http://youtu.be/eckskOzB1-Y - Above All - Michael W Smith

If you've never been to an Interactive Prayer Room at LakePointe Church in Rockwall, I hope you will make
every effort to take part in this wonderful time of prayer and worship.  I can't wait!


The stations are The Garden, The Kiss, The Crow, The Choice, The Stripes, The Cross and The King of the Jews.

 

The Garden

Luke 22:41-44
⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

The Kiss

Luke 22:47-48
⁴⁷ While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, ⁴⁸ but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

The Crow

 Luke 22:33-35 NIV
33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

The Choice

Matthew 27:21



“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered.


 

 
 

The Stripes
 
John 19:1
 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
 
This was no ordinary whipping. The Journal of the American Medical Association describes the Roman practice of scourging:


'The usual instrument was a short whip (flagrum or flagellum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. . . . As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.

The Cross

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

 
 

King of the Jews - King of Kings

Revelation 19:13-16
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Next week's Interactive Prayer Room is called the Way of the Cross and it is a journey with Christ through His last hours on the Villa de la Rosa or the Way of the Suffering. There are interactive activities and times of reflections as you move through the room and listen to the Spirit.

This year there is one at the Rockwall Campus, Town East Campus and Fire Wheel Campus! The hours are on the website. Rockwall's are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. Check for the other campuses.

For me, the time I've spent in an Interactive Prayer Room has been soothing to my spirit, a real time of communion with the Lord.   The Way of the Cross will give us an opportunity to reflect on just what Jesus did on our behalf. 

Interactive Prayer Room: The Way of the Cross

Monday, April 2- Friday April 6 / 8 am – 8 pm

Room A122 / Rockwall Campus

Join us for an amazing prayer experience that will draw you closer to Christ as we celebrate His Life, Death & Resurrection.

The Prayer Ministry

Lakepointe Church

Hunger Games - A story about what really matters

http://youtu.be/FovFG3N_RSU - The Hunger Games trailer

Tyler had to read this book over the summer for  Sophomore English at Dallas Christian School.  I read the book, too, just so that I could discuss it with Tyler as he read it.  We both couldn't put it down.  I felt an immediate bond to the main characters and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.  What I took
away from the series was not how violent and gory it was but how evil this world can be at times.  Our only hope is Christ and living for Him - not for ourselves.  When we live for Him, we care about others as much as we care about ourselves.

This book had some violence, to be sure, but it had some powerful moments of self-sacrifice and caring about the welfare of others.  I loved Catniss, Primrose, Gayle and Peta.  I'm glad I got to know them.

Jesus took my place. Catniss took her sister's place.  What greater love...

If you're concerned about your child watching the movie, I would suggest that you watch it yourself first or read the book.  I think you'll see that it's a movie that can open up the channels for some great conversation with your children.  If you decide it's too much for your kids, at least they will know that you took the time to see it before making a decision that it was not acceptable.

Here's a link from Focus on the Family regarding the much talked about "Hunger Games" movie.  Is it
okay for Christians to allow their children to see this popular film?

http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2012/03/28/what-do-you-think-about-the-hunger-games

Although there is no mention of God, I could clearly see the difference between people who live
for the moment - live for this world compared to those who put others before themselves.
That's what God tells us to do. He gave us two commands - Love Him and Love others as we loves ourselves.  Hunger Games is definitely about some people who loved others more than themselves.

I loved this series of books and believe that teens who read the book or watch the movie
can see the, shall I use Solomon's words from Ecclesiates? MEANINGLESS! of life lived
for oneself.  Life lived for others is good. Life lived for God is meaningful beyond words.
------------------------------------------------

This is a review left on the Focus on the Family website review page  and he/she said it better than I could.  Several people left comments.  L.T.'s comments were insightful.  In other words, I agree totally!  =D

Mar 28, 2012 2:26 PM L. T. says:

I wasn’t sure at first why the movie The Hunger Games (book by Suzanne Collins) caused me such a great deal of discomfort. Yes, there’s the fattening before the slaughter, followed by the brutal killing of innocent children, and then the sick fans who were entertained by the suffering of others. But now I know why this movie strikes a cord way down into my very core, it’s because it’s us.

People call me intense, but after seeing the opening record numbers from this movie, maybe intense is what we want.

Fact–everyone in the human race has their name in a lottery much like the one in the movie. It’s a date with death and someday your number will be drawn. But until then, we have some time to figure out a few things. For instance, how will you spend your time?

We could spend that time filling ourselves with rich food and entertainment just like those in the movie. We can fixate our attention on people we have made famous, spending tons of hours and Internet minutes finding out what they wear, how they eat, what sins they’ve committed and all the naughty things they will say and do next, and be thrilled by it.

We can spend our hours trying to take down those around us in a feeble attempt to make ourselves look better. We can get really good at it, devising weapons to advance our greedy goals and desires.

We can commit the ultimate sin against life by becoming apathetic. Doing nothing. Caring about no one. Refraining from investing the time and sacrifice it requires to learn something valuable. Spending oodles of time becoming passive characters, living vicariously through the pretend people on TV. Refusing to become someone in our own right by not exercising the god-given talent that has been placed in our care.

If I was really honest with myself, I’d know that through the character Katniss I saw the futility of this world and at times my own life. That there are more important things to spend my time doing and thinking about. After all the clock is ticking. Many hours have passed already and my name could be drawn anytime.

I wonder what would happen if I truly embraced that reality and chose to start living smarter…today.

My family - My friends 

http://youtu.be/usZtSl8mX08 - He ain't heavy, he's my brother - Neil Diamond



Son Michael and Jill with two little rays of
sunshine - Brooklyn and Presley!

 

Have you ever heard the expression, "Friends are family you got to choose"? 

I'm sure most of us have friends we consider "family".  We may even feel closer to our "family friends" than
we do to our birth families.  But have you ever considered that God chose your family specifically for you?
He placed you in your family for a reason. 



Son - Richey and  Amber
with Jaycie and Bryce!



If God placed me in my family, shouldn't I pay attention to what He may have for me to learn from my family members?  Shouldn't I have a sense of responsibility towards my family members?  I think so.

I know that not all of us were born into the best situations.  Some "parents" do horrible things to their children. Why would God place a child in the care of those kind of so-called parents?  Could there be a purpose?  Could it be that God plans to use that child to help other children who face the same thing?  Could it be we are allowed to face struggles and suffering in order to draw us closer to one another?  To love each other more deeply with compassion and understanding?


We were created for love - love for and from the Lord and love for and from each other.  Unconditional love.  Most families have an unconditional love  - maybe not an unconditonal "like".  = )  But at the end of the day, I think most of us would say that we love our families.

If we understood that God in His infinite wisdom and love has placed us in our own families, maybe we would be more patient and more kind towards one another.  Maybe instead of being so quick to judge and condemn or criticize our brother or sister, we'd try to harder to help them with loving kindness instead of angry words and actions. 

I think of the time when my brother had a terrible motorcycle accident and how important family was during that situation.  Doctors said he wouldn't survive. It was the worst time of our lives. Our family came together and surrounded my brother and his wife and children.  We clung to each other like no other time I can remember.  There were, of course, good friends who came, too.  But Mark's family hardly ever left his side.  I never felt closer to my family than during that time.  I knew that no matter what, my family would be there for Mark, or for me if it had been me in the accident.

As I was doing my homework for Stepping Up with Beth Moore, this excerpt from day two of the last week of our study made me really stop to consider the importance of family connections.

from Stepping Up:

We form most friendships out of personal preferences, but we're not automatically the better for it.  (Stay with me here.  This lesson may bruise my feet more than yours.)  Many of us have distanced ourselves from extended family because we've replaced them with people we prefer.  Though some elements of the transition are justified and godly, others are selfish.  Let's face it.  Family is more trouble than friendship, and the fear that we might share similarities with some of our members also carries an indictment too strong to face on a regular basis.

For one thing, we can drop friends more easily when the relationship becomes inconvenient.  Here's the rub and maybe the help:  God chose our family even if we didn't.  Even the challenges they pose can be effective motivation to seek His throne, His help, and His healing (AKA: deal with our stuff).  After all, where would our prayer lives be without family?  Furthermore, if we only choose to be around those who require virtually nothing hard from us, what will prompt us (force us) to change?

I love serving single women as much as married women.  If you are single and living alone, however, I want to love you enough to point out the risk of avoiding needed change.  People who live in close quarters with others have someone constantly trying to knock off their rough edges.  People who live in community can also learn a little more readily that a fight need not be a fatality.  They can learn a bit more easily how to apologize because they are invited to do it.  On the other hand, someone living alone could manage most of the inconvenience and difficult personalities right out of their personal lives.  He or she might rewrite Psalm 133:1 to say "How good and pleasant it is when kindred live somewhere else."  Pleasant? Maybe.  Good?  Not necessarily.  God often uses other people as the chisel to carve true integrity into our rough personalities.  A chisel that never scrapes the stone is useless.

Don't misunderstand me to say you shouldn't live alone.  If I were single, I'd probably want to, too.  Just make sure you stay closely connected with a family-like group of people to be blessed, coaxed, irritated, and motivated enough by them to keep changing.  Learning to endure hardship and inconvenience with people is critical to the process of becoming a whole person. When all is said and done, some of the people we needed most to fulfill God's plan for our personal lives will be those we wanted least.  God doesn't just want us to be happy.  He wants us to be useful.

Earlier, I suggested that we may not have chosen our family members, but God did.
That doesn't mean God chooses all their actions and decisions.  God does not tempt people to sin.  He does at times, however, permit difficult things to happen within families.  To paraphrase Joseph's words to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, what Satan and others mean for evil in our lives, God wouldn't have allowed unless it could be used for good and for the delivering of lives.

New Interpreter's Bible commentary:
"The family is a crucial institution.  It affects everyone, for good or ill.  By its very nature, it can be the place where one experiences and learns intimacy, love and growth, or it can be the place where one experiences and learns resentment, abuse, and destructive behavior."
-------------------------------------------------------

Most of us have good and bad experiences in our own families.  Sometimes, because of bad things that happen, we want to get away from our families as fast as we can and never look back.   Satan wants to try and use God's institution of Family to hurt us and destroy us.  But God says, "I wouldn't allow this situation if something good couldn't come from it." 

Can we just trust God enough to know that He loves us and wants eternal good for us?  If we are willing to allow God to use us, we can be stronger, more equipped to help others through similar circumstances if we just look to our heavenly Father instead of our own human wisdom.

This world is not our Home.  God loves us enough to allow difficult things so that we can drawer near to Him; so that we can be a living testimony to  others through our adversity.  Heaven will be so worth it, whatever He allows here on earth.

Psalm 133 is about unity.

1 How wonderful and pleasant it is
   when brothers live together in harmony!


2 For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil
   that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard
   and onto the border of his robe.


3 Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon
   that falls on the mountains of Zion.
   And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing,
   even life everlasting.

This psalm is about the Israelites.  The northern kingdom (Mount Hermon) and the southern
kingdom (Judah - Jerusalem (Zion) were not united.  They were brothers - fellow descendants of Abraham yet they fought and refused to be one as God intended.  But every year during festivals - when all Israelites were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate and honor God, they all came together - they "flowed down" from the North - Mt Hermon all the way down to Zion - the south.  The Israelites came together to worship God.  That what God intends for us.  Unity in our families.  Unity in His Family.


Beth Moore stresses that family unity is important.  Each member of our families can decide whether to stay and be part of the family, or they can choose to walk away.  Of course there are times when it's advisable to walk away - when there is danger or evil.  But if our family is just "difficult", maybe we could better serve God by being an instrument of unity.   Are we willing to be the first member of our family to fight for unity?  To love unconditionally?  To invite God to show us the purpose behind our being placed in our particular family?

It may seem impossible in some families but if we are in a family of believers, our hearts should be so full of the Spirit of Christ that we all can come together - one in the Lord.
That's what God intended.  That's what Christ prayed for in John 17.

John 17:20-23 NLT
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.


22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.




This is just part of my family.  Each member is unique and special.
God placed each of us in this family for a reason. 

Why did God place you in your family? 



Do I trust Him or not?



http://youtu.be/WCX7ldINNmg - Through it all - Hillsong

Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 1and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.



Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Our Wednesday night ladies' class is studying Beth Moore's "Stepping Up" - a study of the psalms of ascent. I got a little behind on my homework for this week but had to share an excerpt from day 1 of week 6.

from Stepping Up:

One of the most spectacular elements of Psalm 132 is how God's answers exceeded the psalmist's petition. God appears to thoroughly enjoy doing "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" - Ephesians 3:20 NIV, and probably has few bigger frustrations than when our prayerlessness denies Him the chance. You see, if we don't "ask or imagine", what does God have to out-do?

God has done the same for you, Beloved, and here's the amazing part:

He's answered you above and beyond what you

asked on some of the very requests you assumed

He answered negatively.

If time and opportunity have passed, we assume God said no. Sometimes we're right. Sometimes we're wrong. Our finite minds simply cannot grasp God's infinite ways of answering prayer. You have no idea how many times you've prayed and God answered affirmatively but is awaiting the proper time for its revelation. Somewhat like Matthew 16:19, the answer has been "loosed" in heaven but hasn't yet been "loosed" on the pavement of earth. When the revelation does come, we sometimes don't link it with what we originally asked because we don't recognize the supersized Ephesians 3:20 answer.

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


Isn't that amazing! I've read and used Ephesians 3:20 often to remind myself and others of God's faithfulness and love. I try not to limit God by giving Him my list things I think He needs to do in regards to my prayer requests, but human nature gets the best of me.  I want my friends to be healed.  I want marriages to be restored and strong; I want, I want, I want... but what does God have planned?  What is His perfect will?

I love my friends and family and when they hurt, I want their burdens to be lifted and gone! If I could just remember that God loves them more than I could ever begin to comprehend, and that He wants good things for them - much more so than I do, then maybe I could pray for His will to be done without flinching, without being afraid to leave it in His hands?  Do I trust Him or not?

Beth Moore's words remind me once again that He is faithful even when I don't understand the delay; even when it seems He is not answering me at all. Why do I give up on prayer requests when I don't immediately see an answer? I must be persistent and pray - believing that He has already put things in motion to answer - maybe not in a way that my punie little mind works, but in ways that are immeasurably greater than anything I could ask or imagine?


Do I trust Him or not?

http://youtu.be/EGLSk3AVcUU - Don't Give Up - Josh Groban