Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sun Dec 29th Todays News

The left answer good argument with abuse. Miranda Devine illustrates this with detail in her column. But there are examples that extend further and appear closer. When Gillard gave thanks to the Rudd government she killed, she listed achievements, but failed to mention Rudd's ones. I didn't feel that any of them were worthy of the description of 'achievement' but .. Gillard's behaviour was small and petty and intrinsically abusive. I was reminded of this when I was invited to list my business activity on a FB chat page, and the page's owner listed all the businesses but my mine in their thank you. Petty, and typically left wing. Also the anti semitic comments some post in answer to pro Israeli comments. I would be more open to them if they were substantive. But typically, the most substantive that abusers get is to refer to UN complaints on events that did not happen or misrepresent situations. I similarly don't like the anti Islamic sentiment. I appreciate the nature of the terrorism pervasive in terrorist culture and the assertions of Islamo fascists that they are Islamic, which Islamic authorities rarely deny. But, it is stupid to enlarge the enemy - that is what terrorists want. There are decent Islamic peoples .. I know a few (no need to name them). Argument through abuse won't be rewarded by me. 
Australia has improved in the business outlook since Abbott was elected PM. I'm told by numerous merchants that business is .. busier. Part of that could be the weaker dollar. Mr Abbott has much work to do to change things. A $5 copayment for medicare is being discussed. Naturally, opposition to it is strong and vocal. It wouldn't be the only cost of having had six years of a federal ALP government. In NSW, it is the first time since '72 that we have had a conservative government federally and statewide. The last time that happened, the long delayed Opera House was built and Snowy Mountain scheme completed. I want them to be as ambitious. 
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Hatches
Happy birthday to all those born on this day, across the years
Matches
Despatches
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Abbott must upset Left’s gravy train

Piers Akerman – Sunday, December 29, 2013 (8:45am)

ENJOY the last days of 2013 as the new year will be tough.
The Abbott government must address harsh realities and introduce long overdue ­reforms to stabilise the economy and restore optimism and certainty in the future.
Over six years of Labor misgovernment, the economy has haemorrhaged. The surplus left by the Howard-Costello team evaporated. Wayne Swan and Kevin Rudd panicked when the GFC struck and overspent on mickey mouse programs with no long-term benefit and set the pace for skyrocketing national debt.
Pitifully, they tried to claim the nation was in great shape by using some of the worst international basket cases as comparisons. Telling their followers that Australia was better off than Greece or Portugal when those countries were on their knees was insulting.
Australia also has a cultural problem that has its roots in the handout mentality beloved of Labor and the trade union movement. The car manufacturing industry and its supplicants are a case in point.
After billions of dollars in subsidies, Australia faces the reality its signature carmaker Holden has been making cars Australians did not want to buy and were too expensive for the foreign market.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill say taxpayers should throw more money at the problem. Absolute hogwash. Throwing more money at the problem would have been adding to Labor’s waste and pandering to the featherbedding trade unions.
The Leftist commentators at the national broadcaster, all enjoying their own taxpayer-funded incomes, lapped up the ludicrous criticism of the newish conservative federal government unquestioningly.
For many years, it has been obvious Australia should play to its natural strengths and harness its considerable natural advantages. These are the vast mineral and energy reserves that should cushion the nation through the worst of times and prepare future generations for the best of times. It was heartening to see one of the brightest Australians, Andrew Liveris, the Darwin-born international president, chairman and chief executive of Dow Chemicals, singing from the same song sheet in The Australian on Friday.
“We must play to our strengths,” he wrote. “Manufacturing industry debate is about fitness for competition. Focus is critical.”
Liveris said today’s options for countries like Australia are in high-value, high-technology manufacturing; yet we expend huge amounts of effort on ­debates that simply are not relevant. He pointed out we cannot, for example, compete on wages, but we can compete on skills and energy and we do well on the first of those.
To compete and win, Liveris says we must have what sports coaches call an “X-factor” player on the team, something the others don’t have and can’t get and Australia’s “X-factor” is energy. But as far as new ­investments go, our primary sources of natural gas and electricity are now or will soon ­become negatives in any comparative calculation.
“Average prices of electricity have doubled in most states in recent years and the unprecedented contraction in consumption as the Grattan Institute has pointed out threatens a ‘death spiral’ in which falling consumption pushes up prices even further, causing further falls in consumption. This is a nightmare for industries with high electricity dependency,” he said.
“Equally troubling is the scandalous mismanagement of natural gas. This is a feedstock beyond its energy value that sustains highly valuable technology applications fundamental to global needs.”
The potential to expand our energy supply is only comparable with the US yet domestic prices are soaring. New investments based on Australian gas have already gone elsewhere in at least one case Liveris is aware, to the US. Existing users face a huge competitive handicap and, in some cases, doubts about available supply.
In less than a decade, the US has reversed its near-terminal manufacturing decline as new energy resources are tapped. The X-factor in the US turnaround in Liveris’ opinion is low-cost gas.
Unfortunately, the Australian mining industry has failed to articulate the argument for the need for aggressive expansion of the energy industry and particularly the gas industry; and the huge potential of ­Australia’s nuclear industry ­remains virtually untapped.
Merely by providing a safe repository for spent uranium which was originally mined here another multi-billion-dollar industry could be created in extremely short order. The vast and nonproductive environmental industry needs to start working cooperatively with miners to create wealth for the future and the union movement needs to understand that the gravy train has been derailed if we are going to beat the competition
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The Goodes the bad and the ugly from 2013

Miranda Devine – Saturday, December 28, 2013 (11:05pm)

This year ended as it began, with furious readers flaming my email inbox. “As usual your column turns my stomach,” wrote Marie about a column criticising Tony Abbott for appointing Natasha Stott Despoja as Ambassador for Women and Girls. “Natasha is worth 100 of you.”
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it's a fact - conservatives are happier. I guess the belief in self determination and economic freedom makes people happy.
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G'day,

Happy 2014 to us all. I wish only that your year ahead is full of an abundance of Love and Good Health, Success and Prosperity.
My Resolution is to simply thinking more wisely about the choices I make and to except the consequences of all choices, good or bad and to learn from their results.
Sounds like something we should always have been doing all along alas speaking for myself, I have taken too much for granted and spent less time planning the trip ahead thus rushing into the arms of fate and generally falling short of my expectations because of poor planning and relying on others to help.
I am not a fatalist, I believe that we all control our own destinies and that the end result of our lives is purely of our own design through thought and action. Yep, I am going to take time to smell the roses and be much more positive in my outlook and develop the habit of looking after ones mind & body so that both will be around this time next year and so on. Maybe it's a mid life crisis?,....... Naaaah, ......... it's just time to grow.

Godspeed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist

0414293765
www.facebook.com/zegtoons
http://zegsyd.blogspot.com.au/

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Holly Sarah Nguyen
When I was a child I felt so alone, when I was a teenager I felt out of place, I rebelled and I still do to a certain extent, but now my rebellion is against things that are wrong and unjust, and towards people that try and bring me down to, who pretend they're superior..as I grew I felt I never quite fit in, always watching and observing..through my life I've experienced many things, both really good and really bad..its brought me to this point that I've not figured things out, but understand my experiences have brought me to a level I never thought existed..I'm thankful for the good experiences and even more grateful for the bad ones, for they've both brought me great knowledge and wisdom...and i know there's so much more to learn, and much more to experience, so even on the days that are challenging , I can find peace knowing its shaping me and giving me more so that I can give back in return..
You are a child of God. I thank you, when I was desperate, you offered me a home. I didn't need it, but I richly appreciated the offer. - ed
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More than corruption, poverty, war, disease and famine? Big call, that. Possibly, too important to ineptly deal with the issue .. edSylvia Lee WRONG!!! Paedophilia and domestic violence ARE humanities real invisible CANCER!
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The churches are irresponsible .. they want the government to ban gay marriage, because they won't. - ed
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Hitler in lederhosen. Hitler banned this photo, saying it was undignified, fearing he would lose support if it was displayed. It's a pity
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Michelle Malkin
GLAAD issues statement on Phil Robertson's return to Duck Dynasty, falsely claims he "praised Jim Crow laws and compared gays to terrorists" ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/12/27/glaad-issues-statement-on-phil-robertsons-return-to-duck-dynasty/
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There is a difference between a cultural asset and a feeble excuse for immature fun, but researchers don't see it - ed===

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Michelle Malkin
‘Nailed it’: Pat Sajak scores with zinger about Obama’s ‘relaxing’ vacation ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/12/28/nailed-it-pat-sajak-scores-with-zinger-about-obamas-relaxing-vacation/
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Phil Box
I have been turning dreams into reality for one little boy. His dad really wanted to include him in the abseiling activity on the holiday program at Murphys Creek Escape. No limits.  at Murphy's Creek Escape.
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online.wsj.com
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I imagine it was fun. The profanity is a turn off for me. The fact it was a public water supply makes it a terrorist threat.
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Another DIY - This one is 3D printed
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Current Gallery on all Photographs

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Jewellery & Gemstone Gallery

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A Gallery of Jewellery, Diamond News,Gems & Gemology promoted bywww.diamondimports.com.au

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Lebanon was beautiful once, too - ed
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First Light — at Crowley Lake.
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Syria may be self destructing, but She can still perform terrorist acts - ed
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MIND GAMES: This video shows a cardboard Tyrannosaurus rex turning its head to follow you.

But it’s a hoax. Illusion wizard Brusspup takes advantage of the brain’s need to impose order and understanding on the world; and although a 3D object is used, the human brain has trouble making this connection. 

It could make you question how you see the world. Take a look: http://ninem.sn/q9U959C

#T-Rex #Illusion #9News
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Larry Pickering
A PIZZA WITH THE LOT

Joshua Shane Carew sits in solitary confinement in Queensland’s Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre. There is no TV, no radio, just a basin, toilet and a concrete bed with one blanket. His wife and two young children Holly (4) and Jake (2) have missed him terribly over Christmas and he has not been allowed to phone them or have them visit him. 

He has been in jail for the past 21 days, and has only recently been allowed a shower and has not had a change of clothes for 15 days. He was told by QLD Chief Justice Carmody, when refusing him bail, to reflect on the cost to his family over the festive season.

Justice Carmody has been assigned by the Newman government to handle bikies’ court cases.

So, exactly what crime was Joshua Carew alleged to have committed that deserved denial of bail and such harsh emotional punishment without trial?

Well, it’s hard to believe, but you see Joshua runs a pizza shop in Yandina, QLD, and he works long hours with his wife who bakes the pizzas and he delivers them.

Unfortunately three weeks ago Joshua was delivering an order to the Yandina pub.

Now, Yandina is a pretty small town and the person he was delivering the pizza to happened to be his brother-in-law, a Rebels bikie, who was noticed by police accepting the pizza on the pub’s surveillance video.

Joshua didn’t stay for a drink as he had lots of rapidly cooling pizzas yet to be delivered but he unknowingly had just committed a serious offence under Premier Campbell Newman’s new anti-association laws.

He was arrested by Sgt Wade Lee of the Sunshine Coast Police and placed in solitary confinement, where he still sits wondering what the hell he did wrong.

In refusing bail Justice Carmody said bikies would "have to be living under a rock'' if they did not know they faced a mandatory six-month jail term for simply "having a beer with three or more mates".

But Joshua didn’t have a beer, they were not his “mates”, he is not a bikie, has never belonged to a bikie club, he has never owned a bike and vehemently denies ever having dealt in drugs, yet he is likely to spend the next six months in jail because his brother-in-law decided to order a pizza.

It appears the right of freedom of association, afforded us under our Constitution, can lead to some pretty serious jail time. His case comes up for mention on January 6.

I copped plenty of flak a month back for suggesting Campbell Newman’s legislation was undemocratic and could lead to abuse by police and the judiciary.

Perhaps this is just one example of what I feared.

[NB: Before closing the pizza shop, and rather than have all the ingredients go to waste, almost 300 pizzas were offered to the most needy. They didn’t last long.]

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I won. Shadow is gone .. muhahahaha .. wait! No! Shadow is .. everywhere! - ed

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How to soften up gangstas...
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Katz Designer Textiles
Looking towards Bar Beach from Merewether#merewetherbeach #barbeach #newcastle #beach#coast #surf
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My Mosaic Surfboard .... We just got a new backyard fence so I have been busy painting it and redoing my garden after all the carnage ..... I have not been able to see this large outdoor mosaic sculpture I did about 12 years ago ..... Now I can enjoy it again since cutting back alot of plants #mosaic #sculpture #colour #mosaicdesign#beach #surfboard #design #australiandesign#designer #kirstenkatz
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If you are Chinese you'll love this.

One Australian dollar is buying USD$0.8888
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Liberal National Chat Page
It's a good time of the year to promote your business via LNCP.
Feel free to post your business, website and/or facebook links.
Supporting member's, friends & local businesses.
The Conservative Voice .. daily email of conservative journalists and memes from around the world, pro Israel ..http://conservativeweasel.blogspot.com.au/ - ed
Liberal National Chat Page Wow how brilliant! We have diamonds, craft, jewellery, accountants, IT specialists, property specialists, marketing, cleaning, photographers,what an incredibly talented bunch!
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A Prison that WORKS!

For those not familiar with Joe Arpio, he is the County Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. He keeps getting re-elected over and over again.

These are some of the reasons why:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio created the "tent city jail" to save Arizona from spending tens of millions of dollars on another expensive prison complex. Inmates sleep in tents!

He has jail meals down to 20 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He banned smoking and pornographic magazines in the jails, and took away their weightlifting equipment and cut off all but "G" movies. He says: "They're in jail to pay a debt to society not to build muscles so they can assault innocent people when they leave."


He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money. Men work in Pink "Clean and Sober" Shirts. Their underwear is also Pink!


Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again but only allows the Disney channel and the weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel, he replied: "So these morons will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs."

He cut off coffee because it has zero nutritional value and is therefore a waste of taxpayer money. When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."

He also bought the Newt Gingrich lecture series on US history that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series that actually tells the truth for a change would be welcome and that it might even explain why 95% of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record for June 2nd 2009), the Associated Press reported: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed wire surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts.


On the Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing pink boxer shorts were overheard chatting in the tents, where temperatures reached 128 degrees. “This is hell. It feels like we live in a furnace," said Ernesto Gonzales, an inmate for 2 years with 10 more to go. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, who makes his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. "Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for parole, only to go out and commit more crimes so they can come back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things many taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves."

The same day he told all the inmates who were complaining of the heat in the tents: "It's between 120 to 130 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents there too, and they have to walk all day in that sun, wearing full battle gear and getting shot at, and THEY have not committed any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!"

Sheriff Joe was just re-elected for the fourteenth time as Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona.

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www.yalibnan.com
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calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.se
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www.timesofisrael.com
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www.israpundit.com
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www.aish.com
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calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.se
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www.americanthinker.com
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www.frontpagemag.com
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www.phyllis-chesler.com
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sultanknish.blogspot.com
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http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2013/12/editorial-cartoon-us-spying-on-israel.html

Translation: "I've asked them a million times to release Pollard, but that Obama just doesn't listen."
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http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/facebook-is-dead-and-buried-replaced-by-simpler-networks-study-finds-20131228-300f7.html
www.theage.com.au
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blogs.timesofisrael.com
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www.danielpipes.org
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www.jpost.com
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mfa.gov.il
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... Maybe if Hamas spent all the money on infrastructure rather than wasting their donated money on fruitless rockets that they send across the Gaza / Israeli border then they might be able to become independent of Israel's supply of free energy.

But then we already have seen how Hamas bites the hands that feeds them. 

In the meantime their own people live in squalor while the elite Hamas leadership live like kings at the expense of those who are too fearful for their lives should they protest.

Stupid bastards wanted Hamas so they now can sit in the cesspool of their own creation.

The Arabs who live in Israel know full well they are luckier than those who live outside Israel.

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December 28, 2013 / 25 Tevet 5774 / Shavuah Tov
This email was created and sent after Shabbat was over in Israel.


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"We know Exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is!!"
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Video #6!
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Click here to watch:The Breakthrough To Jerusalem
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Holy Moses! Look What they are Dancing to in Vietnam!
What do you get when you mix Vietnamese and Jewish music?
Wheels of Love in Israel! 2013
Click here to watch:Wheels of Love in Israel! 2013
Why do hundreds of biking enthusiasts from around the world come to Israel once a year?
There is No-one but HIM!!! – Beautiful Music
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! The song is in Hebrew, but it is only 3 words - translated into English - 'There is No-one but him!'
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Pro-Israel Surprise from Oxford University!
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We Were in a Movie Festival!!!

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Events[edit]

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““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God."
Galatians 2:20
When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all said, "Live;" and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head.
"Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,
Is not this office thine? and thy fit name,
In the economy of gospel types,
And symbols apposite--the Church's neck;
Identifying her in will and work
With him ascended?"
Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace, that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.

Evening

"I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword."
Matthew 10:34
The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what your Master said? "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war. Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the truth's sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your Master's steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.
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Today's reading: Zechariah 5-8, Revelation 19 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Zechariah 5-8

The Flying Scroll
1 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”
3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. 4 The LORD Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”
The Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land....”

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 19

Threefold Hallelujah Over Babylon’s Fall
1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever....”
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Elimelech [Ĕlĭm'elĕch]—god is king.The husband of Naomi and father of Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah (Ruth 1:23;2:13;4:3-91 Sam. 17:12).

The Man Whose Ways Contradicted His Name

It is one thing to have a good name, but a different matter altogether to have a life corresponding to that name. Elimelech’s name implies that God is King, an expressive name given him by godly parents when the nation followed the Lord. But Elimelech belied the name he bore, for had he truly believed that God was King, he would have stayed in Bethlehem in spite of the prevailing famine.
But one might argue that it was a wise thing to do to leave a famine-stricken land for another land where there was plenty of food for his family. Surely that was a journey any father would undertake to save his dear ones from starvation. But Elimelech was a Jew and as such had the promise, “In the days of famine ye shall be satisfied.” Had he firmly believed in the sovereignty of God, Elimelech would have remained in Bethlehem, knowing that need can never throttle God. Had he not declared that bread and water for His own would be sure? Alas, however, Elimelech did not live up to his wonderful name! In going down to Moab, he stepped out of the will of God, who had forbidden His people to have any association with the Moabites. In Moab, Elimelech and his two sons found graves. Yet such a wrong move was overruled by God, for as the result of it, Ruth the Moabitess returned to Bethlehem with Naomi, who was to become the ancestress of our blessed Lord.
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Samantha Reed
December 28, 2011
Remember
Samantha Reed
"Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old." Psalm 25:6 (NIV)
I sometimes struggle to see how God's Word applies to me and my life. You see, I've been waiting a long, long time. For a walk down "the" aisle. For a cradle and arms full of soft cooing. For hearts of loved ones to fully turn to Jesus. For manna to rain from heaven.
The funny thing about waiting is it can be all-consuming. It inhales my attention, chews my focus and swallows my thoughts, leaving me in a place of uncertainty and doubt. I forget God's power to fulfill my hopes for a husband, children and prayers answered. Its then, when I can't see how He's going to bring these things to pass, I have to rely on His faithfulness in the past.
Remembering God's faithfulness in other's lives in Scripture, reminds us of His faithfulness in our own.
When the waters rise, you've waited long for rescue and you feel God's forgotten, remember... Genesis 8:1*: But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
When dust and debris threaten to replace passions, dreams and callings and you feel God's forgotten,remember... Genesis 9:15: I will remember my covenant between me and you.
When the pitter-patter of little feet is silent and you feel God's forgotten, remember... Genesis 30:22: Then Godremembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive.
When fear, worry, doubt and anxiety enslave and you feel God's forgotten, remember... Exodus 2:23a24a,25b: During that long period...The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out...God heard their groaning and heremembered... and was concerned about them.
When you can't sleep and restlessness sets in,remember... Psalm 63:6-7: On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
When guilt consumes and you fear God will never forget your sins, remember... Isaiah 43:25: I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, andremembers your sins no more.
When all hope is lost, remember... Luke 24:6a-7: He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you...'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'
When your marriage comes back from the brink of despair, remember... Deuteronomy 8:2Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness.
When dreams come true and you're thriving in your calling, remember... 1 Chronicles 16:12a15:Rememberthe wonders he has done... He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations...
Recalling these accounts in Scripture helps me remember His goodness in my own life. When I can't see how He is moving on my behalf, I choose to remember that He promises to be just as present and faithful to me and you today as He was for others in the past.
When joy surrounds. When sorrow clobbers. When all's right in our world. When the bottom drops out. When we feel loved and cherished. When we feel abandoned and alone, let's remember... They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. (Psalm 78:35)
Dear Lord, Your love and Your grace never fail. Please help me remember this today and always. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Share God's faithfulness to those in need by supporting a child through Compassion International.
Application Steps:
Remember times God has been faithful to you. Recount those out loud today.
Focus on the everyday miracles that remind us of God's faithfulness like waking up and breathing.
Reflections:
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou for ever will be
Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. ~Thomas Chisolm
Power Verses:
Psalm 143:5, "I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done." (NIV)
Jeremiah 31:34b, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (ESV)
*All verses NIV
© 2011 by Samantha Reed. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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December 28, 2011
Following God's LeadSharon Jaynes
Today's TruthThe LORD says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you (Psalm 32:8NLT).
Friend to Friend
Several years ago, my husband and I decided to take a few ballroom dance classes. I wanted to be the next Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. So we signed up for a six week class. The first thing we learned was the Fox Trot, which is like making little boxes with your feet. I put my right hand on Steve's left shoulder and my left hand into his right and we began to march in little boxes. Slow, slow, quick, quick.
The teacher explained that Steve was the leader and I needed to learn how to follow his cues. But I had trouble with this. After all, I was the better dancer and felt that if he would just let me lead, then the classes would go a lot quicker. But that's not how it works. Steve was the leader, and I had to learn how to follow. For the first few weeks, the teacher kept saying, "Sharon, you're leading again."
Here's the thing. Steve was the leader and I needed to learn how to trust him. Did you catch that? It was really about trusting him. And that's the same way it is with God. When we learn how to trust Him, our walk through life becomes a beautiful dance. God, as the leader, has the hard part. We just have to learn to follow His lead, to trust Him. Then we get to dip and spin and make the fancy moves. He actually makes us look good.J
Steve and I are still no Fred and Ginger, but I have learned how to follow his lead on the dance floor. And when it comes to my dance with God, I'm learning how to follow His lead as well. And let me tell you, He knows all the right moves.
I want you to think about that today. When you give up control and learn how to trust God, He turns your walk through life into a beautiful dance that's He's choreographed just for you.
Let's Pray
Jesus, today I'm trusting You! I'm giving up control and following Your lead. Help me to follow Your cues...Your gentle nudges throughout the day. Thank You for extending Your hand and inviting me onto the dance floor of life! I think I hear the heavenly host playing our song!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
In your own life, would you say that you tend to take the lead and ask God to join you, or does God have the lead and you join Him? That's a tough question. We know what the answer should be, but what is the reality of your life?
What does relinquishing control look like? How do you relinquish control and yield to God's leading in your life?
I'd love to hear your ideas? Let's share atwww.facebook.com/sharonjaynes.
More from the Girlfriends
It's finally here! Sharon, Gwen and Mary's new 12-week devotion book, Trusting God, is now available. This is the perfect book for individual study or for gathering a group of friends in what we call GiG Groups. With impactful devotions, study questions, journal pages, free on-line video intros, and an index of trust-building Scriptures...this book is a resource you'll refer to time-and-time again.
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, NC 28106
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Matthew's Gospel

Take the time to look over Matthew in preparation for our study. Find one passage that you have not spent much time examining. Meditate on that text today and ask the Lord to help you focus on His message. Commit yourself again to lead the life of discipleship to which our Savior has called you, a life that you can live by grace through the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Thank Him for His transforming work in your life.
For further study:
The Bible in a year:
Coram Deo from TableTalk Magazine, Matthew Studies. Copyright © 2008 by Ligonier Ministries.
Subscribe to Tabletalk magazine and receive daily Bible studies & in depth articles from world class scholars for only $23 per per year! That's only $1.92 per month. And you can try it out for three months absolutely free! Bringing the best in biblical scholarship together with down-to-earth writing, Tabletalk helps you understand the Bible and apply it to daily living. 
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Matthew's Gospel

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (v. 17).
Patience is a virtue, it is said, probably because waiting is so difficult. Young children find themselves having to endure an almost unbearably long stretch of school days before the freedom of summer. Engaged couples spend what seems like ages waiting for their wedding day even though the ceremony may be only a few months away.
After the fall of man (Gen. 3:1-13), God turned us over to the consequences of our sin. Strenuous labor, pain in childbirth, broken relationships, and finally death would be our lot ( vv. 16-19). Yet our gracious Lord spoke good news as well. His curse would not last forever, one day the seed of the woman, a people holy unto the Lord, would crush the serpent and his seed (vv. 14-15). Thus began our long wait for Satan's defeat.
Our Father did not start over from scratch to keep this promise but chose some out of fallen humanity to be His own. Abraham and his seed would be the family through which God would bless the world ( 12:1-3). For centuries Abraham's offspring waited for the great blessing they would share with the world. Yet though there were times when the patriarch's seed blessed the earth (47:13-26Jonah 1-4), most of the nation of Israel failed to be salt and light to the world; thus, the Lord kicked them out of the Promised Land ( Deut. 28:58-682 Kings 17:7-2325).
But God also promised an even greater blessing would come if His exiled people repented (Deut. 30:1-10 ). The covenant community would go back to their land and a holy son of David would rule the world when they turned to Yahweh (Isa. 35;Zech. 12:7-9). Israel did return to Palestine (2 Chron. 36:22-23), but national repentance did not follow (Mal. 2:10-17 3:13-15), and the Jews lived as a shadow of their former selves, under the heel of one empire after another.
However, the faithful remnant in Israel continued to trust God for His blessing. Four hundred years or so after the voice of prophecy fell silent in Israel, the Father sent Jesus His Son to fulfill His promises (Matt. 5:17). The Gospel of Matthew explains how God has kept His promise of salvation in Christ.

Coram deo: Living before the face of God

Take the time to look over Matthew in preparation for our study. Find one passage that you have not spent much time examining. Meditate on that text today and ask the Lord to help you focus on His message. Commit yourself again to lead the life of discipleship to which our Savior has called you, a life that you can live by grace through the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Thank Him for His transforming work in your life.
For further study:
The Bible in a year:
INTO the WORD daily Bible studies from TableTalk Magazine, Matthew Studies. Copyright © 2008 by Ligonier Ministries.
Subscribe to Tabletalk magazine and receive daily Bible studies & in depth articles from world class scholars for only $23 per per year! That's only $1.92 per month. And you can try it out for three months absolutely free! Bringing the best in biblical scholarship together with down-to-earth writing, Tabletalk helps you understand the Bible and apply it to daily living. 
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Spirit Life: Enlivened human beings and the drama of the cosmos

Today's reading: Romans 8
Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?
The Holy Spirit is the theme of chapter 8, and in it Paul gives a panoramic survey of how the Spirit can make a difference in a person's life.
In the first place, Paul sets to rest the nagging problem of sin he has just raised so forcefully. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," he announces (Romans 8:1). Through his life and death, Jesus Christ has taken care of the sin problem for all time. (In Romans 4:6, Paul borrows a word from banking to explain the process. God "credits" Jesus' own perfection to our accounts, so that we are judged not by our behavior, but by his.)
Once again Paul reminds us of the best news of all: Jesus Christ did not stay dead. Paul marvels that the very same power that raised Christ from the dead can also enliven us. A life-giver, the Spirit can break the gloomy, deathlike pattern described in Romans 7.
Worth the Struggle
To be sure, the Spirit does not remove all problems. The very titles the Bible applies to the Spirit-Intercessor, Helper, Advocate, Comforter-imply that there will be problems. But "the God within" can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Paul never minimizes suffering; after all, his own life has included beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, assassination attempts and chronic illness. But he insists with absolute conviction that future rewards will outweigh all present sufferings. Just as Olympic athletes endure years of practice, discipline and pain to achieve the goal of winning a gold medal, so, too, the Christian's life on Earth may involve many difficulties (Romans 8:22-23). But the glorious end result will make all the difficulties seem worthwhile.
The way Paul tells it, what happens in believers is the central drama of history: "The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed" (Romans 8:19). Somehow spiritual victories within us will help bring about the liberation and healing of a fallen creation. The apostle can hardly contain himself as he ponders these truths.
Romans 8 ends with a ringing declaration that nothing-absolutely, positively nothing-can ever separate us from God's love. For Paul, this truth is a fact worth shouting about.

Life Question

According to this passage, how can the Holy Spirit make a difference in your daily life?
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Today's reading is from theNIV Student Bible
by Zondervan


A proven, common sense approach to studying the Scriptures appeals to high school and college readers (and students of all ages).


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At Issue - Parenting

Today's reading: 1 Samuel 3:11-14
With all the ugly stories of child abuse that we hear, disciplining children has become a touchy subject. Yet we've all met people who grew up without discipline-and that neglect is another form of abuse. When Eli refused to discipline his children, God actually stepped in. God approves of discipline and expects us to lovingly discipline our children. Discipline provides a sense of structure for children, allowing them to feel safe. And giving children consequences for their actions while they're young spares them from greater consequences as adults.
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True Identity: The Bible for Women
by Zondervan


The Bible that helps you see yourself as God sees you! Find your true identity in Christ through your relationship with him.
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Celebrate with us
All He has done
I Used To Be So Organized

Living Clutter-Free Challenge

with Glynnis Whitwer — starts Jan 9th

Based on her book, "I Used to Be So Organized," Glynnis Whitwer is hosting a 15-day Living Clutter-Free Challenge Beginning January 9th, each Monday through Friday for three weeks, she will offer tips on how to clear out the extra stuff in our lives. If you'd like to lighten the clutter in your thoughts, schedule and home, sign up on Glynnis' blog today.

Buy: I Used To Be So Organized 
All He has done
Made to Crave

Made to Crave Online Study

with Melissa Taylor & Lysa TerKeurst – starts Jan 15th

Are you tired of feeling overweight physically but underweight spiritually? A new year brings new challenges. Often those challenges center around resolutions to get healthy that we make and then too quickly break. Sometimes we just need a kick start to get headed in the right direction. Join Melissa Taylor, along with Lysa Terkeurst, and a community of women online for a FREE six-week study of the New York Times Best-seller, Made to Crave.

This six-week online study will include Bible study, chapter discussions, prayer support and on-going conversations about on Melissa's blogandMelissa Taylor's Online Bible Studies Facebook page, with special guest appearances by Lysa TerKeurst. 


  
A Confident Heart

A Confident Heart Online Study

with Renee Swope – starts Jan 9th

Ever feel like you're not good enough, smart enough, or valuable enough? Renee Swope understands. And that's why she's leading an online community of women through her life-changing book, A Confident Heart. Chapter by chapter she'll show us how to stop doubting ourselves as we learn to live in the security of God's love and promises. She'll also help us discover and live confidently in our God-given purpose, passion, and personalities; break free from people-pleasing and performance-based living; and trust the certainty of God's truth over the uncertainty of our circumstances and emotions.

This ten-week online group will include Bible study, engaging chapter discussions, free video teaching messages and on-going encouragement viaRenee's blog/website and Renee's Confident Heart Facebook page


  



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