Category: Religious

Posted on

there is one purpose that never changes


tpl_7_pplThere are times in life we all get lost, lose direction or even lose our sense of purpose in the world. To feel you have no purpose is to feel useless and unwanted or unneeded. This is not what God or Jesus wants for us, even when we loose direction and feel we have no purpose there is always serving God. No matter what, there is one purpose that never changes and gives meaning to ones life. Even if you are not sure of how or in what way to serve God, just live each day being the best person you can be and help those in need and unable to help themselves in any way you are able. God has plans for all of us, there is no such thing as a useless person. Even those that have hit rock bottom and seem to have no hope in returning to a life with God in it are not hopeless or useless. Through Christ and God all is possible.and therefore there is no one who can not change or be changed.

No matter how low you get or how far you stray from the flock, There is a hand reaching out to give you hope and salvation. Jesus is always reaching out to us all, the choice to accept his hand is yours.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Posted on

is a blessing


016 Each morning we awaken to is a blessing, Every person who love us and we love are blessings as well. Each meal we eat is a blessing, every breath we take is a blessing as well. Every smile we see is a blessing in deed and every smile we give is a blessing to both ourselves and those we smile at. Having a job is a blessing, even if the job isn’t ideal or stressful it is still a blessing not to be unemployed.  Every friend we have, had and will have are blessings for they are like family and sometimes even more. Even enemies can be blessings for they teach us how not to be and sometimes help us see the faults within our own character.

Each day we have here on earth is a blessing if we see it, know it, admit it,  realize it or not. So many things we take for granted that are great blessings and so many things we forget to give thanks for as well.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Posted on

The greatest gift one can get


Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...Ah the Christmas shopping season seems to start earlier each year, Seems Christmas has become more of a shopping experience than an actual celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. Commercialism of Christmas has slowly dragged our minds and hearts further away from the reason for the season. Though we all still celebrate Christmas and are thankful on that day for our savior, there is way too much emphasis on the presents.  Who will buy or get the biggest and best gifts seems more important to some than the actual meaning of the day we celebrate. Nothing wrong with buying big gifts, all I am saying is the greatest gift one can get we all have received on that historical and holy day of the birth of our savior. We should remember to be thankful and celebrate the fact we were blessed on that day so many years ago. Remember the Manger, remember the life and remember the death along with the resurrection. Remember Our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. And try to remember the lessons Jesus taught us all.

Hope, Faith and the acceptance of God’s will is the path, Acceptance of Jesus as our savior is the way.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Posted on

it was a pretty good year that God blessed me with


008 In a few days another birthday comes around to remind me that I made it through another year of life. So much left undone and so much unsaid, but still it was a pretty good year that God blessed me with. Each birthday I reflect upon my past and think of what I could have done better and how I am going to do better in the future days to come.  For I am but a work in process and I am not ready to throw in the towel on improving who and what I am.

I pray that I will get to see many more birthdays and that I can keep improving myself through Jesus and through the will of God. I hope I can continue writing posts on my blogs that readers can enjoy and maybe give them something to think about.

Thank you God and Jesus for the followers, likers and commenters both positive and negative. Thank you for helping me to continually grow spiritually and mentally. And most of all thank you for this life I am getting to live.

Amen

Related articles
Posted on

Just as Jesus taught us to do, He will do for us the same.


English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mos...

When we learn to put aside all our worries and stress we find that happiness is such an easy thing to obtain. As my mom always told me, let go and let God, thus let God handle all the stressful situations and let him be the source of your strength. Jesus taught if we see a neighbor or even a stranger carrying a heavy load that we should help that person carry the load. If they ask you to carry it a part of the way, you should carry it all the way. The compassion, fellowship and kindness in your heart should always inspire you to help others. Just as Jesus taught us to do, He will do for us the same. Jesus will help carry your load when you need it and he will counsel you when you are unable to discern which way to go.

We should practice compassion, understanding and kindness every day, for if we do not show any compassion, kindness or try to be understanding towards others how should we expect the same from God? The same goes for forgiveness, God through Jesus has forgiven us all and we should forgive others through Christ as well. If a person sins against you just remember you are a sinner as well, forgive him and pray for both his forgiveness as well as your own. Love the sinner and hate only the sin, we all have sin in us and none of us are worthy to enter the kingdom of God without Jesus. We also need to learn to forgive ourselves as well, we can not carry the weight of our sins and be forgiven at the same time. Christ died on the cross and was resurrected to wash or cover our multitude of sins. So you pray to be forgiven and truly repent then forgive yourself and forget your sin.

 All our strength, help and forgiveness comes from God through his Son Jesus Christ. We must remember this and thank God for that he has given, will give and even that which he has taken away.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Posted on

Give the battle to God and Begin serving God.


MP900321192 The Job, The Kids, your favorite TV show, even your battle with sin can be distractions from serving God. We allow ourselves to get consumed if not overwhelmed by every day life and the challenges we face each day and that makes it next to impossible to serve god. If we are devoting all of our energy, time and mental abilities to the world we leave very little to give to serving God. Of course we have to deal with everyday life and the challenges it brings, but there are a lot of things we could let go of or that we could hand off to others if not to god himself in order to make time to Serve God and help others.

jesus-christ-in-prayer_w725_h725 This world is stressful and can be quite exhausting, the enemy always tries to keep us occupied with what ever he can so we are to consumed by life to serve, worship or know God. Not only does the enemy use distraction he also tries to deceive you into believing there is no hope for you and that you can not be saved. He wants us to be lost and confused so we can not find our salvation and or serve our father and our savior. Through faith, prayer and serving God we strengthen ourselves and through reading the scripture we learn to focus on the will of God not our own.

MP900427741 (1) If you are in a battle with sin in your life stop fighting it on your own, Give the battle to God to fight. Begin serving God by helping others and being kind to others. The more you focus on doing things that are good the less you think of the things that are sinful or that you lust for. The more you dedicate yourself to serving God and doing his will the less hold on you the sinful nature will have. It is a life long battle that we must wage against our sinful natures but the war was already won upon the cross and by the blood.

 If serving God is your first and last thought of the day, then Serving God you will do throughout the day.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Posted on

Writing, The Gift of Freewill and our path in life.


006 Ever since I was a kid I loved to write songs, poetry and even some philosophy. I do not know what drove my mind to be so contemplative but it has been that way all my life. Some of it was probably my low self-esteem  or poor self-image I have had to battle throughout my life. Some of it was from my disappointment in how our world works, the unfairness and the lack of balance this world has. A lot of it was the hopefulness within my inner self. I have always sought out the silver lining in every situation and for the most part I still do. With age comes wisdom but also age brings cynicism and doubtfulness. Don’t understand why but the older I get the harder it is to keep the positive attitude and hopefulness within me alive. it could be the fact as we grow older we face our own mortality and therefore we become bitter or jaded because we think we have been cheated in life somehow. This of course isn’t true, we were the ones who chose the path we have been on and how and what life brought to us up to this day. There are some things that we didn’t have any choice on in life but for the most part we are what we made ourselves to be. So being bitter or feeling jaded in the end is nothing but self-pity and useless. We can always change our path, our minds and our life if we put our heart and soul into it. We can’t undo the past but we can make us a new destination and path to walk as well. This is the gift of freewill God has given humanity, we have the freedom to choose and the option to allow his will to guide our choices as well.

Writing is the expression of my heart, soul and mind. It is the sum of what I feel, think and believe. It is like a map to my future that changes and grows with each word I type and eventually it will become the signposts I had left behind for others to follow and/or view. It is my freewill being expressed through my thoughts and emotions.

We only have a short time on earth to experience all its wonders and to find our true path in life. We should be kind to others and seek out harmony with all life and walk our path we have chosen in peace.

Ray Barbier

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
Related articles
Posted on

God’s love is limitless and unstoppable


MP900426559 God gave all of us some pretty good gifts, Love being one of the better ones, the ability to care about one another and to put someone else above your own self. The happiness of your mate will become your first priority and your own happiness will seem less important. When the love is shared then there is never a worry about happiness because both partners are striving to make each other happy. Sometimes love requires some work to keep and maintain, both sides have to compromise at times and work with each other. Love shouldn’t always be a chore to keep, for the most part it should be pretty simple to maintain but there will be rough patches to keep you busy from time to time.

Compassion, an expression of a brotherly/sisterly love for others, a love that is unconditional and unlimited. This is a more of a spiritual love that God blessed us with and should be one of the loves we should share freely and abundantly. We should strive to show compassion on people and all other living things. Forgiveness is also an expression of a spiritual type of love, to forgive yourself or others is to express that you love them enough to overlook their shortcomings and mistakes.  This kind of love is one of the kind of loves that God through Jesus showed us upon the cross. He loved us so much he gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

God’s love is limitless and unstoppable, from his love is where all love springs forth from. God is the source for all the love we feel, express and give to one another. We always should remember where all of our blessings, gifts and help comes from, God is the source of all that is good. We should remember to give thanks for all that he has blessed us with and that which he will bless us with in the future.

We can choose to accept his gifts and blessings or we can choose to stand alone in this world of darkness. The choice is ours and ours alone, what we reap will be that which we have chosen to sow. Choose wisely my friends and may God bless you and guide you through the darkness of our world.

Ray Barbier

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
Related articles
Posted on

We are striving to be Christ like


Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber ...

At times in our life as Christians we will be attacked because of our faith / beliefs. There are some who resent us because we believe in something greater and higher than humanity. They dislike that we strive to walk in faith and with Jesus. Then there is those who are Christians that attack others because of their beliefs and that is not the right path of a Christian. That battle is not our , that battle is for the father, son and the holy spirit / ghost. When we as Christians attack other religions or doctrines we become an instrument of anger and hate which is not what Jesus taught. Yes, we are supposed to teach of the scriptures and offer aid in helping others to come to Christ but we are not to be angry and judgmental people.  To have a debate with believers of other religions and / or faiths is good but it must be done in a peaceful and respectful manner. For we are to try to teach the word of God and spread the Good News of the new testament. We are not supposed to be violent, angry or someone who persecutes others for all of humanity belongs to our father and we should treat all of them as so. If someone you are testifying to becomes negative, angry and or disrespectful then it is time to turn your cheek to their abusive nature and leave in peace praying for their hearts and souls to see the truth.

 

The bottom line is we are Christians that means we are striving to be Christ like, Christ was peaceful and only rose to anger once when he saw his father’s house being used as a shameful money exchange and for profit. So we too should be at peace with others, we should also be very vocal about our dislike of the use of the church for profit of any kind. We should love all our brothers and sisters regardless if they are Christian or not. We should forgive those who attack our faith  for  God has forgiven us therefore we should forgive others.

Love your brothers and sisters,forgive in the way you have been forgiven,  be at peace with all, walk in faith and walk in Christ and give aid to those in need,  help those whom are weak and those that can not help themselves.

Ray Barbier

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
Related articles
Posted on

1 Peter 1-5 – Realization and Message


Though it has only five chapters, the impact of the messages were so enough to feed my hungry soul. It was so powerful that it did help me to ponder more about life. Living is not for us but for God who gave his only begotten Son just to save us. (John 3:15) Our Lord Jesus Christ has received in-depth insults from doubtful jews but never insulted them back. He was tormented with physical pains and hurtful words but never seek for revenge. He is so kind, and loving that he didn’t mind himself, didn’t mind those selfish men who hurt him. He is definitely forgiving!

With these kind of Love that he has been outpouring on us, how could you not submit yourself to him? how could you doubt his existence? how could you hate your life? how could you hate your neighbors? how could you desire evil things? how could you not abstain from sin? how could you not resist temptations?

If I continue these gazillion questions, would this post be enough? Certainly Not! Because this has been human’s nature! Questioning unproven existence. But hey! God is already proven. It need not to further elucidate for it, since believer won’t need it and the unbeliever won’t mind it. Like what Colossians 2:8 said, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than Christ

It just disappointing that God’s given gift – intelligence- for human is also the weapon that unbeliever used against him.

Nonetheless, time will come for unbelievers that all their uncertainties will be answered by themselves. It’s their right to find the truth, since I find the truth. How could you not find? Right?

 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

So keep the FAITH everyone! God bless 😀

Website Built with WordPress.com.