Tag: Religion

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left in the hands of God and Jesus.


cross Is the Christian community living in fear or in faith? There are times I truly wonder where our hearts are at, we shouldn’t have fear, we should walk by faith not by sight. We shouldn’t allow our fear to dictate our actions and we should forgive one another along with our selves for the shortcomings we all have. I have learned in life that what is to be, shall be and there are some things you can change and others you can’t. The hardest lesson was for me to realize the differences between them all and accepting that I can’t fix everything nor control anyone or anything besides my own self. The things out of my hands are the things left in the hands of God and Jesus.

The Full serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

 Reinhold Niebuhr

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Give up your hurting heart, leave at the alter your worldly, angry, hardened and selfish heart.


wdh1010 Give up your hurting heart, leave at the alter your worldly, angry, hardened and selfish heart. Pick up that heart God and Jesus gave you, let the seed of love, compassion and understanding grow within you. I know, it is so easy to say that in such a world we live in that it is impossible to be the person God wants us to be. So easy to give in to the fear of failure and the temptation of staying in your comfort zone. Change is scary and being compassionate, loving, caring and understanding is even scarier because you put yourself in a position to be ridiculed, chastised and shunned by those who don’t believe.

p10328 Jesus suffered ridiculed, chastised and shunned by others all the way to the cross. We may have to suffer similar to follow him, that’s a risk we must take as Christians and one well worth it considering what is promised. The fear we suffer when we are trying to choose God and Jesus is just a trick of the enemy and he tries many ways to lead you away from the Love of God. Though we are to believe in faith not by sight there is many signs of God around us. The earth we live on and the life within it is statistically a long shot to exist. The ability for a species to be cognitive, sentient and self-aware is also a statistical rarity. Prayers and miracle healings happening all over the world is another sign. I have seen a few cases of miracle healings and a few people make a 180 in their life after accepting Christ.

p10188To be fair I have seen many times where prayers were not answered and people who didn’t receive healing as well. I do not claim to know why God chooses to do for one and not for another. His will is not ours to understand, it is only ours to accept and embrace. He has a plan for each of us, sometimes he doesn’t answer prayers to save us from the suffering it would bring to us, sometimes its to teach us a lesson. Some may not be healed because God wanted them to come home or they were ready to go home. Either way, there is proof to the power of prayer and there is miracles still happening in modern times and you can find them if you look hard enough.

 Choose to believe or choose not to believe, the choice is yours. Either way I pray you will be blessed and be guided by God and saved by the sacrifice of the lamb we call Christ.

Ray Barbier

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There is no guarantee we have tomorrow


jesus-christ-0206 Too many times we take those we love for granted, expect them to be there tomorrow and forget to show them how much we need, love and care about them. There is no guarantee we have tomorrow so we should show how much people mean to us today, we should never put off something as important as how we feel for one another till another day. God gave us the ability to love, care for and to help one another and we should use those gifts daily. We need to learn how to put our self and our ego’s behind us so that we can fully show our love and compassion for others.

We should live our lives, love others and be the best we can be for God and Jesus each day.

Raymond Barbier

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
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Life is a short thing to experience


bnf0422 Your heart can guide you rightly and it also can lead you wrong, Temper your heart  with the mind  and use the heart to empower the mind. Be humble and put the ego to the back of your mind. Be compassionate and understanding so that when it is time for your judgment , you will be judged in the same manner. Be at peace with yourself so you are able to find peace with everyone and everything else. Remember life is precious and the time we have to live is short in the scheme of things. Live in love and love to live for love is the greatest power besides faith that we have been blessed with. A love with conditions is not love, it is just a complicated emotional relationship.

bnf0424Forgiveness is easy to give, therefore forgive totally so both you and the one who you forgave can move forward.  Forgiveness frees you from the hurt and  the anger you feel and releases the one you forgive from their guilt as well. Being that life is so short I myself can not see any reason to hold on to a grudge for any length of time. It consumes way too much energy and tends to make the one who carries it unhappy and/or grumpy.

p10053Cherish each moment you have with those you love and care about for there is no guarantee that you or they will be here tomorrow.  Get off your computer, tablet and put away the game system. Get out and live life instead of hiding away in your house so much. Balance the time at home and out in the world, for you don’t want to waste time nor miss out on life since life is a short thing to experience.  Most of all remember the old saying: “Life is what you make it” and then go out and make life as complete and happy as you can.

Get out and live life, live it to the fullest and do so with compassion, understanding and love.

Ray Barbier

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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

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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

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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

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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

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God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish


Symbol of the three Abrahamic religions.

The world is in darkness,the world is trying to extinguish the spark of light in all of us. Those that promote hate, prejudice and intolerance are trying to keep us from finding the light we have in this world. In this world of darkness there is a light to be found.  God created a spark of light within us all and most of us are unaware or unable to feel its presence anymore. When we were children that light was bright and made life wondrous and beautiful. We allowed the world around us to cover the candle within us and we need to uncover it. Place that candle on a candle stick for all to see and so it can force the darkness away from us all. We can not allow the distractions and road blocks the darkness throws in our path to get in the way of being the beings of light god wants us to be. He wants us to be peaceful, loving, compassionate and full of hope. Things such as greed, lust and fear stand in the way of most of us and they keep us preoccupied and distracted from happiness and peace.

Three religions that were spawned by the one true God, yet those three religions still are distracted and preoccupied by their differences instead of being tolerant of each other. A house divided against itself surely will fall and that is the case with the three religions if they do not learn to co-operate or at least tolerate each other. We all serve the same God, even though we have differences in beliefs on some subjects that are sensitive we can learn to accept one another. We are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God and we should love one another regardless of our different beliefs.  I am a firm believer in freewill and the fact God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish. Of course if we choose the wrong beliefs there will be a price to pay. This though is the price of freewill and is something each of us should consider when choosing our religious beliefs. I will not state which belief is the right one for only god knows the answer to that question and it isn’t my place as a mere human to answer. I believe as I do and respect the religious beliefs of all others in hopes they will do the same for me.

 We all have to live on this planet together, we can do it as brothers and sisters in peace or continue to go down this road of mistrust, hatred and of war. The choice is there for each one of us to choose and hopefully most of us will choose the path of peace and of love than the one of hate and war. Let us all be adults and civilized, let us live together as a great family and as the unique human species we are together in harmony.

Raymond Barbier

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Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone?


MP900427611Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone? People seem to be colder at heart and have only interest in themselves. Compassion is a key part of being human and respect is like the super lube of society. Without one or the other the world begins to become chaotic . Seems selfishness and the lack of respect for others is becoming the driving forces of the world we live in. Thing about selfishness is it is the seed to other things such as lust, greed, envy and vanity. I was brought up to respect elders, authority and have compassion for those who are less fortunate and in need. I was also taught that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and no person is greater than another. I never could see how anyone could find pleasure or some kind of satisfaction in causing physical or emotional pain to others. To help others and to make them smile or to make them laugh is the right path to follow and can be quite rewarding emotionally too.

MP900427738It seems Karma does exist in one form another, what you sow you shall reap and what you give you will get back seven fold. So when you show compassion it will be shown to you and when you give hate it will come back to you. It may take years but you always pay for both the good and bad you do in life. I just don’t understand why for some people being compassionate and carrying a heart of love is such a hard thing to do. Is it fear of being considered weak or the chance of being hurt by others? No matter how tough or how compassionate you are, you are going to be hurt from time to time in life its part of being human. It could be they have a deep wound or emotional pain blocking them from becoming what God had planned them to be. I wish everyone could be compassionate, understanding and full of kindness and we all could follow the teachings and examples god gave us through Jesus.

MP900289198There were many great prophets, philosophers and sages god gave man, he gave us great philosophies and examples to follow through them all. He just wants man to be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards each other. Far as the many branches on the tree of life and the many religions spawned on our planet, let each person choose their path and be good to one another. We all have freewill and the right to choose which religion and or faith we want to follow. We shouldn’t force our belief on others or judge them if they choose differently than ourselves. The judgment of who is right and or wrong is God’s alone, not that of man’s. We of different religions and faiths can get along and even be friends, I have many friends that are of different religions and faiths than myself and we have no hatred or distrust between us because of our differences of belief. We have respect for each others beliefs and live with each other in friendship and peace.

“ Learn from the wisdom of the old and the innocent truths of the young.”

Raymond Barbier

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