Prayer of Thanksgiving

• Faith & Values

Local faith leaders offer prayers for Thanksgiving

BY HERALD-LEADER STAFF REPORT

November 22, 2013

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/11/22/2947669/local-faith-leaders-offer-prayers.html#storylink=cpy

Therese Warrick, founder/ministry leader, Sisters Road to Freedom, Inc. — Heavenly Father, With thanksgiving in my heart, this prayer is being lifted up unto you. I thank you for your beautiful creation. You are awesome and magnificent. You are excellent in all your ways and I thank you Father. I thank you for your continued mercy and grace which you give each day even when we do not extend the same mercy and grace toward others.

Thank you for being Jehovah Jireh, our provider. Thank you for providing for those less fortunate than us. Thank you for being our Jehovah Nissi, our banner of love and protection. Please continue to keep families under your protection and guidance. Father, you are our Jehovah Shalom, our perfect peace. Even in times of trouble, you soothe our minds and hearts. Thank you for being Jehovah Rapha, our healer. Thank you for spiritual, physical, and emotional healing.

Father God, I cannot say thank you enough. Thank you for loving us so much that you sent your only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Thank you for salvation and redemption. I pray all these with thanksgiving in my heart, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/11/22/2947669/local-faith-leaders-offer-prayers.html#storylink=cpy

A Spiritual Awakening

Greetings! 

The other night I tuned in with great expectation to listen to Evangelist Billy Graham's My Hope For America message.  His 30 minute message was titled, "The Cross".  

Evangelist Billy Graham spoke clearly that our country is in great need of spiritual awakening. When he said that, I knew that GOD had an urgent message for HIS people through Evangelist Graham.  

Evangelist Graham declared boldly that we use "the cross" lightly. He warned that the cross is not the cross that hangs on our walls in our homes, and it is not that pendant that hangs around the necks of rock stars. The Cross is that old rugged Cross that directly confronts the evil which dominates this world.  He further declared that The Cross is an offense to people because it demands, doesn't suggest, but it demands a new lifestyle in all of us.    

2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!" (NIV)

Friends, my testimony and that of Lecrae Moore, Christian artist, is that we couldn't live the life so Jesus lived it for us and Jesus died the death that we should have died. Evangelist Graham reminded us that the blood of Jesus Christ which HE shed for us is that meeting place between God and man.  I thank God for the new! I thank God for the renewal of my mind and of my body and of my soul. Hallelujah.  

I thank God for the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus took my shame and your shame when they nailed him to that old rugged cross.  Hallelujah to the name of Jesus.  HE is worthy of our praise. We are not dead, Christ is not dead. Time for that spiritual awakening. Our God is NOT dead, HE is alive and HIS blood still works!  Someone has to know and believe that God so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life. Amen. 

Wake up my friends, Christ is coming back! BE PREPARED.  

In Christ,

Therese From Belize 

SISTERS ROAD TO FREEDOM, INC.'S FREE LEGAL CLINIC FOR WOMEN

That Secret Place

Greetings, friends!  I pray all is well with each of you. 

I have been meditating on the I remember when things were not going my way, especially when I was under stress, I would often mouth off about "disappearing to a secret island by myself." Silly me .... thinking that physically disappearing to a secret island would rid me of the stress and difficulties of life. Now, because I know what God's Word tells me, I know I don't need to disappear to any secret place. 

Psalm 91:1 declares, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (King James Version)  Rev. Dr. Williams, Senior Pastor of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, brought home this message even more clearer for me. Rev. Dr. Williams suggested that the secret place is spiritual. Ahh, it has to do with living under the will of God! Rev. Dr. Williams encouraged that while you are in captivity, you can still go to that secret place. The secret place is an experience with God that captivates you. The secret place is the innermost man beyond any distraction. It is the "prayer closet".

(Sermon excerpt, A Secret Place, Rev. Dr. Felix G. Williams, III)

Free Legal Clinic For Women on October 29, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky

LEXINGTON NATIVE AND ATTORNEY AT LAW GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY. 

Sisters Road To Freedom, Inc. and The Gault Law Office are teaming up for FREE LEGAL CLINIC FOR WOMEN. Tuesday, October 29, 2013 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Lexington Public Library, North side Branch, Lexington, KY. 

This is an opportunity for women to get legal questions answered, documents reviewed, etc. by attorney at law. Mr. Cullen Gault, Esq. is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, a graduate of Bryan Station High School, University of Kentucky and Salmon P. Chase School of Law at Northern Kentucky University.

What Is On Your Book List?

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. 

I love to read!  I have several authors that I like and some that I have every publication of their works.  There are so many books I still want to read.  Some friends would tell me to read a self help book, some would tell me of a great Christian author.  However, now is just not the time.  I cannot ignore what I am seeing and hearing and feeling around me.  So, no matter what is on New York Times Best Seller List, or what new book my friends are suggesting, one thing I know, no one needs to tell me I need to read, study and meditate on the anointed Word of God.  His Word is found in the BIBLE. While it is still the world's best-selling and most widely distributed book, I would be bold to say: 1) it is a book that is gathering the most dust on bookshelves; and, 2) it is the book that is most widely read, but not followed by its readers. 

Friends, we are in perilous times. Now is the time to read, study and meditate on the Word of the Lord.  What I am seeing and hearing and feeling are rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. What my eyes are witnessing are Believers getting pulled into the lies, deceit, trickery and mockery of the enemy. 

Psalm 1:1-6 assures us, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction." (NIV)

In 2 Timothy 3:1-7, it is recorded, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." (NIV)

Friends, we must stand and stand firm in God's Word. We cannot be swayed.  2 Timothy 3:12-17 encourages us, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (NIV)

The only book for me is the B-I-B-L-E.  There is this song I used to sing as a little girl in Sunday School class, 

The B-I-B-L-E,

Yes, that's the book for me, 

I stand alone on the Word of God,

The B-I-B-L-E.

The B-I-B-L-E,

Yes that's the book for me,

I stand alone on the Word of God,

The B-I-B-L-E.

The B-I-B-L-E,

Yes that's the book for me,

I read and pray, trust and obey,

The B-I-B-L-E.

In Christ,

Therese from Belize 

Adults Are Bullies Too: Say What?

Greetings, friends!

Often, when we speak or write about bullying, we are usually addressing problems that children and youth are experiencing.  However, adults do bully other adults and with social media, such as Facebook, adult bullying is taking place more than ever before.

Bullying is a problem that has affected children and youth from all backgrounds of life.  As parents, we pray our children do not get bullied and we pray that our children are not the bullies. Now, as an adult, not only am I concerned about my children being bullied, but I am also concerned about experiencing bullying because I do not dress a certain way, or smell a certain way, or look a certain way, or worship a certain way, or cross my legs in a certain way or wear my hair in a certain way, etc.  With social media being at its height, people are being scrutinized and criticized for any and everything.

According to writer, Susan Campbell Cross, in her article on Shape.com, she herself had been bullied on social media.  She indicated that recent data reveals that adult bullying is on the rise.  In a 2012 survey of workers, 65 percent of American participants reported being bullied at their jobs, and adult bullying happens online and among social circles as well. (www.shape.com, "Three Ways To Smack Down A Grown-up Bully")

It grieves my heart when Christians humiliate others and this is evident on social media, specifically, Facebook.  So what if someone is showing their cleavage in church? At least they are in church receiving a Word from the Lord. So what if a young lady is wearing a too short skirt? That does not means she is not marriage material.  And, thank God that she has sense enough to pursue her educational goals. So what if a man does not smell a certain way? Why criticize him because he may not be able to afford an expensive bottle of cologne? Words do hurt, and you do not not know what a person is going through when make your public nay-saying about him/her. How can someone correct his/her behavior if you choose to address the issue on social media instead of addressing the issue with the person directly?  How can a young woman learn etiquette if you choose to talk about her instead of taking her under your wings and teach her the correct way?  As believers, we should be concerned about whether a person knows Christ as their personal Savior, not what they are wearing or how they smell or how they look or how they speak.

Friends, now is the time to unite as one body of Christ, banding together to break strongholds and tear down walls.  Now is the time to be encouragers in Christ.  Now is the time to speak love and show love for our brothers and sisters, despite how they dress or how they smell or how they look.  Our words and actions can seriously discourage or even turn someone away from following the Lord. When God cleans us up, HE cleans us up from the inside out; not from the outside in.

We are losing focus as adults, as members in the body of Christ. I am reminded of what the Lord had told Samuel,as found in 1 Samuel 16:7, "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”" (NIV)

Here are some biblical examples of people God used despite how they looked or how they smelled or how they dressed or what they did. God is concerned with our hearts, not our outside appearance. 

Rahab, the prostitute (Joshua 2)

Noah, the drunk (Genesis 9)

Samaritan woman at the well (John 4)

Woman with the 12- year issue of blood (Luke 8) 

Paul, persecutor of Christians (Acts 9) 

My challenge for us today is that we will be concerned about the welfare of our men and women, young ladies and young men.  My challenge is that we will be compassionate and kind toward each other.   I encourage you, Believers of Christ, next time you have the desire to make fun or degrade or humiliate another person, think twice about doing so. 

Let us be the example of what God's love is about. 

In Christ,

Therese from Belize