I'm thankful Rose enjoys listening to me read aloud so much. It is nice to be able to count on at least one captive audience member.            

I'm thankful Willow enjoys putting on dances for us, and that she said she missed Forest being a part of tonights dance since he is already sleeping.         

I'm thankful Forest went to bed with no fussing tonight and that he was pleasant all afternoon even though he did not get a nap.

I'm thankful for my home being layed out as it is. I enjoy that the downstairs feels like a private get-a-way after a long day or week.                             

I'm thankful my husband never complains about having to work , and that he is the type of man that believes it is his responsibility to provide for his family.           

"Lord, thank you for loving me and setting me free. Thank you for this family You've given me for however long You allow. Please help me to learn from the trials that come through our door and give me words of grace and wisdom to share with those who cross my path and are struggling. Please use our family to show others Your love in the big and small ways. And most of all, please forgive me for the times I fail You and am a hypocrite or prideful or selfish. You are so good to us and I am asking you to provide for us and watch over us. Please heal me of this sickness that just won't go away.  In Jesus Christ's name I pray, Amen."            

I know there are many people who want to do something, anything, for the election Tuesday. Here is my response; perhaps it will meet a need for you as well.

You know what matters to a woman when you look at the topics that dominate her conversations with her closest friends. Don't you agree? We talk about schooling the children, keeping the house in decent shape, politics, child rearing, personal marital issues, personal spiritual issues, and many of us are touching on Bible prophesy these days since quite frankly, many see the signs of the times playing out in ways they thought would only happen close to the Rapture.             

I'm not well versed in this subject but I do think along these lines, more so lately than anytime previous. But as my husband warns me, there have been many times in history where people were sure Christ would be returning. I keep thinking how wicked the world was in Noah's day before God essentially started over with just Noah and his family. We're a far cry from that I think, but we've sure got our issues and the way so much isn't adding up politically just makes you wonder.

This is copied with permission-it islong, the jist is to fast from now until the election, and pray!

--------------------

Author of this posting is listed at the bottom--just an fyi, cervical cancer rates are higher in cultures where males aren't circumcised, though clearly circumcision isn't required for salvation!  One thought is that this is why God told the Jewish people to have the males circumcised, to protect them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it possible for a Christian to convert to Judaism?                                                                         

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is possible to convert from a so-called Christian to a so-called Jew, but first lets consider what it really means to be either. According to the Bible, the only conversion that means anything is not conversion from Christian to Jew or from Jew to Christian, but from unbeliever to believer.

John the Baptist warned that Jewish ancestry was not enough to guarantee salvation. (Matthew 3:9-11)                                                                                                          

Even a Jew by birth is not a "Jew" in the truest sense unless his heart is converted: 

"A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code."

• Romans 2:28-29                            

(Formal conversion through a rabbi would obligate the convert to undergo the ritual of circumcision and adhere to strict religious rules, many of which have only the most tenuous basis in actual Biblical commandments)                                     

In 1 Cor 7:18, the apostle Paul tells the uncircumcised not to seek to become circumcised. It seems clear that Paul is saying that non-Jewish believers should not convert to Judaism:

"Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts." -- 1 Corinthians 7:18b-19

What does it mean then to keep God’s commands? A crowd once gathered around Yeshua (Jesus) and asked him "What must we do to do the works God requires?" He answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:36) On another occasion, he declared that whoever believes in him will have eternal life, but whoever did not would remain condemned.    

Note that I said remain condemned, not be condemned. In Yeshua’s words, he who does not believe is condemned already. That is because there is a gulf of unrighteousness between Man and God. The Bible tells us that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23, or Isaiah 53:6) and fallen short of the glory of God. Because God’s standard is absolute Holiness, it is impossible for anyone to attain it on his own. No matter how many or how great his good deeds may be, it is impossible to regain that "perfect score" once even the tiniest sin has been committed.                                                                     

How then can anyone be redeemed, if he cannot redeem himself? Only by the grace of God. So does God just shrug and let everyone off the hook? No, if God were to lower the standard he would be making himself less than God. The World to Come would be no better than The World That Is if all the sinners simply marched right in unchanged! What God has done is to offer his own righteousness to pay the price. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, so in order for God to pay, he had to come into the world as a mortal man of infinite righteousness to die. Now most of us do not have enough righteousness to survive death, but the Son of God Yeshua did! He literally rose bodily from the dead in three days time, proving he had the authority to the price of sin once and for all for all mankind.                                           

You might say that God has set a trust-fund of righteousness with a balance of infinity. Anyone with a need can draw on that account simply by asking for it. Since absolutely no one on earth has perfect righteousness on his own, anyone who fails to take advantage of this offer will simply come up short. 

"Cashing in" this way – by simply acknowledging your need to God and accepting his gracious gift – is the beginning of a true relationship with God. It doesn’t come from circumcision or baptism or conversion to this or that religion. Having taken God’s hand this way, what remains is to learn to walk with him, to know and do more and more of his good will.

David Brown
AMF International
http://www.amfi.org

I've always wanted to be a Messianic Jew...born and raised Jewish then learning the Messiah has indeed come. To be a "completed Jew" seems incredible to me. It is incredible to be born-again no matter what, but this has always interested me.              

I'm learning more about this idea and how some who are not actually raised Jewish worship alongside "completed Jews". IMO they are not actually Messianic Jews, but are fellowshiping and worshiping with the brethren they are most comfortable with. We are all one in Christ, so it is personal preference and perhaps a calling.  It's something I am very curious about as I feel a strong desire to witness to Jews who do not yet know the Messiah has come.       

What I'm wondering tonight is if you learn you have some Jewish blood in your ancestry, does that make you part of God's chosen race? Or is the religious side a big part of that? Does one need to decend from parents or grandparents who were practicing Jews in a religious sense. If it is a direct ancestry thing I'd go with the Biblical view of it having to come through the father's side rather than the Rabbinic view of the ancestry coming from the mother's side.       

I'd love to hear from you on this if you know anything about it. I would love to witness to Jews and to learn more about the religion so I could understand more about Scripture and Jesus' early ministry. I desire to see Jews come to a saving faith in the Messiah.

Do you ever think about all the things in this life that are tools of Satan, meant to distract people from what really matters for eternity? Things like global warming, UFO's, talk show's like Oprah, health/fitness, horoscopes, palm readers, false religions, legalistic religions, the economy...even politics if we're not careful. The media is a tool of the enemy, propogating fear and lies, and basically anything that is anti-God. People who promote tolerance will not tolerate those who say these things are scams, which reveals it has become a religion to them, one based on nothing solid but which have the Devil pleased.     

I believe the next big even to happen according to Bible prophesy is the Rapture, and we need to be ready. How do we get prepared? By accepting Jesus Christ as our Savoir. We need forgiveness for our sins. The penalty for our sins is death and eternal separation from God--Hell. It's not a popular topic, but it is a critical one.      

What breaks my heart are all the people denying Christ and His power and are falling prey to what Satan and his demons (1/3 of the angels that God created) are promoting. The thing is, even Satan knows Jesus Christ is real and he knows what the Bible says. His goal is to take as many people to Hell and away from God as he can...even people who deny his existance along with denying Christ's as Diety.

When I look at politics I see people who are either striving to follow Christ or people who are not, and sometimes there are those who are not on Christ's side but who have a morality that aligns rather closely. How much of a part should we as Christians play? Should we step out of politics? Maybe. Should we run for office and try to not be corrupted? Maybe. Should we work to reach the lost through politics? Maybe.      

It is a personal journey for each of us, being obedient to the One who has called us and delivered us. Clearly, if you've read my other blog, you know I am compelled to be involved with politics...fighting for the unborn and for a sense of morality that mirrors the Bible as much as possible. Yet, I do realize that the body of Christ has grown and been made more pure through trial, and I can't help but wonder, and sometimes fear, God is going to allow a time of trial for us by allowing Barack Obama to be elected. To me that will show we are just that much closer to His calling us home through the Rapture, when the church leaves Earth, and only secularists who deny the Holy God of the Bible are left with 7 years to live (3.5 good/3.5 dreadful) before Christ's Second Coming.

It was a fun day today, seeing our friends for a few hours, catching up and letting the kids play. The enemy was lurking though as some of my children were really pushing the limits of obedience and just being naughty. Don't you hate that, when there is a special event or something and the kids just act so differently from how you want them to act? It sure keeps me humble.   

In spite of the foul mood they put me in early this morning (while my studly dh fixed our van so we could still make the trip!), it was just really great to sit and talk with Ferd and Christie while all the kids played. I wish we could get lots more time together like that. There is so much I'd like us to get around to discussing, deep spiritual matters and such, things you can't really get to in a short time.       

Anyhow, isn't it a joy when you have a kinship with other believers, people you feel you are laboring along with for the same goal, even though you are in different parts of the world? The desire of my heart is to bring others to a saving relationship with Christ, and particularly to help carnal Christians choose to live daily, firmly in His word. Enouraging believers is what I love to do most and trying to point the way to righteousness in general.  

It's amazing how God will use such imperfect people if we are willing.    

Recently on my Facebook account I stated that my passion lately is politics, and something about that bothered me. I still wrote it because it was true. So tonight at revival, which was good but not over the top good, I thought about how I've slipped into a place of losing my passion for the One who deserves it. 

And I felt sad about that.              

We sung some moving contemporary songs that made me miss the intimacy I've felt with Jesus, so I've prayed for how to get back to that place, or how to get forward to that place. There was a time when my excitement for what the Lord had done for me could not be contained. I knew so little but was just excited about anything new I learned. God loved me. God loved me so much He sent His Son to pay the price for my sin and to forgive me. I had a lot to be forgiven of. The truth is, the longer I know Him the more I see of my sin. There is so much inside me that is not glorifying. Attitudes that I need to die to, priorities that aren't His, times where I'm more concerned with people liking me than sharing my burden for their lost soul. Sure I can couch it in the idea of "winning them through friendship" but at some point the hard talk needs to happen.        

I'm tired of being comfortable, and I'm unsettled about my daily offering of myself to Him.                  

Maybe you feel the same way tonight. Maybe you, too, need to kindle afresh that passion you once felt for the One who has and will continue to deliver the only true peace there is, to your soul and mine. May we never be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power to save, heal and forgive. God forgive us when we are ashamed and have been, and give us that fresh start you promise. 

Amen.