes in this country? One of the most important things Jesus said was, as we will soon read in Luke 12:15,

“be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”.

Today, getting the latest things on the market, getting more and more possessions is the main aim of people. John spoke as if having two of something was one too many – if there was someone with none! Attitudes were all wrong then, they are even more so today.

We should not let these attitudes influence us – but they do! We are surrounded by those who are Godless and as we complete reading Psalm 119 today we note the words,

“Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes” (verse 155).

There are only two paths, either for him or against him. David further writes,

“I look at the faithless with disgust” (verse 158).

But then the Psalmist becomes very positive,

“my heart stands in awe of your words. I rejoice at your words like one who finds great spoil” (verses 161,162).

Our heart needs to stop – and “stand in awe” and then “rejoice”. But we can only rejoice if we have unreservedly accepted the teaching of his word – then we will experience the wonder of being a child of God, for

“great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble … for all my ways are before you” (verses 165,168).

Optimism or pessimism: Which is better for you?

If it would be up to us to say, we would assure you that optimism is the best way to live longer. We advise you to do away as much as you can from negative influences.

In these dark Corona days and time of Climate Change, we are pulled back and forth by the many changing reports and many feel very insecure. Today, for the umpteenth time in a row, the government is coming up with new tightening corona measures that will again restrict us in so many areas. (Positive thinkers will rather look at the new or renewed measures with an attitude of “ah, we can still do this!

Negatively you could say “what the heel, again a lockdown”. Positively you could say

“Is it only the fourth wave of the pandemic, or is it already the fourth lockdown?”

For many it almost has become part of their everyday life.

Somehow it is everyday life. This pandemic reminds us of what we like to ignore: life is unpredictable. Now it’s just being taken to the extreme. {Another Lockdown}

Thanksgiving Day and weekend is already behind us, but soon we shall get some other days of family gathering and happiness. For some Christian it is now Advent (peculiar to the Western churches) and a time to prepare for Christmas. In the old days that period was a time of fasting and meditation. For Catholics with November 30 (St. Andrew’s Day) it is the beginning of the liturgical year. So, when you think of starting a new year, hopefully, you would not do that with a grim, dark mind, but would look forwards with a lot of good ideas, positivism and hope. In many Eastern churches, the Nativity Fast is a similar period of penance and preparation that occurs during the 40 days before Christmas. Normally having a ‘Fast’ a person would take such action to clear the mind and to do away with all bad things. As such in that period a person should also do away with negative thoughts and come to see the good things in life, appreciating again all the tiny bits.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ have the advantage, that there is hope for them for better times. Therefore, there should be no reason for a Christian to run around with the chin hanging on the ground. Our faith provides the foundation of courage to assist us when we have to endure that difficult ‘walk of life‘. Even when the days are becoming shorter and darker, this does not have to make our mind darker and has to stop us from dreaming or going further with our bold adventure and directs our steps to greatness. The light in the darkness Christians may see, they can show also to others, to bring them some positive news in these darker days.

The coming of Christ in his Nativity was overlaid with a second theme, also stemming from Gallican churches, namely, his Second Coming at the end of time. Some people are convinced we have already entered that time of the end. For others, this interweaving of the themes of two advents of Christ gives the season a peculiar tension both of penitence and of joy in expectation of the Lord who is “at hand.”

In life it often goes the wrong way with people when they have too many expectations. We typically do demand too much from ourselves. At the same time, we create borders for ourselves thinking that we shall not be able to do this or that. By setting such limitations in front of us we collide with a bare wall. We should know our feelings have all to do with our attitude to ourselves and to others. But it also has to do with what we want from ourselves and how we want to project ourselves to others.

Some of us are afraid to have some dark thoughts or see such pessimistic ideas as a threat or danger to our well-being.

Studies suggest that around 80 percent of people have an optimism bias, or tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive events. But does that mean they live happier lives?
Marnie Chesterton – accompanied by Hannah, a CrowdScience listener and self-proclaimed pessimist – investigates how we form our views on what the future holds, and whether it’s better to always look on the bright side of life.

‘If we think things are gonna be good for us in the future, we tend to put in the effort’

Can CrowdScience answer your question?

Let us not forget even when we are becoming restricted, we can use this time of more isolation, to think more about ourselves, what we have done and what way we shall continue to go. Now it is time to think of ways to go forward, even when we have to face certain times to draw back, and considering that tis moment may be totally different from the moment and time of someone else we know. Not comparing ourselves with others all the time shall make life much easier.

In this darkness, dare to step forward at your own speed and with your own capabilities!

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

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Preceding

In October-November People often too busy with death and the dead

Misleading world, stress, technique, superficiality, past, future and positivism

What kind of attitude do you have?

don’t look at me in that tone of voice!

Some Hope for 2021

Expectations

Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself

Getting up to bring changes into your life

On Positivism

Benefits of Positive Thinking

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Additional reading

1. Unlikely silence
2. CoViD-19 Curation
3. No time yet to relax the CoViD-19 restriction measures
4. Another Lockdown
5. The importance of utopia and how to get there
6. Utopian dreams
7. Thoughts for the day (Our World) = Thoughts for the day (Some view on the World)
8. Thanksgiving wisdom: Why gratitude is good for your health
9. Good time to sort out your friends and contacts
10. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement (Our World) = Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement (Some view on the World)
11. Offering words of hope (Our world) = Offering words of hope (Some View on the World)
12. God, let me be a light in these dark times

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Related

1. Punch Through: Harsh Life and the Problem of Positive Thinking
2. When You Make A Mistake
3. Seeds, Roots and Shoots
4. Changing World
5. Confidence in the Lord
6. 🤗 A Better Life ~ Sing a Happy Song
7. 👊 Today’s Power Thought ~ Yes, Good Things Are Headed Your Way
8. 👊 Today’s Power Thought ~ You Have Undiscovered Potential
9. Review of “The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis”
10. Throwing of the Gauntlet: Quotes for Philosophical Dads
11. The Walk down Memory Lane
12. One Lesson From a 100 Day Tweet Challenge
13. Dancing Lights 

Half The Story

I can’t speak for others, but I notice that so often when I look at myself, I only see half the story.
I see my failures, my wrong attitudes and numerous other faults.
I come to the correct conclusion that I am a failing sinner,
but I forget that this is only half the story.
I am a sinner,
who God loves and who He has saved through grace.
I need to come back to the central thought which is that the Creator of the Universe loves me.
He loves me as I am, not as I should be,
but thankfully He loves me too much to leave me as I am.
So when I think on this I say to myself,
‘Alan, you are a sinner, but you are a sinner saved by a loving Father’s grace,
and you are a failure, but a loved failure because failures are all our Lord has to work with.
~ Alan Hermann

“Wisdom” and Wisdom (1 Cor 1:19,21)

When we call ourselves Christian it is very important that we keep an attitude a follower of Christ worthy and that we try to find godly wisdom.

We have to show the world that it is more important to go by godly than by worldly wisdom and that we should not cling to heathen festivals (like the in this article mentioned Christmas) but should keep to the holy or sacred days given by God.

We should get our wisdom from the Book of books, the Bible and show others how this Grand Work can enrich our ways of life.

Let us remember:

“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for readjusting everything, for disciplining in righteousness. 17 Thus, the man of God may be completely prepared for every good work.” (2Ti 3:16-17 mhm)

and

“For the world-order of humanity is going its way and its desire with it, but the person doing the will of The God will remain throughout that new Age to come.” (1Jo 2:17 mhm)

“Also, do not be conformed to this period of time, but rather, be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, proving to yourselves the good, acceptable and perfect will of The God.” (Ro 12:2 mhm)

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Preceding

Wisdom not hard to find nor hiding in remote places

Several quotes about wisdom

Truth, doubt or blindness

The Need to Understand Genre

On the Edge of Believing

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Find also to read

1. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
2. Not staying alone in your search for truth
3. Blindness in the Christian world
4. We may not be ignorant to get wisdom
5. Answering a fool according to his folly
6. Fools despise wisdom and instruction
7. Looking for wisdom not departing from God’s Word
8. Wisdom lies deep
9. Increased in wisdom in favour with God
10. Loving the Word
11. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform
12. Attitude of a Christian
13. Attitude to others important for reaching them
14. God’s Blog recorded in a Book
15. Bible
16. Bible, helmet of health, salvation and sword of the spirit
17. Bible in the first place #1/3
18. Bible in the first place #2/3
19. Bible in the first place #3/3
20. Creator and Blogger God 10 A Blog of a Book 4 Listening to the Blogger
21. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
22. An anarchistic reading of the Bible—(1) Approaching the Bible
23. Thomas Aquinas on Wisdom by Robert M. Woods
24. Happy who’s delight is only in the law of Jehovah
25. Deliberately making choices
26. Sharing the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge
27. Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart
28. A Living Faith #2 State of your faith
29. Today’s thought “A Perfect World” (January 02)
30. Today’s thought “That you be united in the same mind” (February 20)
31. Today’s thought “In wisdom you have made them all” (February 28)
32. Today’s thought “Fools despise wisdom” (March 23)
33. Today’s thought “If you receive my words …” (March 24)
34. Today’s thought “And the LORD heard it” (March 30)
35. Today’s thought “Look carefully” (April 7)
36. Today’s thought “The eyes of man are never satisfied” (April 17)
37. Today’s thought “Worthy to suffer dishonour” (April 28)
38. Today’s thought “It cannot be bought for gold” (December 21)
39. Outflow of foundational relationship based on acceptance of Jesus
40. This was my reward
41. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
42. Memorizing wonderfully 2 Biblical Reasons to Memorize Scripture
43. Memorizing wonderfully 4 Starter verses
44. Memorizing wonderfully 18 Proverbs – Fear of God, Wisdom and instruction
45. Memorizing wonderfully 19 Seasons and purpose Fearing God
46. Preparation for unity
47. Christians having the right heart to call others to go to God
48. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it

Study like a Berean!

A dear sister in Uganda sent the above pic. of Zirobwe town, and also sent a number of verses and encouraging thoughts to me this morning and again this evening, regarding God’s love for His children and our responsibility to Him; As well as the joy of reading of the focus which she encouraged to consider, my attention was taken by a word in the verses: “wisdom”.

1 Corinthians 1:19”For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”… 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

God’s wisdom and His ways aren’t in any way like man’s earthly “wisdom”, which is foolishness, just as their ways are; God’s children should trust, rest and live…

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The self and the other in times of insecurity

In these times of insecurity, we can see that lots of people are not sure about themselves and get lost.

Insecurity, primarily due to social and economic instability, but also exacerbated by a weakening of the perception of ethical principles makes man feeling very bad these days.

The perception of ethical principles that underpin the law and personal moral attitudes, which always give strength to the rules that govern society, have so much weakened or moral and ethical values have been placed in the cupboard and are way forgotten.

People should know even when churches may be closed, it are those institutions which can bring some light in the darkness. Modern thought has developed a reductive view of conscience, according to which there are no objective references in determining what has value and what is true; rather, each individual provides his own measure through his own intuitions and experiences, each possesses his own truth and his own morals. When each individual has and keeps to his or her own morals we shall come to see chaos.

People have forgotten that the Creator has provided a Guide for life. Whatever the situation may be, man should be able to find answers to his questions and find solutions for the crisis encountered. All those who feel depressed, feeling down by the present Corona situation, should know that when everybody would keep to the regulations prescribed by the government everybody would soon find it much easier to cope because it would not take such a long time as it has taken now.

Because there are so many people who do not know the Scriptures or have forgotten or abandoned the Gospel announcement, they no longer identify themselves in a community of brothers and sisters where agape love is the most important rule.

Many environments, even in traditionally Christian societies, are reluctant to open themselves to the word of faith and have placed the “Self” or “I” in the first place, giving not much place for protecting the other. today we can see a lot of people who pu their self interest at the beginning of their activity line. They are not concerned what their presence might do on a shopping street or in a shopping mall. One can wonder why they were not able to go online to buy the goods they so urgently do need to have.

Whilst a lot of worry circles around, many do not seem to worry about the effect of their presence on the streets or in the shops. Is it out of ignorance or out of selfishness that they are not concerned about taking more precaution measures to avoid spreading the coronavirus?

When one could place the “self” more aside and give more thought to the “other”, especcially to all those working in the health sector, for sure all the measures the goverment asks to follow would be so much easier to follow and would not feel as a limitation or restriction of our liberty.

So many people are complaining that they would be not able to celebrate Christmas. Why and how does it come they would not be able to have some sacred time together with their own household members? How does it come they can not make it cosy and pleasant for their own little bulb?

If they want to go to church, why can they not enjoy the virtual church service their church may be offering? Or is their church insisting, contrary to the governmental advice, to come together in the church building?

Each sensible person should know it is his or her duty to do everything to protect the other. Under duty of gratitude towards recognisance, each should muster the brotherly love to work for the good or welfare of the other and as such keep to the safety measurements.

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Read also:

1. Tinderbox for domestic violence
2. No time yet to relax the CoViD-19 restriction measures
3. Just to remember for the coming Winter holiday period
4. Challenges of the Post-Pandemic period
5. What ethical principles do we need in the Covid-19 pandemic?
6. Turning Your Home into a Sacred Space

Right Attitude in Trouble… Joshua of Ghana

For years people have doubted God His righteous position and have created themselves other gods.

At all times every human being has been given and is still been given the opportunity to make a personal choice. The only great problem with man is that most often they prefer to be partakers of the world instead of being partakers of Christ his world or to be Children of God.

Having now more time to ourselves to reflect, let us make more time to meditate on God’s Word, given to mankind by the Bible.

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To remember

• Charles Swindoll said we have a choice every day regarding attitude we will embrace from that day.
• Isaiah prophesied what attitude of Judah will be in reaction to judgment of God in scattering them among the nations. > Isaiah hopeful that Judah would eventually demonstrate right attitude by turning to God in repentance.
• submission = needed while in trouble
• perplexity = right attitude
• choice concerning attitude + course of action we adopt each day => positive attitude goes a long way to determining an eventful end.
• futile for anyone to fight his Maker.

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Preceding

Quicksand

Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth

January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works

The rock on which we stand

Covid-19 Psalm 19 Isaiah 26 and the Evangelical Proof-Texters

Questions by Isaiah Chapter 26

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Additional reading

1. Today’s Thought “You will keep … in perfect peace” (May 03)
2. Extra memorizing verses Isaiah 26:3-4: Focused on God finding perfect peace
3. Gates to different belief systems in this world

Paul the Poke

ISAIAH 26:12-21

Key verse: “LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.” Isaiah 26:16

Joshua of Ghana @beholy404 on Twitter

@beholy404

Charles Swindoll once said, “The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace from that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string that we have and the string is attitude.”

In this prophetic song in our text about the latter days, Isaiah prophesied what the attitude of Judah will be in reaction to the judgment of God in scattering them among the nations. Judah had lived in sin and God had visited them with judgment, allowing their enemies to take them into captivity…

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You choose your atitude.

In this world of internet and social media lots of people like to present themselves better than they are in real life. They create a virtual “I”” or a “Self” they would love to be, instead of trying to find themselves happy with the being they are.

The one who chooses to be himself or herself in the end is the stronger one who shall be happier at the end of this race, being content with what he or she could reach by himself or herself, without having fooled the self.

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Betterself

Nobody has the power to make you feel any type of way you choose your own feelings focus on the positive even when everything is negative.

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Binnen komend met een positieve houding

Elke dag
kom ik binnen met een positieve houding,
proberend om beter te worden.
Stefon Diggs

English version / Engelse versie > Coming in with a positive attitude trying to get better

Coming in with a positive attitude trying to get better

Each day,
I come in with a positive attitude,
trying to get better.
Stefon Diggs

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie >Binnen komend met een positieve houding

Converting a negative stress into a positive one

Adopting the right attitude
can convert a negative stress
into a positive one.
Hans Selye

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Negatieve stress omzetten in positieviteit

To make onself miserable or strong

“We either make ourselves miserable,

or we make ourselves strong.
The amount of work is the same.”
― Carlos Castaneda

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Onszelf Ellendig of sterk maken

Carlos Castaneda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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don’t look at me in that tone of voice!

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice.
Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice.
Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
Roy T. Benett

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heartprints

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
Kurt Vonnegut

I have often been fascinated by people’s perspectives; the fact that two people can look at the same thing or event and experience totally opposite emotions.
I have seen siblings growing up in the same environment where one is adversely affected by something and the other continues with life as if nothing has happened.
I have seen people living in dire circumstances that encourage others that live in luxury.
I have seen people excel despite harrowing experiences.
I have seen the suffering of those living in close proximity to negative people and the ripple effect that it has on the spiritual temperature of a home.
I have often wondered if a person is born with a tendency to have a positive or a negative attitude.

“Attitude is a little thing…

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