The G.A.P. (Gospel According to Paul) ;-)

James 1:5 If any of you lack sminkle, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

So in what way, in what form, do we recieve this sminkle?

Romans 5:3-5 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations produce sminkle.

James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith produces sminkle.

Eccl. 1:16-18 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more sminkle than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great sminkle. And I gave my heart to know sminkle, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much sminkle is much grief: and he that increaseth sminkle increaseth sorrow.

So we see that there are two kinds of sminkle, Godly sminkle and earthly sminkle. And typically we recieve this sminkle through the hard times, the trials of life. The valleys and the climbs up the hill. Not the good times, not at the peaks.

1 Cor. 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Cor. 3:19 For the sminkle of this world is foolishness with God. For it is writen, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

So we see that Goldly sminkle is definitly our goal.

Gen. 30:27 ....I have learned by sminkle that the Lord hath blessed me....

So what do we do with this God given sminkle?
Share it.
Pass it on.
And use it to help others.
To the Glory of God.

So.... in case your asking yourself, 'just what is sminkle?'
It's a word that I fabricated to be a noun, verb, or however it fits.

smin-kle (sm-ng'k-l) (noun, verb, ?)
1. wise, wisdom, knowledge, patience, long-suffering, experience, hope, ...etc.
2. sminkle- the wrinkles (inkle) that form around your eyes when you smile (sm). Sminkle.

I have great respect for sminkle.

I love you all

Horsepower

Psalms 19:1- The heavens tell the glory of God

-

Matthew 6:26- Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.

-

How vital that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in heaven. Pray with any lesser conviction and your prayers are timid, shallow, and hollow. But spend some time walking in the workshop of the heavens, seeing what God has done, and watch how your prayers are energized...

-

Behold the sun! Every square yard of the sun is constantly emitting 130,000 horse power, or the equivalent of 450 eight-cylinder automobile engines. And yet our sun, as powerful as it is, is but one minor star in the 100 billion orbs which make up our Milky Way Galaxy. Hold a dime in your fingers and extend it arm's length toward the sky, allowing it to eclipse your vision, and you will block out 15 million stars from your view.... By showing us the heavens, Jesus is showing us his Father's workshop... He taps us on the shoulder and says, "Your Father can handle that for you."

-

Consider the earth! Our globe's weight has been estimated at six sextillion tons (a six with twenty-one zeros). Yet it is precisely tilted at twenty-three degrees; any more or less and our seasons would be lost in a melted polar flood. Though our globe revolves at the rate of one-thousand miles per hour or twenty-five thousand miles per day or nine million miles per year, none of us tumbles into orbit....

-

As you stand.... observing God's workshop, let me pose a few questions. If he is able to place the stars in their sockets and suspend the sky like a curtain, do you think it is remotely possible that God is able to guide our lives? If our God is mighty enough to ignite the sun, could it be that he is mighty enough to light our path? If he cares enough about the planet Saturn to give it rings or Venus to make it sparkle, is there an outside chance that he cares enough about us to meet our needs?

-

I love you all

A Morsel of Kindness

1 John 3:17- Suppose someone has enough to live and sees a brother or sister in need, but does not help. Then God's love is not living in that person.

-

Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian writer, tells of the time he was walking down the street and passed a beggar. Tolstoy reached into his pocket to give the beggar some money, but his pocket was empty. Tolstoy turned to the man and said, "I'm sorry, my brother, but I have nothing to give."

-

The beggar brightened and said, "You have given me more than I asked for- you have called me brother."

-

To the loved, a word of affection is a morsel, but to the love-starved, a word of affection can be a feast.

-

Besides, you never know, we may be entertaining angels unaware?

Failure and Faith

Exodus 3:11- But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

-

When it comes to heroes revered by three world religions, no individual shines brighter than Moses. The deliverer of the Hebrews from Egypt is mentioned more times in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure, and is the most prominent prophetic figure in the Muslim Koran. What is it about Moses that makes him a hero to so many?

-

The juxtaposition of failure and faith is probably at the heart of Moses' mystique. We can identify with Moses' failure as a young man guilty of manslaughter. And we can also identify with his fears and doubts when God called him to be the deliverer of his Jewish countrymen. But beyond identifying with Moses' humanity, we revere his faith- he was brave, faithful, outspoken, compassionate, and loyal. And he kept his eye on the eternal prize. Moses was all we know we are and all we know we want to be. He was a failure, but he was also faithful. And God honored his faithfulness instead of rejecting him for his failure. If you have failed, don't give up. God used Moses, and He wants to use you.

-

The worst failure is failing to act on (have faith in) that which you know to be true.

-

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.

----------------------------------------------

(That was sent to me by a couple that I love in my home church of Morton, they have always shone me love. And I love them for that.)

----------------------------------------------

1 Corinthians 4:10- We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

-

Luke 6:22- Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

-

Mark 8:35- For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Matthew 16:25, Luke 9:24

-

Mark 13:13- And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

-

1 Peter 2:13-17- Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

-

So I ask myself sometimes, "Why me?" ...(Don't we all at times?)

But once we truly realize in our hearts that, "we're dead already," then we can "really live!" Free.

-

A tough lesson I've learned is that when I'm having a "pity party" and feeling sorry for myself- God only sees SELFISHNESS!!

-

I just encourage you all to step back and refocus on the "big picture" of eternity, and then glory in your tribulations.

-

Romans 5:3-5- And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

2 Corinthians 12:10, James 1:2-4

-

But Satan won't back off just because you refocus on the "big picture," ...but it will give you the strength to fight on.

God's Cake

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" But God didn’t do it to you. Sometimes bad things just happen. And God can take a bad situation, use the experience to mold us, and bring something out of it that will glorify Him. Here is a wonderful explanation that was e-mailed to me.
-
A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.
-
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.
-
"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers.
"Yuck," says her daughter.
"How about a couple raw eggs?"
"Gross, Mom!"
"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"
"Mom, those are all gross!"
-
To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way. Many times we wonder why we go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good!
We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!
-
God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

I hope your day is a "piece of cake!" Cause even sunshine burns if you get to much!

I love you all