Tag Archives: spiritual

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Just Breathe!

Get up, get ready, get in the car, drive like a maniac, run into work, grab a cup of coffee, get busy and now what’s next? Some times in the midst of my hurry, I catch myself going through the same “rush routine” day after day and at other times I go through it without even giving it a thought. It is possible to live our lives in a “rush routine” and the great tragedy is: This is not really living.

So, I want to encourage you to stop and take a moment, the next time you catch yourself caught up in the “rush routine”. Stop, take a moment and breathe! That’s right – breathe in, hold it and now breathe out. Now try it again and focus on getting it right – breathe in hold it, hold it, hold it and now breathe out. Now, try it one more time, just for good measure.

There is life in your breath, so if you don’t do anything else today, you need to make sure that you take time to breathe. When I actually slow down enough, to stop for a moment to take and recognize my breath, I realize that there is more to this life than the chase that I so often tend to find myself caught up in.

Crazy thing is: When I actually stop to breathe and realize my breath, I am very often, not even sure what I am chasing. I sometimes find that I am in a hurry just to be in a hurry, not because I necessarily have a dead line I’m trying to meet. These are the times, that I’m glad I listened to that little voice inside of me, reminding me to breathe.

On the grand scale of Eternity, this human experience is a very short thing and we need to make sure that we are not so busy and rushed that we miss what really matters. When I take the time to just breathe, then I realize how nice it is to sit and sip on my hot cup of mocha coffee. I appreciate grown up conversations with friends and begin to understand the role they play in helping me to become a better person and vice versa. I am grateful for this amazing, beautiful gift called life and feel priviledge to get to live and share it with so many amazing people.

So, slow down and take the time to breathe and recognize your breath, you will be glad you did…

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Too Much Noise!

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One of the great challenges of living in today’s world is learning to deal with all of the noise.  When I say learning to deal with it, I am talking about learning to get past it, so that we might be able to hear what is really important and needed.  I really do think that most of us are living with information overload.  We get media input from so many different sources and ideas and opinions from so many competing directions, that we have gotten used to living in a continual spin.

Some days I wake up from my noisy dreams to an even more noisy world and I know that I am missing something, but just can’t seem to figure it out.  Then I realize that I am never going to figure it out with all of the noise, so I begin to try to filter some of the noise away.  This seems to work for a moment, but then, I realize that I still am not anywhere near to what I am really searching for, so I go in search of quietness.  It is not near as easy as it used to be to find solitude.

Solitude is the place where we step out of the noisy world and into the peaceful relationship that we were created for.  It is the best place to listen and learn from our Creator.  It is the place where we figure out what life is really all about.  The journey to solitude is not easy and it will cost you, but it is a trip worth taking.  In fact, once you take this trip, you will want to take it again and again, because you will discover that solitude is the place that enables you to live blessed!

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Blessed From Desperation To Inspiration…

Michael Joe, a follower of Christ Jesus by the will of God and through the leading of His Spirit.  To the Saints who are living in the Upstate of South Carolina and who place, express and live out their faith in Christ Jesus.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh how blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every possible spiritual blessing, blessings which we know are waiting for us in the heavenly places in Christ, just as we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that you and I might be holy and blameless before Him.

In His unlimited love, He chose to adopt us as His sons and daughters though Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of His will and to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely gave to each of us in and through His beloved Son.

In Jesus we have redemption, restoration and relationship through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins and failures, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us, not because we have earned it or deserved it, but simply because He loves us.  

In all Heavenly wisdom and Supernatural insight, He made known to us the incredible mystery of His perfect will, according to the kind intention which finds it’s purpose in and through Jesus, with a view to an administration and application suitable to the fullness of the times, that is to the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

Also in Jesus we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, for the purpose and to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

In Him, we also after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation – having also believed, we were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given to us as a pledge and promise of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory as we move from desperation to inspiration.

-Scripture Adaptation From Ephesians 1:1-14