Kony 2012

Who is Kony, you ask?  
Joseph Kony (born c. 1961) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government throughout Uganda. The LRA say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.  Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.  It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. In 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture. 
Also, We need to pray for those under Kony's power so, please spread the word and feel free to watch this video I am going to post!

Growing Spiritually

"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, children, because you know the father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." 1 John 2:12-14

My siblings and I went to a winter youth retreat with some of the churches affiliated with ours and we met God in such a special way. We learned about spiritual growth in God. There are three stages which are;

1. Believe (Children)
2. Belong (Young People)
3. Become (Fathers)

The first stage, believe, refers to new birth in Christ.  First though we have to make a decision or choice to follow God or sin.  The story of Adam and Eve shows when this decision is made the first time.  God gave Adam and Eve a choice to either listen to the serpent (Satan) or stand up and say no, and follow God's rule.  We all know that in this choice Adam and Eve make the decision to follow Satan, not God.  Even though this was back when life first started we can still apply it to this day and age, also.  God gives us choices everyday and also the will and power to decide if we want to follow God's direction or Satan's .  By choosing this way, Adam and Eve sinned and therefore "as by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12-13), and led to the fall of men.  This is when the war between Satan and God begins.  In Revelation 12:7-12 tells of a great dragon and God fighting over the world.  The devil will strike furiously because the devil knows his time will be short (vs.12).  Also out of this choice of Adam and Eve, there were two offspring; those of Cain and those of Seth (Gen. 4:13-14, 25-26).  Seth's are followers of God and Cain's are not, although they profess to be.  After this decision to follow God is made, we have to understand the great work of Christ and what he did for us on the cross.  In order to find this out, we have to ask, why the cross?.  There are four P's that answer this question.

• Promise -- Genesis 3:15  
• Principle -- Genesis 22:8 and Hebrews 9:22
• Prophesies -- Isaiah 53: 6-7
• Propitiation --  1 John 1:36, 2:2
• He became us! (Heb. 2:14-15)
• He fulfilled the law for us! (Rom. 8:34)
• He paid the price of sin for us!
• He reconciled us to the Father!
• He transformed us!         

The second stage, refers  to belonging to the family of God and recognizing the family resemblance because now we have believed God and what he did for us.  In 2 Corinthians 3 vs.18 it says that we who are "contemplating the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory".  We also have to recognize the family anointing which is found in 2 Corinthians 1:20-22.  King David is a good example of belonging to the family of God.  He is anointed in 1 Samuel 16:10-13 by Samuel, then is appointed in 1 Samuel 16:18-19 as a King, and lastly is Jointed, or joined together into the family of God (Jesus is part of David's lineage). 
The third stage is becoming fathers, and being bold to spread God's love to others.  There are four steps to spiritual maturity and they are; a desire to grow, nourishment, exercise and practice, and then time and patience.  these will lead you to know God and spread his word to others who are lost. Moses shows a good example of a father in Hebrews 15:24-27. 
One song i heard at the retreat was "Something's Gotta Change", and i would like to share it with everyone who reads this post:

Challenge to listen to christian music for 30 days!

I fell upon this challenge when I went onto Klove.com. Has anyone not grown up with christian music, or just loves listewnong to christian music? Well, Klove.com is doing a challenge to listen to chrisitan music for 30 days and I would like to encourage everyone who looks at my blog to sign up and take this challenge!
http://www.klove.com/30day#.TxR7plgDYwg.blogger

Advent! (Christmas Season)

Hello, everyone, Christmas is nearly here!!  The weeks leading up to Christmas, most importantly the Sundays, we look at the weeks of advent.  A little history of these weeks are that advent is the beginning of the Church year for most churches in the western tradition.  It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24).  The earliest this can be started is November 27th and the latest is December 3rd.  This year we started at the latest, which is so nice because Christmas is on a Sunday, which I think is so wonderful.  I love spending time in church on Christmas, it is so warm and I always feel God right there, in church!

There are four themes (candles) that my church does for the four Sundays and that is: (The middle candle is the Christ candle that we light on Christmas Eve!) 


He came!
He comes!
He is coming
Christmas Sunday!! 

The First theme talks about how Jesus came into this world to be our Saviour.  We can look at John 3:16 which says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".  God loved us, sinners, so much that he sent his only son into the world to die for us, so we can live in heaven with him eternally, when we die.

The Second theme is about how Jesus comes to us now.  He comes now because he loves us and wants to live in our hearts.  The text we look at is Hebrews 9, which says "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from sins committed under the first covenant" (Heb. 9:15).  After Jesus died, he came again to live in our hearts.
The Third theme is about how Jesus is coming again, or his second coming.  This we look at in Revelations 1.  This says "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him...who is, and who was, and who is to come" (Rev. 1:7-8).  All through the book of Revelations, the new kingdom is described and eternity is revealed.
I have enjoyed giving everyone this...and I will post again soon!
P.S. here two songs I heard and enjoy listening to:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day and...

Hark The Herald Angels Sing, which is my absolute favorite song! 
As tiny Tim said in A Christmas Carol, "God Bless us everyone"!!

Finals!! (Boooo...)

Sorry I did not post anything last week, but I am busy getting ready to take finals!!   Yeah, I am almost done with my first semester of college at Molloy College!  It feels so good to know that God is with me and is going to be by my side when i take these finals!

Scholarship

I am asking everyone who follows my blog or looks at my blog to please click on this link.  Here is the scholarship:

Fastweb Refer a Friend Sweepstakes

Provided by : Fastweb Sweepstakes

Award:

$500

Deadline:

December 31, 2011

The Fastweb Refer a Friend Sweepstakes is open to registered Fastweb members who are legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and who are at least thirteen (13) years of age. You must log into your Fastweb account to obtain your personal referral link. For each person who registers for Fastweb via your personal referral link during the Promotion Period, you will earn one entry into this month's drawing.

Just cop and paste this link in your browser and go!

http://www.fastweb.com/referral/AW613


Thanks alot!!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving !

We have so much to be thankful for (family, food, education,etc.), but the thing we should be most thankful for is God and his love toward us.  There are so many Bible verses that have to do with giving thanks.  I won't go in detail through them, but here is a list:

- Psalm 100
- Psalm 95: 1-6

A Peaceful Christmas Church

- Psalm 107: 1
- Psalm 145: 7
- Psalm 69: 30
- Psalm 136: 1-26
- Psalm 75: 1
- 1 Chronicles 16: 8
- 1 Thessalonians 5: 18
- Philippians 4: 6
- Colossians 2: 6-7
- Colossians 3: 17

I especially thank God for Jeremiah 29:11 and that he has my future already planned out for me.  I started college this fall and I just thank God for helping me make the right choices for my future.  He has "plans to prosper [me] and not to harm [me], plans to give [me] hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11).  I also thank God for Christmas!!  I thank him for sending his son to die for us.  As you see, I have already prepared for Christmas.  If you like it (or don't), please comment and tell me what I could change to make it better.
Just one more thing, I found out what my name means:

Peaceful Spirit of Harmony and Grace

A-angelic

S-sensitive

H-honest

L-loyal

E-elegant

Y-youthful