Family Life Winners Family Life Winners

October 16, 2012

What Are Tears of Joy To An Ecstatic New Grandmother?

What Are Tears of Joy?

What are tears of joy when you have the awesome privilege of holding your newly born granddaughter? I thought for the first time that my tears of joy might be out of place. What Are Tears of Joy

I have been so thankful for the Lord’s amazing blessings in my life, seeing Him move on my behalf, and on behalf of others.  I realized how often that my response was crying with those so-called happy tears, or tears of joy.

It really wasn’t till the early morning hours of the birth of my newest granddaughter, that I began asking myself what are tears of joy.

I was headed to this wonderful event, being filled with joy and tears, or was it joy with some leftover pain mixed in?

Was this a clever masquerade of joy that I was feeling?  Was this not the real thing, like wanting to drink  a Coke and settling for a Pepsi?

The enemy had ravaged our son, trying to steal his joy over and over again.  We had seen the Lord’s kindness restore everything the enemy had stolen from him. He was now getting blessed with the great gift of his very own baby girl.

My son’s words when he discovered his wife was expecting were, “God must really love me to give me a child.” What a liar the enemy is, and what a Kinsmen Redeemer our God is!

What Are Tears of Joy
Life Experience

As I was driving, and crying, I heard the Lord’s still quiet voice saying, “Charleen, no need to cry, laugh, and be full of joy!” I thought I was full of joy.

As I looked up, I saw the moon smiling at me with a double wide grin. My Father in heaven was giving me a picture of what He wanted on my face. Not tears, but a huge smile, happy, joyous, and illuminating!

What are tears of joy? I couldn’t bring myself to cry after that, but I could only laugh out loud all the way to the hospital.

The Bible does tell us that “those who sow in tears will reap in joy”. I had certainly done more than my share of sowing in tears.

The word for joy in Hebrew is “rinnah”, meaning gladness, joy, proclamation, rejoicing, shouting, singing, or triumph.

It struck me that this meaning was so far removed from anything like weeping, which is the way I have shown my joy most of the time.

What Are Tears of Joy Meaning

What are tears of joy? I began wondering where the expression “tears of joy” came from. I could not find any agreed upon source for this expression. What I do know is that it is not in the Bible.

I am not saying that we can never cry when we are happy. I am saying we might need to look a little closer at our feelings connected to any tears of joy.

I did this on the miraculous morning of my granddaughter’s birth, and I discovered the Lord had more joy for me than I was capable of experiencing!

I decided to do a word search on the Biblical words for joy and found 27 words meaning joy. What are tears of joy? Not one of them referred to weeping or crying.  In fact, all of them described a jubilant and obvious expression of joy.

It seemed to be like the kind of response you might have when your favorite football team has just won a game. Expressions with leaping, loud shouts, singing, and dancing are more the picture of what pure joy is.

Why don’t you try my theory out next time the Lord does something amazing in your life.  Instead of tears, try jumping up and down, dancing, singing, leaping, or shouting.

I really believe your joy will be multiplied, and you will begin to experience the fullness of the joy that Christ paid for us to enjoy!

Charleen

P.S. WHAT ARE TEARS OF JOY? They no longer have a place in my life. For more ideas on how to truly celebrate God’s blessings in your life, join us at the link above.

October 15, 2012

What Is The Roman Calendar – Why Should Christians Pay Attention?

Filed under: Hear O Israel — Tags: , , — admin @ 10:34 pm

What Is The Roman Calendar?

What is the Roman calendar and why should you be interested? The Roman calendar is the basis for the calendar that the western world lives by. Our current calendar is called the Gregorian calendar. What Is The Roman Calendar

Why should Christians be interested in this? Everyone lives their lives by calendars.

In fact, to a large degree, we are defined by how we view time. You learned about the days of the month and the days of the week when you were just a little guy.

We all grew up spouting off Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday along side March, April and May without giving it a second thought. Do you know where these names came from?

What is the Roman calendar? This calendar has been traced back to the mythical founder of Rome in 750B.C. who was Romulus. He and his brother Remus were the offspring of the god Mars.

According to the story they were abandoned as children and suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus later founded the city of Rome by legend and established a calendar with 10 months.

What Is The Roman Calendar –
Who Is The Real Author?

Let us step back for a second here. Who is the creator of time? Who established the first calendar?

What is the Roman calendar? It is a perversion of time. Someone wanted to pervert God’s creation of time and mankind’s opportunity to be in God’s timing.

The names of the months of the Roman calendar were names for 4 Roman gods: martius, aprilis, maius, and iunius. The remaining 6 months were taken from Latin terms for five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.

The Romans later used their worship of the sun and moon and planets to name the days of the week. Later worship of several Norse gods were introduced like thor (Thursday) and frigg (Friday).

What Is The Roman Calendar – Does It Honor God?

Are we suggesting that Christians should stop using the Roman calendar and its terms which originate in the worship of false gods?

We are only asking you to take a look at this and ask the Lord what your response should be.

Is it being fanatical to want to honor the Lord in everything you do? Titles and names that we use every day to describe the days and months that we are living in are a simple way to bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

What is the Roman calendar? Is it just a bunch of silly names? Does a name hold any significance?

How would you feel if someone used a derogatory name for your dog?
You would probably be ready to fight.

Next time you have to say or write down a date, remember who the real author of time is.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. WHAT IS THE ROMAN CALENDAR to Christians who are surrounded by a pagan culture? Find out how you can “redeem the time” in a way that is fun and honors the Lord at the link above.

October 14, 2012

How Do All Things Work Together For Good When Life Sucks?

All Things Work Together For Good

Will all things work together for good in my life? The answer to that question really doesn’t depend on God but it depends on you. All Things Work Together For Good

Now before you get all huffy, hear us out. And please excuse our use of the word “sucks”. It just seemed to fit.

Several years ago a statement like this would have gotten me a bit hot under the religious collar.

While we would never doubt the validity of this promise from God in His Word, the application of God’s promises in Scripture comes down to us.

For example, let’s say a Christian woman gets divorced after 15 years of marriage when her husband leaves her for another woman. This woman would understandably be devastated for a time.

How would the Lord’s promise of all things work together for good apply to her situation? She has a choice to make that will affect her for the rest of her life.

It is not automatic that this tragic event will result in good things in her life. She has the choice of remaining bitter for the rest of her days and living a miserable life.

Or she can trust God enough to forgive and turn to His healing and restoring grace. In this case, the Lord’s promise of all things work together for blessing is a promise she can count on.

Before we say anything else, this promise of all things work together for good does not apply to everyone who reads it. It applies ONLY to those who love the Lord and are attempting to walk in His purposes.

How Do All Things
Work Together For Good?

Most church-going folks are so easily offended and upset when something goes wrong. No matter how bad things get, Our Heavenly Father is able to take the circumstances of our life and turn them into something glorious.

Look at what He did with Mary Magdalene. Look at what He did for Ruth in the Old Testament. Look at what He did for Corrie Ten Boom.

Now there is a woman who had an opportunity to respond with bitterness and hate for those who destroyed her family. She chose to forgive and receive the healing and restoring grace that only the blood of Jesus and the love of God can provide.

How do all things work together for good through hardship or loss or abuse? You cannot allow those horrible circumstances to define who you are.

God sent His Son to pay the ultimate price for all of mankind’s sin and for the sorrow and destruction that it can release.

God has the missing piece of the puzzle of your life that will release restoration and victory again.

Can all things work together for my good? You have to decide where you are going to pitch your tent.

Is it going to be in the land of hope and victory? Or is it going to be in the land of discouragement and self-pity?

All Things Work Together For Good Moving Company

The great news is that the Lord is ready to move you out of the county of despair. All you need to do is ask Him, trust Him, and leave your ugly and smelly baggage
behind.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD is a promise you can grab hold of. On-line Men’s Courageous Destiny Teams are forming now to help you in your move at the link above.

October 13, 2012

How To Live By Faith Starts With Laying Down Your Life

How To Live By Faith

If you want to know how to live by faith, you need to answer one simple question.

The question is this: Who or what are you living for?

The answer to this question tells you why you get up each morning and face the daily challenges that confront you. Many people can get turned around from their original course of wanting to serve Jesus after being hit with difficult times.

We will make a lot of progress in learning how to live by faith if we ask ourselves this question each day. By doing this, we will be able to tell if we have gone off track. God is faithful to forgive us and help get us aligned right again.

How To Live By Faith Answer

If you are truly honest, sometimes your answer ends up being yourself or some material gain. That is when you need to remember that Christ laid down His life for you.

By laying down your life, you have gotten back on the faith track. The Bible tells us that we no longer have to live like mere men and women pursuing things just to get our needs met.

Paul wrote many letters talking about how the just shall live by faith.

It is an awesome thing to lay down your life for a friend or a family member, but we are talking about living for Jesus.

Knowing how to live by faith is not a complicated thing. Living by faith can only be accomplished One Way, as the song above says.

You simply need to give Jesus first place in every area of your life and expect your Heavenly Father to do what He promised He would do.

He promised that He would show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him.

To live by faith means to trust that God is a Rewarder of those who trust Him and diligently seek Him.

Lay down your life daily and live by faith daily in Jesus Christ in order to have your needs met and meeting the needs of others.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. It takes practice to learn HOW TO LIVE BY FAITH and watch your faith grow. On-line Courageous Men’s Destiny teams are forming now to help you in this journey.

October 12, 2012

How To Be Good Grandparents When A New Life Comes Into The World?

How To Be Good Grandparents

Knowing how to be good grandparents when that beautiful new baby is born will serve your family well. Grandparents play a very unique and powerful role in the success of families. How To Be Good Grandparents

We have had the great pleasure of being grandparents for the third time now. The first time we became grandparents brought a mixture of feelings.

We were thrilled for our children but were also hit with the realization that we were getting up in age.

The second time was pretty much a confirmation of what we felt earlier. This last time we were able to enjoy the experience more freely and not be concerned with the age factor.

As a result, we found ourselves wondering what is a grandparent and more importantly, how to be good grandparents.

Our third grandchild is our beautiful 2-day old granddaughter who looks just like her father. It is amazing to look at that sweet innocent face of a peaceful child, nestled in the arms of Grandma or Grandpa.

The delicate toes and fingers and the curled up tiny hands near her sleeping face are indeed a sight worth a thousand words. That peaceful moment is soon interrupted by the initial gentle plea for food from Mom.

Those blessed new born grandchildren bring sweet memories back of years long gone. It is a time to savor since the feedings and the diaper changes for the next year are waiting for Mom, and maybe for Dad on occasion.

Grandparents and grandchildren – what an awesome blessing from the Lord.

If you know how to be good grandparents, your children and their children will be eternally grateful.

How To Be Good Grandparents Keys

1) The biggest key to being good grandparents is to always remain supportive of your adult children’s efforts at parenting. You still probably have the most influence over them, even though they would deny it.

2) Do not be afraid to speak the truth to your children in love. Don’t badger or harass them, though. Have your say and then put things in God’s most capable hands.

3) How to be good grandparents – Make sure you are respectful of your children’s wishes and never go behind their backs when it comes to their children. Never encourage your grandchildren to go against their parents either, even if you feel they are way off line.

4) Just as it is vital for parents to encourage their children, encouraging your grandchildren can be the spark to propel them forward.

5) Don’t avoid disciplining your grandchildren within the boundaries their parents have given you. Letting the little things slide is alright, but be very careful.

6) Always get permission before you decide to  act on those brilliant ideas for your grandchildren. Be spontaneous, but get approval.

How To Be Good Grandparents Results

Do you know how to be good grandparents? Expect good things to happen.

It is an indescribable joy to see your children succeed in their lives and their families and their spiritual walk with the Lord. The next best thing is seeing your grandchildren follow in their footsteps.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. It takes practice to know HOW TO BE GOOD GRANDPARENTS. To learn more ways to help your family become winners, join us at the link above.

October 11, 2012

How To Walk By Faith When You Keep Missing The Mark

How To Walk By Faith

You can learn how to walk by faith even when everything around you seems to indicate that God has abandoned you. Your faith may be the most precious possession of all and you must value it highly. How To Walk By Faith

To discover how to walk by faith, you must know that your earthly senses can only give you a part of the picture.

The Scripture says we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We are not suggesting that you completely ignore what is going on around you.

The key to hitting the mark here is to view those negative events or discouraging situations around you AS A TARGET for you to project your faith at.

This will even work if you just have “mustard seed” faith. We’ll talk about this more.

How To Walk By Faith In 5 Steps

How to walk by faithStep 1: Faith always begins with God’s Word or His promises. The first step in walking by faith is getting familiar with His Word so you can easily find the Godly truth related to your circumstance.

The last part of this step is to get yourself solid on that promise in God’s Word. You can do this by reading out loud specific passages on healing, for example, many times a day. Also spend time thinking about the Scripture passage.

How to walk by faith – Step 2: Jesus spent time alone with His Father frequently. To walk by faith, we need to have a quiet time daily to listen to God’s Holy Spirit. Hearing the Holy Spirit speak to our spirit man is superfood for our faith.

How to walk by faith – Step 3: The success of our faith walk depends a lot on our mind-set. Jesus described this faith mind-set in Luke 17 when He likened faith to a servant. Our faith is a force that we need to put to work in our lives.

How to walk by faith – Step 4: We walk by faith when we start exercising our faith to bring about Godly results.

Start with simple troubling situations like your mother-in-law coming for a visit. Using Scriptures “on loving your enemy” to help bring God’s grace on the scene could be a humorous example.

Your faith exercises must include speaking God’s Word over your situation, and then acting in some way upon the truth of what His Word says for that circumstance.

How to walk by faith – Step 5: Walking by faith was never meant to be an empty exercise like bench-pressing 250 lbs. The motivation behind putting your faith to work must be one of love, for faith works by love.

How To Walk By Faith Check

You can use these 5 steps as a faith checklist. If you are not seeing your faith move the mountain before you, use this list to see if you are out of line in some way.

God’s Word never fails but our application of it may fall short sometimes.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. To get some help in practicing HOW TO WALK BY FAITH, find some faith partners. On-line men’s destiny teams are forming now to help with this most important task at the link above.

October 10, 2012

What Is Serving Others When You Are Supposed To Be A King?

What Is Serving Others?

What is serving others when we have also been called to reign as kings? The answer is found in the life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus showed us what it means to serve others, and He spoke clearly regarding its meaning in the following Scripture about serving others. What Is Serving Others

In Matthew 20:27-28 Jesus said, “….whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give up his life as a ransom for many.”

What is serving others? It is being like Jesus, but can we learn to serve like Him? I believe we can, and we should follow His example of a servant’s heart.

He loved intensely, yet He took time for Himself when needed.  He listened to the Father, and did only what His Father said. He always had plenty of provision as evidenced by the need for one of His disciples to mange their finances.

Let me mention one important point before we go any further.  I do not believe serving the Lord and others is meant to be completely at your expense.

 What Is Serving Others –
Becoming A Loser?

There are some amazing missionary stories of old that are moving examples of servanthood. Other accounts revealed some rather puzzling and sad life stories that did not depict the victory purchased by our Savior’s blood.

What is serving others – losing and getting beat up? We don’t have to utterly forget to care for ourselves, and deny ourselves the blessings Yeshua purchased by His blood on the cross.

He came so we could have life and have it more abundantly. Like most things, there is a fine line to walk in the area of being a servant.

I was a victim to this lie for many years. I felt like I should be worthless, expecting nothing from the Lord. My only thought was to see others being served.

This was false humility at its finest, and was pretty much destroying my self worth. My ability to be a good witness of our Lord suffered. The person He had created me to be was lost. Was this my Father’s plan?

He wants us wealthy, confident, blessed, healed, protected, and like Joseph, having all things redeemed! How do we serve, being a slave to all, and yet reign in life as a King?

What Is Serving Others As A King?

What is serving others while being a king? I believe the key here is to serve wholeheartedly, yet remembering and standing on the victory we have in Him! Here are some helpful keys in practicing how to serve others.

1) We do need to learn to deny ourselves, resist the temptation of focusing on ourselves, and still look to our Heavenly Father to see all our needs are met abundantly.

2) We must learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, by taking time daily to be alone with Him to hear His instructions.

3) We should learn to be patient with others finding ways to be pleasant at all times, but also know there may be a time to step away.

4) Set out each day determined to be an encouragement to others.

5) While we should not think you are better than others, we don’t have to see ourselves as less than others.

What is the serving others? Jesus mentions one of the awesome results of our obedience to serve in John 12:26. It says,”Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me.”

What an honor it is to serve our Lord and hear “well done, My good and faithful servant”.

Charleen Ecuyer

P.S. WHAT IS SERVING OTHERS when you are a king? Walking with Jesus day by day. Find out some awesome ways to do this at the link above.

October 9, 2012

What Is The Word of God To Families Under Daily Attacks?

Filed under: Men's Destiny Teams — admin @ 8:37 pm

What Is The Word of God

What is the Word of God to a family or a person who is constantly being bombarded with attacks against their health, their finances, and their emotional well-being? It is the weapon that will bring them victory over all these schemes. What Is The Word of God

A huge area that most people miss when it comes to God’s Word is that the Word of God is living. There is a mighty spiritual life force in God’s Word because He spoke it forth.

You might say the Bible is no different than any other history book written by a collection of authors. You are wrong evolution-breath. The Bible is the Word of God.

There are many prophecies that were written in the Old Testament and became reality in New Testament times. There is also much historical evidence that confirms the Biblical accounts to be true.

What Is The Word of God?

What is the Word of God? It is the living force or blessing force from God that produces victory over all kinds of destructive influences.

The full release of that life force was given to us by our Heavenly Father in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is more powerful than destructive agent we can ever face.  Cancer and poverty must bow to God’s Word.

Your neighbor’s barking dog and pornography on the internet must give in to the Word of God.

Marital conflict and worry must bow to God’s Word. Confusion and rage must submit to the Word of God.

What is the Word of God when Christians fall to these attacks? Is it powerless? Is it no longer useful for today?

If God’s Word is more powerful than any of these common ailments and stresses that people face, why do most people fall in the face of these attacks?

What Is The Word of God – A Failure?

All these people have failed to get themselves established on the truth and living grace found in God’s Word. The problem has never been with God’s Word.

When we fail to see His Word releasing victory in our circumstances, the issue must be with us or the spiritual atmosphere around us.

Just like a soldier can’t be expected to win on the battlefield without much training and preparation, you can’t expect to gain victory over cancer or a hemorrhoid if you haven’t been exercising and training in God’s promises of health and healing.

We must stop seeing God’s Word as only words that express or explain a concept. His Word is alive!

What is the Word of God? His Word is a seed that can be planted. When it is planted in good soil, it will spring to life and beat up the bad boys we have already mentioned.

We have to decide whether we are going to be good soil or rocky ground. Our past hurts or negative experiences can result in our hearts becoming cold and hard.

God’s Word can change that hard heart to good soil if you hide it in your heart and mind continually.

Get a Word partner to help you in this adventure.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD to men who are their family’s protector? Find a partner now as men’s on-line Destiny teams are forming at the link above.

October 8, 2012

This Definition of Destiny Begins with a G and Ends with a P

The Definition of Destiny

More people need to be looking for the definition of destiny. Too many folks are running around without having a clue about what they are supposed to be doing with their lives.

Our definition of destiny starts with a G. The G stands for God.

What is your destiny? This is one of the greatest questions you can ask yourself. Actually, this is a question that you must ask God.

You are on this earth for a purpose established by God. It is your destiny to discover what that purpose is and pursue it.

The P stands for perseverance. Achieving your destiny and quitting cannot survive together in the same room.

The ability to stay focused and stay committed comes from your attitude. Take a look at this video for a destiny attitude adjustment.

The sad thing is that we made a rather disturbing discovery when looking for a video related to your destiny. There wasn’t much available and most of what
we found was from the church of scientology.

We are sorry but your true destiny is bigger than you are. Your true destiny can only come from your Creator.

We hope your fire of commitment to your destiny is sparked after watching the video.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. We hope your DEFINITION OF DESTINY makes room for a G and a P. On-line Men’s Courageous Destiny teams are forming now at the link above.

October 7, 2012

What Is The Feast of Tabernacles To the Body of Christ?

What Is The Feast of Tabernacles

What is the Feast of Tabernacles to Christians who are not bound any longer by the law? Find out how this feast keeps us in God’s cycles of blessings and how Jesus connected Himself to this time of feasting. What Is The Feast of Tabernacles

We are in complete agreement with the fact that Christian believers have been set free from the observance of the law. The only problem is that observing the Biblical feasts is not part of the law of Moses.

God described in the book of Leviticus that there were particular times of feasting each year to observe. He said, “These are My Feasts.” We don’t know about you, but if God is throwing a party, we want to be there.

What is the feast of Tabernacles? It is really that simple. We don’t have to get into any deep religious discussions here. There are feasting times that God wanted to establish as an expression of who He is and His desire to share His glory.

Just as Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of who God is to the world, His times of feasting are actually an expression of who Jesus was to be to the world.

Just because Jesus became the fulfillment of the Jewish feasts doesn’t mean they no longer have a place. Go back in the Old Testament and see what God said about His feasts. He said they were to be observed for all generations.

Specifically, what is the Feast of Tabernacles? It is a 7-day harvest feast which occurs on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar called Tishrei. It’s name in Hebrew is Succot.

The main theme of this feast is building booths or temporary dwellings, which is symbolic of God dwelling with us. Christians obviously know that their bodies have become the dwelling place of the Spirit of God.

Allow us to ask you this question. How much of your life would you say you live in the full knowledge that God’s Holy Spirit dwells in you? We need all the help and all the reminders we can get.

We need these reminders to help break us out of the cycles of spiritual destruction or apathy that constantly swirl around us. God was aware of this and set up His annual feasts to keep us close to Him.

What Is The Feast of Tabernacles
and Jesus?

What is the Feast of Tabernacles and how did Jesus relate to it in the gospel of John? During this feast, the high priest would walk through the city with a pitcher of water to pour it out in the temple. The whole city would follow him and pray with anticipation for rain for future harvests.

During the last day of this feast, Jesus stood up in the midst of the crowd and declared Himself to be the source of living water. He attended His Father’s feast and invited the people to come to Him.

What Is The Feast of Tabernacles To Your Family?

This can be a time of thanksgiving and celebration of God’s glory and presence in your lives. We build “succots” in the backyard using canopies or tents. We decorate them with branches and lights and enjoy delicious food.

What is the Feast of Tabernacles? It is a chance to position ourselves to receive more of God’s abundant grace.

Michael and Charleen

P.S. WHAT IS THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES to you now? Get into God’s timing and the fullness of His blessings by celebrating all His feasts at the link above.

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