For the last 5 years my faith has been tested with many health problems and trips to the hospital with no resolve.
Read more at the source: My Healing Story
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Refresh with Tia.
Flu Season
 |
| Photo: iStock |
I’ve always believed that the best defense to seasonal colds and the flu is a good offense. It’s the daily steps that we take before flu season arrives that give us our best chances for fighting off or lowering the severity of colds and flu. Proper diet, sunshine, exercise, fresh air, plenty of sleep, low stress levels, and proper amounts of water all help our bodies to be in the best of health, allowing us to more effectively fight sickness.
God created us with wondrous and complex bodies, able to fight off disease and stave off sickness, but it is up to each one of us to keep our bodies healthy so that it may work properly when sickness does strike.
Treat Symptoms
Many times we don’t take care of ourselves until sickness is upon us. We drag our haggard selves into the closest Rx for vitamins, drugs and various other cold and flu comforts. Many times these synthetic drugs treat the symptoms but really do nothing to make us get better any faster.
I recently read a newspaper poll conducted on health and sickness, where a high percentage of people polled claimed that diet, water, and sleep were not high priorities in there day to day lives, yet these same people also when polled said that they wished that there were some sort of “magic pill” that would help prevent them from getting sick at all. While we know that it’s impossible on this earth of sin to live without sickness at all, we also know that preventative health is the closest thing to a “magic pill” there is.
This year don’t let the flu sneak up on you, do the things today that will give you the strength you need when sickness rears it’s ugly head.
Respond to this article
View Reader Comments
______________________________
By Benjamin DuBose. Copyright © 2015 by GraceNotes. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines.
Read more at the source: Flu Season
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Staying young.
The Mighty Wind
 |
| Photo: iStock |
I was startled in my hotel room by an unusual noise that I didn’t recognize and so I crept to the window to take a peek. Looking out of my third story window, I noticed that the flag pole was flexing like a reed in a storm, and the flag was flapping violently. I got dressed and made my way down to the hotel lobby where I met the manager helplessly watching through the front window.
The park bench in the breezeway toppled over, and the potted shrubs that lined the front of the entrance skittered here and there across the parking lot. This wind was stronger than anything that I had ever encountered, and I learned later that sudden gusts of 80 mph had been tabulated in many areas that evening. I never saw the wind that night, but I witnessed its effects as I watched the tangible evidence that it was rushing through.
Later, as I reflected on that blustery experience, I was reminded of an analogy that Jesus brought to a Pharisee named Nicodemus. This man was a genuine seeker of truth, but was having difficulty in wrapping his thoughts around heavenly things. He sought Christ in the darkness of night, and as he struggled to understand, Jesus explained the experience that one has when the Holy Spirit is at work in their life.
The Wind and the Spirit
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).
When the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives something tangible and miraculous takes place. This invisible presence visibly affects who we are, the choices that we make, and who we become if we allow it to blow through our lives. The effect can be quite startling, not only to us, but to the world that watches. Positive changes occur in our spiritual experience when the invisible Spirit wind blows.
Respond to this article
______________________________
By Michael Temple. Copyright © 2015 by GraceNotes. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines. Scripture taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®.
Read more at the source: The Mighty Wind
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Bible Says.
Friends with God
 |
| Photo: Christopher Bruno |
If you aren’t a Christian, you may have asked yourself, “Why should I be a Christian?” You may wonder what it is about Christianity that causes so many people to “join up.” One benefit that Miguel Valdivia sees is that:
Christians Are Friends With God
The world is a marketplace, not only of consumer goods and living standards, but also of ideas. Ideologies drive wars and economies. They impact history and help shape our individual lives. Most of us have a primary ideology by which we live. I have chosen Christianity, and here are some of the basic spiritual truths I’ve discovered.
1. God is good. A careful reading of the Bible shows that God is involved in a cosmic confrontation with an enemy who wants to harm you and me, and one of the ways he does that best is by getting us involved in doing bad things—what we call sin. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.” 1 But God doesn’t want us to die, so He came up with a plan to rescue us: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 2
2. God has a purpose for our lives. God has an eternal plan of salvation for humanity as a whole and for each of us as individuals. The biblical God is a personal God. He pleads, “My son [my daughter], give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways.” 3 The Holy Spirit has been promised to guide us and teach us God’s saving truths: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” 4
3. God wants to free us from guilt. One of Christianity’s greatest gifts is God’s free offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. An Old Testament prophet expressed God’s offer: “ ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ ” 5 The New Testament tells us this renewal is possible through Christ’s sacrifice. “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according with the riches of God’s grace.” 6
4. God wants to be our Friend. The Bible teaches that God is not distant or disinterested in our affairs. He wants to be our Friend! Jesus said, “I have called you friends.” 7 Life isn’t perfect, but knowing we have a Friend in high places can help us to walk through life’s darkest passages without fear.
1 Romans 6:23. 2 John 3:16. 3 Proverbs 23:26. 4 John 16:13. 5 Isaiah 1:18. 6 Ephesians 1:7. 7 John 15:15.
Respond to this article
______________________________
Miguel Valdivia is the managing editor of Signs of the Times ®. He writes from Nampa, Idaho. Reprinted with Permission. Copyright © 2015 by GraceNotes. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines. Scripture taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®.
Read more at the source: Friends with God
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Bible Says.
Party Line
 |
| Photo: iStock |
When I was six years old, my parents had a telephone installed in our home for the first time. We resided in a very rural area, so a telephone was a luxury that we had never experienced before. Because private telephone lines were expensive, my parents opted for an option that kept us on the same cable as four other families.
The option was called a “party line,” and it was anything but a party! In order to make a phone call, the line had to be clear of other callers, and there was only one way that we knew of to check; pick up the receiver and listen in. If we heard talking, we simply hung up, waited a few minutes, and checked again.
It was the common practice of many people in those days to listen in on the telephone conversations of other neighbors, and thus learn more about their lives. It started many rumors in our area, and on more than one occasion I can recall a neighbor sharing a juicy tidbit that they had heard on the “party-line” while listening in, and whoever chose to listen, got an “ear full!”
Watch Your Tongue
Party lines are a thing of the past, but sadly, the issue of gossip is not. We have choices to make when it comes to sharing and receiving tales about other’s lives, and the scriptures call us to choose wisely.
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies” (Psalm 34:13, NIV).
“The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble, the conversation of good people keeps them out of it” (Proverbs 12:13, Message/Remix).
God calls us to choose to speak only good words about others, and when we encounter someone who is trashing another person’s character, motives, or qualities, we have the same option of doing what we did when we were on the party line; “disconnecting” and choosing not to listen. With God’s help, we can maintain a “private line.”
Respond to this article
______________________________
By Michael Temple. Copyright © 2015 by GraceNotes. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines. Scripture taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ® and THE MESSAGE / REMIX ®.
Read more at the source: Party Line
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Bible Says.
