Prayers for Holy Week - Wednesday

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,

"What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver.

And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Matthew 26:14-16

• There were two treacheries. Judas went out to grab his money, betrayed Jesus, and then

killed himself in despair. Peter, despite his protests, would deny his Lord; he faced his own

appalling guilt, then wept bitterly. His failure was not the end of the mission, but the beginning.

• Success is what I do with my failures. Teach me to trust in your love Lord, no matter what

I have done, and to learn from my mistakes and even from treachery.

Prayers for Holy Week - Tuesday

Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

Isaiah 42:1-4

• God knows me intimately, even from my first moments. He has a plan for me; whatever talents I have, he can put to use.

• Do I stand in the Lord’s way, with my own plan? I worked hard, I tried my best but now I have nothing left to give. Is this now the lord’s time when my way seems blocked?

PRAYERS FOR HOLY WEEK - MONDAY

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Isaiah 42:1-4

• "My servant will not cry or lift up his voice or make is heard in the street… he will faithfully bring forth justice."

• That is our mission too, Lord: not by force or violence, but by gentle, faithful persistence to bring forth justice on the earth.

Sources: Beliefnet

Holy Week Remembrance

Hosanna [Heb.,=save now; Psalm 118], an intensified

imperative, a cry, addressed to God, particularly used in the

Feast of Tabernacles, when prayers for rain were offered.

In the New Testament the crowd shouted it when

Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is used as an

acclamation in Christian worship, e.g., in the Sanctus .

Palm Sunday...

Imagine yourself in Jerusalem awaiting the coming King,

teaching us about humility as he enters this place on a donkey,

this king, this famous one of all! The man you've heard make blind

men see and bring a dead girl to life and so on.... sharing his life

through lessons of love, humility and faith! There you are waving those

palms for Him with fellow believers, singing, rejoicing, laughing,

joyful noises and dancing - celebrating the wondrous works of this

mighty man named JESUS!

The best part about this story is that we can still celebrate like this

today! In our hearts and with our entire lives - will you remember

with me this week which brings forth the ultimate sacrifice and

atonement for our sins at the end of this most Holy of weeks!

Jesus has arrived and he's about to do great battles in your life and

transform you like never before! Will you celebrate this awesome

Lord of heaven, named JESUS with me today?

I hope you will and take a moment to thank the Lord for his life that

has taught us so many things... especially to LOVE.

Looking forward to sharing more blessings with you, as this week

reaches a climactic turn of events that is truly life changing!

Lord God Almighty,

We want to see You in the light of Your glory and share

in this remembrance with others and remember to honor

You with all that is in us - waving those Palms in spirit

and in truth. Rejoicing in honor over You and what You

are about to do and what You have already done!

PRAISE HIM! Amen.

Son of Hamas Conversion

More on this topic:

http:/www.christianpost.com/article/20061129/christian-convert-10-things-everyone-needs-to-know-about-islam/index.html

PRAISE THE LORD!

Some Muslims, are turning to Christ by grace! Amen :)

Let us remember to PRAY for our Muslim neighbors.

An Awakening

My prayer for this post is that it fills you with an

immense heartfelt passion for lost souls amongst us

as well as, all of the people around our globe who

don't even know about salvation.

The Lord has been speaking to my heart and life lately

in regard to missions work once again. I find it as no

coincidence that I've been ordering books on martyrs for

Christ around the world, subscribing to bulletins, email

updates on prisoners who need Jesus and so on...

As I grow closer to Christ and in His wisdom through faith,

almost, ashamedly, I'm finding out that I have been focusing

way too much on my own (maybe some of you can relate?)

needs, my own wants, my own troubles,

my own trials (Though, The Lord cares about them, it shouldn't

take up so much of my life) and not nearly enough time and prayer

for those around me, meaning, my neighbors close to home

or down the road from me, relatives who refuse to believe,

let alone the souls that live so far away who have never

even heard of the Gospel - can you imagine not knowing

our Great Savior, or worse, refusing His name?

There ARE people everywhere who haven't!

After viewing and researching some of the staggering statistics

about Christian church missions field work and how so few are

funded, let alone, really sharing the Gospel (about the personal

prayerful relationship we can have with Jesus) out there, I'm

appalled and angered with myself and others here in the US who so

freely live at ease and comfort with our basic necessities cared for

and tended to every single day and who have the Power of the

Gospel and who have heard of Him, who have freedom that exists

from the Lord himself yet, some (correction, MANY) are STILL living

in disobedience, rebellion, rioting for selfish reasons, picketing for vain

and immoral causes, for so-called "rights" (are you kidding me?)

and privileges, killing babies for profit and selfish ambitions

(God have MERCY on us, forgive us) and even more terrifying to me...

our own fears of rejection or embarrassment, more sadly, the

possibility of suffering persecution (tough pill to swallow) in reaching

others for our Savior and the list goes on... Are you one of them?

I was convicted to tell the truth today, that I have been one of them.

Lord, break our hearts, help us shed tears for these people and

to always be ready to witness for you along the way...

I pray that you will be moved as I have been after viewing this

presentation to begin a prayer team, or go out and physically

reach out to others somehow, someway even with our small

abilities and resources and to continue the Great Commission

we were ALL commanded to by God.

If you're like me, it is sometimes difficult to reach those whose

beliefs are centered and rely on "another" god or "gods", however,

if you are looking closely,

their eyes reveal another struggle (one that you can relate to them

about) one with no hope or a "false hope" and self reliance that has

them blinded to the Truth of God's Word, The Holy Bible...

John 14:6

If you are saved, then you know the struggle you once had, but, you

also have the Victory to share with them!

We can be that LIGHT of the world, Jesus can help us reach them,

if we're willing to be His vessel. Will you go?

Check out these amazing resources and information::

http://www.joshuaproject.net/

http://www.historymakers.info/

If you'd like to view

the larger video (to see the entire

screen) for some reason,

blogger view is not large enough

to use on my post? - Please click

onto the youtube screen

and it will send you there.

Spring Training

REMEMBER THIS?

SPRING has FINALLY arrived... See Spencer practicing in

the dirt, lol - The boys have begun baseball practice for UMBA.

They are on the PHILLIES... YAY, Our most favorite team!

Tony coaching the boys during practice at Walker field.

Josh was practicing his napping patterns, looks like he's got

the technique pretty good!

Spencer going in for the "wind up" during pitching practice

GOOD JOB, SP!

Charles is ready to "bring the heat" during pitching

practice too!! WAY TO GO!

Ahhh... now wasn't that refreshing!

Josh is Crawling @ 11 mos!

Josh started crawling this past weekend on his

11th month mark, just as mommy predicted!

YAY, He finally did it... now, the fun begins

as you'll see him getting "into" things around

the house now, lol.

Enjoy as he explores new territories with us!

We will also host his ONE YEAR birthday

party on Sat. April 17th (dob:4/16), just a few more

weeks away already, I can't believe how quickly a

year passes. I'll have more photos and videos then too.

Josh sends his hugs and love to you all... See you soon!

A New Language

Tony and I, are on a new adventure to discover

some of Latin America's heritage, exploring in the U.S.A

Mexico and its neighbor, New Mexico in the comforts

of our home at moment. Hoping to travel eventually.

Photos above are from the Tourism website to

Native Indian area, Hispanic and Western locations from

the South in New Mexico (what a beautiful place)

It's also referred to as the Land of Enchantment!

We are presently learning the (Spanish language)

in the comfort of our home via various audio CD's,

computer technology and eventually classes featuring,

español!

We are also open to home studies with anyone

who knows this language well enough to comfortably

teach us too!

We thought this would be beneficial in so many ways,

not only as an opening to expand our own world,

and disciplines, rather, to reach out to the

aliens/natives among us as we are instructed by God to do.

I thought this statement put it more clearly

(sources: urbana.org)

...the current immigration debate is very political.

And the role of the church is not always the same as the role

of the state. It is difficult to know where to stand.

But the Scripture seems to be clear on how

we should treat the strangers who are among us. We too,

are only sojourners in this world; we exist by the graciousness

of a merciful God. How can we not be moved with compassion

for the plight of those, who like our forefathers and mothers,

seek only a better life for their families? For are they not like us:

made in God’s own image?

Welcoming immigrants, illegal or otherwise,

is like welcoming Jesus.

Do we not have something they need?

Isn’t there enough to go around,

really? Have we not ourselves been brought out

of Egypt?

Talk about awesome opportunity to witness (for all you

closet evangelicals out there - let's go and make disciples,

isn't that exactly what we're instructed to do?)

Also, we thought it to be a unique challenge for us as a couple

to connect with something significant together as well as

recognize and appreciate how frustrating it must be in trying

to communicate to us in English through a Spanish speaking

background.

So, we're setting out to put ourselves in the shoes of

the foreigners among us!

Some Facts about Spanish Language:

With 329 million native speakers, Spanish ranks as the

world's No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak

it as their (first language). It is slightly ahead of English

(328 million) but far behind Chinese (1.2 billion)

(Source: Ethnologue)

Spanish has at least 3 million native speakers each in 44

countries, making it the 4th mostly geographically spoken

language behind English (112 countries) French (60) and

Arabic (57). (Source: Ethnologue)

Missionary Presence

Paul Pretiz at: http://www.urbana.org/home

Early in the century the Mexican Revolution, in reaction to

Roman Catholic political dominance, led to the creation of a

secular state. Measures to thwart hierarchical influence

(including closing the country's doors to foreign religious workers)

meant no legal entry for evangelical missionaries for about

seventy years. This did not, however, discourage those entering

under other classifications.

Given the lower missionary profile, dynamic autochthonous

movements developed - those with no roots in foreign missionary

efforts. Such Christian groups accounted for 57.4 percent of

Mexico's Protestants in 1982. (1) Strong national leadership has

developed.

Changes in church-state relationships now permit the entry of

missionaries. Who will respond to Mexico City's call? Hopefully,

those not only willing to be exposed to its smog and crime,

but also willing to cooperate with the church already there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are hopeful to learn the language successfully to be able to

communicate to our neighbors (To reach them for Jesus Christ)

in our area, our new church (which we just found out has 30

nations represented within AND this church is in Audubon, PA!)

and eventually become... Traveling Missionaries?

(if that is what the Lord would have us do).

Our boys are enjoying the new language around our house as

Tony and I (presently) sound like lunatics from another

PLANET (LOL) it's quite humorous and I will work on video

taping us at some point, so you can cheer us on and get a chuckle

out of it or maybe, some inspiration to explore new languages

yourself!

It's "supposed" to be one of the easiest languages to learn,

however, having to re-train our mouths all over again is sure to

be a challenge.

Our boys aren't exactly excited about learning with us just yet,

they are still mastering the English language and would rather

play and laugh at mom and dad right now! (lol)

Although, Joshua may be able to pick up on this new language

and become bi-lingual along with us.

He'll have a head start in the work place...

FYI: Knowing and speaking another language is considered

to be a high credential in seeking employment too, above

"degree level"education, in some positions.

Please pray for us, as we pursue to explore the Native Indian/

Hispanic/Western cultures in breaking the language barrier

that keeps us from truly knowing our fellow brothers and

sisters in Christ.

Wedding Updates!!! On The Knot

Hi Everyone...

Here is the link for my sister and soon to be brother -in-law's

website they've created about their big day!

Enjoy.

TheKnot

Bible Readers Beware!

I like the "Skit Guys", they seem to have an animated,

impactful way of getting to the crux of the matter through

dramatic presentations and humor - that real life "junk"

that can get in the way of seeing

the bigger picture God meant for us.

Ironically, I've been having a problem with reading

my Bible. Sometimes, I actually become intimidated

by its length, maybe some of you can relate? excuses...

I know.

Quite honestly, sometimes I'm just lazy about soaking

in the Word. Later on, I find myself, condemning myself

for this lack of interest and then I have the wrong motivation

of a "guilt trip" in receiving my daily bread.

Refreshing news... Every day, every second, is a new

beginning and the choice is ours. Aren't we so blessed

to have a God that WAITS for us? I mean,

think about it? Who are we?

He's an almighty Holy God... and He's ALWAYS

calling to me and (us) He even forgives me (us) as long as

we keep in step with Him and admit these sins.

You can't buy LOVE like that!

I'll even put it in this fashion...

I've been like the rebellious student who refuses to

read/study before that important test and crams in

all the information right before the finals expecting

an easy A (while its fresh on my mind), how well did

that ever work out for ya? For me,

not so good! Usually failed and I don't want to be a

failure in God's eyes.

If you've succumbed to these lowly depths

from time to time, say this with me:

Lord, forgive me for this lazy attitude and lack of reading

and trusting in Your Word more often, I want to know more

of YOU, help me, shape me, teach me how to read and live

out Your Word more truthfully, I am nothing without You

and Your Word. Amen.

God has been showering my life with favor for so long, I should

know better I have become stifled and comfortable.

This is what I've been talking about in some of my previous

posts. I fall prey to this behavior too folks! Ugh.

Sometimes, I even think that PRAYER and my

good words for the day is enough as long as I'm sincere

right? wrong. We can't pick and choose which Christian

value we will do for the day, we must get into His

Word way more than we do to help us really live

faithfully to truly Honor our Holy King.

It is such a personal discipline and solely a Holy Spirit

led determination to actually read and live out the

Words of the Bible. I readily admit, my need to grow

seriously in this area of my own life.

I would also pray to you (readers), that you would begin to

open the pages of the Word of God set before you, pull them

off of your shelves and off of those coffee tables or

out from underneath a pile of "advice" books and truly

soak into His Word today! It's a grand adventure.

What are we waiting for?

Let us no longer take advantage of

the Lord, using our activities (even

church ministries) or computer time or chasing the kids

around with all our busyness as an excuse not to take time

to soak up the Word of the Lord. HAPPY READING!!!