Zephaniah 3:9

“Then will I purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”


Heavenly Father,

First you gave us the Commandments to tell us what you want us to do,
Then you sent Jesus to be a living example to teach us how to get through.

Then the next stage was the Bible, written to guide us along our way,
And communication was given to us freely, when on our knees with humble hearts we do pray.

The final stage was the Holy Spirit who came to live within,
To teach, guide and steer us on our journey to live without sin.

You have reached out to us in every way to show us how to live a pure life,
And given us all the tools we need along our way to keep us out of strife.

We are human and prone to making mistakes as we experience, learn and grow,
And it is for this reason that you have sent us your instructions that we need to know.

It seems that there are so many interpretations of what you meant for us,
And through this it has left us fighting each other and for this our brothers we do cuss.

I long for the day that we all learn to agree and find a way to get along,
And in all of your Glory we praise you and worship through love, harmony and song.

I pray each day for peace on earth, good will and love to fill us all,
To save the human race from destruction because left to our own demise we will fall.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

Ecclesiastes 12:14

For God will bring every deed into judgement,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.


Heavenly Father,

The heavens and the earth are aeons old and yet we live on earth for a very short time,
And at the end of the day all that counts is, did we live a pure life or a life of crime?

You are the creator of everything that exists and know everything that goes on,
And there is nothing that can be hid from you whether right or wrong.

You know of every thought, word, action or deed and the motive behind them all,
Whether we came from a loving heart, or a hidden agenda that would lead us to fall?

At the end of the day when I have taken my last breath, to you I must answer to,
And based on my life, will I stand before you smiling, or hang my head in shame for what I did or didn’t do?

Your laws are simple, not that hard to live by and that is all you do ask,
And through reflection I need to ask myself did I live up to the task?

It is never too late to start living life the way that it should be,
And that is living within your laws and following Jesus to set my mind, heart and soul free.

I am far from perfect and am the first to admit that throughout my day,
And I constantly fall to my knees for repentance and forgiveness when I do stray.

I pray that I always live by your laws and cleanse my mind and heart from sin,
And constantly work at purifying my soul by being honest with myself and looking within.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

Lamentations 3:22

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.


Heavenly Father,

You have been my constant companion in life and the only stability that I could rely on,
You never change or turn me away and graciously fill me with your love when each day is done.

You have been with me through the joyous times and the tragically bad,
And filled me with your holy presence in the pits of sorrow, when I was feeling sad.

You have cured me from cancer and through your grace saved me from near death,
And renewed my mind, body and spirit with your healing through your holy breathe.

You were the only one with me when at times I had to travel on alone,
And you touched my heart every time to let me know you were there when I did moan.

I have felt your presence with me whenever I would look to you and sing and dance,
And you have guided me through all trials and tribulations and I could see your hand at work at a glance.

You have taught me about life and what it means to be loved by you,
And no matter what experiences I face you guide me and tell me how to get through.

You forgive me for all of my shortfalls and foolishness along my way,
And you always listen to me when I call, when I fall to my knees and I do pray.

Today I pray not seeking anything or needing your help in what I do,
But just to give you praise and glory and let you know how much I love you.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

Prayer for Texas

Heavenly Father,

Everyday we come to you in prayer for help, but today it is needed most,
As Hurricane Ike threatens the state of Texas, and the Gulf Coast.

Throughout history miracles are recorded where your divine intervention came through,
When Christians fell to their knees and in fervent prayer came pleading to you.

All you ask is for us to have faith and trust and to leave it in your hands,
And through your love, compassion, grace and mercy you save our earthly lands.

Many lives are under threat today as nature's wrath has waged a war,
And we pray for you to protect them from harms way by opening heavens door.

Please send your heavenly forces to watch over, protect and free everyone from harm,
As the state is in the midst of a devastating crisis and the government has sounded the alarm.

Without you nothing is possible, but with you miracles can be achieved,
And Christians hold strong in faith, that with your blessings a miracle will be received.

I pray for the winds to cease and the sun to coming shining through,
And rainbows to fill the land, as the air becomes healing, fresh and new.

I pray that no lives are lost and the water drains from the land,
As you intercede and create miracles with your heavenly hand.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

Prayer for New Orleans

Heavenly Father,

There are times when this world needs to put its differences aside and come together in prayer,
For the good of mankind and to protect us from the destruction that evil does bare.

Mankind has started a technological nightmare and evolution is taking its toll,
Where the planet is becoming unstable and the weather is playing a fatal role.

We are using up the worlds resources and global warming is starting to show,
That we are going to reap our rewards for what we have done, as through ignorance we did not know.

There are many people in harms way tonight as a hurricane threatens their lives,
And it is a fight with nature on earth, and your intervention is needed to save them from strife.

I call upon you and all of your heavenly forces to protect the innocent from the destruction to come,
And pray that the hurricane dissipates and to your Will it shall succumb.

You are the almighty creator over the universe and all life that exists,
And at your Will you can stop this and I pray for the hurricane not to persist.

We have wronged you with the way that we live and abused your very land,
And now we pray on our knees for you to have mercy and save us with your heavenly hand.

All over the world tonight Christians are on their knees in intercessory prayer,
To save New Orleans from destruction, to be protected under your wing and in your loving care.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

Psalm 111:2


Great are the works of the LORD;

they are pondered by all that delight in them.


Heavenly Father,

It's funny how fickle the human race can be when events turn around,
A perfect example of this is Hurricane Gustav when it was inward bound.

It was predicted to be the worst hurricane this century has ever seen,
& the government was on red alert & New Orleans was sent fleeing.

Everyone was praying to you to save the country from bitter destruction,
& you answered all prayers by protecting them from nature's confrontation.

By the time the hurricane hit New Orleans it's devastation did not takes its toll,
As you protected everyone from harms way as you intervened & took on a merciful role.

The impact was minor & damages were minimal to say the least,
As you calmed the storms & protected the township from nature's beast.

Now the storm is passing & I listen to what the world has to say,
& there is no recognition of your hand at work & how you saved the day.

Suddenly everyone blames the government for over reacting in the first place,
& how next time they won't listen to the warnings that the government puts in place.

This world looks to you for miracles & has lost faith because they cannot see,
Yet that was the most amazing & awe inspiring experience to witness,
as from destruction you set them free.

I pray for this world to start to awaken & see the Glorious wonder of you,
& how you are our protector & saviour, & you watch over us from your heavenly view.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx

FORGIVENESS

Dictionary:

The act of excusing a mistake or offense;
a pardon by treating the offender as if the offense had not occurred;
the act of freeing from guilt or blame.

Biblical:

Ephesians 1:7

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Acts 13:38-39

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Acts 26:18

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.


Two Sides:

One side is seeking forgiveness for an offense and the other side is forgiving the offender.

Seeking Forgiveness:

Forgiveness seems to be one of those things that is hard to perceive, as it is not as straight forward as saying "I am sorry" and then thinking life is rosy and all is back to normal.

It goes much deeper than that, and it involves not just the mental thought of saying "sorry" but also the contrite heart in accepting and acknowledging that a wrong has occurred, and with a willing spirit to repent for the actions that were performed.

It is learning from the error of our ways and changing how we should conduct our behaviour in the future and not keep repeating the same mistake over and over again, as that is when the person doing the forgiving can find it hard to do so after awhile, and sometimes the end result can be broken friendships and lost loved ones.

It is going within and taking an open minded and honest look at ourselves, our behaviour, our actions, our words, our deeds and our foolishness, and seeing it in God's light and in all it's truths, with no excuses, no blame and no mud slinging, just pure acceptance, that this is our error and we are responsible for our own actions.

No one can make us say or do anything against our Will, so therefore it was our responsibility to act in a rational and acceptable way in the first place, so it is being completely honest with ourselves, to ourselves, in the eyes of God.

Then, once you reach this point, you accept that you may receive forgiveness or you may not from the person that you offended and that is out of your control and your hands, but it is the end result of your own actions.

It definitely does hurt when we are not forgiven or given another chance, but at the end of the day, we have accepted our part in how the whole situation transpired in the first place.

There are times when people don't forgive straight up, but that can also depend on how badly we behaved, and maybe they need to be shown respect and patience by giving them space to calm down and get over the interaction, as don't forget, as much as we hurt ourselves with our own actions, imagine the hurt that we inflicted on them, and as much as we need to heal, so do they.

Then after awhile, you never know, they could all of a sudden out of the blue forgive and everything is loving and friendly again, but at the end of the day, it is up to them how they react, we have no say or control, as if we didn't create the chaos in the first place, we wouldn't have to be facing the fact that we may have reaped what we sowed.

The worst thing that we can do is feel hurt that they won't forgive, which is due to our own foolishness in the first place, and then start the mud slinging, the blame, etc. and retaliate because our feelings are hurt that they won't forgive, which is not going to resolve anything but put an end to any possibility of reconciliation in the future.

So whether someone forgives us or not, we should always send them love and blessings and pray for them on their journey, as it was our actions that caused the unresolved issues, and that we should never forget or seek any payback, as we got paid for our actions, and acceptance is part of the repentance.

This is where we need to accept the outcome, good or bad, forgive ourselves and give ourselves time to heal and move on, and do not offend that way again in the future, as we should have learnt our lesson.

Forgiving Others:

We all know how hard it is from a humble heart to reach out to someone and seek forgiveness, it is a hard thing to do and takes a mighty soul to do that, and I am not talking about saying "sorry" but truly seeking forgiveness, so we all know how it hurts for someone not to accept that.
Because of a foolish mistake you weren't seen as worthy of giving another chance which can leave us feeling condemned, unworthy, sinful and broken, and we have all faced that at one time or another in our lives.

So when someone is seeking forgiveness, we should "do unto others as we would have done to ourselves".

We all want to be forgiven for being human and making mistakes, so we should learn to forgive.

Forgiving someone doesn't come from the head where we may or may not forgive or judge if that person is worth our forgiveness and deciding their fate, it is having a loving and compassionate heart and accepting that we are all human, and we all deserve second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. etc. chances, so if we can't forgive someone, then we really need to do some inner searching.

We need to go within and look for what attitude is it that we are holding onto that stops us from going to our heart and finding love and compassion?

We need to ask are we pure and blameless in our own lives that we can judge others to be better or worse?

We need to search is there some kind of past influence keeping us from forgiving, is our own behaviour completely blameless in the whole situation?

We need to wake up and see that as long as we hold onto our self-righteousness we are showing how ungodly we truly are, and how much more we need to learn on our path.

What reward is it that we are getting by not forgiving, do we feel holy and highly that we have the power to condemn someone?

Do we feel good watching someone suffer and feel hurt and broken that we don't forgive them, because seriously if this is the case, we really need to seek forgiveness and repent ourselves?

Then the next time that someone decides not to forgive us we will feel hurt and broken, we need to look back in our own life, and look at all the people that we did that very same thing to, because right at that point, we are seeing what we have done to others.

If you are finding it hard to forgive, be honest and open and say to that person "I need time and space to sort through a few issues that I am having, and time to calm down."

But don't condemn or crucify them, just explain how you feel by the situation and if they can't understand that, and start mud slinging, blaming, behaving badly again, etc. then maybe their seeking forgiveness wasn't genuine, but if they are honestly seeking forgiveness they will understand you need time to heal and recover.

There are always two sides to everything, and we need to look at both sides and be open, honest and loving towards each other.

Now, on top of this, the worst thing that you can do, is start involving people around you, they will give their opinions and tell you what to do based on their outlook on life, but maybe they don't have the full story, maybe they aren't coming from a Godly place, maybe they have hidden agenda's in advising you that way, then the Gossip starts, the condemnation grows and tiny wars start.

The only people that know the full truth is the two people that were involved, and not always what actually happened is conveyed to others in the light of truth, maybe by mistake, misunderstanding, hurt, lieing, whatever reason, not always is the truth told in the light of God, and this is when things get out of control and Good people get hurt for No Good reason and what started as a tiny matter has now become a major problem.

Reflection, prayer and seeking God and Jesus is always the wisest path, as it is through this that we can see the light and not dwell and get stuck in the dark.

But if you do need to seek guidance and counselling, go to someone who is experienced in these matters, a Priest, a Minister, a Counsellor that has credibility in resolving these kinds of issues, and someone that does not have any attachment to the outcome so therefore can advise from an outsider's point of view.

To be forgiven brings about a renewal of mind, heart and soul and a new lease of life, and to forgive brings about the same result.

We are not responsible for other people's behaviour but we are responsible for our own.

If someone doesn't want to forgive, that is not your responsibility but how you conduct yourself is.

Imagine what state this world would truly be in if Jesus didn't forgive us for what we did, he carried the burden on the cross for this sinful world, and yet still loves us, what better example of pure love can there be.

When do we start to carry our own burdens and take up our cross?

I love you all my beautiful friends, take care.

God Bless,
Gina
xxx