A PRAYER FOR AMERICA.

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Washington Said It;

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

With our thoughts continuing on America's birthday, we continue with thoughts from George Washington.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to a political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."


"It is impossible to govern the world without God. He must be worse than an infidel that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligation."

Wahington Said It::

Monday, June 28th, 2010

As we get closer to the day our nation celebrates her independence and freedom God so graciously saw fit to bless us with, I can't help but think of how so many have forgotten, or do not care, we are what we are, "ONLY" because of His goodness.

"We can have but little hope of the blessing of God if we insult Him by our blasphemies".

The Power of Prayer

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

In just a few days, the months of June will be over, and in about a week, our country will be celebrating another birthday. Our country is in desperate need of prayer and a very special healing touch from God. For anyone who does not believe in the healing power of prayer, I am choosing to
use the following for to days post.
If your are someone who does believe in the power of prayer, then I pray this post will encourage you in praying for Americas future.
Remember you can click on it to make it larger.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Friday, June 25, 2010
"And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO SEEK HIM AND HIS WAYS, WITH THEIR HEARTS.

The Value

Thursday, June 24, 2010

To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:

LOSE ONE.

author unknown

Just a Few Pics

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I requested this bench for my birthday. I had been in need of a special private and quite place, I could sit, pray, read, or what ever. This was delivered to me about 4:15(it was a birthday gift from my mom), and I gladly set it here by my garden. I enjoyed some early quite time with Lord this morning. It was very nice.

In the other picture is a special study Bible (Joseph bought it for me a few months ago)and a Christian newspaper I subscribe to. I get great reading enjoyment out of both.

In Christ, Stephanie

The Beginning of Wisdom

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

"The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [is] understanding". Proverbs 9:10 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him". James 1:5

Today is my 42nd birthday. Since sometime before my 40th birthday, I have been determined to look at each birthday with greatfullness for all God has blessed me with and with anticipation of what He has in store for the next year. This year is no exception.
The Proverbs verse I have listed here is the beginning of my reason for happily celebrating each birthday. I lovingly and respectfully fear the Lord and I know to do so "IS" the beginning of wisdom. And for the second verse, James 1:5, I know we can take this verse for what it says. If any of us lack wisdom, we can ask God for it, and He will give it to us in abundance, with out chastening us for daring to ask. He loves us and wants to bless us with all the knowledge we will allow Him to give. It is our for the taking.
In my now 42 years of life, He has blessed me with so much, I can't help but look forward to another year of His blessings.
In Christ, Stephanie

Celebrate life and all of Gods blessings!!!!!

Speak Softly, Never Mind the Big Stick

Proverbs 15:1-7

The tongue that is free from acidity, bitterness and scowling springs forth into wholesome conversation, much like a tree proudly displays its blossoms. The quality of life is often measured by the character of the tongue. Perverseness in one's language leads to division and fragmentations of thoughts (Prov. 15:4).
He who is void of understanding, in other words, "a fool", rejects, rebuffs and renounces the instruction of his father. He turns a deaf ear to any parental guidance, thus evidencing his foolish ways.

Righteousness cannot be bought, nor is there a price to be placed on godly living. The behavior of the righteous stems from sound moral principles. Such a one is blessed with material gain as well as spiritual profit. ~Walking in Wisdom, Raymond Barber

Five Ways.........Day 4 & 5

Saturday, June 19, 2010

4. Maintain a record of faithful church attendance.

a. Regular church attendance is a must for Christian growth. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more,
as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25).

b. Only at church can children be exposed to gospel preaching, without which no child can come to understand who God is and what His designs are for each life.

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets.
"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
"Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." ~Heb. 1:1-4.

5. Show them that they are sinners and encourage them to receive Christ as Savior.

Five Ways, Day 3

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Maintain a Concerted Effort to Teach Biblical Principles.
Make the Bible the number one book in the home. Heed Job 23:12, "Neither have I gone back to the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
Teach them the principles of honesty, sobriety, purity and righteousness(and live them yourself, daily) right out of the Bible .

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things." Phil 4:8 Walking in Wisdom, Raymond Barber

Five Ways......Day 2

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Maintain Consistent Family Devotions.

Turn off the television(or better yet don't even watch TV) or what ever may be on, and gather the family around for Bible reading and prayer.

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:6,7.

Be consistent! A hit or miss approach will not warm the heart nor light the path to Christian living.
If you are not consistent about a time of devotion to God's word, some prayer and maybe some singing, your children will not think it's that important.

Five Ways To Bring Your Children To Jesus, Part 1

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Sunday is Father's Day. Dad, are you doing all you can to bring your children to Jesus? Today let's think about their environment(their surroundings).
Do you do all you can to maintain a beautiful Christian environment?
If your home is an armed camp, don't expect your children to act peacefully. If you act like an angry bear all the time, do not expect you children to act like Mr. or Mrs. Sunshine. If you and your wife fuss and fight all the time, do not expect your children to handle disagreements in a peaceful way.
If your home a place of prayer, seasoned with love, your children will pray and love. Like father like son or daughter. "Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the father, so is the son(or daughter" Ezekiel 16:44.

Dad, do you know the Lord? If not, change that today. If you do know the Lord, make
talking to your Heavenly Father a daily
priority for yourself.

In Honor of Flag Day

Monday,
June 14, 2010

This was written by our 3rd son, 4th child,
and 9 yr old John Paul.
I ask him to do it for the last page of our June devotion.
Don't forget you can click on the picture to enlarge it if you want or need to.

Remember to fly your
your flag today or the week, for Flag Day.


It is from our A Beka
Book Curriculum

Our June Devotion, Day 4

Friday, June 11, 2010

Are We A Crown to Our Husband?
Proverbs 12:4

Are we as a wife, the kind of wife or woman we want for our son? “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies”. Proverbs 31:10 I know the verses used in this devotion are more well known as scripture used for Mother’s Day. But, as a mother raising four boys, and Father’s Day approaching, I thought they are still the perfect scripture for us ladies who have sons and grandsons, etc. They will one day be husbands and fathers and here in the 31st chapter of Proverbs, we have the words that were taught to King Lemuel by his mother concerning what to look for in a future wife. Now for those who have a least one daughter like me, this is for us also. Whether we mothers are married, divorced, or widowed and whether our children are young or old, single or married, I believe God never relieves us of our duty of being an example of this virtuous lady. These verses show us this. If we have a least one daughter, we are to teach her to be the kind of lady we expect our sons to marry.
What is a virtuous woman? a lady with moral integrity: having or showing moral goodness or righteousness. Can we say we are a lady who has high moral principles or standards? Can we say we are women who have earned the respect of others by how we dress and through our actions. I Tim-othy 2:9,10 says we are to be “women professing godliness”. Not too long ago I heard someone say, godliness, is what is missing in our homes and churches. I could not agree more.
What is godliness- showing devotion to or worshiping God. Ladies, if we really want to claim His name, it must show in every aspect of our life. He must be reflected in the way we dress, our conversation, where we go, etc. Some may say, God sees my heart so what’s the deal with what I wear? Yes God does see our heart, but know one else can. If we are to let others know, we know the Lord, we must let our outside reflect the inside. We can always control our conversations, where we go and what we do. But I assure you, if we still look like the world, we are going to send a confusing message. I believe this applies to everything from our hair to our feet 1Tim. 2:9. We must listen to our hearts and let the Lord be our guide. When it comes to our clothes, I know we may disagree on how low is too low, how short is too short, or how tight is too tight, so here’s a hint: The closer we are to the Lord(the light of the world), the more the ways of the world(the darkness)will bother us.
“The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life”. Proverbs 31:11-12 This says a mouth full. Have we given our husbands any reason not to trust us with anything? Have we proved our fidelity and faithfulness in deeds as well as words? Have we tended to our home and family so that they have no need to take from others? Has our love and companionship enriched our husbands lives to give them reason to be happy?
Have we honored and served our husbands to the point they have no reason to believe we will do anything contrary to their wishes? Have we spent all of our days with devotion to our husbands? Have we kept our vows of marriage? Have(are) we done them good and not evil all the days of our life? Can our husbands go about their daily task, knowing that we are their trusted help meets?
In the eyes of our sons, have we made the institution of marriage look like a beautiful partnership with a precious and treasured lady in their life? Have we made the idea of having children appear to be a wonderful blessing or a heavy burden?
Are we “women professing godliness”? I am afraid there are many who are not. As a whole, our society is void of godliness and it doesn’t take much effort to see this.
I believe there is one main reason godliness is vacant in the hearts of our nation today. There is a huge lack of conviction of hearts. Let’s examine this a little. To convict- show to be at fault: to show that somebody is in the wrong in some respect. A conviction- a firmly held belief or opinion.
I know when the Lord has had me under conviction for something, it was not a comfortable time for me. It was especially hard when it was something I did not want to give up or stop doing. It was on my mind quite often. Of course the longer I waited and held on and held on and waited, the worse it was. I knew the Lord was speaking to my heart but, I simply turned a deaf ear and a hard heart to Him.
God began to open my eyes to the many lies Satan had been telling me. I started to see how I could not continue like this. No matter what it was or wasn’t, I did need God every day. When I saw this, with a humble broken heart, I asked God to please forgive me for my attitude and actions and to please take control of my life again. When I did, the dark clouds rolled away. I began to see a beau-tiful rainbow, I felt the warmth of the bright sunshine on my face, and I began hearing the birds singing. What’s more, I began to see God bless me in my life more than I ever thought possible.
If we are someone with a heart that sincerely seeks to please the Lord, we will not allow our heart to be hardened and numb to His voice. We must humble ourselves and open our hearts to His convicting Holy Spirit. We should allow God to give us new convictions-these come as we grow closer to the Lord. As we grow closer to Him, our love for Him grows, and so does our desires to serve Him.
We cannot depend on the world to show our kids godliness. Too often, we can’t even depend on those in our churches to be the godly example we are so badly needing.
Considering our self as the woman we are, would it please our heart if our son were to marry someone like us? If there is already a daughter-in-love existing in our life, what kind of example are we being to her? If she the daughter you always wanted, wonderful. If not, we should pray for her and then examine our selves for any necessary changes? Please allow your heart, as I do mine, to be open to any areas that need convicting.
I ask that you join me in being a “woman professing godliness”. Even if it means being a crowd of a few, may we be strong and bold in our convictions, yet a loving light and a “Woman professing godliness” to those around us.
And last, may God help us to be “a crown to our husband” and a godly example for our daughters(or Future daughters)-in-love.

In Christ,
Stephanie Black

Our June Devotion, Day 3

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Our 19 ear old son wrote this article for our June/Father's Day issue.
Many have been blessed by it.

For Father’s Day By Matthew Black

Earlier this month, when Mom had finished the last issue of her devotion, she had mentioned to me that she was going to ask Sara, Josh and myself to write something about Dad if we wanted to. What’s funny is she didn’t have to, I wanted to write something about him. As long as I can remember I’ve always heard how my Dad was such a great man, how he is always smiling and always in a good mood. Then they turn around and ask me, “ is he always like that?”. I’m hear to tell you that most of the time he is. The only time he isn’t is when one of us kids goes off and does something dumb or something that he just does not agree with. So yeah, he’s like that most of the time, but just give his kids a chance to do something to get him aggravated and he wont be smiling. He wont have a definite mad look or be yelling, but he just won’t be smiling. His temper has always been hard to bring out, you really have to push him far to get him mad, and yes, I have done that before, ha ha ha.
But here’s something for ya’ll that you probably wont believe, he does not push any of us to be anything like him. Of course he pushes us to be the best Christians we can be in a rough world, but he also knows and completely under-stands that you can and will mess up. It’s a good things he does too, because I’m the type I usually have to learn the hard way on most things. Trying to tell me anything is usually a waste of time. Him and Mom both know that and that’s why they usually wont say anything when someone thinks they should. And its not that I don’t respect them, I’m that way with almost everyone. Its mostly because I’ve heard so much till I’m just tired of talk and am just ready to try it and see for myself what works and what doesn’t. And for what it matters I’m not a bit ashamed of that, I wont brag about it either but I wont apologize for learning.
For what its worth, I told Mom that I would probably sound kind of in your face and basically like a brat or what ever you want to call it. The fact of the matter is, this is the way I think. I cant help it, its just the way I am. I don’t talk this way, but I think this way. That’s something my dad has always taught me. It’s ok to think like that, just don’t talk it or act it unless you just need to for a very limited reason or circumstance. And that being said I really do like to be around laid back and very relaxed people that like to have fun.
Now you may be wondering why I am telling you all of this extra- here’s the reason! When usually anyone has met me before they find out I’m Joe Black’s son, they can hardly believe it. And here’s another shocker, I don’t strive to be him, and he doesn’t want me to, and he will tell anyone that I am telling the complete truth. I have always strived to be the best Christian I can be, that being said I try to be myself, the best Christian young man I can be. Dad is proud of that because I’m not scared of doing this by any means, nor am I a bit ashamed or worried I might mess up, because I know I’ll mess up. The thing about messing up is that usually if you do it bad enough the first time, usually you wont try it again. This is something he’s been doing with all of us our whole life.
The bottom line with Dad is that, he has really been a great example in so many ways, I don’t even know where to begin. He’s not perfect, and I’m glad he’s not. It just shows me its ok to mess up. Not that its ok to go out and do it just because we can, but that when we do, he knows it can and will happen and that he won’t kill us when we do, ha ha ha. And in saying all of this my current boss has heard me talk about my Dad a lot, and one thing we both agree with is that he’s helped to raise me to be one of his best guys that he can rely on. That’s something that isn’t found much at all anymore, so it’s a really valuable and appreciated character, when its found.
All in all, I cant say I have a real reason to be unhappy or a bad kid, or anything else like that. Instead I have all I need to help other people and be someone real and successful in today’s world. Thanks Dad, you didn’t do it alone I know, but you helped a lot more than you’ll ever know!

Our June Devotion, Day 2

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
HAPPY FATHERS DAY

The first thing we need to do to have a Happy Father’s Day, is to make sure we have received Christ as our Personal Savior! This is where a Happy Father’s Day should and will start!
Then we should honor His Bible-preaching, soul-winning, church! If we are going to have our children in church, we as fathers have to be there ourselves, worshiping and praising, and serving God and being faithful in our walk with Him. Our children are watching our walk, does it match our talk? Are we happy to be at church? DOES IT SHOW!
Then we should honor God’s Word, His Holy Bible! We should read the Bible aloud in our home, in the presence of our family at least once each day! Let our children know the importance of talking with God each day, through the reading of His Word, happily, faithfully, each day so our family can see the great gain spiritually of listening to His Holy Word!
Then we should Pray! We should have a prayer time with our family each day. Prayerless children come out of a prayer less home! Teach our children to pray, let them know our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us each day! He cares for us and wants to hear from us, voice our problems and failures, our praise and our worship and our belief that He will take care of them all if we will let Him.
I believe we will have a Happy Father’s Day if we as Father’s take these few simple and hard steps to ensure our hearts and homes are right with God, our Heavenly Father!
Happy Father’s Day
In Christ, Joe Black
“ Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on thee]: because he trusteth in thee”. Isaiah 26:3

Our June Devotion

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Sorry we haven't been back in days. We have been busy putting our June devotion out and it can be hard to find proper help with keeping this blog going in the process. Meanwhile, it was suggested I put our devotion on here, so here is the first and second page.


Psalms 91:1-7



1 “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee”.