On Hiatus

Thanks to all who follow Danny's Angel Writes (DAW) and Widow's Ark (WA) so faithfully. I appreciate your loyalty, your comments, and all of the messages that you send.

Right now my work life is out of control, and I need to restore balance back into the equation. These two blogs, by God's grace, are my passion, but exhaustion has finally taken its toll, and I want to ensure that what I write continues to be reflective of God's excellence. To that end, both sites will be on hiatus for the next two weeks as I reorganize and repriortize. Publication will resume on Wednesday, 09/01/2010.

If you feel that you've been blessed by our efforts thus far, you're welcome to go back through the archives and re-read some of our past articles while we're away. We have quite a few on file now at DAW, and the collection is growing on WA.

Please keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours.

Peace and blessings,

Angela

"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." Philippians 4:5

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10 Ways to Fit Daily Bible Reading and Study Into Your Busy Life

Too busy, stressed, and stretched thin to make time for daily Bible reading and study?  Here are 10 practical ways to make it possible:

1.  Set the alarm clock 30 minutes earlier than you would normally awake.  Spend 20 to 30 minutes reading on the side of the bed before you get your day started.

2.  Plan to get in the bed 30 minutes earlier than you normally would.  Spend 20 to 30 minutes reading on the side of the bed before you go to sleep.

3.  Instead of spending your lunch hour eating, socializing, or running errands, spend 20 to 30 minutes reading.

4.  When you get to work, spend 15 minutes reading before you go inside.  After you get off, spend 15 minutes reading in the car before you hit the road. 

5.  Read 10 minutes before breakfast, 10 minutes during lunch, and 10 minutes before dinner.

6. Join an electronic Bible study site like YouVersion.com that will put together a reading plan for you each day.  You can either have it emailed to you; download it to a hand-held device, i.e. iPod or cell phone; read it on your PC or Mac; or read it directly from the Bible. 

7.  Download an audio Bible to your iPod and listen to it throughout the day. 

8.  Find an accountability partner and agree to read together during the day, either in the same locale or just during the same time. 

9.  Divert 20 to 30 minutes of the time that you spend on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.) during the day to Bible reading and study. 

10.  Take two 15-minute breaks during the day and spend each of them reading your Bible.

Begin taking one or a few of these baby steps right now and you'll soon find Bible reading and study a productive habit in your life. 

Is Bible reading and study a discipline that you've incorporated into your life?  If so, how do you accomplish it?

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."  Joshua 1:8 

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Love Yourself

Let God fill you
with a divine-based love of self.

Of late I seem to be coming across a large number of folks who are lacking in self-esteem and self-confidence, and it distresses me.  These are the broken, the wounded, the hurting.  Each has a different story, be it past abuse, changes in life circumstances, love won and lost;  the list goes on and on for the reasons why.

So Many Reasons

Society doesn't make their situations any easier as the world tends to be more self-centered in this day and time, and assessments of personal value are largely contingent upon the acquisition of wealth, education, and social standing. 

I want to encourage anybody reading who may be suffering from this malady to never let people or circumstances define your self-worth.  Look to a higher place for your validation.  Love of God and a divinely-based love of self are the springboards from which all good things flow.

Your Hope

Learn to love God, and let Him teach you how to love yourself.  There's a whole wide world out there just waiting to be conquered and enjoyed, and it all starts with this most basic precept.

Take A Step

I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but I'm going to keep saying it until somebody hears me.  Take just one step today.  Pick up your Bible, ask God to show you something to encourage your heart, open it, and read.  Ask Him to fill you with His love.

Tomorrow take another step, and do it again.  The next day, take yet another step, and yes, you guessed it, do it again.  Keep doing it until you feel your change coming and the love of God beginning to transform your life.

What Are You Waiting For?

An ancient philosopher, Confucius, stated, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  Don't wait another minute.  Take your first step today.  

My prayer is that you get to know Him in all of His fullness and feel the power of His love. 

Have you ever suffered from a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence?  How did you overcome it?

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Matthew 22:39

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Authenticity

I chose to use a variation of the word 'authentic' rather than 'real' as the subject for this post because the word 'real' as it's bandied about in society -- and many times in the church -- today is, in my opinion, used more as a call to rudeness and a lack of Christian grace rather than as a tag for describing being sincere as some would try to lead you to believe. 

But I digress.

Authenticity has been weighing on my mind for the past couple of days, primarily because on this Sunday I had the opportunity to see it in action in a vibrant burst of all of its context -- sincere, pure, and genuine Christian service.  It was refreshing.  

Where is Your Focus?

I truly believe that in our Christian walk we should constantly be focused on making sure that our priorities and agendas don't replace God's in precedence in our lives.  When we put God's agenda first, then everything else falls into place.

Service in the church was never intended by our Father to be a platform for self promotion.  We were actually designed to build and strengthen His kingdom and give Him glory and praise, using all of our skills, talents, and abilities to redirect focus back to Him.

Are You Living in Authenticity?

Let us make sure that as we go about about doing God's business that we are being authentic in our motives.  No matter how brightly a cubic zirconia shines, it will never be a diamond -- and authentic trumps fake every day in every possible way. 

Do you know believers who are authentic in their service towards the Lord?  How has their authenticity impacted your life?

"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." Psalm 26:2

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Kingdom Warfare: Business as Usual?

I have within my circle of friends and family folks who've sacrificed specific periods of time in their lives to military service.  Some served during war time, others in times of peace. Whether it was Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marines, they all brought from their experience the sense of what is required from them as military personnel in times of battle.

Despite the diversity in the branches of service to which they were committed, I think that all of them would agree when asked that simply conducting business as usual with the enemy on attack is just not an option.  

As Christians we are daily involved in active warfare.  However, God has been so good to us in this day and time that many of us have become spiritually lazy, shallow, complacent runts, just laying back with no sense of urgency or even concern for what is going on around us in the spiritual realm. Their almost exclusive focus seems to be "what can God do for me?" with relatively little thought given to what service they can render unto God.

In case you haven't noticed, we're in a war right now, fighting for our very souls, fighting for God's Kingdom here on the earth.  Isn't it time to actually get into the skirmish and do your part to push our team towards a win?

It's about more than just going to church, singing in the choir, fellowshipping with friends, aspiring towards leadership positions -- much more.  Might I suggest that you actually read the Official Manual for yourself to find out what's going on and what your part is in it?  I daresay when it comes down to the final analysis that 'business as usual' is not the profile that you want written next to your name in the Book of Life.

Time is running out. If not now, when?  If not you, who? Don't miss the boat because you chose not to feed yourself with anything stronger than milk.  Our God is looking for real soldiers.  Will you answer the call?

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Revelations 3:15, 16

Photo #1 via stock.xchng user chachu207.  
Photo #2 via stock.xchng user betacam. 
Photo #3 via stock.xchng.