Greetings today!

This is my very first blog to you.  I do not like the word blog so I am going to call it, correspondence.  I thank you for viewing my correspondence. I invite you to return often to my personal "blog-correspondence" because I will often be publishing new entries.  I am now a published author, and I feel that I have a duty to allow my readers or anyone else that is, to have the right to read what's on my mind, and/or to ask me questions, so that I may respond to them.  Also, I am greatly appreciative of a new good thing that is happening in my life.  Since writing my book, Left Alive, I have been doing much studying on the topics related to victims of violence. I desire not to just be an author, but more than that, I want to be well knowledgeable in this area. I want to understand and be one of the many supports out there for victims of violence, and really, for ALL OF US. We all are a victim to sin in general.  Unfortunately, many people experience horrifying hardships, and sometimes these people are timid to discuss their problems with anyone, or to reach out and ask for help.  I pray and hope that Left Alive may be a place where we can serve one another and help one another and encourage one another. Writing to one another via the internet is just the beginning. May personal investments begin in which I and other people will choose to invest our lives into the lives of others.  Personal investment into another one's life is wonderful, yet it is challenging. I am given hope through the verse Isaiah 43:4 where God, Himself, is doing the speaking in this veres in the Holy Bible. The verse says, "Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you, I will give men for you and people in exchange for your life." Therefore, I personally am encouraged to know that if I take the time daily to be part of people's good AND bad times of their lives, go through it with them, be a listener, be a support, BE A DOOR MAT, that God promises He will give me people who He wants to help through my life.  Man! That's such a blessing!

Well, I don't want to take too much of your time today.  I hope that you will be productive today. Take care and I will talk with you soon. Ohh, I encourage you to post your personal testimony/story in the link Testimonies in this website, at www.LeftAlive.net.

Take care.

 

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Breaking Down Genesis 3:8

And (A)they heard the (b)voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the (C)cool of the day: and (D)Adam and hiw wife hid themselves (E)from the presence of the LORD God ( F)amongst the trees of the garden. A. And they heard Observation: They heard god. They heard signs of His close proximity. Hearing is a sense. So, they sensed God's presence. Principal: Romans 10:17 We hear God in the Bible. Jeremiah 7:23 We hear God in the Bible and prayer. Romans 1:20 We see God everywhere. Application: Psalm 46:10 Be still and LISTEN to God. B. the voice of the LORD God walking Observation: God is walking in the garden. He is real. he is intimate. God desirs intimacy with you and me. Principal: John 3:16 God so loves us. Ezekiel 22:30 God seeks for a man, even today! Psalm 119:73 God knows you. He desires you and me to know Him. 1 John 5:20b God desires that we may know Him. John 15:16 God chooses us. He draws us to Him. Application: John 8:31 Spend time with God daily in the Bible and Prayer. C. cool of the day Observation: Cool of the day is generally the best part of the day. It's not too hot, not too cold. It's late afternoon, so the worries of the day have passed. It's a relaxful, peaceful time. Principal: Luke 22:39-40 When we have extra "free time", do we use that time to selfishly indulge in nothing, such as t.v., or do we use that tiem to spend time with God? Luke 22:39-40 Spend the periods of extra "free time" with God. Colossians 4:5b WARNING! Temptations/Problems are up ahead. Application: Colossians 4:2,5b Be vigilant, redeem the time. D. Adam and his wife hid themselves Observation: Hiding is a sign of condemnation, a broken fellowship, shame, fear, or terror of someone. Principal: Romans 5:12 Our greattttttttttttttttttt grandparents 1st sinned and passed it to us. Romans 3:23 We all sin! Romans 8:1 Our sin will try to condemn us. John 3:17-18 Today, God does not condemn. Today, God graciously tells us to be saved. Application: Acts 3:19 We are to repent of our sins, so that God may refreshen us from the condemnation of sin. E. from the presence of the LORD God Observation: They were trying to avoid God by placing themselves in a "dark" secluded place away from visibility. Principal: John 3:21 We do not like to be in the light when we are indulged in sin. We run to the "dark" so that our sin(s) may not be seen. Application: John 3:21 Come to the light, CONTINUE to be in the light so that our deeds can be worked on and glriously changed. F. amongst the tress of the garden Observation: Trees are a place of hiding. Today, people try to hide from God by goving to a "place", and therefore trying to stop the attention of our heart from hearing God's voice. Example- bar, constently listening to music, constently hanging out with people, etc. Principal: John 3:19-21 If we run to "places/things" away from God, then we are loving the dark, and hating the light of God. Application: John 3:21 Stop running from God. Let Him expose our sin, and let God work on the sin in the light.

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Hello my friend.

First, I want to apologize how my last blog came out looking. I am still learning how to use a blog, and therefore sometimes I make mistakes, but through and through, may you be blessed through what's on my heart.

It is late at night right now and I have had something good on my heart today to share with you. The question that we all have asked is, "what is my purpose in life?"

That's a good question to want to know. So, what is our purpose?  So, why are we here?

Friend, the Bible reveals to us what is your and mine purpose in life.  God provided the answer to us and with a great surprise, the answer is simple.

Let's look at three verses. First, our purpose can be found in Revelation 4:11. Revelation 4:11 is speaking of God, and it states, "You are worhty, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created."  Here in this wonderful verse we see that God created us for His pleasure. We are alive in order that we should only bring glory, honor, and show the power of God through our lives and everything that we do.

Another awesome verse that makes it very clear of what our purpose in life is to be is Philippians 3:10. Philippians 3:10 reads, "That I may know Him (Jesus), and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformadable unto His death." This is an awesome verse! We could spend days on breaking down this verse. However, let's quickly break it down to see the practical purpose that God has for our lives....Our purpose is first to know Jesus. The word "know" in this passage means, "to co-habitly and intimately know an individual." So, God has given us the privledge and command to co-habitly and intimately know Him, and to continue in life to know more and more of Him.  Through knowing Him, we therefore may know God through His power being demonstrated through our lives, lives of obedience, and also, knowing Him in that we will suffer by denying our own desires, wants, and will, and by surrendering to Him completely, and even therefore all the way as to die to our complete wants, desires, will, and thoughts, and again I repeat, to completely die to all our selfishness; so that we will be consummed with only wanting, desiring, and willing to do what pleases God.

One last excellent verse that helps us understand God's purpose for our lives is found in the middle of Romans 8:28.  This verses states, "For whom He (God) did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethern." My friend, we see here that God has created us that in this life on Earth, we ought to allow God to transforms our thoughts, our beliefs, and our actions so that we may become more and more like His Son Jesus. So, that we inside and out may become more like the image, the way of thinking, the actions of Jesus in our own lives.   ...<< MORE >>

Good afternoon. It's 1:15 and it is a very beautiful day here in San Diego. The sun is shining fully with little clouds in the sky.

The Lord got my attention today in the book of Isaiah in the Bible. Let's look at the first four verses of chapter 43 and see how they apply to our lives.

I'm going to break this down in an outline format, and perhaps you can utilize the outline format to expand on a study. May you be blessed even more than what I write here as you go back and study some excellent principles from these verses. 


  Our Difficlut Experienes Can Be Used to Help Others         
                                                   Isaiah 43:1-4

Understanding of the verses - The Lord is speaking to a man named Jacob in these four verses, yet if Christ is our Savior and Lord, these words from God to Jacob apply to our lives too.


Verse 1 - But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, You are Mine."


Principle of the verse -      God created us. God formed us. If we are in Jesus Christ, we do not have to fear because God has redeemed us. (Redeem means to buy and make clear of payment) God redeems people through His Son, Jesus' blood. God has called usby His NAME, we are HIS. 
Application of the verse-    If Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, we no longer have to worry about anything in life anymore. We can have peace because we belong to God and nothing is going to change that.


Verse 2 - "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor sahll the flame scorch you."

Principle of the verse -      We are going to experience some times in our life that are confusing, or difficult, or even like fire, they are very challenging and horrific. God will be with us through difficult times. 
Application of the verse -   When we go through a difficult time, let's not ask the question, "why Lord?" Instead, let's take on the difficulty that we are faced with and let's seek to know God through the difficulty. I know the problem(s) hurt, but let's look at the Truth-God is with us. He is not going to leave us.  It may seem that we are going to drown in fear, or pain, or lonliness, BUT GOD IS WITH US. Then God goes on to promise us that our difficulties will not overflow us. He will not let us die drown. When the problems are horrific and we do not understand why we are allowed to go through something so hard and horrible, let's hope in the Truth that it will 
not burn who we are in Jesus.  We are God's and He wants us to intimatelyknow Him through the deeps pains and difficulties.


Verse 3 - "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place."

Principle of the verse -      No matter what happens, THE LORD IS GOD. 
Applicaton of the verse -   Believe that the LORD IS GOD. Do not disgard that Truth. God is Holy and He is 
Soverign. Meaning, He as God allows things to happen to people.  Remember Romans 8:28 - If I love God, then God will use the good and the bad in my life for the good in my life. Jesus is my Savior and therefore we can take comfort in the Truth and Hope that God will use all experiences for our good and for His ultimate glory. God gave us Jesus, and He exchanged our sins for a relationship with Him through His innocent Son's blood on a cross. Innocent Jesus was penalized for our guilt and He paid the guilt for us.


Verse 4 - "Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life."

Principle of the verse -      We are precious in God's sight. He has honored us through His Son Jesus Christ. God loves us. God wants to use our lives to touch many lives around and beyond us. 
Application of the verse -  If we believe and understand that we truly are precious to God, that He wants to honor us so much- us who deserve no honor at all- and that God loves us, God will use our lives. God wants so much for us to surrender our lives to Him through everything, and He desires us to serve people for His glory and when we do this, God enables us to be investments in the lives of many and to help them to learn to invest their lives into the lives of many others, like mutiplicity. We are going to go through hard times, and perhaps we are presently going through a difficult time. If we seek the Lord and be transparent, God will use our experiences as a way to help others, therefore using our testimonies, our experiences and a support to others. We can use our experienes to reach out to others and tells them how God has helped us. We can be real with people and let them know how we struggled or still do struggle with certain things. People appreciate realness and people can tell when someone is real or if they are faking it. As we are real with people, as we depend on God alone and with people, God will begin to allow you to be used to help others to come to know Him through difficulties and pretty soon they will learn how to depend on God and allow Him to help others too to depend on Him and help others. Just like multiplicity.











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Tonight, I wanted to show some practicality that can be useful in our own lives and with the lives of people all around us each and everyday.

I must be real and testify that I am a needy person and that I face pains on occassions. If I deal with pains, then I am certain that the majority of people who I come across in my daily life are facing real pains too.

The story in the Acts 3:1-11 in the Holy Bible encourages me so much, that I just had to share it with you today.

If you do not have a Bible, then you can read this story below, and then I will expound on the practicality as God has shown me as of right now.

Acts 3:1-11
1. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
2. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
3. who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
4. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us."
5. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
7. And Peter took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediantly his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8. So, he leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God.
9. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John.....

For people like me who face emotional or spiritual pain, let's look at this and apply some principals into our daily lives.

The first thing is that Peter and John were going to the temple together. My friend, you and I need friendships with other people of the same sex. A man having a genuine brotherly friendship with another man just helps give our spirit some joy; and the samething with women who have a genuine sisterly friendship with another woman.

Now, I like this. In verse 2, we read that there was a lame man. If he's lame, and especially he's been lame his whole life, then this individual is defiently filled with pain. We read here in the story that this lame man was poor. He probably didn't have any friends or else it might not have to be begging. Friends usually take care of another friend. So, this lame man was very needy. Aren't there needy individuals all around us today? The same problem is still around today. Needy people are all around us. Sometimes needy people, people of pain, might directly make their need plain and ask for specific help, like this man in the story. But there are many people in pain today who need help but they don't specificly ask. Instead they are silently screaming for help through addictions, bad habits, unlawful activities, or simply doing nothing and lying in depression.

In verse 4 of this story, Peter saw the man and showed compassion on this needy man with pain. Peter and John could have just walked by the man and wished him a good day. BUT, Peter had compassion. Do you and I have compassion on people around us? Even more, his compassion led him to react with true kindness. First, Peter was attentive to the needy man. Verse four says, that Peter fixed his eyes on the man. Are we just going through life and trying to help people around us in a non-shalunt way? Or are we attentive- meaning, is our mind, our thoughts off of ME and thinking and considering the people around me? Me, me, me is theme of our culture today. But Peter's mind was attentive on people around him. Let's be like that too. Now, secondly, not only was Peter's compassion attentive to the man, but Peter acted and spoke to the man. So, Peter chose to stop what he was doing (which by the way was an important thing- to go pray to God), and he chose to engage in a conversation with the man. Then we read in verse seven and eleven that Peter touched the man and he allowed the man to hold on to him and John.  We can learn from these actions that first, needy people need someone to talk with. People need someone to touch. A hug, a pat on the back, a hug, or a hug. Does our compassion lead us to stop, give attention to a needy person of pain, and to also engage in a human to human connection? I don't know what it is, but there is just something about being able to genuinely allow someone to hug you or to cry on your shoulder. When we stop and take the time to actually conversate with someone, allow them to physically touch us, we are making a connection with someone, and my friend, when we connect with people we are encouraging them and helping them in a greater way than we can imagine.

The next thing Peter did is that he didn't take the man's dignity away by giving him money and that's all. No, instead, Peter gave him someone who can and will change his life. Peter presented Jesus Christ to him. Do you and I present Jesus to people? Our monies, our possessions, and our friendships with people can only go so far; however, giving someone Jesus ...<< MORE >>

Good evening, or at least right now at the moment. ." ...<< MORE >>