The following article is an excerpt from this book.
The key to answered prayer is to abide in Christ and to let His words abide in us. In John 15:7 it says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (NKJV).
Here are eight things an abiding Christian does to strengthen his faith in order to keep himself abiding in Christ—taken from my e-book Prayer A to Z.
1. He makes it his habit to meditate on the Word every day. This daily meditation time helps him to see things from God’s perspective, gives him a desire for God, and helps him to adjust his desires to God’s desires.
2. He obeys God and keeps himself busy with His work. The abiding believer knows that faith isn’t really faith without obedience and work. …
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:9-10) […]
I was energized this morning when I read a few tweets by faithful Americans.
Mahiavelli
We the people refuse to concede to a fraudulent election.
Evan Kilgore
There is a difference between not having the evidence and not hearing the evidence.
Yes, I agree. I am tired of hearing that there is not any real evidence of voter fraud. There are mounds and mound of evidence of voter fraud. The problem is, the judges will not take the time hear all the evidence. They are unconcerned. They don’t have the time. Or they don’t think that it will be enough evidence to make a difference. Well, good grief. Judges, just do your job. If there was any fraud committed, it should be dealt with, and prosecuted.
Sidney Powell
This “election” was stolen from the voters in a massive fraud… American elections are supposed to be completely auditable and transparent. We the people demand the truth and the prosecutions of all who committed voter fraud.
The following article is an excerpt from this book.
Prayer was never meant to be an end in itself—not an exercise to glory in, to impress someone, or even merely for communion and enjoyment of God (though that is part of prayer). Rather, the main purpose of prayer is to glorify God when we receive from Him the things we ask for (Jn. 14:13). And that is what we should expect when we pray—that He will give us exactly what we ask for, nothing else, nothing different. Here are three reasons why we can know that we can recieve answers to prayer—taken from my book Prayer A to Z.
1. In all of Jesus’ teachings on prayer He has emphasized strongly that we can receive answers. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus instructed His disciples on asking and receiving. He told them that if…
The following article is an excerpt from this book.
John 14:1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
In this passage the rapture is described as Jesus receiving us to Himself that we may be with Him in the Father’s house with the Father. We can only imagine how beautiful this place will be. It will be wonderful!
The next two key rapture passages that I will write on are…
Generally, before we (Christians) go to prayer, it is always good to realize what a privilege we have to be in God’s presence and to be able to talk with Him face to face and soul to soul. Prayer is truly a high activity of the soul—the highest activity of the soul.
When you begin to pray, don’t think that it is okay to just ramble on with your requests or to just say whatever is on you mind. We all tend to do that—me too. But there is a correct way to pray. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them a skeleton prayer to follow (found in Matthew 6:9-13). We call it “The Lord’s Prayer.” We are not to just recite this prayer, as some do; but we are to use it as a guide, or as an outline. If we do that, we are well on our way to be able to pray correctly; for in this skeleton prayer contains every prayer principle.
Our Father
As you go to pray, the first thing you should do as you bow your head is to pause and remind yourself of what you are about to do and who you are about to speak to. Remind yourself that you are in the presence of holiness, and that He, your Father, is with you listening and attentive. You may want to have a copy of the Lord’s Prayer before you, and focus first on the first two words of the prayer: Our Father. Yes, He is your Father, and my Father. So, realize that all of us who are believers have the same Father and we are in a wonderful relationship with Him.
Our Father in heaven
At this point in your prayer, you can continue to ruminate on what it means to be in the family of God and to thank and praise Him for who He is and what He has done for you. And then, at some point you will want to move on to the next few words… “in heaven.” He is your and our Father in heaven. What does that mean? It refers to His greatness and that His presence is everywhere. He is almighty God in heaven. He is all knowing, present everywhere, and all powerful.
In your prayers you may at first just be thinking of Him and of your relationship with Him. But at some point, you will also want to start speaking to Him. Thank Him and praise Him for being your Father and for who He is. Praise and worship Him in the best way you know how.
Final comments. If you have been a Christian for a long time maybe what I am teaching here seems too mechanical, or too basic. Believe me, I understand. But especially for a new Christian, I think it is important to get on the right track. I hear too many Christians praying incorrectly. Some of them, all they do is list their needs as if they are talking to Santa Claus. That is so disrespectful. I think it is important to at first follow the outline of the Lord’s Prayer. And then after a while, as it is firm in your mind, your prayers will flow more easily and you, without even realizing it, will be praying correctly, as He taught us.
The next line in the Lord’s Prayer is “hallowed be Your name.” I will save that for the next blog.
When I began to think about what I could blog on today, one idea was to write on my uses of clove extract. Well, I thought about it for a while, but then dismissed the thought, thinking it was maybe too trivial. But then, as soon as I put my mask on to go into the gas station to buy a newspaper and a doughnut, as I usually do, my clove idea was suddenly revived. I had earlier dabbed a small tag on my face with a Q-tip soaked with clove extract, and surprisingly, that clove aroma had somehow filled the inside of my mask—and I was feeling good! It was a delightful experience inhaling that aroma. Suddenly, wearing a mask wasn’t half bad.
I don’t know if clove extract will do anything for skin tags, but I can definitely recommend some uses. Here goes:
1. Getting rid of oral lichen planus. A while back I had a case of this skin rash on the inside of my mouth and after a few applications of clove extract (either by dabbing it or as a mouth wash) it went away. When I reported it to my dentist, and he inspected it, he was amazed and congratulated me on thinking of it.
2.A mouth wash. Cloves will kill mouth bacteria and also will give your mouth a fresh and pleasant taste and smell. I just put a few drops in a cup and then add a little water and gargle.
3. Use as a hand wash. If you have a bad smell on your hands and want to quickly get rid of it. Just apply a few drops, add a little water and wash. Your hands will have a good smell for hours.
4. Use as a cologne. Dab some on the face, and arms.
5. For a great mask smell. Apply anywhere on the face before putting on your mask and breath the fresh smell.
6. Use in coffee or tea or any drink. I usually put about three or four drops in my tea in the morning. It adds a great aroma and taste to your palate. And it’s good for you.
Also, here are some health benefits of cloves.
Contains manganese (for brain health) and vitamin K
I have just finished reading the book Killing Crazy Horse. Earlier I wrote a summary on the book. In this post I will write about how the book has affected me. That is, to give my thoughts on what should have been done differently; also, what should be done now to help the Indians.
The Tragedy of the Indian Wars: No Winners
Clearly, I think the Indian wars, and the outcome, was and is a tragedy. There were no winners. And the reason is because of our sin: our greed, our pride, our selfishness, and our desire for revenge (on both sides). Some may think that the white man were the winners and the Indians were the losers, because the white man was able to kill so many of the Indians and to drive them off their lands, and to basically take whatever they wanted for themselves. However, I don’t think that makes them true winners, especially in the eyes of God.
Some may even have regarded the Indians as evil savages, and a people not worth saving—maybe even like the Canaanites that Joshua was commanded to destroy. But we definitely can’t make that comparison. All the reading I have done on when the white man (Columbus, those on the Mayflower, Lewis and Clark) first came in contact with the Indians, they were mainly friendly. They are different and have a different lifestyle, but that does not make them bad or of lesser worth—as some would suggest.
Accepting the Differences
I thought it was interesting that Crazy Horse himself regarded his people as like animals, that they lived off of the land. And they apparently do not have the same desire as the white man to build and develop and prosper in the way they do. They have other ways of prospering—by connecting with nature. It seems to me that much more could have been done from the start to get along with the Indians, even to do more to try to understand them and befriend them. I think our government should have done more—instead of just trying to drive them off their land.
The Big Problem: The White Man’s Greed
I think the biggest problem with the white man and with the U. S. government was dealing with the great influx of people to America, who had such a great desire to move in and prosper off the land. They had great desires to go west, to explore, to farm, and to mine gold, etc. Hence, there was a great deal of greed in every heart, and many had the gold fever.
The Criminal Government Policies
The thing that really drove the people west without much regard for the Indians was the unjust and criminal government policies toward the Indians. For example, President James Monroe endorsed a “sea to shining sea mandate,” that gave all American whites the encouragement to live wherever they wanted without regard to the Indians. And later, President Grant who first had a peace policy with the Indians, made a decision to use ultimate military force to steal the Black Hills away from the Indians (because the white man wanted the gold there). And President Grover Cleveland considered the Indians a nuisance and therefore made laws to open all Indian territory up to white settlements. In fact, most of the American Presidents were unjust toward the Indians and even commanded U. S. troops to either force them out or kill them. It was always the white man first. They always had priority over the land. Hence, in my opinion, most of the blame for the injustice toward the Indians should go on the American Presidents, but also on the U. S. military generals that seemed to have so much hatred in their heart—to do so much mutilation and killing of the Indians, esp. the women and children. They just slaughtered them!
Reservations
In the end, the government decided to force the Indians onto government owned reservations. They took their weapons away and they were not allowed to hunt for food. Instead, the government gave them boxes of food, just enough to survive. The reservations became like a prison. Many Indians still live on reservations, and I have heard that most are worse than third-world countries.
I wish I knew what could be done for the Indians. First, I think we should educate all whites on what actually happened—the Indian wars and abuses. Then we need to change our policies and reverse the bad decisions that were made. And we need to make more effort in doing the right things, and to interact with the Indians and find out what they want and how we can help them and lift them up to restore their dignity. I think Indians have so much to offer this world. They are good people and should not have been treated so badly. What can we do to lift them up?
Stephen Nielsen 