Well bless you again!

Blessing someone seems to be a way to transform anger and irritation into love and joy, and sometimes, even miracles.

Found another little interesting article on it.


The Power of Spoken Blessings - by Bill Gothard

Throughout Scripture, the importance of verbal blessings is expressed. In four New Testament books, God gives us direct instruction to bless those who curse and revile us. Obeying this instruction produces results that are not expected by the one who gave the curse or the one who was cursed.

A verbal blessing is made up of three powerful forces: our words, God’s Word, and God’s name. The power of our words alone is affirmed by the Scripture that states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

With verbal blessings, the tongue has an even greater potential for good, because a blessing can overcome a curse just as light is stronger than darkness.

Speaking a verbal blessing can even help parents during times of child discipline. By blessing the child, the parents will be greatly helped in overcoming any anger or frustration, and will instead have a spirit of patience and love. The blessing should emphasize God’s love for the child and His great purposes for him or her.

To read more, check out: The Power of Spoken Blessings

Bless you!

We've focused on
all the world problems
and nothing has really changed.
Maybe it's time
to try something different.

Kate from Better to Bless (http://www.bettertobless.com)

What is this something different?

Blessing everything and everyone and looking for the good in all situations.

Let's give it a try?

Radical Praise

Merlin Carothers says we should praise God FOR everything, even FOR the bad stuff, (or that appears to be bad).

But he is saying that because that's what the bible says!

Ephesians 5:20
Always give thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 In everything give thanks. This is what God wants you to do because of Christ Jesus.

And a passage I read just just recently..

Psalm 34:1
I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.

The reason we praise/thank God for everything is
1) The Bible says so
2) More importantly, we admit God is in control. God can make all things work for the good of those who love Him and He has good plans for us all, no matter what things appear like. God is LOVE.

This practice really has given me great moments of joy this week even though outward appearances have not all been smooth sailing.

And some nice things that has happened:
1) my wife actually asked me twice this week: "How was your day".
Why is that a "wow"? She hasn't been the type to do that regularly - she just doesn't think about it.
2) a customer brought me a free McDonalds lunch at work
3) someone at work gave me some Chicken another day for lunch
(hey, it's not like I don't have food, but it sure beat my sometimes boring homemade sandwhiches!)
4) A got a few nice tips
5) I feel much more joyous and in the moment - I've actually been listening to CD's in my car and just enjoying the music, I've been appreciating nature, animals, beauty, washing the dishes,... you get the picture.
5) God inspired me to write a praise song
6) I feel more efficient and productive at work - I may have to force myself to praise God if I feel I'm being interrupted, but then I quickly lose the irritation and am able to focus on the customer/co-worker without resentment.

Praise releases God's power to work out a situation for our good. Sometimes the circumstances change, sometimes we change and the circumstances doesn't. But something changes.

And it leads to praise songs being stuck in your head the whole day. *heeheehee*

Wow Quote

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship...There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors." --C. S. Lewis, From The Weight of Glory.

Abuse of unity

Here’s a thought provoker for the day:

Genesis 11 (NLT)
The Tower of Babel
1 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” He said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

Hmmm, Verse 6 really stopped me in my tracks today:

“Look!” He said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!”

Do we realize the awesome power of unity? And how that power can be for good, but also for bad?

Just think about crowds of township people attacking the foreigners in our country (South Africa) right now. They’re united yes, but not for good.

God has given us so much power and we so often abuse it –

Let make sure we don’t abuse the gifts God has given us.

Cheap Joy

When we fall "in love" we are full of joy.

But when it comes to the best love relationship in the world, I don't think we value our Partner much. I'm talking about our relationship with God here.

We call Him the Lover of our souls, we tell about His gift of love, His grace, His death on the cross, His forgiveness... but somehow I don't think we value our relationship with God.

If we did, we'd be buzzing with joy and songs of thanksgiving.

We wouldn't be able to wait to spend some time with God.

We'd be dating!

How about we start finding our joy in our love relationship with God? Meditate on His total nature of LOVE. On how He forgives and forgets time and time again. How He wants to bless us and be good to us. How God is goodness itself. And how all of the above is PERSONAL. God wants to be your personal Friend and Partner. He thinks you are special because you are his child that He created. Do you think He is special?

And meditate means to really think deeply about it folks. Not just read about it and move on. Isn't that what we do when we fall in love? Make an effort to really get to know the object of our affection and bask in that person's love and approval of us? We positively glow because he/she loves us.

Get back to dating God!

New Song Lyrics

It’s about You

I could sing about your love for me
How you planned
My life, My everything
Yes, You even died
upon the cross for me
But it’s about You
This song’s about You

I could sing about how you forgive
My sins are gone
They no longer exist
Grace is mine
And Mercy too
But it’s not about what’s Mine
This song’s about You

I simply want to say I love you
And thank you that You love me too
And make it about You,
Make it all about You

Lord, there are no words to tell
About the joy your love gives
You know our minds & hearts so well
And yet I’d love to give words to how I feel..

Thank you, Lord is really all that I can say

Cause I could sing about your love for me
How you planned
My life, My everything
Yes, You even died
upon the cross for me
But it’s about You
This song’s about You

I could sing about how you forgive
My sins are gone
They no longer exist
Grace is mine
And Mercy too
But it’s not about what’s Mine
This song’s about You

Lyrics written by Karin Kloppers, 14 May 2008

Practical experience of Praise

I got sick a couple of days ago. Started with post nasal drip, then sneezing, coughing, runny nose. You get the picture.

I reread portions of Merlin Carothers' books on praising God for EVERYthing. Good or bad. The result of practising what I read? God is really healing me.

That's not to say that I don't take my vitamins, or pray for healing... but the simple process of acknowledging God's love, his total control and that the cold was permitted for a reason... mentally saying "Praise God" when I cough... has resulted in me feeling SO much better today than yesterday!!!

The catch? You don't praise God with your eye on the result...you praise God with your eye on God and what He wants to accomplish.

Joy is a choice

"If you want joy in your life and have happy days, keep your tongue from saying bad things and your lips from talking bad about others."
1 Peter 3:10 (New Life Version)

The power of a song

Amazing Grace is both the saddest and happiest song for Nerina. Why? Because it was played on our wedding day, and sung at the funeral of the father of her "adoptive" greek family.

Myself, I couldn't listen to Celine Dion or Beautiful in Beaufort Wes by Theuns Jordaan for a long long time due to heartache. But, even now that I'm over it, I've realised I just don't really like Celine's stuff.

Isn't it amazing how much emotional value we can attach to a song?

If you want to, why not share some comments on songs that have emotional meaning for you? I would love to read what you have to say.