Favor Mentality

Today's Scripture

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life...” (Psalm 23:6).

Today's Word

Do you know what goodness is? It’s God’s favor. In the above verse, David was saying, “Favor follows me everywhere I go.” David knew he had an advantage. He knew God would assist him. He knew he could expect preferential treatment. David had this favor mentality. All through the Psalms, he constantly talks about God’s favor. You see, something is going to follow you throughout life. If you go around thinking, “Nothing good ever happens to me. I never get any breaks.” Then you’re going to have defeat, mediocrity, and lack following you around. But if you’ll switch over into this favor mentality and say, “God’s favor gives me an advantage. God’s favor is bringing success. God’s favor is making my crooked places straight...” then you’ll have blessings chasing you down! You’ll walk in promotion! You’ll experience increase! You will be destined for success! Choose to have a favor mentality today so you can enjoy the goodness and mercy God has stored up for you!

A Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for showing me your goodness. Thank you for showing me your favor. I accept your promises for me today and let go of every negative thought. Thank you for your peace today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

4 Wives

Once upon a time there was a rich King who had four wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one day she would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidante and was always kind, considerate and patient with him. Whenever theKing faced a problem, he could confide in her, and she would help him get through the difficult times.

The King's first wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the first wife. Although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her! One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short. He thought of his luxurious life and wondered,

"I now have four wives with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone." Thus, he asked the fourth wife , "I loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company? "No way!", replied the fourth wife, and she walked away without another word. Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.

The sad King then asked the third wife, "I loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"No!", replied the third wife. "Life is too good! When you die, I'm going to remarry!"His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the second wife, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!",replied the second wife. "At the very most, I can only walk with you to your grave." Her answer struck him like a bolt of lightning, and the King was devastated.

Then a voice called out: "I'll go with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go."The King looked up, and there was his first wife. She was very skinny as she suffered from malnutrition and neglect. Greatly grieved, the King said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"

In truth, we all have the 4 wives in our lives:

Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it will leave us when we die.

Our third wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to others.

Our second wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

And our first wife is our Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go. Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of us that will follow us to the throne of God and continue being with us throughout Eternity.

Thought for the day: Remember, when the world pushes you to your knees, you're in the perfect position to pray.

Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!

Crave Him

Today's Scripture

“Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with a whole heart”(Psalm 119:2 AMP)

Today's Word

Often times when we hear the word “crave”, we automatically think about food cravings. Cravings can be triggered by just about anything. You may see an advertisement of your favorite burger or hear someone mention ice cream, and it produces an image in your mind. You replay that image over and over again until you have to get in your car and seek that thing you are craving! Your spiritual cravings work the same way. When you focus on God and meditate on His Word, it starts to change your desires on the inside. Spiritual hunger for Him will grow and develop into a craving-until you actually have to stop everything else in order to seek Him! If you feel spiritually hungry, take a step of faith and begin to focus your heart more on God and His Word. The Bible says that when you seek Him with your whole heart, you will find Him. Just like the verse says, when you crave God and obey His commands, you will live happy and blessed all the days of your life!

A Prayer for Today

Dear Lord, today I set my focus on You. I choose to seek You with an open heart. Remind me of Your goodness today and keep me close to You. Thank You for filling me with Your peace and joy and for empowering me through the Truth of Your Word. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Trust Him

Today's Scripture

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV).

Today's Word

Do you need God's direction in your life? Often times, the Lord will instruct your heart to do something that's just the opposite of what your natural mind thinks you should do. It doesn't make sense, but God's principals are very different from the world's principals. In the natural, it doesn't make sense that if you are in need, you should give to someone-you should sow a seed. But you can trust God's Word that says “what you sow, you shall reap.” You can trust that God's system is set up for your good. His system is set up to prosper you and not harm you. He wants to give you a future and a hope. As you step out and trust God and obey His word-even when you don't understand-He promises to direct your paths. He promises that your path will shine brighter and brighter every single day!

A Prayer for Today

Thank You, God, for directing my path today. Thank You for opening my heart to trust You today. Keep me close to You and teach me to hear Your voice so that I may please You all the days of my life. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Hmm !!! Is there a God

WHAT A GREAT ANALOGY OF GOD FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW BY ROBIN WILLIAMS NO LESS

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand. A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists." "Why do you say that?"asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things."The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say that?"asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me." " Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point!God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

What's happening with the Bosch Family

When it comes to our adoption from China, nothing much is really happening. We are still waiting. It is a very very long process, but I know that God's timing is just perfect so until then I will just continue to pray and wait on the Lord.

But along with that I will say that on Friday August 17th, it was my niece's birthday. Amanda turned 13 yrs old. She chose to come to our house and celebrate with all of us here. We had Pizza, chicken Wings, Garlic Rolls and Cake (yummy). It was nice spending time with all of the kids and to celebrate this joyous time together.

Update on our family: Anthony finished his first class in college with an A. He begins going full term this coming Thursday. Anthony will be taking English, Math, Speech and Computer. I pray that he stay focused and that the Lord annoint him with Wisdom and Knowledge.

Herb finished passing his AC Contractor's license in the State of Florida. He is now a certified contractor. Anthony and I celebrated this HUGE accomplishment with him. He came home to a BIG congratulation balloon, a card and a carrot cake. Yummy !!!

And me, well I'm just me !!!! Happy trails everyone; Be GOD's always.

The Bottom Line

Mattew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

So much time and energy is spent worrying about the "stuff" of life. Seriously, think about the time we expend on material things such as food, clothing, stuff to put inside our homes. We all worry about these things, but they are not what's really imporant in life. Our relationship with and service to God is truly more important than these things.

The bottom line question is whether we TRUST God to take care of these materialistic things. Are we willing to live by His standards and with what He supplies for us and give our energy and time to the more important things?

Have a blessed day.

Follow the Leader

Today's Scripture

“God is with us; He is our leader” (2 Chronicles 13:12, TLB).

Today's Word

Who or what are you following today? In other words, who or what has the most influence in your life and on the decisions you make? Do you make choices based on what the television news says, or what someone in your family says? Now it’s not wrong to get other people’s advice, but what you allow to influence you becomes your leader. When you choose to make God your leader by following His commands, you are making a declaration with your actions that God is your leader! When you go forth in God, following Him as your leader, nothing can stand in your way! God has promised again and again that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is a good leader and you will never be alone when you’re serving Him! In the Old Testament, the people would not go into battle without knowing that God was with them. They knew that they would surely fail if they went into battle alone. Is there an area in your life that you need direction? Follow your Leader. Is there a decision you need to make today? Follow your Leader. As you submit yourself to Him, He will lead you down paths of righteousness and peace. He will lead you into victory in every area of your life!

A Prayer for Today

God, thank You for going with me and leading me into victory day by day. Thank You that this victory can start today as I constantly rely on You. I repent today of following any other voice and submit myself to you in everything I do. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Today's Reflection

Reflect:

Jesus exposes Himself to his closest friends, Peter, James, and John. Jesus makes Himself vulnerable by trusting that they will not say anything to anyone about witnessing Jesus’ Transfiguration. Jesus is setting up for them the opportunity to understand what it means to rise from the dead. Jesus does not necessarily only mean our bodily death but also explains the newness of life we can experience while still alive. Peter, James and John were privileged witnesses to see the divinity of Jesus while they still walked the earth. Their eyes were opened, yet they did not fully understand. We too are invited to see Jesus’ true self by not only looking with our human eyes, but eyes made new by faith in God. By doing so our lives will be transfigured, although we may not fully understand we will be given the continued gift of faith.

Quote of the Day:

When it's God speaking.....the proper way to behave is to imitate someone who has an irresistable curiosity and who listens at keyholes. You must listen to everything God says at the keyhole of your heart. -- St. John Vianney

Our Baby Emmanuel's Birthday and Death Day

Our precious baby Emmanuel would have been (4) yrs old today. On this day, I take time to remember where I was four years ago, let me give you a visual - In a hospital bed, surrounded by family and friends, playing soft christian music in the background, surrounded by prayers and by God's presence. This was the day the Lord had made and I had a choice to bury my sorrows deep within or to rejoice in the Lord for this was the day that HE had made. I chose to rejoice in the Lord. This was the day that I had to give birth to our stillborn son Emmanuel DeJesus Bosch. The Lord carries me through this very difficult time in my life. He was the source of my strength. Did my faith shake alittle during this time? It absolutely did - but never did I take my eyes off of my savior, NEVER ! I cried my self to sleep endless times, I lived sometime in a cloud, not knowing whether I was coming or going. My relationship at home with my hubbie staggered abit during this trial - but it was in the desolation time of my life where I can say that I have felt the closest to the Lord.

My pregnancy with baby emmanuel was unbelievable, I knew his little personality even though he was in my womb. This little boy taught me so many things, he taught me that life is a precious gift and that everytime I can feel my heart beat - to thank the good Lord above because he is the life giver. This little boy taught our family strength, endurance and perserveance. He taught me compassion for special need children all over the world. He left this world to be with Jesus but he also reminded me while he was gone that we will be together again someday. He gave me a bond with him that could never be broken and one that will always remain very close in my heart.

I will end this post with a very special poem that was shared with me by my sister: This poem speaks volumes to my precious baby Emmanuel.

I love you baby Emmanuel and I honor you everyday of my life, especially today August 5, 2007.

We are connected, My child and I, by an invisible cord, not seen by the eye.
It's not like the cord that connects us 'til birth, This cord can't be seen by any on Earth.
This cord does its work right from the start. It binds us together, attatched to my heart.
I know that it's there, though no one can see, The invisible cord from my child to me.
The strength of this cord is hard to describe. It can't be destroyed, it can't be denied.
It's stronger than any man could create, It withstands the test, can hold any weight.
And though you are gone, Though you are not here with me,
The cord is still there, but no one can see.
It pulls at my heart, I am bruised...I am sore,
But this cord is my lifeline, as never before.
I am thankful that God connects us this way,
A mother and child--Death can't take it away!~

Author unknown

Update on Isabella

Just a quick update on our adoption process toward Isabella. As my sister keeps up with all the yahoo groups (including the one from our adoption agency) she advised me this evening that CCAA have just finish reviewing files up to June 06. We are just (3) mths away from being reviewed and then we are off to the matching room. Yippeee !!!!!

By the way - today is my sister's birthday "Happy Birthday Munny". Hope you had the best birthday ever.

Love you lots.

P.U.S.H

A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light,and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explainedthat the man was to Push against the rock with all his might... So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might! Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, Feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: (He will do it every time)! You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."

That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of Prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to The Lord. "Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in Your Service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?

Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be Obedient and to push and to exercise your Faith and trust in My Wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He Wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the Faith that moves mountains, but know that It is still God Who moves The Mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong........................Just P.U.S.H.
When the job gets you down....................................Just P.U.S.H.
When people don't do as you think they should........Just P.U.S.H.
When your money is "gone" and the bills are due.....Just P.U.S.H.
When people just don't understand you....................Just P.U.S.H.

P = Pray U = Until S = Something H = Happens

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."

May God Bless You.

Believe And Receive

Wow !!!! This sure came in handy for me today. Thank you Jesus for your constant reminder of trust and security in my life.

Today's Scripture

“Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NIV).

Today's Word

Has God spoken things to your heart that haven’t come to pass yet? Sometimes when we are believing for things, it’s easy to let circumstances and the pressures of life drag us down. But when you make the choice to receive your promise by picturing it in your mind’s eye, and declaring it with the words of your mouth, your faith becomes stronger. You begin to feel more confident. You begin to feel more settled. You begin to have joy and peace because you know God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. What are you believing for God to do in your life today? Can you see it in your mind’s eye? Can you see yourself healed? Can you see yourself paying off that last debt? Can you see yourself at your ideal weight? Can you see yourself sharing the gospel with a family member or coworker? Ask the Lord to give you the picture of what He sees when He looks at you. As you open your heart and allow God’s thoughts to become your thoughts, and your receive His promises by faith, just like it says in the above verse—whatever you ask for in prayer will be yours!

A Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, thank You for another day to serve You. Thank You for the gift of faith. I ask that you search my heart and mind and remove anything that does not please you. Give me your thoughts of peace and joy today so that I can learn to receive all you have for me today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Reflect On This

Who's side are you on? Hopefully if you’re reading this you are striving to be on God’s side. Jesus gives us a stern warning today. The wicked will be separated from the good. God knows we are not perfect, perfection for we simple humans is impossible without God. However, we can strive for excellence in being good. There is no doubt that we will make mistakes, even sin, but God does not keep us from Him because of that. God offers to us His unconditional love and forgiveness. We are good when we do our best to work for the Kingdom of God. Jesus is not simply speaking of our actions but more so of what resides in our inner most deepest selves, that is our souls. Goodness or wickedness speaks of who we are not so much of what we do.

Quote of the Day:"It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best." -W. Edwards Deming