Practical Christianity for Positive Living

May 30, 2007

STRESS

STRESS!
GOT ANY IN YOUR LIFE?
Nah! Not in today’s society I am sure!

3 points of Stress

Financial- the number one devil, satan, false god that destroys so many marriages each year.
Occupational-dealing with people, hours, quotas, the money god, no real joy in going to your work.
Relationships- I do not care if you are single or married, divorced or engaged. You have got to relate and get along with someone.

I know you do not want a bunch of quips or bullet ideas of instant fixing, the band aid method of dealing with stress, everyone has opinions. We have had enough of “great quotes” like “Get a life!”- “Get a grip!”- “Just deal with it!”-“No pain No gain!”

Well I do not need another book, another Dr. Phil. Another Court Room Judge,
If you are like me you want to know, NOW!
What is a hard practical solution! Now! Right now!
Not tomorrow, surely rambling through 30 pages of a book prior to the authoritative suggestion is not the answer.

I can think of no better place to look then in the bible –Proverbs 12:25 makes the statement “an anxious heart gets weighed down”

Well no kidding Dick Tracy!
That is my problem! That is my stress! So many “things” on me that my heart, my whole body feels like a ton of weight is setting right upon my shoulders.

Then the bible goes on to tell us again in Philippians, “do not be anxious about anything”

Ok so I will speak for us all, look God, we are not talking about a bunch of Romans here, and spears and lions and things, we are talking about our stress here today in the 21st century, I am talking about my life here, now what kind of a solution are you offering us?

Well before you insist on throwing the bible out with the bath water, re-read Phils. 4:6 (all of it) “do not be anxious, but in everything by prayer (from the heart), petition (to ask for), with thanking God, present your request”

The same message we at New Day Unity Fellowship have been repeating Sunday after Sunday, Pray-Meditate, Listen, and React to the positive direction you were given.
As Nike says “Just Do It” and go on with your life.
But the very moment you put faith into your Christ connection to God, the spirit of truth will fill you and great things will happen, your life will turn around.

The word prayer means devotion, if you are devoted to a wife, a husband, a friend don’t you talk with them, sharing your fears-your joys-feelings-baby cloths- hot dates and hair color.

Well the same goes for God! Talk out your stressed points with God, say the words out loud, write your words out if necessary, best therapy you can get for free!---Then---
Listen to God, think about what God is feeding back to you and react with knowledge and confidence that the movement, the decision, the action you are taking, it is the will of God.

The creator is not the head of the “honey do list”---Well actually I may want to rethink that one, the “honey do list” was probably invented by the one power, the one presence, in the universe, God the Good. Undoubtedly for the benefit of women to keep men out of their hair –but—I am sure that will spark some dinner table conversation.

So many times we rush to prayer before God with only “Our to-do list”!
We know we are a child of God, but, we are the spoiled child of God at this precise moment demanding, pleading, begging God to do this or do that! Making empty pledges to do this or that.

“ God will ya please- please- pretty please--- I promise I will change my ways or something like that.-------oh, uh, yah and by the way thank ya God!”

The very first step to relieving stress is to go to God “in everything” Every thing! The good and the not so good. A simple “thank you” for the little things in life can go a long way with people----can you imagine if you were all prayed up or working at being prayed up with God? Saying a few thank you’s to Him. Actually saying what is considered , the absolute ultimate in praise to the Creator of the Universe.
Whew! Defies the comprehension of the mind . That is really all the praise the universe wants, is Thank You!

Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praise worthy, think about these things” in your meditation and you will know!
“take captive every thought to make it obedient to you” How ?

Truth is constantly whispering to you to build your life in a positive manor with the one and only, by focusing our attention on God then the stress is going to leave our body system, because we are now aligned with God through the Christ----Simply by using Prayer of the heart-Meditation of a quiet mind-Listening to our inner voice-Reacting decisively in a positive manor..

“What so ever you learned-received-heard or seen from me-put into practice and the God of Peace will be with you” Philippians 4:9

WE FEEL GOOD! A miracle has happened!----- It is magic!------ NO!!!!!!

The power of Prayer from the heart, Meditation of the mind, Listening to the flow coming through the Christ and Reacting on the positive info for your situation
Got rid of the ”Stress Demon”----No mystery! -----JUST GOD!

“I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jer.29:11

Blessings
Fred



One FELLOWSHIP two languages:

Plans are in the works, by September, Sunday Services in Spanish will be held at 1pm . More details will be coming as the staff is lined up. Es possible para mas.

Links:
In need of special prayer send your first name, city, state or country and a brief prayer request to prayermasters@aol.com and we will hold it in prayer for 27 days, to be prayed over by our prayer group at 1600 GMT (Greenwich mean time) every Wednesday.

www.dystoniamonologues.blogspot.com for a little something to warm the heart during your wonderfully lengthy stroll down this lane.

Join Brenda and the renowned author and spiritual leader, Sasha for a fun filled adventure of mastery on Carnival Cruise Line November 4-11 for the Odyssy 1 Cruise, leaving from Tampa to sacred sites of the Mayans in the Yucatan region. For further information or reservations contact Brenda Brinn at brendabrinn1@msn.com or 813-786-6311.

LADIES MINISTRY:
Do not forget your “JOY” jars as you join us June 16th at Perkins Restaurant at Stall Rd and Dale Mabry at 9:00 AM. We will be deciding on a future community service project.
Kat

Be sure to share this message with your friends!

Comments are welcome and always appreciated.

May 23, 2007



“Memorial Day”, once called “Declaration Day”, at my work that day only means a gigantic sale week end! Of which I am not really surprised for when I asked why they did not fly the American flag on the 4th of July, for that extravaganza sale, I was informed it would be an insult to our foreign customers.
I am sorry lost my head for a moment! I forgot where I really was.

The first part of memorial is “memory”, a mental faculty of retaining or recalling past experience of person-place or event. Truly the only thing that leaves a cemetery is memories. No amount of sales, money, power or fame is going to stop that.

Yes “Memorial Day” is coming up; you will hear the harshness of ceremonial rifles barking in unison and the mournful sound of “Taps” fluttering out over those permanently sleeping beneath the sod, according to Wikipedia, that is all most 2 MILLION men and women died in the uniformed service of this country..

Taps started during the Civil War, not as glory but as remembrance, a remembrance c.a. is prone to shove aside for profit.

As a young chaplain I heard Taps many times and jumped every time the rifles went off, yet I still recall the first time I heard the mournful notes of Taps. I was being carried by my grandfather from a cemetery, and my mother was weeping and I did not know why at the time, but, to this day that image and the sound of Taps remains in the forefront of my memory.

In the United States May 30th was the original day set aside as a day to remember the young men and women who provided the freedom for this country, and who will no longer have the opportunity of the ripe old age.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us “to encourage one another and build each other up”

This is the time to do just such a thing for our citizen soldiers who are torn from their family’s in response to our leaderships determination that this “is the time of war” as so quickly stated in Ecclesiastes. It is not a day of capital gain but of remembrance of those who have gone “Home” and support for those still in the absurd attempt at peace for mankind.

Regardless of your political point of view, America and some of its allies have lost young men, women and civilians in Iraq-Afghanistan . I can not help but wonder if we are just to conveniently shelf the memories of God’s children who have died. (All the way from Bunker Hill to the time of this reading, in the name of freedom I might add.) Simply so the memory of their sacrifice, will not “interfere” with the big orange or blue or white sales.

I am a survivor and I will be the very first in line of all those that have walked through that valley to tell you there is no glory in that march.…there are un- human like behaviors, actions, cruelty far beyond anything that you can possible imagine, and those memories will live with the survivor as a permanent scar all their lives.

Proverbs 22:6 tells us to “train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”

Take the time to build memories of joy with your family while you can! This day of memory.

This “Memorial Day” just say NO to that sale of greed, build some memories with the real number one value! The item that is not for sale,,,,, your Family!

Those memories are priceless and were paid for and are being paid for by sacrifice and duty of the young men and women of this country whom you do not even know.

“You” can say thanks to them by going camping, hiking, on a picnic, to the park or maybe to the shore and just watch a sunset.
Show them you appreciate their sacrifice, by being a sign of a free, united family not one worshiping upon the corporate alter of greed.

Build some family Memories you can “Take to the Bank” of love, remember big business only drains your bank of funds.

Pause for just a moment this “Memorial Day” in prayer, maybe you do not understand the whys of it all, but, ask God to send peace and understanding to Iraq-Afghanistan, to the Israel-Palestine region, all of the world where the tensions are causing so much darkness.

In a single day there are : 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. Surely we could afford just five (5) minutes this memorial day to offer a prayer for world peace, just 300 seconds.
That will leave 1,435 minutes or 86,100 seconds in the rest of the day for ourselves.

For just a moment hold the memory of love and strength in your mind, radiating it out to a grieving family struggling to hold on to the thought that God has blessed their missing son or daughter and that knowledge brings the family peace.

Enjoy the moment by holding the hand of a loved one ------ and not the purchase receipt of some conglomerates sale.

Align your heart with the golden warmth of love and not the pockets with gold of a CEO.

Welcome to our home hearts brothers and sisters.
Blessings
fred


A MILLION THANKS!

This Memorial Day I encourage you to tell a service person “thank you” for the job they are doing. And/or send a card to us at our address prior to Memorial Day and we will get them into the hands of Shauna Fleming sponsor of the Million Thanks Campaign.

In 1965 our team while was in Vietnam was a recipient of a whole mail bag full of letters, cards and pictures from school children across the United States, the joy and peace that simple note, or picture or colored what ever made for me and my fellow berets in that isolated camp; well, to just to have a caring contact from “back in the world” was beyond explanation.

That night that we received them you could have heard a pin drop in our team house except for the occasional out burst of chuckle, I can tell you honestly those tough men had wet eyes. (In fact as I write this I had to stop because I was choked up a couple of times just recalling that bag)
We shared those photos, jokes, pictures of those school children, teachers and concerned people just as if we knew every one of them. Someone cared! It is impossible to explain the JOY those cards can bring.

The rules are simple:
Do not use the words “kill,” nor ask “do you miss your family”
No food nor candy can be attached to the cards and do not use glitter
Any size card will do, the most favored are home made, pictures of taste can be included
For more information go to www.amillionthanks.org

UPCOMING
May 29th Memorial Service
June 3rd Jesus as a C.E.O.
June 10th Adam and Eve
June 17 Father’s Day
June 24th What is Music Really Telling Us


LINKS:
Recently while attending a Spirit Mind and Body show, we ran across a lady with some very interesting pillows embroidered with scriptural phrase and little prayer stools. The quality of workmanship was excellent For those of you “when life brings you to your knees” www.GODpillow.com

“Radiant Peace is the positive energy and goodness within each and every one of us”
William age 6, Baltimore Maryland. For more details of what time proven seniors and the youth of today think concerning Peace log on to www.radiantpeace.org

“the shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance of your knees to the floor” www.prayermasters@aol.com

Join Brenda and Sasha for an exploration of the mysteries of the Mayans Nov. 4-11
For information send an email to brendabrinn1@msn.com or 813-786-6311

WANTED: KEYBOARD AND OR GUITAR MUSICIANS to solo and accompany some dedicated singers, must be energetic contact Fred 813-748-7095

LADIES MINISTRY:
Do not forget your “JOY” jars as you join us June 16th at Perkins Restaurant at Stall Rd and Dale Mabry at 9:00 AM. We will be deciding on a future community service project.
Kat

New Day Unity Fellowship
Practical Christianity for Positive Living

May 16, 2007

Fried Chicken! Mountains of French Fries! Bowls of Onion Rings! Bring it on! Eat till you pop!
OH! Alka-Seltzer! Rolaids! Chewy Tabs----- where art thou when I need you the most?

PAUSE; LOOK WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOLKS!

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of God, You are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Yes, I am a temple but I have a granary bin in side me the size of Manhattan that needs filling. Now!

So who do we listen too?

Not the FDA that lists all the additives to our food supply, so much so that the word “imitation” will appear on many labels….any farmer or rancher can tell you there is nothing like “real” as compared to “imitation”, I just can not understand imitation strawberry preserves---what?

Not the Surgeon General, or the advertising on TV from all ages, who show smoking Will kill you, after all we got to die some time! Huh?

Not to Granny who used to say, the age old proof that is in the pudding, is in the bible?

It is so much easier to listen to Cosmos, Glamour Magazine., or GQ to find the latest trend to our fragile vanities and let others exploit our bodies---- with tattoos for instance, then to pause just a second and ask how long is that thing going to be with my skin? As a person who has one I will tell you emphatically ---Forever! No, surgery still leaves a scar and you will all ways have a ghost tattoo.

So who do we listen too? The ego of course! We all do, I love hot dogs! Ever read any of the “bi-product contents” labels that tell you what they really are. Just cover it up with your artificial catsup and imitation sauerkraut and it is delicious!

What you fill your mind, your heart, your body up with you will become!
So why not do as it is suggested in Romans 12:1—“to offer your bodies as a spiritual representation of worship, as a living act of sacrifice to God?”

Want to diet? Even the smallest tweaks in your routine can take you to giant peaks!

God did more then just speak us into existence, in Genesis 2 the bible explains how Adam was formed from the dust of the earth, and woman. I am under the impression He designed woman as an updated model of this homo sapiens thing. But regardless “He formed,” and from there on we were formed atom by atom, molecule by molecule in the wombs of countless numbers of women into a race of mankind, a nursery of belligerent children towards their father, who is in heaven.

In the Old Testament, God was in a house, in the New Testament we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, we are the house, the temple of God. We are that image exactly how the universal creator made us, designed us, I still do not see where there was a billboard clause that states someone else can put their drawings on us.

Jesus was the son of God right, what did he wear when he was here on earth? A body!

Well then if we are all one, all connected to God, then is not the living God dwelling in our house? We should do everything in our power to make it a place God can use us to our full potential.
There is a song out there we sing “Here I am lord”, making me an instrument.
Are we just mouthing the words or feeling it?

I am not stating we need to give up everything that is good to us to eat or drink, I am just saying we do it in moderation and with full knowledge of the product of use.
Just think who it is really paying homage too.

If we believe that Jesus was one of the Way showers and if we are following His ways, then the way we treat our bodies should have huge implications of our spirituality...

Blessings
Fred.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

MOTHER’S DAY IS COMING THIS SUNDAY!

“Blessed art thou among women” Luke 1:28

We hear of “Mother Mary”, “Mother Teresa” and “Mother Earth” and truly it is a blessing that some women continue the branches of the tree of life,
propagate the species, bear the fruit of love.

But is that all there is to it?

Mathew 12 tells us of Jesus asking someone, “who is my mother? And who are my brethren?” then stretching out his arm he indicates, “behold my mother and my brethren”

How many times have we seen or heard of a story of young mothers who become single parents whether as a result of divorce or never marrying? Often these women are placed in a position of abandonment when the churches they had enthusiastically supported and attended now are constantly making them feel guilty. Some even going so far to imply these women had created the ultimate sin of which she and her offspring could never recover. Many times making these parents feel as though they could no longer be entitled to receive God’s love.

A woman had a child out of wedlock, so did Mary, mother of Jesus. Mother Teresa never gave birth to children yet had thousands who looked to her for motherly advise, care and love. Mother Earth conceives new life daily and takes care of all the species of the planet. What is the common denominator, the jewel of not only these mothers mentioned, but women the world over? Love, a most tremendous and powerful love that binds our species together.

A tremendous Love and Compassion, the mother instinct of the creator, men are fixers and women are healers. The arm out stretched to indicate “My brethren” to me indicates we all, men and women are of a higher spiritual consciousness and connected together.

While “behold my mother” in the same body stance is indicating All of the women of the world are cemented together in that which we call the “motherly love” for all of mankind .

At the New Day Unity Fellowship we recognize we are all a child of God. That NO life is an error, God has a plan and a journey through life for each and everyone of us.

So at N.D.U.F. you will not find one who can cast the first stone, but, you will find a lot of cheerleaders along the roadside of life.

We do not care where you come from, how you are dressed, we only care that we put some practical spiritual food on your table to give you the strength to continue your life journey

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL WOMEN may your blessings abound in the joy of the lord in all matters that you tend too, the joy of children at day care centers, the medically challenged in a hospital, female officers protecting the citizens of this nation, the women in uniform in the streets of Baghdad, those women fighting the fires, the tending of little animals at vet clinics, or, those administering the kiss of a mother doctor for the cut or bruise in your own household.

Blessings Moms
Fred.


It is all in divine order:
Music:
We have said all along God has a definite plan for us at The New Day Unity Fellowship. We are right where we are supposed to be at the time God would have us. Well guess what? Today, NDUF received 57 donated hymnals, “The Wings of Song,” in excellent condition.

It is only a matter of God’s time before that lovely voice of Jackie, and her two other volunteers have some high energy music accompanying us to sing our praise unto the lord.

.One FELLOWSHIP two languages:

Plans are in the mill work that by September, Sunday Services in Spanish will be held at 1pm . More details will be coming as the staff is lined up. Prayers are with Luis as he continues his training for the ministry. Muchas suerte!

Links:
In need of special prayer? Send your first name, city, state or country and a brief prayer request to prayermasters@aol.com where we will hold it in prayer for 27 days, to be prayed over by our prayer group at 1600 GMT (Greenwich mean time) every Wednesday.

www.dystoniamonologues.blogspot.com for a little something to warm the heart during your wonderful stroll down this lane.

Join Brenda and the renowned author and spiritual leader, Sasha for a fun filled adventure of mastery on Carnival Cruise Line November 4-11 for the Odyssey 1 Cruise, leaving from Tampa to sacred sites of the Mayans in the Yucatan region. For further information or reservations contact Brenda Brinn at brendabrinn1@msn.com or 813-786-6311.

Be sure to share this message with your friends!

Comments are welcome and always appreciated.

Thank you for your encouraging comments from our friends in Canada, Orlando, Florida; Missouri and Arizona!

NEW DAY UNITY FELLOWSHIP

Practical Christianity for Positive Living

Wednesday, May 2, 2007


When many of us went to school ---oh! Absolute eons ago!!---well maybe just the late 50’s and one or two seasons of the 60’s, the seven major problems reported by schools were:
1. talking in class 2. throwing spit balls
3. chewing gum 4. smoking in the bathroom
5. violating the dress code—Hey! It was the James Dean/Elvis era
6. cheating on exams 7. passing notes.

Now forty years later the seven major problems reported by the schools are:
1. Drug/alcohol abuse 2. pregnancy/rape
3. suicide/murders 4. gangs
5. armed assault on teachers/and other students
6. large amounts of unaccounted for money
7. family’s neglect to discipline children in a loving way preferring to define such infractions as a child “just building their self esteem.”

In proverbs it is asserted by the writer, “the integrity of the upright will guide them, but the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them.”

So I ask the question :

Will Columbine or Virginia Tech just keep repeating itself over and over again?

Will parents continue to think religion is only a “Sunday thing”? Not really for those making money.

Is it really only for those that can Not hit a tail gate party before the football game (church could fortify your tail for the weekly social game of life and keep your foot out of your mouth by the way) At the New Day Fellowship you will even have time to fight all the traffic and arrive in plenty of time for souvenirs and kickoff

Is Religion really only for the other person that can not tee off again after the 18th hole? Again! (possibly church could keep you from being “teed off” over trivia “stuff” during the week, and really be “on your game”----of life)

With the parent unit so absorbed in their own careers, their own methods of relaxation from the pressures of work, their drive not even allowing them to remember what a Sabbath day is for, is it “really” any wonder their mediocre raising of children has caused a rude awakening?
Yet, one day the parent wakes up or turns around and “daddy’s little girl”, that “little man” is now off to their own clearly defined life journey, a child raising a child or they are in the drug rehab or blowing innocents away.

Parents just don’t get it! “The darkness hides nothing as the night shines just as brightly as the day!”
It is the “parent integrity” the child comes in contact with first! The parent’s integrity should be the brightest flame to his child at this forest fire called life.

Instead of me, it should be WE!

It is not up to the school teacher, not up to the Safety officer at school, not up to the bus driver, not up to bathroom walls and whispered conversations to teach young men and women a code of conduct for life.

Ecclesiastes 12:1, “to remember the creator in the days of your youth”

Puts the responsibility smack dab on the shoulders of the Parent to establish the moral boundaries and reinforce them with the Love Truths for a Life. Learning ethical standards from a role model parent becomes like a beacon in the midst of this darkened society vicious, graphic society---a true light of security that steers the parent’s young along the ragged shoreline of moral destruction.

It is not hard to find the kids today that are truly above all that, nothing really seems to bother them, they work, they pray, they know who they are and are proud of it. They treat each other with respect with their actions, language and gestures; truly, they shine above all the rest.

When the Parent’s cry out “Why has thou forsaken me?” Where did the time go? What happened here? Where did I go wrong?

The answer is Very Clear to me….
The cultural forces are undermining American Family Values, cultural forces are influencing Your children, cultural forces are raising Your kids to fit the patterns of society, not YOU influencing your children to raise the standards of society.

Instead of running to the stores on Sunday and letting the moguls run you; how about running in the park with your family, or dog or your friends. Running for love not away from it!

When was the last time you looked over your child’s shoulder at the type of Video game they were playing, the type of movie they went to see?

When was it you listened to your child in prayer at bedtime? How long has it been since you shared prayer with your family?

What you do today only sets the tone for the next generation; are you ringing loud and clear?

To change the direction of things, first change Your mind!

Blessings
Fred.



One FELLOWSHIP two languages:

Plans are in the mill work that by September, Sunday Services in Spanish will be held at 1pm . More details will be coming as the staff is lined up.

Links:
In need of special prayer send your first name, city, state or country and a brief prayer request to prayermasters@aol.com and we will hold it in prayer for 27 days, to be prayed over by our prayer group at 1600 GMT (Greenwich mean time) every Wednesday.

www.dystoniamonologues.blogspot.com for a little something to warm the heart during your wonderfully lengthy stroll down this lane.

Join Brenda and the renowned author and spiritual leader, Sasha for a fun filled adventure of mastery on Carnival Cruise Line November 4-11 for the Odyssy 1 Cruise, leaving from Tampa to sacred sites of the Mayans in the Yucatan region. For further information or reservations contact Brenda Brinn at brendabrinn1@msn.com or 813-786-6311.

Be sure to share this message with your friends!

Comments are welcome and always appreciated.