For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord

www.faithandfamilycircle.blogspsot.com

I just want to take a few moments to give my thoughts about this virus called The Corona Virus.
I pay a lot of attention to what's being said on my social media platforms, and i see how many are coming up with their own theory of how this virus started and a lot of them have placed a lot blame on our President because they don't trust him. A lot of them post funny things I guess to make light of the situation at hand, and some of them post things relative to the word of God like I do most times.  One thing about this virus,  a lot of parents are laid off work and are home with their children, and from my point of view, that's a good thing for a lot of children.  I personally have been laid off for the past two weeks, and now, I find myself getting my prayer life back again which is a good  thing. I believe that The god I serve which is the God of this universe has this situation in control, and he knows what he's doing, and most importantly, he wont let us down. So, I encourage all of you who have been born again by the blood of the Lamb, continue to seek the Lord and encourage those on your social media to stay strong and encourage them to pray. This is the prayer I encourage my social media reader to say. " Father God of heaven, Forgive us of our sins, and heal  our nation." A lot of us have no excuses to not be prayerful , and I personally thank God for the transformation that he's doing on a lot of us, and I bless his holy name because he has turned my heart back towards him. What do the word of God says, it says, " If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then, will I hear from heaven and heal their land. ( 2 Chronicles 7:14). This is my take on this situation our nation is facing. So, what is your take on this situation at hand, I would love to hear your thoughts.

My Acronym for the word "HOPE"

My I hope and wishes is that everyone who visits my blog  will leave lifted, inspired, excited, connected, and motivated when they finish reading my posts!

I found a cute sign that says  "hope", this sign inspired me to want to  write a post that explains what I think of when I see the word hope.

The "H" is for heaven. According to the Holy Bible, heaven is a beautiful place that our heavenly father has prepared for his children, and to be God's children, you have got to be born again. In order to be born again, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and accept the holy spirit into your heart and allow it to lead and guide you into all truths.

The "O" is for opportunity.  Everyone has the opportunity to allow The Holy spirit to come into their lives and live according to the scriptures, so that they will have the opportunity to live forever with their maker who is Father God and his son Jesus Christ.  

The "P" is for prayer.  Prayer is the key to heaven and Faith unlocks the door. If you want to make it to the place where our heavenly father has prepared for us, It's crucial that you have a relationship with the heavenly father through prayer.  

The "E" is for everlasting life.  When we give our lives over to the Lord, we are getting prepared to have everlasting life with our Father and his son Jesus Christ. 

In my conclusion, In order for us to experience everlasting life, It's necessary that we have "hope" and faith that the Word of God will do just what it says it will do. For if we have no faith, we have no hope. Who would want to live life without a hope that is greater than anything they can imagine? I thank the Lord Jesus for dying in my place so that I can live again through him. Amen. To God be the glory for the things he has done, is doing, and going to do. I hope you were inspired, and feel free to leave a comment because I love comments.  KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!!!

  

https://faithandfamilycircle.blogspot.com

My Acronym for The Word Love

This is my acronym for Love

I gave the acronym for the word love some deep thought and this is what I came up with.

The “L” in love is for always love no matter what which is also called unconditional love.  Unconditional love holds no records of wrong and this kind of love never dies.

The “O” in love is for observing overcoming obstacles that hinders us from loving each other unconditionally.

The” V” in love is for holding no vengeance in our minds, spirits, and hearts against any thing that anyone has done to us regardless of the situation.

The” E” in love is for Enduring hardship as a good soldier and letting go of all evil, hatred, malice, and bitterness from our souls.

Please leave a comment in the comment section. Thanks

Minnie L Douglas

Faith and Family Circle Blog on Blogger

faithandfamilycircle.blogspot.com

Prayer Changes Things/The Power of Prayer

Hebrew 11:1, Now Faith

   

       

I hearNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 ( kjv) my church teacher elaborate on this subject of Faith in Hebrews 11:1 and he pointed out that some people read the scripture without acknowledging the word now before faith, and it's important to remember to use the word now so it reads now faith, in the present tense. Some people have very little understanding of this one verse, so I want to share what I've learned by   giving you examples of what  faith is,  and how it will help you in life.
With  faith, you believe even though you don't actually see it.

If you have faith in almighty God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob you have the assurance and convictions that he will answer your requests  according to your faith.For example; I work all week long before I get paid, but I have faith that I'm going to reap the rewards of my labor in two weeks. Another example;  I am getting ready to eat a delicious red apple, but I don;t know how it's going to taste, but,  I have faith that a red apple is going to be sweet when bite into it.  These are examples of the kind of faith that our heavenly father wants us to have in his holy word.  He wants us to believe that no weapon formed against us shall be able to prosper. He wants us to receive his unconditional love by faith, his healing by faith, his anointing by faith, his power by faith, and eternal life by faith.

When you give your life over to the Lord, You've gotta have faith to believe that you have been born again. In my conclusion, you've got to have faith with almost everything 

God's Standards For Right Living

The Ten Commandments were God's standards for right living. (Deuteronomy 5:6-21)
To obey them was to obey God. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, we can see how each commandment was broken. As you read the stories, notice the tragic consequences that occurred as a result of violating God's law.
Knowing that God has standards, Everyone of us should have some standards about ourselves and if we don't have any we should get some because standards is boundaries that we don't allow anyone to cross, and if they do cross them, they will be in serious trouble! I have shared with you the ten commandments below and if you like what you see, please share them with your social media network and more importantly sign up on my email list to get your copy and more like this, as always, thanks for sharing.

Joy to the world the Lord has come!

I know that everyone can agree to the fact that every time we turn around, we hear all kinds of bad news going on all over the world!   but, if you read this post today, you will hear the good news of Jesus Christ .  The good new of Jesus Christ says, " Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid , If you believe in God, believe also in me." I'm reminded of a few songs that gives my heart and mind peace, strength, and joy, and these songs  are Hark the Herald angel sing, glory to the new born king, and Joy to the world.  I hope they bless you as much as they  bless me..

Joy to the world

the Lord is come

let earth receive her king

let every hear,

prepare him room,

and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven and 

and heaven, heaven, nature sing.

He rules the world,

with truth and grace,

 and made the nations prove,

the glory of,

 his righteousness 

and wonders of his love

and wonders of his love

and wonder -of -his- love

Hark the Herald angel sing, 

glory to the new born king,

peace on earth

and mercy mild,

god and sinners reconciled,

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph

in the skies;

with angelic hosts proclaim

Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Hark the Herald angels sing

glory to the new-born king.

,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to All, How will you celebrate Christ's Birthday!

I want to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!  In case you don’t already know, this month is our Lord and savior Jesus Christ’s birthday! Hallelujah to the king of kings and lord of lords!   As I was sitting on my bed this morning, a thought came to my mind, and the thought was, how will you celebrate Christ’s Birthday this year?  Before answering the question in my mind, I began to think long and hard about it because as a Christian, you Want to do what’s pleasing to the Lord and not yourself.  I started thinking back about how our parents taught us to celebrate Christmas.  Ever since I was small, our parents celebrated Christmas with a decorated tree, lots of food, and gift giving to loved ones.   As I got older, I discovered others celebrate it pretty much the same way, and yet; some don’t celebrate it at all.   I was bought up with the belief that birthdays (especially Christ’s) are special and ought to be celebrated, so most of the time, each of us was given a birthday party which included a cake, ice cream, friends, family, and a few presents if we were lucky, but I guess the most important point that I want to make is that what they did for us made our birthdays a special event or day to remember!   Birthdays are tangible, and Christ is a spirit, so do not see how celebrating his birthday would get him excited or even necessary.  I believe that Christ gets more excited as well as honored when we worship him, lead others to Christ, and share his goodness with others!  Let us celebrate eternal life.  St. John 3:16 that says, For God so loved the world that he sent us his one and only son to die, that whosoever believe on him should not perish, but they should have everlasting life.  

So, I conclude that celebrating Christ’s birthday with tangible things are not exciting him. What excites him is when we as believers lead others to him and tell of his goodness to everyone who want to hear of it.  To God be the glory for the things he has done, for he has done great things.  He’s still healing the sick, and raising those who are spiritually dead, Amen.

Give and it shall be given unto you

This is the season of giving, and the bible declares that when we give, it will be given unto us, good measures, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give unto us.  Whether or not it's the season of giving, I am a person who always give something of value away to someone in need.  I give because it's my nature and because it makes me feel good to be able to lend a helping hand, so when I give something away, I'm not looking for anything in return, but I always, get blessed right back with something of equal value or  more than equal  in return.  His word is very much alive today as it was over two-thousand years ago!
A lot of believers feel that they will be blessed more, or God will honor their giving more when they give to their church home, but from experience, I came to find out that God honors our giving be it at our local church or if we give it to someone in need.  So, when the spirit leads you to   be a blessing to someone, give it freely and cheerfully.  As a matter of fact, it's always good to intentionally be  listening to the voice of the  holy spirit   and it will guide you as to who to give to.  I have a few testimonies to share.  Lately here, I've been lead to bless this sister with finances to keep her going, and no longer than twenty-four hours, I get the funds right back.  Lately, God has been blessing us with great household furniture and accessories for the house at a super low price!  We were planning to buy a brand new television for four or five hundred dollars, and ran across one in great condition for only one-hundred dollars! Everything we needed and was planning to buy new, we were able to find it for a reasonable price and all of it is well taken care of, so I bless the name of the Lord for keeping all of his promises, and for strengthening my faith in what he can and wants to do in me and through me.  If this message has inspired you in some way, please share it, tweet it, plus it, and like it across your social media networks, and thanks in advance!  That's all I have for now, may God bless you and your family each and everyday, and in every way.

                                                           

The importance of cultivating a heart of thankfulness in our kids

Right here on this post, you will learn the importance of cultivating a thankful heart in our kids/children as well as why it's important to raise kids who show appreciation for acts of kindnesses to others.  Very often, I see little children as well as older children growing up not being thankful for the nice things others do for them, and this disturbed me to the point to want to write as well as pray about it, so this is why I'm writing about the matter.  I don't fault the kids/children for not showing thankfulness for good deeds done to them by others. I don't even blame the parents because I believe that most parents want their kid/kids to show thankfulness, but many parents just don't know how to go about it, or they weren't raised to be thankful or grateful, so they need to learn how to be thankful and grateful.   Here are a few scriptures that sheds light about giving thanks to God.


COLOSSIANS 3:7
and whatever you do, whether in words or deed,
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving
thanks to God the father through him.


1 chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.

When we give thanks to God,  It makes him want to do more for us because we are showing him how thankful and grateful for what he's done, doing, and going to do for us, with us, and through us.  It's the same way for people.  When we go out of our way to do something nice for someone out of the goodness of our hearts, we, at least, want a word of appreciation, I no I do. 

Because we wanted our child and grandchildren to grow up with an heart of thankfulness, we purposely modeled thankfulness in front of them, and I'll tell you how I did it.  Whenever my husband gave me something no matter how large or small, I purposely had my husband to give it to me so I could tell him thank you for being nice, and my husband and I purposely modeled thankfulness daily, and our son caught on, and I'm happy to say that he says thanks to us as well as others when we show him kindnesses.  Praying in front of a child is also teaching him or her to pray, and the list goes on and on, so, now we know the importance of cultivating a heart of thankfulness  and how to teach them to be thankful among other behaviors.  I want to wish all of my reader a Happy Thanksgiving  season and many more to come.

Overcoming fear

 This post will show you how I got the victory over  fear.  Thinking back over the years,

I don't know why I was so fearful, but as far as I can remember, I was always fearful of speaking in front of others, at church and everywhere which left me feeling guilty and less than others!    Even during bible teaching when the crowd was small, I was afraid to speak my thoughts.  At work, I had to say a few words before others and fear caused me to get nervous and my words didn't come our right.  It wasn't that I didn't have anything good to say, because most of the time, I did have good points to make, but I was always afraid my words wouldn't come out right, and usually, they didn't. Finally, I got tired of being defeated by fear and started sincerely praying to God and asking him to deliver me from the spirit of fear, and I began to read scriptures related to fear and where it originated and how to overcome it.  Praise the Lord because my strategies worked for me and I'm confident they'll work for you as well. 

Here's a short prayer that  helps to overcome fear
I will not be intimidated by anything of this world. I renounce all fear of intimidation and control, in the name of Jesus Amen.

HERE IS A LIST OF SCRIPTURES THAT HELPS TO OVERCOME FEAR

2 Timothy 1:7 says, "God has not given us the spirit of fear  but of power, love, and a sound mind." 
the acronym for fear is F= false E = evidence A=appearing R=real, false evidence appearing real. 
Psalms 27:1 says, " The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" So, I was aware that fear is from the devil, but I believe that something happened in my childhood that caused me to have such fear of failure.  Prayer, reading the scriptures and reminding yourself daily of the scriptures and reminding yourself daily that being afraid of things going wrong, isn't the way to make things right.